Sober Racing

Let's kick this one off shooting straight out of a canon, fireworks and all. I officially finished the SeaWheeze Virtual Half Marathon this past weekend!

When we left off last, I was post-MRI and had the plan to resume running the following week. That return to running after roughly two weeks off felt great. I felt strong and wanted to just zoom through the town. My knee pain returned later that week and I had to take a few days off. About three days before race day, I had to bail on a run about a 1/2 mile in. To say the least, I threw getting a PR out the window. I trained really hard these past 10-12 weeks. I hit paces I never thought I would. Heck, I PR'd my mile two weeks after running an ultra marathon. The old me would have been super upset. The new me takes it with a grain of salt. I have a very "at least try" attitude nowadays more than I ever have.

I took Friday off of work, which is still weird because I'm working from home, but I treat every race the same. I pretty much spend most of the day doing a whole lot of nothing. I elevate my legs, stretch, do my daily yoga, and take an Epsom bath. I typically watch a movie to pump me up and since it's come out, that movie is The Game Changers. I think most would ask if I get sick of watching a documentary about vegan athletes but I don't. I read Rich Roll's 'Finding Ultra' as well, which was also inspiring, especially since I'm trying to transition to more of a whole-foods, plant based diet. I'm pretty much already there aside from some treats here and there. One of my favorite treats to make comes from The Game Changers website! Appropriately named 'Damn Good Cookies', the best no-bake cookies I've probably had. Take a gander here. My pre-race dinner is always the same: spaghetti. A lot of it. As we sat at the table, my husband asked me how I was feeling since he knew my knee problems were weighing on my mind. "I'm feeling fine. We'll go out and try and see how far we get!". I say we because he bikes along side me, carrying my water, Nuun, and my nutrition. I'm rather lucky to not have to worry about anything except running.

We set out just after 5:00am Saturday morning. The sun doesn't rise nowadays until almost 6:00am. We've been under an excessive heat warning for what feels like forever. This race also has made me realize that I'm never training/running a race in the summer again, ha! 

I threw on my Noxgear vest (code BRITTERS for 35% off), my headlamp, and off we went! My knee felt a little uneasy to begin with but that subsided. I planned on doing four loops, measuring a little over 3 miles each time to equal 13.1. This way, I could avoid stops and pass the house just in case I needed a bathroom. I think this is the first half marathon that I didn't have to stop and pee during. Maybe that was mild dehydration? Who knows. The first two loops went well. The third one was when the heat set in. The humidity level was 50% that morning, which is much higher than we're used to. Typically, it's less than 15%. I took some walking breaks. My legs started to feel heavy and my right glute was really talking to me. I think they were confused because we hadn't run this far in quite some time let alone anything over 3.2 miles since having to take a running break due to my knee issues. My knee started to feel some discomfort around mile 10. I was actually surprised it lasted that long. Once I made my final turn to finish the race out, I did a slow run up to my street. While this was my slowest half marathon, I wasn't even upset. I was happy to finish another race. I was happy to be able to even run when there are so many who can't. Checked it off in my training journal and closed the chapter on distance running, at least for a while. It's funny to think how pumped I was to set my eyes on ultra running and now my patience runs thin on anything that lasts longer than an hour. I have a fire lit in me to conquer shorter distances and see what barriers I can break with anything from the mile to the 10K. I don't completely hate distance running but I've had my handful of marathons and halfs to make me happy for now. 

So what's with the title of 'Sober Racing'? This past weekend (Saturday) was my 100th day sober. From what started as something I wasn't really trying to do has become a rather big accomplishment to me. Most races, I'd pour a beer but this time, I made a cup of coffee. My history with drinking is a whole other story I'll tell one day. Do I think I had a problem? I don't know, honestly. Some days I think I did, some days I think I didn't. Either way, I'm happy to be sober. I still have yet to be around others who are drinking but obviously, we're in a pandemic still, and being at restaurants and bars is something I'm not doing. Makes me think of the days I quit smoking. Yep, I did that too. I had to stop drinking for a week to help because having a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other was just common sense. Dear lord, I'm so glad I got through that habit a long time ago. I have 30 bottles of wine in my wine fridge still that I could easily open if I wanted to but I have no desire. Now, my obsession with sparkling water is another conversation. I treat this the same as my Veganism. If you drink, that's fine! You do you. I don't think of anyone different if they decide to have some spirits in their life. If you think you need help, don't be afraid to reach out to SAMHSA. There are tons of support groups online as well.

What's on tap next for training? I'll take this week off of running. Coach said if I feel good, I can start doing some mild cycling mid/late week. My next goal is a virtual Turkey Trot in November. Do you have any goals for the remainder of the year? Has it been hard to commit to anything due to the state of the country we're in? I'd love to hear about it.

The Brave Athlete

“Your physique, your responsiveness to training, and your personal records (PRs) have little to say about how brave you are.” - excerpt from The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion

I started a book club for my running team to get some camaraderie going on and to develop a way for us to connect further since we aren’t doing any in-person meetups for like....a long time. Hello Arizona hot spot for COVID. Reading is something I’ve been doing a heck of a lot more since quarantine started. Being unemployed really gives you a lot of unused time in your day so why not pick up a book? I’ve since started a new remote job but the weekends have literally been our heads in our books. Well, in our eReaders. We treated ourselves to new eReaders a little while ago. I’ll do a review on that in another entry. While I’m still old school and love the feeling of an actual book, this has been really nice to have. The library has been closed since April but with the use of OverDrive, I can check out electronic books and audiobooks. Definitely something to look into with your local library! I can even get books from my old library in Michigan. If you need some mental stability for your training and you want to know how the brain connects with all of this, I definitely suggest picking up “The Brave Athlete”. We’ve only read the first section and it’s as if I’m in anatomy class again but it’s actually interesting because it’s from an athlete’s perspective. 

Remember last week, when I was talking about how hard I was on myself from feeling like I’m losing hope in this training cycle? Well, after my Sunday rest day, I went into the new week feeling like a lioness ready to hunt anything in her path. My speed work on Tuesday (400x6, 100x6) was the strongest-feeling workout I’ve had in forever. The rest of the week seemed to dim down. Hill strides were lackluster and interrupted by people who can’t seem to stay on one side of the road. I was suppose to go to physical therapy to get fitted for new orthotics only for the appointment to be canceled because someone in the office contracted the virus. I do hope they will be ok and I’m glad it happened before I went. I ended up ordering some with recommendation from my coach, who also works in a running store, and they are literally the most comfy things my feet have touched aside from my Oofos. I had a double workout Friday (ride and run) and my feet felt like they were on supported clouds. We had an excessive heat warning from Friday morning through Monday night. I had contemplated biking indoors instead of doing my long run but my husband looked toward me and said, “What if race day is like this? Are you not going to run?”. I mean, he’s right. We got up a half hour earlier and set out. I had a 90 minute effort combining 9 rounds of easy efforts with pickups every 9th minute. Naturally, I went out too fast. I hit a lot of red lights. I was ready to send it in after 45 minutes. Once again, I felt defeated. I studied my data after the workout and noticed I ended up staying with in my range for almost the entire run but I was dead. It was as if someone took a sledgehammer and killed my stamina. Again, I taught myself to not complain. My coach told me that I’m still gaining fitness and she’s right. Sunday rolled around and as I sat in my epsom bath and meditated, I told myself, “this week is a new week”. It’s time to stop kidding myself and focus in on the task at hand. Run slow for recovery. Controlled paces on speed. Breath like a normal friggin’ person. I have early meetings all week so that’ll help get me out the door before it’s blazing hot outside. 

I tried a new thing this week: sun tea! Yeah, I’m way late to the game on this one. I drink about a gallon or more of water per day. I also pee a ton but that’s beside the point. Sometimes water gets boring. My mother-in-law was talking about sun tea and I asked how to make it. That was probably a dumb question but this is new to me. I filled up my big mason jar with filtered water, two tea bags, and set it outside in the sun for about 3 hours. You’ll want to use glass. Plastic is a big no-no, especially in the heat unless of course you want some BPA with that drink.

I had to wear hot mitts to bring it in because it got so hot! But the color change is a good indicator that it’s definitely steeped well. 

I took the tea bags out and put the jar in the fridge overnight. Now, I heard this step isn’t needed and some people just pour it over ice. That’s totally fine too. After about 24 hours, I sliced some lemon, put it in a glass with ice and we had some delicious iced tea. I ended up making this again for the next three days. It was so refreshing! 

This past week, I ended up taking the easy way out because it was literally 120 degrees outside and just warmed up my kettle and poured it over nice. We’ve been drinking a lot of herbal teas and what not. I’ve been 60 days alcohol free as of today. I don’t know when I’ll drink again (or if I will) but I’m pretty content doing these little fun activities.