I'd Rather Not

There is a saying in my house that started being said in the evenings when it came time to take the pups out for their before-bed walk. Mike starts to get the dogs leashed up and then says, “want to come walk the dogs with me?” To which I began responding, “I’d rather not.” Of course “I’d rather not” really means, “I’ve already decided not to so don’t ask me again.” It’s become a pretty commonplace saying for a few months now and no one is surprised when those words come out of my mouth (To be clear I do keep the house tidy and cook dinner every night so I don't feel like I'm being a total jerk for not going with him).

I was surprised, however, when those words popped into my head during my run yesterday. About 2 miles into my 7 mile tempo run I realized it just wasn’t going to happen. At least, it wasn’t going to happen the way I wanted it to. It wasn’t going to be another rock star run. It was hot out, hotter than I had anticipated. The humidity wasn’t helping either. As I started running slower and slower, I began to feel worse and worse, and then those three words popped into my head. The conversation in my head then went something like this: “What? What do I mean I’d rather not? I love running! There’s no way I’d rather be doing anything else right now!”

The truth is that running isn’t fun all the time. Actually it probably isn’t fun most of the time. Ask any runner if they “love” running and they probably won’t give you a straight “yes or no” answer.
Running is painful and challenging, both mentally and physically. Yet we put ourselves in situations where we are running miles and miles every week. Personally I would say that I do love running, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy it all the time. It would be impossible to do that. You can’t expect to go out for every run and feel awesome and motivated. It doesn’t make you any less of a runner. Sometimes you just don’t want to be running. Sometimes you’d rather not.

The question is whether you fall to the “I’d rather not’s” or, well, not. I’m taking full advantage of the fact that at this time in my life I will complete my weekly mileage no matter what (barring injury). I hold myself accountable to my training plan. It doesn’t matter if I’m not enjoying myself. Suck it up! I can’t say that in the future I’ll have this kind of personal discipline, but for now it works!
So my 7 mile tempo run became a “don’t force the pace, just complete it” kind of run. I ran pretty much the same path and the same distance as Tuesday’s run, but sometimes your mentally and/or physically just aren’t up to the challenge. I did make myself run an extra mile repeat this morning as redemption for yesterday. That’ll teach me a lesson!

Yesterday: 7.15 miles at 8:48 pace

This morning: 2 x 2 mile repeats at 8:00 pace

This weekend I'm headed to NYC to find my wedding dress! I've also got a 16+ mile run on Sunday's schedule, which I will do with my sister. The last time we ran together was in July for Midnight Madness, which was so much fun! I'm excited to run in New York. Running is a great way to see new parts of any city. Should be a great weekend!

Caitlin and I running Midnight Madness

Take It Easy: The Whys and Hows of Easy Runs

While I was pushing through the second mile repeat of my speed workout this morning, I thought about how much I needed to make sure my evening run tonight was an easy run. In the world of today we can’t help but want to go faster and faster. We want fast cars, fast google searches, fast food service, fast downloads, instant movies, and fast results (no, this is not like CSI in real life and I can’t get your tox results in 3 minutes and before the commercial). It’s no different in the world of running. While novice runners initially focus on completion of a distance, eventually the desire for speed comes into play. Most of us probably aren’t out to beat or even match the elites, but once you know you can make it through a 5k or a 10k or even a 50 miler, you probably hope that next time you can do it even faster.

Anyone who has looked into training plans can see that there are some basic similarities among them all, even if the details vary greatly. Most include some kind of speed work, maybe a tempo run (warm up followed by a set distance at a manageable but challenging pace followed by a cool down), a long run, and one or more easy runs.

Speed work helps you get faster over short distances, with rest time in between intervals, improving your body’s ability to handle the stress of speed. Tempo runs help you become comfortable holding a steady pace over a race distance. Long runs might not be speedy, as they are meant to be run 45 - 90 seconds per mile slower than marathon pace, but they are rewarding in other ways as they help you build endurance. And then there are the easy runs. That word “easy” can really throw people off. Some runners look forward to easy runs. Others hate it and think “easy” may as well mean “wussy.” Whatever your opinion of them is, they are just as necessary and essential as any other type of run in your training plan.

Listen to what the wall says!

What is an easy run?

If you’re like me and you over think things too much you might read into “easy runs” and make it more complicated that it needs to be. But there’s no mystery here. An easy run is exactly what it sounds like: easy. You should be able to carry on a conversation and get through it without huffing and puffing. Read: slow down!

Why run easy?

Now I will be the first to tell you that I have trouble with my easy runs so I’m probably being hypocritical in writing this post in the first place. In fact, I probably have more trouble with running an easy 5 miles than a speedy 3 or a long 15. It’s easy to get caught up in the need for speed, especially if you’ve discovered you are capable of going faster. You might ask, “what’s the point of going slow when I know I could do better?” The point is, that if you keep going fast and pushing your body, you may not even make it to that big race you’re training for. Whether it be injury or mental exhaustion, running fast all the time could really slow you down in the end. Easy runs allow our bodies to recover and rebuild while still doing work. It’s the same reason we taper before a race. Keep the fitness up, but the pressure down. Runner’s World recommends that 70% (that’s right I said 70!) of our weekly mileage should be easy miles.

How to take it easy

Like I said, I have a lot of trouble with easy runs. I get caught up with wanting to go faster and by the end of them I’m sprinting down the block. Sometimes you need some tricks to help you out.

1. Don’t wear a watch: I’m pretty obsessed with my Garmin, so it’s hard for me to leave it behind, but not having my current lap pace glaring up at me from my wrist keeps me from wanting to speed up. If you can’t completely go naked, just wear a cheap stopwatch and don’t memorize you mileage locations. This will allow you to record your time at the end of your run, but not get caught up in your pace while you’re actually running.

2. Run with a friend: I’m not saying you have to run with someone slower, but running with another body can be very helpful for easy runs. You could both agree on keeping a certain, slower pace and having each other there will keep you in check. Running with a friend is also an opportunity for conversation. As I said, you should be able to converse on an easy run. Whereas if you’re able to carry on a conversation during a tempo run or speed work, you’re not working hard enough!

3. Enjoy the scenery: Use you easy runs as an opportunity to actually stop and smell the flowers. Even if you run the same paths all the time, chances are if you’re going faster you’re not really focused on what’s around you. Make an effort to notice your surroundings and slow down. Maybe even take your camera and snap some photos!

4. Lose or use the tunes: Depending on whether or not you run with music, or perhaps depending on your mood, the presence or absence of tunes can help you run easy. Want to keep jamming on your run? Try slower, softer music. Save Katy Perry and Gaga for a tempo run. Or, ditch the tunes altogether and enjoy hearing the sound of your feet hit the pavement and concentrate on slowing your breath.

5. Add some more challenging terrain: This may defeat the purpose of the easy run, but mentally it always makes me feel better. Try choosing a path that is slightly hillier than normal. You can focus on going slow and easy, but still get just a little bit more out of your easy run by doing some hill work.

6. Combine easy runs with more challenging runs: If you really feel like easy runs are too wussy for you, then try combining them with more rewarding runs. For example, do an easy run the day before or after a long run. A long run is always a huge accomplishment, so tell yourself that if you’re getting through that then you can take it easy on another day. Another option is to double up speed work and easy runs. That’s what I did today: speed work in the AM and an easy run in the PM. It makes me feel better going slow in the evening knowing that I kicked some speedy ass this morning!

Post-AM speed workout refueling: 3 x 1 mile repeats at 7:30 pace

Pre-PM easy run: 5 miles at 9:30 pace

So for goodness sake, give yourself a break and take it easy! And if anyone has other tricks of the trade to easy runs please share!

I'm So Spoiled and Other News

It’s been almost three weeks since Mike started his new job at Penn and so far he has yet to tire of seeing my silly face for lunch everyday. He also has yet to tire of taking pictures of me and my lunch. Example below:

We went to Hummus today. The salad (greens, hummus, avocado, chick peas, cucumbers, tomatoes) was alright. The real star of my meal was the whole wheat pita!

The pita that won my heart

As a person who often takes greater pleasure in the bread basket at restaurants than the actual entree, I feel qualified to tell you that this was some of the best pita I’ve ever had. Fluffy, warm, melts in your mouth. In fact, next time I’m just going to order 5 pita for lunch. Who needs a balanced meal when you’ve got delicious pita and hummus?

Anyways, what was I saying...I’m really hoping that Penn decides to make the smart decision and put Mike’s and my department (which have the least amount to do with each other than anything in the whole world) together in the same building. Then I will get to stare at his cute face all day! Until then though, I’ll just have to settle with him being a block away and only seeing him every morning, lunch hour, evening, night, and weekends. Life is tough :/

In other news, today is a rest day. My legs feel surprisingly fine after my 16 miler yesterday. They feel fine for walking, though I imagine if I made any attempt to actually run they wouldn’t feel so spry. In honor of my rest day I also got a sports massage. It was delicious. I’m hoping the masseuse doesn’t think it’s weird when clients almost pass out and start drooling mid-massage. They probably see that all the time right?

Post-massage, ready for a nap

In other, other news, I just joined a gym! Well, okay I already belong to a gym, but the only thing good about it is that it’s a half block away. The equipment is old and falling apart and their hours are terrible (I’m talking 9-5 on a Saturday). I wasn’t planning on joining any gym after my membership ran up, but upon greater reflection I realize I may actually want to get a treadmill workout in every once in awhile. And I may in fact be forced to do so as the weather turns bad this winter. My membership with the crappy gym is up in September so I took advantage of a brand new gym opening just 4 blocks away. They already have a super awesome, well-reviewed location elsewhere in Philly. And not only will everything be high tech and functional, but their hours are better and they have spin class! I have been wanting to get into spin for awhile and my sister says its totally kick ass. I can’t wait to add it into my training!

And in BIG, BIG, TOTALLY AWESOME news, Mike went for his first run today in 5 weeks!!!!! He ran 3 miles!

A super duper happy Mike after his own redemption run!

He has been dealing with a bad heel spur in his left foot for over the last month. He got his last cortisone shot last week and has been breaking in his orthotics for about 5 days. I'm encouraging him to take it only a little bit at a time, starting with just a few miles and at least a day's rest between running. As we know though, Mike has his own theories on training plans. Oh well, at least he's running again. I couldn't be happier for him and I can't wait until we can run together again!