Training to Train Solo & Other Schedule Conflicts
Any runners who have a group they run with regularly are spoiled! I am speaking from experience, of course. Sure, I am biased, but I think I have the BEST running buddies a girl could have. We're not caught up in competition and are extremely flexible with each other's capabilities and schedules.
The best part about having friends to run with is to have someone to suffer with (yeah, doesn't that just sound joyful?!) It's true though. I ran a 10k on Saturday that had the potential of being a mental and physical hell: a lot of straights, no shade and all asphalt (luckily it was an overcast morning!), and a repeat loop at the end. Luckily, the two woman who are training for the MCM with me, Tonya and Kim, and I decided we would stick together on this one and work on pulling back on our pace a bit, and I'm so glad we did! Since we slowed down our pace, we were able to hold a conversation, which helped break up the monotony of the straights, and we all practiced eating and drinking, too, which is something we all struggle to do, but is going to be important if we're going to fuel 26.2 miles! We even ended up quite literally running into two other women on the course who had ran the MCM last year, and they were so nice to give us some tips and encouraging words. What a small world!
This is probably the first time I have been most successful keeping a consistent pace throughout a run, and I have to say it made a difference in how strong I felt coming across the finish line. Speaking of crossing the finish, our holding hands finale got caught on film for the news! See below.
So, now that I have gushed about how awesome running with people is, let me talk about one of the reasons I am writing this post: for the times when you cannot run with your people.
My fiance and I had company from out of town last week, so I was in hostess mode and did my best to take care of my runs first thing in the morning before our guest got up. Fortunately, week two of training was another set of three 3-milers (followed by 7 for a long, which we replaced with the 10k race. Thankfully, 3 miles is a distance I can handle mentally alone if I HAVE to, and there was the added bonus of unseasonably cool weather this past week that certainly helped make the solo running bearable. And despite the fact that it was not all too bad to have to run alone this week (though I certainly did miss ya'll if you're reading!), I was all the time soaking it in as preparation for what I've been dreading since I signed up for marathon.
I knew that scheduling would entail challenges because...life! Well, one of my training conflicts is that I am due a visit toliteral hell on earth Mississippi when Satan himself likes to vacation there in July. I leave Friday for about two and half weeks of family time, wedding shopping and planning, best friend visiting and baby snuggling, wedding going, AND HOT, HUMID RUNNING. This is when you need a running group. This is when I will not have my running group. This is when the long runs are going to be getting longer. And I am going to be honest here: I'm nervous.
If you ever thought that running is all about being in physical shape, you got to know, there is a whole lot more to the mental side of things. That is what I was practicing this past week: mental coaching. You have to be able to be the voice that tells yourself, "you can do this," "just get to the next light pole," "one more mile," "you're okay!" Because sometimes you're going to find yourself alone, in the blazing southern heat, and even if your 10 minute mile becomes a 12 minute mile or even a 14 minute walk, YOU get it done!
I just noticed how all my "I's" became "you's" as I wrote that last paragraph, but I guess that is my point. I am blessed with such an amazing and encouraging group of running buddies, but I tend to lack faith in myself. I think having to train without my friends is going to force me to rely little bit more on my own accountability and capability.
Visiting friends and family comes with fun and functions. Can you believe no one consulted my training plan before scheduling events? 😆 This is where I give a shout out to all my fellow teachers (hey ya!) because they will understand where I am coming from. I love planning. I need a plan. I thrive on plans. That's not to say that I think everything sucks when plans change. I've learned to be flexible over the years. However, that is the key. That and planning ahead, which is basically planning over planning (See what I did there? Muuhahaha!). Basically, the way I see it, you can adjust the weekly mileage to your schedule's needs as you see fit. For instance, this week calls for a sequence of a 3-mile, 4-mile, 3-mile, and 5 mile, but I'm going to probably swap the last 3 mile with 5 mile, because I have wedding dress appointment on that day and will want my run to be quicker. Sometimes, it may not be as easy as swapping days around though. There may be weeks where my schedule calls for a mid-week run of 10 miles and there just are not enough hours in the day for me to get it done. So, I may just shave off the last two miles and add them to my next scheduled run so that I'm still getting the weekly mileage.
After Mississippi, my next training schedule challenge will be a week-long backpacking trip my fiance and I are going to be doing in the White Mountains. Coincidentally, the whole route we will be doing ends up being 26 miles (marathon distance!), but it is going to be pretty strenuous and I don't think I will really feel up to running on top of hiking the daily mileage with my heavy pack, especially alone on trails I am unfamiliar with. I do, however, think that the physical effort I'm putting in is going to naturally translate somewhat into training. In fact, according to the plan,the mileage total for that week is actually 18, so technically, I will have covered more distance than called for, just at a slower pace. It all comes out in the wash.
Until next time,
Amber
The best part about having friends to run with is to have someone to suffer with (yeah, doesn't that just sound joyful?!) It's true though. I ran a 10k on Saturday that had the potential of being a mental and physical hell: a lot of straights, no shade and all asphalt (luckily it was an overcast morning!), and a repeat loop at the end. Luckily, the two woman who are training for the MCM with me, Tonya and Kim, and I decided we would stick together on this one and work on pulling back on our pace a bit, and I'm so glad we did! Since we slowed down our pace, we were able to hold a conversation, which helped break up the monotony of the straights, and we all practiced eating and drinking, too, which is something we all struggle to do, but is going to be important if we're going to fuel 26.2 miles! We even ended up quite literally running into two other women on the course who had ran the MCM last year, and they were so nice to give us some tips and encouraging words. What a small world!
This is probably the first time I have been most successful keeping a consistent pace throughout a run, and I have to say it made a difference in how strong I felt coming across the finish line. Speaking of crossing the finish, our holding hands finale got caught on film for the news! See below.
So, now that I have gushed about how awesome running with people is, let me talk about one of the reasons I am writing this post: for the times when you cannot run with your people.
My fiance and I had company from out of town last week, so I was in hostess mode and did my best to take care of my runs first thing in the morning before our guest got up. Fortunately, week two of training was another set of three 3-milers (followed by 7 for a long, which we replaced with the 10k race. Thankfully, 3 miles is a distance I can handle mentally alone if I HAVE to, and there was the added bonus of unseasonably cool weather this past week that certainly helped make the solo running bearable. And despite the fact that it was not all too bad to have to run alone this week (though I certainly did miss ya'll if you're reading!), I was all the time soaking it in as preparation for what I've been dreading since I signed up for marathon.
I knew that scheduling would entail challenges because...life! Well, one of my training conflicts is that I am due a visit to
If you ever thought that running is all about being in physical shape, you got to know, there is a whole lot more to the mental side of things. That is what I was practicing this past week: mental coaching. You have to be able to be the voice that tells yourself, "you can do this," "just get to the next light pole," "one more mile," "you're okay!" Because sometimes you're going to find yourself alone, in the blazing southern heat, and even if your 10 minute mile becomes a 12 minute mile or even a 14 minute walk, YOU get it done!
I just noticed how all my "I's" became "you's" as I wrote that last paragraph, but I guess that is my point. I am blessed with such an amazing and encouraging group of running buddies, but I tend to lack faith in myself. I think having to train without my friends is going to force me to rely little bit more on my own accountability and capability.
And now a little bit about schedule conflicts
Visiting friends and family comes with fun and functions. Can you believe no one consulted my training plan before scheduling events? 😆 This is where I give a shout out to all my fellow teachers (hey ya!) because they will understand where I am coming from. I love planning. I need a plan. I thrive on plans. That's not to say that I think everything sucks when plans change. I've learned to be flexible over the years. However, that is the key. That and planning ahead, which is basically planning over planning (See what I did there? Muuhahaha!). Basically, the way I see it, you can adjust the weekly mileage to your schedule's needs as you see fit. For instance, this week calls for a sequence of a 3-mile, 4-mile, 3-mile, and 5 mile, but I'm going to probably swap the last 3 mile with 5 mile, because I have wedding dress appointment on that day and will want my run to be quicker. Sometimes, it may not be as easy as swapping days around though. There may be weeks where my schedule calls for a mid-week run of 10 miles and there just are not enough hours in the day for me to get it done. So, I may just shave off the last two miles and add them to my next scheduled run so that I'm still getting the weekly mileage.
After Mississippi, my next training schedule challenge will be a week-long backpacking trip my fiance and I are going to be doing in the White Mountains. Coincidentally, the whole route we will be doing ends up being 26 miles (marathon distance!), but it is going to be pretty strenuous and I don't think I will really feel up to running on top of hiking the daily mileage with my heavy pack, especially alone on trails I am unfamiliar with. I do, however, think that the physical effort I'm putting in is going to naturally translate somewhat into training. In fact, according to the plan,the mileage total for that week is actually 18, so technically, I will have covered more distance than called for, just at a slower pace. It all comes out in the wash.
Until next time,
Amber
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