GOG 10 Training Week 1 Update and a Moment of Silence

Oh where do I begin? I said I would keep this blog updated with my training for the upcoming GOG 10 Miler so let’s start with that. I started my first week of training and let’s just say I need to improve (and it’s painful to report to a not-so-great training week)!

Monday: 3.5 Miles (ahead of this terrible storm that blew into Colorado…my ears ached for days after that run)

Tuesday: Yoga

Wednesday: Weights

Thursday: Nada

Friday: Nada

Saturday: 2.5 Miles run on hills and 1 Mile Walk

Sunday: Nada

There are 3 things that I didn’t like about my training last week:

1. I allowed my life to take over my training instead of the other way around. Granted a couple unexpected things happened during the week that made it hard for me to stick to my plans…but I’m also a firm believer in the power of personal will and prioritizing. Obviously, running and training wasn’t at the top of my list, otherwise I would have been able to make the time and energy for it. This week, I will make a better effort of it.

2. I also haven’t been taking care of myself as much as I should! One thing I’ve discovered about training in altitude is that the general environment is less forgiving to a runner. For example, I’ve been drinking soda and not enough water…this has a terrible effect on my body when I try to run. Especially with how dry Colorado has been this past winter (we’re looking at water restrictions here), I need to nurish my body with plenty of water.

3. Mentally, I was stuck at a strange place in my training. This probably goes back to my age-old problem of fear of failure and all those fun thoughts. Basically, I allowed other people to psyche me out on my own training for my own race. After tiptoeing and feeling anxious over my race training, I read fellow runner Coco’s blogpost  about training for the 2013 GW Parkway Classic. The GW Parkway Classic 10 Miler is actually the first race I ever ran and I really loved the race and loved how I felt afterwards, despite the rainy and drippy weather during the 2012 race. I started to follow Coco’s blog regularly last year after I signed up for the GWPC…and reading her most recent post reminded me that even during a good training week (with the prospect of running on a great course), there is always room for improvement. This really goes back to my original intention when I took up running – my main competition is myself. And everyday that I run, I get stronger  and better at it. Yes, it sounds narccistic but my running is for me and no one else. 

(From I ❤ to Run FB Page)

Now for the moment of silence for what happened today in Boston…

What I felt when I heard the news was a mixture of disbelief, pain, and anger…partially because of what running meant to me. When I was a teenager, no amount of cajoling from my parents could get me off my bum and go exercise. In college, I kept up my old (poor) habits and even thought I was getting healtheir since I had lost my “baby fat” by going on a diet (so I don’t repeat myself, you can read about my original motivation for running here). Therefore, running, for me, has been a form of therapy and redemption – it’s about taking active control of my life and my body. In my mind, running is wholesome and there’s room for everyone as long as it is physically and medically safe for you to do so. It makes me angry and sad that someone has decided to take that sense of wholesomeness and security away from the runners.

Not long ago, in the immediate wake of a shooting tragedy in the U.S., a friend of mine asked “why does God allow bad things to happen?” I’m no theologian and therefore cannot provide an answer to his question but I have also come to accept that this is the world we live in and there are parts of our cherished lives that others may attempt to destroy or take away from us. It’s up to us to hang on to what truly matters..and keep on living.

So what will I do for the rest of the week? I want to say that I will work on my dissertation, cook delicious food for my husband, keep up with my volunteer work…and I will keep on running. There are constant strengths in our lives that no amount of destruction will take away.