Just run

This is my I-finished-my-ten-mile-run-despite-it-being-freezing-ass-cold-and-my-phone/GPS/music-player-dying-two-miles-in-face:

You get this since I couldn't take any run pictures

It was cold today. Balmy compared to most parts of the country, but it was mid-30s and I'm a baby and I just wasn't having it. I knew I had this run to do, my first real "long run" in my marathon training, and by about 1PM I had run out of ways to procrastinate. So I put on my shorts, trudged to my treadmill, started to plod, and within two minutes asked myself WTF I was doing on a treadmill when it there was daylight and the roads were dry. I have a hate-hate relationship with the treadmill in my house, and I knew I'd maybe get three miles in, max, before calling it a day. On went my running tights, long-sleeves, and gloves, and out the door I went. 

Feeling good, rocking out to Pandora, RunKeeper app politely letting me know my distance and pace every five minutes, and then... nothing. My phone is also a baby about the cold, and decided to feign illness and shut down. You guys, I actually thought about going home. I was already feeling naked without my GPS watch and heart rate monitor, and to have no idea how fast I was going, when I was supposed to turn around, and no Ellie Goulding to distract me, was not motivating.

But for some reason I kept going - I figured I'd just turn around when I got bored and hopefully I'd make it to six or seven miles. I'd run the route probably 100 times before, so I vaguely knew the distance from my house to certain checkpoints. 

Surprisingly though (for me) I just kept running. I listened to the pat-pat-pat of my shoes on the pavement, the wind rustling through the trees, I noted how my body was feeling, how my pace changed when I shortened my stride. I raced against oblivious joggers and challenged myself to run to random objects in the distance. 

Once I felt like I had made it at least four miles, I turned around and ran home, listening, looking, racing, thinking, mentally singing my latest favorite Ellie-song in my head. 

Got home, chugged some water and stretched my hips, then plotted my route in GoogleMaps to check the distance. I turned around right at 5.2 miles, putting my total at 10.4! 

So, lesson for me and for you, is that sometimes you just need to run, and you don't actually *need* much to do it. I had become so dependent on music and monitors and trackers over the years that I had forgot to just enjoy running and the places it takes me. I'm not saying that I'll chuck the music and GPS on every run from now on, but I will make a point to just run every once in a while. 

Train fast, race fast

Last year I worked with a triathlon coach in an effort to move beyond my "I just want to finish the race" goals. One of the first and most important things he taught me is that in order to race fast, I needed to train fast. What followed were a series of running workouts that had me sprinting so hard on the treadmill that I was afraid I would fall off. I grew to loathe Tempo Tuesdays. But he was right - after a few months of training fast I PR'd my half marathon finish time by nearly 45 minutes.

I'm training solo this year, but plan to apply much of what I learned to my workouts. The marathon is still over 5 months away, so right now my focus is on easing back into a running schedule and increasing my mileage. And making training fun. Tempo Tuesdays are still on the schedule, but now they look a little something like this:

I love doing Pandora intervals because it involves little to no thinking, and it's easy to scale at any running level. As my running fitness improves, I'll continue to do this workout by increasing the speed of each interval and the duration of my run by a little bit every week. This is one I usually recommend to beginners because you can alternate walking and jogging to start. 

Let's run a marathon

I have never been the kind of person who can work out just for the fun of it. Even though I know it's sooo good for you and healthy and all that good stuff, I will never train consistently without a little pressure.

For the last five years, triathlon has been my thing. I went from walking my first sprint triathlon in 2008 to conquering my first Ironman in 2011. I continued to do half Ironman distance races the following year and this past summer. I fully intend to do another Ironman someday soon, and even qualify for and  race at the world championships in Kona. But right now, I'm burnt out. The training schedule, metrics watching, workout juggling, and my inability to become a decent swimmer has taken it's toll. I crashed on my bike two races in a row at the end of the season. True, rain was a factor, but I also took it as a sign that I needed a breather. After 6 months of 8-13 hour training weeks, I mentally and physically came to a dead stop after the season ended. 

Now I'm getting squishy.

So it's time to switch gears! I've signed up for my first marathon, the Seattle Rock 'n Roll Marathon, which takes place in June. I'm looking forward to a different kind of challenge and a training schedule that will keep me fit in LESS than 10 hours a week. 

The race is now 24 weeks away, and I'm half a week in. This is what my weeks will look like.

Sunday - Rest

Monday - Cross Train

Tuesday - Tempo Run

Wednesday - Cross Train

Thursday -  Fartlek Run

Friday - Rest & Stretch

Saturday - LSD Run

My cross train days will likely involve a spin on my bike and strength training. And in case you're wondering, the LSD run isn't as fun as it sounds - it stands for long, slow distance. 

I'm excited to get into the training and am looking forward to my progress in 5, 10, and 20 weeks. It was frustrating to feel out of shape during my run this weekend, but I'm reminding myself that I'm just getting started.

Progress reports to come!