How to Push Just a Little Further

• 0 • 13.1 Training, Motivation, My Running, Running, Swim

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The hardest part when I did Couch to 5k in 2012 was getting through the first 20 minute stretch of running without stopping. I had to attempt it multiple times, and finally made it through when Greg ran next to me with the jogging stroller. The thought of quitting in front of him and both my children was enough to finally overcome the hurdle.

The funny part about my previous attempts was that I remember not giving up at minute 17 or 18 which would indicate that I couldn’t quite make it yet. Nope. I was giving up at minute 10 or 12, despite having done 15 minutes of running successfully. I was quitting at minute 10 or 12 because although I could have kept going in that moment I was convinced I couldn’t finish the whole distance. The thought of having to continue for that long made me panic, and I stopped. My mind was quitting, not my body.

The same thing has been happening to me with swimming.

I’m having trouble making progress; I can barely finish my 50 yard repeats. My swim instructor thinks based on the number of repeats I can do in a session and how my form looks towards the end (not tired) that I could make it much further if I could get through it mentally.

It’s amazing how similar it is to running, where the feeling of being unable to catch my breath was the hardest part in the beginning.

So I’m revisiting strategies I used to use for running when I tried to increase the distance there. These strategies have gotten me from 60 seconds of running to over 2 hours of running, so clearly they work for me.

Time to take them for a swim.

Strategies for Pushing Through Your Desire to Stop

Take it One Moment at a Time. Don’t tell yourself you need to make it X distance before you can stop. Ask yourself if you can keep going NOW. Just this moment. Just one more stroke, one more, one more.

Recover Without Stopping. Slow it down rather than stopping. See how slowly you can go without stopping and watch how it helps your heart rate and breathing. For running this is especially true if you’ve just run up a hill; you may not even need to slow down, just be patient and realize you don’t need to stop, your breathing will calm down a minute or so after you clear the hill.

Count / Use a Mantra: When I’m doing 400 meter repeats on the track, I’m usually thinking “one two one two one two one two” over and over again to distract from anything else. In the pool, I’ve started to think one, two, three AND one, two, three AND. It helps me keep from thinking anything else, and also helps me breathe in sync with my stroke on the AND.

Be Social: Being with someone distracts you from what you’re doing and provides accountability. I try harder and take fewer breaks during my swim lessons because I don’t want to waste my time with an instructor. I swam a lot of continuous back-stroke in the pool with Greg on Mother’s Day because I didn’t want him to think I take a break every 25 yards.

Add Repeats: If you’re hitting a block with the length of a repeat, shorten it but do more repeats. Do what you’re comfortable with until it’s boring. Boring isn’t scary. Boring is boring. Boring helps fight the panic. Add to your total distance slowly, and realize that’ll help your individual segments of activity lengthen also.

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Time to get out there and go after it like my cat with a pillow.

 

 

Salvaging a Blah Run With Some Speed Work

• 1 • My Running, Running

I had a pretty blah start to my run yesterday. I was running slower than my half marathon pace and my legs felt like mud.

After slogging along for a mile and a half, I decided that running steady miles wasn’t really working for me, so I threw in some repeats and started to do 400 meters hard, 400 meters easy.

There were a few attempted repeats that I had to cut short thanks to the rolling hills in the area, but I managed four solid 400s, my recovery 400s weren’t THAT much slower than my warm up pace had been, and I ran the last half mile at a beautiful 9:46 pace. You know, the pace I really should be running my 3 and 4 mile runs at based on my interval and half marathon paces.

Sometimes when a run isn’t working it’s nice to mess around with it.

I felt great when I got back, my average pace was much closer to what I wanted, and my legs felt tired in a way they wouldn’t have if I’d continued to slog along.

I wonder if I’d just done a couple 200s if that would have broken the slow pace enough to settle into 10 minute miles sooner, rather than shifting my entire workout.

Something to try in the future 🙂

In the meantime, can we celebrate the fact that it’s SPRING?!

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I know I’m in a particularly gorgeous place this week, but wherever you are, get out there and raise your arms to the sunshine.

Seek out the best of nature near you, fill your lungs with fresh air.

Enjoy every moment that your children are rearranging mother earth’s living room and not yours.

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A Couple Additions to My Running Bucket List

• 5 • Motivation, My Running

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I’m pretty involved in knocking out this first triathlon goal… but hey, that’s no reason to stop dreaming about what’s next!

One of the problems with using races to motivate ourselves is that we can feel a little lost after the event is completed. It’s nice to have a little list of “someday, maybe” items to look at once we’ve achieved that race goal. Bucket lists can help put that good foundation you’ve created training for the race to use, and keep you motivated and excited about running!

Here are a few things I’d like to do someday:

  • Be a half marathon pacer. I’d love to support a group of runners by maintaining a steady pace and providing encouragement along the way. I could see myself pacing a 2:30 or 2:45 group at some point. I’ve run 6 half marathons in under 2:30 pace, and it’d be so inspiring to help a group of runners achieve that same goal by running steady and offering encouragement.
  • Run the New Orleans Has House Harriers Red Dress Run. Everyone runs in red dresses. It’s 21+. I’ve never been to New Orleans. It’s, um, 2 miles, every August. Not much training required. Some summer I’m heading down there with Greg and we’re going to cut loose like it’s Mardis Gras for runners.
  • A trail race. Nature, and a chance to run with a whole bunch of people who are more concerned about where they’re going than how fast they’ll get there. Why haven’t I done one of these already?

What’s on your bucket list? Tell me, maybe I’ll join you 🙂

Treadmill Intervals are Scary

• 2 • My Running, Running

Whew – I’m on the other side of some craziness here. My youngest son turned 4 this weekend and it’s school vacation week, so we’re in Maine. There was a lot of packing and birthday brunch planning, and now I’m realizing I haven’t had much time to run, let alone write about running.

Track Repeat Tuesday: It’s track repeat Tuesday… except our track group doesn’t meet during school vacation week (which is lovely since I’m away) so this week was treadmill Tuesday.

A good placeholder interval workout: Our track clinic coach recommended that everyone still run intervals this Tuesday. She said that missing a week can actually put you behind two weeks instead of one, because of the way that interval workouts really build on each other. She said to do a warmup, 4 x 400 meter repeats (with rest, walk or jog intervals in between) and then a cool down. She recommends this interval workout because it’s easy and fast enough to do on your own, but is enough to keep you from back-sliding.

I was determined to do it this week because I’m loss averse; I don’t want to lose any speed I’ve gained pushing so hard at track clinic!

So… I hit the treadmill up here.

Treadmill Intervals are Scary: I have never run 400 meter repeats at 8.1 miles per hour on the treadmill before. It was, quite frankly, terrifying. Normally when I’m on the treadmill I do tempo pace at fastest. Running as fast as I can run for 400 meters if I had people chasing me (a speed I’ve only just discovered at track clinic where there are, literally, people chasing me) feels OUT OF CONTROL on the treadmill. I feel like if I lapsed for a second I’d be catapulted off the treadmill into the wall.

For the first time in my life, I actually feared a treadmill injury, because I was running at max exertion which makes it a lot harder to press the stop button if you get into trouble. The margin of error for how long you can hold on and reach for that pause button once you realize you’re not going to make it the whole interval is a lot smaller when you’re running at maximum speed.

But… I made it. I did my 4 x 400 meter repeats. My legs feel so much happier and looser after too many days of being busy and not running.

I’m now incredibly impressed by Greg’s treadmill runs and have a more personal understanding of why it sounds like the house is going to fall apart when he’s running upstairs. (My interval pace is still slower than his half marathon pace. I seriously hope he doesn’t run his 400 meter pace on the treadmill.)

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Maine

I’m up in Maine where most of our family is, and one of my best friends from high school. Today I had an amazing day; I got up and had breakfast with the kids, made muffins, visited my best friend from high school and watched our kids play together, had lunch with my parents, then sent the kids off with my in-laws for the afternoon to visit cousins while I walked down to the ocean and took pictures of the stormy waters and then went for my treadmill run. Had dinner with the in-laws, #tacotuesday, can’t go wrong there, and after pajamas and stories I listened to the kids tell me how much fun they had today. (My four year old always asks to “talk about our day” as the last thing he does before sleeping.)

I miss Greg, but am trying to be in love with two worlds and not torn between them. He was here this weekend and Monday, and I’ll see him soon 🙂

I hope you had some wonderful moments and wonderful people in your day, too. If you didn’t, maybe tomorrow’s a good day to call an old friend or carve out half an hour to do something that you really love.

Track Clinics Are Awesome

• 3 • My Running

My Tuesday track clinic met again this week, and it’s awesome. I love it.

I warm up longer when I’m chatting with other women. I actually do stretches and drills when I have a coach walking us through them as a group. I buckle down and run a little bit harder on those repeats because I don’t want to lose the group.

On Tuesday we divided into two groups based on our mile times, the fast group who anticipated doing 400 meter repeats in 1:40 or less, and, well, the rest of us.

I’m in the second group… which is awesome, because it’s actually a really well matched group. I was pushing hard during the first 400 meter repeat to stay with the leaders, and we rounded that final corner with one person up front and three of us all side by side. It felt a little epic. I over-romanticized the feeling of pack mentality and savored (for those 15 seconds) the feeling of being perfectly synced to two other women, going maximum speed, finishing strong.

The second 400 meter repeat, I accidentally started out in the front and managed to finish first. I’m not competitive against anyone but myself, and I don’t feel like I actually beat anyone since I started out 5 feet ahead of some of the other runners. But I did feel a sense of belonging that has been missing from all my other group running experiences. Having people sometimes in front of me, sometimes behind me, and sometimes next to me meant I was running a comparable pace. I’ve met my matches. I belong in that group. It’s just right for me.

I remember running with the mother’s forum group a few years ago, and I was always solidly last. I couldn’t even hear the conversation they’d be so far in front of me. Yes, it helped me get out the door, and push, and grow… and I think it’s an incredible experience to be the smallest fish in the big pond and just remain proud of yourself for being there in the first place. But it’s not quite the same feeling as being in the middle of the pack, knowing that if you buckle down, you can finish with the group, and if you really buckle down, you might pull ahead. (On this repeat… and pay for it next time.)

So I’m loving it. I’m happy I signed up.

In other news…

I find out Monday if I will get a number for the Tri For a Cure sprint triathlon in July! It’d be my first triathlon, and I will need a swim coach. When I first blogged about registering for the lottery, I was really touched to receive some e-mails recommending swim coaches and swim clinics. Friends whom I didn’t even realize read my blog were emailing me suggestions and wishing me luck. It felt great.

I’ve even had a few strong offers from this guy, who is currently enrolled in swim lessons and promises that he will teach me to swim, no problem.

willswimming

How can I say no to that?