The Rest is (not always) Easy

Greetings from sweltering RVA - where the "feels like" temperature topped triple digits this weekend!  (Whew) It's made for some super sweaty runs, that's for sure.  But enough about the weather - let's get to the training.

This week was a recovery week for me.  When crafting my schedule I had slotted this week to fall 9 weeks out from Erie.  Like any recovery week, its goal was to give my body some time to absorb the last few weeks of hard training (70, 79, 86 miles each week, respectively), and to recharge my batteries a bit before plunging into the last big block of work before taper.   I had been eagerly anticipating the arrival of this week:  I'd sleep in!!  I wouldn't have to do any doubles!!  I had a "short" long run of only 16 miles - what would I do with all that extra time!?!?!

Well, the week finally arrived and while it was nice to sleep in a bit and not have to do any doubles, the week was surprisingly difficult and left me feeling kind of...flat.   This has happened to me in past seasons as well.  I often do not feel as well on recovery weeks as I do during heavy training.  Not sure if it's just my body being jolted a bit out of its regular daily-grind rhythm, or if the sluggishness comes from the body absorbing the gains and making adaptations.  In either case, rest weeks have proven to be not so easy - both mentally and physically - and I have to remind myself constantly that my fitness has not disappeared when I'm dragging my tired legs up a hill in an "easy" 8-miler.   We all know that rest is where the magic happens, where we make our gains from the training.  But it can be so hard to take that much needed rest when it can leave you feeling more tired than you felt before!    I know that it's just a phase, that my body will adapt and I'll feel better once I get the next week going.  We'll get to that in a second, but here's how this past week shook out:

Monday - 9.7 miles (8:09 avg. pace)  Ran this with a friend and I was dragging.  I'd done pace miles (6 of them, 6:47 avg) on Saturday's run and they went terribly.  My legs were still very fatigued on Monday so this run was not great.

Tuesday - 7.5 miles (8:21 avg)  Ran a friend's tempo with him and felt surprisingly good.  Most likely because it was not MY tempo!  I love running other peoples' workouts with them - it's much more fun than running my own. :-)

Wednesday - REST.  Ahhhh.  I did my core work class at the gym in the morning but it was nice to sleep in and not have to get up at the crack of dawn for a run...though I felt oddly bereft to not have done my early morning wake-up-and-run routine.  I taught BodyPump later in the evening.

Thursday - 10.1 miles (7:10 avg)  Tempo time!  Ran with two of my speedy guy friends from a new location!  It was awesome to run somewhere different where I didn't know the route. It gave my mind a break and didn't give it a chance to anticipate (and dread) the hills. It was a cool(er) morning in the upper 60s with limited humidity so that was awesome, but unfortunately I was feeling the effects of the rest week and still felt sluggish.   Though I was sucking wind big time on the run, I was happy to have a decent 4-mile tempo with splits of 6:21, 6:20, 6:32, 6:26.

Friday - 8.7 miles (8:34 avg)  Recovery run.  I had an opportunity to run the first few with my father and I jumped at the chance.  I haven't been able to run with him that often since I do most of my training in the super-early-morning hours.   It was nice to catch up with him and run easy while enjoying the relatively low humidity.  Still feeling sluggish so my legs were grateful that I kept it easy. Taught BodyPump again later in the morning.

Saturday - 16.3 miles (7:35 avg)  Long run with my group.  I was expecting to feel pretty awesome on this run (It's a rest week!  I had a recovery run yesterday!  I'm hydrated and fueled up!), but instead I felt like death from the start.  It was definitely not a confidence building run.  I kept having to reassure myself that yes, everyone has a run/several runs/a week of runs that don't feel great and don't go quite to plan.  I know that my fitness is there, but it sure seemed to be hiding on Saturday.  I struggled through this run but got it done.

Sunday - 8.0 miles (8:25 avg)  Recovery run.  Legs still felt sluggish so I decided to run to the track and do some laps since it was a) flat and b) had no cars to worry about and c) had a water fountain.  It was back to humid and HOT so I was grateful for the proximity to water!  I used the time to listen to my BodyPump track list and practice cueing - had anyone been at the track they would have gotten a kick out of hearing me shouting out loud while I pretended to coach my class!  All while running laps, of course :)  But, hey - it was a good time to rehearse!   Later in the day I taught my BodyPump class at noon and then competed in some parent swim relays for my stepdaughter's swim team.  (P.S. - if you want your Oiselle shorts to double as a bathing suit bottom make sure to double-knot the drawstring. :-) I remained decent, but lost valuable relay time due to shorts adjustment!!)

Total:  60 miles 

So with this (not so easy) rest week behind me, I am looking onward and upward to this week when I get back to some heavy training.  I've got 86 miles on the schedule and two workouts:  a fartlek-style workout and a shorter tempo.  I'm looking forward to getting back in the groove during these next few weeks - but I know that sub-3 won't come easy.    It's time to buckle down and get to work, folks!!

Anyone else out there feel worse during a recovery week?   Give me your favorite mantra/saying for getting through the last tough weeks of marathon training before taper!  

This is how it goes

We're back to that time of year where I need to give myself a pep talk before heading out the door.  I have stopped looking at what the temperature is supposed to be for my 5am runs - it's only going to miserably confirm what I already know:  It'll be HOT.   I simply lay out the least amount of clothing possible (while ensuring I am not arrested for indecent exposure) the night before and throw it on at 5am before heading out into the sticky, humid mess that is a Richmond summer morning.    The one upside to summer running is that I've been able to leave the headlamp at home most mornings since the sun is up so early.  Hurray!  One less thing to get soaked with my sweat.

With the kids around all day (I've got 3 of them at home now - my stepdaughter is here for the summer as well) and various activities to get everyone to and from (swim team practice, a morning camp or two for the younger ones, BodyPump teaching for me, etc.) it's been a bit more of a hectic pace this summer than last.  Yet another reason why I'm thankful to be getting my runs in super early!  Even though it's not always fun to drag myself out of bed so early, I'm happy to get it done before the day really starts.  That way, no matter how crazy the rest of my day gets, I know I've gotten my run in!  And that makes for a happier Mama.

We are now 12 weeks out from my goal race:  Erie (Presque Isle) Marathon on September 13th.  I've been steadily increasing my mileage and am comfortably back up into the high 60s.   I've been fortunate to have a few friends around the area to run with a few days a week - they've made both the miles and the humidity seem more bearable.    I've still got a ways to go before race day, but I feel like I'm entering  the portion where I need to turn on the focus, put my head down and get to work.   To give you an idea of where my training is at, let's recap the last week:

Monday:  10 miles w/10 striders (a.m.), 3 miles recovery (p.m.)  -  Yup.  The double runs are back.  76 degrees and 95% humidity made the first part of this run very sweaty.  Second run was done at 1pm in the blazing 93 degree heat. It wasn't optimal but it was the only time I had - I (predictibly) felt pretty lousy since it was so hot, but made it through.

Tuesday:  6 miles easy - Ran this one on the treadmill, nice and easy.  Taught BodyPump later in the morning.   Feel like I have a cold coming on with a sore throat and some drainage.

Wednesday:   10 miles w/5x1000m w/3 min recovery, cut down 200s (a.m.), 3 miles recovery (p.m.) - It was 15 degrees warmer this morning than the last time I did 1000s - 77 degrees at 5:10am with our normal miserable humidity. So given that, and the fact that we had to play sprinkler dodgeball at the track (we'd run a lap, then on the second pass we'd have to run into lanes 2-3 so as not to get whacked in the face by the water!), it made for a less-than-stellar run.

Intervals were: 3:50, 3:49, 3:49, 3:48, 3:41  Avg HR in the 182-193 range for the intervals. Two weeks ago (in 62 degree weather vs. the 77 degrees today) those intervals were 3:48, 3:45, 3:44, 3:43, 3:40.  I followed it up with the 200s - 37, 39, 38, 37 - They felt pretty lousy, but I think that's because the legs were shot! Thankfully the hamstring didn't protest.  Did 3 miles later in the morning at the YMCA, followed by my hip/glute exercises and my core work class.

Thursday:  8 miles, avg. pace 8:15.  Taught BodyPump later in the morning.  Still feeling the effects of fatigue from the summer cold I seem to have caught.

Friday:  4.25 miles, avg. pace 9:03.  Shortened run-turned-recovery-day since I'm still feeling cruddy due to the cold.  So glad I only had 4 miles to do - it was work just to get through those.  Drank gallons of water today and went to bed around 8:30pm.

Saturday:  18 miles, avg. pace 7:55.   Thankfully I woke up feeling a bit better!  I was up super early to be running by 5am - I knew I had to get all of the miles done before 7:40 so that I had enough time to grab a quick shower and be dressed and back at the gym around 8am for our BodyPump launch!  No one was around to run with me so ended up using the time to listen to the songs for the new BodyPump release and practice my cueing for the tracks that I'd been assigned to present at launch.  The nice thing about 18 miles is that it gives you PLENTY of time to practice.  I took it easy on myself and ran 4 of the miles on the track just so that I'd have a little bit of flat land to run on as well as access to a water fountain since it was so warm.  I finished up, grabbed a shower and some breakfast and then headed over to team teach the new release!  Our theme was "superheroes" and the members had a great time.  My tracks went well and I stayed to attend the CXWORX (core work) class and about 10 minutes of the Body Combat (kickboxing class) before I took my tired body home.    It was a busy, but very fun, morning.

Sunday:  6 miles, avg. pace 8:14.   Ran early before church.  Felt a bit sluggish on this run (most likely due to yesterday's efforts).  Taught BodyPump at noon and was very happy to be done with my BodyPump teaching obligations for the week.  Whew!   Still battling some drainage and fatigue from the cold but it seems to be improving.

And that's it!  68 miles for the week.  

I'm still guzzling water and trying to get to bed early in hopes of ridding myself of the rest of this cold.  I had a rest day on Monday which helped so hopefully I'll be back to full power soon!

Tomorrow's run is a tempo that I'm nervous about - mostly due to the lingering effects of this cold, along with the hot temps and humidity we'll have tomorrow morning.  (Triple digit temps today mean that it won't cool down very much at night...)  But I'm going to get up early and do my best.  I've got 12 weeks to increase my fitness so that I can chase down that 3-hour mark and I won't get there if I don't put in the work.   Let's do it!

Hope your week is going well!  Anyone else out there suffering from the same miserable heat and humidity as we are in RVA?    

Whole30 and Marathon Training

About three weeks ago my very speedy friend, Sage, challenged me to do a Whole30 (basically, a very strict Paleo diet).  She ran with my group in Richmond before she moved and I've always admired her strength and speed.  She's also a BodyPump instructor and was helpful in encouraging me to get my own certification to teach Pump.  It was nice to know it was possible to do that well without sacrificing fast times on the road.    In any case, when I caught up with her a few weeks ago she mentioned that she'd taken 4 minutes (!!!) of her half marathon PR - bringing her to a 1:20.  I was stoked for her - and immediately wanted to know what she felt was responsible for her breakthrough.  Her surprising answer?  Whole30.

Whole30 is a program (outlined here) that the creators describe as a "short-term nutritional reset, designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and balance your immune system."   You eliminate sugar, grains, dairy, and legumes for 30 days in order to let your body heal and recover from any effects those foods may be causing.

I'm not big on "diets", and I felt like I ate pretty cleanly already.  After being vegetarian for many years I now eat meat, but not a ton of it.  I try to drink lots of water and stay away from most processed foods.  So when Sage raved about this Whole30 plan I was a bit skeptical.  BUT - she's never been one to push any new fads or diets and even admitted that she herself was very surprised at how much it had benefitted her.  I did let her know that I wasn't looking to lose weight - and she assured me that while my body composition would probably change (I'd lose fat), that there was no calorie counting or weight-loss goal and I could easily eat enough to maintain my weight.   I also wanted to make sure that I was getting in carbs.  While this diet allowed some starchy vegetables (sweet potatoes), no corn or grains meant that I knew I'd have to work a bit harder to get adequate carbs to fuel my running.   But with Sage's promise of increased energy, better workouts and improved recovery ringing in my ears, I figured it couldn't hurt to give it a shot.

So, armed with my list of acceptable foods (mainly grass-fed meats, veggies, fruits, and (some) nuts), I hit the grocery store.

Week 1:

The first week was...surprisingly okay!  I swapped out my post-run smoothie (the peanut butter and protein powders were not allowed) for a banana with almond butter, followed with two scrambled eggs.  My snacks were fruit and LaraBars and I swapped out my mocha coffee for tea.   I definitely missed my mochas the most.  I was used to having them a few times during the week and one of my favorite little joys in life is sitting at my kitchen table, reading or working on the computer, while sipping my hot coffee from my Boston mug.  It's the little things, right?  Tea just wasn't the same.   I did enjoy eating healthier snacks, though I found myself eating quite a few cashews and almonds to get that "satisfied" feeling.

Lunches were pretty easy as I just added chicken and removed the cheese to my usual salads.   Dinners this week were pretty bland.  I cooked chili for my family and had to leave out the beans and cheese in my portion (blah!!) and then my beloved Friday night spaghetti was replaced with spaghetti squash.  While it didn't taste bad, it definitely didn't have the same mouth-feel as a nice plate of pasta.  I also ate quite a few sweet potatoes this week to try and make sure I was getting enough carbs.

The running went...okay.  I didn't have a ton of energy, but I did have a decent tempo workout (4 x 3/4ths mile: 6:20, 6:22, 6:17, 6:21) and you all know how the 5K race went.  So that was encouraging.  I'd read the Whole30 timeline and knew to expect a drop in energy for a bit as my body adjusted to the new way of fueling.  Perhaps it was because I was focusing on getting carbs by eating more fruit and sweet potatoes than the plan called for, but I didn't feel a huge slump - just a noticeable decrease.

Week 2:

I was really looking  forward to this week as this was supposed to be the time when all the good stuff started kicking in (increased energy!!  better sleep!!  improved workouts!!).  I kept the same breakfasts and lunches, but food boredom kicked in with the dinners and forced me to be a bit more creative.  I spent some time researching recipes (I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest) and came up with several to try.  I ended up finding several winners, but each took a few hours out of my day to prep and cook.  While I ended up with leftovers for each to use for lunch the next day, it was a pretty big time investment that I wasn't used to having to make.   Normally we keep things pretty simple at my house and I'll cook the same meals but rotate them weekly.  It's easy for my shopping list, and helps cut down on food waste since I know exactly how much I need and often have several staples already on hand.  With these new recipes I found myself in the grocery store almost every day - and shelling out money for ingredients that I wouldn't normally buy (coconut amnios, almond flour, coconut oil...).   But despite all the time for the food prep and cooking, eating the new recipes helped me feel less deprived and happier when it was dinnertime.

The running was up and down this week.  I had a few tough runs and generally felt like I was lacking in energy, but then had a progression run that went fairly well (6:51, 6:51, 6:26, 6:13).   But the long runs....oh the long runs were tough.   With no sugar allowed I couldn't have any gatorade, or fuel ahead of time with my usual bagel and peanut butter.  I had a banana with almond butter and a LaraBar before my 15-miler but found myself starving about 5 miles in.  Very low energy on both of my long runs over these two weeks.   The timeline stated that the "tiger blood" phase of boundless energy and general amazingness should happen around 12-15 days....but I was still waiting.

After 15 days on the program I woke up on Sunday (after my low-energy long run on Saturday) and was just...not feeling it.  I went for my 6-mile run and felt so tired and sluggish.  I came back, ate my Whole30-approved post-run breakfast and decided that I think I'd had enough.  Even though I had only made it halfway through, I decided it was time to start adding back in some whole grains to see if I could get some energy back.  Lunch was still a Whole30-approved salad, but I had a roll with butter later in the day and (joy of joys!) my beloved mocha.  I threw the whole thing out the window at dinner when I had a tiny half piece of Pizza Hut pizza (to go with the leftovers from my Whole30 Pad Thai), and a little bit of ice cream at night.  But woooo boy.  Did I pay for that.  My stomach was miserable for the rest of the evening (the dairy from the mocha and ice cream?  Or the stuff that is in the Pizza Hut pizza?)  and I slept terribly.

My run this morning (one day post-Whole30) was pretty sluggish.  I went back to my normal post-run smoothie (frozen banana, peanut butter, almond milk, protein powder) plus a piece of Ezekiel bread and didn't seem to suffer any ill effects.

So what did I take away from this experience as a runner training hard and fueling via Whole30?  

The BAD:

• I learned that it's tough for me to get enough carbs to fuel the hard workouts and super long runs on Whole30 without careful planning.  And even still I felt that I fell short as my energy was lacking.  Plus, it's tough to recommend a diet that bans peanut butter (a runner staple!!). :)
• I'm still not on board with a diet that cuts out whole, unprocessed grains and beans.  I understand that gluten bothers some folks and fully support them cutting that out of their diet.  But for the rest of us, whole grains can help us get the carbohydrates we need to fuel our runs and support a healthy diet.
• Life is too short to be in a constant state of deprivation.  Part of the reason I run is so that I can indulge on occasion in delicious food.  I get lots of enjoyment from going out with friends or family to a nice restaurant, taking my kids for a ice cream on a hot summer day, or sipping a hot chocolate with marshmallows on a snowy morning.  A plan like Whole30 that doesn't allow any of that and makes it hard to be social.  Now, I realize that this is a 30-day reset and not a true lifestyle diet, but even in those 30 days there were too many gatherings and social opportunities I didn't want to miss.

The GOOD:

• I learned that I was eating way too many scraps of things - the crusts from my kids sandwiches, a few chips here and there, a quick handful of chocolate chips, etc.  I was snacking a lot on random things - many that were less than nutritious.  The Whole30 made sure that every calorie I ate was working to fuel my body with healthy stuff - and I want to continue that trend going forward.  I will definitely be paying closer attention to what I choose for snacks.
• I learned that if I don't have my mocha every day, or a glass of wine each night, when I DO have those things I enjoy them more.   Moderation with those treats makes me take the time to really savor them.
• I did appreciate the fact that it made me broaden my horizons and add some delicious new meals to my repertoire.  I've also learned that sugar is in EVERYTHING that is packaged (sweet potato fries - really!?!?) and I'm even more committed now to reading labels and making my own foods whenever possible.  Despite the significant time commitment for recipe prep, eating foods that I knew were wholesome and without any additives was worth it.
• I didn't experience a huge energy boost.   That's on my "good" list because I believe it validates the fact that I was eating fairly clean to begin with.  I was hoping to use Whole30 to tighten up my diet that last 20% and so I was pleased to see that my original diet was probably "good enough".  As  runners many of us are always on the lookout for ways to improve our running - to squeeze that extra little bit out of our training.  It was worth the experiment to find out that the extra work (and lack of a social life) that Whole30 entails was not worth it for an unnoticeable gain in energy or improvement in my running.

The Bottom line: I think for now I'm going to keep things Whole30-ish.   I do plan to watch my snacking more carefully and limit treats like mochas and wine a little more.  (Perhaps as a treat for completing a hard workout that day)  And I'd like to continue branching out with recipes to incorporate more veggies and healthy proteins in my dinners.  But I'll continue to eat whole grains and beans and I'm happy to say that peanut butter has reentered my life.

And for now?  It's a good day.

 Has anyone out there done the Whole30?  Love it/hate it?