Summer Frustration - Running and Otherwise

Intellectually, I know I shouldn’t expect any significant improvement in my times, during the heat of summer. I know that, if I do the work, when the temps start to moderate in the fall, I’ll see my times drop. Emotionally, however, I’m looking for that jolt of gratification from incremental improvement.

I should be thrilled with the progress I’ve made, so far. When I first started running (and I use the term loosely,) less than two years ago, I started out with 14 minute pace 5K. I can now run a 9 minute pace 15K, fairly comfortably, 8ish minute pace 5K with effort, and a 7ish minute all out mile.

But it’s not good enough! My completely unreasonable goal is to run a BQ (Boston qualifier) by the end of the year. Currently, my marathon PR (personal record) is 4:24, from the Walt Disney World Marathon, this past January (after running the Half Marathon at an easy pace, the previous day.) I need to knock a good 40 minutes off of that. By Christmas. Absurd? Yes! But it’s a goal, and I’m going to work toward it. While going back to school, making some career changes, and losing at least 10 pounds.

If only I could figure out how to sleep. *sigh*

Realistically, I know this is going to take time, consistent effort, and a sticking to a sound training plan. I also know that a sub-4 hour marathon is a slightly more reasonable goal than a BQ, for this year. If I want to be completely reasonable, I could aim for 4:15, which I think I could knock out with my current level of fitness.

The “sticking to a sound training plan” part is going to be key, for me. Left to my own devices, I pretty much choose to run every training run at tempo to race pace, which is way too fast for regular training. I’m just wearing myself out. The past few runs, I’ve finally started making good use of my Garmin 305, using the heart rate monitor feature to keep my heart rate below 150. Even that is a bit high, for easy/long runs, but it’s better than the 160-170’s that I’ve been hitting, regularly.

I’ve settled on the “Run Less, Run Faster” FIRST training plan, with one modification. (I really wanted to try Hansons’, but, no matter how I crunch the numbers, I just can’t run 6 days a week, with my work schedule.) My main issue with the FIRST plan is that it calls for two days of cross-training, specifically in the form of cycling, swimming, or rowing, in addition to three high-quality runs, per week. Let me just say - not gonna happen. If I had access to a stationary bike and a rowing machine, I might be able to make it work by switching between them for 10 minute intervals, but I don’t.

Bikes take too much maintenance, for my taste. I commuted by bike, year ’round, for several years, when I lived in Minneapolis. I did my time. And I just plain hate swimming. I tried to learn to like swimming. I failed. What can I say? I’m lazy, that way. My compromise is to make use of my collection of aerobic workout videos, instead. For me, that’s a lot more doable. The point is to get in a high quality aerobic workout, equivalent to running, without taxing the major running muscles. I think they’ll do the trick, and I won’t be hating life on my cross-training days.

Which brings me to the weight loss issue. After losing 10 pounds, last fall, and then gaining most of it back, over Christmas vacation, I’ve been struggling to make any progress. I’ve knocked off about 3 pounds, and have been stuck there, forever. Appearance-wise, another 3 pounds would do the trick, putting me at my comfy weight, where clothes fit, and my face looks just right (at 5‘1“, three pounds makes a big difference!) Training-wise, though, I could stand to lose another 10, to get to a true, lean racing weight. It’ll make my face a bit on the Skeletor-side, but that’s a price I’m willing to pay, for Boston.

I think that sticking to a reasonable training plan will help, here, too. I need to mix things up, on a regular basis, a la CrossFit/P90X. Also, I’m eating pretty well, but there’s definitely some unnecessary garbage that I can cut out. Time to kick the all the simple carbs to the curb, again.

These past few weeks have been very frustrating, on many levels. It’s been hot and humid (welcome to summer in Florida,) so I just don’t want to leave the house. We’ve also been dealing with the smoke from all of the wildfires, although that seems to have eased off, the past few days, since we finally got a little rain. Kids don’t seem to know what to do with themselves, out of school. We’re all just crabby and snapping at each other.

And then there’s the work stuff going on that I’m not in a position to discuss, publicly, at the moment. Honestly, I think that’s the root of a lot of our frustrations, right now, and it’s just manifesting in myriad ways. I’ve already taken some major steps in trying to fix this situation. Just waiting for it all to play out, now. Feeling stuck in an impossible situation is incredibly stressful. Waiting for results, once you’ve taken action, is almost as stressful. Just like with my running, I have to work the plan, and have faith that the results will come.