Mental Energy and Physical Energy

It wasn't a sure thing that I'd even run the 5K this morning... I was really going back and forth in my mind. This seems to be a common plague among runners, and really, type A individuals generally. Should I run the race (or do x)? Or should I do something else? It's hot (or cold), my legs are tired, I don't feel confident, it's late in the day (or too early), etc. etc. There are any number of permutations and excuses to challenge the exercise plan that run through (pardon the pun) one's mind on any given day.

I've long known I spend an exorbitant amount of mental and emotional energy on gaming out scenarios--call me a worry wart-- for any given situation, including the daily exercise plan. I also spend a lot of mental energy in my job. Writing complex, well-developed and supported arguments wipes a body out! And teaching is even worse! The cycle is vicious, however, because I run to calm the gerbils in my mind, and yet, when I'm not running, I'm worrying about when the next run will be, will it be comfortable, will my foot hurt, etc. etc.

There's a new movement towards zen/meditative running, or at least, incorporating yogic and meditative breathing into one's running form. I haven't (consciously) tried this, but I do know that I've thought about it! And maybe that's the first step...and I've even mentioned it to a newbie runner friend who was struggling to breathe on a recent run. After 20 years of running, maybe I'm still a newbie when it comes to calming the gerbils, or taming my "monkey mind," as these mental exhaustive energies are called in the Runner's World piece. It's certainly taken me years to figure out when to rest so as not to get injured, and to be grateful rather than annoyed that a 5K turned into a 2.3 mile tempo run.

That's what ended up happening this morning--I went to the 5K with a calm mind. I wasn't going to worry about time (it was hot! it was a trail course!), and I wasn't going to worry about pushing myself too hard. I was just going to run what felt good. So when I took a wrong turn and accidentally cut the last part of the course, I was actually grateful. I got in what I had wanted to do--a bit of a tempo run--and I didn't care that I had no time. I was almost zen about it (except that I had to then negotiate the race volunteers...we exchanged multiple apologies...it was no one's fault!)

In any case, today's run confirmed what I know to be true, and perhaps could be a mantra: It's always a good day when you run.

5K-9

Steve and Thea run to the finish at the 5K-9

 Got another great run in this lovely Saturday morning. 5K of it was with Steve and our pooch Thea. They tore it up!

Replenishing with much-needed water

Ups and Downs--Here's to 2014

It has been fourteen months since my last post. What has happened in this past year? Quite a lot. A lot of ups and downs, joys and much pain, both physical and emotional. I write again today because I ran my first 10 miles since November, 2012. 10 mile route, Cedar Falls

The highlights:

• Finishing my fourth Twin Cities marathon in October. Not fast, but finished after a lot of mental energy spent worrying about knee and foot injuries.
• Seeing old friends in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia marathon in November and running there with my husband.
• Running in Evanston along the lakefront and seeing my twin in July, 2012; Running along the Witte Singel in Leiden in the dark, in a light snow fall in January, 2013; Running in the woods and along the river in Aarau, Switzerland in January, 2013 while visiting my twin; Running in shorts in Central Park in February, 2013; Running in Big Sur and Sacramento with my husband in July, 2013
• Running a relatively fast Furry 5K with my husband and pooch Thea
• Biking 50 miles with my husband and a bike club for the 4th of July, 2013
• Running 8 miles, proudly, and getting a pedicure with my husband on my birthday, 2013
• Training a good friend for a 5K and seducing her into the sport of running!

The lowlights:

• A year of plantar fasciitis, of varying degrees, plaguing me since July, 2012. Knee pain. Cortisone shots, physical therapy, orthotics, and many acupuncture appointments to try to stay active.
• Many friends and acquaintances diagnosed with various cancers. Makes my PF look like nothing.
• Newtown, CT; Boston Marathon bombing. Drones. 
• Two feline family members died, in March and July, 2013, respectively.
• A lot of stress, generally. Unsurprisingly, this past year was stellar for me, professionally, and we remodeled the upstairs, both of which could be considered highlights. But these things take their toll...

The silver linings:

• I learned a lot about myself, emotionally and physically. I try to live in gratitude each day, and manage stress better.
• Acupuncture, meditation, intimacy with family and friends help manage stress.
• I took up spinning, and learned to love biking, even road biking! Two 50 mile rides under my belt this summer! I never would have done this if I hadn't been injured.
• Only running the 1/2 marathon in Philadelphia proved I can listen to my body...I was proud of myself for cutting it short.
• I cherish any running at all. A 5k, even slow, is a victory. Running 2 miles with a friend is a victory. 8 miles is icing on a cake. It's all relative.

I ran the Sturgis Falls 5K this June--not fast, but I did it!
The Stop sign is at my back. Symbolic?

Running New York

I have been in the Empire State for the last two weeks on a research trip. While I love my research, library study is lonely, solo work largely done inside under soul-sucking fluorescent lights, so the best parts of my trip thus far have been sharing amazing long runs and food with old friends. Today, I had a fantastic run in New York City! Jean and Nick took me on a fantastic 13.5 loop of Brooklyn (formerly Breukelen) and the lower end of Manhattan. I was so happy to run down the promenade with the skyline of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty and Governor's Island (formerly Nutten Island, where the first boatload of Walloons set up in 1624, until Peter Minuit began building a fort across the way in 1626), all under a perfectly clear blue sky! We crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and then ran through Battery Park and through the tiny area that was Nieuw Amsterdam--past the Customs House, which is where Fort Amsterdam was, and the plaque for the old Dutch church built in 1633 at Pearl and Broad Streets.

Then we wound our way back up past the Old Slip, through the Bowery (Stuyvesant's old farm) and across  the Manhattan Bridge and through Fort Greene. I had the best tour guides!

Of course, part of the fun of long runs is the food and drink post-run! And Jean and Nick did not disappoint. We had fantastic breakfast tacos at Guero's Taco Bar (Nick knows everybody in his Franklin Ave-Brooklyn 'hood, and you can follow his blog about it here). Post-run calories were also a highlight when I ran a longish solo11.5 miler in Albany last week. After the run, I enjoyed catching up with a college friend (has it really been 10 years??) and sampling tasty beer (mmmm Wee Heavy...) and local Albany craft brews at Ye Olde English Pub and Evans Ale Pumphouse.

 

Next week, I'll try to run long in Grand Rapids, Michigan, while there for a conference. Hopefully the "Great Lakes" state can compete with great Empire... (I love that the Dutch in part began their empire in what became the Empire State in our new empire 400 years later...)

Claes Jansz Visscher, View of Nieuw Amsterdam, c. 1651. Handcolored intaglio.

Welcome to 2012! PRs and Pride

Welcome to Heartland's Harrier 2012!!

After an ass-kickin' 2011 Twin Cities Marathon, the denouement of late fall slid into the warmest winter on record here in the upper midwest. I  took a long vacation from blogging. As an academic, my writing energy was funneled elsewhere. I'm opening up the racing season of 2012 with a list of personal records and a bit o' philosophy concerning pride.

First, the PRs:
5K: 21:43 7/4/2008 Firecracker race, Williamsburg, IA tied with 2009 Park2Park 5K, Cedar Falls, IA
10K: 47:40 Run For The Schools, 10/15/2006 Iowa City, IA
7 mile: 54:20 Run The Flood, 6/11/2011, Cedar Rapids, IA
10 Mile: 1:19:57 MDRA 10 Mile, 5/29/2011, St. Paul, MN
1/2 Marathon: 1:43:33 Sturgis Falls 6/26/2011, Cedar Falls IA
Marathon:  3:49 Twin Cities, 10/2011, Mpls-St. Paul, MN

Most of these PRs happened for me last year. The training journey continues, and as I grow ever-more comfortable with my body in my 30s, I am racing and running better than ever.

I started keeping a running training log in 2003, when I began graduate school. It was instructive to go back and read how little I ran compared to now--and note the comments I wrote about how stressed out I was! Back then, I also experienced a lot more pain running. In more than a few entries, I comment on knee pain, hip pain, and heel pain throughout the 2003 season and into 2008.

In the past two and half years--since I began training for the 2010 Twin Cities-- I have learned much about my body, strength training, and fueling. It's a wonderful thing to start a training season feeling that 15 miles is kind of hard,  but by the end, feeling that a 24 mile run is the new 15, because 15 is "easy."

I credit a lot of this success to various teachers. I've been running since 1992, but only since 2010 did I really learn how to do specific strength for running, based on the weakness of my body. Butt! Hamstrings! Back! Who knew? I certainly didn't. A friend and Doctor of Physical Therapy (shout out Pura Vida PT!) clued me in to my weaknesses. A few personal training sessions, and supplemental kettlebell and pilates classes at NRG Pilates have made a noticeable--and quantifiable--difference in my running times, and better, how I feel during runs and in races. Even Runner's World is jumping on the kettlebell and pilates bandwagons! RW Kettlebell; RW Pilates

This past weekend I raced my first 5K of the season (Go The Distance for Crime Victims), with my hubby, who has taken up running in a whole new and serious way! (I am so happy and proud of him!) He ran 21:41--a PR for him--and I ran a respectable 22:20. Saturday he'll race an 8K, and I will race the 1/2 Marathon in Des Moines as part of the Drake Relays events.

Now for the philosophy (briefly). Pride is one of the seven deadlies, and the sin I probably commit most frequently. But as I tell my students, "Own your shit." It's important to be proud of who you are--not to the point of narcissicism--but rather, so that you can hold your ground when necessary, and so that you have the desire, the motivation to push yourself. My numbers, compared to many, are painfully slow. Others may think they're crazy fast. But for me, they're the best they've been--and that's all I'm gauging. That's why I love running and other individual sports--it's about you, the work you've put in, and the comfort of the clock.