Respect the run; 7 weeks till Rock N Roll Half

On July 22 I’m registered to run the  XSport Fitness Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon, a mere 7 Sundays away. The hotel is booked and the sitter is arranged. Now all I have to do is run.   I don’t think I’ve ever slammed in training for a race this quickly before. I have been off  the Doctor mandated four weeks and only was a short 2 miler once to test my foot out.  I don’t think it really is/was a sesamoid fracture, but rather  more likely inflammation and flare up.  He also mentioned arthritis so I’m hoping for “old” vs. broken.  This will likely be the last time I hope to be “old”.  The down side to that diagnosis though is the foot/joint is going to be my new potential whiner and fit thrower, not unlike the ticking time bomb of kids on long car trips.  It’s going to try to screw with my mind and my confidence.  Hyperfocus on an injury or body part is not a good part of a run.

The last four weeks have both crawled and flown by.  When I can’t run it’s almost like time stands still so I’m really looking forward to getting back out there this week and seeing how the foot feels.  I’m interested in how bad the first 2 weeks of training are going to suck as I shed my lazy  and recondition my lungs and heart.  My legs have certainly enjoyed the break,  almost 4 weeks of zero muscle soreness has been  quite lovely.   I haven’t been a complete and total sloth; there was gardening, dancing and one trial run,  but I still didn’t do any cross training.  I blame the ADD, it’s a task I wasn’t really all that pumped about, so I just didn’t do it.  Given the short timeline to the next race, play time is definitely over.

There is a new running schedule to negotiate because Babu is supposed to run this one too, but I”m not going to hound him about  training or buying his bib, I need to focus on myself. I’ve got to get my mental crap together so I can push past those last 3-4 miles.  I’ve only got two more races scheduled for this year and I’d like to realize my goal of not walking that last 3 miles sooner rather than later.

I need to focus on my physical strength by adding an extra 1-2 days of either strength, flexibility or cross training is a must. I’ve already got my sights on another round of Yo-Pi, nothing like some downward dog and scissor kicks to tone and lengthen.  There is one school of thought to run 6 days a week, but with less miles on the short days, I may look into that if only to keep it a part of almost every day, and maybe shed some more weight while I am at it.

A training plan must be documented and followed, or I will skip runs from laziness or bad planning.

I have to eat cleaner, drink more water, get enough sleep, take my vitamins.

I need to be gentle, yet firm with myself.

Things are getting full of chaos at the office, and I may be spending the whole summer  working remote at home. This  means I can run in the morning at a reasonable hour and don’t have to commute or be pretty for my first round of meetings.

My running posts may get more boring and technical as I plan to really analyze and look critically at my diet and training and how it affects my performance,  I think this means I can  feel like a ‘real” runner now, maybe?

We’ll see 🙂