Looking Back on my August Training

Pinch, punch, first day of the month!
I am sooooo happy it's finally September. Only 17 more days till I am embraced by the warm sunshine that is Hawai'i. I am so unfrickinbelievably excited.

August Training:
I'm gonna be straight up honest here: August training did NOT go as planned. I'm not too bummed out about it; but I am worried that perhaps I have hindered my rate of progress, by missing so many miles. I was supposed to have run 110-120 miles this month. I only managed to run 77.1 miles. That's a 40 mile difference. I wonder how much of a difference those miles would have made on my running.

The first two weeks started off great; accomplishing three training milestones. I even got to the point of calling a 6 miler an easy run! I felt like I was on top of it all; I could tell I was getting stronger, both cardiovascularly and muscularly. I even scored a new 10K PR of 49 minutes and 9 seconds and placed third in my age group for a prize of free ice cream!

Then I got the bad news on the 18th: Tendinitis. That really threw me for a loop, both mentally and physically. At first, the physical pain was so bad, that I wasn't even thinking straight about what it would mean for my future in training. But as reality sank in a little, I realized I was only 5 weeks out from the Maui Half Marathon, and I would be sidelined from running JUST as it became CRUCIAL to fit in quality training runs!

I mean, NOT being able to run is hard enough mentally, but knowing that this hiatus could potentially cost me a new PR made me so frustrated. I wanted to just go out there and bust out those repeats on the treadmill, bust out those 14 milers, and bust through my old PR. I had to completely refrain from running for 8 whole days, and only managed 16 EEEAAAASSSSYYYY miles last week. And let's not even get into the whole pity party I had about the injury, all the disappointment, reassessment of training plans, loss of self confidence, even guilt, this stupid little knee issue put me through.

But with bad news, there is always good news. On the bright side of August training, my swimming improved by leaps and bounds, thanks in part to my new awesome $5.99 swim cap! Swimming became my new favorite mode of cross training. There is something extremely calming about feeling the water on your face, not being able to hear anything, just staring down at the blue line on the bottom, and just swimming lap after lap after lap and literally just drowning all the self doubt in the water. Swimming has been beneficial in maintaining my cardiovascular endurance and in strengthening my arms/shoulders.

In terms of being both good and bad, let's talk nutrition. I really just cannot, for the life of me, find a good nutrition plan and stick to it. Actually, that's not true. I have a good basic nutrition plan. Where the problem lies, is that basically, I get derailed from the plan everytime there are baked goods involved. See, I am like a little kid. I love sweets, and would gladly eat two donuts for dinner instead of salmon and brown rice. My problem is not that I buy these so-called "bad" food items and have them around the house, but that I can't really afford them. So whenever I have an opportunity for free food (office parties, dinner parties, when someone else offers to pay...heehee) I act like I have never seen cookies before, and eat like I'm never going to have another cookie in my life again. And for some reason, there were one too many opportunities for free food. Yeah, that kind of messed me up, coupled with the fact that my training was scaled WAYYYYYYYYYYY down. Oops. Darned Costco cookies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

Looking ahead:
All I know at this point is that the half marathon is in 19 days, I am leaving for Hawai'i in 16 days, I am moving (this time for real) in 30 days, and the marathon is in 3 months and 5 days. Oh, and I have tendinits. Hmmmmmmmmm.
Honestly, I don't know how I am going to train. Not knowing if my knee can handle it or not makes it difficult to plan. I guess the only viable option right now is to ease back into my previous training intensity/volume. I am really going to focus on stretching and strengthening my quads, swimming when my knee hurts, and trying to fit in runs when I can, even if its only 3 miles.

For some reason, I am not worried about the upcoming marathon at ALL. It's my first one, so I have absolutely NO expectations, no goals, no hopes, no nothing. I don't even care if I don't run the whole thing. All I care is that I finish it and have a good time.
But the Half Marathon. Now THIS I give a sh!t about. I have a record to beat, and I am flying all the way to Maui and paying a lot of $ for crying out loud!

I guess only time will tell. grrr. Stupid Tendinitis! I am trying to stay positive and focus on all the things I AM capable of. It's a new month, a new perspective on training. Time to let go of all that negative energy and focus on the good. I can do this, I can do this, I CAN DO THIS!!

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Before I go though, I just HAVE to show you the coolest thing I have ever seen a real dog do. James' housemate's friend brought over her puppie Jade (yes I know she's huge but she is still a puppy!). She has so many cool tricks up her sleeve paw, such as multi-tasking: chasing her tail and going up the stairs at the same time:


and this one is my favorite: The man and dog chest bump. Jade absolutely LOVES doing this! How friggin adorable is she?