Running Motivation: Today is Not That Day

“There will be a day when you can no longer do this. Today is not that day.” - Laura Kloepper  

The above quote is one of my mother’s favorites. It’s become her mantra to get out the door and go run. It seems to be working as she’s completed more than a few half marathons after taking up running a couple of years ago.

I think of this quote when I am bummed that the alarm is going off again at a time that begins with a “4”.   I think of it when it’s 20 degrees outside and I’ve got to pull on what feels like 30 pounds of clothing before I head out the door. (Or, like today, when it’s 75 degrees with 90% humidity at 5am and I can’t possibly remove any more clothing without being arrested.)

Running is a huge piece of who I am, though I came to the sport later in life.  I’m not sure if I was always meant to be a runner, but by now I’ve run so much that I feel I have definitely become one. I am so grateful to have found both the running itself and the wonderful community that comes with it.

That being said, there are definitely days when it’s tough to get out the door.   On those types of days I think about this quote. While I hope that I’m one of those runners that is still running well into their 90s, I know I shouldn’t take any day for granted.

Not one of us is guaranteed another day on this Earth – or another run.   Each time we lace up our shoes we should embrace it. Embrace THIS run, this time to stretch our legs and lungs and marvel at our body’s ability to do this. To crest each hill on our route, to move over the ground with long strides, legs picking up speed as we cruise on the downhill.   For some of our fellow brothers and sisters, this is a feeling that they will never get to experience. They will never feel the beautiful, muscles-burning, lungs-aching, heart-pounding exhilaration of the last few minutes of a tempo run. Or the slow, relaxed pace of a recovery run that allows you to watch the sun slowly rise to bathe you in the new morning light.

Each day, each run is a gift. When you get lonely or frustrated on the roads and tired of putting in the miles day after day, remember this:

“There will be a day when you can no longer do this. TODAY IS NOT THAT DAY.”

Go lace up those shoes, my friends.

Training Week in Review – 14 weeks out from Harrisburg (7/28/14 - 8/3/14)

Back to the high(er) mileage this week with a total of 65 miles. It’s definitely beginning to feel like marathon training season even though I have two more weeks before I officially start my schedule. I’m trying not to stress about the fact that this amount of mileage already feels like significant work and yet I’ve got the bulk of the tough training ahead of me.   But one step at a time, right? This week I focused on getting in some solid runs and tackling a tempo again. I even made it back into the gym for some core work and Body Pump classes. Here’s how the week shook out: Monday: 10 miles easy (8 min pace)

Tuesday: 8 miles w/20 min tempo (a.m.) + 2 miles recovery (later in the a.m.)+ Body Pump

Wednesday: 7 miles easy (a.m.) + 4.5 miles recovery (p.m.) (9:15 pace) + core

Thursday: 8 miles easy (8:16 pace) + Body Pump

Friday: 6.68 miles recovery (8:30 pace) + core

Saturday: 14.5 miles trail run (7:55 pace)

Sunday: 5 miles recovery + Body Pump

Total miles: 65

Tuesday’s Tempo – tempo miles at 6:48, 6:31, 6:30

I was happy to have company for Tuesday’s tempo run. I’ve mentioned it before but tempos are the hardest workouts for me to deal with – both mentally and physically they challenge me in every way. So I’ve been making myself do more of them to try and overcome the anxiety that crops up when I see these on my schedule.   In any case, K., a speedy friend from my Saturday group, came and joined me for this tempo. His marathon pace is my tempo pace (yikes) so this was easy-peasy for him but major work for me. I was a bit frustrated when I saw the first mile split was above the pace I wanted, but for such a hot and humid morning (75 degrees, 61 dewpoint) I decided it was more about the effort I was putting in than the actual splits. Even so I tried to focus a bit more and was happy to see the second and third miles were better. I was so happy to get home to my ice-cold water and smoothie – whew!

Wednesday’s runs were a hodge-podge of me trying to squeeze things in with my normal life as a mom. I started by running 7 miles outside at an easy pace in the early morning with a friend, then came home, showered and put on another set of workout clothes. Headed to the Y, dropped one daughter off at the pool for her 30 minute swim lesson and then jumped on the treadmill for a quick 2.5 miles before I had to be back downstairs at the pool to pick her up. I got her changed and then took my other daughter over to a day camp she was attending for that day, headed back to the Y, and caught the last 15 minutes of my core class. After the class ended I did some more core work (since I’d missed the first 15 minutes of class), and finished up with an additional 2 miles on the treadmill. Whew. It was a hectic morning just trying to get everyone to where they needed to be and still fit this in. But I felt great when I got through it! I also was pretty smelly for most of the morning until I could get home and get in another shower!

Saturday Trail Run:  Kept things easy until Saturday when I ran with the group. The run this week was in our local state park and we ran on trails/fire roads for a 5-mile loop. We did the loop twice and with our mileage to and from the park it worked out to be 14.5 miles total. It had rained the day and night before the run so we had some puddles to dodge and slippery footing at times. I’m definitely not a big trail runner and while these trails were not very technical, it was challenging on my ankles as I had to constantly adjust my footing. Since I’m fairly short at 5’4”, I had a hard time seeing the trail when I wasn’t at the front of the pack! But it was very fun to run someplace new and our group (thankfully) kept the pace on the easy side.   I'm not the most graceful person so I’m just super-happy that I ended the run without taking a fall (caught myself twice!) or twisting an ankle! Woo hoo!

Up Next: Stepping it up – 70 miles

Next week is another slight increase in miles to a total of 70. I’m going to try another tempo and keep up with my core work and some weight training. I may have to get creative with some runs towards the end of the week as life intervenes but that’s part of the fun, right?

That was my training week in review – how was your week?

Running on No Sleep

Today’s workout: 11.5 miles easy/recovery On Friday night I was woken up 12 times by my little ones.   My husband is pretty great about getting up and helping to tuck them back into bed or administer medicine, but it’s still a long night of broken sleep for both of us. Like most parents of young kids, nights at my house do not usually include a blissful 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Instead, like many of you, the stillness of night is punctuated by the cries of small children. Nightmares, sickness, glasses of water and lost blankets. We are left with bits and pieces of sleep that we try to cobble together to get as much rest as we can. I recognize that this is just a stage of life for myself and my family. As the children grow they will need me less and less throughout the night. But for now, the lack of sleep has a profound effect on many things – one of them being my training.

As a runner, I know how important sleep is to proper recovery. But life often gets in the way and prevents me from logging the “recommended” 8-10 hours a night.   As a result, after nights of broken sleep my training often isn’t all that I’d hoped for and I’m left with low energy and struggle to hit prescribed paces.

We know that getting consistent, solid sleep is crucial to running recovery. But on days that you aren’t able to get the sleep you need, here’s how to make it through:

Running on No Sleep? Try This:  

-       Shift the workout: If you have the option, you can wait and run the workout later in the day. After rough nights with my girls I’ve often moved my 5am run to later in the day. Either mid-morning at the gym or (if that’s not an option), later on during nap time. I’ve even moved it to later in the evening when my husband is home or after the kids have gone to bed. Getting those extra hours of sleep in the morning can mean the difference for me between a disaster of a workout or one that’s decent.

-       Change the workout: I’ve done this one many times. If you can’t move the time of your workout, adjust the distance or paces.   Make that tempo run into an easy 7-miler and shift the tempo to another day when you’ve gotten more sleep.

-       Power nap: If you can, take 20-30 minutes out of your day to close your eyes. When I worked full-time I would occasionally head to my car during my lunch break and close my eyes for 20 minutes. When my children were really little, I tried to nap when they did.

-       Let it go: There are just some days where lack of sleep can mean that the workout doesn’t happen. Trust your running enough to know that one extra day of rest will not ruin your whole season.

When your kids are young your training may not be the very best – and that’s okay. I struggled with wanting to control my training and get every workout done while hitting the very best paces.   I soon learned that, young kids or not, I don’t have as much control as I’d like. Do what you can, when you can and try to let the rest go.

Do you have other tips for those of us who are getting less sleep?

Related:  How to Improve Your Sleep to Improve Your Running