Oh, Still Running?

One tenth of the items packed for Boston weekend.

You know, I have these great ambitions. Back in the winter is was to chronicle my training to the Boston Marathon. I'd record each run, its highs and lows, mile splits, and be generally inspired by my own badass self, propelling me to a PR on April 20th.

Just a little off the 3:20 I'd been training for.

Um, ha ha. Womp womp. Cool story, bro.

Back in January, right after my last post, I had a gnarly bout with my left Achilles. As it turns out running on tired legs through the slippery snow isn't the greatest workout for already-overtaxed calves. Add to that I'd been running in my beloved Adidas Energy Boosts which, though light and comfy, put a lot of strain on my Achilles. I ended up taking a week off running, doing some cross-training indoors, and then getting back to running.

In the snow. And wind. And ice. And then back to the treadmill more often than I wanted.

Two days before the marathon, along the Charles River. Weather looks nice, huh?

Anyway. The short story is, my training was sub-par this time around. I am still working out the reasons for it, but mostly my attitude was terrible. I dreaded every workout, hated running in the freezing temperatures, got pissed every time I had to bundle under every article of winter running clothing AT THE SAME TIME. By the time the race weekend came around, I was mentally spent.

A couple of things I failed to do were to adjust my time goals and expectations to match my training, and change my attitude to truly enjoy the race experience. When race day rolled around, and the weather was, uhhh, sub-optimal (read: soaking wet and chilly), I simply got halfway and said SCREW THIS. I think if I had adjusted earlier on in the training I would have been better mentally prepared for the day.

Or maybe not. Who can say?

Anyway. I feel like part of me broke somewhere between training for Boston and the actual race. Currently, I'm working on true recovery runs. For a few weeks this meant running without a watch and not stressing about pace. I can't say honestly that I believe I'm in the best head space, running-wise, but not worrying about hitting certain times has helped get me to a better place.

Although a certain footwear company also uses this as its motto, I like to think I adopted it first.  Potato, potahto. 

So for now, I have a half marathon next week that I am truly using as a baseline, a new starting point. I can't expect to run the same times I was running three years ago when I'm doing different work. I do think I need to cut back on CrossFit a bit. It feels counter-productive, despite how much I enjoy it. I'm going to eat that elephant, one bite at a time. It just might take me a lot of really small bites to get there.

You haven't seen the last of me.