Yesterday, Friday, March 20 marked exactly thirty-one days to April 20th, which will be a Monday!
You may be wondering, why the fuss with “the 20th”?
Worry no more, March 20th is the Official First Day of Spring 2015; April 20th is the set date for Boston Marathon 2015. Incidentally, both days are gut wrenching to me.
While Spring officially began – it also snowed, expected to accumulate to six inches. Isn’t life too strange? Just the other day, we were happily clad in our little skirts, kissing Winter goodbye, saying hello to Spring blossoms!
April 20th is also beckoning me, with nervous blossoms! I have to be ready to run 26.2 miles of the Boston Marathon, and do it with a good finish, better than my current record of 3h:56min. I have tried training with discipline, or so I think. Yet, I do not feel as strong as I was last time I ran a marathon in 2013. I said a lot about my fitness and training experience this time around, in my writing last week.
This week, I have thus far put in 27.4 miles out of a possible 48 miles in three days. I still have two days to run this week, seven miles tomorrow – Saturday and 14 miles on Sunday. I am hoping to beat my procrastination and run Saturday on snow. Where the hell are my Yaktrax? Yes I Can still achieve my goal for this week, and slightly more! I am more optimistic about Sunday, shhh don’t tell anyone I am losing my umph! Turns out, I spent Saturday at the gym taking a break from the concrete
I guess I need to go into that “Taper Zone” yesterday, even though the run schedule I am using is telling me otherwise. I still need to put in more strength training at home and the gym. This week has tested my strength, and questioned my resilience. I have done better time than this week. Ugh! Blame it on the weather, speed training, long distance running and low strength.
In all fairness, the weather has not too bad, except for a few windy days that required gloves and facial masks. I have ran through worse winter days. This time, I went for speed on plenty of runs, burning out on the climbs, without quick recovery – State of Mind.
Typically, my runs begin with setting up four different run Apps, followed by fitting on three pairs of gloves that take a hell lot of my time, before I start running. Somebody please point me to a pair of gloves warm enough to withstand the brisk winter cold. I bought the most expensive skiing gloves from my area sports store, but my lil’ fingers still froze real bad!
Along all my running routes are plenty of steep climbs, especially the last two near competition of my runs. After all the speed running, they kind of burn me out with a not so stellar ending. I am yet to regain my stamina. I am consoling myself that I will do better running with a group on Marathon day and finding pacesetters.Though, the 3+ run apps I am using kind of take their toll on me. I would not recommend it to anyone. Though, each has its story.
One, is the longest I have used ever since I started running Apps back in June 2013. It also has most of my friends from around the world, allowing me to follow their fitness activities and and stay inspired. From time to time, it offers me a chance to subscribe to a challenge with occasional benefits of “one-month free Elite Membership Passes” and access to all my running statistics in comparison to others, thus boosting my running. proficiency.
In 2014, I subscribed to another App that combined running with a good nutrition monitoring package, allowing me to submit daily food intake and monitor calorie intake. Gone are those days of obsessing over what I eat, submitting daily food intake! I got so confused trying to monitor food intake, and ate more to make up for the calories lost during exercise. Out with calorie counting; hello disciplined eating! Plus, this App also tracks my running gear mileage, alerts me when I need to replace my shoes, and recommends equally good ones.
The third app is relatively new, offered to Boston Marathon entrants. I started using it late in training, so it is kind of off Boston Marathon schedule. The fourth is my charity App I use to I donate all my mileage run or walked (I rarely record any walking) to the a charity of my choice – Every Mother Counts.
Running with four apps can be daunting, especially the three loudest Apps! Each has own timing and cues- when one says “speed up”, another says “slow down to blue zone”, then another says, “you are behind your target time.” Too confusing, but I suck it up and concentrate more on my first choice, that I started with for marathon training.
Hopefully, next week is gonna be much better, with 52 miles lined up, the last planned long distance run. Thereafter, it will be speed training and more speed training. Hopefully, no more snow days! OR somebody better ship me off to train on top of the Sahara…
And while we start the Spring blossoms, please do not forget about me. I am still asking for your support, toward my Boston Marathon charity, Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition, kindly click on this link https://www.crowdrise.com/doreenlwanga to donate toward my fundraiser. Together, we can support and sustain good health, wellness and fitness research and services to the public.
Comments