Good-bye 13.1, hello 5K and running people in

My being sick has allowed me to really reflect on my fitness/running.  I have made the OFFICIAL decision to NOT run 13.1 Prairie Fire Marathon.  I am going to run the 5K and run some of my peeps in instead.  I am going to still come to the long Saturday runs because I really enjoy them and will run what I can.  On a physical level I have gained weight since my marathon Oklahoma City Marathon.   and it has made running supper hard and distances over 6 miles not enjoyable.  People tell me I "hide it well"  and don't look overweight to them, but the truth of the matter is that NONE of my jeans/slacks/pants fit me and I have been forced to wear dresses.  I wish I could blame all of this on menopause but I can't.  I eat when I am stressed. It blows my mind that I ran a marathon 4 months ago and am NO WHERE near that fitness level.  If you have ran with me you know what the source of my stress is.  I am still not ready to publicly acknowledge it in this blog but it has been hard.  Our family has been on an emotional roller coaster for 3 years now and I am really ready for things to change.   I need to take a long HARD look at my nutrition, and I need to lift weights.  As I write this, please do not feel sorry for me.  Simply understand that as a runner sometimes life will not allow you to follow through with the goals you have set for yourself.  That being said, I have a new goal.  I want to give long distance running a complete break for 12 weeks.  Crazy, right?  Can you believe your girl NJ just said that?  Something that has worked in the past for me is  Body For Life program.  It involves weight lifting three times a week and HIIT (20 minutes) the other three days of the week.  Of course my HIGH INTENSISTY INTERVAL TRAINING  will be running.  By taking this fitness approach now, I will be able to run for fun in December and begin training for 13.1 in January.  I am so proud of the progress that all of you have made these last few months.  You will have an OUTSTANDING  13.1 or 26.2 miles.  Some of you have already asked me to met up with and help to get through some of your last miles on race day.  I would be honored to do so.  I REALLY tried and had hoped that Prairie Fire Marathon would "heal" me the way that OKC did. I was wrong.  I have enjoyed being a volunteer for Start 2 Finish and have met wonderful life long friends. I will see you on Saturday for 4-6 miles???

Mona, Brittany and Kendra will do GREAT at Prairie Fire!

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Weight gain, burnout and falling off of the wagon

63 days until the Prairie Fire Half Marathon????

130 pounds is a great running weight for me

Did you notice that I put question marks?  I honestly do not know if I will be running the Prairie Fire Half Marathon.  This is because August ALWAYS does a number on my running.  It mostly has to do with going back to school.  You would think that being an Elementary School Library Media Specialist would be a stress free job.  It isn't!  I truly need my summer break to re-coop from the previous year.  Summer brings staying up later, getting up early for running and usually an afternoon nap taken while watching Dr. Phil.  A couple of things have really hurt my running program the first of which is weight gain.  

Me with Winston and Helaine

Barbara shared Three Reasons why you are not losing weight while marathon training. on facebook this last week.  Describes me perfectly.  When I look back at this picture of me from 2006 (yes I was 8 years younger) I don't think I used food to comfort my soul.  When I am exhausted, I eat, I run less and I gain weight.  Another thing that this picture reminds me of was my "less is more" philosophy with regards to running.  When I trained for my first half marathon in the summer of 2006 I only ran 3 days a week.  I honestly think

A well deserved beer after Prairie Fire Fall 13.1

that running 4-5 days a week is too much for me.  I am going to take a look at the S2F training a adapt it to a three day a week program.  Here is how I did it in 2006.  You keep the distance of your long run on Saturdays and the other two days you run half the distance of the long run.  For example if your Saturday run is 11 miles you would run 5.5 miles on Tuesday and 5.5 miles on Thursdays.  I think this is what I am going to do but also add in track night.  I might not PR using this method but I think it is what I need to do to get past the burnout and falling off of the wagon.  My friend Helaine has a great attitude about races and training as sometimes life does not let you know until the last minute if you will be able to run a race.  I am becoming more like her and waiting sometimes until the last minute to sign up for a race.  She, like all of us have moments in our lives where sometimes running takes a back seat.  Just like Helaine when I have those times that I fall off of the wagon I come back as a stronger runner.  So what I missed a week of running?  Is is going to kill me that I missed Saturdays 10 mile run?  NO!  During my Dad's stay in Hospice and his eventual passing I missed close to 6 weeks of running in December of 2012.  I came back in spring of 2013 to run my fastest half marathon to date.  If you are burned out, it is OK maybe a little rest is what your body is craving.  When my listing my workouts for the next week I am still assuming that I will run Prairie Fire 13.1, but if I don't it is not that big of a deal.  Sometimes you don't need a race and just need to run for the beauty of it.  

Workouts for the week of 8/11-16

Goal for the week: concentrate on nutrition.

Tired of weighing 145 pounds

Monday: The Firm Weights DVD

Tuesday: 5.5 mile run AM, track night PM

Wednesday: The Firm Cardio/weights DVD

Thursday: AM 5.5 mile run with negative splits

Friday: The Firm weight training DVD

Saturday: 11 mile run in Haysville.  Who wants to join me?