Balancing Life and Running

Balancing life and running seems simple enough, so plan to run during times that won't impact your time with the family, school, work, or hobbies. Running is a hobby, but it does a lot for me mentally and physically than other hobbies. This balance is hard to maintain, life gets busy. I wish I could say that's what's been preventing me from getting out the door, but it's not the entire reason over the past 3.5 months. I lost momentum and motivation and got depressed. I'm still struggling with the depression, but have taken steps to hopefully decrease it. The running has helped. Gradually, motivation has started to come into the picture again, which should help build momentum.

So, what am I doing to balance life and running this time? I am doing this my way. It sounds a little arrogant when I write it out, but it's where I have found success. Doing it my way means I will research to plan my training. The next thing I am doing to balance life and running is to do my runs and cross-training during my lunch hour when I can. Since I work from home, I can have my running gear ready or on at the beginning of my lunch, removing one hurdle from making it out the door. The last thing I'll write about regarding that balance is scheduling my day. I will have to be organized to accomplish this. I have a rough schedule on a spreadsheet, but I will be reworking it to be more specific about how I spend my time. I will keep in mind that I must remain flexible so I don't get discouraged by curve balls as they come at me.

The race I signed up for is another half marathon. It'll be June 14th in St. Charles (a city close by). I started training again this past Wednesday, and I did 1.56 miles. It was slower than my last run in November. It was a good run, I did the 1:1 run walk. Then, on Thursday, I did 2 miles. Again, 1:1 run walk. My legs were jelly by the end of Thursday because I hadn't trained in so long. It should come back quick. My legs didn't recover until yesterday. So, I didn't do my long run yesterday and will be doing that tomorrow during lunch instead of my easy run. I will make sure to get my long runs in; they will be crucial to my success in this training cycle. I am thinking of doing a 10k the weekend before the race because it's the length of my last run before my taper.

If I'm ever going to get this post up, I will need to end right there.

Thanks for reading.

-Riley

Managing the Noise Between the Ears

Pre Run

Today is a day I need the run. When I was working on my undergrad running was a way I was able to manage the crap that goes on between my ears. I am having a hard time getting anything done. The noise between my ears is a lot today. I hope I make it out the door and further than a few houses down. That's what happened yesterday, I made it 4 houses away and stopped and came back. I felt defeated, I kept telling myself I would run after work. It didn't happen. My goal for today is 40 minutes.

Post Run

I made it. I did the whole 40 minutes doing a run/walk. Running really helped me to regulate my emotions. I'm still not feeling the greatest, but I am doing better than I was. What helped me get through the first half was dangling that carrot in front of me of feeling better than I was. The second half was accomplished because I had to make it home and had 20 minutes make it there to get back to work. Which I will have to start getting some more miles in to get it feeling normal. The first mile was OK, it's usually after mile one that I start to get in a rhythm and start feeling better.

It's typically a rough run when I am having mental struggles like I have been today. Today wasn't an exception. Kept saying to myself, after my minute walk, "This time I'm just going to walk for an extra minute." Then when the buzzing and beeping happen on my watch to signal the start of the one minute run I just went for another one minute run. That was the case for all but one signal toward the end. I walked for 3 minutes instead of two. Because of that I was short of the distance I was hoping for. I'll get it next time.

Tomorrow will be a very easy 30 minute slow run/walk or cross training, I've not decided just yet. Saturday I will be doing a 60 minute run/walk. I did my run today in my Brooks Ghost Max. They feel like they work out different areas of the leg than my New Balance Rebel v3 do. 

I think that's it for now. Thanks for reading.

-Riley

After MO' Cowbell

I finished the race, what more could I ask for. It took longer than my projected 3.5 - 4 hours. I was the 12th from last person to finish. But I finished and that's the name of the game for that race. This race had more challenges in it for me than other races I remember. Some of the more notable challenges were some guy stepping on my ankle just after the race started. He was running backwards looking for someone and stepped on me. I'm a big guy and somehow he still didn't see me. Next challenge came at mile three. I took a corner at the top of a hill and got my footing wrong and about twisted my ankle by not landing on the road. That was a close call. Another challenge was little to no shade, which just translates to it being hot. I wasn't anticipating it being around 75° - 80° for the entire race in October. If it were a short run the weather would have been great, but for 13 miles, that just made it a little harder. Around mile seven is when I hit my first wall. I was thinking about giving up, I was sore and tired. This is also when my watch went from timing just the miles to 1:1 run walk intervals. So every minute was a new lap. I just didn't have it in me to start my walk run at that point. Okay, I started it, but wasn't able to maintain it. This is also the time where the group I had been keeping pace with started to pull ahead of me. So I was a little disheartened because of that. 

I was able to power through to mile 8, where a teen with down syndrome was running his 50th half marathon, in his 50th state. This was really encouraging to see someone work so hard. This helped me get out of my head and move forward to mile 9 - 10.25. I started thinking again that I should just give up, I was at the end of the group for the half marathon, when I passed by a police officer who had been directing traffic, that said, alright here's all the stragglers. That little phrase got me back in my head and then the hills started. I was told there was going to be a group from the Fleet Feet Running Club at mile 10, but didn't see anyone at the base of the hill where mile 10 was marked. I didn't see anyone as I went up the hill, and started progressing up another hill. I was thinking of calling Silvia at that point to come and get me. Around that time is when I saw the club cheering me on. They didn't know me from Adam, yet they encouraged me. They filled my hydro flask twice, I downed the first fill, then they did it again. Then they gave me ice for my hat and the back of my neck. It was what I needed to make it just far enough to stop, catch my breath and move on. I ended up stopping 5 maybe 6 times between mile 10 and the end of the race. By mile 12 I was in really rough shape, my legs were shot, my mind was shot, I was exhausted, and had to keep stopping for fear of tripping over myself. I was passed by 4 more people at the point. One woman stopped for a moment to make sure I would be able to finish. I must have looked like hell (if my finish line picture is any indicator I wasn't looking good). I followed this woman until she started running, I couldn't get my legs to work, it took a couple of attempts but I did run across the finish line to be greeted by medical personnel who promptly asked me if I needed help. They got me to the side of the road after the finish line, got me some ice, then a few minutes later got me to the first aid tent where Silvia and our little guy caught up to me. I was in rough shape, at least from my perspective. I thought I could get up and walk at one point, but then promptly sat back down because my legs weren't working. When I finally left the medical tent I made it across the way and down the road some where I let Silvia know I wasn't going to make it to the car with my legs feeling like they did. I sat on the grass for a while, got some calories in me and waited until I could feel my legs again, then got up and made it to the car.

So for my first race in a decade it was a success. I finished in spite of the challenges I faced. There were also some great things that happened. As I was on the last quarter mile a guy in a purple shirt said to me, "I know you'll finish!" then about a half an hour later he walked by me again while I was wearing my medal and said, "See, I knew you would do it." During the first mile I was feeling great, I was walking and at mile one my watch informed me that I had just finished my fastest mile in a few months. Which was good but I was going to fast out the gate which was not good. I got to go through an awesome neighborhood with some amazing houses. As I was in the medical tent, I put my medal on our little guy guy and got to see his smile. It means a lot to me that I didn't come in last. Now that it's a couple days after the race it's time to sign up for my next goal race, I will be doing Run From Yeti. I will be signing up for that now.

Thanks for reading.

-Riley

Building Momentum and Today's Ramblings

Before the Run

It's Thursday morning, and my run was going to be later today. Mentally I'm not feeling the best. I hope my run will help me get out of my funk a little and give me the momentum to start feeling better. But it didn't end up happening. I will try again tomorrow.

I haven't signed up for the 10k training yet. I am still working on my marketing course. Hopefully, today will be the end of that course. I need to plan how to make that hope a reality. The course has a final paper (which I'm currently working on) that's a marketing plan. I have it almost complete. It's just getting the last few paragraphs done. I've been working on the class for quite a while and don't feel like I have any momentum built up to finish it easily. It's all muscling through it at this point.

I think momentum is what I need right now. Mentally, academically, and even in running. My missing runs over the past couple of weeks has really eaten away at what I had built up. With my academic momentum, finishing this paper should help in getting that started again, the next course in my program is one I am more familiar with so my goal is to finish that as quick as I can.

Post Run (7/7/23)

I did it. I made it through my run today! It's fairly nice outside, around 80° and the sun is out. About half way through my run I really started to feel the sun, but it was alright with my cold electrolyte drink in hand. I am finding my leg endurance isn't as high as I think it should be. More runs will help that and getting in cross training should help too. I also think different shoes will help as well. I am used to walking in shoes like Altras or Whitins that have a larger toe box than my new balance do and no drop. I really noticed that my New Balance are a little snugger than I really like and the heel is huge. I think my next shoe after my New Balance will be a pair of Topos, since they have that wider toe box also and a lower drop than what I'm in now.

I ran my regular route I've done the past couple of weeks, and due to the holiday it was garbage day. I avoided running next to most of it, but towards mile two I wasn't paying attention and got a nose full of stink.

The run did help me mentally, I'm feeling better than I have been. I can think a little more clearly as well. Getting my marketing paper done should be a lot easier now.

That's it for my rambling today. Thanks for reading.

-Riley

Mental Health, The Run, and Surprise I'm Wearing Cotton

Pre Run

Getting out early today didn't happen. I kind of regret it knowing today is another hot one. But I will be getting out later this morning. I've been struggling to wake up the past few weeks at my more normal time of 5:00 am. It's been hard because that's my decompression time. I also intend to move my Thursday and Saturday runs closer to that time. Typically when I can't wake up, it's because I am exhausted or going through a bout of depression (it feels more like the latter). When this happens, I start to lose interest in everything, which is one of the indicators I watch for. My depression is due to bipolar type II, which I was diagnosed with in my late 20s (it consists of more depression and hypomanic episodes). My medication works reasonably well in keeping the hypomania away and decreasing the impact of the depression. When I go through depressive mood swings, things don't feel right. I see it happening and feel nothing can be done about it. In recent years, I have just let it happen. Which has caused longer depressive episodes that have been harder to work through. What helps me most are routines and ingrained habits that I can just do on autopilot. This reminds me of when I ran before. It was a great help because it was an ingrained habit. It helped regulate my moods because I was getting out consistently and spending less time in my head. So yeah, there is that. Next is to rely on my burgeoning habit of running again and getting out the door.

The Run

My run went quick today. I was surprised at how time went by. I got in the right space mentally while I was out there. Thinking more about the run itself than everything else going on. My goal was 2.13 miles, so I could do 6 miles for this week. Focusing on that goal helped me to be more in the moment. While I was running, I found myself looking at the ground a lot, about 6' in front of me, instead of looking straight ahead. Doing that allowed me to push myself more and not worry about landmarks as goals. They may help some people but only help me to keep running sometimes.

I had a wonderfully irritating discovery of the cotton in some of my running socks. I was reminded why I still had so many running socks with my running clothes that I can't find. Because of how much I sweat, especially on my feet, the cotton starts to painfully remind you that it doesn't like running. I thought my socks weren't cotton at all. They have been fine so far... until today were it felt like I was walking sharp little stones for the last running portion and the remaining cooldown that I did. Cotton and running don't mix, especially if you sweat a lot. The stupid socks contain some degree of cotton. I should have looked more diligently at the packaging when I got them.

Here's my week in numbers.

• Workout: 
• Tues: Warmup (4) | 5-minute run / 2-minute walk x4 | Cool down (3)
• Thurs & Sat: Warmup (4) | 5-minute run / 1-minute walk x5 | Cool down (4)
  
• Total Time: 1:51:57
• Average Split: 0:18:37
• Total Distance: 6.01
• Cross Training: -
• Shoes: New Balance Fresh Foam X 880 v12

That's all for today. Thanks for reading.

 -Riley