I should have saved more of this pick me up peach tea from Heather…..
As they prepare for the Wineglass Marathon on October 4 using the AMR #FindYourStrong Marathon Challenge, Heather and Marianne, two long-distance BRFs taking on their first marathon, are sharing their experiences–and miles–weekly. Find all their posts here.
Marianne
I would like to go on record as giving mad props and credit to any academic who trains for a big spring race. (I’m looking at you my department chair and friend, Amy!) The taper is coming at an excellent time as the semester is picking up steam at a rapid rate. For example:
- I spent so much time in meetings last week that I lost the ability to tell when people were joking with me over email and nearly embarrassed myself in a reply to a senior administrator.
- I told students that we wouldn’t get to a task until next week and they kindly informed me that I had assigned said task as homework.
- As I introduced my projects to potential new graduate students, I realized that I have six different lines of research going on because I keep thinking just one more experiment will close something off.
- At home, I found myself scraping together meals and cutting corners on nutrition including being tempted by the corn above. I know that shelf stable pre-cooked shrink wrapped corn is never a “so natural” or a good choice. I also know eating poorly when feeling stressed only makes it worse and yet there was a night I ate salami, cheese, crackers, and Oreo cookies for dinner and another where I topped off a half box of cheez-its with a slice of cold tempeh.
As for training, my long run had a wide range (10-14 miles) and I gladly stayed at the shorter side. The rumored to be last tempo run has been completed and it was a success despite humidity and my general grumpiness around this class of run. I took the optional rest day midweek instead of cross training. But it is still feeling like a lot.
Appropriately enough, a few weeks ago, I received two gifts on the same day. The mug is from a student who was heading off for her PhD in Counseling Psych and worked on a memory and meditation project with me. The book is from a colleague to thank me for commenting on her tenure file. I know how to take a hint and see this as a message that if I want to finish my training feeling good, have a strong semester, and enjoy my family, I’m going to need some help. This led me to set up some more global rules for myself in the coming year that I’ve borrowed from the lessons of the training plan and these two gifts.
1. Do not do back-to-back hard workouts. No going out of town more than one weekend a month = Stay Put
2. Cross training needs to be limited to focus on running = Out-of-town guests limited to one weekend a month = Breathe
3. Rest days matter if you want to avoid injury = I will not take on any new activities no matter how fun being a Girls on the Run Coach or helping out at my new parish or finally taking that class at the adult school that I’ve been eying or agreeing to help with that conference to get more women in science might be = STOP
4. Be in the run you’re in= Figure out what to do each day and let the big picture fade out = Stop. Breathe. Stay put.
Flowers from my garden are perking up my desk this week.
Heather
Like Marianne, I’ve been experiencing a bit of overwhelm this week. I’ve reworked this post a couple times, struggling to find the balance between honesty and whining. I’m revisiting that old balancing act between career and home, home and running. This past week had me feeling, at various points, panicked, guilty, and defensive. With a new job, the balls have all been tossed up in the air and I’m running around like a crazy person trying not to drop any.
In fact, Saturday reminded me of the early days of having a newborn when John took Henry out for an errand and Juniper went down for her nap, I wrestled with how to use that time. Should I nap? Do laundry? Work? Write? Curl up with a novel? (Uncharacteristically, I napped.)
So the taper has not been the running deprivation that I’d dreaded. It’s actually been a welcome reprieve while I navigate these new waters. It’s hard to tell whether it’s the training or life in general, but I’ve been exhausted this week. Multiple times I’ve apologized for not being more interesting when I’ve met new people, promising that I’ll be better company in the future. Carrie Cheadle’s words from her recent AMR podcast (#176) have been echoing in my ears as she warned that periods of heightened stress require the athlete to get more rest and listen more closely to their body, as one is at a higher risk for injury.
This ridiculous charcuterie board prepared by my hubby is perking up my belly this week.
Speaking of Carrie’s podcast, it was fantastic. I felt like I wanted to take notes on every other sentence that came out of her mouth, and there are way too many nuggets to address here. But one of the points that really hit home was the need for sub-goals. Her point was that to hit my “big goal” (coming in under four hours) I should construct a set of sub-goals to help me get there. Maybe it’s a pacing strategy, or a fueling strategy, or a plan for combating negative thoughts, or all three.
And also like Marianne, I’ve been thinking about how this applies to other areas of my life. How often is our to-do list made up of items like “figure out Henry’s birthday,” which really has about 72 items behind it and thus never gets crossed off? One of my favorite bloggers addressed this very issue here.
So my goals for this second week of taper are simple:
- Choose three sub-goals for the marathon
- Try to apply that same strategy to my work (after all, the more detailed my list gets, the more there is to cross off…and crossing things off is the best part)
- Sleep more
I can’t wait to cross off number 3.
Tell us, readers, how do you deal when you feel like you are teetering on the edge of overflowing?
I thrive on the just at the edge and teetering. Lately, I’ve been too relaxed, as if that is a thing, and things have fallen through the cracks.
Just the title of that book grabbed my attention. The charcuterie board….amazing…is that just for 2 people or were guests coming over?? Sub-goals yes….because planning a bday party does have 72 components….and it basically never gets crossed out until the party is over…only to be replaced by the next child’s name.
So, the birthday party thing? Sometimes “Call the laser tag place and fork over the big bucks” is definitely how I reduce birthday parties from 72 subcomponents to more like 30. But I am soooo guilty of the too much travel, too many house guests, too many fun fun fun things plus too much work problem. Yes, it’s fun, but then I am exhausted and grouchy, which is not fun. What I am doing better at this time around is Heather’s #3: Sleep. I watched a friend try to BQ a few years ago and she missed her goal by less than 2 minutes. I know she was up late because I saw her on FaceBook at 11pm all the time. I try to learn from that and go to bed. Last thing – Marianne – come run the Providence marathon some time. Lovely course and the early May date fits well with an academic schedule, as long as you can get through long runs in the winter.
Marianne, I feel for you. On the academic calendar training at this time of year is really stressful on the body, but sheer mental relief. My body is aching (I’m the bookstore gal) and I have yet to have time to make eye contact with students. Rest if you can and I like your sub-goals. Heather, you will be great and I wish you a nap in your near future and the sub-4:00.