Sorry I’ve been so quiet this weekend. Normally I catch up on blogging and spend at least an hour each day during the weekend with posts. But, yesterday was far busier than I expected. After all, I ran my second half marathon in 7 days!

Surprise!

After last week’s rough race experience, which I analyzed and explained in this week’s Friday Face Time, I really felt I needed some type of redemption and time for reflection. I left last Saturday’s race loathing running, lacking confidence, and very discouraged. After seeing my tweets on Saturday, one of my New York City running buddies, Rebecca, suggested I run the 13.1 New York Half Marathon yesterday for redemption.

While I wasn’t sure whether my body was ready for another 13.1 miles, I knew that I needed to do it mentally and emotionally. On Friday, Gia decided to sign up for the race so she could run with me and analyze my running further for our coaching.

Leading up to the race, I did everything right. I spent the week recovering, enjoying plenty of sleep and Hunger Games relaxation, ate clean, and hydrated. Friday night, Bo and I cooked dinner in together since he had his first triathlon yesterday and I was excited for some quality carb loading before the half. We kept the ingredients simple to help deter any stomach issues. Dinner consisted of fresh made pasta, tomato and basil sauce, topped with sauteed scallops and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

I was in bed by 9, ready for 7 hours of rest before my 6:45 alarm. Gia generously offered to drive Rebecca and I out to Queens so we wouldn’t have to battle with public transportation. The three of us were stretching and enjoying the pre-race festivities by 8:30. This left us plenty of time to use the restrooms, discuss a post race strategy, and enjoy the amazing weather. It was sunny with a light breeze and about 60 degrees when the race began.  Gia and I didn’t really discuss our strategy at length other than that I wanted to enjoy the race more than the week before and a PR would be amazing if the stars aligned.

I’ll rid you of the curiosity right now and let you know that I didn’t PR.

But, during the next two hours or so, I learned a lot about myself and my thoughts on running.

1. Running allows you to learn something new about your body each day. One day you may realize that your hamstrings are tight while another day may lead you to realize you don’t breathe properly.
2. I need to focus on my sweetspot. Gia and I realized yesterday that my body isn’t ready to jump my 10k pace to the half marathon distance. When I try and do this I last for 7 miles before bonking. Therefore, it’s important to focus on what we believe is my sweet spot for the half marathon distance, 10 min/mile pace, for the next few weeks of long runs. This would allow me to run at least a 2:11 half marathon, which would be a PR*. (* means I’ll explain this further down the list)
3. I need to focus on breathing and feeling the pace. Yesterday, during our first 6 miles, I ran sans headphones and focused on breathing and putting one foot in front of the other. While we started out far faster than our 9:57 goal pace, it was a new and unique experience. Therefore, I’m going to try and “unplug” for at least a few miles of each long run so I can focus on breathing just like I do during a yoga class.
4. My form needs some work. I was never trained formally in running and therefore have never had my gait evaluated extensively. I should probably take advantage of the tools Finish Line Phyiscal Therapy has and also Gia’s knowledge of gait to improve this over the next few months. Yesterday she realized that I have a short stride and therefore this is something we’ll work on in the future during runs together.
5. I am using last year’s National Half marathon as my PR time. This was my best half marathon time in the past four years. Before that, my first half marathon was a 2:07:30. But, I wasn’t healthy at that point in my life. I was battling a mix of depression and exercise anorexia. I was 124 pounds and not in a good place. I don’t want to push myself to beat that PR that was achieved at an unhealthy time in my life. While I do believe that I can exceed that sooner or later, I don’t want to give myself credit for things that happened during that point. This is a personal decision for me and since I’m not out to win races or qualify for the Olympics, I don’t think any officials will argue with me anytime soon.
6. Get out of my head. Running is very mental and a negative mindset can easily wreck a run or race. Both yesterday and last week, as soon as my pace started to dwindle, my mind and heartrate began to race. I thought about disappointing readers, Bo, Gia, and others who were tracking me. I thought about failure. These negative thoughts made pushing through the pain of last week’s stomach issues and yesterday’s sore quads even harder. This is when putting headphones in can help. I love Rebecca’s suggestion of listening to an audio book, even during a half marathon. Heck, she PR’d yesterday listening to The Hunger Games. I guess we know that Katniss can be an awesome inspiration.
7. Setting limits is important. It’s easy to sign up for races on a whim because other people are doing them or because I am allowed a great opportunity. While this is fine, I need to set limits on how many I’ll try to PR. If I try to PR every single running event I do then there is a risk of over-training, burnout, and disappointment. For example, if I happen to sign up for any more half marathons over the next few months, they’ll be treated as marathon training runs, versus PR attempts. I’m burnt out on the half marathon distance right now, even though it’s normally my favorite distance. Heck, yesterday was my 14th half marathon! Right now my next goal is to PR during the NYRR Mini 10k!  Last year I set a new PR during this race and had a blast with lots of my favorite running ladies. 
8. The blogger in me needs to stop showing up during long runs. Yesterday, I finally admitted to Gia that I think taking photos during long runs has affected my training for over a year. I’m constantly in awe of the gorgeous scenery I am able to enjoy during my runs. But, my average photo is taken during rest, not movement. Therefore, I’m not truly running for 8, 10, or 12 miles straight. This isn’t beneficial during a half or full marathon. Therefore, you can expect a reduction in pictures on long run days but an improvement in my training. I’m sure some of you are laughing that it took me this long to admit this but we all learn things in at our own pace.

What are your thoughts on running? Any lessons you learned the hard way?