Wow, it’s been awhile since I wrote one of these. The last time I pinned on a bib to run a race was October 2015, so I was excited about running the Blacksburg Classic 10 Miler this past Saturday. The race has a hometown feel for me, even though I don’t live in Blacksburg, because I went to school at Virginia Tech. This year was my third year running the Classic and it ended up being my slowest and toughest Classic race yet. But a big part of that was due to me turning it into a 20 mile long run.

I came up with a game plan on how to get in the extra 10 miles in conjunction with the race. My initial plan was to run 5 or 6 miles before the race and then another 4 to 6 afterwards. But the night before the race I decided to try and get 8 to 10 miles before the race. I arrived in Blacksburg about two hours before the race start. One benefit to arriving two hours before a small race is that you get primo parking 🙂 I hit the restrooms really quick and then headed out to get some miles in.I ran what felt like an easy pace as I made my way over to the Virginia Tech campus. It was a gorgeous day (upper 50’s, party cloudy), and being on campus gave me an extra pep in my step. I ended up running about a minute per mile faster than any of my runs this entire training cycle. This definitely came back to bite me later. But at the time I was feeling awesome.

I arrived back at race headquarters about 20 minutes before the race start. This was maybe a bit too much time, but the restrooms are kind of limited at this race and I wanted to make sure I had time for one more break before the race. I then headed back to my car and put on a dry shirt and refilled my bottles. At this point there was about 10 minutes until the race start. I started to jog around a bit, but I kept running into people I knew that I wanted to talk to. So I ended up just standing around talking to friends 🙂 Not smart, but enjoyable.

Barry met up with me in the start area as we waited to get going. He had to work earlier in the morning and wasn’t sure if he would make it on time, so I was really glad he did. He also let me know he would be running the race with me, which was another nice surprise! The race ended up starting about 5 to 10 minutes late, so I had nearly 30 minutes between my first 8.3 miles and the race. Not ideal, but finally we were off and running!

Early on I was feeling fatigued. I tried to forget the fact that I had run 8 miles beforehand and just pretend I was running the race like normal. I felt okay on flats and downhills, but as soon as we hit any kind of incline I was feeling really gassed. I couldn’t figure out why I was feeling so awful. On the whole, I hadn’t even run more than 10 miles yet for the day. So why was I so tired?

The first four miles of the race looped through neighborhood roads with a short stint on the Huckleberry trail. By mile 4 we were back on the Huckleberry trail, where we would be for pretty much the rest of the race. I was taking a lot of short, frequent walk breaks, but Barry stuck right with me. As we approached mile 5 of the race (13 miles total for the day) I got pretty cranky and was not a nice person to be around. I was feeling pretty frustrated with myself. Running through this mud between miles 5 and 6 was fun, though!

After the muddy section, we got into the hills on the course. From miles 5.5 through 9 we covered a lot of rolling hills. At this point I was walking up all of the hills. Just past mile 6 of the race (14 total) my quads started doing that rippling pre-cramp thing and by mile 16 my right quad was going into full on cramps. I had to stop several times to try and stretch it. When it would cramp I tried to walk through it, but anyone who has had cramps during a run knows you can’t walk it off. And that stinks.Physically I was tired, and the cramps didn’t help, but I think a big part of my struggles on Saturday were mental. I just could not stop thinking about the fact that even after finishing the race I still wouldn’t be done. I need to work on just staying present in the current mile. Also, when I start getting tired I need embrace the fatigue and accept it as part of the process, instead of letting it defeat me.

Barry and I continued to our work way through the final two miles of the race. A little after mile 9, as we came up the final long hill, a bunch of volunteers were cheering us on and saying less than a mile to go. Barry shouted to them that I was running a 20 mile long run, and they whooped and cheered even louder. That was fun. Finally, I crossed the finish line with a time of 2:13:06, which is more than 30 minutes slower than my past 10 mile times. But I usually don’t have 8 miles on my legs beforehand. My right quad kept seizing up, so I popped into the school gym in search of something salty. All I could find was a pretzel stick, so I took that with me and headed back out to finish my final 1.7 miles.I finished my run solo, and those final miles felt long. During mile 19 the muscle on the front of my left shin joined the cramping party, along with both of my quads. I do have some mile 19 humor for you, though. As I was running on the sidewalk on my way back to race headquarters, a bus drove by. The gust of wind caused my shorts to flap and for the final mile all I could think was the phrase “whatever blows your dress up, darlin’.” It’s a phrase I’ve heard before, probably most recently while watching Sweet Home Alabama. Welcome to the randomness that is my brain after 4 hours of running 🙂

Also, because I already struggle with basic math which only gets worse with running, I ended up hitting 20 miles before actually making it back to the school. Some might have stopped, but I chose to keep running and ended the day with 20.11 miles. Done. This was a tough one, and I must say I’m looking forward to getting back on the trails for my long runs 🙂

That was basically a novel, so we’ll call this the epilogue:

I can’t help but wonder what kind of day I would have had if I hadn’t been running 20 miles. If I had just been doing the 10 Miler, I would have finished in under 1:50 and would have had a lot more fun during the actual race. But that wasn’t the point on Saturday. The point was to run 20 miles, which I did, and incorporate the Classic since it had been rescheduled from the weekend before. As far as why it was such a rough day for me and why I had muscle cramps I don’t know. I think I was taking in enough fuel (roughly 200 calories per hour) and electrolytes (Tailwind), but clearly something was off. I think running this whole run on concrete and pavement probably affected me. Although I don’t want to give myself an easy out based on the running surface. It can’t have that much effect, can it?

Lastly, I don’t regret running the race. But I do wonder how my day would have gone had I just been running a ‘normal’ 20 miler. It would have gotten tough at some point, but surely it would have been better than Saturday’s broken up run. I’ll never know for sure, but I’ve got plenty of long runs ahead of me to work out my nutrition and mental game strategy.

What funny/random stuff has gone through your heard during a long run or workout?
What are your mental toughness tricks?

As most of you know, I’ve spent the past couple of months training for my next big challenge: running my first ultramarathon at the North Face DC Endurance Challenge 50K in April. I’m about halfway through training right now, and there’s still a lot ahead of me. There are definitely a lot of physical gains to be had during training. But a big part of the training is also mental, and it’s just as important to build up your confidence during this process.

The cornerstone, and biggest confidence booster, of most long distance training plans is the long run. It’s the workout each week (or two workouts, in the case of a back to back weekend) where you push yourself further, increase your endurance, and become stronger. There are a lot of physiological benefits to these runs, but there are also mental gains to be had. There’s a big difference between finishing a long run feeling horrible versus finishing feeling good. If you can set yourself up to finish feeling good, I think it has a profound effect on your overall strength as a distance runner. It’s a huge confidence boost, which is important.

There are both physical and mental aspects to confidence. When you toe the start line on race day, you may be physically confident based on your training. But you also have to feel mentally confident about the task at hand. All that work you did during training helps prepare you for that. At some point, it’s going to get tough on race day. Looking back on your accomplishments during training can be one implement in your toolbox to help keep you mentally strong.

I think that some types of confidence are in our nature – either you’re born with it or not. But others come from putting in the work to know that you can realize your dreams. You train for confidence. Trust in your training, and prove to yourself that your goals are achievable.

Today’s post is part of Debbie’s Wednesday Word link up. Each week she provides us with a word prompt and this week’s word, of course, is confident. This link up is great, and it definitely gets me writing about things I probably wouldn’t otherwise think to write about. Be sure to click on the button below to join in and see who else is linking up today!

How do you build your confidence when facing a challenge?

Well, I’m officially halfway through training. Eight weeks down, seven weeks to go until race day. I think training is a lot like a marathon, though. You’re not really halfway until mile 20. But I ran 20 miles on Saturday, so that’s gotta count for something! Here’s a recap of last week’s 50K training, as part of the Weekly Wrap link up. This link up is hosted by the lovely HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin’.

Monday – Cross training: Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred level 1 workout. We got nearly 7 inches of snow and a nice layer of ice on top of that throughout the day.

Tuesday – 4 mile easy run with ‘Sven’ (the treadmill) in the evening after work.

Wednesday – 4 mile hill workout with Sven after work. I actually had enough daylight to do this workout outside, but the snow hadn’t melted much at all and I wanted to get in a quality workout. So back to the treadmill I went. I did six quarter mile hill repeats for a total of 624 feet in elevation gain. This was a tough workout for me. I managed to pack in more elevation gain than last week when I did seven repeats during a five mile workout.

Thursday – 4 mile easy run at a park in a nearby town. The snow pretty much hadn’t melted at all on 90% of the trail, which made for a really pretty run.

There were even some parts of the trail I ran on where pretty much no one else had been. That was pretty neat. I also spent nearly 3/4 of a mile running up hill on snow that had a layer of ice on top. So much for an easy run! My pace was easy, but my calves were screaming during that part. It was a lot of work running uphill through that snow!

The only downside to this run was that I severely underestimated how much colder it would be running next to the creek and river. In the summertime it’s nice, but this time of year I really need to remember a pair of gloves and an extra layer on top.

Friday – Rest.

Saturday – 20 mile long run. I also ran the Blacksburg Classic 10 Miler as part of my long run. I ended up doing 8.5 miles before the race, running the race with Barry, and then finishing the final 1.5 miles afterward. I felt great during my pre-race miles, but the actual race and the post-race miles were pretty tough. Full recap coming later this week!

Sunday – Rest. I was fairly sore from Saturday’s run, particularly my quads. But that’s to be expected, since I had issues with cramping the final four miles. Other than that I primarily felt fatigued and most of the soreness was gone by last night after moving around most of the day.

Total Miles: 32 miles

Despite Saturday’s tough long run, this week was a good one for me. During the week my runs felt good and it was a big improvement over week 7. The sunset keeps on getting a little bit later each day, and I’m looking forward to doing more of my weekday runs outside.

Who else raced this past weekend? How was it?
Are you good at dressing for the weather conditions when working out?
Daylight savings: yea or nay?

Last Saturday Barry and I were supposed to run the Blacksburg Classic 10 Miler. However, the race was postponed due to extreme cold temperatures. The race often gets rescheduled since it is an early-February race and weather is often a challenge. This year, they simply pushed it a week and so the race will take place tomorrow.

Here’s the tricky part: I had a 9 mile long run scheduled last weekend, so the 10 miler fit perfectly with my schedule. This week, however, I have a 20 mile long run on tap. That means I’ll be incorporating the 10 mile race into my 20 miler.

In some ways, it will be nice to share some miles with a race. I’ve done it many times before, like when I turned the 2013 Virginia 10 Miler into a 16 mile long run by running 6 miles beforehand. That time was actually pretty neat, because it was a new personal distance record for me. I haven’t run 20 miles since the 2014 Marine Corps Marathon, so tomorrow will feel much like a PDR as well. Plus this will be the first time I’ve pinned on a bib in 2016.

The race starts at 1 PM, so right now my plan is to run 5 or 6 miles prior to the race, run the race, and then tack on 4 or 5 more miles after the race. I’m a bit torn, though. Maybe I should just run 10 beforehand so that when I cross the race finish line I’ll be “done done.” I don’t know.

Here’s what I do know: Barry was in a similar situation several years ago. He also had to incorporate the 10 miler into a 20 mile long run, as he prepared for his first full. He ran 10 miles before the race, but the timing didn’t work out quite right and he had to wait around awhile before the race start. That turned out to be detrimental and he felt awful the entire race. So his big advice to me is to try not to have a long time between my pre-race miles and the actual race.

In 2013, at the Virginia 10 Miler, we timed it perfectly and only waited 5-10 minutes until the race start. Hopefully I can do the same tomorrow! If nothing else, I will probably do a quick outfit change before the race and then keep jogging around to stay warm until the race starts.

Runners, y’all. We are a crazy bunch.

Have you ever incorporated a race into your long run? How did it work out?

It’s Wednesday and that means it’s time for another Wednesday Word linkup, hosted by Debbie from DebRuns. Click on the button below to see who else is linking up and to join in!

This week’s word is stability. In regard to running and training, when I think if stability I think of having a training plan and a workout routine.

Usually following a training plan gives me a sense of stability with my running. It gives my running purpose as I prepare for a goal race. Everything is planned out and all I have to do is follow the plan. As I train for my first ultramarathon, I find myself feeling like I have an utter lack of stability, despite having a training plan to follow. This is the first time I’ve ever felt like this while following a training plan.

I am on week eight of training, so lets call that about two months worth of following a plan. Why do I feel like I have no stability? A big reason is that I have yet to follow a single week of training as written. I’m still getting in all of my mileage, except for one run here and there, just not in the planned order. I think that is making me feel out of whack and like my training is sporadic, even though it’s not.

There’s also a lot of unknown factors this time around. The distance I’m training for is totally new for me and theories on how to train for a distance vary widely. In writing my plan, I did my best to choose what would work for me while following some generally accepted strategies (i.e. back to back long runs, hill workouts, etc.). Come race day, I don’t know for sure I can do it. But that’s kind of the point in taking on a new challenge, right?

I would like to have a week of training where I follow my written plan to the letter. I think that would probably make me feel better. But underneath it all, I’m feeling uneasy because of the unknown. And the only way to answer that question will be to toe the line on April 9 and see what happens. I’m steadfast in my goal to finish and I’m very determined, and I hope that will be a big factor on race day.

How do you bring stability to your workout routine or daily life?
What was the last goal you had that was daunting? How did you keep your doubts in check?

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I also have some sad news to share today. Yesterday, our 12-year-old dog Simon, who lives with my Dad and sister and is the last of my childhood dogs, passed away. He had recently become sick and ended up passing much quicker than expected.

I’m glad I got to see him one last time the weekend before last, when I was in town. In a way, I kind of said my goodbyes then, just in case, although I didn’t think he would go so soon. Any thoughts or prayers sent our way would be appreciated. Particularly for my dad and sister, as this was especially tough on them.