Good morning friends! I want to start the morning off by saying…
THANK YOU!!!
You kind words and support mean the world to me. Seriously, if I could hug each one of you I would. And not in a weird way. In a nice, loving, thanks for being my friend forever way 🙂
My hip/butt is a little sore this morning. You know, the kind of sore that says “Yea, I’m still here. Get me better because I am literally a pain in you hiney.” Roger that. I totally plan on stretching and strengthening in the office today so it’s a good thing my VP is travelling. He gets weirded out when I go into rehab mode. Not sure why. It;s completely normal to have a foam roller and stretch my bootie in public. Just ask SR ,Chacha, Heather and Julie. They watched me stand up in the middle of restaurant yesterday to show them where my hip/butt hurt. Totally normal.
Let’s talk about yesterday. Now that I have adjusted my attitude it’s time to regroup and look back at what I did right and where I need to adjust.
Positive Numero Uno: I took on the beautiful hills of Carlsbad. I actually loved this course and would run this race again in a heartbeat. It was a good challenge and it was so so so pretty!
Positive Numero Dos: I stuck to my pacing plan. Stay in the 8:20’s through 13 and then speed up. The first part happened! This is a big deal for me. I usually go out way too fast. It was dark at the start and I went out with Chacha (who had a major PR yesterday).
Mile 9 was a heck of a climb and I paced it right beings that I was not ready for that monster jam. Pretty sure the Rocky theme song was playing in my head when I got to the top. I should have yelled “Yo Adrian.” That would have been sweet.
Numero Tres: Fueling. Carried my handheld with Nuun in it and took a block every 5 miles. This worked. No tummy ache, no full feeling. Nada. I finally learned what works after 2 years of tummy madness. Hooray! Took long enough.
Lastly: I stopped when I could have kept going. Could I have gutted out another 13.55? Maybe- but it would have been a really bad idea. Who knows what kind of injury I would have ended up with. Me 2 years ago would have tried to push through. Look at me. All growed up.
Overall summary before my pain in the butt:
So happy with this. Especially given the elevation gain. Yeeeehhhaaaawww!
OK, not lets discuss what I didn’t do right:
* My hip/butt started to bug me last weekend on my taper run. I just figured it was irritated and stretched it. When I look back at my journal it bugged me all week. HELLO ME. If it bugged me then why would I think it would last 26.2?
*Hill training. Although I got some decent training in before hand I need to do it more often. I like running hills. Call me crazy. It’s hard and I like that challenge. I also like to reap the reward of the downhill after. So awesome.
* I need to get back to doing more squats. After my soreness goes away of course.
I know I told y’all I started keeping a run journal and it has a spot for me to review my races and what went right and what needs to be changed. I love that I will be able to look back on this and make sure I have made the adjustments I need to so that I can run strong.
It took me a good 24 hours to realize that I am thankful for yesterday. Sometimes a big fat slice of humble pie needs to be ordered up and served. My friend SR said something yesterday during our brunch that stuck with me and I am so glad she did. Friends do that without realizing it sometimes. And that, alone, is awesome.
Hoping you all have a great Monday! Tell me about your weekend! What did ya do? Any race reports? Family stuff? Let’s chat!
Haute Running Mama 
I love the idea of a race journal. I usually just think ‘I PR’ed, yay’ or ‘let’s pretend that race didn’t happen’; but never actually figure out why. I think I need to start doing that to pinpoint what I did right and what went wrong. You like hills? You sound like my partner. Whenever we go for a run together he always finds a way to get a few steep ones in there that have me ready to throw in the towel. But if it wasn’t for him would be mega screwed come race day. Hope your recovery is going well!
Thank you!! Yes, those crazy hills are hard but they make us better runners come race day 🙂
I have a love/hate relationship with hills. Here in FL, we have bridges for hills. That’s it. It’s good that you listened to your body and backed out when you needed to. I hope it heals quickly. Have you considered getting Active Release Therapy?
Yes! If massage doesn’t help in the next day or so ART may be next. It will hurt like a mug but it’s worth it 🙂
One of my coworkers suggested ART – I told myself that if I was a mess after this race I would consider it. But so far, the little exercises have been working so until they stop working, I’m waiting on the ART.
I also like hills – except when they are really long and relentless – luckily Carlsbad is just rollers!
Glad you are feeling more positive about yesterday. I probably should have done the same as you and listened to my body and not run Operation Jack on 12/26. It landed me on my back for two days with just the act of walking, hurting. I guess I had to learn the hard way – I was just lucky it happened early on.
I started the exercises you recommended today along with a few I got from the coolrunnings web site. I am on a mission to get this baby better ASAP. I liked the rollers- I would run that again fo sho. Except with a 33 year old hip and not a 90 year old hip 🙂
Still so excited for you my friend!
Good for you to take a step back and re-evaluate. Always some positives in there somewhere. You will come back from this as you always do from injuries…better, smarter, and stronger 🙂
Nothing fun to report. Been dealing with some insomnia for a long time now and it’s just been getting worse over the past few months. Not fun. At all. But, this too shall pass 🙂 I do have a beach trip with my whole fam coming up in a couple months so I can’t wait for that!
If you get ART therapy, you’ll have to let us know how it goes. I’ve always been curious about it.
Ahhhhh nooooo friend. Sorry to hear you have not been able to sleep well. That is an awful feeling. (((hugs))) A beach vacation is totally in order and I hope it helps. Do you take epsom salt baths? Dr. Teals makes a sleep one that I love 🙂
Thinking of you girlie!
No, I haven’t tried epsom salt baths. Will have to try that ASAP! Thank you!
Hey! I am wondering if I saw you… Did you wear running tights instead of your cute ruffle skirt? I swear I saw someone wearing a cute Lulumon top but she had tights on. Was that you? I was attached to the 3:40 pace leader’s hip. Lol!!! So if you saw him, you probably saw me. I’m actually writing my race report right now and talking about him in it… He was great!
I am so sorry to hear that you had to drop out. I’ve been stalking your blog and have been in awe of your training. You’re fast, girl! When you get that hip healthy, you’re gonna go big. Get better soon!
I did wear ruffle tights and a pink tank top! I was right around the 3:40 pacer the whole time! In fact, I asked that 3:45 pacer why he was ahead of the 3:40 pacer around mile 6! Seriously, he was waaaaaay ahead of pace, lol! Darn it, we could have chatted. Next time fo sho!
Oh wait! That outfit was for Tink. DUH! Now I really look like a blog stalking FREAK! 😛
ahahah no you dont and yes I am wearing that skirt this weekend!
My weekend was full of eating out (happy hours!) and watching games (NBA and NFL). Woke up super bloated, but I’m ready to tackle this week and be more productive!
I love hills as well. I gots be some thunder thighs that can power up the hills (which is good because I’m clumsy and scared to run too fast down the hill).
Great job finding the positives… I think it’s okay to take some time to be frustrated and disappointed as long as in the end you find the positives and come out of it better than you went it… and that’s definitely what you’ve done. And dude, you rocked those first 13 miles!!!
I didn’t even realize you ran this race! I was out there too and we were probably very close to eachother. I ran a 1:45 and started in Wave 2!
It was hilly but a great training run for Boston. What a beautiful course. I think I might do the FULL next year! How about you??
Ah, I ran the full this year but ended up injured! I am for sure in again for next year- it’s beautiful! There are some really good climbs- the toughest at mile 9! The half is pretty but the full gets to watch the sunrise- breathtaking!
Congrats on a strong finish!! You are going to do great in Boston! We will miss you at Ragnar!!
Glad to see you’re back from injury. Maybe I shouldn’t have run the NYC Marathon with a bum IT band and be out for 4 months….
I keep a running journal of sorts, too – write down thoughts on my training and races — I use the Believe I Am training journal. I LOVE it.