Where's my motivation???:(:(

After 20 miles on Saturday, at a relatively quick pace (for me), and then speedwork on Tuesday, I woke on wednesday and resentfully got out of bed.

My mind was trying to get up , but my body was TIRED.

I chose to run outside since the weather wasn't too bad instead of the treadmill..which proved to be a good decision.

had I ran on the treadmill, my 4.5 mile run would have ended at 2.5 instead.

I got 2.5 miles out and just could hardly run..I was already running 11 min miles and THAT felt hard:(:( I made it back witha few walking breaks but I got a delightful surprise this morning when My coach texted me and told me to TAKE THE DAY OFF. DO NOTHING.

yippee!!!!! I was NOT going to argue. though it means My mileage will be REALLY low this week:(:( I am happy to have the rest and i HOPE I will have a bit more energy tomorrow.

I am TRYING to find my motivation this week to run in general but I just feel down and unmotivatd.

THIS can't happen! I keep thinking....I have 6 more weeks of training for this marathon but I just feel D.O.N.E.

what is happening to me?

any ideas? is this normal? where's my FIRE???:(:(

Track meet and OLD BAGGAGE:(

As a kid I was very insecure. I had No self esteem. I felt like EVERYONE was better than me b/c they had real familes (not divorced like mine) and lived in houses (not run down places like ours) and wore nice clothes(not the hand me downs I wore bc my mom had no money). On top of that My poor mom who struggled to hold down 2 jobs, dealt with her stress by drinking. She has been an alcoholic my whole life.

This carried over into my activities and relationships and especially my self image. By age 14 I no longer had any confidence to run. I didnt' feel I was as good as everyone else and I let it stop me from doing what I loved. I felt weak and beat up and didnt' love myself or feel worthy of love or success.

So where am I going with this? .....

Well this Friday night, my coach has me signed up to run in a college track meet. The 5K. He told me there would be lots of girls running 20:00-21:00 min 5k's but when I looked up the results from last year a few min ago, I found that out of 54 girls, about 40 of them ran 16-18min 5K's while only 4 ran 19:30-19:54min 5K's. This is where I will be which means I am going to be near the END of the pack for sure. I am afraid of feeling all those feelings again that I felt when I was younger. I don't want to feel that overwhelming feeling of inadequacy and failure. I'm afraid of it being so discouraging that I will just want to give up again. there is a very DEEP hole inside from LONG ago and I don't want to dig it up.

I hope this makes sense. I get emotional just talking about this. its a very painful place to go back to.

My friend Ryan who was a professional track athlete for years gave me some encouraging words and I know I need/should do this just for myself and just to get a good OFFICIAL 5K time but it is just SO HARD for me.

It's deeper than feeling sorry for myself or being a sore loser...it's not that...its about going back to who I was when I was a teenager and it is not a happy place for me.

It is going to take all my courage to just show up and run. The other girls might think I've LOST the race, but if I can just finish and still feel good about myself then I guess I will have WON.

once in a life time.....

I just wanted to throw this out there....

I have a best friend. One of those once in a lifetime kind of best friends. We met when we were 11yrs old and though it wasn't love upon our first meeting, we quickly moved past that and were inseperable.

We spent most of our highschool years sharing EVERYTHING with each other. I think to this day, there are STILL things that ONLY SHE knows about me.

I feel VERY blessed to have such a friend.

About 8yrs ago though, life circumstances changed so that we didnt' talk as often, didn't see each other hardly ever. It was hard. I felt like I was losing her and sometimes I cried in silence over it. But when we DID talk, I knew there was still that connection. I prayed she would find happiness, it was one of the greatest desires of my heart.

I will let her tell you the rest. She is an aspiring writer and has recently started a blog. I am so addicted to it.

I feel so INSPIRED by her and all that she is doing to take her life back! I wish MORE WOMEN had the strength, courage and confidence that she does. she is just AMAZING.

the girl who i've known for 22yrs who is very private and NOT a risk taker at all is taking risks and living her life.

Luckily, she is only about 5 posts in so you can still catch up!!

I feel like all can be inspired by her journey in some way, so go show her some love:

Life as I know it

be sure to start with these 2 posts:

"recipe of my singlehood part 1"

and:

"recipe of my singlehood, part 2"

RECAP: First 20 Miler in the Bank!

Janae, So THIS is what it feels like to feel like the Bomb.com??? LOL...

I was feeling a lot of anxiety about this 20 miler today. I was supposed to have 16, 18 and THEN 20 but b/c I lost 2 wks and was sick, I did 16 last weekend and 20 today.....

I even woke up 5 times last night worrying about it. silly me.

I stayed at one of my team mates house last night as we all headed out to Banks/Vernonia trail for the run. we were all doing diff things but it was nice to know were still together....sort of.

My fabulous coach road his bike and simulated Aid Stations for us every few miles. what a guy!

ALL WEEK, I thought this was an EASY run. THEN last night at team dinner, Joel tells me it's a "progression run".

'WHAT? YOU TOLD ME IT WAS EASY! " I exclaim.

"Well, you turn every long run into a progression run anyway" LOL

I had to laugh because it's SO true! I am incapable to running an easy pace for long periods.

1. I get bored

2. I end up thinking to myself "i wonder how fast I can run this"

3. I am ALWAYS in a hurry with everything Ido in my life. so it's inevitable. Been like that since I was a kid.

Anyway...we started the run and it was WET. Of course, it's Portland people.

I tried to keep up with Becky and Helen but they were running sub 8min pace for their "EASY" and I knew if I did that I'd never make it 20 miles.

I HAVE to do my first few miles at about 8:15-8:30 if I'm going to push it later.

Still...I wasn't really sure how I was going to execute this run...it was sort of mile by mile...just seeing how I felt knowing I had A LOT of miles to go still.

Joel was on his bike and said to me at one point "it's not about time today, just finish the 20 miles"....so I wasn't feeling pressured or anything..

BUT at mile 10,I looked at my watch and i was running 6:45 pace and felt amazing and that is when I decided I wanted to go under 2:30. My run last week was a 7:29 pace so I wanted to see if I could do that for 4 more miles.

It seemed a bit out of reach, considering I was DEAD at the end of my 16 last week but I am always forced into doing these things to myself by this voice inside I can’t seem to ignore! I have got to be the most competitive person with myself.

Anyway…everytime I got tired,I turned on Lady Gaga’s “born this way” ..I NEVER wear an IPOD but I am SO glad I listened to the prompting to bring it today. 20 mile is along way to run alone with nothing to listen to but the rain slapping you in the face and your feet pounding the pavementJ

The last few miles were HARD but I had a big smile on my face b/c I was kicking this run in the butt WAY better than I even imagined I could. This is only week 2 of running for me so Ididn’t expect much.

Anyway...I finished in under 2:30 with a pace of 7:26 the girls told me:) I'm curious to see my mile splits but I was wearing my coaches watch and he has it.

When I finished…DON’T LAUGH, I cried.

No really. I mean I CRIED! I cried b/c I was SO tired and I cried b/c I was just so happy that I ran that and that meant that I COULD maybe REALLY do a great sub 3:20 on this marathon.

GOALS are VERY important to me. I set them so I can see how far I can go. How hard I can push and b/c I want to know WHAT I’m MADE OF! I know that not everyone is like that and that people run just b/c they enjoy it, but I run because I want push harder and harder every time.

I birthed my 10lb 4oz baby girl naturally just b/c I wanted to experience natural labor. LOL, I know some people think I’m crazy…but it was WORTH IT! Best experience of my life.

And I know that running this 26.2 as hard as I can will be worth it too, for I get to find out how far I can stretch, what my limits are and to not be AFRAID to give it everything I got. I think it’s a lesson that can be applied to so much of our lives. The feeling after pushing through something you think you CAN’T is one of the most REWARDING feelings I have ever experienced in my life.

When I die, I want to know that I did hard things. I didn’t let the fear of failure stop me. I worked hard and then I went for it!

That makes me think…one of my favorite quotes:

“WORK as if everything depends on you.

PRAY as if everything depends on GOD”.

I think that’s my life’s mottoJ

what a difference 1 week can make.....

well...here we are 1 week later and another LONG track workout staring me in the face.

I decided to do it this afternoon when my friend Tanja would be there..always easier with company.

The workout called for:

3mile progressive warm up

16x 400m

w/ 200m jog recoveries

4x 200m

w/ 200m jog recoveries

1 mile cool down

I went for a massage yesterday at my husbands clinic and she told me I had so many muscle spasms in my back and legs that I needed to take a week off running. HA!. THAT'S funny!.

I politely told Her I just took 2.5 weeks off! :(:( sigh....

my body is sore but I think it's just from jumping into a 54 mile week last week from the get go.

anyway.....

On my way to my workout my coach offered to come supervise and I gratefully accepted. I needed the motivation.

I did my 400's but we decided to do 12 instead of 16 b/c my hamstring is sore and I don't want to injure myself.

I did well BUT my first 400 was WAY too fast (1:20) and then after that we slowed down and settled into laps that were between 1:26 and 1:29's. That is step back for me which is annoying. 2-3mos' ago when I did this workout last I was running 1:26's consistently so I should have been running 124's but oh well.

My 200's on the other hand would normally be 35-37's but I was running with Tanja and that girl is fast and kicked my booty so I ran those in 0:32's:):)

all in all I was SO glad that I could DO the workout this week unlike last week.

I am realizing though that I will probably need to adjust my goal time for my marathon:(:( I lost a lot of fitness in that 18 days and it is apparent.

But the SUN came out and I had a wonderful date with my 6yr old. I took her for her first pedicure and she loved it, it was darling. I am so blessed to be a mom:)

16 miler-Recap!!!

So, I have been VERY nervous about today's 16mile progression run after the weird week I had and my body not seeming like it wanted to perform, but when I lay in bed at night I try to be positive and imagine the run going beautifully:)

I had to get up at 5:30am for work. I had a wedding from 7-11am and then headed to beautiful Sauvie Island to meet Chuck for my run:) Weather forcasted rain all day....which is what we've had ALL week but it was SUNNY!! and WARM!! I mean REALLY warm.
I packed long sleeves and my winter tights so I was cooking after 4 miles and had to take my long sleeve shirt off and run in my sports bra! (yikes!).

I took my gels 2hrs before and then my amazing UCAN drink right before we ran.
if you have not tried the UCAN sports energy drink before long runs, you NEED to. simply amazing....and right now they are all 25% off for another week and half so TAKE ADVANTAGE!.

you want the SPORTS DRINK MIX, not the protein one. ....protein one is better for AFTER.

Anyway...Chuck (the lovely man running with me in my header photo) hasn't run much lately...
so he wasn't sure how he'd do 16 miles but he was such a trooper. Keep in mind this man ran a world class time for the 3,000m a few years ago. he is INCREDIBLE.

We started out and I planned to just run how I could. My coach told me that if I didn't feel I could do a progression run to just do a 16 easy run.
I agreed, but for some dumb reason I am FAR too competitive with myself and I felt like I had something to prove to myself today. I just wanted to know I still have it!! after these 11min miles this week I have been a little bit worried.

We started out and to be honest, we accidentally ran those first few miles way too fast...they were 8:04 and 7:51 for first 2 miles...but it was too late so I just kept going with it.
My fastest miles were mile 5, 10 and 16....wasn't a very well executed "progression" run b/c by mile 12 I was feeling DONE. But again..being the crazy obsessive women I am, I refused to quit or give in. None of my miles went over 7:45 after that and my last mile was 7:05.

I finished in 1:59:49 which is a 7:29 mile:):):)

Not as good as my 15 miler a month ago, BUT it was at the END of my cycle of training when I was peaking and this is at the beginning so I feel GREAT!!!!

all the way home I felt like I was going to throw up, but instead I came home, ate 2 grilled cheese sandwiches at the Grilled Cheese Grill , drank a PEPSI (my FAVORITE!!) and then had frozen yogurt at YOCREAM covered in Reeses Peanut Butter cups:):)
BLISS.

So...I feel pretty good and optimistic.
I did feel today like 16 was FAR:( and next saturday I have 20!!! I am thinking an 8:15 pace is a good goal for the 20miler:) and maybe a 3:25 is a bit more realistic for my marathon:)

Mile splits from todays run:
Mile 1: 8:04
Mile 2: 7:51
Mile 3: 7:38
Mile 4: 7:33
Mile 5: 7:14
Mile 6: 7:19
Mile 7: 7:26
Mile 8: 7:24
Mile 9: 7:21
Mile 10: 7:14
Mile 11: 7:23
Mile 12: 7:23
Mile 13: 7:37
Mile 14: 7:41
Mile 15: 7:38
Mile 16: 7:05

I was pretty consistent from Mile 5-mile 12, but you can see I struggled in miles 13,14 and 15...but pulled it together at the end:)

AND....this is my biggest week since I started training 6mos ago: 54 miles so YAY!!!

Back in the saddle????!!!!

Okay...I'm so happy...I think I've got my groove back. I don't know if it was listening to my body yesterday and running those 7 miles at an 11 min pace or what, but I strapped on my shoes for my first run today and headed out in the rain to do 5 miles.

I was trying not to expect too much, so at first I never even looked at my watch to see what pace I was running...

after about 1/2 a mile I was feeling very easy and comfortable, not hurting, not gasping for hair and I looked down to see 8:45pace:) YAY! was all I could think!!!

I ran 5 miles at an 8:33 overall pace and the whole time my heart rate never went over 155, which is very abnormal since some times I was running at 7:30 or 7:45 pace.....

*** My coach had us all start this new supplement with Argenine in it ( you take it 1-2hr before all your runs)....which is supposed to lower your heart rate or something so you can race at a faster pace without your heart rate going into overdrive and it must work b/c NORMALLY my heart rate would have been at about 160-165 but it was at about 152 the whole time and didn't go up or down hardly at all. it was awesome. I felt very relaxed and in control, like I was just floating along:)

I am THRILLED!!!

I still got a few more miles to run this afternoon and hopefully they feel just as easy:)

I feel like I got my GROOVE back lol....tomorrow is another REALLY slow 6 miles and then hopefully I will feel great for my 16miler saturday!! woot woot!!

Not what I was expecting today AT ALL. Lots of surprises lately

So you all read about yesterdays flop on the speedwork, right?

well today was a Recovery day.

My workout called for :

7 miles - recovery pace (usually 9-9:30 for me) heart rate should be 135-140

20min on Bike

Myrtle workout

upper body weights

6min ab workout.

I was SO tired and lethargic this morning I COULD NOT get out of bed. I tried..my body wouldn't move. I think someone must have been sitting on me;)

So at 12pm after I finished doing some makeup for a photographer friend...

did I ever mention I am a makeup artist? Here's my website if you want to check it out:

www.nicolewagnermakeup.com

Anyway... I headed to the gym and hopped on the treadmill:):)

I put the speed at a 6 (10min mile) and quickly realized that felt like I was sprinting. Seriously? I thought to myself? I had to put it down to a 5.6 which is a 10:42 pace. CRAZY.

right then and there I knew I had to make the choice....was I going to accept this and spend the next 75 minutes running at a snails pace to ensure I get the recovery miles I need?

I decided YES. I will complete this workout, no matter how long it takes!

NOW...if you knew me, you'd know that PATIENCE is my BIGGEST WEAKNESS. I think I run fast b/c honestly I can't bare to waist time lol. so this was a HUGE day for me.

I ran 4 miles, then hopped on the bike, then did all my other exercises and finished up with 3 more, what seemed like FOREVER, Miles.

I was SO proud of myself. I learned to just ACCEPT what I had to give today.

I know that PROPER REST and RECOVERY is essential to PROGRESS so, despite the fact that I can't figure out what my body is doing and why I can't perform, I am accepting that THIS is part of my marathon Journey and today that is all my body had to give, but I DID IT:):)

In fact, when I was done over 2hrs later, my legs felt better....so maybe those 7 slow miles were just what I needed:):)

Excited to get up tomorrow and give it whatever i've got:)

Enjoy the journey my friends and be grateful we have legs to run on no matter how fast or slow they want to move:)

Realistic Goals

well....I guess trying to do that workout that I listed in my previous post was not very "REALISTIC" for day 4 of running.
worst track workout I've had since I started running 2yrs ago lol...and back then I was at ground zero.
What I'm saying is I couldn't complete any of the intervals and I couldn't hit ANY of the times....not even close actually.

I resolved that my body just isn't ready today. I still put in a lot of miles in the POURING rain.
no...really. I have never run in rain that hard...especially for 90min straight.

I tried to do the first 2 mile interval. My goal was 13min. 6:30 pace:

My first mile was 6:30 exactly andthen the next lap I just plunged to a much slower pace..by lap 6 I couldn't keep going.


I did a recovery lap and then tried to do my 800m intervals.
I normally do my 800's at 3:00-3:05. My first one was 3:10...not bad but then the 2nd attempt I stopped after 3/4 of a lap. grrrr...now I am getting frustrated I'm thinking I should just go home.

Luckily, I had a good friend Tanja who was there running her intervals.
she told me to keep going but to just slow down.
So I thought I'd give it a try.
I ran 2 more 800's at 3:32...which is a 7:04 pace..but that was ALL I could do today and I just have to accept it.
sigh.

That's hard for me to swollow when I know I am supposed to be in week 3 of training and progressing quite nicely and i've taken such a HUGE step back, BUT I also remind myself:

1. I was really sick and JUST finished anti-biotics
2. I didn't run for almost 2.5wks
3. I am still getting better (glands are still swollen).
4. I have alot of extra personal things on my mind right now


SO....I am hopeful that next week I will be a bit better.

THE PLAN:
run the next 3 days VERY easy and slow, sleep lots and hope I can bust out a great 16mile progression run on saturday:):)

I feel like a dump truck, watch out here it comes....

*Warning, this post is a bit of a vent and emotional release for me. If you don't want to read all my feelings of discouragment today. Move on lol. but I have to dump it SOMEWHERE, so here it is.*

I REALLY hate that I am so off my game. I wanted to jump back into this with the same organization and enthusiasm as I had 2weeks ago but things are just off:(

I am already feeling exhausted and I haven't hardly done anything.

I have a LOT of emotional stress going on in my personal life this week and it's hard for me to find motivation or excitement or anything.

I keep trying to shake my head and get back in the game but it's tough.

Today is my first day of interval training. It should be week 3 for me...but it's week 1 and I don't feel prepared AT ALL to go do this. I have no energy, I am emotional and feeling discouraged.

it's frustrating that I was so on the ball 2 weeks ago, I had a plan and now I can't seem to get organized again. Whats up with that?

I am going to eat a big early lunch, then head out to the track and attempt to give it my all.

here's my workout:

3 mile warm up

2 mile fast (95% effort)

4x 800m sprints (90%)

2 miles fast (95% effort)

1 mile cool down

I find myself asking "am I ready to do this?"...I mean I know I can train for a marathon, but is NOW the right time? do I have too much on my plate?

my business takes A LOT of time and then 2 kids on top of that, a husband, a home. Am I being stupid? I wish my days consisted of just running and being a mom/wife:) that would be AWESOME.

anyway...hopefully all the stress I'm dumping here stays here and I can go get on with life today. I need to just shake this off and MOVE ON! Come on Nicole, pull it together!

I know this is a "downer" post but I am documenting everything in this process...the good days and the bad....hopefully there will be more good than bad in the end:):)

Happy Running everyone

Sore quads and celebrity encounter on my run!!!

So, first run back was friday morning!! I can't tell you how excited I was!! SO excited Igot up at 5:00am to drive downtown to meet some new girls to run with.
Apparently they changed their time and I almost missed them:(:( but luckily just as I was leaving I saw them and jumped out of my car.

I thought they were only running 4 but turns out they were running 8...and at a much faster pace than I SHOULD have been running.
first run back.EASY run, should have been 8:30 pace...but everytime I looked at my garmin it said 7:30-7:45...I was thinking "oh crap, this is NOT what I'm supposed to be running after being sick and having 2 wks off:(" but I survived...thought my legs were SORE.

then yesterday morning we went to Leif Erickson...which is great but is rolling hills in a steady uphill climb for the first few miles..
I was trying to run it slow but could not believe how SORE my quads were by the time I hit 6 miles and turned around.....it was RIDICULOUS. it must just be that I haven't run b/c they were KILLING me!
anyway....when we were about 1 mile from the bottom, GUESS WHO I RAN BY???
SHALANE FLANAGAN and her couch...andthe other blonde girl who is in the article with her in this months Runners World.

I was too stupid to stay something but I should have yelled out "Hi Shalane!!! Look, I'm wearing your compression socks from the Runners World article!!" lol..do you think she would have thought I was a DORK??! ha ha...probably!!!



Anyway.... 12 miles done....8:20 pace...good easy run....

OH and then I went to bed last night at 6pm and slept 12 HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! woohoo....

all geared up for this week!!!

Starting over. Take 2:

Okay...the eve of marathon training is here...AGAIN. That's weird. Didn't think I'd be starting over 2wks later but here I am.

it has been a rough week!

finished my 8wk cycle.

had 8 days off.

started marathon training.

ran 2 days.

got sick.

DIDN'T run for 8 days

Now starting again!!!

I have never taken 16 days off running since I started training with Joel so I'm a little afraid to see if I've lost a lot of fitness or not?. hope not.

But here I GO!!!!....

Now we are down to 9wks of training.

OH.MY.GOSH.

I am going to run a MARATHON in 9 weeks????????????

Say...YES? to Drugs.........

Oh and I did!!

I have DRUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just took my first dose of my 5 days of anti-biotics. Apparently I had the flu turned

SINUS INFECTION. blah.

hopefully this kicks it and the plan is to start running

FRIDAY!:):)

(but that's still 4 days away)

*now lets just hope that the fact that I will only have run 2 out of the last 20 days doesn't set me

TOO FAR back:(

Do you think it's too late to catch up???

An Apple a day keeps the Doctor away!!....Liars.

Yesterday , I had a total breakdown, I was crying and yelling...the verbage was something like this:
"i'm sick of this! I have tried to be patient! I have stayed off my feet, I have eaten well, I have been sleeping lots, I've been taking tonnes of vitamins and herbs you name it..and i'm STILL sick!! I am a super healthy person, there is NO reason for me to be this sick for this long! and I HAVE PMS! (this is where I started to cry and my husband started to laugh lol)..."

then I flopped down on the bed and cried like a baby. lol
in hindsight it's funny...but boy was I mad.

I sort of still am.
tomrrow is Wednesday. I won't be running yet. sigh.

16 days with only 2 days of running. I'm losing fitness and losing training time.
WHY? it's so annoying you know?

I like to be in control of my life so this is just killing me.

and I know I know I know...everyone keeps saying "try not to stress, it will only make it worse" but really I'm not so sure..b/c I kept my stress level in check for the first 4 days and I got worse each day...last night I got totally PISSED OFF and today I feel a marginal change in the right direction! LOL...so maybe my body is scared of me AND my temper and is actually going to smarten up;o)

anyway..... headed to the Doctor today. hoping for some anti-biotics.
my glands are REALLY swoleen in my neck and my throat is still sore. that is the symptom I've had for 6 days that isn't getting better.

I know I should stay off my feet until i'm 100% but I'm running out of time. ....I feel like I should just start running BUT i'm scared that if I do I will re-lapse and get worse and then I'd really be mad at myself...

what would YOU do???

1. don't run til I'm feeling back to normal but risk losing more fitness and more training time?

2. start runing in a day or 2 and take the chance that I could relapse?

Which Running GPS do you use and LOVE?

Hello running world:)

It is now Sunday night and I am just barely today seeing a light at the end of this dark tunnel of sickness.YUCK! my poor husband now is trading places with me and getting sick himself:( sigh...what a weekend!

I am PLANNING to be back to running by WEDNESDAY and am determined to catch up and still be prepared with only 9 wks of training :(:( (that seems a bit scary and not long enough for my first marathon!)

Okay...so Running friends I am counting on you!

I need a new running garmin! There are SO many out there and I have no idea which one to pick!!!

I have the Garmin 205 and I love it but it does not have a HRM and my coach wants me to start using one.

My husband has the 305 but doesn't want to share lol....so I need my own.

I have friends who have recently bought the 110 and 210 but haven't got feedback yet....

so what do you run with? what do you love about it???

pro? cons??

thanks!!!

Man down.

I really can't believe this. things were going so well.
I started getting sicker and sicker yesterday and by 9pm last night was in bed sick as a dog. sore throat, swollen glands, body aches..you know the kind where it hurts to even move? yeah that. blah. I was in bed for 18hrs!!!!!!!!! and slept most of that. My friend took my girls today, what a blessing that was, so I could sleep ALL DAY. I am feeling about 25% better but I missed 4 miles yesterday, 10 miles today and am missing 14 miles tomorrow:(
that means my first base week of 50 miles is only 21:(
I am supposed to jump into 60 miles next week (i've never run more than 50 and only did that once). ...so now I don't know where this leaves me. I haven't talked to my coach but i'm worried this just throws everything off. I was supposed to have 2 weeks of easy base building runs then 8.5 weeks of hard training. he says an individual always PEAKS about 8-10wks into training so we had it laid out perfectly....now I'm not sure what will happen.

this just sucks. I suppose I can be thankful it happened now and not the week before my marathon but still.
feeling a bit discouraged. PRAYING I am 100% by monday. If not, I won't be running b/c I don't want to make it worse.
anyway...that's where i'm at. fingers crossed 2 more days of rest and i'm back on my feet!

Day 3: first road block

I thought my cold was getting better.
I woke up sicker than ever. Razor blades in my throat, coughing harder, runnier nose. ugh!.
It has gotten a little worse each day since I started running this week.
I tried to do my 8 miles and 3 miles in got a BAD side cramp...made it to mile 4 but was half hunched over. got off. SUCKY.

So...advice ladies?
I have 10 miles tomorrow and gym, 14 miles saturday...
what would you do? take the day off tomorrow and rest? or keep going and risk getting worse and worse?
I am so torn on what to do.

How do you stay Motivated?

I have had a few friends lately ask me "How do you stay motivated?"

so here it is....it's not complicated but a freind on FB said that this advice I gave helped her in her 10K training run so thought I'd share here too:)

One way I stay motivated is by VISUALIZING the finish. For example...for this training...I keep the end in mind. I visualize myself running the marathon. How amazing it is going to feel. I visualize what I will feel like at mile 10, mile 16, mile 20 and then finishing the marathon.....I imagine finishing STRONG (top 3 would be nice lol--even if it's a bit of a BIG dream, it makes me feel good). I imagine seeing my husband and dad and coach and how excited we will all be, how proud they will be of me....as I am visualizing all this, I get the most wonderful joyful, happy feelings. I know I will feel such a feeling of accomplishment and strength and THAT is literally what motivates me.

when I wake up at 6am on some mornings and I'm too tired to get out of bed. I take 5minutes and just lay there visualizing these things. I usually say to myself:

"How bad do you want it Nicole?"....and that almost always leads to me getting my butt out of bed:) I want this...BAD. and I know it will take hard dedicated work to get it. I know it is nothing but a CHOICE of whether I want to put in the work or not, so I just do it.

So...tell me...

"How do YOU STAY motivated?"

OUCH!! need HELP with my blister!

for some reason, during my 7 miles on the treadmill this morning I developed a big blister on the inside of my big toe where it rubs against my 2nd toe. I still have 3 more miles to run this afternoon and like 30 more before Saturday... I've never gotten a blister before....

HELP?!!

all you experienced running women..what can I do? it hurts!

DAY 1-Marathon training begins...

Not a very eventful morning....
alarm goes off at 6:20am...but dont' worry My 3yr old was on the case and made sure to come in at 6:18 robbing me of my last 2 minutes of sleep:):)

I got her situated on the couch with a banana and a cartoon so my hsuband could keep sleeping and off to the gym..I HATE treadmills and we are rarely allowed to run on them but it's POURING rain, COLD and I'm sick..so oh well.

Here is what my week looks like for first week of training:

Week 1 : 50 miles (base week)

Tuesday- 7 easy
wednesday - 10 easy (double) I will probably do 7 and 3 or 6 and 4.
Thursday- 8 easy
Friday - 10 easy + gym (bike, upper, core, stretching)
Saturday - 14 easy

So that's what I have to look forward to!! can't wait;)