August 28, 2011
Rachel
Today's Mileage: 3 miles
Well, I'm officially tapering. To me, that means I won't be doing anything that pushes me too hard this week.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm grappling with some knee aggravation...great timing. But I'm continuing to take care of my knees, ice them, rest them, and stretch.
I ran 3 miles Sunday morning, which was the first run in a week, and only the third run in three weeks (not exactly what I had planned for these past few weeks). Nonetheless, my three mile run went relatively well...no severe knee pain to speak of.
Now I'm worried about the mileage...it's so easy to get out of shape, and three miles yesterday actually seemed hard after not much running recently. But I'm trusting that my body has the miles in me.
I'm going to get my butt out of bed every morning this week for some sort of physical activity. This morning it was a few (very few) laps at the pool, some running in the lazy river, and hot tub time at the rec center. Tomorrow I'll do 2-3 miles on the track at my local high school. Getting up early to exercise means that I sleep well at night, and I want to make sure to get plenty of sleep this week.
I'll also be hydrating, hydrating, hydrating this week!
We'll be heading to Colorado Springs on Sunday and attending the race expo so I can pick up my registration packet. Hoping to have an early dinner with some dear friends (who are also great athletes and motivators, and will be there cheering for me on race day). I'll hopefully get a great night of sleep (even going so far as to make my husband sleep in a different room. :)
On race day I'll get up nice and early (at least an hour before I have to leave for the race; plenty of time to poop! that's probably the most important part of this entire situation...seriously). I'll eat a light but satisfying breakfast (probably toast with peanut butter and banana and herbal tea).
I wasn't planning on running with an iPod during the race (and the race organizers strongly discourage it), but at this point, I'm thinking my music might be what gets me through it, so I may stick my nano in my shorts so I have it if I need it.
I'm planning on some serious adrenaline to get me through at least the first half of the race. It sounds like I'll have quite the cheering section at the race, so I'm counting on my loved ones to get me through the second half. My husband is planning to run the last 2-3 miles with me, and I figure by then I'll be in rough shape and his presence will get me to the finish line. (he helped get me through the longest natural childbirth ever, so I'm sure he can help get me through 2 tough miles...)
I'll be doing a lot of visualization this week to get me ready for the race. It's so unfortunate that I have somehow found myself in a slightly negative/worried state of mind about this race...when that's not at all where I was at a few weeks ago. But I've got a lot of positive thoughts about it too, and a lot of people who are giving me uplifting and motivating advice.
I'm ready to do my best and really do believe that even if it hurts, even if it's ugly, even if I lose it completely, I have it in me to run this entire race. As long as I can physically stay upright, I will push through whatever pain and mental blocks that may come my way on race day. It's not what I wanted for this race, but perhaps that will make it even more satisfying in the end.
