View from Sunday's trail run

Not posting much due to wrist/typing problems. Here are 2 pics from Sunday's 7.4 mi trail run.

Running and Stress

This post will be short because I'm experiencing wrist issues and shouldn't be typing in the first place.

Running is both a stress relief for me, and a cause of stress in and of itself. For the most part, running provides me with the opportunity to warm up my body, hash out ideas, and get away from my desk. It's a fundamental part of how I think through tough problems in my work. Sometimes, however, the work stress is so overwhelming that I running also becomes stressful rather than enjoyable. I'm presently working on a PhD dissertation in European history and it's kicking my ass. I'm mentally running in circles, and I'm so frustrated that I burst into tears every time I even try to talk about my work. I feel a welling tightness and constriction in my chest that I just can't shake. Running when I feel like this is disastrous. I can't breathe, I beat myself up for being slow, and I just generally hate every minute of being on the road.

So, I haven't run since Sunday. Yeah, yeah, that's what? 3 days off. For normal people this would seem, I dunno, normal. For me? It's a big change. I like to put in at least 3 miles of walking or running every day, normally 4-5.

But late last night I figured something out. Pieces of my work and what I need to do with it began to fall into place. This morning, for the first time in weeks, I can breathe deeply and calmly talk about my work. Definitely time for a run.

Today's run was meant to be a "healing" run. Meaning - focused on me, my body, and being outside, rather than time, pace, and distance.

I popped on a Diane Rhem interview about a new biography of Elizabeth II the first and turned on joglog, but turned off all vocal cues. No distance, pace, or time cues of any sort. All I wanted to do was run what I knew to be a 5 mi loop at a pace that just felt right. Well, I need to do this more often. My average pace was 8:49min/mi and I felt good the whole time. I did stop to take 2 water breaks, but the stopping kept me going stronger in between. Even more importantly, I just felt good. Strong. Warm. And capable. Three things that I haven't felt in a while.

The stress of work has thrown my running plan into chaos. But at least I'm still putting one foot in front of the other and getting out the door.

Trail training

Luke and I did a long trail run in sabino canyon today. Joglog wasn't working so we just went by time- 56 min out, 50 min back. The trail was really rocky w/steep elevation gain in the first 1.5 miles. But considering we were out for 1h45m I'm guessing it was 8mi or so. The trail was rockkier than expected and added new challenges. We went slow ( luke wanted to go faster but I was pushing my limits), and had a good time. Good training for the race, but man I hate rocks and trail downhill. Never felt so good to be on flat asphalt.

Sick

Skiing on Jan 2nd was great. Jan 3, I was running a 101 fever and huddled in bed. In addition to holiday presents and love, I came home with a virus. Nothing to put a kink in your training schedule like a cold.

In the meantime, I also signed Luke and myself up for a 8 mile trail run the first weekend of Feb. This means I have a longer-than-normal long distance run to train for (yay!), that will give me an excuse to add mileage to my weekly runs. Assuming I'm feeling better by then, I intend to do a 7 mile run on Coronado on Sunday. The second major challenge of this run will be the elevation change. I basically run on entirely flat ground these days. I'm ok when faced w/ hills b/c my base is strong, but it should be stronger.

My training goals for the 8 miler:
-Long runs on the weekends, preferably on a trail with hills

Uh, I'll think of more when the cold-addled brain clears up a bit.

First run of the year

Slow start, but ran negative splits for my first 5 miler of 2012. It hit 77 today. I love the desert. And tomorrow ? Skiing!