Hansons Week 15

This week should just be called perfectly imperfect, as nothing about it went according to plan. In hindsight, using my extra week last week to repeat week 14 would have been better used this week. Rather than pretending everything went according to plan, I embraced the fact that I made week 15 my own.



Here is week 15 and what I actually did:

Monday: 7 miles easy Rest
Tuesday: Strength 3 X 2  10 miles Tempo
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 10 miles Tempo  Strength 2 X 3 miles
Friday: 6 miles easy  5 miles easy
Saturday: 6 miles easy 16 miles long
Sunday: 16 miles long Walked 6.8 miles

The week started off on a bad note as Monday brought the job layoff that I had been dreading for weeks. I skipped the run and tried to treat myself kindly that day.

Dog cuddles are mandatory on a bad day

Strength & Tempo:

I had to swap out my tempo and strength runs due to time commitments and while this would have been fine, I accidentally did the wrong strength workout. Ironically I ended up doing my least favorite strength workout...again...so clearly I enjoy pain! I claim temporary insanity due to the week's events and when I finally realized I was doing the wrong strength run, I just accepted what I was doing. I was also nervous about moving up to a 10 mile tempo, but I completed the run having met my target pace for every mile and it was another notch in my belt of training achievements.

Easy Runs:

On Friday I was really lacking the motivation to run. I headed out on 6 easy miles and started to have a very adverse reaction to the running itself. Some days I don't feel like running but once I am out doing it, I feel great. This time the feeling of not wanting to run was getting stronger and stronger, and rather than continue to force myself to run when I clearly was not enjoying it, I turned around after 2.5 miles to make it a 5 mile run. I know that running one less mile will not matter the least in terms of marathon preparation, and running is something I want to enjoy. I let myself have a "bad day" and I am sure that this helped me mentally prepare for my long run.

Long Run:

Sunday was the last 16 mile run in the Hansons plan and I was attending a music festival the same day. I debated about whether to run the long run on Saturday, early Sunday morning, or Monday. Ultimately I chose Saturday as the weather was the coolest and I knew that I would enjoy myself more at the festival on legs that had not survived 16 miles that morning. I was nervous about the 16 miles, not because I hadn't already run several before, but because of my lack of motivation. I was still feeling depressed and uninspired and I was worried I did not have the mental strength to handle the run. Thankfully this run was also the dress rehearsal for race day. I wore my Team PAWS singlet and that was a game changer for my attitude. Instead of focusing on the lay off, job searching, and other financial stress, I thought of all the animals I had helped save that I was running for. Every person I passed along the way that I had a dog smiled at me, and I was able to get through the run feeling strong. The last few miles were difficult as the day had gotten much warmer and I could tell I was dehydrated, but I finished strong and considered it a good last 16 mile effort before the marathon. Even though I had not run 6 miles before the long run, my legs were still fatigued enough to feel like the last 16 of the marathon, and I ended up walking over 6 miles on Sunday that I still felt as if I had completed all three weekend workouts. I am sure some would criticize my rationalization, but I honestly felt I did the best I could this week.

Doing it for the animals!

Fatigue Level:

Moving up to a 10 mile tempo the same week as the 16 mile long run was challenging and my legs still feel heavy and sore, but that is nothing new with Hansons. Unfortunately I think I may have caught a cold, what with all the stress of life and training, so my energy level is pretty low and some days were a struggle just to make it through the run.

Mental & Emotional Strength:

I think it goes without saying that this week was the most difficult mentally and emotionally. It seems unfair that bad life events occurred on the same week as the peak week of the plan but that cannot be controlled. Many people have told me that I can use my runs to get out all my emotions regarding my job lay off out of my system, however I have not found this to be the case right now. Instead, I have lost a little bit of my motivation and joy and every part of me wants to just lay on a couch or in bed and just be. I think this is a completely normal response to everything that has happened, but I also know that I won't feel this way forever. I don't want the fact that I lost my job to take away something that I have worked extremely hard at for many months. My job has taken a lot from me these past 10 years, and what I am mourning now is not the job itself but the ending of something that I have given myself to for so long. I will miss the people I work with and many of my clients, and I will miss the comfortable routine I have created. I will not miss the stress or unhealthy business practices or lack of development that I have not had. I know I am better off, but one week is not enough to move on yet. Thankfully running has taught me that life is just like a marathon. Some miles in the race are difficult - emotionally or physically, or both - but you continue on. Running has taught me that I am worth more and deserve more than sometimes I am treated. I can, and will accomplish great things with my life because I believe in myself and know what I am capable of. As Matt Fitzgerald wrote in "How Bad Do You Want It"...."studies indicate that a person with a high tolerance for pain is likely to also have above-average capacity to copy with the stress of a job layoff or cancer diagnosis". Therefore the training I have completed to handle the pain of the marathon will ultimately help me cope with this life event more than someone who has never trained to handle mental and physical stress.

Nutrition:

It would have been so easy to eat my feelings this week! I tend to eat when I am stressed (as most people do), and on Monday I could identify the usual signs of wanting to eat because I was stressed and not because I was actually hungry. Any time I felt this way, I acknowledged that this was because I was depressed or angry, and reminded myself that I did not want this job to take away yet another thing from me. Just as I don't want my months of hard work to be taken away because I lost my job, I don't want to stuff myself with foods that do not promote recovery and endurance simply because I'm sad. I would end up feeling worse if I ate junk, and I am really proud that I was able to think rationally about food. I did treat myself to an apple cider donut at the farmers market on Thursday, and I am glad I enjoyed what I ate vs eating junk all week simply because I was stressed.

mmm donuts...

So the moral of this week's training is that life happens...and you deal with it. Week 16 is a new week and another chance to get motivated and prepare myself for the marathon. In the grand scheme of life, I am healthy and surrounded by people who care about me, and I will be fine.