Motivating Monday: Those little whispers

Today marks the beginning of my official marathon training plan.
No, I won’t be running.

Today is, actually, a rest day.

And I couldn’t be more thankful.

I’d be lying to you if I said I was super excited  to start this plan.
That I can’t wait for the race and wish it was tomorrow.

In all actuality, I’m terrified.

26.2 miles is forever.
It’s the distance between the town I grew up in and the town we drove to to get groceries.
I always fell asleep on that car ride, and now I have to RUN that distance?

Then there’s the fact that my long run this next weekend is 9 miles, and it’s my last single digit long run for, oh, 4 months.

I think I’m schedule to run slightly over a half marathon in a few weeks.
I’ve never run farther than 13.1 miles in life.
I run that distance as a race. Once in while.
Now I’m using it to train?

What. Was. I. Thinking.

Or at least that’s the kind of thoughts running through my head this morning.

I mean, I love running. I really do.
And I love that I’m coaching other women to run.
Heck, I’m plotting ways to get Music Man to start running with me when he gets home and to like it.

Yet, 26.2 miles frightens me.
16 weeks of training for that distance scares me.
The fact that I’ll be running probably around 500 miles in the next 16 weeks terrifies me.

But today, I’m starting.
I’m moving forward.

Because all those fears. All those phrases repeating themselves over and over and over in my mind.
Those are just lies.

Sure, I couldn’t go out tomorrow and run 26.2 miles.
But from everything I’ve read, and every marathoner I’ve talked too… I’m learning that if I follow the plan, I will finish.

And I’ve never not finished something I’ve started.

Today, I’m starting and I’m banishing those lies.

So check back with me in 4 months.
Or follow along on my journey.

Because even if I have to crawl across the finish line because my legs have given out on me, I will finish.
I have no doubt about that.

Passing the Baton: What whispers are you facing this week? Any fears you need to conquer?
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Seek Peace. Choose Joy. Find Strong.

Motivating Monday:Banish the Fear

I ran today.
I know. I said I was going to take two weeks off to heal my lingering hamstring pain from the half, but, then I looked at my (hopeful) race schedule for the summer and today marked the beginning of my triathlon training.
Of course day one said I should run.
You should be proud of me though. I’m cutting back on distance, especially since I want to go for the full marathon this fall. I’m only training for a Olympic distance triathlon in July with maybe a sprint distance thrown in somewhere. If my leg keeps going on the upswing of healing, then I’ll shoot for the half Ironman next summer.
AND I took it easy on the run today. I would just like to cement the fact that I took 8—8!—days off of running. As much as I really wanted, and needed stress wise, to get out on the pavement this past week, my legs needed the rest more. So, I foam rolled, iced a bit (probably not enough) and did yoga. The training plan called for 30 minutes of easy running which I broke into 10 minutes easy pace (10 min/mile) 5 minutes walking, 10 minutes easy pace 5 minutes walking.
I had a teensy bit of pain at the beginning, but it usually takes about 10 minutes for my legs to warm up anyway, but I’m feeling good post run.
I am also definitely still going strong on the 30 day yoga challenge and my body is screaming a million thank you’s at me. Honestly.
Monday’s motivation is a little late today, but I had a super early morning. I  started my observations for my summer class, and wouldn’t you know it, but these high school kids get up and make it to first period by 7:15. Wowser.
I’m still in race-recovery mode this week, mostly mental by this point, and so today’s motivation stems from there.

Motivating Monday!

My long run this week was a 5 to 6 miler. I wanted to put in 6 miles, but I figured I would listen to my body while I was running to determine what distance I would end up with. Next week I’m supposed to cut back to 3 miles, so really if I ran 5 I’d have some leeway in the training for a 6 miler next weekend.

I thought there was a chance of rain on Sunday, so to get rid of any silly weather excuse to run outside, I switched it up and headed out Saturday for my run. It was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and I was tired from being up early that morning and putting hours in at work. Even though it was a beautiful day outside, I just did not feel like running.