citizen of the planet

Going into today’s race, I honestly felt like I had something to prove.  I mean, not only was I the coach for the clinic, but it’s also the first race I’ve had to do since losing a large amount of weight.  Instead of the pressure really working to make me up my game positively, I think it really affected me in a less than positive way.  Instead of being relaxed, I was absolutely terrified of what I considered “failure.”  Of course, “failure” wouldn’t have been a true failure in the least, but in my mind I had one true goal: obliterate my old personal best.

The race report and a photo of the medal follow after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Today ended all of our training runs for this cycle.  It’s our taper week, which means that we’re all supposed to be taking it easy.  Our mileage should be cut back and we shouldn’t be doing anything to strain ourselves.  All this allows our legs to be fully rested.  Really, by the time race day comes around, we should be raring to go.  According to schedule though, we’re supposed to be doing our two weekday runs at race pace.  To me that just doesn’t make sense at all.  By going at race pace, aren’t you just thoroughly wearing your legs out right before the race?  I decided to turn that on its head for my group.  I encouraged everyone to do tonight and last night’s run at a really relaxed pace.  Frankly, even then I could feel that my legs were a little bit heavy.  At the very least, there are still a few days until the race.  I;m sure it’s enough time to allow my legs to recover.

Just a few days more.

I’m actually pretty nervous about this race.  It’s not really the act of racing itself that’s causing me stress, but more the set of expectations that I’m placing on myself.  Now that I’m lighter, and that I’ve successfully pushed myself harder, I just don’t want to come out of the race with a lack of improvement.  I realize it’s not good to put such pressure on myself like that, but I need to do this.  I’ve worked too hard and made too many sacrifices to just be complacent about it all.  Nope.  Complacency is just lame.

Interesting how I spoke about bad footing last night.  During this morning’s run the temperature was hovering at around freezing.  Due to the wavering temperatures there was an inordinate amount of ice and slush on the ground.  The route has this long downhill aspect to it.  I accompanied someone at the back of the group.  As we were going down the hill we were careful to avoid the pools of cold water that were collecting at street corners.  At one point, I ran around one of the puddles while the other person jumped it.  Due to the slippery conditions though she ended up jamming her right foot.  Brutal!

I immediately had flashbacks to last year when I slipped on an ice patch myself.  We stopped, then walked it out for a bit.  She tried to start going again, but the discomfort was just too much.  I tried to be positive about it: at least we have a week to go before race day.  She has an opportunity to ice things down and get her feet back into good condition.  So, all isn’t lost, right?  Still, I recognized the sudden sense of panic that came over her.  I did my best to get her to relax and refocus.  Yes, we walked back for the majority of the route, but I think I did a good job getting her to not feel sorry for herself.  Injuries are a fact of this sport, yes?  We can do all of the preventative things possible, but every now and then something will sneak in there and throw you off course.  All you can do is just deal with it as best you can, then move on.

We still have a week left.  I do not want to be injured.

The weather outside is rather mild.  On my way to the subway station earlier today, as soon as i stepped out of my building I was greeted with a couple of drops of water on my head.  At first I assumed I was just getting hit by water dripping from the power lines up above, but I quickly realized that it was actually light rain; it was far too warm for the moisture to actually be snow.  The day before, the sidewalks were caked in snow.  Back then, as I walked my ankles were being bent this way and that.  It’s a wonder I didn’t break anything because the thick unshovelled snow was making my ankles bend in ways that they were not meant to bend.  Well, today, with the milder weather, the snow on the sidewalk turned into pools of cold slush and collected water.

My biggest problem with all of the weird weather at the moment is the general fear of stepping on something that will cause me to lose my footing.  How, or why is this even a fear?  Well, I’m getting really close now to the Chilly Half Marathon in Burlington, and after last year’s disappointment I really don’t want a repeat of what happened.  If you recall, after months of dedicated training, I had slipped on an ice patch just outside of a subway station.  I wasn’t even running at the time.  I was just walking along minding my own business, then *BAM*.  I thought I’d be able to continue but the act of limping to the hotel to pick up my race kit on the day before the race was enough to make me reconsider.  And so, that’s why I have this fear this year.

As a result of me teaching the clinic, I’ve really trained cleanly this during this cycle, making the majority of the required runs.  I’ve put much effort into getting things just right, and I’ve made so many improvements.  We’ve been so fortunate weather-wise this year.  Instead of getting beaned continuously by volley after volley of heavy snow like last year, or like the United States this year, we’ve gotten off fairly lightly.  That’s part of the reason why I’ve been able to train like I have.  And now it’s getting so close to the time where I have the ability to test out how well I’ve trained.  Perhaps I’m putting way too much pressure on myself.  Sure, it’s rather normal to want to do well, however, more than ever I just don’t want to fail due to something out of my control.  I don’t want to be disappointed again.  Yes, maybe I could just hide out at my place and not venture outside for the next week, but that would just be silly, would it not?  All I can do is trust that I’ll be able to make it to next Sunday without any issues.  No injuries, right?!