Constantly Exceed Your Level

8:23, 8:50, 8:44, 8:59, 8:32... paces from my runs over the past week. Holy amazeballs I'm getting faster. I'm running my next race this weekend, the Gridiron 4 miler in Central Park, and my goal of a sub 9 4 miler is within reach. I'm planning on making it a reality and I'm putting it out there for you to read... motivation to kick a$$.

My last race, the Race to Deliver back in November, was also a 4 miler and although in my head my goal was just to finish strong & pain free without thinking about my time, in my heart, a sub 9 pace would've been nice. And by "nice" I mean "awesome". I didn't wear a Garmin to that race, I didn't listen to music, and I had someone by my side coaching me through it. I learned a lot about strategy during that race. I'd never really thought about race strategy for anything shorter than a half marathon before; I'd just go for it and modified based on how I felt. To respond to how I was feeling instead of planning for it. But I learned some great tips that morning, like checking in with my body every mile. My running buddy suggested I check in every mile. Every mile I asked myself, how do my legs feel? Are my shoulders relaxed? How is my arm position? And when I needed to focus and to maintain a steady pace, I counted each step "1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4". I knew the race route; I had run in plenty times before so I knew what to expect. I learned to run with the route in mind. The first mile included Cat Hill… should I spend a lot of energy powering up that hill and risk running low later? Or should I take it easy and save my legs for the rolling hills down the west side of central park in that last mile? I took each mile at a time, focusing on what to expect and adapting accordingly.

For the most part, my strategy worked. My final time was 36:43 which gave me a 9:11 pace for the race. Although I wasn't wearing a Garmin, my running buddy was and here were my splits:
Mile 1 8:56
Mile 2 9:06
Mile 3 9:05
Mile 4 9:36
With the exception of Mile 4, not only were my splits even but my pace was pretty steady too, wavering only a few pace seconds here & there. So what went wrong? Halfway through that last mile, just as I was finishing the last of the west side rolling hills, I got a major stomach cramp. You know the kind of cramp that makes you bend in half so you can't stand or walk or move? That kind of cramp. I've never ever come to a complete stop at a race until that day. I don't know if it was a crappy diet that week, or the fact that I didn't drink enough water before nor any during the race and I was probably dehydrated. But something definitely happened and I'm hoping I learned from it so I can correct it for this weekend.

So that's the plan this weekend:
- Run with the route in mind
- Check in with my body every mile paying attention to my form & how I feel
- Try to keep a steady pace... 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4....
- Hydrate! Before & during the race. Better to take a quick water stop than a full cramp stop
- Don't eat crap this week. So far so far... but I should probably work on reducing my wine & cocktail consumption too. Hmmm...
- Exceed my limits

I'm not a big fan of putting my goals out there for everyone to read in case I end up sucking & feeling crappy. But I'm doing it anyway because I'm pretty sure that if I push it and work my tush off, I'm going to succeed. The day that I officially registered for NYCM 2012, I told someone my goal time which would be a ginormous PR for me. And I said to him "I can do it, right? I think I can do it". His response to me came via email in the form of this image

 

"Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it'll spread over into the rest of your life. It'll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level."

Amazing. True. Right On. Amen.

Monday Mantra

And The Winner Is...

Drum roll please....
The winner of last week's Cause I Feel Like It Giveaway is

If you haven't read through the comments from this giveaway, you really should. I read many of them the other day over my morning cup of coffee and had tears in my eyes. You guys are all amazing and the things for which you are grateful are beautiful! Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me and my readers!!!

Brianna, email me at erica@ericasaradesigns.com and let's start designing your custom engraved necklace!

Monday Mantra

A Giveaway... Cause I Feel Like It

Hope you're into Velveeta because it's about to get a whole lot cheesy on my blog right now. It's 10:36 pm and it's been a long night. I had an amazing run when I got home from consulting today, ate some sushi, and then dug into today's orders. And now I've just finished, I'm ready to crawl into bed, and I'm exhausted but smiling because I feel seriously grateful right now.

engraving tonight's orders

I've often found that when things get tough, and I feel like crawling into bed and sleeping until life calms down, the universe comes through and reminds me that my life is pretty awesome. No, it's not perfect and yes, I have loads to work on. But I am lucky and when I don't feel that way, something happens to remind me just how fortunate I am. And then I get all warm and fuzzy and want to make someone else feel just as grateful. Which is why now, at 10:30 pm on a Wednesday night, I've decided to do a "just for the heck of it" giveaway!

To enter, leave a comment and let us all know about something for which you currently feel grateful AND then tweet or facebook about this giveaway to spread the love.

Oh yeah, you're probably wondering what you'll win. The giveaway winner will receive their choice of a custom engraved personalized or race bling necklace from my site. Yup, your choice! I'll pick a winner on Monday. Good luck!

Have the courage to take a risk & follow your dreams. You may just succeed after all!

No Pain, No Gain?

A while back, I posted a workout on dailymile that went something like "tough run, yada yada yada, but happy not to feel anymore pain, blah, blah, blah". Just as expected, the wonderful dailymile community commented with encouragement and awesomeness. I appreciated all of the comments and the support, but one of them stuck out more than the others and has been on my mind ever since. I don't remember the exact words but it definitely included the phrase "No pain, no gain!" and it got me thinking. Do I really believe in that concept? No pain, no gain?

Let me show you what no pain no gain really means. This is my training recap from 2011.
I started 2011 with the goal of running at least 1,000 miles, a significant yet not unreasonable distance considering where I was with my running. I started the year taking it light, having completed the Philadelphia Marathon in November 2010 and then the Ted Corbitt 15k in December 2010. I tried to keep my miles consistent, with a peak in March (I don't quite remember why) and then was supposed to increase mileage in June to begin building it up for NYCM 2011 training.

June began with the Race for Israel, a stellar race in which I PRd and felt awesome. But just 2 days later, I headed out for a relaxed 4 miler and couldn't make it passed my corner. I was in pain. Major pain. My right hamstring hurt and my right hip felt like it was on fire. I felt my eyes well up with tears, hung my head, and walked home in disgust. "Disgust" you might wonder? Yeah, disgust. Because the minute I felt that pain, I realized that the issues I had ignored for months had finally caught up with me and I was officially injured. I'd make mention of aches & pains here & there; how I might have stretched my hamstring too far during a wall split in yoga, or how my hamstring felt pretty tight during a run in Central Park. But I figured I was a runner, I was strong, and I could just ignore the pain & push through it. No pain, no gain. Until it was all pain and no gain.

I saw doctors, got an MRI, found out that I had some major swelling around my right hamstring that was forcing me to adjust my form and therefore impacting the rest of my body in not so wonderful ways. I decided I would be "smart", that I would stop running but still train for the New York City Marathon by swimming & getting my miles in on the elliptical until I could run again. My physical therapist told me to take those elliptical sessions slow, to avoid aggravating my hamstring. And I told myself I was doing just that, but how slow was I really going if I was getting 16 miles done in 2 hours? Yes, I did "long runs" on the elliptical like the insane woman I can be from time to time. Take a look at my August hours above and you'll see those miles. Then take a look at September. That's what happened when I didn't listen to my physical therapist or my body.... no pain, no gain? Anyone see the gain?

After months of putting my body throught the ringer & ignoring the pain, I finally gave myself a bit of a break. There have been weeks when I haven't run at all, instead focusing on a little elliptical here and there. When I have run, it's been inside on the treadmill with no hills or cold weather to deal with. Taking some smart advice, I gave up my intention of running the NYC Half in March and instead have decided to focus on a late Spring Half. In the meantime, I'll train for some shorter races, like the 4 mile Gridiron in Central Park on February 5th.

This past weekend, I ran outside for the first time this year and it was tough but felt good. My hamstring didn't hurt, my hip didn't hurt, and I had a smile on my face most of the time. I'm finally building up my miles again as you can see in this weekly recap. It's a small increase, but a start.

Yesterday, I posted about being true to myself and doing what I want to do to be happy. Running is a big part of that but I realize that I need to learn to keep my ego in check. Just because I want to run every day doesn't mean that I should be, at least not for now. I need to be honest with myself and I need to focus on my long term goals: NYCM 2012 and even longer term, to run for the rest of my life.

Around the time that I was dealing with my injury, I saw a fellow runner post about an injury of her own. She had twisted her ankle running that week and despite the pain she was in, ran a race that weekend so that she could complete here 9+1 to qualify for NYCM 2012. She posted this on dailymile and every single person that commented congratulated her on pushing through the pain. It got me thinking and it even pissed me off a little because as a community we should be supportive of one another in making smart and healthy choices. I wanted more than anything to post that I thought she was wrong to race that weekend, that she should've listened to her body to prevent further injury that might take her out of the game completely. But I chickened out. So as my supportive community, I'm asking you to call me out on my bullsh*t if you ever feel so inclined. I'd like to think I can keep my ego in check on my own but to be honest, it gets the best of me sometimes. And I could use your help. Thanks in advance.

There you have it, my thoughts. Feel free to chime in, to agree, to disagree... whatever you want.

If I Am Not For Myself

It's Monday, the 16th day of 2012, and until now, I had yet to post on my blog this year. 2011 was an amazing year for me but the last few weeks, even months, have been overwhelming and I needed some private time to just be. So I've been resting, clearing my head, getting rid of the dark circles under my eyes, and trying to figure out how to make 2012 just as amazing but not as overwhelming & exhausting.

And that's where today's Monday Mantra, the first of 2012, comes in. Here it is, on my necklace, in hebrew. "Im Ein Ani Li Mi Li?", or in English, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?"

I put this necklace together last Monday after going through some stuff that has forced me to dig deep and to re-examine how I've been approaching my life. The 26.2 is a reminder that if I work hard enough, I can accomplish anything. The heart is a reminder to love myself, and that I deserve the love that comes my way. And the hebrew "If I am not for myself, who will be for me" charm reminds me that first & foremost, I need to accept and expect the most from myself because if I don't, why on earth would anyone else?

Now I'm not really one to make New Year's resolutions because I'm not exactly the most disciplined person and I'm totally okay with that. But even more, because I feel that with each day, my life evolves and I'd prefer to change my goals accordingly. So as of today, my only goal is to try to be true to myself again. To put myself first, to put what I love to do and want to do first, and to take the time to do those things. I want to run, and practice yoga, and plan trips, and read a book, and love the people I love, and take a bubble bath, and eat healthy food, and take care of myself, and drink good wine, and walk in the park, and work on my photography, to be honest, to feel safe, to feel secure, and to be a good friend, and to volunteer, and to think in terms of the positive instead of worrying about what might be, to expect the best, and to come back from injury stronger, and build speed.... stream of consciousness, the list goes on....

So there you have it, my first Monday Mantra of the year, perhaps my mantra for all of 2012, and little taste of what's going on in my head. I don't know, maybe this post is a bit too open and I feel just a bit vulnerable... but I'm going to be totally okay with that. Maybe being vulnerable will help me feel stronger, if that makes any sense. 

Any mantras going on in your head for 2012?