The funny thing is yes, maybe I can. No, I am not saying I can control my hormones per se but I can control other elements. When talking to a dear friend about "me causing the shakes" I experienced last week she brought up an interesting point. No, I can't control my hormones but perhaps those fluctuations on top of other worries I am carrying around may lead to the shakes. Okay, maybe, maybe not but it is still worthwhile to let go of worries. It does no good. And that includes any worries centered on race day.
I was worried that missing that 22 mile run may hurt me, that running 16 miles on Saturday feeling tough was a bad sign, that I just won't have it in me. Worrying has never done anyone any good. So I took those worries and decided I needed to combat them. I asked darling daughter if I could borrow some paper, got down beside her in her craft time, and starting crafting my worries away. I was on a mission. A numbers mission. I wanted to get the facts right there in front of my face so look at those, focus on my journey, and get into tapering with a fresh, optimistic mind.
I pulled out my training log and starting comparing this year to last year...June to September and then for giggles I added in October to December for last year.
Here is what I found....
Leading up to and including the Maui Marathon last year I ran 10 runs that were 10 miles or longer. My total mileage for those runs alone was 156.73 miles. Then the for giggles part, if you add in my runs that were 10 miles or longer leading up to and including the Honolulu Marathon I ran an additional 8 run with a mileage of 133.22 miles. The total: 18 runs of 10+ miles totaling 289.95 miles. Wow!
Now here is the shocker for me. First, I knew I have been training very hard this go around. I know I fell off plan during vacation. I knew I tried to get myself back on track once we got home even if that meant running my long runs inside on the treadmill, which I have done. This still bugs me some but if I were to rewind and make the choice again, I would do the same but that is a post for another day.
Since June this year I have run 21 runs that were 10+ miles long totaling 293.96 miles. In a nutshell, if half the time (even less since September is not over) I have done 3 more 10+ mile runs and 4.01 more miles. This matters to me. Yes, it is all numbers but numbers speak. They tell a story and these tired legs I have....well, hello lady! You have been working them hard. There is nothing wrong with them or you. It is okay you ran out of collagen and haven't bought more. Your legs are tired because they have been working hard. There is no other reason.
This brings us to taper time....13 days until race day. I am so happy to be in taper!!!! I am also aware that a week from now I may be singing a different tone more like....argh....taper....
But right now I know my legs need the rest.
I have run and trained hard. We have discussed those 10+ mile runs but let's look at the bigger picture.
Now let's go back in time and look at January - June 2013.
Since I love numbers let's go ahead and look at them some more. In January to August in 2013 I ran 1,207 miles. In the same time in 2014 I ran 1,289 miles....82 more miles. I remember when running 82 miles in one month was HUGE!
This just reiterates why now is the time to embrace tapering and let my body recover and get ready for race day. To learn more about tapering go HERE.
Daily Gratitude: I am thankful for digital and paper records.
Daily Affirmation: I GOT THIS!
