Why Aren’t You Running? Troubleshooting Your Roadblocks

• 7 • Motivation

One of my neighbors, Abby, is an amazingly talented blogger and sewing designer of stuffed animals.  While She Naps is a great place to learn more about making stuffed animals, and even a great resource of information about improving your blog.  But Abby isn’t just a designer and writer.  She’s also a runner.

A while back, she wrote a post called How I Made Exercise a Part of My Life.  I recently pasted a link to it at the bottom of a post about running and our bodies, because Abby had some powerful things to say on that subject.

As I was re-reading her blog post on making exercise a part of her life, I was struck once again by how Abby systematically dismantled her previous roadblocks to exercising.  She brainstormed all the problems that had previously kept her from running, and found solutions.  Simple, and yet brilliant.

I think this is a fantastic strategy to employ whenever your running, or something else in your life, isn’t going right.  What are the problems?  What’s keeping you from getting out there and accomplishing what you’d like to?  Figure out what the goal is, what the problems are, and come up with some solutions.


Here’s a revelation I had about problem solving: I used to think I could choose between two options: an ideal situation, or nothing.  Example: I will feed my child organic, homemade food, or nothing!  Reality: My child ends up eating Chipotle because I had unrealistic expectations of my own meal planning and grocery shopping abilities that week.  You’re not choosing between ideal world and not doing it… you’re trying to figure out what a practical solution is.  We eat a lot of frozen vegetables now, because for a while I was buying raw vegetables, running out of time, and feeding my kids meals without vegetables.  When I started using my brain, I started buying and microwaving the frozen vegetables.  Be honest with yourself about whether the solution you’ve come up with is something you’ll actually do!

Sometimes, the solution may not be ideal.  Sometimes I go for a run while I’m paying a babysitter, even though I should be meal planning or cleaning or folding laundry.  I basically gave up television during my half marathon training so that I could catch up on housework in the evenings that I’d gotten behind on by running more during the day.

But if it’s important to you, it’s worth figuring out.

In Abby Glassenberg’s style, here are some of my previous roadblocks to running, and how I’ve solved them:

Sometimes running is worth making a little sacrifice for.

Problem: Couch to 5k is designed to help you get to a fitness level where you can run 3 miles without stopping.  This is awesome, but it made me feel pressure to never take any walking breaks on my runs.  This meant that I wasn’t enjoying my runs, because when I lose my breath too much running, I feel panicky and like I’m drowning and want to stop.  So, I was running really slow, all the time, so I wouldn’t have to stop, and I wasn’t enjoying myself.  If I did take a break, I felt bad about it.

Solution: I let it go.  I paused at stop lights on my long runs, and took photos, and just enjoyed being out there and running the miles I was running.  I stopped telling myself that I’d just run 3 miles four times, and appreciated the fact that no, I ran 12 miles, thank you, and it was hard and awesome and I deserved to pause a couple times and rest during that.  I also realized, after my half marathon, that taking those short pauses on my long runs didn’t negatively impact my training.  If anything, they improved it by allowing me to run further and appreciate and enjoy my running.  I still take a break after running hard for ten minutes… I save the drowning, without air feeling for races.

Problem: I seriously dislike running in high heat, sunshine, and humidity.

Solution: I run early in the morning during the summer, or listen to podcasts and run on the treadmill where there’s air conditioning.  I keep afternoon runs when it’s hot capped at 3 miles or less, and I run them slower.  I sign up for more spring and fall races than summer ones.  A note on early morning running: if you do it regularly, you will start going to bed and falling asleep earlier, and then it won’t be as hard!

Problem: I sometimes feel like everything should be perfect in order for me to go for a run.  I should be perfectly hydrated, have plenty of time, not have had a glass of wine the night before, etc.  I used to treat every run like it was a race day, where if I was overtired or not pefectly prepared, I would just skip it rather than having a frustrating run.

Solution: I relaxed.  A twenty minute run when you’re pinched for time is better than no run at all.  If you cramp, you can start walking, so don’t worry about whether you’re perfectly hydrated, go find out.  I’ll throw on my running shoes and hit the ground and do the best I can under the circumstances now, and I find that it gives me extra runs in my weeks that otherwise wouldn’t happen.  Sometimes, I’m surprised by how well these runs go!

Problem: I will never be as fast as my husband, I can barely keep up with the mother’s forum running club, and I feel like everyone I know runs faster than I do.  Except, inevitably, when I say so it turns out I’m talking to someone who runs slower than I do and then I have to apologize profusely.

Solution: I started a running blog to connect to other runners, and have since realized that my pace doesn’t matter.  I get out there, and I work hard, and I run, and maybe it takes me more time than you to achieve my miles or less time, but we still share this amazing, common experience of working hard because we believe that running will make us, and our lives, better.  So who gives a rat’s bacteria how fast you are compared to someone else?  What matters is how much you’re enjoying whatever goals you’ve set for yourself now, whether it’s running regularly, running longer, getting faster, or using running to meet some new people.

Thanks to Abby for her great post on running that still has me thinking months later!

Other posts you may enjoy:

About this blog

My Racing Mistakes

Some thoughts on competition

Life is Hard… if your favorite stress relief is unhealthy, you’re in trouble!

• 9 • Uncategorized

Life is hard.  This may not sound like much of a revelation, but for me it actually was.  I was blessed with an incredibly happy childhood, and loved academics so much that I probably could have stayed in college forever.  I come from a healthy, supportive family.  I haven’t even attended the funeral of a grandparent… all four of mine are still alive.  The most traumatic part of growing up was…. umm, well, oh… yeah, my brother made fun of me in front of a guy I had a crush on in high school.

Right.

Such a difficult childhood.

I even liked the job I had in high school, at a trendy coffee shop in Portland, Maine where I got to hang out with college students and come home smelling like Ghiradelli hot chocolate powder.

My life was awesome.

Consequently, I didn’t have a lot of stress management techniques up my sleeve when I became an adult and the real world started to settle in.  I don’t have to tell you life is hard, you probably know life is hard.  We all have too much stress in our lives, from the little, everyday things like traffic and household clutter to the big things, like a family member who is sick or we’re worried about.

I used to focus endlessly on “if I can just make it to X date on the calendar, things will be better…”  Now, I’m starting to realize that things will always be crazy.  Sometimes they’ll be more crazy than others, but the point is, you have to live in the day and week you’re in, and that means you have to learn how to calm down and take care of yourself in a way that’s healthy.

I learned this the hard way when I was pregnant with my first.  Previously, I had looked forward to a glass of wine here or there to relax in the evenings with my husband, de-stress, talk about our day.  It was well within healthy limits, and finding new wines was one of our favorite interests we shared.

Obviously I couldn’t drink while I was pregnant with Will, so I switched to ice cream.  If it’d been an occasional treat, my new Ben and Jerry’s habit would have been fine.  But it wasn’t.  It became something I needed every single night to relax and de-stress in the evenings.  It was a tough time for me.  We were building a new house that wasn’t ready on time, and ended up putting all our stuff into storage, delaying our baby furniture deliveries over and over again, and living out of hotels and our parents’ houses… two states away from where Greg was working.  We finally moved into our new home when I was 39 weeks pregnant, less than ten days before Will was born, and three months after it was supposed to be ready.

Two days after we moved in to our new house…
pregnant, off the ice cream, but still stressed as anything.

The ice cream may have temporarily calmed my frazzled nerves in the evening, but it came at a cost.  I failed my first glucose screening test for gestational diabetes, and had to go back in for a 3 hour test.  I passed.  Barely.

Guess where I was when I found out I had failed the first test and needed to go back in for screening?  Out with a friend.  For ice cream.  I put the ice cream down.

When I was pregnant with Andrew, I didn’t want to make that same mistake.  I ate what Will was eating, and I didn’t feed him unhealthy foods.  In the evenings, I switched my relaxation technique to decaf Earl Grey.  Unsweetened.

My glucose test while pregnant with Andrew was also off the charts… on the low side.  It was the first time I remember seeing real, numeric evidence that what I put in my body and what habits I have directly impact my health.  (And if you’re pregnant, the health of your child.  I wish I could take those ice creams back.)

This was me, less than 48 hours before Andrew was born.
I had a healthier weight gain during my second pregnancy –
lots of stroller walks with Will, very little ice cream.

I still love ice cream… I just eat it very occasionally.  (Usually out with the kids as a special treat, snapping photos because it’s special!)  When I think back to those evening ice creams, I realize that an important part of the stress relief was a sense of ritual.

This is what I do to calm down, this will work.  I will pick a flavor, I will get a cute little cup, I will hear the gentle tinking of the spoon in the bowl, feel the ice cream melt in my mouth. 

It was as though how I relieved stress was part of my identity, and that what I wanted more than the ice cream was the sense of security having a go-to stress reliever provided.  I wanted ice cream because I associated it with feeling calmer, because the first few times I substituted it for my glass of wine, it worked.  I built an association, and created my craving.

Running is now one of my favorite forms of stress relief – but it’s not enough.  I can’t always get out for a run.  Sometimes, it’s a day off on my running schedule.  Sometimes it’s pouring and I don’t want to put the kids in the jogging stroller.  It’s the best, and I love looking forward to it, but we all need to have multiple ways to relieve stress that are healthy.

Some of my favorites?  

A cup of unsweetened, decaf tea.

A repetitive task that allows me to feel like I’m making progress on something, but doesn’t require too much thought or multitasking, like knitting or crafting.

Reading about running.

Writing in my journal, so I can work through my thoughts without any consequences.

Writing for my blog, so I can feel purposeful and creative.

Organizing a tiny, manageable section of my house, and savoring the feeling of productivity and sense of order and calm.

I do still enjoy having a glass of wine… but recently, I realized that I don’t want it to be a form of stress relief.  I like to have wine when I’m already in a good mood, and I would like to relax, but I don’t NEED to relax.  There’s a difference.  If you need wine, or ice cream, or anything that is only good for you in moderation in order to relax, then at some point, you’re going to be in big trouble.

Because life is hard, people.  Having an unhealthy form of stress relief only makes it harder.

Other posts you may enjoy:

Song Lyrics… or Running Mantras?

i am running this

Lessons from Real Life: Don’t Give Up During a Bad Run

Run Like A Diva – Half Marathon – D.C.’s Wine Country – Race Recap

• 25 • 13.1 Training

I dreamed. I trained. I strategized.  I worried.

I RAN.

13.1 Miles… Done!  I am so pleased with my first half marathon.  I feel as though I prepared adequately, had a realistic goal and strategy, and I worked as hard as I could on race day.

Race Highlights:

  • Feeling strong and never losing focus
  • Always believing that I would run to the finish, and that I was going to make my time goal
  • Seeing the comraderie of other women runners on the course
  • Beautiful race weather
  • The satisfaction of completing an extremely challenging course
  • Having a woman tell me that I pulled her up a hill because she decided to stick with me and I kept on running
  • Finding out that fellow race participants thought Greg was a professional photographer and kept posing for him at mile 9 where he was waiting to see me (see more race photos here)
Race Lows:
Late Start = Hungry Runners!  This was the first year that Run Like a Diva took place in D.C.’s Wine Country, and there were some major growing pains for the race directors.  The course started and finished at Tarara Winery, and there’s basically only one major road coming into the winery.  With thousands of race participants all trying to get to the same place at the same time, we were stuck in stop and go traffic for FIFTEEN MILES on the morning of the race.  We left an hour before we needed to be in the parking area, figuring that Google Maps said it should take us 25 minutes, so that gave us over twice the amount of time needed.  We barely made it, and only because Greg looked at a map and found a back way into the winery that cut off four miles of bumper to bumper cars.  
Because there were so many cars backed up trying to get to the start line, they couldn’t shut the roads down to start the race, even if they were willing to upset all the race participants who had been stuck in traffic for miles by commencing without them.
They delayed the race by 30 minutes, then 45, then just kept saying they’d let us know when it was going to start.  The race finally started 90 minutes after start time.  Guess what?  We’d all eaten breakfast at 5:30 a.m. – and we were hungry!  Even those of us with food weren’t sure how much we should eat and when, because right up until five minutes prior to start time, we didn’t know it was going to start!  I was in the bathrooms when the National Anthem started, and I booked it to the start line.  The lines for the porta-potties were so long and so noisy that we hadn’t heard the announcer say they were about to begin – for most of us, the anthem was our only warning.  Yikes.
Long lines at the porta-potties are typical at any big race – but a 90 minute delay made things worse!
We waited half an hour.
Not only was I hungry on the course (thank goodness I had extra Gu packets) because I’d eaten breakfast 3.5 hours before the start, I was also deliriously hungry at the finish.  I took a cookie, banana, and half a bagel, but it wasn’t nearly enough and we weren’t allowed back into the race finish area to get additional food.  We sat for half an hour getting out of the parking lot, and didn’t get lunch until 8 hours after I’d eaten breakfast.  By the time we made it somewhere for lunch, un-showered thanks to the race delay and the urgency that we get food, I was pale in the face, my hands were shaking, and it took ten minutes of slow eating before my stomach settled and color returned to my face.  Not the fun lunch in historic Leesburg I was expecting!
Frantic start meant that people weren’t properly seeded: The late start and disorganized beginning meant that people didn’t self-seed properly in their pace corrals at the start line.  There were people walking in the first mile who started in the 10 minute pace group, and the rest of us were tripping around them because of the intense crowding during the first few miles.  The pace groups should have been much further apart for such a large race, and people should have had more warning that the race delay was over and we needed to line up the right way!

Elevation map from my Garmin.
Up and down and up and down and up and down….

Unexpectedly hilly course with large, unpaved sections: The course was a lot hillier than I’d anticipated!  In the original course description online, Run Like a Diva advertised “only 2 areas of uphill running where you will gain less than 90 feet over 2 miles in each of these two sections”.  

Ok, so I took that to mean that the elevation gain would be pretty minimal.  Instead, I discovered that the entire middle section of the course was hills.  Steep uphill, steep downhill, repeat.  Every time we rounded another corner, we had to go uphill.  From the top of every hill, we could see another hill.  IT WAS BRUTAL.  

The hilliest sections are highlighted in blue – you can see my corresponding pace drop.


Clearly the course description was wrong, because In mile 6 alone I gained 127 feet of elevation.  That’s not 90 feet over two miles, that’s 127 in ONE mile.  The mile before that I gained 69, the mile after, 79.  The overall course gained 690 feet of elevation, and lost 674.  My calves hurt, and then my knees hurt, for a large percentage of the course.

My husband Greg, who has run 9 half marathons, has never run a hillier course than this one.  His largest elevation gain in a half marathon course comes in fifty feet shy of this one.  

I had to throw my original race strategy out the window.  No longer could I plan to take a 90 second walking break at about each 3 miles or the water stations.  I had to save all my walking breaks for the steepest uphill sections.  I walked on sections of hill where it was so steep that I was speed walking past runners who were too stubborn to take a walking break.  The hills were that bad.

In a way, it was nice, because I felt incredibly accomplished at the finish, and because I just stopped worrying about race strategy.  I just survived each moment the best I could, put my feet in front of each other as quickly as possible, and never gave up for that entire 13.1 miles.  



Enough complaints! The bigger the challenge, the more pride you feel in completion.

Great spectators!

So, it was hilly, we started late, it was crowded… some of these things are just part of a big race experience.  I think one of the reasons most of us run is that we enjoy facing a challenge and conquering it.  These were just unexpected challenges.  If I’d known how hilly the course was, I wouldn’t have chosen it for my first half marathon.  That being said, I’m really proud of myself for completing it, and in the time goal I’d originally set for myself.  It was incredibly difficult, and every hill made me long for a flat stretch of road so I could just RUN instead of climb, but I did it.

For future events with a large number of participants, I’ll be sure to leave even earlier, pack extra snacks and liquids in case of delays, and make sure I have something to eat after the race, too.

I’m really lucky that I had Greg with me, so I didn’t gear check my bag with all my warm clothes in it and then stand around in the cold waiting to find out when the start was.  No one had time to gear check after learning when the race would actually start, and there were a lot of cold runners.

But I did it.  The weather was gorgeous, and it was very powerful to run an event with so many women.  Having something extra in common with your fellow runners increases camaraderie, and I felt like I was part of something.

I’m not necessarily a huge fan of the “diva” concept (seems to value individualism over teamwork, and imply high maintenance over hard working), but I liked how many people I saw running in groups, with friends, mother/daughter pairs, etc.  It was much more conducive to that than a normal race might be, and I’m glad I ran it once!

What’s Next:

I’ve had a few readers post that they’re hoping I will continue my blog after the completion of this half marathon – you better believe it!  I’m going to keep running, and keep writing.

I even have another half marathon in my near future, the Chilly Half Marathon in Newton, MA this November.  It’s another hilly course… but this time, I’m planning on it.

I’ll be working on getting faster now that I’ve spent time focusing on running longer – I’m excited to try intervals and hill repeats and see if I can drop my pace down for my next 10k in October.  (Not much time, eek!)

I’ll also be writing my normal, motivational, running thoughts that relate to all things life and running… the type that you can relate to whether you’re in week 3 of Couch to 5k or you’ve completed marathons.  (I’ve gotten e-mails from runners of all experience levels!)

I hope you’ll keep checking back 🙂

Run Like a Diva D.C.’s Wine Country – 2013 Race Photos

• 8 • 13.1 Training
3229, 3165

Hi Fellow Race Participants!

I’ll be posting a race recap first thing tomorrow morning, but I thought it was worth having a separate link for the many, many race photos worth sharing!  My husband, Greg, pursues photography as a hobby.  When he showed up on the sidelines with his good looking camera equipment, a lot of runners were sure that he was a professional photographer!

He had people giving him the thumbs up, posing, and even jumping for the camera… despite being dressed in street clothes and his sandals, chatting with other spectators as he waited for me to come through at Mile 9.  It was too hard to explain to girls on the run that he was someone’s husband and not one of the race photographers, so he snapped some shots hoping that maybe I could post them here and people would find them!

Please share this link with anyone you know who ran, I would love for some of these runners to have their great photos!  (And please comment if you find one of you, it’d make me so happy to know that some of them made it to their people!)

If you asked this guy to take your photo, you may find it below!

I’ve included captions with visible bib numbers so you can do a control f and search for your bib number on the page.  If you see a photo of yourself, please feel free to download it, share it, contact me for a higher resolution digital copy, whatever!  Race photos are priceless – I hope some fellow divas find these, because there were some great ones!

Again, let me know if you see one of yourself and you’d like a higher resolution copy for prints, I can email it to you if you use the comments or contact form and leave me a message!

Best wishes and I hope you had a wonderful race 🙂

Kelly

1994

 

1074, 2199, 2735

 

 

23, 39

 

23, 39

 

23, 39

 

3074

 

2819, 668, 2922, 1969

 

2402

 

 

988, 605

 

556, 2299, 767

 

3063, 3073, 3117

 

437, 325

 

930, 428, 2102, 2480

 

3214, 1228, 2688

 

3248, 580, 602

 

1359, 1811, 2490

 

1283, 2672, 1934, 2747, 3147

 

3364, 3030, 3246, 2295

 

1815, 1875, 2240, 173, 509, 541

 

1641, 1401, ME! (498), 483, 1804

 

2477

 

1611, 376

 

525, 138

 

Christine Ross

 

2168

 

 

 

 

608

 

536, 1127

 

 

239, 339

 

2819, 669

 

2402, 2811

 

3405

 

2799

 

1272

 

2036, 220

Other posts you may enjoy:

One peach at a time – how running makes me a better finisher (of everything!)

Using Removable Chalkboards for Running Motivation

Do You Have a Running Bucket List?

"We don’t want to look good, we want to look fast!"

• 6 • Uncategorized

I am excited to post a race recap and more race photos from my first half marathon this weekend!  But I wanted my first post-race post to be about something even more important.

I turned 30 yesterday, so now I can talk about grown up things.  Like how I thought, as many new runners do, that running would fix all my bodily imperfections and return me to my pre-pregnancy, except better, self.

This is not true.  Almost every running blogger out there has spoken to this at some point, but it’s worth reiterating.  I look better and I feel better, but I’m older, and I’ve had two kids.  If you’re in the same boat, I don’t need to explain to you that we don’t look the same as we did ten years ago, even if we’re in better shape.

Pregnant with Will in 2010

My feet just after Will was born.
I’m so grateful that these feet can now run 13.1 miles…
in this photo, just after a c-section, they could barely walk.

One of the most amazing things I saw during my 13.1 miles was the vast diversity in women who ran this race.  And I mean RAN this race.  There were women standing to the side with their pink feather boas and finishing medals cheering us on as we went around the last corner who, quite honestly, looked like they’d never run in their life.

Not fair, if you ask me.  But incredible, too.  Our bodies are capable of truly great things.  After two pregnancies, labors, and C-sections, 5ks, a 10k, and a half marathon, I am more proud of my body than I ever have been, and more grateful to it also.

The next time you run or spectate at a race, try this.  Look at some of the runners milling around before the start.  Write down their bib numbers and how fast you think they’ll finish.  Watch yourself be incredibly, incredibly wrong.

I’m not going to lie, I look faster than I am.  And I got passed by some people who looked a lot slower than they were. 

Running will make you look better than you used to, but it will not make you look like you did when you were 20.  (Unless you’re 23.)  It will slim you down, but it won’t perfect your abs or your thighs.  It will encourage you to eat better and reward you when you do, but it is possible to run far and often and not be your ideal weight.

I’m not saying it’s fair, or great, or ok, but here’s one thing I know: I looked at some old photos of myself this weekend as I turned 30, and I didn’t feel jealous.  I felt superior.  I felt proud of myself and who I am now, because my body now is a much more incredible thing.  It has brought children into the world.  It has run 13.1 miles.  It can push fifty pounds of toddler up a hill… running.  It has donated enough blood to help save 9 lives… just in the past year.

I am better.  I am proud.  I am healthy.  I have stretch marks that look like a road map, and a husband who loves me enough to fly down to Virginia and spectate for hours at my first half marathon all while finalizing details for a surprise 30th birthday party the afternoon we got back.  My life is amazing.

My parents came down and spent the weekend taking care of Andrew and Will so that Greg and I could have our first weekend away, and my mother made me a beautiful photo book with photos from each of the 30 years I have lived so far.  It is so powerful to see yourself through someone else’s lens… out of so many photos, the ones she chose to represent each year were not always the most flattering, the ones where I would have said I looked the best.  They were the funniest, the most authentic, or the ones where I looked so happy that you couldn’t help but smile back at the photo.

And I realized that when other people look at photos of me from any point in my life, they notice how happy I look first. 

Running does make me look beautiful.  It makes me look happy.

While Greg was spectating at mile 9, a guy standing next to him kept yelling “you look great!” as encouragement to the runners.  Finally, a woman yelled back to him “we don’t want to look great, we want to look FAST!”

When Greg got him to switch to yelling “You look FAST!!!” women waved, grinned, and shouted back.

We want all our hard work to make us look as fast at Mile 9 as we did at Mile 1.  We don’t need to look good, we are good.  And that makes us look GREAT.

Some powerful posts from other blogs about our running bodies:

Abby Glassenberg – How I Made Exercise a Part of My Life

anothermotherrunner.com – What a Mother Runner Looks Like

Dorothy Beal of Mile-Posts: I Want To Look Like A Runner