I know this may sound strange but I am really looking forward to my taper. Training for the Space Coast Marathon has been challenging but very rewarding as well. I have been able to run farther and faster than I thought I could. Before my training ten miles used to seem like such a long distance, now I welcome that distance with open arms. Saturday during my second 20 mile distance I was able to PR my half marathon time which was a shock to me. There may have been some bumps with my nutrition but I got that sorted out quickly and I have even managed to be injury free (knock on wood). Looking at everything in totality my training has been great. Now here comes the but....
I'm ready to scale back a bit and have my life be a bit less hectic. The one thing I didn't realize when it comes to marathon training is the time that it eats out of your day. Of course I knew that I would be running for hours a day, multiple times a week. I mean I was already running so I was kind of mentally prepared for that aspect. What I didn't see coming is the time I would have to fit the additional running for the increase in miles plus the recovery time for my runs. Many of you read an earlier post I had about running early in the morning. Rather than shove a run somewhere in the middle of my day or wait till the end of the day before I made dinner I decided to run early in the morning. Now when I say early I'm not just talking about finishing when the sun starts coming up. No! I mean get up at 4 a.m. start my run and end by 5 a.m. and the sun has yet to rise. This was great for about two weeks because my run was done and out of the way so I didn't have to worry about it later on. There were just two problems with this early bird situation.
1. I am NOT a morning person
2. I would be ready to go to bed at 7 p.m.
You might think, "It doesn't matter if your aren't a morning person. You're not running with someone that early so you don't have to be concerned about talking to anyone." And you know what reader, I thought the same thing but it appears that I have another aversion to early mornings. Sure I'm the only one up so no one hears my grumbling in the morning but that's not the problem with me. My problem is getting up at the lower back of dawn (Get it... cause it's earlier than the crack.) and still having to go on with my day as if I didn't run ten miles. I have a toddler who starts her day early as it is. Setting my alarm to go off two (maybe even three) hours before she wakes up, plus having to run during that time made me more grumpier than Oscar the grouch and the Grinch combined! I've had to wake up early ever since I was in high school, and I still haven't gotten used to it.
Then there was feeling tired on the back end of the day. Everyone else in the house started their day around 6 a.m. so for them their day ended somewhere around 3 or 4 p.m. Well since I had a two hour head start my day ended around 1 or 2p.m., but that is when the day takes a second wind for me. That's the time my little one gets up from her nap (fingers crossed that she took a decent nap), I pick up my oldest from school and I start getting things ready for dinner. I'm already exhausted! By the time my little one had her bath and dinner was cooked and eaten I was ready to go to sleep. Actually many nights I did fall asleep, right on the couch with the rest of the family while they watched television. Who cares about t.v. anyway, right?
Two other things that I was surprised about in marathon training were the time I needed to recover from runs and nutrition. Anytime I increased my mileage, whether it was daily or overall week, I needed to take care of my body to make sure it didn't fail on me. I had to stretch, foam roll, take baths, cross train, do yoga. Anything that kept my body being the well oiled machine that I needed it to be. But guess what folks?! All those things take up time too! If your a mom then you know how difficult it is to even go to the bathroom by yourself. Yeah. So trying to stretch after a run can be a bit tricky when a toddler is jumping on your back.
Eating right is certainly important and the more I cook, the more I enjoy it. But cooking can be time consuming. I got into the habit of planning my meals out for the week and shopping only for the things I needed that week plus the usual stuff (cereal, milk, etc.). After a while though I fell off the wagon with that, choosing to use my meal planning time for vegging out on the couch and letting the television watch me. It's not just dinner time that can be a hassle though. Running more miles means I hungry all of the time. Wait no! Scratch that. Not hungry, make that hangry! If there is food around me, I'm eating it. I have been very careful about what I eat because there was a moment in my training when I got a bit out of hand with the baked goods. Word of advice. Just because you run 40 miles a week doesn't mean that cupcakes and cookies can be a regular diet item. Eating healthy is difficult even in you aren't training for a marathon.
As I look back on this post I can see that many of you might think I'm complaining. All I want to do is get some of my thoughts out and share them with other people. Maybe you think I shouldn't be posting this and should just keep my mouth closed. Maybe you can understand what I'm feeling and this post was a way for us to connect (aww, cyber hug). But whatever your thoughts and point of view, all I'm saying is that...
I'm ready for my taper.
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