Trying to find that balance

It's been a busy time for running.  I spent the summer months (June, July and August) working and running in southern Vermont.  It was a difficult summer; I have never been more determined or tired in training.  The results were varied.  After a fast 5k at Hollis and a less than stellar 10k in Boston a couple weeks later, I did nothing but train until early August.  I took a family vacation to San Francisco at this time. It gave me a little break from the hilly area where I had been working the entire summer.  I also signed up for a half marathon: The Giant Race.  The cool part of this race was that the finish line was on the field at AT&T Ballpark where the Giants play.  I felt confident going into this race and felt I could put my 1:19:56 (on a long course) half marathon PR to shame.  I felt relaxed heading into the race and felt good after my two mile warm-up.

 When the gun went off, I went out hard.  I realized a couple of miles in there were people running a 10k as part of the race.  Had I known this, I likely would have made the conscious decision not to try and stick to the original pack of runners I was in after the first couple of minutes.  This pack hit the first mile in 5:35.  That's fast!  I tried not to panic and made the decision to slow by about 10-15 seconds.  I did this and hit mile 2 in 5:50.  At this point in the race, during the third mile, I got a side stitch.  It forced my pace to slow drastically.  It also put a relentless attack on my attempt to breathe at half marathon pace.  My pace went from 6:00 to 6:15 to 6:30 pace within the next couple of miles.  I was upset.  I thought I was in good shape to run a fast time, somewhere under 1:17.  Instead, I got a side stitch that stayed with me until the finish line.  It was a struggle to finish this race.  I thought about dropping out, being very far off of my goal time and clearly falling victim to something I had very little control over and could not fix.  It was a disappointing run to say the least.  I tried to clear my head during the rest of my week in San Francisco.  I explored the city on my feet and made the most out of things.  I ran up Lombard Street.  I ran through the Haight-Ashbury district where the hippies lived (or still live?).  Towards the end of the week, I ran from my hotel, to the Golden Gate Bridge, across it, and back.  I received spectacular views of the city and of the Pacific Ocean for my efforts.  It was a great week of running.  I came home and suffered through a couple more weeks in Vermont, running in the heat

and up a never ending series of hills.  On my last day there, I ran to the top of Mt. Snow.  I did this last year, but managed this feat without stopping this time.  Now, I have returned to familiar stomping grounds as I have returned to Providence for my senior year of college.  I want to stress balance with this post.  I beat myself up this summer in Vermont.  I put a lot of strain on my body and was not completing workouts at the caliber I wanted them to be at.  I have recently started to take one iron pill and Vitamin C gummy each day at my coach's recommendation.  I am starting to feel stronger and feel like I have regained

some energy in my training.  I am running the Chicago Marathon in just five and a half weeks.  I have about four weeks of hard training (while trying to stay healthy) to get myself into sub-2:40 marathon shape.  I will also be running a half marathon in two and a half weeks with the intent of running 1:17 or faster.  I have ambitious goals for the fall but hope the balance and familiarity of school will help keep me on track.  Recently, I have put together a string of nice workouts.  I did an 8 mile tempo at 5:58 pace.  I tried out a classic Kenyan marathon fartlek workout of 30 x 1:00 on/off.  My long run finally went over 20 miles, as I did a little over 21 with the last mile in 6:00.  This past weekend, I did a 17 mile long run and averaged 6:15/mile for the last 8.  Today, I did a tough (4,2,1) x mile(s) workout.  The four mile rep was in 23:30, followed by a two mile rep in 11:49.  The last mile in the workout felt very smooth in 5:37.  I am starting to feel fast again and hungry to race in the next few weeks.  It's time to get after it in training.  Good luck to everyone prepping for a fall marathon or goal race!