Hi!
How has your week been going? Yesterday was Earth Day. It’s sorta that for me every day. I love nature and spend as much time as I can outside. Yep. I’m a tree hugger =)
tree-hugger sally
I had to work from home yesterday to wait for the appraiser to come. I’m refinancing because the interest rate on my mortgage is ridiculous. I bought my house back in 2000 when the rates were between 7 and 8 percent. So now i’ll be down to 3.625 and I’ll be able to pay the house off sooner. Feels so good!
Anyway, I got some miles in…
my penultimate training run. (I had a thing for vocabulary is school)
Just 3-ish. It really feels so weird to be running such low mileage but it works out ok because to overshadow my allergy woes, this past Sunday my sciatica/piriformis muscle decided to spasm. I’ve been dealing with horrible annoying pain since then. Remarkably running and walking make it feel a little better. I’m currently taking anti-inflammatories, rolling my butt on a tennis ball to massage the tight areas and rotating between ice and heat. I never get it right. Is it ice first then heat? or the opposite? I get this every now and then usually from sitting for too long or sitting the wrong way. But timing-wise it sucks. Hello! I have a marathon coming up in 4 days!
Since most of my physical training is in the books at this point I am trying to work on some mental exercise because my mental muscle is mush lately. I started with a peaceful walk in the woods with Duncan. Green is finally popping up!
I enjoy these walks because I can talk to myself out loud and there isn’t a soul around to hear me. Well I did scare away about 5 deer. Poor little guys were seeking out their dinner and when they heard me they bolted. All I saw were 5 white tails as they darted away.
I’d love if you all could share with me the sayings/quotes/mantras that help you feel confident and inspired.
I have been a little wishy-washy with my expectations for Sunday. I’m nervous and doubting my abilities lately…part of the taper madness? I want that fire to return for race day. I want to “crush it” as people say. But I don’t want to be disappointed if I have a slower finish time or if I struggle during the race. I did get in a solid 16 weeks of running but I never got on the bandwagon with things like strengthening my core or cleaning up my diet. So while my endurance is good, my weak core isn’t going to help me keep strong in those later miles. (Slapping my hand!) Maybe I need to just start singing that song from the movie Frozen…LET IT GO, LET IT GO! =) It’s all gonna go down just as it’s supposed to anyway. So long as I can keep smiling from the minute I line up in the corals to the minute I cross the finish line that’s all that matters right?
Just pulled out this pic. I took it the day before the NJ Marathon last year. It’s the finish line! Right on the boardwalk with the beach to the right. I will stare at this pic each day. I had an amazing day last year and set a PR. I’m hoping to have a repeat of that for this year.
NJ Marathon finish line
Well, I need to get ready for work. I’ve got one of those days with back to back meetings. At least it will be a good distraction from everything.
Questions: How do you handle pre-race nerves? What are your mantras? Ice then heat or heat then ice? Tree-hugger?
It’s hard to not be nervous before a race. I coach cross country and track. And I always tell the kids, “if you’re not nervous, you’re not alive. Those butterflies somehow turn into cheetah when you toe that line”. The one mantra I love love love (borrowed from RER), “There will come a day when you can’t run anymore. But this is not that day”. Love it. For me after a run, ice baths, or in the winter time, I go sit in the pool for recovery… then if I need to when I’m trying to relax, a heating pad. Sorry, not a tree hugger. But I do like trees =). Stay blessed!
Great minds think alike! I brought my heating pad to work with me today! It has helped a lot. Love that idea of butterflies turning into a cheetah when you toe the line. Thanks!