Week 2 Training Recap and a Health Update

Week 2 of Hal Hidgen's novice 1 marathon training is complete. I had a bit of a health setback this week, which was just piled onto the heap of stress that was happening. Car breaking down in the middle of nowhere, anyone? So what ultimately became a bad alternator on my car, turned into a major migraine with 2 kinds of aura by Wednesday. Thankfully it hit AFTER my training run, but zapped me Thursday to where I could not make myself walk efficiently, much less run another 3 miles.

But look at how shiny my new healthy alternator is!

To top it all off, I developed a new symptom of strange pin prick sensations that decided to stick around, and found my neurologist to be no help. She (by way of her nurse) was basically all, "no clue, go get anxiety meds" which was not helpful considering her lack of explaining anything is a big source of anxiety! Grr! I had wanted to ask if it were yet another sensory aura symptom or perhaps a nutritional deficiency side effect. Pretty rational I think. She wouldn't even let me ask the questions I had, so basically she is fired.



I managed to get through the last 3 miler on Friday when my good friend K rescued me from the treadmill and agreed to meet me at dark o' thirty for a run.

Saturday due to the husband's work schedule, I was once again confined to the treadmill for my long run. Honestly, the heat index was so absolutely ridiculous that the mill was probably safer anyway. I didn't get around to it until that afternoon. It was a mentally tough run, but I got through it. I forced myself to take walk breaks, as that is something Hal encourages in this program. If you know me, you know this is such a struggle for me! I lose my steam if I walk. I can run a half without walking with ease, but I know a full is going to be a different story for me. So I imagined walking through water stops with my 7 miler and still pulled off a 10:33 pace and negative splits. Not too shabby!

How I feel during walk breaks on the treadmill. I think I need netflix in my life.

Sunday I met with K once again to cross training for an hour. We went to a local nature trail to walk.

I find that place so pretty and relaxing that I almost didn't jump every 5 minutes thinking sticks were snakes...remind me to tell you about the time I almost ran on top of a huge black snake and then almost ran out in front of a car and became road kill.

This is what I saw.

Meanwhile, I still feel pin prickly, occasional dizziness, and a moderate amount of annoyance towards doctors. One of the things I wanted some guidance on was nutrition. I KNOW I eat horribly. A donut and 2 cups of coffee is not the way to fuel a run, people. Not to mention, I do not take in enough calories for what I burn. So I am taking a page out of the old pregnancy handbook, and I am going back to eating every 2 hours on the dot. I have an alarm on my phone. I am going to pre-stuff snack baggies with fruits, veggies, and protein so I am taking in the right calories every day. If I don't plan ahead, I get busy and it will be 4 pm with me running off my post run PB and honey sandwich and coffee. As a mom, I focus so much on making sure my kids are eating the right foods, that I forget about myself.  There are days that 1 veggie with dinner is the only veggie I take in. I don't know how I got this way, but I need to find my way back, and fast. The good news is I drink more than my weight in water most days, so I can check hydration off my list. I am going to have rein in my baked goods sweet tooth. I am so bad about grabbing a cookie and then heading out for a run. Not the best game plan.



Speaking of fueling, I got some Gatorade chews and Honey Stinger gummies to test out on upcoming long runs. Fingers crossed one of these work better than the Gu disaster of winter 2013.

Next post: I got nominated by the lovely Felicia to do the ALS/SMA ice bucket challenge! I will be doing this, as well as spotlighting the charity of my choice, nevergiveup.org. I want to get some good info together for you to raise awareness for SMA, which effects one of my son's very best friends. Be watching for the post later this week!

- Teacup Runner

"Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;"(‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭3‬ NIV)