I'm pretty certain that after this whole Ragnar business is over you'll be about as excited to hear the word Ragnar as my husband! The only difference is that you choose to read this and he can't get away from me!
This weekend I decided to try and do a mock run of my three legs for the race. As I said on Thursday, I am most nervous about my 8.6 miles on Saturday (my last leg) so I wanted to know how it would feel running that distance on tired legs. Here's how it went...
Leg 1: 4.8 miles (4:30am in the basement on the mill)
It took my body about a mile to realize that it was awake and running was what it was supposed to be doing! Once that happened I was good to go! The miles ticked by pretty quickly and my lovely children stayed asleep so that I didn't have any visitor trying to jump on the treadmill mid-stride!
Leg 2: 3.1 miles (8pm in the basement on the mill...figured teaching and chasing children for the day is a good way to simulate wearing the body down!)
Aside from my husband practically kicking me down the stairs, this run went well too. I was just tired and wanted to stay on the couch! Maybe my vanmates should be warned that they will need to kick me out the door! I was surprised that the 3 miles went by quickly and encouraged at how well my legs felt. My only fail...forgot water and had to use a random sippy cup that I found on the floor....yes going upstairs to get water meant seeing the couch again and wanting to collapse into it!!
Leg3: 8.4 miles (8am....beautiful weather....not so beautiful run and cut it short to 5 miles)
This run started out good...my legs felt a little tight but within about a half mile they loosened up and were on board. It was a beautiful morning and I was so excited...all be over dressed...to be out and running. Then I began to over-think things...time away from my family...would I be fast enough...am I ready...what to pack...yeah you get the idea! Results....shortness of breathe, chest pains, and a few tears! I turned down my street discouraged but happy that it hadn't happened on race day.
Now just to keep my eyes on the sky and pray for dry weather! The weather is crazy here on Cape Cod and can change by the hour!
How do you keep doubt or sabotaging thoughts at bay?
Good job with a practice run, it is so easy to overthink it, but the thrill of the race takes away some of the tiredness. of course sometimes you are just tired and have to embrace that too :)
ReplyDeleteGreat job!!!! I know that last leg didn't go so well in training....but it will be awesome for the real deal! :)
ReplyDeleteYou will get through this because you will be excited and you have the team to back you. I will run a mile with you at the end if I have to. You are the best and are doing great!! Proud of you.
ReplyDeleteAnd I LOVE LOVE your green hat!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm so impressed that you did a full simulation!! I did sort of a modified one and was EXHAUSTED after my 3rd run of the weekend. A little nervous as a result but we'll all get through it - we'll bring extra cheers and support on that last leg of yours!
ReplyDeleteWoo hoo! My last leg of Ragnar Napa last year turned into a double, as our vanmate that ran after me had injured herself during the night leg, so someone finished out her night leg, and then I just continued through the transition to complete my final leg and her leg. It was POURING rain but it felt so good to get back into the van after that!
ReplyDeletePractice makes perfect, I have nothing but faith that you will rock those 3 legs and you will NOT let your teammates down!
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