My Running Brain

Running is extremely psychological. What’s going on in my head can make the difference between a good run and a bad run, a good race or a bad race. I’m not a psychologist, so don’t expect this post to be factual, this is purely my experiences in training and racing. 

While training for a marathon, I spend a lot of time by myself; sometimes on the treadmill, sometimes on the track sometimes on the road. So far in 2015, I have spent 86 hours running and it’s only mid-March. That is equivalent to 3 days and 14 hours. So, what do I think about while I’m running? Probably 10% of my time I have spent thinking about my big race. Boston. It will be my third marathon and I am putting quite a lot of pressure on myself. I am training to go sub 3:00. My training has been going extremely well, although I will not get a chance to race until that day (April 20^th). 

It feels as though I am putting all of my eggs into one basket. My last race was the Manitoba Marathon last June. It took me a long time to recover after the last one, almost 2 whole months. After my last marathon I was physically, emotionally and psychologically beat up. I almost went into a depression after my last race. I spent so much time training up for it and by the time it came and went, I mourned my marathon after it was done. I’m not sure if I mourned it because I didn’t hit my goal of going sub 3:00, or because I went from spending 15+ hours running a week to 0, just gave it up cold turkey. It is a little bit scary going into another marathon now, knowing what is going to come afterwards.

I have been recently been getting super pumped for Boston. It is just 4 weeks away and I know my body is ready. Now I think that I need to get my mind ready for the race and after the race. My parents are flying out with me, which surprisingly makes my less nervous. It will be nice sharing a hotel with them, they will help me acclimatize to the city, probably help me get around and they will be cheering my name throughout the course.

I have spent approximately 20% of my time running with my favourite running buddies. I run 1-2 times a week with my friend Lacey or my other friend Mel. It makes such a difference running with people. They entertain me with their stories, they listen to me rant, they set a different pace than my same old boring pace I always do.

I have spent about 40% of my time thinking about whatever I am listening to/watching as I am running. Over the winter months I probably spent 50 of my 86 running hours on the treadmill, which can be excruciatingly boring. During these runs, I have listened to several podcasts, including Serial, Invisibilia, and Stuff You Should Know. These podcast help me learn new things as I am running. As I am running sometimes I listen to music. Usually it’s whatever band I am obsessed with at that time. Sometimes on the treadmill I will just watch whatever is on TV that evening, or turn on something on my phone or iPad. If I go Netflix, I watch this awesome show called Departures or watch a movie.

The last 30% of the time I am thinking about work/school/my personal life.

…to be continued

I started writing this post last week and it’s interesting how much my mindset has changed in a week. Last week I was stressed and tired.  I was probably still feeling my run from the week before, which was 24 miles. I was definitely over thinking my running and the race, considering it is still a month away. This week I was feeling way more back to normal. My workouts were fast and my runs went well. I think a big difference this week was that I wasn’t over thinking my runs. This week I had a stressful time at school and I think that caused me to think about school instead of thinking so much about running.  

I don't think I can talk about the psychology of running a marathon without talking about motivation. At the beginning of my training I struggled with motivation because I knew that there was so much time until my race. As soon as I sat down with my coach and came up with a 16 week training program, I instantly became motivated. Of course I have moments of thinking "Why am I doing this again?" That is when I go on my phone and look on my countdown app that is telling me that the marathon is only 28 days, 15 hours and 1 minute away.

Any sport psychologist will tell you that you need to visualize your race, and of course it is true. Last week I think I was obsessing over it, and it was stressing me out. This past week after stepping back a little bit, I am feeling a lot more comfortable about the race. It is now 4 weeks away, which means only 2 more weeks of serious training. I know my body is ready and my mind is still getting there. In the next two weeks I will continue to work on my race pacing and practice running long up and down hills.

Sorry for the deep blog post friends! Here's some fun for you!:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4IGYcdroyk 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omfvt33aOQw 

Run Happy!

My Running Soundtrack

Hello blog world!

Another week is gone, and I am another week closer to the big day. If you read my blog last week, you know that last week I had put my mind and body through the grinder. I vowed that this week would be different and guess what, it was! This week I ran a lot, but I fueled my body with lots of fruits and vegetables and dairy (especially chocolate milk after my workouts). If you know me, you know that I LOVE CARBS. I eat carbs for every snack and meal of my day. When I say carbs I mean pretty simple carbohydrates like cereal, bread, pasta and rice, lots and lots of rice. As a marathoner, I burn most of it off, but usually my diet is very unbalanced. This week I was putting extra effort into eating properly. This week, I must say, it was different. I ate lots of salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, kale and carrots. I ate lots of fruit: raspberries, apples, nectarines, strawberries, blackberries. I ate lots of dairy: yogurt, cheese, milk, chocolate milk. I ate a little bit of meat: chicken, eggs, pollock, hamburger. As usual, I ate more than enough of my grains, but all in all I think I did really well this week. A couple of days in, I felt great, like a well oiled machine. 

Saturday I did my longest run of my training. I did 24 miles and it felt great! I am very pleased that it went so well, it makes me feel ready for my marathon in 6 weeks. Now I know that I can do it, I just need to work on some speed and recovery. The game plan for the next 6 weeks is to continue fueling my body properly, go for massages (with Mike Booth at Massage Athletica) and recover properly with stretching and drinking lots of water, chocolate milk and electrolytes.

I don't have a lot to share for today, I'm pretty tired and just about ready for bed, so I will share with you what I have been watching/listening to while I have been running on my own in the past few months.


My Running Soundtrack 

1.  First Aid Kit - A great female band full of upbeat songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKL4X0PZz7M
2. The Dead South - A band that we heard at Festival du Voyageur, their songs tell awesome stories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiqZvsoY0Q4
3. Hootie and the Blowfish - I think you know who they are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYES9WI-hIk
4. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - I recently found out that they will be playing at the Winnipeg Folk Festival this year so I have been listening to them to get me ready for the summer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHEOF_rcND8
5. Dan Mangan - also coming to folk fest!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRcXULN6mp4
6. Hozier - A little emo at times, but I am still a big fan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYSVMgRr6pw
7. Imaginary Cities - So good, local, upbeat, fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEcm3G3bMf0
8. The New Basement Tapes - compilation of  unrecorded Bob Dylan songs sung by a variety of people including Marcus Mumford: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MwOarNpBcw
9. The Strumbellas - Just pure fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gm-y6c925s
10.  Random dance music including: Calvin Harris, Mark Ronson, Milky Chance, Mr. Probz, Vance Joy

My Running Podcast List:

1. Serial by NPR
2. Invisibilia by NPR
3. Stuff You Should Know by Howstuffworks.com
4. TEDtalks by TED

My Treadmill Netflix List:

1. Departures - Canadian travelers going around the world http://www.departuresentertainment.com/
2. Happy Endings - group of silly friends, I've watched all of the seasons 3 times now...
3. Friends - another group of silly friends
4. Full House - an oldie but a goodie
5. Portlandia - hipster goodness recommend by my friend at school
6. Various movies including: The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Way Way Back, Across the Universe, The Interview

Thanks for reading! Have a great week everyone!

When life gets in the way

When I started this blog I promised myself that I would write every Sunday, I was really good for 3 weeks and then last week life got in the way. 

The Weekend

So grumpy

Last weekend I spent my weekend writing report cards. To be honest, it's not a very pleasant way to spent one's weekend, but sometimes it must be done. Last weekend was a rough weekend in general, I sure put my mind and body through the grinder. On Friday the 20th at school it was our Festival du Voyageur day. I chose to do an activity outdoors all day. It was actually a lovely day, but by the end I was exhausted. When I got home that night I fell asleep from about 5:30-9pm. When I woke up at 9pm I was sooooo grumpy because I was supposed to be meeting a group of friends in the Exchange District that night and I still hadn't gone for my run. It took an extreme amount of willpower to get dressed to go running at 9pm outside, but I did it. I got it done that's what was important. The next morning I met one of my running buddies for a run. I was just doing an easy run, but she was doing a long run. It was actually so nice, we ran on the trail on the river. It ended up being about 10 miles. I worked on report cards all day that day and then went to Festival du Voyageur with my friends for my friend's birthday that night. It was a blast! I probably had a little bit too much fun that night because the next morning when  it was time to do my 17 mile run, my body was NOT happy. I ended up doing my long run on my treadmill at home that day. It was so hot! My windows in my apartment are frozen shut, so I couldn't open them. I guess it's not the worst idea to do a little bit of heat training in before Boston. I know it's not going to be hot there, but it will be warmer than what I'm used to running in. Anyways, my 17 miler felt awful, it dragged on and on, and seemed to last forever. For the rest of that day I worked on report cards. It was my friend's actual birthday on Sunday and I needed to hang out with her because her boyfriend was on vacation that week. So she came over and watched the Oscars. It was probably not the best use of my time, but sometimes we have to do our duties as friends. We had a great time judging dresses and acceptance speeches.

The Week
Monday I had a PD in the afternoon, so I had to put together a sub plan, which takes a surprising amount of time. I didn't have a chance to work reports at all during the day. I came home after my PD and ran with my friend. My boyfriend's soccer team needed a spare girl that night so I helped them out. I probably wrote reports for one hour that night.

The Disraeli Bridge

Tuesday I came home from school a little earlier than normal because my coach/bf and I had discussed me doing a hill workout on the Disraeli Bridge, and we had talked about that it needed to be in daylight hours because it's kind of a sketchy area of town. I ended going over the Disraeli bridge over and over again. It was actually pretty hard! I was trying to do it at race pace or faster, but it was a little bit slippery and it was my first hill workout. When I got home I worked on reports for the rest of the night.

Wednesday my boyfriend/coach went away on a school ski trip so I was excited to have a lot of time to work on reports, but I ended up getting so tired and going to bed at 10pm. I actually slept so long that night! I slept until 7am (way past my alarm).

Helping with report cards

Thursday was the day that I had to finish my reports because they were due Friday. I decided to stay at school until about 7 that night and work on them, but I got a call from the school ski trip asking if I could come and get him 4 hours away. THAT was when I could no longer handle it. There was an immediate rush of anxiety going through me. There was NO WAY I could go pick him up and finish my report cards. I had an emotional breakdown right there. I couldn't do my girlfriend duties and I felt awful. It is so hard for me to say no to something like this because I feel like I was needed and I couldn't fulfill the need. Lots of teachers at my school don't hand the report cards in on time, but it's different for me because I am still on a term position. It turns out my bf wasn't mad or anything that I couldn't get him. At about 7:30 I left school to go do my 12 mile tempo. I had to stop at home first to feed my kitty, which only took an extra10-15 minutes, but that would have made a difference in the end. My tempo that night was supposed to be 12 miles, but I only made it 7 before I had the pick up Kristjan (who ended up getting a ride home another way). Thursday night, after picking him up at about 10, I went back to writing reports until 12:30 - when my brain shuts down. Then I went to bed and woke up at 5am on Friday to finish them up. BRUTAL.
Friday morning I finished my reports and my week was finally over. I think my students could sense that I was a little tense this week, but they were very accommodating. Friday they were so patient and quiet. BEST CLASS EVER. 
Friday after school I had soccer and then I slept for 14 hours straight. 
Yesterday morning I did my long run with my running buddy (9 miles with her and 9 miles on my own). It was beautiful out yesterday and I am so glad I did it outside. In the afternoon I went skating with my bf and some friends and then went to another friend's birthday party last night. Today I need to focus on recharging my batteries a little bit. I have a little bit of pressure in my sinuses, I think from my weakened immune system from the week.


Our bodies are capable of crazy, amazing things. I am so thankful that mine put up with me this week and now I am going to treat it with the respect it deserves.

20 Miles on my "FT"

Hello again running world, today was my first 20 mile run of my training and it felt pretty good! I was a little nervous for it because I have had a sore hip/hip flexor this week. It was supposed to be an easier training week for me, but I couldn't even finish my mile repeats on Thursday, so I ended up on the stationary bike for the rest of Thursday and Friday. We had sponge hockey playoffs this weekend, and I was debating not playing to save my hip for my long run, but it ended up being okay. My long run felt great, probably for many reasons. First of all, other than spongee I took the last two days off running, just sticking to the bike, so I was pretty rested. Secondly, I have been doing many of my long runs outside this past month and I ended up doing my long run on the treadmill at the Y, so my legs/hip didn't have to deal with slippery conditions today and I was able to get it done a bit faster.

Halfway done!

Luckily I got my first pick of treadmills when I got to the Y today because no one goes to the Y at 8:00am on a Sunday. It may seem silly to some that I have a favourite treadmill(FT), but I do. My favourite treadmill (yet to be named) has special powers! It is the only treadmill at the downtown Y that will run beyond an hour. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is! Today my run took 2 hours and about 45 minutes, and it only had to restart one time. Some of the other treadmills reset after every half hour, and I think you can imagine how annoying that could be! My FT is very smooth, it doesn't rub in any places, and all of the TV channels have a clear connection (not fuzzy). It is also on the end of the row, so you don't have to walk by tonnes of people to get to it, and if you have to take a bathroom break, it is the closest one to the bathrooms. If I go to the gym after school at my regular time (5:30ish) it is always taken because other people must know how awesome it is. Don't get me wrong, I don't love running on the treadmill, I would much rather go outside, or even running around a track with friends. When I do HAVE to go on treadmill, my FT treats my extremely well!

While I was on the treadmill for 2 hours and 45 minutes today I watched a show on Netflix called "Departures". It's a show about two guys, about my age who give up their lives for year and travel the world. It's pretty neat to be able to see the world from my FT. At a time in my life where I am trying to save money for a house/cottage it's really cool to be see the world through their eyes!

After my run I had to rush home to pick up Kristjan so that we could make it to our spongee double-header. Yes, I said 2 games of spongee after a 20 mile run. It was kind of rough, but I was still standing at the end of it all. After my first game I had to run out to pick up some recovery food/drink. It's crazy on a day like today to fuel myself properly. So far today, I ran 20 miles, had two spongee games and in about an hour I have a soccer game with few subs. I probably will have burned about 3500 calories. I probably had 1.5 litres of chocolate milk and another 1.5 litres of Gatorade today, and I'm actually feeling okay(I took a 3 hour nap in the afternoon, which helps). I may end up taking the day off tomorrow, luckily it's Louis Riel Day so I can sleep in as long as I want. 

Have a great week everyone! Don't forget to tread lightly and run happy!

10 Weeks Out

69 days until Boston, training is going well, I feel happy and healthy! I am now Powered by Chocolate Milk as well as Brooks. It's so nice to have the support of companies that care about athletes.

Last week wasn't a particularly hard week in my training, my long run was only 16 miles, but I also had a 12 mile progression run on Thursday. Next weekend I have my first 20 miler and I think I am ready for it!

I ran with my friend and old teammate on Saturday and ran with my other friend today. I find being a distance runner can be quite lonely sometimes, you have to make friends with bands, ebooks and podcasts. Once in a while you get to actually run with people and it's awesome! Running buddies can be surprisingly hard to come by. Most people think that because my significant other is also a runner, that means we run together. Not a chance! Most of my running friends will tell you the same thing! My boyfriend's easy run pace is about 7min/mile, which is basically my marathon race pace. Needless to say, his easy runs are my hard runs. We've tried in the past and always ended up fighting. Now we run together maybe once or twice a year. Usually it's when I have a tempo and he paces me. Other than him, I sometimes will run with my younger brother who is a cook and a retired competitive paddler. He is actually perfect to run with, except because I am his sister he never tells me if I am going too fast or too far, he just sucks it up every time. His work/school schedule is also brutal so I only end up running with him about once a month.

My two main buddies are the two friends and former Bison teammates I was talking about before. Neither of them are training for a marathon, but at least they run a good speed and the conversations are entertaining. I usually drop them off at their houses and then keep going for another hour or so. We always run towards each other and meet half way. It's so funny because we will both leave 5-10 minutes past the time we actually say we are going to leave. I usually will meet up with one of them a week.

I really appreciate my running buddies, even if I only run with them twice a year, once a month or once a week. It is so much better than doing every run on my own.

Of course my best running buddy is chocolate milk! (lol) It helps me recover every time!

That's all for now. Run Happy! (Brooks)

Happy Birthday to Me

Today I celebrated my 27th birthday by going for an 18 mile run. It was -33 with the windchill today so I didn't go outside the whole time. I ran the first 10 miles on the treadmill and then did 8 outside. I was eager to try out my new running gear that my boyfriend/coach bought me for my birthday. The run felt pretty good, it was my third 18 miler this year. 

I was well fueled from my birthday dinner last night, we went for a delicious tapas style dinner at Segovia in Osborne village. My pre-run meal today was homemade soup with rice vermicelli noodles and veggies. My post-run meal was the same thing, it was even better the second time. Of course I had chocolate milk right after my run to help with recovery. 

The Boston Marathon is 77 days away. My training is on track, I am feeling healthy and strong. I was quite sore after my last workout on Thursday, which was a 9 mile tempo. I think I was mainly sore from my soccer game that I had the same night at 11:00pm. I kind of felt my hip flexor at the beginning of my run today and felt really nervous, but it went away in the first half mile. It was probably just from playing spongee yesterday. I'm excited that the spongee season is almost over so that I don't get anymore mysterious aches and pains.

In the deep, dark, cold months of winter, it can be hard to convince friends to go out for runs. On the days that there is no one to run with, I would highly recommend listening to audiobooks or podcasts during easy runs and long runs, it makes the time go by faster. Last week I was listening to a podcast called "Serial" when I was running, but I finished it pretty quickly.  I started a new one called "Invisibilia" on Friday, and so far it's very good. If you have any recommendations for audiobooks or podcasts feel free to leave me a comment.

Have a great week everyone!