First Weird Boston Dream and Training

If you clicked on this,  you might be expecting a post about dreaming big about the Boston Marathon.  Maybe a ramble about my goals and how I'm ready for this.  Excited.  Revved up. Eh, those things will come but I'm talking about a real dream.  A silly one.  But almost a nightmare.  It was one of those dreams you have before a big event, a trip, or something you've been thinking about a lot.  One of those dreams where you can't move very fast, you're late in packing your suitcase for a big trip, the plane leaves without you, you can't move your mouth to talk, or you forget your wedding dress on the day of your wedding.  You know...those dreams.  We've all had them at some point in our life, right?  With these dreams, I usually find myself feeling a range of emotions:  determination, will power to overcome this weird thing, panic, outrage, "You've got to be kidding me!!!!" kind of feelings, disbelief, and finally I usually end up surrendering to the situation and just accept it all as an unfortunate loss.  


This morning I woke up feeling:

• So thankful for race volunteers
• Glad that we have certified courses and we all know where to go when we are racing.  
• Thankful for a fair playing field, chip timing, starting corrals, personal goals and every athlete being treated equally for the most part.  
• Oh, and so thankful that the Boston Marathon (or any marathon/race for that matter) is not run inside houses like an obstacle course with yarn, jumping over chairs, crawling under tables and never being able to get to full stride.  

So, yeah, I was at the Boston Marathon and I still hadn't even checked my bags and we were already starting the race.  Having my backpack, shoes, and all my belongings without checking them was the least of my worries.  The race was so disorganized and there were only a few volunteers that really knew what they were doing.  And get this...the BOSTON MARATHON was really more of a stupid obstacle course through these houses and buildings.  We had to remember where to go because nobody was really there to tell us.  How UNFAIR when it came to having standards.  But the person in me that hates cheating, unfair playing fields, and lack of standards, tried desperately to follow the "Yarn-marked" course through the rooms, under chairs, over tables, around statues, and out onto an airport landing strip the best I could so that I could have an accurate time.  Only the entire time I was getting angrier and more emotional about my time getting slower and slower.  I was devastated.  When I finally did get on the road, it was because someone gave me a ride in their car and just chose a place to drop me in.  SO inaccurate.  It wasn't even worth continuing really except for the fact that it was the Boston Freaking Marathon!  I remember I kept saying things like:

• "Who do I talk to around here about this?!" 
• "I was on track for a 3:10 marathon and this is ridiculous!  There is no way I will get it now.  I've lost too much time"  (note:  I do not have it as a goal to run a 3:10 marathon...this must be my subconscious speaking.  Apparently, there must be a part of my brain that thinks this would be a good goal.  Ha!  I will be happy with a PR.)

Yes, I had my first panic-like Boston Marathon dream and it isn't even January.  So random. 

 I don't expect this to be a regular thing for me.  In fact, this might be my only one.  I really haven't even thought too much about the race and I'm certainly not feeling anxiety over it.  Just enjoying building a strong base right now and excited more than anything. So silly how the brain works.  Perhaps it was because I watched tons of Survivor (my favorite show) last night and then talked to people about the Warrior Dash.  

Whatever the reason for dreams, most of us have them at some point.  Although I don't remember dreaming often, this week has been FULL of pretty powerful dreams that stick with me for most of the morning.  Not sure what I think about dreams but I certainly think they serve a purpose, even if only to entertain us or help us process something.  They usually make me wake up with a new appreciation for life the way it is and not the way I just dreamt it was!  

Training/Running

On a running note, training is going great.  Still mostly base building with some fartlek intervals and progression runs ending in marathon pace thrown in.  I'm experimenting with marathon pace.  My range is 7:15 to 7:30.  I know, big range but in my opinion, right now is a good time to dapple and play around with numbers.  Once training gets more serious, I will have my marathon pace down to about a 5 second range and I will mostly likely shoot for a 7:20-7:25 range. Or 7:30 would be fine too since that would still be a PR. Not sure how high to reach here.  Other randoms:

• Thankful for some amazing women in my life that are training or gearing up for marathon training at the same time.  It  has been great to have virtual and real-life running friends to talk to about training, goals, and thoughts about running.  So encouraging and motivating!
• Mileage is still staying relatively high (for me).  Last week was 59.5 and this week was 65.  I start my new weeks on Saturday with my long run. 
• I'm feeling strong and healthy.  Still listening closely to my body and giving it the rest it needs when it tells me it is ready.  I took a day off (mostly) on Wednesday even when it meant giving up a 10 mile day.  My body was thankful.  
• It is so easy to get caught up on a number.  My Runninghood facebook status this week was:  

Conscious today of not letting NUMBERS define me: weekly mileage, race time, age....if you think about it, Numbers are a pretty big part of our world and how we label things....money, size of our bra, weight, how many sq ft our house is, zip code, etc. With a number comes an idea or judgement whether we are conscious of it or not. As a runner, it is hard sometimes to not get attached to "the number". Like today, I'm thinking of taking the day off running "just because" but if I'm not careful, that 10 miles that I was going to run today kind of gets to me...I can feel the weekly total dropping. But really, in the end, my day off helps me better than that 10 miles will this time around. Just a number....it doesn't define me.

• Today calls for a 12 mile run with the last 20 minutes (preferably uphill) moderate with the last mile at marathon pace.  Or I think that is what it said.  Maybe not.  I'm following this part of the plan VERY loosely.  Moderate for me right now probably means some where between 7:25 and 7:45. 
• Doing daily doubles has been great for me.  Definitely one of the biggest reasons for my success with higher mileage.  I can carve out more time to fit my runs into chunks rather than say one long chunk of time to run 15 miles. 
• I don't do doubles every day and when I do, I definitely try to incorporate some mid long runs of say 10 miles into one run.  I think these mid distances are important to get in without breaking up too much.  Rather, I might run a shorter/easier run of 3-5 miles in the morning and then get in a longer chunk of running in the afternoon or later morning if time allows.  
• While I run on the treadmill, I've been enjoying watching Life at Ponderosa on Youtube.  Ponderosa is the camp that the players of Survivor go to after they are voted off.  It is so funny and fun to see what happens after they leave the game.  I love survivor  
• I know that many out there are now saying that the 1% incline rule on the treadmill is no longer valid and actually not needed to simulate outdoor running.  I still like to put it on 1% but rather, I alternate my inclines often.  I even put it at -2% and 3% sometimes so I can get some downhill running in when I can't get outside.  Boston has lots of hills so if I can't get outside a lot then I will benefit from having my treadmill at higher and lower elevations.  
• I'm so excited to run outside today!  

1.  Do you ever have weird dreams like this where you lose control and see something that is so important to you end up in total chaos?  

2.  Do you watch Survivor?  Who do you want to win?  I'm rooting for Ozzy at this point.  

3.  Do you learn from your dreams?  Or do you write them down and try to analyze your dreams?  I usually just chalk them up to things that I was thinking of that day or things on my mind that I don't realize when I'm conscious.  I have friends that really put a lot of emphasis on dreams and think that they are telling you something that you need to hear.  My mom has one of those dream books that tells you what certain things symbolize.  She even has dream journals.  

Amanda