Sara Wittmeyer’s Blog

Last week was a big one, relatively speaking, in Sara’s world. I celebrated my 29th birthday (yikes!) and I marked the one year anniversary since I broke my foot. “Foot Day” on Tuesday was actually a bigger celebration than my birthday. I went out for comedy and a drink with some friends from work. Several times throughout the evening, I stopped and thought about what I was doing one year prior….hmmmm at this time I was crawling across my living room, Oh gosh, I was at the ER around 8, around 9 I got the news I didn’t want to hear. The rest of the night and into the morning I just cried and searched the Internet about Jones Fractures. It’s amazing how clear it all still is in my head a year later.

But I can celebrate. With the help of Dr. T I made it back and did my first marathon. I love this quote by Steve Prefontaine…

“Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts.”

I will never be as fast as Steve Prefontaine, but I’ll slog out the miles anyday and be grateful that I can. My next marathon is about two months away, and while I’m having trouble getting really excited about it, I know I’ll be thrilled after I do my first 20 miler in a couple weeks. More on that training soon….

One last thing that gets back to last week and my birthday: one of my former students planted an idea in my head. He said as a joke, “You should run your age each year.” I’ve been thinking about it seriously since last week, and I think it’s a great idea. 30 miles next year for the big 3-0? Yeah, I think I can do that! I’ll have to do it in place of a long run though because on my birthday I plan to be some place exotic running a marathon.

Oh, tapering. At the beginning of my training, I was really looking forward to this time. After logging sometimes 50 miles a week, the prospect of eventually getting to stop at just 30 looked great. But this time has proven to be one of the most difficult parts of training thus far. I assume that goes without saying, since this is the second time I have posted about it. Before I talked about wanting to run and how difficult that was since my mileage was reduced so dramatically. Now the problem I have is my body. I feel a lot achier, and I am doing less. My foot has been giving me grief, both my knees are stiff, and it feels like I’ve pulled something in my shoulder. Several articles I’ve read report that this is normal. You’ll feel some new pains as your body repairs itself during the tapering process.

My other issue is the sluggishness. I’m not sure that is even a word, but I think it best describes how I feel. I had a five mile run Wednesday and it was pathetic. I finished at a good pace, but it was the worst run I’ve had in months. Yesterday morning I did four miles. Again, my body and mind felt like I’d done about ten. For most of the day yesterday, my head swirled with images of me not making it to the finish line because I had inadequately prepared. Not a good day…

But today, is going to be better! Last night when I was trying to figure out what I should change to pump up my motivation this last week, I ran across this blurb (below) buried in a training article.

” You may find, during these 3 weeks, that your legs feel heavier than you’re used to and you generally feel sluggish. This is simply due to carbohydrate (glycogen) filling up your stores to the brim, causing a feeling of heaviness. The best analogy is perhaps comparing your body to a formula 1 car. They start the race a little slower due a large fuel load, but are able to keep going for longer.

Come race day, due to adrenaline rush and eagerness to get going, you will feel invigorated and fresh if you taper effectively. “

So now, I feel like what I am going through is normal. I’m off for a ten mile run now. I’m going to concentrate on my stride, having fun, and what it’s going to be like to cross that finish line in one week from today!