Half Marathon Training Update aka Amy is Out Of Her Mind

I hate running. Really, I do not enjoy it. So OF COURSE I think a half marathon is a good goal. My mom decided she wanted to improve her running so we both have a new goal and can continue to train together. Yay! Well I am a bit anal so set up a lovely training session for myself and a different one for my mom. It really is a lovely chart and took me most of the day to do. I used pictures and quotes and factored in vacation days, etc. I had a lot of fun PLANNING the running.

This morning was our first day of the new running plan. We decided to try the treadmills since this will allow us to track our pace better. The goal was to do 30 minutes, 1 minute running, 2 minutes walking. After 1 minute I felt good, so decided to see how far I could go before I really wanted to stop. The answer: half a mile. I kept walking for another half mile and then ran another half mile (total 1.5 miles). At this point I only had half a mile left and less than 4 minutes. I really wanted to hit two miles total so I pushed it. Hy heart rate was 181 and I got to 2 miles. And then I continued running into the nearby bathroom to throw up. I know I'm a puker, but really, it is annoying. I hate throwing up and it really gets in the way of a proper cool down. My mother, who has been a patient friend, kicked into mom mode and said that maybe I should look into WHY I throw up and that I need to lower my heart rate. I did sorta kinda notice that around 171 I started to feel a little pukey, but if I slowed down it went away. Once I kicked it into high gear and my heart rate reached 181, there was no turning back.

After my public puke of a few weeks ago, I did do a little research on exercises induced vomiting and found lots of people do it and not a lot of people know why. A couple of the prevailing theories (or as I call them Reasons For Puking, RFP) are:

1. Too much fluid/food too soon before working out or conversely you are dehydrated.
2. As your body reaches its limits, it starts shutting down the less important systems first in order to protect the vital organs. The GI tract is one of the things it starts with. That means it stops processing fluids, or at least slows down dramatically. It does this by constricting flow from the stomach into the intestines. Suddenly you have fluid/food in your stomach that isn't digesting, so you need to vomit.
3. The workout has gone into the anaerobic realm and a buildup of lactic acid occurs.
4. You are working out too hard and this is your body's way of telling you to stop.

After this morning's puke, I decided to look into my mom's theory of the heart rate, since I really wasn't sure of what my heart rate should be. I had a vague recollection of a 220 minus your age equation and thought I was just fine. Well...turns out that 220-age thing is outdated, was never based on science and is flat out wrong. The actual way to find your max heart rate is more complicated, but I just went here. My heart rate when I threw up was 181. My max heart rate? 157. So maybe mom was right. That also makes RFP #3 seem logical which also ties in well with RFP #4. Chalk one up for mom.

Turns out there is way more science involved in this getting active thing. I don't think I really needed to be SUPER concerned about nutrition and dehydration for the triathlon, but it is dawning on me that the half marathon is a whole other beast, which makes me feel a tad idiotic for even thinking about doing this. I mean really, I hate running. What was I thinking?!

In May I had just really started training for the triathlon. I could ride a bike but after riding 3 miles felt winded and tired. If you had offered me a million dollars to run a mile after that first bike ride I would have sat on the curb and cried because I could not have done it. I alternated between thinking signing up for a tri was the best thing I ever did and the dumbest. I was fat, out of shape and didn't know how to swim with my head in the water. That was in May. I stuck with it and I did it. So I have to believe (quite literally - HAVE TO BELIEVE) that this will get easier too. I knew it was going to be rough and I knew I was going to have to push myself. None of that sounds easy so I really don't know why I am shocked with today's run. You know what is easy though? Beating yourself up and convincing yourself to quit. I am good at that...I can do THAT. I could take a backseat and help my mom, only challenging her. Running is hard on a body and I hate it so it actually makes a lot of sense to quit. Even as I type that I can feel tears in my eyes. I don't want to quit. I WANT to finish a half marathon. I WANT to push myself and feel myself grow. I WANT to know I can do it. Strike that, I KNOW I can do it.

I can't explain any of this rationally or logically. Yes, I hate running but somehow I know I need to do this for me. So maybe I give myself a break and say if not Thunder Road on 12/12 then for sure The Corporate Cup in March. That gives me more time to train, more time to learn and more time for my body to get used to the idea that it is going to be a runner. Maybe going from not running at all to a half marathon in less than 2 months was a bit ambitious. I can change the goal now that I am more informed, just as long as the end result is the same. I will be a half marathoner.

So yes, I am probably out of my mind. But hopefully in a few months I will be a half marathoner with super cute training guides who is out of her mind. Now most importantly...what am I going to wear on my first half marathon???