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A Holiday From Racing
For me, January is always a strange month. It’s usually the one month in the year that I have no races planned. I always have a race the first weekend of February (Superbowl 10k in Santa Cruz!), but January is a big empty space. What is a girl addicted to running to do?
January means a month of training and recovery. Leading up to Christmas, I unintentionally ran 5 races in 5 weeks (half marathon, 5k, marathon, 5k, 5k), and typically I run anywhere from 12-20 races in a year. After all that racing, my body needs a break. And that’s why January is an important month for me.
I don’t give up my running schedule. In fact I’m training for three marathons this year (and will be completing the LA-SF marathon – see fellow SFM ambassador Chris’s posts about this) and have been averaging mileage in the high 40s each week. But I am also taking the time to remind myself why I love running other than the high of racing. Lately, I have been doing a lot of runs by myself. This usually means listening to a lot of music and podcasts, but this month I’ve left the ipod at home. I’ve enjoyed many of my runs without anything to listen to and it’s been great. I have focused on my form and my pace and enjoying my surroundings. I have run in new locations, including in the freezing snow during an impromptu trip to Lake Tahoe. I have also been trying some new workouts out, including Body Pump (have you tried it? It’s HARDCORE!) and a return to spin class after years of not going. Finally, the last weekend of the month my local running team hosts an event that allows me to test my speed out and see how this training has paid off.
Having a month off from racing can be difficult for those of us addicted to it, but it is an important component of training and keeping our bodies healthy.
What do you do when you have time off from racing?
About Meg
I have been running since 2006. I started running to get in better shape and was pretty inconsistent with my running. For a year my goal was to run 5 miles. In 2008, I ran my first race the Carlsbad 5k. My goal was just to get a medal (they give medals to the first 250 to finish in each wave). I got my medal and went right back to my casual running patterns. In fall 2009, I moved to Santa Cruz to attend UCSC for grad school. There I become more interested in running as an opportunity to manage my fitness and give my little dog some exercise. I started running 5 miles on a regular basis and increased my mileage from there. In January 2010, I ran my first 10k and in April 2010, I ran my first half marathon (and that was my PR until May 2012!). I ran races about once a month and signed up for my first marathon. At many of these races, I saw runners wearing SF Marathon shirts and I decided I wanted to do that race. I ran the First Half in 2011 and also had my first experience of dehydration! (My fault.) 2011 was a hard running year for me, I wrote my thesis, studied to qualify in my PhD program, and planned my wedding. I felt like I had lost my running mojo. That fall I met fellow ambassador Alisyn and in the spring fellow ambassador Elyse. These two helped re-motivate my running and inspired me to join a local running team, Santa Cruz Endurance, in early 2012. I found having a local running community completely changed my running pattern. I incorporated new training and found new friendships. I became a stronger runner and in July 2012, I ran the 2nd half of the SF Marathon (completing the Half-it-All Challenge) where I finished with a new half PR. In December, I finished my second marathon in the crazy rainstorm that hit Sacramento. And with it a big PR as well. I love running, I love the people that I have met through running. I love chatting with people online (Twitter is my BFF, follow me
@megatha) and in person about running. As an SF ambassador I am excited to share my running experience with you and hear all about your running journeys!
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