marathon training Archives - Page 17 of 23

11/1984 – Celebrating my first birthday… one of the first pictures on my previous blog of my grandma and I

This is the 100th post of cindyruns.com! I started this blog after the failed attempt at the 2012 NYC Marathon (Hurricane Sandy year). When I started training for the 2012 NYC Marathon, what would have been my first marathon, I started blogging to track my progress and share memories of my grandma. However, after the training season ended, it didn’t feel right continuing with the original blog and I really wanted to preserve the memories from that experience, so cindyruns was born.

Fast forward two years later and here I am writing my 100th post. This blog has been predominately about my running, occasional shopping adventures (though I shop a lot more than I share on the blog, don’t tell Josh!), and traveling. I share very little about the professional aspects of my life here, though maybe one day I will when I can find a way to combine my professional and personal interests. Cindyruns has become in some ways a journal for me, and hopefully a place where you can go to learn about what I am up to, and get some running ideas.

11/2002 – Our first Thanksgiving together

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love the idea of eating and spending time with family and friends. There is no pressure of presents and since there is usually a whole weekend involved, I was fortunate to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with both my mom and dad’s side of the family growing up. It also helped that my uncle (on my mom’s side) and my cousin (on my dad’s side) had birthdays around this time. However, in recent years with some changes in our family, getting married and the combination of two families in two different states, other events – a friend’s wedding in Thailand, celebrating with cousins in Virginia, we haven’t stuck with our traditions. Last year, we celebrated with Josh’s family in Pittsburgh and this year we will be with my family followed by a friend’s wedding. Regardless, the highlight of this holiday is the chance to see family and friends and eat lots of good food.

With that said, I am so thankful for the year thus far. It has been filled with a lot of running, traveling, eating, and celebrations. I am grateful for…

—the ability to run. Running has bought me so much joy. It is the extracurricular activity and passion outside of work that I was trying to find for years. I am so grateful I found it and am very fortunate that it is such a big part of my life.

06/2012 – One of our first team practices for the 2012 NYC Marathon

—the opportunities that running has opened up for me. Running has helped develop my interest more in fitness and nutrition, opened my eyes to the endless opportunities out there including blogging and who knows, maybe different paths I can pursue in the future.

11/2012 – the team on the day of cancelled 2012 NYC Marathon

—all of the friends I’ve met from running. I am so lucky to have met some wonderful people who I can call my friends. They help fuel my crazy obsession and when we’re together, there’s no stopping how many races we end up entering.

10/2014 – Some of us crazies after the Chicago Marathon

—all of the trips we’ve been fortunate to take this year, from Florida to Abu Dhabi, India, Mustique, Croatia, Hartford, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Chicago, and the year’s not over yet! I love a good trip; the chance to see a new city, meet new people, try new foods, and run in different locations all excite me.

06/2014 – Celebrating our 5th anniversary in Croatia

—the wonderful friends and family I have. No matter how far or close everyone is, I love how as soon as we get together it’s as if no time has passed.

03/2014 – Being silly with my family at our cousin’s wedding

—all of the support and love from my friends and family (and of course a wonderful husband). Between running and work, it’s essentially two full-time jobs. I am so lucky to be surrounded by people who don’t necessarily have to understand why I love running but understand that it is important to me.

04/2003 – Throwing the discus at a track meet in college

—the opportunity to share so many exciting moments with friends and family. From birthdays, weddings, baby showers, and births, it has been a year of joy for so many around me and I am so glad to be a part of all the special occasions.

06/2014 – Celebrating one important birthday for one important person in Pittsburgh, with Josh’s family

—so many more things that this blog post cannot do justice!

I am very excited to celebrate Thanksgiving 2014, see what the rest of the year holds, and just overall be very thankful! And thank you for celebrating my 100th post with me! In honor of today, Thanksgiving (a Thursday), and the 100th post, please enjoy the throwback Thursday (TBT) pictures!

How are you celebrating Thanksgiving this year?

What is your favorite holiday and why?

Well it’s been a little over two weeks since the NYC Marathon. Man, I can’t believe it’s only been two weeks, it feels like an eternity. The week after the marathon is always the worst for me. After the marathon high over the next day or so, muscle soreness sets in, and then boom, the post-marathon blues are in full force. What’s worst in the first week is that you’re not ready to start running yet, mostly physically, but you’re itching to find something to do, at least that is how it is for me.

This year, I am suffering from double post-marathon blues. Even though I trained for roughly the same amount of time, I ran two marathons with two different sets of goals and a whole heck of a lot of time was dedicated to these marathons during the training season, more so than any other cycle. Josh usually calls it withdrawal when I’m cranky, but I figured there was a more scientific explanation for my mood swings over the couple of weeks after the marathon. So what do you do when you’re trying to self-diagnose, you Google it! There is a lot written about this topic but the article I found most helpful is this one from competitor.com.

There are so many emotions running through my mind during this period of post-marathon blues:

—When can I start running again?
—I’m jealous of everyone else out there running.
—But it’s so cold outside. I can’t run outside.
—I need another race. I need to break my PR.
—What do I do with myself with all this extra time?
—Rehashing the details of both races over and over, if I had just… I would have run a PR… or if I had done this, I would have broken my time by…
—Crap, I think I’m eating the same amount of food I was when I was marathon training. I’m going to get fat. And the holidays are coming. I’m really going to get fat. [Weigh myself over and over or stop weighing myself and assume I’m getting fat.]
—I’m going to lose my fitness. I won’t be able to run another marathon again.

So what have I been doing to conquer these blues?

—Spending time with friends and family.
—Eating and drinking whatever they want. I spend so much time during the training season worrying about what I eat and drink and for once, I want to be flexible.

Good thing my birthday was a week after the marathon!

—Getting more sleep on the weekends! 🙂
—Running a couple of times a week, so far no distance longer than 5.5 miles and all relatively easy runs.

running + coffee = best combination in the morning

—Barre classes at Local Barre when I feel like it, no more having to stick to a schedule around running.
—Trying new cross training options – I’m in love with all the spin classes at Prime Cycle. I’m hoping to get a handful of them in a week.

beyond obsessed…

—Working on other personal projects. I signed up for Goodreads this weekend and am so excited to eventually add all of my books especially the wish list ones! I also signed up for Newsblur to track all of my blog reading in one place.
—Spending more time at work. Okay, you can look at this from a positive or negative perspective, but during the training season, I always have something after work that I need to get to. Finally, I can relax during the last meetings of the day and not rush out.
—Looking back on pictures from the race. Ahh, reliving the memories! 🙂

Acting a little crazy at our team post-marathon happy hour

—Setting new running goals. Regardless of whether I am training for a spring marathon, I’d like to join a running club to help get me through the winter months. Also, I am planning on signing up for some shorter races (4-miler this weekend and entered the lottery for the NYC Half).
—Thinking about which spring marathon to sign up for. I am hoping to announce this within the next couple of weeks.
—Planning run-unions with my running buddies. A bunch of us are signed up for the Race to Deliver 4-miler in Central Park this Sunday and are planning to meet up for brunch afterwards.

So far I’ve been doing okay. The second week was definitely better than the first week once I got back into an exercise routine (I guess I am addicted to endorphins) but still not feeling 100%. I am looking forward though to Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday of the year) and that same weekend, we have a wedding to go to, so it will be really nice to catch up with more family and friends.

Do you suffer from post-marathon blues as well?

What do you do to conquer your post-marathon blues?

cindyruns

Category Archives: marathon training

What I’m grateful for and 100th post!

Post-marathon blues

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