The Pre-Race Squirrel In My Head

by Carilyn on May 18, 2012

Squirrel - Pre race anxiety

 

It’s 2 a.m. and I’m awake.  No, I’m not in the middle of a hundred miler.  And no, I don’t have to pee. Okay, I do have to pee – I’m 44 years old!  Give me a break!  - but that’s not why I’m awake.

I’m awake because my Pre-Race Squirrel is tap dancing in my head.  He comes to visit before every race, and even before some long training runs.  He wakes me up with his incessant need for attention and “someone to talk to”.  Sheesh.

Our conversation is going something like this:

You’re racing tomorrow.  Aren’t you nervous?

Well, I’m not really racing, but trying to go for a solid, hard effort.

Yeah, right.  You’re too competitive.  You’ll push too hard and then have to take time off to recover.  This was stupid.

I know, but I need to do it.  I need to push myself.

But it’s supposed to be hot and you can’t afford any time off if it wipes you out – and I’m sure it will.

I know.  But I’m going to be smart.

Western States is only 5 weeks away.

I know.

And it’s hard.  And on trails.  And you suck on trails.

I know.

And now you’re doing this?  How totally idiotic. 

Be quiet!

And you’re not really in very good shape yet.  Kinda late to be getting in gear, don’t ya’ think?

I’m trying to get there – that is why I’m doing this!

What if you get lost?  It’s out in the middle of nowhere.

I won’t.

You always get lost.

I WON’T!

What if you get eaten by something?

Nothing is going to eat me.

I hear there are rattle snakes.  You might get bitten by a snake and then die.

I grew up in the desert.  I’m used to snakes.

That doesn’t make you invincible.  And if you don’t get bitten, you’ll probably fall down and hurt yourself.

Enough.  Get out of my brain and let me sleep!

You haven’t even packed yet.  I bet you’re going to forget something, something important.

I will pack in the morning.  Get off my back.

And it’s a long drive.

It will be fine.

This is going to suck.

Shut up.

And now you aren’t getting any sleep.

SHUT UP!  SHUT UP!  SHUT UP!

 

Luckily for me, the Pre-Race Squirrel is a huge fan of The Nanny which is on in the middle of the night.  With one cupcake, and a thirty minute dose of Fran Drescher, I was able to distract him, and eventually went back to sleep.

 

Do you have a Pre-Race Squirrel in your head?  How do you deal with it?

 

Happy Running!

 

 

 

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Thursday’s Thoughts – Born to Run, Eat, and Go Crazy

by Carilyn on May 17, 2012

 

WAKE UPPPPPPPPP!!!!!

I wish I was asleep on the beach, but that is just a dream.  Instead, I am busy, busy, busy.  Crazy, crazy, crazy!

I’m sure, like for most of you, this time of year is CRAZY!  School is wrapping up, and that means tons and tons of events that go along with the ending of another academic year.  I feel like I hardly ever see my kids, and am often surprised that they recognize me when I show up to pick them up in the evening.  Between the meetings, ceremonies, parties, finals, papers, and general busy-ness that goes along with being (almost) 16, my kids are going at full speed right up to the point that they want dinner.

As for me, I feel like I’m in the same boat, or should I say, car.  I’m still driving them to and from school, and all the aforementioned events, while trying my best to train, coach, write, edit, clean, cook, and not do bodily harm to my upstairs neighbor who seems to have a full-time job of dragging heavy furniture across his hardwood floors.  All Day.  If you know what type of job he may have, please let me know so that I can take my furniture up to him so he can exercise it along with his.

This weekend, I am also going to do the Born to Run 100k outside of Santa Barbara.

Born to Run Ultramarathon - Luis Escobar

From the All We Do Is Run website - Luis Escobar

With only 5 weeks (yikes!) to go until Western States, I decided I needed to do a more intense training run than I am willing to do on my own.  For me, signing up for a race is the only way to get my butt in gear and push the intensity in the final weeks of training.  100k may be a little long, but they don’t offer a 50 mile option, so I will just try to keep it moderate.  Next weekend, I will head up to Auburn to do the 72 mile Western States Training Camp weekend, so I hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew.  We’ll see.

In other news, I am soooooooo excited to report that our Trail Runner Nation podcast on The Art of Pacing hit #4 Top Outdoor Podcasts on iTunes in only 4 days!  I’m doing my little Mousketeer jig over here, and if I only had my pink Mickey Mouse ears, I would take a photo for you.  Alas, I am stuck with a ski cap and a pair of grungy gray sweats, and I don’t think those scream “I’M SO HAPPY!” – more like deranged housewife with very poor fashion sense.

Desperate Housewife Fashion Favorite

But trust me, I’m ecstatic!

Finally, in training, I am capping this week’s general running at 60 miles (with no swimming) since I know I will be pushing another 62 miles this weekend, so I will still end up with over 120 for the week.  Even if I don’t go all out, I fully expect to be kind of beat up, especially my feet.  I am, however, maintaining my full cupcake training regimen, so don’t worry.  There is no way I would back off such an important part of my training.

Can't live without cupcakes!

 

What’s happening in your life – tell me all! :)

 

Happy Running!

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Rest: The Underrated Component of Optimal Performance

May 16, 2012

After my post last week on my Crappy Run, and then yesterday’s post about my Full Rest Day, I received a lot of e-mails from people asking for specific information on rest days for runners.  I believe that resting is one of the most important things you can do to become a better runner.  I [...]

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Rest Day – Much Ado About Nothing

May 15, 2012

I didn’t intend to take a rest day yesterday.  Really, I didn’t.  But when my alarm sounded at 5:00, I turned it off and went back to sleep. “I’ll run later,” I told myself. But later came and there was still no running.  I had to wait for the oven repairman.  Again.  For the third [...]

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Trail Runner Nation Podcast – Art of Pacing

May 14, 2012

I had such a great time recording The Art of Pacing podcast with Scott Warr, Faith Goss and Don Freeman on They were super fun – easy to talk to – and really knowledgeable about running.  Take a listen here or download it on iTunes tomorrow. They have a bunch of great podcasts on their [...]

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Friday Running Randomness

May 11, 2012

It now seems a tradition (though I’ve only done it twice), to put every random topic I had nowhere else to put, in a Friday post.  Frankly, the way my brain works, I could make every post just one long list of random topics, but I do try to control myself  - except on Friday. [...]

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A Crappy Run

May 10, 2012

  Yesterday, I had a crappy run.  Now, I don’t mean an I-just-wasn’t-into-it kinda run, but a real I-feel-like-I’m-1000-years-old kinda run. While this doesn’t happen too often, it does happen, and every time I’m surprised I didn’t see it coming, it feels awful, and it makes me question my fitness.  And then, just as quickly [...]

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Running Around the Clock

May 9, 2012

When people come to me for help with running ultras, it’s usually because they can’t figure out how to make the “leap” in training.  It seems like such a daunting task to go from training for 26.2 miles to training for twice that – or even beyond.  Often, when we transition from running only marathons [...]

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Trying to Conquer Mt. Wilson

May 8, 2012

In my never ending quest to not embarrass myself at Western States, last weekend was spent running another part of the Angeles Crest 100 Trail.  I’ve heard mixed opinions about the how comparable the two courses are (some say it’s easier, some say it’s harder), but since I don’t live near the WS100 course, this [...]

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Sabrina Moran Smashes American Record for 24 Hours

May 7, 2012

Sabrina Moran, 25, crushed the American Record, held by Sue Ellen Trapp for 19 years, this past weekend at the North Coast 24 Hour Endurance Run.  Sabrina was the first female with a total mileage of 147.90 (unofficial), beating the longstanding record by over 2.5 miles.  Sabrina has burst onto the 24 Hour race scene, [...]

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