Category Archives: Marathon

Execution plan for marathon #5

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

Saturday 2/1, I will run my 5th marathon.  Remember, I swore that I would never run a half marathon but apparently I’m addicted to running now.

I did the Pf Changs Rock N Roll marathon a few weeks ago with my friends and blogged about it here.

Saturday’s Sedona Marathon is for me, so to speak.  Ironically it’s just another training run before my first 50K race on 2/22.  I already had it in my head that it might take me 6 hours to complete it due to the hills. I remember when I did the half last year, it was longer than my “regular” time.

But today, I looked up my half marathon time from last year (2:30) and my PR on my last full marathon was 5:12 (The Lost Dutchman last year which is also hilly but doesn’t have the elevation of Sedona).

So now I’m trying to come up with a game plan for Sunday and here it goes:

  • I’ve already been carbing up and drinking lots of water to get hydrated.
  • I’m taking the 2 days before the race off of running to rest my legs and body for Sunday.
  • I’ve been doing a little extra stretching, foam rolling and leg drains.
  • I’ll listen to my new hypnosis session from Dr. John at Peak Performance Online a few times.
  • My new goal now (after reviewing my stats from last year) is have a PR at this race, which means at least 5:11.  I hesitate to put this in writing however between all the trail running and conditioning I’ve been doing in the last year, I feel it’s a realistic goal.  I also found out that half the course is dirt which I’m very excited about it!
  • Last but not least, even though I have that goal, I’m detached from the outcome. This is a skill I learned through my 7 Laws of Spiritual Success meditations.  The Law of Detachment basically means that I’m not attached to this goal. I want to achieve it but by allowing myself to accept uncertainty in this situation, I won’t “worry” about it and have that negative energy weighing me down.

So, I’m heading up to Sedona with my friends and boyfriend today.

Tomorrow I’ll focus on my ChiRunning technique (use my app if I need some help so I don’t have to think about my Form Focuses), and have music available if necessary but I know the gorgeous views will keep me occupied.

Before I started this blog, I googled quotes on “execution”.  Love this one from Dr. Wayne Dyer; it’s perfect for Saturday and really any other situation in life as he says:

Great quote to apply to anything in life!

Great quote to apply to anything in life!

 

What do you do when you are getting ready for a race?  How do you prepare mentally?

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)

My Slowest Marathon ever….

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….yet one of my most momentous.

As a runner (or coach) have you ever been in the situation where you had to make a choice on how to run a race:

Do I run this race for me?  
OR
Do I run this race with my friends?

Let me preface this blog by saying I really would love to get your comments below if you’ve been in this situation. I believe it’s a hard choice to make and I’d like to know how you’ve made your decisions in the past so we can learn from each other.

I originally signed up for the Pf Changs Rock N Roll Marathon to run it with a friend who was planning on doing her first marathon.  My plan was to run the Sedona Marathon on 2/1/14 so it would be another training run (along with my 50K on 2/22 now).  My friend realized she was not ready for it and decided to do the half instead (which I told her was a great call on her part, so long as she was making that choice consciously and would not be mad at herself for changing her plan).

In the mean time, I had 5 of my friends/students running their first marathon at this event.  So here I was faced with “dilemma” of what to do?  Do I run this race for me or do I run it with friends?   As I deliberated, here were the questions that ran through my head:

Q.  Why are you running this marathon?  Honestly, for me it was another training run.  It’s marathon #4 and since I’am working on 2 other distance events, my reason was to get a long run in at a race.  I try to plan it this way if it works with the training schedule. Even if I’m paying for this training run/race, I get a new t-shirt, a medal and race experience.

Q.  Do you care how fast you complete this marathon?  Speed is rarely a concern for me.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy pushing myself and beating my own personal records (PR) but sometimes it’s just not about speed but the experience. The Women’s Half marathon for example is usually my PR race for a half so that decision is always made to run it for myself.

Q. Do I care that the official records will show my marathon results and everyone else will know my speed?  Hell no….Again, there are times where this is just not relevant, especially as a coach.  And personally I’ve worked a lot on not caring what other people think 😉 (It’s very liberating…of course I value other people’s opinion but learning to detach from their opinion is another story…)

So as I pondered over this, one of my friends asked me if I would run the marathon with them.  I knew this was going to be my slowest group but also the group that “needed” me the most.  Based on the responses above that of course I would love to run with them as they complete their first marathon (a coach’s dream would be to cross the finish line with all their students but that can’t always be possible either).

So we start the race together and one of my friends starts having some serious pain in her hip.  The others wanted to keep moving so I decided to stay with her and help her get through it.  My heart ached for her.  The pain was persistent.   She was such a trooper. We walked as fast as her hip would allow her…at one point we turned around and realized we were the last 2 people in the race…sag wagon right behind us….As much as I knew I could mentally get her to the end, I know her hip was not going to make it and I didn’t want her to push her body to the point of not being able to run ever again.  We talked and pondered and she finally made the decision to get in the sag wagon.  After months of training and excitement to complete her first marathon, I can’t even imagine how hard of a decision that was for her. I have a huge amount of respect for her determination and perseverance and I would’ve made the same call if I were in her shoes.

At this point I thought I would start running and find the rest of the group. I selfishly admit that I loved every minute of the run.  My other friend called me and asked me where I was and we realized that I was about a quarter of a mile away from them so I sped up to catch up.

Let me preface that this friend was pretty much coerced into running the marathon. She was planning on the half but just started training with our group and before you know it, she’s sucked into doing a full marathon. When I reached the two of them, one wanted to run and the other was not feeling too hot and just wanted to walk.  At that point, I knew who needed me the most (we were half way done so still 13 more miles to go).

I did the same things that I did for my other friend: remind them of their ChiRunning/ChiWalking form focuses, stay positive, gather energy from nature and all the spectators cheering, and talk about things to keep their mind off the time.

We pretty much walked that last 13 miles and my official time was 6:17:10.  My best time was a 5:12:01.

Do I care that I was over an hour longer than my first one?  HELL NO!  

Was experiencing two amazing women give it all they had in their heart and their body worth it?  HELL YES!

So how have you dealt with this dilemma? If the answers to my question above were different, I would’ve had no problem running the race for me either.  My friends felt “bad” because they knew I could run faster.  I told them it was an absolute conscious choice and that if I wanted to PR the race and run, I would’ve made that decision.

Looking back to yesterday, I wouldn’t change a thing….

Here we go...

Here we go…

6:17 finish and Ann completes her first marathon

6:17 finish and Ann completes her first marathon

26.2 miles done!

26.2 miles done!

Great caption from the ChiMarathon book

Great caption from the ChiMarathon book

Another medal for the collection...

Another medal for the collection…

Which is harder: Walk 60 miles in 3 days or a marathon?

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

I used to ask this question every year I participated in the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day in Phoenix.  I am the founder of Team Las Bombas and walked 60 miles in 3 days from 2005-2009.  I was not a runner at that time but I remember pondering over this question…

This year, they announced that it was going to be the last year in Phoenix.  Since I’ve been very active with my team even if I haven’t been walking, I decided to raise the $2300 and walk 60 miles this weekend with my team.

WOW!  I only have 3 marathons under my belt right now, but I can say, hands down, I would prefer to run a marathon any day before I walked 20 miles in 1 day, let alone another 20 miles for 2 more days!

Why?

Mainly because you are on your feet for a much longer period of time and this takes a toll on your body and mind.  On Saturday, I walked 21 miles in 9.5 hours while I could run a marathon in about 5:15.  Keep in mind that I was using my ChiWalking skills as much as possible so it wasn’t really too bad for me.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy I did it!  But if I had to really decide between one or the other, now that I’ve done both, I would run a marathon.

Why am I sharing this? 

If-we-all-did-the-things-we-are

This is one of my all time favorite quotes.  I am sharing this to let people know that regardless of what event you may choose to do, it’s going to get you out of your comfort zone and before you know it, you will literally astound yourself at what you can do!

So don’t be afraid….set a goal outside your comfort zone, whether it’s walking 60 miles or running a marathon, and start astounding yourself!

Have you done the Breast Cancer 3-Day and/or a marathon?  Which do you think is harder and why?  Curious to hear your opinion 😉

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)

P.S.  My friend GPSd our route:

Day 1:  18.95 miles in 8:20 (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/404073484)

Day 2: 20 miles in 9:32     (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/404073501)

Day 3: 16.77 miles in 7:13 (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/404073524)

No pain, no gain? OR Less pain, more gain!

Posted on by by Lisa Pozzoni

….and My Story Runs On….

On Sunday 2/17, I completed my 2nd marathon using the ChiRunning techniques.  I’m writing this 3 days after the event and I have little pain, if any at all!  How could this be?  After my 1st marathon last year, I was sore for at least 5 days and could barely walk for the first few days….I was sporting the “marathon waddle” if you know what I mean!
In my next few blog/vlog posts, I’ll be sharing some of my aha moments with you and how you can apply them to your running, walking or life!

AHA moment #1
Walking/Running Lesson:
My posture post race is just as important!  This may make more sense if you’ve already learned the ChiRunning and ChiWalking Posture lesson.  I teach my students how to use proper alignment to hold them up rather than having their muscles do the work.  My quads were the most sore after Sunday but as I really focused on standing and ChiWalking with my proper posture, I didn’t feel my muscle soreness at all!  Next time you are really sore from a workout, stand in bad posture and then stand in your ChiRunning posture and feel the difference!  It “forced” me to focus on it a lot because I would be reminded any time I felt muscle soreness again!
Life Lesson:
Pay more attention to what your body is telling you.  This is the start of present moment awareness.  Listen to your body and respond accordingly.   In ChiLiving we call it Body Sensing.  It’s amazing what your body will teach you.  You can be your own detective.

AHA moment #2
Walking/Running Lesson:
Conserving energy works and helped me tremendously with my recovery time! During my training and on the marathon, I focused on relaxing my body and conserving my energy as much as possible. Tension (physical and mental) is resistance and uses up unnecessary energy.   ChiRunning teaches us how to go with the flow and relax the mind and body as much as possible.
Life Lesson:
Did you ever notice how much energy it takes out of you when you are stressed?  On the other hand when you are relaxed, things always seem easier?   For example, when driving I used to let other drivers get to me.  I would get irritated and I could feel the extra stress. When I realized I had no control over them but I had control over me and my stress level, I chose to remove this tension and go with the flow.  And my drives are much more enjoyable and relaxing.  So next time you are feeling stressed, think about how you can eliminate it and then,  just go with the flow.

From My Running Story to Yours….
(if you feel inspired to share your comments, do so below…I want to hear your story too!)