Physical Limits

Last week I was reminded that the human body has limits. When I run or workout in general, I don't always feel like I've worked hard enough if I'm not in some kind of pain, my lungs aren't burning, or the sweat from my head isn't dripping into my eyes. I want to end a workout knowing I pushed myself to the limit in order to make it worth my time. Working out is time away from my family, so I'm doing my best to make that time worthwhile.

Our run around the lake last week went well and I felt like I put everything into it. My husband pushed the 31-pound weight in the jogging stroller and ran with me the first time around the lake. The path was so busy that we couldn't even run beside each other. He ran ahead of me and I was drafting behind him. It works in cycling... it has to work in running too, right? It was a difficult run mostly because of strong winds. I don't think I've run in peaceful weather yet this spring, so I'm hoping its not a sign that race day will be awful too.

My boys pulled over after one lap and let me keep going. I wasn't sure how I was going to make it around another 1.5 times because I truly felt exhausted after the first one. My body finally got in a groove and before I knew it, I was half way around. I was feeling more confident. That didn't last long though. A few minutes later, my knees started to burn. They were hollering at me to stop. Stopppp!! I didn't. I wanted to, but I didn't. I ran the entire second lap around the lake making it 6 miles total.

My knees just couldn't make it another half lap around the lake. So many thoughts went through my head and I tried not to feel like a failure. I'm not above walking when I need to for the half marathon and I know that adrenaline on race day will keep me going far longer than going out for a plain old training run. I finally justified stopping for two reasons. First, I don't want to injure myself before the race or burn out my knees. Second, two days after this run, I had my first soccer game and I wanted to feel good for the game.

Going into the first game, I had some crazy nerves. I was excited, but nervous at the same time. I hadn't played in two years and even though I've been running -- in a straight line with a nice, slow pace for months -- I knew the game would be painful. And oh was it painful. I started out the game playing left defense. The first run down the field, I nearly tripped over my own feet. Good save. Whew. Second run down the field wasn't as lucky. It felt like a whole minute went by as my arms and legs were flailing wildly going down the field and I tumbled and rolled right in front of my teammates on the sideline. Just pathetic.

After that, I recovered, but throughout the rest of the game, I was gasping for air and realized my sprints weren't as good as I'd hoped they'd be. Everything is harder the first time around. By the second half, everyone seemed warmed up and I'm happy to report that nobody puked (at least that I'm aware of). We tied 2-2.

I was so sore in the 24-48 hours after the game, but it was a good sore. My body hadn't made those kinds of movements in two years and I was so happy to be feeling sore all over the place. My back was even sore and I swear my hamstrings shortenend by about 3 inches. My body certainly reached its physical limits last week both with the 6 mile run and the soccer game. But both times I felt great afterwards. Well, I felt great once my knees stopped burning and once the game was over and my sister-in-law and I chatted in the car for 45 minutes about how fun it was to be playing again.

I'm still working on pushing it to the limit every time I'm running, playing soccer, or doing some other kind of workout. Pushing it means its going to be painful and maybe not always very enjoyable, but in the end, that's what gets results and gets me in better physical shape. It burns the stress right out of my system and allows my mind to go somewhere else for an hour that doesn't involve toddler frustrations or work demands. I don't always enjoy it while I'm doing it, but I know its worth it in many ways.

Preparation

I thought spring was here for good. Nope. Wrong. All our grass appeared over the weekend and then it snowed making our roof, deck, yard, driveway, and work parking lot covered in a heavy snow mess. Oh the nerve. And since I'm not a fan of running in the cold or on icy streets, I headed back to the treadmill. I am just longing to run in 80 degree weather with the sun blasting it's hot rays down on me (side note: I always wear sunscreen now when outside in the summertime. My wonderful sister-in-law is a dermatologist and supplies us with never ending amounts of sunscreen. I even have one bottle that is 85 SPF. It took her a while to convince me that being pale was better than having a nice summer glow, but I know in 30 years I will appreciate her perseverance with me.).

Last night, I went to the gym at 8 PM. I had just put my son down for the night, sat down to catch up on all things important on my iPhone (Facebook and Iowa Girl Eats), and nearly fell asleep for the night. Get up and get to the gym. Do it. Yawn. Just get up and go change. Yawwwwn. One, two, three... okay, I'm up. I put on my tempos and that red shirt that I'm apparently addicted to running in lately. For me, getting dressed for the gym is quite possibly the hardest part of the workout. Just getting the motivation to take the first step is the hardest. But once I'm dressed I'm good to go.

I started my run out at a nice 5.5 mph. I can tell my lungs and legs are getting in better shape because bumping the speed up to 6.0 doesn't feel taxing anymore. I love feeling like I'm improving. Before I knew it, I was at one mile. Then two. I started to get bored and honestly, I was pretty tired after four of the five days of work this week. I started speeding up. I made it all the way to 8.5 mph. At first I thought I couldn't control my legs, but all was okay.

When my lungs started to burn, and it didn't take that long, I had a realization: the soccer season starts in just over a month. I have to be able to run as fast as I possibly can for an entire game in about 6 weeks. Four years ago, I joined a women's soccer team. I joined with my friend who also ran the half-marathon. At the time, the team consisted of women just out of high school, women the same age as my mom, and all of us in between. I hadn't even touched a soccer ball since the last game I played my senior year of high school, so starting to play in my mid-20's was a little difficult. I forgot how fast-paced soccer was and how much sprinting was involved. I played for two summers, took one off because I was very pregnant, took last summer off because, well, I just couldn't get it together with nursing, working, mothering... yeah, you read that post... but this summer I will make my return.

My position of choice is right defender. I played defense in high school and never thought of myself as anything else. The second summer playing soccer, I had the chance to try playing mid-field and forward. Now those positions are exciting! I finally scored my first goal and had a celebratory DQ treat afterwards with my biggest fan, my husband. Two of my favorite things about soccer: speed and aggressive play. I prefer sprints over distance and I love running down an opponent. I love having green grass and mud smashed into my shin guards and scrapes on my knees at the end of the game. (To my future opponents: Please don't throw elbows until after Memorial Day weekend... I can't get bruises before my matron of honor duties are over. My sister will thank you. Thanks!) I haven't played in two years and I'm a little nervous about my ability to compete. Let's just make one thing clear... we're considered recreational, but we're serious competitors! Do not mess with "Club America." I want to do well. I want to be able to run down those opponents on game one and finish the game without puking behind the goal post.

I ran at 8.5 for a couple of 45 second stretches. On my second stretch, suddenly my legs stopped moving, but I thought I was still running. Um, what's going on? Am I passing out right now? Am I about to be that girl who falls flat on her face because she had the treadmill going faster than she could handle? Oh dear, I don't want a treadmill burn on my face! Then I looked down. I had accidentally pulled the emergency stop cord, which leads me to believe that I must've looked like a complete idiot with flailing arms right before pulling the cord. I had NO idea that the cord came out. After a good laugh, I restarted the machine and did two more 45 second sprints.

I finished up completely dripping in sweat. Awesome run. I am convinced that with a few more sprint training runs, I will be right on my way to scoring my second goal this summer. Bring on the DQ lemon lime arctic rush!