Amber Morrison elaborates on the whirlwind encircling her taper in her latest blog post, “Twister.” Amber leaves today for Grandma’s Marathon where she’ll attempt the Olympic Trials Qualifier. Check out our Facebook for up-to-date details regarding her race.
The past 3 weeks have been a whirlwind with training, a new position at work and trying to keep up with our housing situation. I feel like I have been living in a tornado. Everything is swirling around and as time moves the funnel keeps growing. I am running, dodging and ducking trying not to get knocked out. My newest task has been working to keep myself calm in this storm. I imagine trying to stand as still as possible in the middle where things are the calmest. Deep breath, let it all swirl and remain untouched. Much easier said than done, but I feel like the prior F5 tornado has peaked and is slowly dwindling.
On 5/10 I raced the Eugene half and had a less than stellar performance. Turns out stress and lack of appetite caught up with me come race day. When you are not fueled, you bonk…even if it is only a half. This is when I realized I needed to get back in control of the chaos around me. Taking a new position at work on May 1 led to much more than I bargained for, especially in such a critical phase of training. I learned something from this race and focused on the amazing first 10 miles I had 🙂
In the next weeks I had 2 more 22 miles with long tempos (13-14 miles). In other words, marathon effort for at least a half marathon sandwiched in a long run. I squeezed these into some high mileage weeks, included a mountain race and had a less than ideal work schedule between days/nights.
The first of these went alright. It was the first really warm day and this NW girl was HOT! I figured it was great training in case Grandma’s is on the warm side come race day.
The second one on 5/31 was the apex of exhaustion. Lack of sleep/energy and any sort of freshness was gone. It became one of the biggest mental battles I faced during the training cycle. By mile 3 my legs were burning and begging me to stop. Scott was an amazing supporter and stopped to provide me with water and fuel along the Bellingham to Burlington route. There were mishaps, fatigue and just wanting to quit and call it day. I could hear the voice of Alyson and Court in my head saying “give yourself grace, it has been a big week.”. So I did a went by effort and what I could produce that day. I missed calculated my last fuel stop and I was bonking by the time arrived. I had snot all over my face and was near crying not wanting the gel Scott handed me. The exhausted inner 2 year old came out and I had a melt down. I then thought of Maria’s story from the day prior about having melt down when her shoe came off in the mud. She pulled up her big girl panties and got the shit down. So I hiked up my panties and finished the damn thing. At the end I was met by some of my best friends and we shared a great afternoon lunch and much deserved beer.
With a slight decrease in miles in the first week of taper I smoked my last big workout of 2x 6mi at goal pace and slightly under. This is the confidence boost I needed. I am now 4 days out (yikes) and I am beginning to feel antsy and lost during the day. My body is healing and aching and my appetite has decreased from those high mileage weeks. I am ready for it to be here and to have a little off season to enjoy the sunshine, my yard and happy hour by the bay.
Thanks to Scott, my husband, who has been beyond supportive. Workout support, moral support and keeping our household not looking like the tornado ripped right through. Love ya!
My sponsors for keeping fueled, hydrated and providing amazing apparel and footwear.
Saucony Power Bar Nuun
Lastly thanks to my teammates Bellingham Distance Project for all your support during this training cycle. Your voices are with me often on my runs.
