Running Roadblocks

The weather here is amazing.  Totally amazing.  In fact, I find it a little ridiculous that I am in here blogging right now, haha.  We went from this just a week or so ago...

...to this today...

Yesterday, I was totally excited to get out and run--in shorts and a tank top, might I add.  I had a tempo run scheduled, and it ended up being an EPIC failure.  Very frustrating.  So, this got me thinking of this article I saw on Runner's World not too long ago about roadblocks to running.  To bounce back from yesterday's rough one, I thought today would be a good time to brainstorm some solutions to my biggest roadblocks...maybe it will help you too!

Roadblock:  Energy Crash
I seem to have a tendency to not feel well when I run in the afternoon.  In the morning, this is rarely an issues, but some afternoons my energy suddenly plummets after only a mile or so.

Solutions: In yesterday's case, it became abundantly clear to me that I need to me more careful about what I'm putting in my body in the afternoon and when.  The culprit yesterday was definitely my beloved diet pop.  So, I've got to commit to no more pop before I run.  Monday's run wasn't great (not an epic failure), but I remembered later that after school I ate and then came straight home to run.  Need to give it a little more time, missy!

Also, I try to get myself to just cover the mileage, even if I have to walk.  Of course, then I come home furious about my time, but that serves as a good motivator for next time.

Roadblock: Thinking too much about how much I have left

Solutions: I sure do love my RunKeeper app on my phone, but I definitely need to just turn it off every once in awhile.  The reminders of your pace are great, but sometimes they turn into reminders of how far you have yet to go.  I need to remember to just run for fun sometimes! 

Another good solution for me, the teacher, is to think about lesson plans.  I come up with some of my best ideas while I'm running, and, consequently, these are some of my best runs!  When I get my mind out of it and just go, good things happen!

Roadblock: The evil shin splints

Solutions: I decided to try wearing a compression sleeve on my right leg, which is oddly the only one that is giving me trouble.  I'm about 2 1/2 weeks in, and so far, so good!  I have learned, though, that wearing it after is just as important, if not more so, as wearing it during my run.  I can definitely feel the difference in the hours after a run if I don't have the compression sleeve on.  Interesting what this will do to my routine when warm weather rolls around and I want to wear capris...maybe I'll just have to bust out the screaming-hot-pink ones!  :)  I've also given kinesiology tape a shot, and it helped, but I find the compression sleeves to be much more user-friendly (although much more expensive).

Well...I feel better!  Sometimes all you need is a little action plan!

What are YOUR running roadblocks?  How do you overcome them?

We changed up the routine a little this week, so here is Ashley's photo challenge for the week:
Challenge :  A day I thought was going to be OK but kinda turned out not as planned but now I can laugh about it.

A silly picture for sure... unfortunately it was taken on the first day of our honeymoon in Wisconsin.  The reason why I thought it would be awesome is because we were on vacation! Celebrating our wedding.  You see the weather on our wedding day was gorgeous, sunny, slight breeze and 75 degrees... we got to Wisconsin the morning after our wedding and it was about 50 degrees and freezing cold and rainy... therefore our honeymoon turned into a "stuck inside because of the weather" honeymoon and all of our plans for shows to see and things to do were washed away (literally!)  Now I can laugh about it because just knowing all of the other things we went through to get to our wedding day (drama, drama, drama) having a not so "sweet" honeymoon seemed to follow suit!

And next week's challenge:  A picture that shows one of your favorite traits about yourself.