Sunday, March 20, 2011

Another sunday blog! :)

I totally believe what is said about the weeks going by faster and faster as you get older.  I cannot believe another week has gone by- time is seriously flying.

So yeah, how about that training????

This week was *ok*.  My cross training was almost nonexistant, which stunk but I'm battling some sort of something that is causing my energy level to be in the toilet.  Seriously, the fatigue has been so overwhelming that I've been going out to my car during my lunchbreak and sleeping at work.  Because I'm that classy.  I even crashed at the parents' house one night last week, just to spare the drive and ended up sleeping all late afternoon, evening, and night.  I need to get this figured out though, as it is hindering my training!

Atleast I got my runs in, for the most part.  Ended up with a few less miles than I would have liked, but considering how I felt, I'm ok with that.  Highlights included Monday's runs where upon running 8 miles at 8 minute pace in the morning felt rough, but running 3 more miles at 7:30 pace in the evening felt effortless and like I could keep going forever.  Tuesday = run with a friend = always the best miles of the week, even when they involve freezing rain.  Wednesday was 13 miles on the old treadmill before a swim.  Seriously- I felt my character being built.  Hmmm, what other runs were special?  Thurs/Friday, not so great.  I felt most exhausted that day.  Saturday, I woke up super-early to run pre-bakery in freezing weather, only to find when I got off at 2:30, it was BEAUTIFUL sunny and warm out.  So I put in a few more lovely miles. 

So today- the long run.  I was flying solo again today, with 20 miles on tap.  I procrastinated by getting up early and cleaning my whole apartment, washing sheets, and getting together tons of clothes to donate.  I was hoping it would warm up, but it didn't really.  Low 30s, which isn't terrible, but the wind was strong.  I planned a new route, hoping that it would be fun.  The first loop was intended to be 10-11 miles, then I would get some water at my place and head out again.  However, I sort of turned it into a game where as I approached turning back toward home, I turned the opposite way and kept adding on miles.  I felt like every time I extended it before going back to my apartment, I was getting 'ahead.'  Random, I know.  By 13 miles though, I was getting pretty thirsty and paid 2$ for an apple juice at a gas station that I downed in 30 seconds.  The thing about this route was that it was HILLY.  I am the first to admit that I hate hills, and although the town I live in is hilly, I try to avoid them as much as I can- especially on long runs.  Mostly this is because they effect my pace so much and I am a slave to my pace sometimes.  Well, today I just sort of embraced the crazy hilliness and kept doing what I could to challenge myself.  Which was basically going out of my way to make it hard.  My legs were very fatigued by the end, which was expected, but I was satisfied with this run, not because of pace (8:27, although considering the route is decent) but because I really stretched myself outside my comfort zone.  And that is what running is all about, right?

Random things on the run observed:
1) A nun walking on a dirt road about 3 miles from civilization, dressed in full-on nun-clothes
2) A HUGE deer road kill that I literally came millimeters from stepping on as I was zoning out during the run.  Then I proceded to jump 20 feet in the air out of surprise!
3) 2 seperate occasions I saw near car-deer collisions, which reminded me of #2
4) I man running FAST up a steep uphill next to me in jeans and running shoes
5) The fact that I have the most random..errr...eclectic music taste ever.....thank ipod.

So yeah, another week begins.  Hoping to up my milage from the 71 miles of this past week.  But we will see.  I really gotta get these health things worked out and go from there.

Hope everyone had great weekends and great runs!  Enjoy the new week! :)

Sunday, March 13, 2011

skip a week....here i am!

I know you were all worried, but I didn't completely fall off the face of the earth....

Actually, the week before this past week turned into a total bust.  First, I totally messed up my hamstrings Tuesday night taking a strength training class.  The combo of the class and my complete lack of muscular strength, some tempo miles that night, and a slightly inclined 13 miles on the treadmill the next morning, left my legs completely zonked.  Which made me have to pull back a bit on my milage for the next few days in hopes of rallying for my long run on Sunday.  Which didn't end up happening because I got extremely sick Saturday night (due to some GI problems I have) which made it impossible to run more than a few, slow, dehydrated miles on Sunday.  So basically, the week turned into a wash.

This past week has been better though.  Although the said GI stuff isn't completely gone which has decreased my eating and hense my energy level more than I would like.  Other than feeling more sluggish and labored on runs than I should, they have been good overall.  Highlights included an 11 miler on Tuesday with 7 miles at 7:29 pace.  Wednesday was a wet and freezing 14 miler outside at a oh-my-gosh-my-legs-are-moving-so-slowly pace.  Friday I did 10 miles before cycle class right around 8 min pace, and then had a really great cycle class.  Since I had to work today and not yesterday, I did my long run yesterday.  18 miles of not-so-confidence-building running.  I'm not sure if it was the week catching up to me or what, but I felt exhausted and run down the whole time.  And the wind was bad.  My pace was slow.  But I got it done.

Really what is stressing me the most right now is not the milage or putting in the work or the actual runs I'm accomplishing, but how they are feeling.  It's not a matter of being able to run X:XX pace or whatever, but it is the level of effort that I'm feeling when doing so.  I was hoping by now my pace would be dropping more, but also it would be getting easier to accomplish that pace drop.  So I guess my confidence is a bit shaken right now in that regard because it is difficult to imagine doing what I want to do over 26.2 miles.  Oh well, still 12 weeks until Newport.

Overall, good week:
- 2 core classes
- 2 cycle classes
- 2 lovely swims
- 81 miles :)

Let's get the next one started!