After my mini freak out last week about running, I got back in the groove very quickly. After having a horrible run on Monday morning, I went back out again Monday after work. While I wasn't thrilled I couldn't do the mileage at the same time, I'm glad at the end of the day I got done what I needed. I decided I need to be a little bit better with my schedule for running, which will result in me being a little more selfish. Half of my problem was not scheduling my time correctly, and the other half was not sticking to the things I scheduled and letting other problems get in the way.
I continued with my training Thursday morning at 5 am! 5 am people! I don't wake up at 5 am for anything, especially if coffee isn't involved. It was all my idea too which is even more ridiculous. I had wanted to start working on my speed by adding in track workouts. I knew Paul did them, as well as most other runners I know, all who say they help a lot. I knew I wouldn't have time to run after work, so morning was the only way to go. Paul, as usual, was happy with waking up early for a run, and was also the only reason I actually got out of bed at 5 am. We walked down the street to the track and got started. I, surprisingly, enjoyed it a lot. I will absolutely be adding a weekly track work out for the next two months. In June I'll most likely add in two track workouts a week.
Today was my long run day. Since my race is two weekends away I would of liked to be running a long run of 10 miles today, but with my lack of distance lately I knew that wasn't the right way to go. I was hoping to do a solid 6 and come out feeling better about my running. I know race day if I go into it with good runs recently, no matter the distance, I at least will be mentally prepared.
I got ready for my run and decided to borrow a pair of Paul's CEP compression socks. We basically have the same calf size (I know let's not talk about how horrifying that is) so I figured they would be fine. I recently got a free pair, which I hopefully will have before my race, but I wanted to try them out ahead of time. Paul and I left for our run with the plan to meet up at the track in an hour. We rarely run together, and after the disaster when we did last weekend, I think he was thrilled to hear I was good with running separately. Right when I started I felt ok and thought I could add in some mileage. I knew Paul wanted to run 10 miles, and in the time he ran 10 I could run 7 (again I know let's not talk about this ridiculousness either). After about 5 minutes of running my calves were burning! Completely on fire and I decided I hated compression socks. Every step I took hurt. I slowly went through the first 3 miles in pain. I walked when I needed to, but tried to run as much as I could. I decided in mile 4 to ignore the pain as much as I could and run the 4th mile hard. I have no idea why I did this, but I got through the 4th mile strong. The 5th was much more painful because of my intense mile 4, but the compression socks felt better. I decided I might not hate them as much as I thought, and think the initial pain was from first time use, lack of stretching, and the fact that they are men's and not really fitted for my legs.
I headed over to the track to look for Paul at the start of my 6th mile, hoping he would be there early and with more water. Sadly he wasn't, and I ran my last two miles water free. Was my time fantastic? No not at all, but I was on pace with what I want for this race and I fought hard for all 7 miles.
Coming out of my running slump I knew getting back into it wouldn't be easy. I have two weeks until the Providence 1/2 marathon and my main goal is to keep in a good mindset. I'm going to be doing 2 short runs this week, a track workout, and a 6 mile run Saturday. Staying on track these last few weeks I think will be huge in helping me get through the 1/2.
Hope you are all enjoying your weekend!
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