Marathon training, week 3: The one where I hit reset
I meant to post about this earlier and forgot. If you aren't a follower of Georgia Snail, check out his recent blog about his sister. She and her fiance are entered in a contest to win their dream wedding, and they sound like a phenomenally deserving couple. You can find a link from his blog to the site where you can vote for them. Take a minute to do so, and then do it again tomorrow, too. Good luck, Mike and Marriah!
And things were going so well up til now. You know...all 14 days of my training up to this week. :)
This week's plan called for the following:
Monday: 3 miles @ 11:22
Wednesday: 5 mile tempo workout; 1 mile each w/u, c/d, and 3 miles @9:45
Saturday: 10 miles @ 11:22
In no way are this week's workouts out of my league. Normally.
Here's what this week's training looked like in actuality:
Monday: off work for MLK day, so I made up the previous Saturday's long run. Hoped to maybe fit in Monday's three later in the week, but I wasn't too worried about just missing an isolated 3 miles.
Wednesday: With snow on the ground, I wasn't interested in trying to do any kind of speed (or as it turned out later, "speed") on icy roads before work, so I headed to the treadmill at our Y after dinner. I really wasn't worried about this workout at all, but it didn't go well. I was on one of the older treadmills, but I don't think that made any difference. I managed my warmup mile on pace, and then I sped up for the first tempo mile. I was struggling to stay at/below 9:45, and it only got worse. After that first faster mile, I had to keep adjusting the speed slower and slower. I ended up managing a total of 4.6 miles at an 11:40 average pace, and I'm surprised it was that fast. I'm not sure what went wrong, but the whole run felt awful and was a real confidence killer.
Thursday: If you read either of my previous two posts, you know that we had a foot of snow dropped on us Wednesday night/Thursday morning. My cross-training consisted of snow shoveling and fort-building, and then I got in maybe only a mile of running snowy trails with some friends before I had to get home to go to a movie. Thursday's run was a blast, and a real tonic after my disappointing Wednesday run.
I didn't intend to run with anybody else on Thursday, just accidentally showed up at the same time/place as some people I know who let me tag along with their regular run. The beginning of the run was everything that holds me back from joining up with a group or running with other people. They were all super nice, it was all my internal stuff: What if I can't keep up? I don't want to be that person who has to drop off because they can't run anymore. I should have just gone off on my own so I could walk. Ugh...we've only gone 30 feet and I'm exhausted already. Once we got going, I was fine. Yes, I was the slowest member of the group, but I wasn't dragging way behind, and when I had to turn back I was disappointed rather than relieved.
Saturday: I started wondering if Saturday's run was going to happen on Friday night. I sent one kid home sick from my class and came home feeling lousy myself. I went to bed at 7:30, slept for 13 hours, and still felt cruddy when I got up. I did some back and forth about running anyway, but I ended up messaging the friend I was supposed to run with to say I wouldn't make it. Back to bed for a few hours. Thanks to the wonders of DayQuil, I was able to play in a volleyball tournament Saturday evening with my husband, son, and some friends, but I could definitely tell when the medicine was wearing off.
So, with two missed runs and one terrible one, I think I'm just going to pretend this past week never happened. This week is supposed to be a rest week, so I'm going to redo the past week's scheduled workouts and see how it goes. Hopefully I can rejoin my plan on schedule, though right now I'm seeing a sick day Monday in my future.
And things were going so well up til now. You know...all 14 days of my training up to this week. :)
This week's plan called for the following:
Monday: 3 miles @ 11:22
Wednesday: 5 mile tempo workout; 1 mile each w/u, c/d, and 3 miles @9:45
Saturday: 10 miles @ 11:22
In no way are this week's workouts out of my league. Normally.
Here's what this week's training looked like in actuality:
Monday: off work for MLK day, so I made up the previous Saturday's long run. Hoped to maybe fit in Monday's three later in the week, but I wasn't too worried about just missing an isolated 3 miles.
Wednesday: With snow on the ground, I wasn't interested in trying to do any kind of speed (or as it turned out later, "speed") on icy roads before work, so I headed to the treadmill at our Y after dinner. I really wasn't worried about this workout at all, but it didn't go well. I was on one of the older treadmills, but I don't think that made any difference. I managed my warmup mile on pace, and then I sped up for the first tempo mile. I was struggling to stay at/below 9:45, and it only got worse. After that first faster mile, I had to keep adjusting the speed slower and slower. I ended up managing a total of 4.6 miles at an 11:40 average pace, and I'm surprised it was that fast. I'm not sure what went wrong, but the whole run felt awful and was a real confidence killer.
Thursday: If you read either of my previous two posts, you know that we had a foot of snow dropped on us Wednesday night/Thursday morning. My cross-training consisted of snow shoveling and fort-building, and then I got in maybe only a mile of running snowy trails with some friends before I had to get home to go to a movie. Thursday's run was a blast, and a real tonic after my disappointing Wednesday run.
I didn't intend to run with anybody else on Thursday, just accidentally showed up at the same time/place as some people I know who let me tag along with their regular run. The beginning of the run was everything that holds me back from joining up with a group or running with other people. They were all super nice, it was all my internal stuff: What if I can't keep up? I don't want to be that person who has to drop off because they can't run anymore. I should have just gone off on my own so I could walk. Ugh...we've only gone 30 feet and I'm exhausted already. Once we got going, I was fine. Yes, I was the slowest member of the group, but I wasn't dragging way behind, and when I had to turn back I was disappointed rather than relieved.
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| Photo credit: Robin Rongey |
So, with two missed runs and one terrible one, I think I'm just going to pretend this past week never happened. This week is supposed to be a rest week, so I'm going to redo the past week's scheduled workouts and see how it goes. Hopefully I can rejoin my plan on schedule, though right now I'm seeing a sick day Monday in my future.
All you can do is all you can do. Here's to next week!
ReplyDeletePlan Schman! what movie did you see?
ReplyDeleteMegamind. Cute movie.
ReplyDeletewe have weeks like this sometimes...they make us that much more in the game the following week! Wow, so much snow. I'm missing it. I thought of you on my muddy forest run this weekend...not sure what it was...maybe that I felt tough running in mud and woods.
ReplyDeleteKate-Thanks so much for the shout out! That's awesome!
ReplyDeleteYour body will bounce back and you'll be fine. Just do what you can and don't try to catch up too much. Rather just carry on with your normal plan. Who invented this being sick stuff anyway?
ReplyDeleteHey Kate...so hard for me to be fully present too. I'm trying. Can't happen always but I try to remind myself as often as I can. Writing this children's book is so much harder than I expected it to be.
ReplyDeleteI hope you feel better soon!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Johann. Stick with the plan. Trying to make too many runs is a recipe for injury. The rest week may be what you need to fully recover from being sick.
ReplyDeleteI am feeling so pathetic! I am working out at the gym pretty regularly now, but still am a sorry, sorry runner. I tried to make it around my little section of the neighborhood (one mile) but couldn't run the whole thing! Ahhh!!! You've inspired me...
ReplyDeleteGosh, i have a lot of catching up to do having fallen off of the blog wagon for a couple months now. Marathon training is tough. Once the weather breaks you will feel so much better.
ReplyDelete