This week I felt like I was losing my mind for various reasons, and one day "Cake by the Ocean" came on the radio and that line became my theme for the week. I also rearranged my Thursday through Sunday running schedule, which I am sure my coach loved, but there was no way I was going to run my long run on Saturday morning before getting in the car for 12 hours starting at 7:00 a.m.!
Mileage: 52.8, with one fartlek, one tempo in a long run, one strength workout, one set of strides, and a whole lot of tired!
Monday - After last weekend, which included a Saturday race and Sunday 18 miler in an extreme heat advisory, I woke up feeling like I got hit by a train! Sunday night I was exhausted but couldn't fall asleep, and slept only in short spurts separated with very startled wakings - something that happens occasionally when I'm depleted (especially after marathons) - so that did not help. I did the elliptical to warm up and an easier than usual full-body strength workout with weights but no plyos or jumping moves (single leg squats, calf raises, hip adduction and abduction, lat pull down, squats with overhead press, lumberjack swings, wall sits, rows, planks, side planks, glute bridges, dead lifts). I felt better after this workout than before it, despite almost skipping it all together - and you know I am going crazy when I nearly skip workouts.
Tuesday - 8.2 base pace miles (7:29), including numerous gnat attacks. I was so over this run. I didn't feel very good going in (residual fatigue from the weekend and missed sleep), I got gnats in my eyes and mouth, and when I finished I literally had to wipe hundreds of gnats off of all parts of my body with a towel. So gross, and surely enough to drive anyone crazy.
Wednesday - 13.2 miles with 9.1 a.m. (7:26 average for the whole thing) and 4.1 p.m. (7:19, oops). The morning run was a fartlek: 2 miles warm-up, 3 miles of 3 minutes on/3 minutes off, 2 miles of 2 minutes on/2 minutes off, and 2 miles cool-down. I was glad I didn't have a tempo run or pace-based repeat workout for this run, as I wasn't up for that physically or mentally. I felt like I was going crazy when my watch would beep to run hard when I would come to an uphill and then beep to run easy when I would come to a downhill, and when I saw my paces were only 6:30-6:45ish on the hards. The evening run was attack of the gnats part 2 and because of those crazy bugs I nearly called it early. I felt better on the second run than the first, though. Overall I wasn't too happy with this day, but I got it done.
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| I can't handle it!! |
Thursday - Threesy: 3.1 miles (7:35), plus 10 minutes of core work (mostly plank variations). This was scheduled for Friday as my tiny run on a day I used to not run. Since my body was hating me, it was nice to have such a short run. And there were no gnats!!
Friday - 15.4 miles: 2.3 miles warm-up (7:43), 8 miles tempo (6:24), 5.1 miles cool-down (7:57). Description here. "Let's lose our minds and go crazy crazy" is a good way to describe this whole thing, but I was very happy with it and felt much better than on Wednesday! I was also very glad that I ran this a day early, even though I had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to do it!
Saturday - 5.5 mile shake out (8:05) in Benton, Kansas. This was supposed to be run on Sunday, making it a cut back in distance of my Sunday recovery run. It was scheduled to follow the 15 miler with 8 miles tempo as it did, and I can see why it was what it was - I was tired. I felt better when I finished than when I started so it served its purpose!
Sunday - 7.3 miles base pace plus 6 strides in final mile (average 7:39) in Hot Springs, South Dakota; this was scheduled for Thursday. I picked a direction to run by looking at a map of my hotel, and it was not a good choice because mile 1 had about 200 feet of elevation gain and was therefore a difficult way to start and very slow (although coming down was easy and fast!). Around mile 2 I came upon a nice trail by the river, but it wasn't made for marathon runners and was less than 1.5 miles. I then ran on some highway (no traffic at 6 a.m. on a Sunday) to get my distance before doubling back to the hotel. It was a pretty run!
Friday - 15.4 miles: 2.3 miles warm-up (7:43), 8 miles tempo (6:24), 5.1 miles cool-down (7:57). Description here. "Let's lose our minds and go crazy crazy" is a good way to describe this whole thing, but I was very happy with it and felt much better than on Wednesday! I was also very glad that I ran this a day early, even though I had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to do it!
Saturday - 5.5 mile shake out (8:05) in Benton, Kansas. This was supposed to be run on Sunday, making it a cut back in distance of my Sunday recovery run. It was scheduled to follow the 15 miler with 8 miles tempo as it did, and I can see why it was what it was - I was tired. I felt better when I finished than when I started so it served its purpose!
Sunday - 7.3 miles base pace plus 6 strides in final mile (average 7:39) in Hot Springs, South Dakota; this was scheduled for Thursday. I picked a direction to run by looking at a map of my hotel, and it was not a good choice because mile 1 had about 200 feet of elevation gain and was therefore a difficult way to start and very slow (although coming down was easy and fast!). Around mile 2 I came upon a nice trail by the river, but it wasn't made for marathon runners and was less than 1.5 miles. I then ran on some highway (no traffic at 6 a.m. on a Sunday) to get my distance before doubling back to the hotel. It was a pretty run!
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| Short trail in Hot Springs, SD |
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| It's hard to beat running by a waterfall |
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| Looking down from less than half the hill I ran up in mile 1 |
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