A lot of “weather” happened this week, which lead to me being stuck on a treadmill more than I would prefer. Here’s hoping that this isn’t a trend that continues as we get deeper into winter.
Emily, Sophie and I started the week off with a yoga class, heading to emerge on Monday night. Sophie is my brother’s girlfriend, who finally moved to Long Island, so you can expect to continue hearing about her, as I rope her into whatever plan I come up with. We opted for the more challenging of the classes offered that night, and I was ready to pass out as soon as I got home after class.
Kasey and I texted back and fourth Monday night debating what to do about Tuesday morning’s run – it was supposed to be cold and rainy, a combo that we do not enjoy. We bit the bullet and agreed to meet at planet fitness the next morning, although by the time I got there Kasey was almost done with her workout, as she has to be out the door to get to school much earlier than I have to leave for work. I got in a 5.5 mi speed workout, and then a quick core workout once I got home from the gym.
That night I headed to the gym once more, this time to meet Allison for swim. We planned to meet at 7, so I headed over a little early to sneak in some strength training before jumping into the pool. Remember when I used to be good at getting in strength training twice a week? Yeah, me too. When Allison got to the gym we swam 1000 yds total before calling it quits.
With Wednesday came another yoga class, this time a Yin/restorative one. I was ready to get moving on Thursday morning for my run through, feeling refreshed from the class. Kasey and I met up as usual, and it was one of the first mornings that really felt like winter this season. I broke out the heavy jacket, and one of the many ear warmers that I own, all of which make my forehead look very strange.
By the time Friday rolled around, I was feeling fatigued – more mentally than physically, and talking myself into getting out to run on Friday morning did not go well – by which I mean that it didn’t happen. So after work I had a date with a treadmill. I dragged myself to the gym, thinking that I if it realllly sucked then I only had to run five miles, and that was the perfect trick to get myself moving. It was the kind of run that I needed help tuning out, so I pulled up Harry Potter and the Deathly hallows on my iPhone, and the miles began to slip away. Before I knew it my tiredness had slipped away, and I hit a groove in my run. So I made it to 7 miles without dying, and was even happy about it by the time my miles were done.
You would think that procrastinating my run on Friday would have motivated me to be more on top of things Saturday, but it did not. When I got up I lazed about on my couch, and eventually Dad invited me to join him and mom at the beach for a walk, as Dad wanted to check out the new addition to the bike path that they just opened at Jones beach. Dad also wanted to complete the miles for a virtual 5k that we signed up for months ago – the NYPD tri team virtual 5k, the proceeds of which benefited the families of fallen officers. When we saw the event we signed up, got our medals and bibs in the mail, and then the race supplies sat around my parents house for a few months while we stressed out about the allll of the wedding things that needed to get done – but now that the wedding is in the past, we finally had time for a Saturday morning walk.
Once we finished up at Jones beach a ran around doing errands, the 7 mile run that I needed to get done still on the back of my mind. Eventually I texted Sophie to see if she would go to planet fitness with me, and she agreed to come along. By the time we got on the treadmills it was 5:20, and workers at the gym came around firmly reminding us that the gym was closing at 6. Crap. Something I had totally forgotten about. So 7 miles was out of questions. Sophie had wanted to run 5, and as we commiserated I said to her “I don’t think that I could even run 5 miles in 40 minutes!”
As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I knew that I had to try. Was it a fast pace for me to hold? Yes. It was 5 eight-minute miles in a row after all. But my 10k pr was at an 8:14 pace, and that was over a year ago - but I was feeling strong, and i got after the pace. The magic of the treadmill keeping pace for me, and the miles ticked away. After I hit the 5k mark I eased up the pace a little, thinking that was good enough…. but just a few seconds later found myself cranking the pace back up, chasing that goal I set. And sure enough, I somehow pulled it off - 39:54, 5 miles. Honestly, I felt great about it. I may have sweated more than a human really should, but still, it was great.
The week ended with a long run, accompanied by Dad. We headed back to the Jones Beach bike path, intent on running to the end of the new area this time. We had some beautiful weather, with minimal wind, which is always a gift when running that close to the beach. We started the miles at the board walk, then headed west and did manage to get all the way to the end of the new path. We got to run through all of the “holiday lights” festival that Jones Beach hosts, and even though it wasn’t lit up we discussed each of the displays as we ran by. I was feeling sluggish by the time we hit 13 miles, was beyond ready to be at 16 miles. Dad reminded me to pick my feet up, and I reminded myself to focus on the mile I was running rather than the miles ahead.
Soon enough the run was over, and Dad and I took a traditional trip to the diner to refuel. I broke tradition slightly by ordering a tuna melt instead of two over-easy eggs, but I would consider it a successful training run nonetheless.
