After what felt like a very successful week 4 of marathon training, week 5 had a very slow start. I had off from work on Monday, and while in my head that meant I would have plenty of time to get my run in, that was just not how the day went. In fact, this whole week I felt like I was struggling to hit a groove with my running. I had to constantly remind myself that it was enough to just show up, even if things were not perfectly executed.
Since we moved into our house in January, I have been slowly decorating, and putting things together so that it can feel more like our home. I had gotten paint for the bathroom and wanted to use the day off to paint. I figured that I would start the project, and when things were all finished, I would head out for my run… it just didn’t work out like that. I got so entangled in painting and cleaning that by the time I was finished it was the evening, and I was just exhausted and wanted to go to bed. So my planned run just did not happen.
What’s one missed run in the scheme of marathon training, right? I figured that I would just swap my days around and run on Wednesday instead of taking is as a rest day like I usually do. Tuesday I planned to go by my parents and run after work – completely forgetting that I had a doctor’s appointment to go to. Whoops.
As I drove home from work I figured I would squeeze in a quick run… but all I wanted to do was swim. I just kept thinking about how relaxing it was to swim, and how hot it was outside. After not running Monday I knew that I really should run Tuesday… but the pool was calling. I got home and changed into my swimsuit, and since the pool is less than a mile from my house, I decided to walk there. I checked the weather quickly and saw that around 7 it was supposed to thunderstorm, so I planned to be out of the pool by 6:40 that way I would have plenty of time to walk home.
I did make a pit stop at the free little library on my way to the pool and picked out a fiction book that looked promising. When I got to the pool the long lane was free, which is always a bonus. I plopped on my aftershocks Xtrainers (waterproof headphones) and started swimming laps. I felt my bad mood dissipate as I worked my way towards the goal I had decided on for the day, 1,000 yards.
The swim was uneventful, other than a few kids popping through the lane occasionally. As I closed in on 1000 yards, the sky rapidly started to darken – at 900 yards I saw the clouds start to roll in but with only 4 laps to go, I felt like I could make it! Two laps later, the wind picked up, and I could hear the trees blowing and the mothers shouting at their kids to get out of the pool. I started to worry that the lifeguards were going to start blowing their whistles and telling everyone to get out of the pool, so I picked up the pace as much as I could.
I made it to 1,000 yards, but the weather had turned quickly. I hustled to get out of the pool, throw on my backpack, and start heading home. The sun was not out, but I had to wear my sunglasses because it was so windy that it hurt my eyes if I did not. I walked at a quick pace as I headed home, and with about a half mile to go, the rain started. Then thunder and lightning, and I decided it was time to upgrade to a run pace.
Soon enough, the sky had opened, and sheets of water were falling as thunder boomed overhead. I was glad that I opted for sturdy sandals over flip flops, as I rushed to get home. By the time I got to the front door, I was soaked, and everything I had with me was soaked – including the poor little book I had chosen. But hey, it had at least been a good swim.
The next run on my schedule was an interval run, with a prescribed workout of 5 1000m repeats at a 7:50 pace. With it being July in New York, and lacking the discipline I needed to get up before sunrise, I opted to take this run to the treadmill rather than cook in the sun and shake my fist at the humidity of the outside world. I put some TV on, that way I could have something other than running to think about while I tried to sustain a 7:50 pace for almost 5 minutes at a time. I did a one mile warm-up, then hopped off the treadmill for some dynamic stretches. Before starting the repeats, I got in 5 x 20 second strides, to make sure I was primed.
Strides are not usually a part of my workouts, but after reading an infographic about how tiny efforts of strides add up over time to miles at faster paces, I have been trying to incorporate them into my training more.
When I started my workout, I found that the paces felt like more of a mental workout than a physical one. Each repeat I felt pretty good at the fast pace and found that in the last minute I needed to be counting down the seconds. I tried to not keep track of where I was in the interval and just run, waiting for my Garmin to chime and tell me that the interval was over – but even that felt like a mental game. By the end of the repeats I had decided one thing – I prefer running 5 long intervals over 12 short ones! I tacked on a mile cooldown at the end of the run and checked this one off as a success – I even took the motto of “Hard days hard, and easy days easy” to heart, and stacked on a few strength classes after the run.
The next morning, I headed out for what was supposed to be an easy 6 miles, but what turned out to be a hard just-under-three mile run. The night before when I set out my clothes, I planned to get in my miles on the treadmill, since it was supposed to be rainy out. But clear skies lured me into a false sense of security, and I decided to take my miles outside. It quickly became clear that it was a poor choice. As I put one foot in front of the other, it was a struggle with each step. I just could not find my stride, and my calf started yelling at me more and more. When I looped by my house I stopped for water, and once I was inside I decided there way no way I was going back out. I considered hopping on the treadmill to finish my miles, but my calf made it clear that it was not interested. So instead I stretched and used a massage gun on it, in hopes that it was a one-off issue.
I was worried about hitting my weekly mileage goals, and wanted to test out my calf, so at the end of the day I hopped on the treadmill and ran just over a mile – my calf felt ok, but I was pooped from a long day. It brought the daily mileage to just over 4, which was short of my goal, but at least something.
We had a tropical storm roll into town on Friday morning, which meant that outside running was a no-go. I thought about a morning treadmill run but realized that I was 60 days out from my next Disney trip, and needed to snag a few reservations. The system was slower than usual, which wound up sucking up all of my pre-work time.
I wore compression sleeves on my calfs all day as a precaution, and really wanted to get outside to run instead of logging treadmill miles. The storm had passed by the evening, and I headed out for an overcast sunset run. It helped me to reset a bit, and I tried to focus on my fall marathon goals. There was a lot of bargaining on this run – it was humid and I just really wanted to take walk breaks, so I talked myself out of them with goals like “just get to the end of this song and if you really NEED one, take it.” But most of the time by the end of the song, the “need” had passed.
I got in five miles before it was totally dark, and decided that was enough for the day – when I have been wearing my glasses all day and my eyes have adjusted to them I have trouble seeing in the dark without them, and humidity + glasses do not mix, so I did not want to risk tripping or getting hurt because I couldn’t see well enough. I took the time to stretch, and even talked myself into a core class before heading to bed.
I kept pushing my tempo run later into the week, and I knew that I had to either let it go and move on or try to run it on Saturday. After a lazy morning, I finally got dressed and headed outside despite the heat of the day. Dennis rode along on bike so that I would have water during the run, and we headed towards my parent’s house. I figured that if the humidity was too much, I would hop on their treadmill to try to finish up the run.
I took it easy for the first mile to warm up, and then eased into the harder pace. The first half mile was tolerable, and I got a little break when we had to wait at a crosswalk. The break was the beginning of the end. After that first break, I managed to hang on to the “tempo” pace for about a half mile at a time, and when we got to my parents house around 3.5 miles, I was dripping with sweat. Dennis headed home on his bike, and I set up to run on the treadmill…. Except I never got around to starting the treadmill. Instead I wound up chatting with my parents for an hour. Whoops.
I was cooled down by the time I was going to start running again, and opted to just head back outside and run back home instead of hopping on the treadmill. I tried to pick it back up to tempo pace, but my body just was not having in. Instead I just focused on banking some more miles, even if they were at a slower-than-ideal pace. By the end of the run I was able to pick up 6 miles for Saturday.
Mike held me accountable for my long run on Sunday – he agreed to meet up and run 5 or 6 miles of my planned 12 miles with me. When I was dragging my feet getting ready, he decided to run to my house and get me moving, instead of waiting for me to get to him. It was humid out, so I left some water bottles outside so we could make a pit stop before heading towards his house.
We ran away from both of our homes, looping through the town as we chatted. It was hot and humid, so we just focused on forward motion, and the miles slipped away. We made a pit stop for water around mile 4, Mike played dead in the grass for a moment, and then back onto the road we went, this time towards Mike’s house so he could close out his miles.
When we were about to pass his house, I somehow talked Mike into keeping me company for two more miles, and we ran past his house and towards my parent’s, where they had left us a pair of water bottles. We plopped into the chairs in front of their house and recovered for a moment as we drank some water. Mike was 8 miles into what was gonna be “6 miles, max!” So when we got back on the road, we headed towards his house.
Mike got in 9 miles total, and I was at 7 when we parted ways – 5 miles left to complete my long run. I weaved a little as I went, so by the time I was near my house again I only had two miles to go. I was so ready to be done!
I made one final stop, a quick potty break, and then finished out my long run. It had a lot more breaks than I usually work for, but it was needed with the weather we were dealing with. I will not miss summer when fall rolls around!
When my run was done I took a well-earned shower, and then went back to my parents to hang out and relax. Eventually my Mom and I went shopping, and I picked up some things to decorate the house. Even though we moved back in January, it takes a long time to make everything feel “put together,” and I still have a long way to go.
I was thankful that I got though another week of training, and that I kept showing up for my runs.