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July 02, 2005
My Outfit
Today I wore an outfit that I deem worthy of part of my blog entry. I never would have bought it, but it was dirt cheap. In fact, I own very few running "outfits". Oodles and oodles of running clothes, but very few that are actually meant to go together. Anyhow, this outfit is a pair of Nike tempo running shorts (probably one of my favorite styles of shorts) that is kind of a pukey yellow for the main color with a pea green and white on the sides. The top is one of the longer Nike sports bras, the one that looks like two pieces with the zipper in the front. It is mainly that pukey yellow color with some of the pea green on it. The colors are rather ugly, but the two pieces look good together. I'm a sucker for a bargain, and each of the pieces was only $5 each, so I had to get it. Really, if I find a $50 sports bra for $5, I need to buy it, even if I don't really need it. This is one of my big spending problems, I refuse to pay a lot for one piece, but I get lots and lots of stuff dirt cheap.
So this morning was not one of my best mornings ever. I wanted to run longer, but I was put back on restricted duty. In fact, I am going to be on very restricted duty next week (more later). Last week was probably too much for my body to handle just yet. I was supposed to do an hour and keep an eye on D, one the high school boys, who is pretty clueless. The group ran together for about the first 25 minutes and then we splintered off into two groups, one going an hour and the other going about 80 minutes. I would have liked to run longer, but I had a job to perform. I didn't really feel too bad on the run, it was relatively flat with one massive hill about two miles from the finish. Flat is a relative term, as I have been coming to learn. The problem around here is that every hill you go up, you come right back down just as much as you went up and then must go up twice as much. D wasn't much for staying with the group and still needs to learn some of the rules of running on the road. He had a tendency to get in the middle of the road or get on the other side of the road (with traffic at his back). We were lucky because it was still early in the morning and these roads are not very well travelled, but the cars on it do really fly. My guess is that we ran about 8.5 miles, give or take a little bit.
I did go to the gym, but I was really lacking any motivation to do anything. I got on the elliptical for 17 minutes and just didn't feel like doing any more. Then I got on the stationary bike for 20 minutes, but just didn't feel like being there. I did some push-ups and lifted some, but decided that I was just wasting time being at the gym.
Monday we have our annual duathlon, I'll write more about that either tomorrow or Monday. After that I am taking the rest of the week off. J told me that on Thursday. I should know better, but I need someone to tell me to do it. One of the usual indications is when I start to write things like "my mind is telling my legs to turnover, but they just won't do it" in my log book. I seem to follow a different schedule than the rest of the group, but I am the only one who really races and cares about races. We want my races to start later in the season and probably go through the first week in December. He thinks (and I agree) that at this point I could probably run pretty close to my half-marathon PR on a good day. For me, that means that I'll be done racing around the second week in October. We are going to try some different things this fall, just as we did in the spring, in order to find out what works best for me. This means that as much as I love to race the PDR, I'll be going into it undertrained, but that is OK. I'll train right through it, hopefully looking for some fast 10Ks later in the season. As of now, I have three that are tentatively scheduled.
This last paragraph got me to thinking about what Alison wrote about the fine line between being obsessive and training. On Thursday night, I told J that I have a problem. I'm already feeling lazy about taking the week off. This week off is a real week off. No riding, no swimming, no aqua-jogging, nada. I may take the water aerobics class with my mom and go to a yoga class to stretch out, but no real forms of exercise. He said that he regrets telling me ahead of time since he knows that I get that way, he should have just sprung it on me on Monday morning. I preach that taking rest is important, but I get antsy after a few days of not doing anything. Next week will be used to catch up with friends who take a backseat to my schedule at other times. I assume that means that I have a bit of a problem :)
Posted by Blondie at July 2, 2005 12:04 PM
Comments
I think taking the week completely off is a smart decision. I've been thinking a lot about exercise and what's obsessive and what not and I guess it's mainly a personal thing. However I am really learning over and over how important balance is in keeping a healthy mind and body. Even elite athletes take full weeks off. I truly believe you will be stronger down the road, so no matter how hard it is to do nothing (I can relate!) it will make you stronger!
By the way, where do you get those bargains?!
Posted by: Nanda at July 3, 2005 05:03 PM