May 05, 2005
Resting Up
Despite my expectations, last night's workout was really good. We couldn't run on the track because the high school was having a lacrosse game, but there's a bike path right nearby that we use for workouts when the track is closed. Last night we did 6x3 minutes at 5k pace, with 2 minutes in between each repeat. I always whine a little bit when we have to be on the trail, but I think I always run faster because I don't know exactly how fast I'm going. I had planned to take it kind of easy since I'm running that 8k tonight, but I wound up running with the guys (the medium-fast guys, not the fast-fast guys) and of course I had to try to keep up. I hung with them for the first 3, and then they pulled away from me a little bit on the next two. Not by much, though, and on the last one I was able to close the gap by the end. They estimated that they were running about 6 min pace, so I was probably running about 6:15 pace. I got in between 7 and 8 miles for the day; 20 minute warm up, the workout, and a 10 minute warm down. I also stationary-biked for 30 minutes before the workout.
I'm taking a mental health day today, so I was actually able to get a full 8 hours of sleep. I feel a million times better than I did earlier in the week; I'm very relieved that the problem just seems to have been exhaustion, rather than anything more serious (my brother was just diagnosed with a very aggressive type of mono, so I have serious illnesses on the brain). I went for a short easy run (25 minutes, a little over 3 miles) this morning just to loosen up. It was hard to turn around because it was gorgeous out and I was feeling good, but I had to remember that the point is to feel good tonight. So I came home and did a bunch of sit ups, and now I'm catching up on email and watching the Food Network.
I'm getting nervous for the race tonight, which is silly; there might be all of 50 people there, and half of them will be my friends. Hopefully the nerves will turn into adrenaline, and I'll have a good race. I don't want to say what my goal is because that will make me more nervous; maybe I'll reveal it after I see if I achieve it.
Posted by jessie at 03:39 PM | Comments (2)
May 03, 2005
Slacking off
So I didn't lift again today...I still feel really tired, and I just wanted to come home and veg out in front of CSI reruns. Which is what I am quite contentedly doing right now. I didn't totally slack on the cross training--I still did 40 minutes on the elliptical--but after that I was done. I'm hoping that by tomorrow I'll finally feel recovered from the weekend; I took yesterday and today pretty easy, and I can sleep in tomorrow, so maybe I'll be rested for track. I've been joking about taking a sick day, but maybe I really am coming down with something; that would explain why I'm so tired.
My run this morning was kind of weird. Last night I decided that I'd wait to decide how far I was running this morning until I woke up and saw how I felt. As soon as I got out of bed (which was a laborious process in itself-I was quite unhappy when my alarm went off) I decided that I was only running 6. I felt sluggish and choppy when I started, so I was surprised to see that I hit my first landmark a few seconds faster than I usually do. I ran quickly the entire time--I reached the turnaround almost a minute sooner than normal for an easy run, and ran about a minute negative split. But I never felt smooth or particularly comfortable. I didn't feel like I was laboring, or pushing it, I just kind of felt off. Since I wasn't as slowly as I had thought, I entertained the thought of running farther, but wisely decided that would be stupid. Clearly I need some rest days, especially since I'm planning to do track tomorrow and that 8k on Thursday. Of course I can always cut the workout short tomorrow if I need to, and Thursday is more for fun than for time.
Well, the CSI folks area about to figure out who the bad guy is, so I'm signing off.
Posted by jessie at 08:08 PM | Comments (0)
May 02, 2005
Drained
Nothing like starting your week when the week before never ended...having to go to work this morning after working all weekend was pretty painful. I think I feel a sick day coming on... :-)
Not getting enough sleep all last week and this weekend caught up to me today; I got to bed early last night but I was still exhausted when I woke up. Thankfully it was a beautiful sunny morning, so I was able to drag myself out for a run. I just ran 6 easy, all on dirt, which I really needed after running on city streets all weekend. After work I did 40 minutes on the elliptical. I had excellent intentions and was going to lift, because I hadn't since Thursday, but I was tired and I really, really didn't want to. So I didn't. And I don't feel a bit guilty about it. (okay, a bit, but it's a very tiny bit, and I'm trying to get rid of it!)
I haven't decided what I'm running tomorrow; I need to work out my plan for the week. There's an 8k I want to run on Thursday (one of my club's low key races) and I'm thinking about bumping my long run up to 16 on Saturday, but I'm not sure yet. What I really need to do is figure out my marathon schedule so I know exactly where I need to be and when, so that I can plan out the next month. But I just don't have the mental energy for it yet; I think that might be a great activity for a sick day. If, you know, I happen to get sick.
Posted by jessie at 08:41 PM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2005
Fun Run
Well, I've done a better job this week of sticking to my plan and not running extra--I only ran 2 miles over what I had planned. The extra miles were this morning, when I ran 10 instead of 8. I didn't have to be at the meeting until 11 this morning, so I was able to sleep in until a whopping 7:30! I went out the door telling myself that I would be "good" and only run 8, but I knew all along that I'd run a little extra--both yesterday and today I only had time for one workout, so I wanted to make at least one of them a bit longer. And it was so nice to be outside, even on a gray windy day, instead of in a conference room, that I had trouble making myself quit running at all--especially because I knew that I'd just have to go sit in a conference room again.
My run was really fun (sorry, I'm tired--I tried and failed to come up with a non-rhyming synonym). Since I was staying downtown, I was close to a part of the city that I usually don't run in (Capitol Hill and east to RFK stadium) and it was great to see some new terrain. It had probably been a year since I'd run over there, and I'd forgotten what a neat neighborhood it is, full of gorgeous old rowhouses. It was nice to run along imagining that I lived in one of them, thinking about walking up to the corner store with my imaginary dog to buy coffee and the Sunday paper, taking my imaginary kids to play in Lincoln Park (this imagining is a LONG time in the future).
For the last few miles of my run I came back into the downtown area, and it turned out that there was a race going on--a 10k walk/run to benefit a local charity. By the time I got there it was all families and strollers, and I enjoyed running along the other side of the street, watching all the little kids sprint for the finish, and the people who looked like they'd never jogged/walked/limped that far before grin as they finally crossed the line.
Posted by jessie at 07:10 PM | Comments (0)