Picking up from a scrappy week – 5 Weeks to MCM
I’m a creature of routine. There are certain days that I wake up early in the morning to run, and there are certain days that I sleep in and hit the treadmill at lunchtime. Takes a bit of getting into a routine, but once established I find it relative easy to stick to no matter what I am juggling. This week things threw me off! Hurricane Irma closed schools (and roads) for 2 days in our county even though we were very very lucky not to have had any damage. Minion 2 was sick both the days and just wanted me to sit with her on the couch.
Result a bunch of missed workouts and runs cut short. For those who know me and my approach to training, they will know how I’m particular about not missing any runs even if it is the end of the world!
Monday – Irma Yoga
I was in overdrive and so nervous as I went about filling tubs and pots and pans with water and on a cooking and a laundry frenzy. The minions and I popped in a DVD for some deep stretching and core work.
Tuesday – Rest day
Wonder if it was anticipation of Irma that brought a rest day on training peaks or just coincidence. Either way, I was happy for it!
Wednesday –
I usually have a focused workout on Wednesdays and I’m out running at 5am or 6am for that. This Wednesday was an easy run and the not-completely-cleared roads meant that my run place was still blocked. I meant to wake up as usual and hit the treadmill in the basement, but there’s something about not having anyone to meet that makes me sleep in. No big deal, I could always pop down to the gym at lunchtime for a quick run. But Irma had messed up work and meetings and I was held up all day long, and when evening came, I was completely exhausted and ended up missing the run completely.
Thursday – Marathon Pace Run
I was determined not to miss this run, but still overslept! Luckily, I had *just* enough time to get my run in and rush into work. Yay for short hair!! I was so late starting that I didn’t need any of my blinky lights and a fellow runner who has seen me running there called me out on it 🙂 “Recognizing” other runners (and cyclists) when we both have no idea who each other is, is one of my favorite things about my running path.
Friday – I am pretty sure I’m going to drown Swim
It was meant to be a smooth swim. But was the worst ever! I had to use my fins all through, and I still averaged 3:10 WITH THE FINS!!! I doubt I kicked or pulled or did anything – just a dead weight in the water for 45 minutes.
Saturday –
This day was exactly what happens in the crazy life of a parent who doesn’t plan her day properly. It was only an hour’s run on the plan. Not too hard now, is it? But – after a late night with minion 2 (because minion 1 was at a sleepover), I overslept (hmm… that seems to be the theme this week). Then all of a sudden it was 10am and the rush of pickup of minion 1 from sleepover and drop off minion 2 at swim team practice and then drive everyone to minion 1’s cross country meet! Of course all three in three different directions By the time we made it home, I was ready to collapse from exhaustion.
That’s when I looked back and felt like I’d wasted a crucial week of training – 5 weeks left and I had just pulled in a lowest mileage week!
Sunday – 3hr Trail Run at Kennesaw Mountain
Some encouragement from friends on FB, solid advice from Coach G and a good night’s sleep put me in a much better frame of mind for the 3hr trail run at Kennesaw Mountain. I won’t say that I was all pumped up, but I will say that I was willing and ready to embrace the suck that I anticipated from the run. Surprisingly, it ended up being a really good run! Unless the Garmin malfunctioned the first mile (I wouldn’t put it past it – I noticed GPS ready signal only a little after we started running), I also had my fastest run in the trails there so far. I had been trying to get a sub-15 pace on the trails, and the hopefully-not-off-by-too-much Garmin showed me at well below 15:00!
Getting through the last 30 minutes of that run was hard even though I felt strength in me. It didn’t need me to push much, but it was still hard. I was a very pissy runner (very very strange for me) and just wanted to curl up somewhere cozy. I did feel a bit emotional at the finish. Relief and emotion, but no ugly tears thanks to Joy and MD’s company on the run.
In spite of this down week, I was reminded that it was still steps forward. The long run did count as a strong run, and it was coming off a hard week with a huge PR.
And all wasn’t bad, I got to hang out with Jeff Spires, loving called the mayor of Augusta for his awesomeness in welcoming and encouraging people racing Ironman 70.3 Augusta, who had come to Atlanta for his birthday.
And my girlfriends took me out to dinner at Sunflower Cafe for my birthday, one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants. The food was so good that we gobbled it all up before photos 🙂
Here’s hoping for better routines, better sleep and a better next week!
