4 days and 1 run

Not too much going on around here except that there are only 4 days left until the half! I switched up my runs a little bit this week so that I could have 2 days to rest before the race on Saturday. I usually do ballet on Mondays after my long run on Sunday. This week I did 4 miles on Monday, 3 miles today, and then I'll do 2 miles tomorrow. And that's it!

Training for this race has left me a little bit drained and unexcited. (there's another word that i'm looking for but i can't think of what it is, i'm too tired) The half last November was more exciting because it was my first race. That meant that almost every week in training, I was doing something that I had never done before. This time it's not as fresh and new. It's also different this time because it's more about pace over distance. I put so much pressure on myself to go faster and I have a hard time congratulating myself when I do well. Instead, I just think that I didn't do all that great and I can do better. It's good and bad. It's good in that I have the motivation to push myself, but it's bad in that I'm worried I'm going to push myself into an injury.

I think I am going to take a break from serious training after this race and try to give myself a little bit of a break. I want to enjoy running again, just like I used to enjoy dancing and horseback riding before I effed them all up with not thinking I was good enough. Ha! - it's funny what comes out of your head when you sit down with nothing much to say.

tuesday already?

I did not want to go out and run tonight. I haven't felt like that in a long time, especially not when the weather was freaking gorgeous. I don't know what my problem was tonight, but I just felt so sluggish and unmotivated. I am wondering if I overdid it this past weekend after my long run. I had actually been thinking that staying more active than usual after my long run was a good idea because I haven't felt as sore or as stiff as usual. I think I need to combine that theory with a little bit of rest as well. Live and learn.

I usually do a ballet workout on the day after my long runs. I did most of the workout yesterday, but sadly I had a skip some of the grand plies and the jumps because that shit is hard on the knees. It's so funny to think back to all of the YEARS I spent in dance class hoping that we wouldn't have to do jumps in the center or that the plies would be replaced by floor work. Now I am actually sad that my knees won't allow me to do them? I guess it really is true that you don't know what you really have until it's gone. I know that's cliche and I didn't mean to spin off into a post about dancing, but I really miss it and I'm sorry I didn't appreciate it more when I had the chance. Makes you think, doesn't it?

It took me a good 2-3 miles before I was really into my run tonight. I'm usually in a pretty good rhythm after 1 mile, so I was really stuggling. I even gave myself permission to take it easy since I've trained pretty hard the past 2 weeks. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE my Garmin, but damn that thing makes it hard to back off my pace. I look at it way too much and I speed up if my pace is not what it was the previous time I ran. Which meant that tonight I finished 5 miles in 45 minutes. While I am of course thrilled with that pace, I have got to give my body some sort of rest or I'm afraid I'll be looking at an injury. To top it all off, I have no appetite, which also happened last fall towards the end of my training. Whine, bitch, moan, I know. I'm sorry. I'll do better tomorrow :-)

2 months to go.....

The half marathon is two months from today people!! Although I still have a long way to go (6.1 miles) I'm feeling confident that I'll be ready. I am finding out that it is harder to work your way up to 5 miles initially than it is to add another mile to your long run. My long runs should start to be more enjoyable too because I've found a group to run with. I'm really looking forward to having some company on my runs and to meeting new some new people. This group is planning on running the half-marathon too, so I'm excited about that!

I'm really trying to stay on top of my workouts for the next couple of months. In addition to running, I'm also doing this ballet workout once a week and the 30-Day shred workout twice a week. A typical week (in a perfect world) looks like this:

Monday - ballet
Tuesday - 4-5 mile run
Wednesday - 2 mile interval run & 30 day shred workout
Thursday - 4-5 mile run
Friday - 30 day shred workout
Saturday - rest
Sunday - long run

It's keeping me busy, that's for sure.