So last week was kind of a "meh" week of training. Yes, I got all of my runs done at their prescribed [or faster] paces, and it was another over-60 mile week...but I just wasn't really feeling it. The week just seemed to CRAWL by...the workout I did last Tuesday seems like about an eternity ago. By the time I got to my 18 mile "cutback" long run on Sunday, I just wasn't a happy camper. Thank God for the fact that my running buddy, Kelly, was down for doing 13 miles of it with me....I honestly think I would have called it in at like 10 otherwise. The first thing I said to her when I walked out my door was "I am SO SICK of running!" Most non-runners would be like, OK, why are you doing this then? But Kelly is awesome and basically let me know that I'm going to get out of this slump and I'll come through stronger than I was before thanks to all of the training I've been doing. The rest of the run wasn't great, we were both suffering from "dead legs syndrome" a little bit, but the conversation and company definitely saved me from getting to the point of just wanting to throw myself into the Charles to end the run.
As it turned out, the rest of my day Sunday was the perfect way to break out of the slump. AKA....I needed to have some fun! Working Friday and Saturday nights kind of sucks, let me tell you, and sometimes makes me feel like I lose all of my potential "fun time" of the weekend to work. So Sunday nights have kind of become the BF and I's "fun" nights where we either go out to dinner, get pizza and watch a movie, go have drinks, or whatever...basically things you would do on a regular weekend night, except on Sunday...Sunday Funday! Haha. Well anyway, last Sunday worked out particularly well because the weather was gorgeous and the Badger hockey AND basketball teams were playing conference rivals at 2:00. So off we went to the Baseball Tavern to cheer on the Badgers with some Wisconsin [and...sadly....Minnesota...] alums. A few beers and a Badger basketball victory later, we decided to walk across the bridge to Cambridge, where we were planning on using our Tupelo Groupon. It was a beautiful day and we stopped for some pictures
On our way to Tupelo [kind of a lengthy walk, but we were up to it, as usual :)] we decided we needed a bathroom, and maybe another beer. Miracle of Science looked like the perfect stop!
Their menu was a periodic table, and their stools looked like they were stolen right out of a lab. My chemistry major BF was a fan. :) So we continued onward towards Tupelo only to find it was CLOSED! FAIL! No problem - we went back to the T and decided to hit up our old standby - the Sunset, home of 380 bottles and 112 taps...beer lover's heaven, and with some pretty tasty Tex-Mex food too! It worked out perfectly, and I got to try Dogfish Head Fort....an 18% raspberry beer. So basically like a beer-wine? Whatever it was, it was amazing.
It comes in a teeny 8 oz glass...because it's crazy strong. And crazy delicious.
It was a fantastic night...I had so much fun. And when I woke up the next day, albeit a little hungover, I felt so refreshed from actually going out and doing something OTHER than run, work, sleep, eat, or clean the apartment, that I was pretty much instantly happier. Pretty sure the feeling carried over to my running too, because I banged out a great 7.5 miler on the Newton hills on Tuesday. I realized that I really have NOT been taking advantage of the fact that I live on the course of the marathon I'm going to be running. What kind of idiot wouldn't want to know the course, especially theoretically the hardest part of the course, like the back of their hand if they had the chance? So I've decided that I'm going to make myself run on the course at least twice a week for the remainder of training - well, until taper anyway. I really want to get to know the feel of running those particular hills, both while running hard and running easy, so that when race day comes running the hills is just like coming home.
Wednesday was another beautiful day, and I did this crazy bridge fartlek along the Charles. Basically the workout I had to do was 10 miles with 10 x 30 seconds @ 5K pace...how those were supposed to be spaced out was something I had to guess. So to keep it entertaining, and to not have to look at my watch constantly, I picked a route where I was constantly going under, over, or past bridges...and every time that happened, I had to do a pickup. There was a set of 4 around 6 miles where I only had about a minute easy in between [if you know the area...past Cambridge St, over Western Ave, past Cambridge St on the other side...and then another random overpass before the BU bridge about 5 minutes later] and that got tough, but I made it through strong and felt great when I was done. Only problem: I seem to have tweaked my right hamstring a bit, either from pushing it too hard on the hills on Tuesday or from the pickups on Wednesday, or most likely some combination of the two. I had a 4 mile easy scheduled for yesterday, but decided to skip it in favor of resting and icing the hammy. I HATE skipping runs, but then again if I have to skip a planned workout, "4 miles easy" is about as good as it gets - either to make up or just forget about all together. Had I just been sore I totally would have done the run, but this felt a little beyond that realm into more of a strain, and that's definitely not something I want to have escalate! It's feeling better today, so I'm happy I chose to rest it - guess we'll see how my 3 mile WU/5 miles GMP/3 mile CD run goes later today!
Oh, did I also mention Kelly convinced me to run the New Bedford Half? I think that might be a whole separate post. I do have a score to settle with the HM...
Anyway, Happy Friday! Hopefully my new laptop cord will arrive ASAP and I'll be back to posting/commenting on a more regular basis again. :)
2 comments:
seriously great job getting through the slump. so great you had a fun day on sunday. the weather has been incredible.
and awesome workouts. even for FEELING "meh" you still showed up and put the work in. htat will go a long way. :)
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i hear the new bedford half is for "serious" runners :) like there are no frills or bells and whistles, but mostly people who are training for boston and lots of competition. it'll be a great race for you!!
slumps are no fun. i doubt it helped that the weather was so crummy all last week. i know that once the weather got nice over last weekend my mood improved too :)
let's keep our fingers crossed that the weather stays nice!!
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