by I can honestly say that I am hoping this week will mean a slow down. Between the family’s European vacation, my Baltic bike adventure, and the fundraiser for Dano, I feel like I’ve been on the go non-stop since July 1. The only things absolutely pressing and looming this week are getting the soccer fundraiser flyers approved and ready for first of year packets and moving the bike and other big things up to Nac for my girl. After that, I can have a breather.
Running the Old Motorola Marathon Course
The long run on Saturday was good. I’d fretted about what distance: stay at 16, which is what I was supposed to have done before I left for Germany (I had a sucky run and only did 15), or bump up to 18 so I’d be caught up? I’d decided to do a quality 16 when Coach Gilbert wandered over after the Wednesday workout to ask me my mileage. When I told him, he shook his head and said, “No. Do 18. It’s a good course and you’ll feel good for getting the 18 done.”
We started at about 5:30AM from the Big Lots by my house (sooooo convenient) and basically ran the old Motorola Marathon route to RunTex on Riverside. I LOVE that route. The miles flew by and I felt really good. The pace was a little slow but that was okay by me, seeing as I was interested in making sure I had a good run, the kind where you stop and know you could’ve done just a little bit more. I’d also taken in a few more calories for breakfast, and I think that helped though I did have to avail myself of a convenience store bathroom along the route. (I can really tell when I’ve had wheat in the day before a long run.)
Taking Recovery Time
It was very hard for me to get up today. We’d had guests over Sunday night, and I’d worn myself out with the preparations. Because of the Dano thing Thursday night, a vist to Dano Sunday morning to deliver the proceeds, and my son’s first soccer games of the season, I had precious little time to get the house in shape. This wound up being a lesson in managing stress, as I had some unexpected items that ate into my time and derailed my house appearance prep time schedule.
Deep breaths…so this morning seemed to pop up pretty darn early. But I love the Monday morning Gazelle workouts, so I made it there. On today’s menu: hill repeats.
I’d done the first when Gilbert pulled me aside: “You’re running too fast. This is recovery.”
Me: “I know it’s recovery; this feels like recovery to me. I’m a downhiller.”
Gilbert: “How many miles did you do Saturday?”
Me: “18.”
Gilbert tsk tsked me and said, “You don’t need to be here. You should run easy and flat, not work hills on tired legs.”
Me: “But I don’t feel tired….”
I think Gilbert is going to have to sit on me to get me to listen, but the message is I need to be doing QUALITY workouts. Ironman, trails, ultrarunning have all proven to me without a shadow of a doubt that I am strong and tough. I need to trust that, step away from doing every workout that comes my way, and work to make sure I’m rested enough to not just do the workout but to do it well. And, on the road, for quality workouts, that means working speed. Whether it was the string of bad marathons or that I let myself get talked into putting myself down or not having a coach who believed I could, I became afraid of speed. And I need to embrace it.
It’s those things we fear that we need to tackle in order to be better.
Tempo run, here I come!
