Week in Review and Another Marathon
This has been a good week. A week of hard workouts. A week of some good decisions.
Drill Sargeant decided to keep me on his team and I decided to keep him as my coach. I can't believe it's really been four weeks of our trial period together. I like the workouts he's scheduled for me. They are not workouts I'd do on my own or a schedule I'd have the discipline to follow. And there is the accountability that I need to make sure I actually do the workouts.
Yesterday was my long run. 10 miles and I was able to sustain an average 9:30 pace.
As I was running, I was falling behind the pace I wanted to keep, and in my minds eye, I could see Drill Sergeant yelling at me to "Suck it up Buttercup" and telling me not to quit. I'm sure if he'd been there, it would have been something like that. It was just what I needed at the time. It's also why I've decided his blog name is Drill Sergeant.
Some of the miles were hard because I was running in town sucking in the greasy smells of KFC, McDonalds and Burger King. I do prefer to run near home, in the country. Today I ran in Binghamton because I wanted the last three miles to be of the 5k I'm running in 11 days. I've run a million times in Otsiningo Park but I wanted to have a refresher and to see what my legs would do when they were tired.
Most of the miles were a blur. I was running one quarter mile at a time just trying to keep my splits close. The last mile I really, really wanted to walk. I hate walking. It physically hurts me so much more than running does and for me, it feels like quitting. I ran that last mile just out of pure pride. Not sure if it's always a wise decision but for me it's the right decision. Don't get me wrong, I've had many runs with lots of walking. I just don't like to do it.
Another important decision this week was dropping one of my favorite workouts. I do a LesMills workout that has plyometric jumps. I hurt the back of my knee doing them. It was slightly swollen, hurt when I walked and was tender to the touch. I tend to ignore aches and pains but this one wouldn't let go. I'm extremely grateful that ice and advil helped to settle it down and I've had no further issues with it. We decided that this workout needs to be pulled for now. Drill Sergeant will design my cross training workout for me now. I had originally pushed against that because I love the crosstraining I've been doing but now I'm ready to let go of any control and try it his way!
The rest of my workouts this past week have been good. I had my first experience with Tabata sprints. I really liked them. Running full out for 20 seconds is harder than it sounds but it was fun. I felt like a cheetah. I know I certainly didn't look like one but it was a primal feeling to run as fast as I could.
Registered for my second marathon last night. I'm really excited and a bit freaked out. I survived Big Sur. I don't want to just survive the Philly marathon. I want to enjoy it and I want to willingly leave it all out there, not have the course take it from me, like Big Sur did.
I have a habit of picking songs that are like theme songs for different things in my life. It's a song that really hits home for something I'm doing or going through. I remember when I was training for Big Sur, Adam Lambert's song, No Boundaries was a huge inspiration for me. I don't typically run with music. However, when I do my Saturday long runs, I always set up my phone to play music in case I need to drown out my brain for awhile. The last 3 runs, Rachel Platten's song, Fight Song has come on. This song moves me to tears every single time.
It takes me back over the last couple years, the heartache and stress we went through. It really reminds me of the day, last summer, when I started running again to run off grief, to run off being pissed at the world, to abuse my body in a healthy way for once. I started running again to fight for me, to take my life back, to crawl out of the deep depression I was in. This song just says that to my heart every time I hear it and I've decided that for right now, this is my running inspiration song.
Drill Sargeant decided to keep me on his team and I decided to keep him as my coach. I can't believe it's really been four weeks of our trial period together. I like the workouts he's scheduled for me. They are not workouts I'd do on my own or a schedule I'd have the discipline to follow. And there is the accountability that I need to make sure I actually do the workouts.
Yesterday was my long run. 10 miles and I was able to sustain an average 9:30 pace.
As I was running, I was falling behind the pace I wanted to keep, and in my minds eye, I could see Drill Sergeant yelling at me to "Suck it up Buttercup" and telling me not to quit. I'm sure if he'd been there, it would have been something like that. It was just what I needed at the time. It's also why I've decided his blog name is Drill Sergeant.
 |
| This is how I view my running coach when I'm struggling in a workout. |
Some of the miles were hard because I was running in town sucking in the greasy smells of KFC, McDonalds and Burger King. I do prefer to run near home, in the country. Today I ran in Binghamton because I wanted the last three miles to be of the 5k I'm running in 11 days. I've run a million times in Otsiningo Park but I wanted to have a refresher and to see what my legs would do when they were tired.
Most of the miles were a blur. I was running one quarter mile at a time just trying to keep my splits close. The last mile I really, really wanted to walk. I hate walking. It physically hurts me so much more than running does and for me, it feels like quitting. I ran that last mile just out of pure pride. Not sure if it's always a wise decision but for me it's the right decision. Don't get me wrong, I've had many runs with lots of walking. I just don't like to do it.
Another important decision this week was dropping one of my favorite workouts. I do a LesMills workout that has plyometric jumps. I hurt the back of my knee doing them. It was slightly swollen, hurt when I walked and was tender to the touch. I tend to ignore aches and pains but this one wouldn't let go. I'm extremely grateful that ice and advil helped to settle it down and I've had no further issues with it. We decided that this workout needs to be pulled for now. Drill Sergeant will design my cross training workout for me now. I had originally pushed against that because I love the crosstraining I've been doing but now I'm ready to let go of any control and try it his way!
The rest of my workouts this past week have been good. I had my first experience with Tabata sprints. I really liked them. Running full out for 20 seconds is harder than it sounds but it was fun. I felt like a cheetah. I know I certainly didn't look like one but it was a primal feeling to run as fast as I could.
Registered for my second marathon last night. I'm really excited and a bit freaked out. I survived Big Sur. I don't want to just survive the Philly marathon. I want to enjoy it and I want to willingly leave it all out there, not have the course take it from me, like Big Sur did.
I have a habit of picking songs that are like theme songs for different things in my life. It's a song that really hits home for something I'm doing or going through. I remember when I was training for Big Sur, Adam Lambert's song, No Boundaries was a huge inspiration for me. I don't typically run with music. However, when I do my Saturday long runs, I always set up my phone to play music in case I need to drown out my brain for awhile. The last 3 runs, Rachel Platten's song, Fight Song has come on. This song moves me to tears every single time.
This is my fight song
Take back my life song
Prove I'm alright song
My power's turned on
Starting right now I'll be strong
I'll play my fight song
And I don't really care if nobody else believes
'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
Rachel Platten - Fight Song (Official Video)
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