Monday: Crossfit intervals at 6 am with Becky. It was a warm morning and she had a little station set up for me outside, complete with rower, slamball, medicine ball, kettlebell, and a mat. She also brought out the whiteboard, which I've seen her do in her CF classes but never with me. I was thinking this was not a good thing. Here's what I did:
In between each set I rowed 250m. You can tell that I don't love burpees. Slam balls? Yes please! Exhausting but very satisfying. Hello endurance!
Tuesday: I had a 6 miler planned, but I no sooner had gotten a signal on my Garmin, left my driveway, and headed down the street when I came up on a bicyclist lying on the ground in a pool of blood, his bike broken in half. A victim of a hit and run accident. I stopped my Garmin as I approached, and when I checked today, I ran a total for 44 seconds before I saw this. I stayed with the guy until the police and paramedics left. I decided to run but after 2 miles, my adrenaline ran out, my mind was reeling with what had happened, and I walked the rest of the way home. I've had some weird stuff happen to me on the run, but this really shook me to my core.
Wednesday: After a really poor night's sleep, I was grateful to do yoga. I needed to stretch, but most of all I needed to relax. I did the same video from last week, the Seawheeze 2014 video. Not too taxing, but hits all the high points. Namaste.
Thursday: Speed work, in the form of mile repeats x 5. The first couple of miles, I ran too fast again. I kept my Garmin screen set on "pace", so I could watch my speed, but it really is easier said than done. Mile 4 was when things started to get hairy for me. I was breathing really heavy and felt nauseous. I couldn't even complete mile 5. You can see where I fell apart:
Then I went to see Becky for another CF workout. We talked about my bad speed session, and what had happened earlier in the week. While she validated what a terrible experience it was, she really stressed that I needed to get it out of my head and move on. Then she worked me hard. I did back squats, 3 sets of 65#, 5 reps each set. There was a box for me to sit on, which something new and kind of nice! I also pushed the prowler for 4 laps, and did kettlebell deadlifts 20# each hand alternating with front bar lunges x 2 sets. The kettlebell deadlifts were way harder than the ones I do with the bar. It was hard not to put the kettlebells down on my feet. And there is definitely less stability lifting the kettlebells than the bar. I felt it in my hammies and glutes. All good.
It should say "a runner's best friend", I think! |
Friday: normally a rest day (because I usually work), I had the day off, so I did some more yoga. This time was Eoin Finn, In Pursuit of Happy Hips. This is a great video, set in British Columbia, and I felt great when I was done. Here is a clip from the DVD, which you can download from his website:
Saturday: I had a 4 miler on the plan, but decided to do 6 because mentally, I needed it. It was really humid and hot, and I got a late start. The park fieldhouse was closed and I didn't have any water with me. I started out way too fast for the conditions and paid for it. At mile 4 I was ready to quit, but I forced myself to slow down (this is a recurring theme here!) and finish the 6 I had planned. My mile splits weren't too bad but I felt kind of yucky when I finished. But I'm glad I pushed myself to finish. That's what I'm talking about!
Really, really sweaty! |
Sunday: I have several bike rides on the plan, and I argued with Becky about them, because they take the place of the long run. She told me to trust the plan. Today, I was grateful for a bike ride. When I woke up, it was 72F and 90% humidity. A long run would have been torture today. As a matter of fact, while riding my bike, I came upon a lot of runners and not one of them looked at all happy. Most of them looked ill, and no one was moving very fast. I admit that I love riding my bike. I smiled pretty much the whole 30 miles. I ran into my friend, the former cop, who works the traffic lights at one of the busy intersections near a super church. It is always great to see him. A big plus for me too, because there was some creeper behind me on his bike, and he had no choice but to keep going once I stopped. He came back, saw me still talking to Mike, turned back around, and that was the last I saw of him. The wind started to pick up, but when I turned around to head home, it was at my back, and gave me some great mile splits. 30.5 miles in 2:01. I'll take it! And like I said on my facebook page, endurance is endurance, right?
Goals for next week: I'm going out of town for a few days, so I get to run in a different, pretty place. I'm going to get that speedwork under control! I'm hoping to get some kayaking and SUP in as well. Next Saturday is a half marathon, but I'm planning to use it as a training run and work on pacing, trying not to get caught up in the race. My ongoing challenge: I will continue to work on mental toughness too. My most difficult challenge!