Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Dealing with a day off

In the last three days, I've run 35.5 miles, and so today I decided to take off. My alarm went off at 6am anyway, since I want to stay on my sleeping schedule, and I was dying to get outside. I figured I could practice a quick 5k for my race this weekend, but I kept myself in bed nursing coffee instead.

Last week, I took a day off and felt much like I do today. I'm agitated, restless, and irritable, despite walking to the metro. I'm thinking I have a serious addiction to endorphins. I'm also starving, since I'm trying to cut my portions, especially on days off. I know that recovery is important, especially since my hamstring is bothering me from yesterday's hilly run, but I'm a little worried about tapering three weeks before the race. I think I might go crazy.

Sunday, I did a 6-mile tempo run, where my watch was turned off for the first half. It was supposed to be an easy run, so I tried to do the speedwork well and took a really easy recovery. The second half was recorded on my watch: Garmin Connect - Activity Details for 6-Mile Easy Tempo (Shared via AddThis).

Yesterday, I stayed over at a friend's place the night before specifically to use the hills nearby. I love a good hill workout, and I love running in parks, so this run was so much fun. I hate hills when I'm actually running up them, but then I feel so great after, that I forget about how tough it is. I was shooting for a 6-7 mile run, and never wanted to stop. On top of that, I turned my watch off to stretch my possible-strained/pulled hamstring, and forgot to turn it back on until I did another loop. I guess its a good thing that I'm not too distracted by the watch. My pace wasn't fantastic, but these were pretty rough hills so I took my recovery seriously. In the 8.5 miles that were recorded, I had an elevation gain of almost 3,000 feet. Whew!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Hill Workout: 11.5 Miles (Shared via AddThis)

The rest of the week focuses on speedwork in preparation for my first 5k ever on Saturday (March of Dimes 5k). Honestly, I've never tried to just run a quick 3 miles, so I'm testing that on Thursday, followed by 4 miles of speedwork, and then I'm doing speedwork tomorrow. I'm in between doing speedwork, or just a really strong tempo run. I need the miles, so I'm thinking of tempo, I'll see what I'm up for in the morning! I'm taking off Friday, have the 5k Saturday, and then my first of four 20-milers Sunday morning. Just think, less than two months away from having a life again!

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