23 April 2011

Little bit o' running...

I ran last night, yes indeedy...
I ran last night, but I was not speedy.

I can call that a poem, right?

The last time I ran was on April 3rd. That was my Tenner.  Then three days later, we went to France.

I'd call it a vacation, but if you have little kids you know that traveling with them is not really a "vacation." I didn't run a lick the entire time we were there.

Oh, sure I got exercise.

Every single day I had my stair workout, and we also walked about a bazillion miles going all over the place. So I wasn't entirely sedentary while we were away. I wasn't on a lounge chair next to a pool or beach ... lounging. I can't remember the last time I lounged.

Anyway...

Nineteen days of no running was great! I did it guilt-free completely. I wasn't scared of not running or working out (I think the stairs helped ;-) ). I didn't think about my upcoming 7.5-mile race once... except maybe when I was watching the Marathon de Paris and really glad that I won't be running 26.2 on May 15th. All the tightness in my legs disappeared. I felt really good. I was very curious as to how this would translate into running again...

My PT and I modified my training plan due to the nearly three weeks off... I will gladly sacrifice my race finish time for the sake of not getting injured. It is a trade-off and enjoying Paris with my 4 kids and husband was a priority. I spent over a decade sacrificing things in the name of training... I am done with that chapter of my life. Turn the page. So we changed Thursday's 6 into 4 and this Sunday's 10 into 6. I'll do a modified speed/tempo run on Tuesday or Wednesday and a maintenance 5 or so on Thursday or Friday. Next Sunday's whatever will be made into 8. And then I'll get back on the Automated Training Program.

I felt fabulous during my four-mile run. It was daylight. I almost never run when it is light out. I think I had a smile on my face the whole way :)  I saw so much in my neighborhood... people! I NEVER see people! It was so cool :) And someone pruned a tree mercilessly... it really bummed me out :(  Remember... I majored in horticulture in college. So I ran for 4.4 miles in the early evening and took in the sights of my 0.75-mile loop. I ran for about 42 or 43 minutes. I felt fast and spry.

I never realized that I like running to The Doors. LOL  And I found that I really like Etta James' version of "You Can Leave Your Hat On"... sizzlin'. But I still laugh too hard at Flight of the Conchords for them to be at all useful running tunes.  They really hurt my splits ;-)

I was wanting to run the Bay to Breakers in an hour. The would mean a straight-up 8-minute mile average for 7.46 miles. Ain't gonna happen. And that's okay. I want to run and have fun :)

Speediness will have to wait.


7 comments:

  1. That was how I approached my half 6 months ago. I had just (mostly) recovered from Achilles tendinitis, and in the six weeks leading up to the race I "gently crammed" to run 13.1 miles. I got to the race and figured "completed is better than re-injured." I was smiling when I got to the end. I have to remind myself that I am not paid to do this and therefore it should be fun.

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  2. Love that you got to run in day light! This is better don't you think?! :) Good for you for not running in Paris and embracing that time with your family to the Full extent! I think you'll still do great in your Bay to Breakers race and it will feel good and be what you are ready for at this present time in your life and that will....be...Goooood! :) I thought about how you reminded me about not comparing myself with what others are running and being okay with fewer miles...this was nice to reflect on tonight on my run. Thanks. ;)

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  3. You've made reference to that "automated training program" several times. And I keep going back to it - and for the life of me I can't figure out what the "automated" is. I KNOW I'm missing the joke somewhere. If B2B ain't sold out, I should come down and pace ya. Probably not though.

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  4. It is sold out but you could be a bandit…and even wear a bandit costume since lots of people run in costume! The automated thing is that they send it to me "automatically" every week via email…lol. Pretty slick, eh?

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  5. Nice run! I am sure your break was healing, speediness comes back.

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  6. Run and have fun - amen to that!

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