Training Diary: Week 3

Monday: Today was a good day. I am honestly pretty tired from our long runs last weekend. I spent the day doing some stuff around the house, and got some new music ready for my last Ultimate Circuits Class. Which was a bummer. I really love teaching group exercise classes, and I have gotten to know a lot of really cool people from being an instructor. We had a super hard class and ended with 100 tuck jumps, because that’s just how I am. It is always a good workout, and I will keep doing circuit like workouts on Mondays.

Tuesday: I had a really busy morning and early afternoon, I had to go out of town. By the time I got home, bailey and I had decided to do our 3 miler later than night in the efforts to let the sun go down. We both ended up falling asleep for a good while (my nap was almost 3 hours), which is so unlike me. I guess my body is trying to get used to the longer runs again. At the end of the day, Boo and I just decided to take the day off. Which was also good because my shins were bothering me from teaching class the day before. We decided we were just going to combine the Tuesday run and the Wednesday upper body day.

Wednesday: We waited around a little late, and didn’t start our workout until around 10:30 (sometimes Netflix gets ya), and I suggested we go the XC course and do a hill sprints workout. So, at the hottest part of the day, we ran a 1 mile warm-up, 6X400 meter hill sprints, and a 1 mile cool-down. We were drenched in sweat, but felt accomplished. After that, we went to my parents house and did an upper body workout that included boxing, shoulders, and bench press. We have decided to train inside as little as possible, because our race is a trail race and we need to get used to harsh conditions. It will only make us tougher. I think we are also going to keep hills in our weekly workouts. A lot of ultra training programs have them programmed in, and I feel that they will emulate the course more.

Thursday: We were going out of town pretty early in the morning, so we got our workout in before the sun came up! Bailey and I met up with my BFF Meghan in Old Washington and did a nice little 5k to get the day started. We negative split each mile, ended at an 8:30 pace. The pace felt great, and made me feel really strong. Bailey and I haven’t been running that fast on a regular basis, but I like doing our short runs a little faster. After our run, we went back to the Menke Gym and did a leg workout. It is crazy how much we have already had to modify our lifting sessions. You just don’t have as much strength during this kind of training as you do in your off season. Although its hard, Bailey and I are determined to keep lifting all the way through. It will really help prevent injury and give us important strength for the trails. I also did something else a little different today. I ran fasted. Normally I eat a Larabar or some corn tortillas with PB2 before I workout in the mornings, but I get sick every time. Today I felt so good running on an empty stomach and I didn’t get sick. From now on I think I am going to do all of my shorter runs fasted. It seemed to really help a lot.

Friday: On Thursday I started my day at 4:40AM and ended it at 1:00AM. It was super hot all day, I was on my feet, the workout was a killer, and it left me feeling like I got hit by a train when I woke up this AM. I slept until 9:00 and then relaxed until around 1:00 when I had to leave for a training. My workout for the day is to swim laps with Meghan. I ended up swimming 2700 meters at a nice and relaxing pace. It was nice, and it is always good to workout with Meg. I really didn’t want to do any high impact work today, because my feet hurt really badly from yesterday (I didn’t wear good shoes). 

Saturday: Bailey and I got started at around 7:15 and thought we were going to do our long run, but then decided against it because we got going too late. The run was pretty good, and I LOVE my new Garmin! We finished off our 5 miler with a 6:40 mile pace. I laugh at us. The closer we are to vomiting, the better. After that, I had a training, and then decided to go to the pool to hang out with bailey (she is a lifeguard this summer). I crashed at 9:15 because I knew 4:40 AM would come early.

Sunday: Meghan decided to run our 12 miler with us today (that’s 3 workouts in one week!). We got going around 5:30 and just went with the flow. It was SUPER humid, and by the second mile my entire tank top was drenched. I sweat a lot normally, but this was a little out of control. We were headed back to my parents house at mile 7 because we needed to fill up our water bottles, and I was feeling really really bad. I felt cold, had chills all over my body, and felt nauseous. I think Boo and Meg where worried about me. I ran another mile with them, and let them finish. I didn’t want to slow them down. I went back inside my parents house and cried. I have never had to stop during a workout.. I know it sounds stupid of me, but it really hurts my heart. I just want to have control over my body (and sometimes I just don’t). I cooled off in my parents house and decided to go back out and run 2 more. I ended up meeting back up with the girls at the end of my 10 miles, so we finished together. Its hard for me to except failing at a workout or cutting it short. Most of you reading this probably think I am a lunatic, but It just kills me. I am thankful that my sister cares more for me and my health than completing a workout. The thought of letting her down just breaks my heart. I am thankful for Meghan for helping me brush the bad workouts off, and ensuring me that it wont effect my training. I will tell you one thing. Long runs bring out the best in people. Not that you don’t complain or that you don’t hurt, because you do. That’s when your spirit takes over and you run with your heart. I feel bad for people who never get to feel that.

Extras:

1.     I have to buy a new Garmin this week. Which I am super excited about, but also dreading. I have a really hard time buying myself things. I just keep doing research in order to put off actually purchasing it. I am too frugal for my own good.

2.     I bought my Garmin!! I have amazon Prime and it is Wednesday. I have to order it before 6:00 PM or it won’t be here on Friday in time for our 12 miler this weekend. I ordered it at around 5:50 PM after staring at the computer screen for an hour scared to click the mouse and calling 5 people for advise about which model I should get. I just hate spending money.  A beautiful black and blue Garmin Forerunner 620 will now have a new home permanently on my wrist!!

3.     I test-drove my first car on Wednesday too! I am leaning towards a Nissan Altima or a Toyota Camry. Both are great on gas, and good cars. It is just super weird for me to drive an actual car. I have driven a Jeep for 6 years and never really driven anything else. I have been fighting against buying a car for a long time, and I just have to bite the bullet and get better gas mileage, now that I have a long commute every day.

4.     I am going to be making some really big changes to the blog in the upcoming weeks! I am going to have to change from the blogger template into a better website design! So I can add tabs and other cool stuff!

5.     Other news in the blog, my good friend/boss lady/ blog mentor, Kiley is going to make me a new Logo for Ms. FitFood! We talked about it a bunch today and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with over the weekend!

Her blog is called Girl-ish, and you should check it out! It is a whole community of female bloggers, writing about every topic you could imagine! Right now we are in talks about a special segment from yours truly. It will come every Friday!

6.     MY NEW GARMIN CAME IN!!!!!!! I will talk more about it in the Saturday training session! That will be the first time I use it.

7.     My diploma came in today! I have mixed feeling about that stupid thing. I worked really really hard for it, but I feel like it took more from me than it gave. I keep telling myself it will pay off in the next few years, I just have to be patient.

8.     I learned this week that dehydration is pretty serious, and I need to buy S-caps to make sure my electrolyte and sodium balance stays right in my body. When you are a distance runner, you have to really understand your body. I feel like I know my body pretty dang well at this point, but I was not expecting to feel like that. I figured out that drinking water isn’t enough for me. I have to have substantial rehydration. 

Long Run Story: I'll Keep this week short and simple, because it is more of a lesson than a story. There is a line that shouldn't be crossed when it comes to your physical health. Yes, your body can go much further when you have a strong mind, but that does not always mean it should.