Week 6: VCM Training and Reflection

The first line of each day is what I actually did and the parentheses beside it show what my scheduled workout was...

Week 6 (3.4.13 to 3.10.13):

Monday: 45 minutes spin class (rest)
Tuesday:  2.82 miles at 7:49 pace (4 miles)
Wednesday:  30 minutes yoga (CT cardio)
Thursday: 3.32 miles at 8:35 pace (4 miles, weights)
Friday: rest- and by "rest", i mean standing in heels all day and night and running around like a crazy person setting up for and executing an event (rest)
Saturday: 8.04 miles at 8:56 pace (8 mile long run)
Sunday: 90 minutes frisbee (3 miles/frisbee)

My first cutback week during this training cycle came at the perfect time. It was the week of my big dinner at work and it was also the week when my foot pain flared up a little bit. I worked late nights and had some trouble squeezing workouts in. I went to spin class on Monday so that I could get it over with before my schedule got too out of control. On Tuesday and Thursday, I went for late afternoon runs and then returned to work for more long hours. I shortened them both because of mild foot pain and felt that I could get away with this during a cut-back week. Wednesday, a snow day in which I worked from home, I let myself rest and only did some quick yoga in my living room.

The hardest workout of the week, though, was my long run on Saturday after all the work was done. My ten miler the week before had been tough- it was really cold, windy and felt long, so I wanted a confidence booster during this eight miler. Long hours on my feet the day before, and two late-night glasses of de-stress wine, left me feeling tired and lethargic, even after nine hours of sleep. The weather was amazing- 60's and sunny- and I felt guilty for not being more happy to be running under the beautiful sun. Around mile 5, my friend Nathaniel, running in the opposite direction, called my name from across the street and that gave me some adrenaline. About a half a mile later, though, I was looking at a trash can as I threw away my gu packet and tripped on a jagged piece of the sidewalk. I was moving pretty fast so I went flying and skinned both knees and my right elbow, forearm and hand. 

It hurt my knees at first to continue on but I just got up and kept running, mostly wanting to run away from the embarrassing scene. I got a bunch of stares at the blood running down my legs which was embarrassing but, strangely, I felt a new energy for the rest of my run. I finished at the soccer field where Josh and Ingrid were playing and basked in the sun, watching the last 20 minutes of their victory.

So far, training has been really fun. As I prepare to run 12 miles this weekend, and face the fact that I will be doing double-digit runs for the next nine weekends in a row, I am slightly terrified. I counted and, since December 2010 when I began training for my first half, I've done only 15 runs over 9.99 miles. But I'm going to take it one week at a time and I'mg going to keep pushing through when things get tough!