2. Staying motivated/pushing through rough spots
3. Deciding what do I do next?
I know my taper doesn’t officially start until NEXT week, but the madness is setting in a little early. After running a total of over 30 miles this past weekend, I decided it would be a good idea to take a rest day on Monday. Work went by sort of slow and by mid-afternoon when I was heading home I was already bored. I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few things and went home. Unloaded my groceries, put a load of laundry in, set out ingredients to bake some cookies and waited for the butter to soften. Meanwhile, I caught up on some TV and read the new Dean Karnazes book. I baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies and then looked at the clock and realized it was not even 5:00 yet, so I baked some oatmeal cookies too. Downside of taper for me is boredom, benefit for my friends is I tend to bake when I’m bored.
Tuesday, I returned to the gym after work, but I was feeling kind of “blah”. Maybe because I ate a few too many of the cookies I baked or maybe delayed fatigue from the running and racing over the weekend, either way I was not very motivated. I pushed through an hour on the eliptical and called it quits. I could have done some strength training, but it’s my least favorite thing to do on a good day so, it’s the first thing to fall off my “to-do” list on a bad day.
Wednesday was much better. The day at work flew by and I got to the gym pumped and ready to go. I decided to do the treadmill workout that may be the magic behind my recent speed over distance and feeling like I have rocket shoes. (100 jump rope skips + 2 mile treadmill run on incline increasing speed with each interval + 2 mile bike to recover from run) x 4, would like to do 5, but it already takes me about 2 hours to complete so one more interval would be a bit much.
The first interval felt a little sluggish and slow, but I decided to continue and try to relax into a groove. My first few miles are always the toughest anyway. Second interval was a lot better. I relaxed and found my groove. Third interval I kicked it up a notch and increased the incline AND the speed. For the last interval I decided to make the run my timed 2 miler for the week (a mini-challenge at the gym – try to beat your own time week to week). My previous week’s 2 miler was 16:10 and I was determined to get under 16:00. I started out a little slow and increased the speed every quarter mile until I was at an all out sprint for the last half mile. Stopped the clock at .......... 15:50!!!!! Beat my time by 20 seconds!
Finally, I know I haven’t even reached my current training goal, but my mind is already wandering to “what next”? I have been looking at various triathlons for the summer and over the past two years I have debated doing a half ironman. I really want that 70.3 sticker for my car. So, I registered for one. It’s not until September so I have all summer to train and there’s a full turkey dinner at the finish!
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