Days until Nike DC: 12
Miles in 2014: 310.4
Ok. I’ll say it. Perhaps this spring the mantra of “Run all
the Races!” may have come back to bite me in the asphalt. Since our spring session started mid-January I’ve
run 6 half marathons and a 10k. Apparently
that’s a few too many! I definitely have
been feeling it. My legs are sore, I’m
tired, I’m unmotivated, and I’m grouchy.
I’ve missed more week day runs than I’ve gone too. I stopped cooking healthy meals and returned
to easy convenient fixes. The
combination has totally taken a toll on me in terms of training.
Instead of continuing to whine about it, I’m going to try
and put a plan into place. As a teacher,
this time of year is exhausting. I
always seem to struggle spring break through the beginning of summer. This morning though, I got up and went to the
gym. It was not my most inspired
workout, but I got up and out of bed on a week day morning which is more than I’ve
been able to do for a month now.
Tomorrow my goal is to get up and run.
I made wise choices all day when it came to food and didn’t go off the
reservation and eat the easy stuff. The
goal tonight is to cook dinner and get food ready for breakfasts and lunches
for the next day or two.
Next up is the need to lose some fat mass and replace it
with lean muscle. The 10 or so pounds
that have crept back on do not make it easier to run. That’s the next focus, I know how to do it, I’ve
done it before, it’s not complicated. So
some amended “goals” for the remainder of the year:
1.
Less Races.
That’s right you heard it here first.
I have Nike DC in 2 weeks, and then a fun 12 k, and a 5k the two
weekends after that. After that nothing
is on my schedule until the Portland Marathon in October. Then in true form race junkie I’m already
signed up for 5 halves in October and November.
3 of them are non-negotiable but the other two I may decide to bail on. I made my coach promise to beat me if I sign
up for anything else.
2.
Focused training. For me it’s very easy to mentally crash long
before I really physically need to. This
summer session I am going to work on my mental toughness and focus on doing all
my training the right way and with the best effort I can give it. I want to go under or right at 5 hours in
Portland in October and I know that I will have to put in the work and make it
count in the worst months to train here in Florida.
3.
Quit being lazy… it’s been so easy to sleep
in. Even easier to not make the right
foods and get something easy from the store or go out to eat. Though, I am going to rest just a little in between
sessions in May to recuperate from my rough Spring season. We might even sit at Starbucks, sip a latte,
and watch everyone else run by. But come
June it’s back to business!
Hopefully all of this will snap me out of my self-inflicted
slump!
