Saturday, as usual, was a rest day. I was supposed to run 3 miles on Sunday but I ended up shifting everything forward a day... meaning that I would be doing my first run of the week on Monday morning. I ended up doing run/walk intervals and it was tough but I got through the run. I had been planning on running again on Tuesday morning (which is usually a rest day for me), but life had other plans... as I was leaving work on Monday night, I got a flat tire leaving the parking lot. This led to a 2 hour wait for roadside assistance to come out and change the tire. Needless to say, it was a very late night--I didn't get home until after 2:30 am and probably didn't fall asleep until closer to 3.
I didn't get my run in, but I figured I could just run on Wednesday after work. Life got in the way again, though, as about halfway through my shift I came down with a headache that refused to go away. I felt pretty miserable, and I knew on Thursday that running was NOT going to be an option. (Insert sigh here). I was feeling a little defeated but I knew that I still wanted to get the miles in anyway, so I went for a 4 mile walk up north to Pratt Beach and back. It was hot, so hot, and so humid, and I don't know that it really helped my headache all that much, but I was glad I did it and got the miles in.
Friday was the last day of week 3 and I was supposed to run 5 miles. I waited until the afternoon, until my headache was mostly gone, to give it an attempt. I decided I'd just do an out and back on the Lakefront Trail since there would be good availability of water fountains to fill up my little handheld water bottle if I needed it, and it turned out that I did. I felt like I was pretty well hydrated before I went out but I ended up needing to slow down pretty frequently--it was so hot and humid. (This I've begun to notice is a common thread, thinking I'm hydrated when I could definitely be more, so I am trying to make a concerted effort to drink more water. It's so simple but I am so busy during my workday that sometimes I forget!) Somewhere around mile 2, I could feel the fringes of a headache coming on. My foot and my knee were kind of bothering me a little bit. I was so happy to get to 2.5 miles so I could turn around.
Ohh it was a struggle. At mile 3.5 I could feel a panic attack coming on and I had to stop for a tiny break. It was rough... but I had all but convinced myself I couldn't do it and if I couldn't run 5, how could I possibly do 26.2? I did some breathing exercises and drank some more water, composed myself, and finished it up. I reminded myself that I still had a lot of time left to go, and a lot of strength left to gain, and that it would be entirely possibly for me to make it happen. I was definitely willing to try.
Week 4.
What a great week! I got in all of my miles, which felt like a huge accomplishment. I ran 3 miles on W4D3. W4D5, I ran 4 miles on the LFT; it was cloudy and kinda stormy and the atmospheric conditions were perfect for an afternoon run. Even though I had been up super early for work that morning (and the morning before), I still made it happen!
I did some cross training in the form of a 3 mile walk down Clark for W4D6--ended up checking out a coffee shop in the neighborhood that I'd always passed by, but never stopped in before. It was a nice little adventure even if it was pretty humid out. The next day, Friday, was long run day. I had 9 miles on the schedule for the day, and I was bound and determined to make each and every one!
In the end, I was successful. I went all the way down to Belmont Harbor and then I came home. It was challenging, but I was proud that I had gotten it done. It was not without cost, though... Near the end, I started having foot pain that, by the time I was home and had showered and went to get dinner with Tom, would not go away and did not feel okay. It felt a lot like what I dealt with last summer, the pain and injury that would inevitably end my training early. Being at the end of the 4th week, I knew I still had plenty of time. I knew remaining cautiously optimistic and listening to my body was the best course of action. From there, it was onward to the next week.
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