Sunday 6/8
rest/recovery (never mind from what 😉
Monday 6/9
5 after work miles in light rain 🙂
warm evening, light drizzle and high humidity
At the risk of sounding totally nuts, this was fantastic! The smells were great, the sweat glands were going and the rain felt super refreshing. Not a run I’d recommend prior to being seen out in public afterwards, but it was fun 🙂
Tuesday 6/10
4 after work miles
warm and humid
Not the best run of the last few weeks, but also not the worst (thank god). It’ll definitely be nice to have a rest day tomorrow!
Wednesday 6/11
rest — this was good, the legs were starting to feel a bit fatigued
+ The Bachelorette 🙂
Thursday 6/12
6 after work miles — soooooooo did not feel like going out today. Work has been exhausting lately and I (brainlessly) effed up the one experiment I was doing today. So, by 7 pm I was feeling like I may as well just stayed in bed and was in a serious hurry to get back there and forget that the day ever happened.
Thank goodness I didn’t let myself actually do this! Instead, I suited up in fresh (Shocking! I know!) flashy purple running attire, my favorite purple compression socks, mapped a new route and headed out the door. It’s amazing what a little variety can do for your mood out on the trail and even more amazing what a few miles can do for you mood once you’re safe and sound (and stinking to high heaven) back home! I felt sooooooo much better after these 6 measly miles. Even after many years of running I’m still amazed what difference a few miles can make. I think the take home message is that next time things start going wrong I ought to immediately abandon ship and hit the trail! Right?
Friday 6/13
rest day
Saturday 6/14
11 ugly, warm, humid, morning miles to work and back
I’m not sure what the hell happened this morning but the hours from 7-9 were brutal! You know how you start off and things just don’t quite feel right, your legs are heavy and things don’t want to synchronize and you just think to yourself “stick it out…it’ll get better…give it a half a mile…it’ll get better…give it another half a mile…it’ll get better…” Well, I was doing this until it was more like “give it another half a mile and it will be over!” Things just did not want to cooperate. I was stiff and a little sore (the muscles AND some joints AND…I really don’t want to admit this…the shins) and heavy feeling. BOOOOO 😦
By the end, by all of 9 am, I was sooooo warm! I had sweat completely through everything I was wearing! When I checked the temp and humidity I was SHOCKED to see that it was only 72F and 70% humidity. I was absolutely convinced that there should be an extra 1 out in front of both of those numbers. I guess the one nice part about this was that the perceived heat and humidity also translated into (perceived if nothing else) that fresh, warm summer smell that you get of dirt and grass and flowers etc… shortly after a rain (it is always not long “after a rain” here…) This was the first run of the season in a real summer smelling morning (shame on me, I know…) and that part actually did bring a smile to my face (in between many a scowl and without causing my language – colored to match my most fantastic outfit (see below) – to miss so much as one beat).
Which actually allows me to transition nicely into my saving grace of the day. What kept me moving (besides my 10:30 date with Miss K…but never mind) was my genious decision to debut this year’s CEMS Marathon Team’s uniform! 🙂 I’m actually being totally serious here. There is something about wearing a brand new outfit that makes anything just a little bit more bearable. (There is also something about being dressed like a highlighter box explosion while running through your small town that motivates you not to stop and ask someone for a ride home.)
A second saving grace was knowing I had (however freezer-burned it may have been) a lime-sickle waiting for me back home if I survived to claim it. SO SO GOOD.
Total: 25 miles
This week was kinda rough. Work was tiring and running was a bit of a chore 😦 Not good. Not to be repeated next week. Next weekend is already my first long run cutback which I (unfortunatley) feel that I need. This means that I need to be doing a better job of hydrating and fueling and resting. That will be the mission for this week. Get the miles in feeling GOOD and make use of the cutback so the following weeks will be a building of QUALITY higher milage.