In search of the 5k PR (week 4 training)

*sigh* Despite my best efforts at Saturday morning's Double Bridge Run, the quest for the sub-24 5k continues...

Starting line of the Double Bridge 5k in Gulf Breeze, FL

Last week's plan / actual:

• Monday: strength circuit + run or bike / 30 day shred + 45 minutes on stationary bike


• Tuesday: 3 mile run / 3 mile run (felt like a 6 mile slog. How is it 80% humidity in January?)


• Wednesday: yoga + foam-rolling / 20 minute power yoga (My foam roller is gathering dust...)


• Thursday: 3 mile easy run / 3.1 mile run


• Friday: rest day / ... and I rested.


• Saturday: 5k RACE DAY! / 25:05. Not a PR, but fast enough for an age group award, and a good baseline race to help me fine tune my training plan


• Sunday: recovery day / long, leisurely walk on the beach

This week's plan:

• Monday: strength circuit + 5 mile run
• Tuesday: hill repeats
• Wednesday: yoga
• Thursday: 5-6 mile easy run + core work
• Friday: rest day
• Saturday: 8 mile run
• Sunday: fun day - any workout

How often do you incorporate strength training into your workouts?

Can do

This morning was the first Saturday morning in months that did not involve a crack-of-dawn alarm clock. The reason: no morning run on the schedule thanks to a bout of plantar fasciitis.

It's been six days of no running. By all accounts I should be going bonkers.

But here's the thing...
I stumbled across this quote and it has become my recovery mantra:

"When you catch yourself slipping into a pool of negativity, notice how it derives from nothing other than resistance to the current situation."
Donna Quesada, The Buddha in the Classroom: Zen Wisdom to Inspire Teachers

So...
I'm trying not to fight the situation.

• I can't run, but I can catch up on my reading goals for the year.
• I can't run, but I can spend an hour on my stationary bike in the cool sanctuary of my air conditioned living room.
• I can't run, but I can spend a morning preparing class materials for the start of fall semester.
• I can't run, but I can fill the refrigerator with fresh produce and make delicious meals like whole wheat pasta with broccoli rabe and spicy chicken sausage.
• I can't run, but I can sleep in one day for a change.
• I can't run, but I can go to yoga class for the first time since May.

There is only one "can't" but there are a whole lot of "can-dos."

(PS - Dear readers, please remind me of this mantra if I still can't run 3 weeks from now and the effects of good these intentions wear off...)

What can you do this weekend that makes you happy?

A little R & R

The final results are posted for the trail 10k.

• My finish time: 1:00:10
• 6th female (out of 32) and 11th overall (out of 60)
• 2nd in women 30-39

There was some mention of "award winners" on the event website. My name shows up on that list, but Hubby and I left before the awards ceremony started, and my inquiry to the race organizer hasn't been answered yet.

Either way, after 2 races in 6 days, I'm taking a much-needed rest day.

My definition of rest looks like this:

North Bay trail at the Naval Live Oaks Area of Gulf Islands National Seashore

The weather today is truly gorgeous - one of those rare, perfect days in northwest Florida. It also happens to be National Park Week (read: free entry to all national parks until April 29). Plus, I'm still on a trail high from yesterday's race. So Hubby and I took a mid-morning hike through part of the Naval Live Oaks area at Gulf Islands National Seashore.

Our hike was leisurely and relaxing. Call that "active rest" if you must, but I couldn't let a perfect day go to waste by staying indoors. (There's plenty of time to be indoors Monday through Friday. Call that "work" if you must.)

My definition of rest also looks like this:

French wine selection at a local wine shop.

Once upon a time, I was a bit of an oenophile.

Oh, who am I kidding?

I still love wine.
I've just gotten out of the habit of going to tastings and frequenting wine bars.

After our leisurely hike, and a leisurely lunch, I took off to a wine store and spent an hour browsing the shelves for bottles I haven't tried before. The clerk poured me a taste of a tempranillo that he "just happened to have open."

Marketing works.
The wine was delicious.
Two bottles came home with me.
One might not last the night.

That's my idea of a restful day.

What's your perfect rest day?

Lots of miles but no running

I had a travel-busy week that ended with a redeye flight home Friday night. So I ran intervals before work on Friday and scheduled Saturday as a REST day. Circled. Underlined. Highlighted. (Just in case I somehow forgot. PS - I did not forget Sherry... I found my own way to participate.)

Dawn at the airport. One good thing about redeye
flights is watching the sun rise.

And sure enough, after flying more than 4,000 miles in less than 72 hours, my only wish for Saturday was to shower, change into pajamas, and spend the entire day on the couch.

This is not normal for me. I can't sit still through a 2-hour movie. I fidget. I get on the stationary bike or fold a load of laundry. Someday I will try to retire, and will wind up volunteering 40 hours a week...

But on Saturday I was dedicated to my task.

I would be lazy!

Peanut could be a coach for the US Olympic Lazy Team.

So my plane landed. I drove home. Showered. Changed into pajamas.
And parked myself on the couch.
All.
Day.

It was a marathon of couch-sitting, and I won!
I managed to catch up on email and the prior week's DVRed television. I read. Hubby and I watched a movie.

I think there is still an imprint from my butt on one of the couch cushions.

Sunday was more productive (errands, cleaning, laundry) but still no running. I've had two races in the past month and have two more coming up in the next. One whole weekend off of running sounded like a brilliant way to recharge the ol' batteries.

So, in place of a Sunday long run, Hubby and I grabbed a set of rackets and headed to a nearby park to play Speedminton.

What? You've never heard of it?
Take badminton.
Remove the court.
And the rules.

And you've got the best backyard/beach/park game ever.

We played for an hour, and we haven't had that much fun exercising in a long time. Don't get me wrong - I love running. But running doesn't usually bring on belly laughs.

Diving for a wild shot or whiffing completely and catching a birdie in the nose? Belly laughs.

And laughter counts as a core workout, right?

What's your favorite lazy-day passtime?
Are there any other fun backyard games I should know about?

PS - I did not forget about the virtual Run for Sherry. I thought about her and her family often during the day. I didn't run, but I did cover many, many miles. So the frequent flier miles I earned Saturday have been donated to the Make-A-Wish foundation.

Taper distractions

Less than 6 days left until my first half marathon of 2012... The headcold that attached itself to me two weeks ago hasn't let go yet, so if I'm going to be healthy for the race, I have to really rest this week. Early bedtimes. Hydration. Relaxing. Little running.

In short...
I'm losing my mind and it's only the beginning of the week!
Why is it that when we're not supposed to run, the only thing we can think about is running?

As a distraction, Hubby and I went for a nice, long walk on the beach.

I started power walking.
Hubby reminded me that we were supposed to take a leisurely stroll. (I don't need to risk pulling my calf muscle again.) Relax.
I kept racing ahead, like there was some finish line farther down the beach.
I found myself glaring jealously at runners who passed by.

I need to get over this. Tapering is part of training.
I am confident that my running base is solid. I need to remind myself that I have a better kick when my legs are rested, and that if I run too hard this week, I risk screwing up what could be a very good start to this racing year.

And, in the final analysis, I have to admit, the beach was gorgeous.
Empty of tourists.
Mid-60s temperatures.
Beautiful sunset.
No reason to rush...
Relax.

What is your favorite leisure activity (especially for your pre-race taper days)?

When I can't run

First things first, despite the title of this post, I'm a firm believer that there is no such thing as "can't." There is only "won't" or "don't want to."

So let's call today an "I won't run" day, because I need to rest. That said, when I hopped out of bed this morning, of course, the first thing I wanted to do was GET OUT AND RUN. It's like the "pink elephant" dilemma. Tell someone "don't think about a pink elephant" and the first thing that pops into that person's mind is...

It never fails: my motivation to run is never so strong as on a necessary rest day.

Clearly I needed to channel that energy into something productive.
Otherwise I'd wind up obsessing all day about pink elephants. Or running. Take your pick.
So...
I did yoga.
Karen Voight's YogaSculpt is the first yoga "class" I ever completed. I purchased and practiced with the DVD before I ever set foot in a studio, because, you know, I didn't want to show up to a class completely clueless. While the series is a little basic for me now, I still resort to that DVD when I need a restful day.

I baked pumpkin oatmeal bread (which is a riff off of this banana-oatmeal bread recipe).

 And I had a delicious breakfast before work.

What do you do when you "can't" (or shouldn't) run?

Pink elephant courtesy of jcarwash31

Rest day

Normally Friday is speedwork day.

But, despite sports massage, stretching, and icing, my hip still doesn't feel 100 percent better. And the half marathon is only 9 days away.

While I'd normally only take it easy for a week before a half marathon, I've decided to extend my pre-race taper and start scaling back now: No more track workouts. No double-digit runs this weekend.

After all, one more speed session won't make or break my race.
But aggravating that hip could ruin it entirely.

So, I took a page from Peanut's book and decided to sleep in.

It felt GREAT!
Now, I just need to figure out what to do with all this extra energy...

How long do you taper before your races?

Links that make you think

I'm out of commission for one more head-cold-and-fever-recovery day. But in the meantime, I've had a chance to catch up on my reading. In the process I stumbled across a couple of web gems that should be shared:

• Beth at Shut Up And Run posted "The Cone or Crap" which is far more insightful than the poop-humor title suggests.
• Meg at Watch MeGo Run talks about how running can "hurt so good," in her post Why I Love Pain.
• Adam, at The Boring Runner, takes an (uncharacteristic) serious tone to reflect on life goals and mortality in Reflections while on the run. I promise it's positive, not morbid. But he does ask two questions that really got me thinking:

If you had 6 months to live, what would you do?
What would your one-line obit say?

Maybe rest days have left me with too much time on my hands, but I've been thinking about what I'd do with only 6 months to live... Oddly (or not) I think it would look a lot like what I did this past week: some travel, some work, some running, writing and reading, going for walks on the beach, and trying new restaurants with Hubby, plus lots of time with my family.

I would definitely drink much more wine if my liver didn't need to last another 50 years. I might also do something crazy like try to run a 100-miler on not-enough-training.

But otherwise, I wouldn't change much at all.

I started to worry that this means I lack imagination, but then I realized it really means that I'm living a life I enjoy. If I get an idea for a trip or a new project, I add it to the list and get it done. (Except rock climbing... that's been on the list forever, and a friend even got me lessons for my birthday, but I still haven't checked climbing off my life list.)

Hubby suggested we could pack a couple of suitcases into a van, and travel from state to state running the most interesting routes and eating the best local foods... But that's not such big a change from the way we live now. We'd travel more (continuously, instead of 1 or 2 trips per month) and by wheels instead of wings, but otherwise the goals are the same: travel, eat, run, repeat. (It's probably good news that we have the same goals.)

I'm not sure what that turns into as a one-line obit? That requires more thought, more wine, or both...

And I really need to get on that rock climbing thing...

What would your answers be?

It's all in my head

Flu-prevention mask, circa 1918.

It's all in my head.
Literally.

I've got a sniffly, sneezy, slimy, sleazy head cold.

Today was supposed to be speedwork day. I can't go to the gym, lest I sneeze on others. I don't want to go to the track, because, quite frankly, I feel like crap.

So I'm staying in.
Already did yoga.
Will go for a lunchtime walk.
Or just eat soup.
I'll figure that out when I get there.

But I was looking forward to 800m sprints. (Dear readers: The next time I need motivation, please remind me that there are times when I really WANT to run intervals and feel cheated when I cannot.)

Speaking of feeling cheated... To this cold, I have only one thing to say:

GO AWAY!!!

You're messing with my running.*
And don't even think of sticking around for my long run this weekend.
That's not an option.

Do you keep running when you're sick?
Or do you take a day off?

*Note: If Runner's World is any indication, I'm not the only person suffering from this malaise.

Photo courtesy of the State Library of New South Wales.