NYCM 2012: Week 10 Recap

I finding myself double checking what week of training I am on all the time because it doesn't seem like week 10. For some reason I keep thinking that I should be on week 14 already.

Total Weekly Mileage: 41 miles

Monday: 6 miles at 8:31 pace
Labor day meant a day off of school and a day off from XC practice. I ran in the afternoon to take a break from grading papers. It was a humid day and in the 80s, so I let my body go the pace it wanted to.

Tuesday: Unexpected day off. I got about 4 hours of sleep the night before. Don't ask me why, but my mind would not shut off. I got up around 2am to do lesson planning for an hour and a half, then woke up again at 4:30. That was bad news, because I set myself up for a week of waking up at 4:30 am and crashing by 9:30 pm. I was not going to put my body through any more stress for the day and decided to take the day off.

Wednesday: 9 miles at 7:44 pace
The head coach and I went for a mini run while the team was out getting some miles in. It was a gorgeous day, although a tad too hot. We hit up a new trail through the woods and I was instantly reminded of high school cross country meets at Catamount.

I went home to get in another 5.2 miles of my own. I was really pleased with how well my legs felt and was happy I had taken yesterday off.

Thursday: Workout of Death. No Running
We had a core/fitness workout planned for the XC kids, that turned out to kick my butt as well: 5 minutes of planks, 10 minutes of wall sits,  and 40 pushups (I think I skipped the first 10 the kids did) for me. The kids had a few more exercises thrown in, but fortunately, I was able to take a break to "time" or "supervise". I was afraid of what the consequences would be for my running if I threw in so much at once. This summer I did pretty well at keeping up with core and strengthening work, but I haven't had much over the last few weeks.

I came home to do the 8 miles that my plan called for but I could not make myself do it. I ran two minutes before turning around to go home. Then I talked myself out of quitting. How could I quit? I have been following my plan perfectly for two months. I have only taken 1 day off a week. I traveled to VT for a week and managed to get in all of my mileage. What made me think I could be a quitter now?

So I turned around to run again. And made it 20 seconds before I turned back home. I knew it was hopeless. I was tired. I needed food. I was thirsty. I wanted to go to bed and not have to be up late lesson planning. At that point, sleep was more important than running. Four months ago I would not have thought twice about taking a day off. If I didn't want to run, I wouldn't have. But it has now become such a part of my daily life that I began to feel disappointed in myself. Why? I can't tell you. I had to convince myself that it was OK. People get sick and take days off. It is normal. Cross Country coaches give their athletes days off so they don't get burned out. I know that one day off will not make me loose any of my fitness. I think I just wanted to prove to myself that I could make it through an entire training program.

Friday: 6 miles at 8:16 pace.
Ran the same route as Monday, so it was nice to see that it was faster this time. The legs were feeling heavy (thank you wall sits) so I could not make myself move much faster.

Saturday: 1 mile with the team, 9 miles on my own at 7:50 pace.
The kiddos had a workout planned instead of LSD, so I did most of my miles after practice. It was the first sunny Saturday in a while which made the run more enjoyable, especially since my legs felt 50 lbs heavier than Friday.

Sunday: 10 miles at 8:00 pace
So far this has been the best day of DC running since we moved here. Storms rolled in yesterday and not only drenched us within 5 seconds of getting out of our car to bring in the groceries, but knocked off about 20 degrees. When I came back from my run this morning it was 68 degrees!!!!! For a few moments I could trick my mind into thinking that I was back in VT. And then I looked around and saw more concrete in one block than what exists in the entire VT state and came back to reality. The run was much better than I had thought it would be, especially considering the last two days of running.

Tom and I are heading out for a 9 mile bike ride to Mount Vernon, where we'll spend the afternoon before taking a boat ride back. Hope you all have a relaxing Sunday!