Boston 2014: Week 5 Training

It seems like I'm starting to get in the groove of training. Only problem? Sickness! It's winter and I work in a school. While I haven't gotten a full-on cold *knockonwood* I was fighting off getting one the whole week. Headaches, sniffles, all that jazz. Running probably helped keep it away but it also made me tired. Fortunately, by Sunday I was feeling back to normal and ready for the long run. 

Total Weekly Miles: 38

Monday: 6 miles at 7:34 pace
I finally was excited to get out running today because it was 57 degrees! Hello shorts and a speedy night run!

Tuesday: Off. 
I didn't feel like running. Sometimes you have days where you know it isn't going to work and today was one of them.

Wednesday: 7.5 miles at 7:40 pace
Went out thinking I was going to be running a tempo run, but my body refused to cooperate. This was when I realized I was fighting off the cold. I had a headache all day and the first two miles were torture. But I talked myself out of turning back when I started thinking of all of the bloggers I follow. Thinking of all of their accomplishments over the years inspired me to keep running. There have been too many times where I've felt like crap on a run only to turn it completely around a few miles later. And that's exactly what happened.

At miles 4 things were going great and I had forgotten about the first two miles. But I started to have to go pee and to go pee badly! This run, which was supposed to be a tempo run, morphed itself into a mental training run - which is probably just as important as a tempo run. After all, it is your brain that will give up before your body does! Fortunately, I made it home in one piece but opted not to do the additional 1/2 mile that would have brought the daily total to 8.

Thursday: 6 miles at 7:02 pace
Right before I left for this run I noticed a dollar bill peeking out from under my orthotic in my shoe. I took out the orthotic to find 3 more dollars! I had forgotten that I had put them in there the night before NYC and they've gone on every run with me since! (I usually pack a few dollars when I run a marathon just in case something prevents me from finishing).

Once again, I tried to do a tempo run on this night. If I'm lucky I can do tempo runs up and down my streeet and barely hit any red lights. My speed will be at the perfect pace that will allow me to run through every intersection. This was not the case today. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I hit a red-light at every or every-other light.

The purpose of a tempo is to run at that pace for a sustained amount of time. Since that wasn't going to be possible, I changed my workout to an interval workout, running at 400m pace between each stop light. I had two miles of warm up pace before I started the workout, and finished without a cool down (yeah - not the best choice). I was super pleased because I made it back into my apartment with one minute to spare before the start of a webinar that I had to be on!

Friday: Off. 
My body was done after the workweek. Even though I changed into my running clothes when I got home, I could not force myself to get out of the door.

The solution? We went to a UVM alumni gathering and then hit up DC Pho in Chinatown for some amazingness. They have my favorite Pho of DC and it was the perfect dinner to combat the cold.

Saturday: 6 miles for Meg at 7:23 pace
Today's word is wind. Wind that blows so hard that it takes away your breath. Wind that blows against you for the first 3 miles of your run. Wind that then blows with you for the last 3, making you run a negative split. Wind that only comes in winter and brings coldness down from the north. Wind that makes you want to get the run over as quick as possible so you can go back inside and warm up.

Yet while there was wind, I didn't complain. I ran the miles for Meg and her family and thought of them throughout my run. It is always unfortunate to hear of a life being taken so soon, and even worse when it is due to drunk driving.

Sunday: 12 miles at 8:11 pace
I had a super sunny start to this run which was a relief compared to Saturday's windy run. I explored a new area of town to change up the scenery which eventually led to one of my regular running routes. It was so nice to escape cars and traffic for a while and only be with runners and bikers. This ended up being the longest long run since NYC and my body was happy the whole time.

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I am cautiously optimistic that I have still retained some of my fitness from the fall and am not feeling horrible lately on my runs. While last week was a positive week compared to the one before, I'm still not near my ideal weekly mileage goal. Looking ahead at the weather forecasts for this week only makes me sad: snow and 20 degree temperatures. It might be time for me to suck it up and go to a gym for the week to make sure my butt keeps running!