Monday Rest Day
Tuesday Rest Day
Wednesday I mixed in a hour long full body workout early in the morning. I am going to mix this in more during September since my weekend runs are so long. I will replace some of the weekday runs with these workouts to give my legs a little extra rest. I was more sore than I expected the rest of the week after actually working these muscles I have ignored for awhile.
Thursday I got up in the morning before work and ran 7.06 miles at a 9:22 pace it was a good easy run but I definitely noticed the summer is coming to an end as it was much darker at 4:30 that morning than it has been through most of the summer.
Friday I planned to get up in the morning and get another full body workout in but when I awoke I heard the rain coming down and even though I was going to work out in the garage it was just enough to push me back into my warm bed. Of course I regretted that decision during the day and hoped I could sneak a quick run in after work before Beth and I went out for dinner.
To take a quick step back and to give some insight into how my brain works, a few days before I was thinking about Beth's upcoming 5k she had planned for Saturday (The Color Run) and wondering if she had a goal for the race, this lead to me thinking about what my next goal should be for a 5k (my last 5k I ran was on 7/4 and I set a new PR with 21:45) I decided I would really like to run a 5k in under 20:00 minutes but I would have to wait until next summer to put in some specific speed training and sign up for a race to give it a go.
Fast forward up to Friday again and Beth says "ya it's fine if I sneak in a quick run before we go out for dinner" I figure I just have time for 3 or 4 miles and then think well since I am going to run around 3 miles and a 5k is 3.1 miles why wait till next summer lets just take care of that 20:00 goal right now. I take off east on sunnyside and start pushing the tempo I realize right away this is probably not a good idea with a 32 miler planned for Sunday but I can't stop now that it's in my head. I run the first 2 1/2 miles right around the pace I need to be at but the tempo and decent hill right in the last stretch was a little to much for me. I finished the 3.1 mile run in 20:58 a 6:46 pace not my goal but I was pretty happy with the effort. I ran another mile to cool down and stretch out before we left for the night.
Saturday Rest Day-got to bring the kids down to PIR to support Beth and some of her co-workers in the Color Run it was a fun experience and she did great.
Sunday I realized if you ever want to question your sanity just wake up at 4:00am on a weekend so you can get out the door by 5:00 to put in over 5 hours of exercise. Oh and make it on the first weekend of the NFL this should get someone to commit you. I had planned out this race as a good test and training run for my Ultra in that I mapped out a loop around my neighborhood that would bring me to my house in just over 10 miles. I would stop by my house like an aid station to refill water bottles and use the bathroom before heading out again ultimately completing the loop 3 times. My Ultra is a 10k loop that I will have to run 8 times and each time I will be back at the starting/finish line having to leave again so I figured I need to train for the mental toughness to leave each time even when I get to the easiest physical place to stop.
The run itself went pretty well it started of dark and cool but before my first loop was done the sun had started to rise and it began to warm. I got to the house and the family was still in bed which was a bonus because I was already fighting the wanting to quit bug and knew seeing them would make it that much harder. I took off again and the weather got warmer about half way through, by the time I got to my house for the second time my plan was to tell Beth right away to not let me stay as it would be so easy to sit on my couch and get ready for football. When I arrived they weren't home they had all left somewhere so I made my pit stop and got back out on the road my body was getting beat down by this point and it was getting very warm out but knowing I only had one loop left and remembering the lessons I learned from last week (I re-read them myself that morning) fueled me through and I finished!!!
There was a tough spot from miles 16-19 and the last two miles were also difficult but overall the difficulty was 90% physical struggle and only 10% mental which was a nice change from my last couple long runs.
The Secret
I’m not as confident as I seem
But the road doesn't know that
It simply is
Hard and smooth beneath my shoes
As I start my morning run
I’m not as sure as I seem
But the road doesn't know that
It Stretches out before me
Like a string of unbroken promises
A morning just ready to begin
I’m not as strong as I seem
but the road doesn't know that
It waits for me like a familiar friend
Nonjudgmental, yet
All-knowing
I hurt, I ache, I mourn
but the road doesn't know that
Nor does it care
It simply is
every day the same, a constant star
This I know for sure
I can’t go any farther
But the road doesn't know that
It beckons me on, encouraging me
to break my record
Test my limits
Prove to myself I can do better
That’s the secret
between the road and I
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