HWGA: When will I feel normal again?!

Here We Go Again

 

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These two make me melt.

Despite a decent long run at the end of last week, I was in a bit of a running funk. I mean, shouldn't I feel recovered after two weeks? I woke up Monday morning and felt SO SORE! Between that not-so-amazing 5k and my 14 miler over the weekend, my legs were toast. I took a complete rest day thinking that would be all that I needed. Not so much.

 

I met with some gals the next morning and felt like crud the entire run. I was so discouraged later that day and didn't want to think about attempting race pace miles the next day. I knew for sure that I'd fail. Fortunately, things seemed to turn around for me the rest of the week.

 

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• 3/20: REST. My body made it clear that it wasn't going to do anything productive today.
  

  

  Celebrated the first day of spring by resting and paperwork-ing.

• 3/21: 6 miles, 9:48/mile; shoulder workout. I met my friends Meg and Lynn for an easy 6 that didn't feel so easy. I felt like a slug. My body was still sore from the weekend, and it didn't want to move. If it weren't for the good company, I would have wanted to erase it from my memory. Later that day, I was able to hit up the gym for a shoulder workout.
  

  

• 3/22:8.04 miles, 8:41/mile; 2.1 cycling miles; Leg and restorative yoga workout. Meg and Tamara were gracious enough to meet up with me for some race pace miles. As mentioned above, I just knew I wasn't going to be able to meet my goal today. Based on how I'd been feeling, I decided to turn 4 consecutive race pace miles into intervals during an 8 miler. We went into the run planning to alternate an easy mile with an 8:15 mile. The run didn't feel great the first three miles. Our first race pace mile was 8:12, but it felt slightly challenging the first half. After another recovery mile, I was scared to go into my next faster one. For whatever reason, I started feeling good. The next mile was 8:02! Faster than it should have but felt great. During the next recovery mile, Tamara suggested making the next interval 2 miles at race pace. They clocked in at 7:59 and 8:05. I left that run feeling so much better about my recovery. After work, I hit up the Y for my leg workout and a little yoga.
  

  

  Thanks for the boost of confidence, ladies! [Meg, Tamara, ME]

• 3/23: 6 miles, 9:09/mile. Met up with Meg and Katie for easy miles and donuts. LOVE Schneider's!!!
  

  

  Hopefully our last cold morning for a long time! [Katie, ME, Meg]

• 3/24: REST. I could have lifted, but I felt the need to take it easy. Work has been insane this week, and I had mucho paperwork to finish.
• 3/25: 16 miles, 8:24/mile. I needed to give myself some sort of challenge or test between marathons without actually registering for a half marathon. I saved this workout from one of my old Runner's World mags. One of the elites said she does this workout 3-4 weeks before a marathon to test her fitness. I took my marathon goal time to BQ and turned it into my own personal workout. I altered the end a bit to give myself a cool down, but I accomplished enough to give me a boost of confidence. Workout:3 miles marathon pace (MP=8:15), 5 min. recovery, 1 mile 8:10, 1 min. recovery, 1 mile 7:55, 2 min. recovery, 1 mile 8:10, 1 minute recovery, 1 mile 7:50, 2 min. recovery, 1 mile 8:10, 1 min. recovery, 1 mile 7:45, 5 min. recovery, 3 miles MP. I wanted 16 miles total, so I added a 2 mile warm up and changed the final 3 MP to comfortable miles (ended up being 8:45, 8:44, 8:18). My watch isn't fancy so I don't know my exact splits for all of the intervals because of the odd recovery times. Overall splits [9:09, 9:00, 8:07, 8:15, 8:02, 8:39, 8:10, 8:08, 8:17, 7:50, 8:25, 7:57, 8:43, 8:44, 8:45, 8:18]. Per my running partners, Our splits were a tad fast which I suppose can be a good thing...bad thing if I'm trying to learn to keep pace, though. Either way, I left this workout feeling proud of my work.
  

  

  Shorts!!! Hallelujah! I even stripped to my sports bra after 11 miles!!

• 3/26: 4.02 miles, 10:21/ mile; 2 miles, 9:09/mile, Hatha Yoga Class, 1 hour. A few of us reconnected with an injured friend to show her some love. We did 2 miles of walk/run intervals until we got to Starbucks, then a couple of us ran back to my vehicle to drive back to Starbucks to get the rest of the crew. A Starbucks date with friends is always memorable. I did my usual yoga that afternoon and decided to get my last two miles before it started.
  

  

  LOVE my baby girl. We had some family time at the North Market for lunch.

 

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I think I'm officially recovered. Once again, it took 2 1/2 weeks! Ugh. Why so long?! As I think about my next one, I just don't feel like my body is ready to BQ. I know it will be a different course, different weather, etc., but I just don't feel confident about getting the time I need. No matter what my head is saying, my body is going to do all that it can to try!