Mill Race Training Week 3 - Something is Better Than Nothing

This is not me but I ended up running in the evening all week

This was my down week. The way my training plan is structured I have two weeks where I'm building mileage and then a lower mileage recovery week... and a darn good thing it was a recovery week as I ended up having a difficult time finding the time or energy to run.

Sunday 6/11 - Rest. Got up at 4 am and spent the whole day at work.

Monday 6/12 - 3 miles. Got up at 4 am to go to work again. Crawled onto the couch as soon as I got home, then finally made it out in the evening to run 3 miles indoors on the hamster track.

Tuesday 6/13 - 7 miles. Run club in the evening. It was another 80+ degree day. Did a 1 mile warm up to the track. Workout was 5 x 1000 meter repeats where you run 800 meters at 10K (80-85% effort) pace, then sprint all out the last 200 meters, with about a 4:00 recovery jog in between which I translated into a lap around the track. I did three repeats, then had to cut my fourth one to 600 meters at 10K pace and a 200 meter sprint, then recovered enough to do my last one at 800m/200m. Cool down after that to get 7 miles total. The track was black asphalt and it was HOT. I had to walk a bit on my cool down until we got back on the Monon where it was shadier.

Wednesday 6/14. Zero miles. My alarm went off at 5:30 am as I had 10 miles on my schedule. However, alarm went off and I couldn't move. Gave up on running in the morning. Thought about running in the afternoon but it was blazing hot, then thought about doing it on the Monon in the evening but finally gave up on the idea because I was simply too tired. I decided I needed another rest day.

Thursday 6/15 - 7 miles. Got up at 6:30 am to make cupcakes. I'm making them for a friend's daughter's Open House. Got the first 4 dozen done, then had to take G to a pediatrician's appointment.

This was appointment week. Tuesday I took the cats to the vet for their yearly check up in the morning. Actually, it was one cat. Stella went. Styx, who lives outdoors, was nowhere to be found. Wednesday G had an orthodontist appointment in the morning. Then today, it was the pediatrician... and of course Styx decided to saunter back on the porch this morning... but I decided there was no way I was going to reschedule his appointment now as it was only a well cat check and he's not due for any shots until next year.

Went grocery shopping for fresh fruit for the cupcakes then baked the other 4 dozen until 5 pm when I had a conference call for a medical review panel. Call got done and it back to frosting and decorating all the cupcakes. Got done with all the cupcakes sometime after 8 pm.

My training schedule had called for 3 miles today but sometime mid-afternoon I had given up on the idea of running until all the cupcakes were done. Now that they were done, I was tired. The easy thing seemed to be to call it a day. But... OK... it's only 3 miles. Something is better than nothing.

I drove myself to the hamster track to run, partly because I didn't want to deal with the heat and partly because I didn't want to get stuck out on the road after dark. Clock on my car dash said 8:45pm as I pulled into the parking lot. The fitness center closes at 10 pm. Started running and I didn't feel too bad. Something is better than nothing, I told myself. Since I missed the 10 miler yesterday, maybe I should run 5. That should be doable before the fitness center closes. Then I thought, well what about 7? Seven miles was pushing it. I'd have to hurry my butt to do that. I wasn't wearing a watch and there are no clocks that I can see while I run but I just picked up the pace as I watched the sun set through the windows and tried to guess the time.

There was a men's basketball game going on on the court below the track. After 3 miles, I realized that they had 15:30 left in their game. Run, run run... try to get a mile in by 6:30. Did it. Continued on the same pace and got to mile 5 shortly after the buzzer rang. Then... I saw that they had reset the game clock for another 20:00. The guys had another period of play. The fitness center wouldn't close until they were done. I was golden!

Got all 7 miles in then checked the clock inside the weight room. 9:55 pm. Figured I must've run close to 9:00 pace. Immensely satisfied with myself!

Friday 6/16 - Zero miles. Today was totally the opposite of Thursday. An incredibly unproductive run day. Got up at 4 am to go to work. Plan was to go to the fitness center as soon as I got back to Greenwood and get at least 3 miles in on the hamster track before they closed at 7 pm, then shower and go to my friend's daughter's Open House. Well... stayed an hour over at work then hit highway construction traffic on the way home and was so so incredibly sleepy that it was a miserably treacherous drive home. All I could do was crawl onto the couch as soon as I got home and napped until it was time to go to the Open House. Grabbed dinner at the Open House, then had to go shopping with J for some things she needed and that was pretty much the whole evening.

Saturday 6/17 - 3 miles. Got to "sleep in" until 6:30 am since I didn't have to be at work until 9 am. Actually got off an hour early too at 5 pm so I wasn't as trashed as Friday by the time I got home from work. It had rained in the afternoon so it was not only hot again, but now it was humid. I waited until almost 8 pm, then ran the paved trail around New Hope Church. I briefly entertained the thought of running more but after 3 I was DONE.

20 miles this week.