January 22nd
Last weekend I ran 13 miles, which 100% tells me I am ready to run a 1/2 marathon right now. I actually had one of my best miles of the run on the last run, which means I am not pushing myself as hard as I should in the middle of the race. This week’s training schedule has been a little off. Typically I go on medium distance runs on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, with my longer runs coming on Saturday. I add in weights 1-2 times a week and a bike ride or spin class 1-2 times per week. It just depends on how I am feeling. No matter the schedule, I always do my workouts in the AM because it gets my day off to a great start, and I sleep much better at night.
But this week I’ve been off. I have been feeling under the weather lately, so I haven’t had time to complete my workouts in the morning, which means I have to fit it in at some point during the day. This leads me to truncate the workouts or miss the day entirely, which is perfectly ok just not in my nature to do so. For example, I slept in this morning and did not workout in any capacity. Instead, I did an HIIT workout in the garage. This consisted of a 5 minute warm-up followed by a 5 minute circuit, doing 2 power cleans and 5 kettlebell deadlifts every 30 seconds for a total of 10 sets. I repeated the same interval workout with front squats and kettlebell power cleans. Still a very solid workout, but when I go in the morning, I have much more time to add in other movements and complete a proper warm up and cool down.
My upcoming weekend run is set at 14 miles. This will be the longest run I have ever accomplished, in-training or race day. I know i am fully capable of completing this run, I am just fighting the conversation with myself that tells me, “you’re going to get injured”, or, “you are too big to run a marathon”, or, “that’s too far. You are going to be in so much pain during this run.” Like so many things in life, the success of this run and all runs hereafter will depend on the nature of the conversation I am having with myself.
Weekend after next, I am off to Birmingham, AL to run in the Mercedes Benz 1/2 marathon. Birmingham is my hometown, so this race carries a bit of nostalgia as well as being a stop on my training cycle, and I am really looking forward to running in front of family and friends.
More to come…