Sunday, September 5, 2010

Chugging Along

Even though I didn't travel this week, I didn't have a great week of training.  I got in most of my miles.  I got in all of my quality miles.  I only missed recovery miles and I traded one recovery run for a spinning class, which is effectively the same thing (elevate the heart rate without stressing the running muscles). However, it was a struggle to get it done this week.  I'm tired and stressed.  I knew the month of September would be a huge challenge.  My calendar is overrun.  I'm overbooked.  I have too many irons in the fire.  And then some additional stress has been added.  Ugh.

Anyway, I did the miles: 12 on Monday and 14 on Wednesday.  Then, I did a lazy (can a 20 miler be lazy?) 20 miler at an 8:00 average pace on Saturday.  The weather was beautiful and I just enjoyed being out in it.  I didn't really think about how fast (slow) I was running.  I just ran.  I honestly didn't look at my pace until mile 16, and decided to finish as fast as my tired legs would allow (about 7:40-7:45 for the last 4 miles).  It was mind clearing, but probably not the best way to run for marathon preparation.  It did reduce my stress considerably, though.

I should have gone to Monte Sano and run the 10k and 5k, but again, I'm afraid of the reality that is my slow 10k and 5k pace.  Some time soon, I'm going to have to run fast.

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