Much like dealing with any “stressful” situation in life, there are stages to gradually feeling normal or calm. With these 6 weeks (and hopefully not more) of time off from my running, I am sure I am going to go through a range of emotions. I am on day 11 of no running and once I go past the day 14 mark, it will be the second longest break from running, EVER. IN. MY. LIFE. The last time was over 3 years ago at Duke when I had a stress reaction in my femur and I couldn’t run for 6 weeks. I ended up coming back in time to run a very mediocre 10k at the NCAA championships, and two weeks later the WORST 10k of my life at the USA Track Championships in Indianapolis.
Right now I am in what I will call the “acceptance” phase of my time off, and sprinkle that with a very decreased level of motivation to do anything but have fun, not sleep much, drink a lot of beer and maybe swim and bike whenever I feel like it, HAHA J The only thing I am doing a good job of is my core and strength work about 6 days a week, even if it means waking up at 4:30 to get it done in time to go teach.
After the More Fitness NYC Half Marathon, I decided to go race the Bloomsday 12k in Spokane, Washington. My body was sore and tired every day during the week leading up to the race and I finally felt pretty good on my two mile run + strides the day before the race. During the race, I felt alright, yet it was much colder and windier than in 2009. My time was MUCH slower, 41:56 compared to 40:15 the year prior. I was able to manage 11th place overall and first American, so I was satisfied and I hope next year I can run faster again. It was frustrating to see that if I had run the same time (40:15) this year, I would have been about 5th overall! Haha However I had a great time in Spokane, just like last year. The hotel, hospitality suite, brunch, dinner, course tour and post-race food and drinks were fantastic. I love going to Bloomsday and I look forward to going again next year. J
The last time I was on Mr. Specialized was May 6th, when I went to Tucson again to climb Mt. Lemmon. I did the climb in 2:18 (with a strong headwind for a lot of it) and 1:04 on the descent. I was pretty happy considering the weather and the fact I hadn’t been on my bike in over a week, ha. Last time I swam was this past Monday, in a lap pool at a nice resort in Scottsdale, and then proceeded to relax and people watch afterward….clearly a very serious swim session ;)
Part of the reason I am not stressing too much about my lack of training the past two weeks is because I am teaching almost every day and I am just busy in general. I have not slept more than 6.5 hours the last 8 nights, and quite frankly I just don’t care that much. Now, starting in two weeks when I won’t be working for the summer (at least that’s my plan for now), then heck yes I will be working my booty off J I have written up almost all of my training for the next 21 weeks leading up to Kona and I plan to run in the Women’s USA Marathon Championships in NYC 4 weeks after Kona, so I have to balance everything well, and be ready to go hard again after Kona J Kona marathon goal: 2:50….NYC Marathon goal: 2:29 J I have a feeling after Kona I’ll think running a marathon alone will be easy as pie compared to after running in the lava fields J yet that’s coming from a runner….most triathletes I am sure would disagree with me, haha.
Weather in Phoenix lately has been heavenly!!! I just LOVE LOVE LOVE it….It’s definitely not as hot as last year at this time. Most days are in the 80’s and we had a few last week in the mid to upper 90’s. In the mornings though, it’s cool, in the 60’s, and as soon as teaching is done I can’t wait to get out there and train in the cooler temps J
One of my favorite quotes of all time that I try to live by every single day: "Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said that it'd be easy; they just promised it'd be worth it."
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