The
plan was: absolutely nothing.
The
reality:
Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday – ZILCH
I started
the week in rest mode – at least for exercise, because everything else (aka work)
was nuts. I wasn’t nearly as sore as I
thought I would be (gee, could I have run
faster on Sunday? Guess I’ll have to do
another and find out, huh?), just a bit of tightness in the quads going
down stairs. By Tuesday it had nearly
dissipated and Wednesday I felt completely normal. And I was so very much done with resting.
Thursday
– 3.0 miles, 28:14
By now I desperately needed to run. But I realized on the way over that (a) I
still don’t have the eating-in-the-afternoon-for-an-evening-run thing organized
and (b) I’d been giving my body a break from the antihistamines that keep me
from itching on a run. So… this was
going to be interesting.
I decided to
keep the pace easy, so as not to trigger the itchies, and just got going. It felt pretty good – it actually felt odd,
like my body was made of stiff parts with no give, and clompy, as though I’d
forgotten how to run. But I’m getting
used to this feeling being my “oh, you took a few days off? Silly you” feeling
and am gaining confidence to stick to it with the hope that it will
dissipate. Which it did, pretty shortly.
But here’s
the thing – what feels like an easy pace now has dropped to 9:15-9:30
miles. Again, when did this happen??? Yet
another reset for my head this year (there’s been a LOT of those – I love it, but
I know intellectually this can’t continue forever). Got a tiny bit of itchies on my legs about
2.5 miles in, but I walked for a bit and it faded quickly, so then I finished
out the 3 miles and walked in the last few hundred yards. That 2.5 mile point is also when my body
decided it was hungry. And I mean
HUNGRY. I found myself craving french
fries as I walked back to the car… and since there were 45 minutes until the
boy was done with his practice, I jetted out to grab burgers, fries and a
chocolate milkshake. It was SO YUMMY –
not at all healthy, not at all good nutrition, but a nice treat all
around. And I TOTALLY made the boy’s day
when he got to the car and saw a sack with burgers and fries – “oh, Mom, I LOVE
YOU!!!” “You love me anyway.” “Yeah, I
love you more. Nom nom nom”
Saturday –
3.16 miles, 34:38
Back at it
with the Math Teacher. She was cranking
on speed and feeling good! Me, I was
pretty tired (read, nutty week at work) and ran out of steam as we approached
the 3 mile split. I told her I was
stopping when my watch chirped, and she went all Coach on me – “oh, no you’re
not! We’re making it to the finish! Let’s go, step it up, woman!” I truly think she enjoyed it, with a lot of
schaudenfraudic glee. She was also
talking about the next run, suggesting a local race in early November. I may have to commit to that – she did, after
all, indulge me on You Go Girl, least I can do is repay the indulgence. We might even get our kids to run that one
too – if we can fit it around their swim training. Lots to determine in the next several days.
Planned for this week: