What I needed
Last night I spent the evening sipping wine, catching up on my overflowing inbox and doing some reading all from the comfort of my couch.
One thing I promised myself when I started marathon training was that I would listen to my body and give it rest when it asked for rest. That’s why it’s been easier for me to plan out my weeks one at a time, so I can really assess how busy I am with other things – like social activities and work – during each week and then plan my workouts around those things.
Yesterday I had “5:15 PM – yoga?” in my planner. The question mark was there because I added it in as an afterthought since I took Monday as a rest day already this week. But yesterday morning I woke up feeling really, really tired. Like could barely drag myself out of bed tired. I continued to feel tired through most of the work day.
After work I headed out for my usual walk with Chloe and on-the-spot decided that I would walk an extra 10 minutes with Chloe rather than go to the 90 minute yoga class I’d been thinking about. I still got a little bit of movement in but it was definitely more of a rest day since my walks with Chloe are more like a leisurely stroll!
Oh, and then I planked before bed. 1:30 was REALLY hard for me. My ultimate goal is a 3:00 plank but I have a long ways to go.
It was obviously just what I needed because this morning I leapt (OK, leapt is a strong word but I wasn’t as tired as I usually am at 5:30 AM) out of bed for my 5-mile run!! It was my first run all by myself in my full four weeks of training, which felt a little weird to be honest. Especially since it was on the same route I usually run with a friend or my group. The last two weeks haven’t looked like what I thought they would training-wise but I’ve been listening to what my body needs and I think that’s most important!
Off to work I go. Happy Friday!
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Question of the day: Anyone else in training for a spring marathon or race and find your body is asking for more rest than you planned to give it? What is everyone up to this weekend?
Wine and Love II
Hi Friends. Happy Friday! Technically it’s my Thursday (I have to work tomorrow) so I am doing Nora’s Wine and Love a day late this week! And, if I’m being completely honest, all of the traveling I’ve been doing lately has made me completely lose track of days and I honestly thought yesterday was Wednesday until the afternoon when I opened my Google Reader and all the Wine and Love’s jumped out at me.
Whoops!
- Living out of a hotel room. Working 10+ hour days. Need I say more?
- The massive sunburn I got on my back yesterday despite my best attempts to stay in the shade. Luckily I’m a brown-eyed redhead so my sunburns usually last a day or two and then turn into a tan!
- Creating a training plan for my sprint tri (August) and half-marathon (October) with a few trail races sprinkled in between. Creating your own training plan is hard and time-consuming.
What I’m loving this week…
- I’m still on a bit of a high from my amazing run yesterday (despite the snake incident). I just can’t get over how gorgeous it was and how the whole run (until the snake incident) I felt so blessed to be out there running and enjoying that gorgeous scenery!
- I miss Eric so much. You’d think this would be a wine, but I think it’s pretty darn cool that after almost seven years together I still miss him a lot when we are apart. I’m taking it as a good thing
- The event I’m at is going incredibly well and I’m really happy about that.
- Having cable in my hotel room. It’s on constantly when I’m in the hotel. I am becoming re-obsessed with all the reality shows on TLC and Slice – especially the wedding shows! It’s making me want to get cable at home again…
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What has you reaching for the wine bottle this week? What do you love?
One Year Ago
Last night I did a 5K timed trial with the run clinic that I’ve been doing speedwork/hills training with for the last 7 weeks. I managed to do the 5K rolling hills route in 26:58 (8:57 average pace) so I’m pretty happy with that. While running I kept thinking, “This is harder than my marathon was!” Ha. Clearly I was just ‘in the moment’ but I’m also definitely not in the same speed zone I was a year ago. Plus running fast is totally hard!
A new goal for me is to run a 5K in 25:00 or less!
Also, look at this delicious and healthy dinner I whipped up last night!
Quinoa + 6-bean medley + steamed broccoli + olive oil + balsamic + soya sauce.
It was SO delicious. I’m seriously in love with quinoa lately. It’s my new favourite grain because it goes so good with so many things and I really like the texture. Now I have lots left for the week
Moving on to todays post.
Caitlin did this fun post yesterday and I decided to play along. One of my favourite parts of having a blog! Sometimes I totally get caught up reading through my own archives, like for 2 hours at a time, is that egotistical of me? Ha!
Approximately one year ago today, on March 9, 10 and 11, 2010 I was…
- Getting in some trail running and gym time
- Counting down until EUROPE (46 sleeps) and my MARATHON (214 sleeps)
- And moving – funny how things come full circle sometimes hey?
Goes to show you how much different the weather has been from last year (March 2010 on the left) to this year (March 2011 on the right). Depressing. I know.
Approximately two years ago today, on March 9, 10 and 11, 2009 I…
- JOINED TWITTER (oh how it’s changed my life! Ha!)
- Blogged about my different living arrangements over the years
- And was drinking alone. Heh – I guess some things haven’t changed
Annnd, just because it’s adorable, look at this old picture of Webster that I found while getting these old photos for this post Love that cat!
Do you ever read back through your old blog posts? What were you doing one, two (or even three or four if you’ve been blogging that long) years ago today??