This Week in Training: Heavy Feet

It's hard to know what weather you'll be greeted with these days. One morning it was below 30 degrees, two days later it was 79. Because I've been flinging through my running clothes basket every day, trying to come up with all-weather options, I've come to realize how sick to death I am of the current collection. I have tried and true favorites that are keepers for sure (shirts and shorts that I'm positive Hypatia is side-eyeing: "that crappy stinkfest again??") but most of the other stuff is trial and error meh that I barely can stand putting on. So. Time to look at all the spring lines just coming out and freshen the basket soon, which leads me to another thought I've had: there needs to be more by-women-for-women brands specifically for trail runners. Without ruching. WHAT is with ALL the RUCHING?


Monday, January 21
Rest Day
Dr. King's day, Inauguration Day, and a non-work day. Seems like a long time ago. I vaguely remember wanting to go to yoga but the special holiday schedule did not include my favorite teacher. Boo.

Tuesday, January 22
Road
Focus: Easy
Miles: 6.93
Pace: 9:22
For whatever reason, this after work road run felt really fun. We sort of made it up as we went along, chit chat, chit chat, so many reasons to have and love a running partner. Supposed to run 6 but did about a mile over.


Wednesday, January 23
Trail
Focus: Tempo--2 warm up, 3 @10K, 2 cool down.
Miles: 6
Pace: 9:12
Dumbest. Tempo. Run. Evah. Not only did I go scampering down a trail without a headlamp in the dark, I squeeched my dumb bad ankle, I wheezed and whinnied, and I could not for the life of me find my legs. Negative splits? Sure, but it hardly counts. 9:07, 9:06, 8:35 (more like it but not as a last tempo mile). Since the day before was a mile over, it seemed only right to fix that by going a mile under. Right? Hmmm.

Thursday, January 24
Road
Focus: Easy
Miles: 6
Pace: 9:22
Yeah, yeah, more roads, again after work. I was a little nervous about how much my peroneal tendinitis was bothering me after twisting my ankle on the trail the morning before. I did all the good things my chiropractor wants me to do: ice, stretch, compress, etc. and while it felt a little whiny the first few miles of this run, I loosened up and ended up feeling pretty good--made sure to ice and stretch well afterward.

Friday, January 25
Rest/Yoga
Yoga? Yoga? What's that? I came home, flopped on my bed, and fell asleep. I did not know I was getting sick--in fact I did not figure that out until last night. But when I woke up, it was too late to run to class. So sad. I miss my chaturanga.

Saturday, January 26

Trail
Focus: Easy, steady pace
Miles: 20
Pace: 11:09 average; 10:36 moving

What a run full of surprises. I left at dawn in the rain to pick Hypatia up and we headed to a trail that goes from inland to the ocean down one main fire road. Aside from the detours we took on little split-off trails, it was all descent to the beach, much of which which felt effortless and luxurious; almost unfair. Of course there were a few things in the way of fully embracing that lovely concept: mud. Thick, clay-like, caking, heavy mud that sucks your shoes off--not the whole way, thank goodness, but enough to stop running and walk through at least once a mile. Then the other thing--that first ten miles of luxury? What goes down must come up--the second 10 miles did not feel quite the same. We had some nice, nice stretches of pushing the pace somewhat, and we had some opportunities to practice the power hiking. The weather was gorgeous--sunny, even a little hot--bright blue sky and no rain at all. All in all, mud included, a fine 20 miler, without any real low spots. Fueled carefully and regularly with little salted potatoes (my favorite!) and whole wheat pita with Eden apple butter--it all went down easily and tasted good.

Sunday, January 27

Road
Focus: Easy recovery
Miles: 5.82
Pace: 8:46
Before dinner last night I started coughing. After a while I started noticing that my throat was sore. Then I got chilly and droopy. So, yeah, my body let me do my long run, but once that was over, it gave into the cold. Sleep was way wonky and I woke up feeling creaky and sick and not! at! all! in the mood to gear up for a cold, windy, rainy run this morning. When I feel lazy, I create a route that takes me somewhere productive--it's a trick that really helps convince me to get out there. You know, meeting at coffee, or going to work or, like today, meeting Jaime at the grocery store. It was cold and wet, but I got through it (not without a lot of internal pity party; I almost stopped and turned around at least four times in the first two miles) and made it to the store quicker than I thought. 5.82 was as close to 6 miles as I was going to budge.

But Wait, There's More
This week, I had a phone meeting with a sports dietitian who will be helping me keep on track with how I fuel. I'm about 7 pounds above my ideal race weight and I'm almost always hungry--a tricky combination. It's not always smart to try to drop weight while in training and I need some guidance, so, you'll probably hear me talking more about training nutrition as we go along here.