No Book Report Wednesday – instead we talk about running
You guys! I haven’t been reading. It’s crazy. I need some quality time with some little book friends! (Although I do have reviews of one of my two required reading books for this course coming up soon; the other book is just too wicked boring to review.) And then, there will the book club review. And maybe I’ll actually read something that’s not too trashy to review…eventually.
BUT – last night I went for a run on some new trails & broke in my new shoes.
I looked at a little paper map to determine my route, and for some reason, the zigzag line on the last section of the trail didn’t make me think: “hmm….lots of zigzags on a crappy little map, that might mean it’s steep.”
It should’ve, though – that section was so steep that finally I had to give up & walk up the switchbacks because it was faster than running.
I ran on trails near my work, and hit some new territory, which was exciting! The trails weren’t too muddy overall, but at the lowest elevation, it was kind of like running in a stream. A mostly dry stream, but still…it was so rocky & muddy & wet that I had to mostly walk that section, too, to avoid tripping over or slipping on the rocks.
So – all in all? My little trail run was actually more of a trail walk. My pace was a little on the ridiculously slow side. So slow, in fact, that I refuse to disclose it. BUT – I did get my 3.5 miles in, which is nice.
In other news, I have decided that I will be downgrading the planned half mary in May to a 10K (or maybe 5K, just because I’d like to run a 5K without 11,000 people) and have started a new 12-week half training plan.
The plan started Monday of this week, so yesterday’s run was the first run of the 12 weeks. There is a half marathon in about 12 weeks that I could sign up for if I felt like it, but I’m going to wait and see…I’d like to get through the first half of the training plan before shelling out the $$ for the race. And if that means that the race is full & I miss it, I’ll just find another. (I’m trying to be all relaxed about this stuff…does it seem natural yet?)
I am going to move up the mileage so slowly that when I was filling in my training plan yesterday I kept trying to add miles to planned runs, and then I had to go back & take all that extra mileage off. I really have a problem with the “slow & steady” part. I just want to burst out of not running regularly for a FREAKING YEAR and then go back to 20-30 mile weeks. And then I can’t do it, so I give up & sulk for a week or so and have to start all over.
So – slow and steady is the name of the game from here on out. Tomorrow, I will run two miles (who even runs two miles? That’s not even a real workout!) and then runs of 4ish & a 10K on Saturday & Sunday…I will be running four days/week for now (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Sunday), swimming 1-2x/week (Monday & Wednesday when it’s OWS time), biking 1-2x/week (Wednesday & Saturday) & fitting in as much yoga as humanly possible (Tuesday & Friday for sure). Plus, all that pesky school & work. Not to mention all those other plans I have that are going to take some time. And maybe a little social time? Maybe?
(Hmmm….I know I like to be busy, but I’m beginning to think that something is going to have to give here – or else I’m going to have to start taking some drugs that will get me through everything.)
Well – maybe my plan will be “just do my best at getting everything in” and we’ll see what happens from there…
ETA – I just realized that I have already logged 45 minutes more of exercise in April (which isn’t yet half done) than I did in all of March – and this includes last week’s laze fest of only three workouts. Go me!
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