The plan for this week was to run 60 miles, just to get in a
lot of run mileage. I didn’t think it
would be THAT hard considering I’d run 55 in late October for my birthday week.
The plan further called for doing 10 miles a day for 6 days straight, and then
a rest day (today).
I was surprised that on Monday my quads felt sore right
away. I hadn’t run much the prior week
or biked. Maybe it was from all the kicking I did during my 15,000 yard
swim? I don’t know, but whatever, I knew
that the soreness was OK (oops now that I think of it it may have been from
lifting!), and that I was good to go. I also didn’t have any aspirations as to
pace for this, although I didn’t want to run slower than 10mpm.
Monday I swam first and then ran, and gosh I was fucking
tired after that! Imagine that—I’d swum
15,000 just 2 days before and I was still a little crunchy? LOL I kill myself.
Turns out doing a hard 1-hour swim directly followed by a 10-mile run 2 days
after a 15,000 swim feels a bit tough.
Tuesday no swimming, but I got to the Y at a decent time to
run. We’ve been having nice weather in Chicago for winter, but the reason I
decided to do this week on the treadmill is that a) it will help me hold my
pace DOWN (I always run faster outdoors) and b) as long as I’m running indoors,
even though I have a treadmill in my house, I’d feel more motivated with others
around me. But I digress. When I arrived, a friend of mine, Jamey, was on a
treadmill, so it was nice to pass my first hour chatting with him. And I mean
CHATTING! We were into some deep shit, and I am sure others around us were like
what the fuck is wrong with them. Again, my legs felt sore, but nothing that
stopped me from getting in my 10. Later in the day I did some strength training for about :41.
Wednesday I swam right before I ran again, as I knew that
the swimming (as long as it was some reasonable amount less than 5,000 yards
LOL) would not impact the running plus it helps me recover from running (I
think), and once again my legs were still a bit sore, but not too bad, plus I
had an awesome swim! I forgot to mention that Monday’s swim was great, too—ya think
from all that swimming I’d been doing the prior weeks?
On Thursday morning I was all ready to go to the Y, got in
my car, turn the ignition and nothing. I figured it was a dead battery, and it
almost started, but then I just smiled and thought I’d deal with it later, so I
went back into my house, put on some walking shoes and walked my ass to the
Y. It was a gorgeous morning, albeit
pitch black, and I laughed that I should run outside, but I wanted to get the
run done NOW and I don’t particularly like running in the dark.
Friday I’d scheduled the day off from work, knowing I’d be
pretty worked over by this time and could use a lack of stress from work. Still, I awoke by 3AM, which has been
happening a lot the last 3 weeks, forced myself to stay in bed until 4AM, got
up, and got ready to hit it again. I swam only 2300, but swam hard, and it felt
good, and then I ran again, ending on the track where I was really kicking it!
I wore my new magic shoes, which explains it. They are the best shoes EVER.
While I can’t find the rainbow ones anymore, I have another pair of “regular”
colored ones and I think I’ll buy some more, they are the most awesome shoes I’ve
ever run in. I got a massage at 2PM and
really needed it, even though I stretched after the swim and the run just
because I had the day off, and stretching as soon as I finish a workout is the
way to go when I have the time.
I think I went to sleep by 6:30 on Friday I was so tired
out. But I woke up by 3AM on Saturday just rarin’ to go, knowing this was my
last run for the week. I swam another 2200 just to get my swim yardage over
10,000 for the week, even though I’d planned only like 6,000. But since I’ve
become a much stronger swimmer, it is no big deal, and I want to keep up at
least 10,000 per week. My legs felt pretty good, no doubt from both stretching
and massage in the same day, but mentally I was a little toasty. Good thing a great runner I know, Larry,
showed up and got on the treadmill next to me. We had a fun conversation, and
at one point he told me that if a Kenyan trained me they wouldn’t make me lose
weight! I have been feeling like I’m in
pretty good weight/muscle mass right now, although I know there are people who
would call me skinny.
I was so happy to do that last run, but then when I figured
how much I’d done for the week it came to 63.8 miles, and I was thinking that
today maybe I should “even it out” so I got to 65. But, today was supposed to
be a rest day, and so it is, and I need to be off my feet. Although I have been
baking since 8AM and still have something else to cook today, did 3 loads of
laundry, miscellaneous cleaning, other personal stuff and I’m pretty tired.
I forgot to mention last night I took my brother out for
sushi for his birthday. I was so hungry I think I ate enough for 2 people
easily, even though just 2 ½ hours before I had to get a 6” Subway sandwich
even though I ate a huge salad for lunch. Yes, my metabolism is totally jacked
up, but I have to be watchful now since I am going to take a good rest week now
and then I won’t be going nutso on the volume for awhile.
I’m pretty happy with what I’ve accomplished, training-wise,
in the last 10 weeks, and think it has helped me build additional mental and
physical toughness. I know several people doing 100-day challenges and run
every day challenges, but I am not on that train because I know when I need to
take rest days and give myself some time to do other things. Hard to believe it’s
2012, but that means I am now officially training for an Ironman, and I’m
pretty darn sure I’m going to pony up for Ultraman Hawaii, assuming they let me
in! It’s all very exciting, and I am so
grateful that I am able to do all of this at this stage of my life.
I hope everyone has had a wondrous, magical, fulfilling
weekend!
