We last left our heroine as she was dealing with all of her emotions regarding the new President of the United States, not wanting to learn anything from "The Bachelor" and re-discovering how much dedication it takes to actually incorporate a race training plan into her life. Would she succeed in getting in four runs in one week?!?
Wednesday, she had decided to take a rest day in hope that a man she liked would finally come through on his suggestion of actually going on a date, despite deep down knowing he was keeping her on his back burner, like he had been doing since early December. Finally having confirmation of her intuition by Thursday afternoon (she really needs to actually take notice of those "Bachelor" dating lessons), she found herself needing the quick two mile run. It was a fairly decent day for an outside run, however, her gym bag was packed for an indoor run and Polar Polly was MIA, so to the treadmill it was! A rare second occupant in the usually empty community center gym and a missing set of headphones - doh! - meant all she had was her thoughts to get her through a TM run.
Trying to resist the urge to speed up the belt to just get it over with, she let each step take away the hurt and wounded pride of the previous 6 weeks. Even though every half mile felt like a full mile, she soon found herself with 2.09 miles in 26:14 and with some feelings worked out.
Friday, however, was the revenge of emotions and any good intentions of a strength training workout went out the door. There was crying, margartitas and chips and salsa and the 1963 make of "Cleopatra", which distracted her a little because, well, it's "Cleopatra". And there was absolutely nothing planned for the entire weekend, so plenty of time to get a workout in.
When Saturday morning arrived, and Jeff the dog had his workout, our heroine put on her new strength training program from The Daily Burn called TBT (Tactical Bodyweight Training), which is supposed to strengthen and increase one's mobility. Seemed like a perfect fit for our heroine's goals.
And then ... it kicked her right square in the a$$. The planned two miler immediately after the program was deemed impossible because her legs were shaking so much. So, she rested, entertained the dog and decided Jeff wouldn't mind a short little jog. Taking Jeff along also meant a lot of sniff and pee stops, which seemed like an okay thing. It was a lovely afternoon for a trot, and our heroine and Jeff knocked out 2.19 music-less miles in 26:36.
Sunday, our heroine had 5 miles on her training schedule - the longest distance planned so far since her hip surgery. Knowing there was a Sunday Runday club at the LRS rather close to her house, she knew that was the best chance for her to get the run in before a busy day took over things.
The 6:10 wake up call was the earliest Sunday wake up call she'd had in a long time. It wasn't summer time, and there hadn't been a need to get in a long run before the heat in so long that this really was rare. Plus, there was the new experience of blackout curtains in her bedroom that made it oh-so-easy to sleep in almost any day.
Luckily, Jeff the dog got her out of bed and prepped for the run. She made it with 2 minutes to spare, and set out with the run group. After the first mile, she tucked in with a group of 3 women who were running the perfect pace - 12's - that she was able to follow to the 2 mile aid station. During that, there was a long, long downhill in which one of the women remarked "I love downhills" and all our heroine could think was "This is going to suck on the way back". While the women stopped at the 2 mile aid station, our heroine continued on, wanting to get the additional mile before stopping for a bit of water and Gatorade.
The return up that long hill did indeed suck, and yesterday's intense body weight workout caught up with her and a short walk break was needed in the middle of that damn hill. However, our heroine was soon on the run again, trying to keep pace and not speed up to catch a faster person that had passed her on their own way back to the LRS.
With less than half a mile to go, the run stupids were in full effect and our heroine made a turn a block before she was supposed to. Oh well, at least she knew the neighborhood and was able to find her way back to the LRS with no problem. By the time she was done, 5.16 miles had been accumulated in 62 minutes, a 12:05 average pace. Pretty darn good, if you ask her.
This morning, our heroine's legs are completely trashed and begging for a recovery yoga session, which they will get. Her hip, Mary Jane? She has no complaints whatsoever.
Stay tuned for our next episode, same run time, same run blog.
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