I looked at my calendar and counted the number of weeks since Lent began: 3 weeks. Three weeks!!! I counted again because there's no way that was right...except it was. Three weeks of no sugar. I've been holding out, but it sure seems like a lot longer than three weeks! A few Lent victories:
At dinner last week my husband shoved a chocolate chip cookie over to me and said "Here you go" as serious as could be. I just looked at him. Then he realized his mistake and sheepishly ate the cookie himself.
A few days ago I was cleaning up in the kitchen and came across one last piece of coffee cake the neighbors had sent over. No one was around. I was very tempted. I even went as far as removing the cake from the box and holding it up to my mouth. But then I came to my senses and threw it in the trash.
I found a peppermint patty in my purse yesterday. I threw it straight away.
So, it's going. Is it bad that I'm planning on eating about a dozen Cadbury eggs on Easter Sunday???
On another note, I recently saw this Humans of New York post on Facebook:
At dinner last week my husband shoved a chocolate chip cookie over to me and said "Here you go" as serious as could be. I just looked at him. Then he realized his mistake and sheepishly ate the cookie himself.
A few days ago I was cleaning up in the kitchen and came across one last piece of coffee cake the neighbors had sent over. No one was around. I was very tempted. I even went as far as removing the cake from the box and holding it up to my mouth. But then I came to my senses and threw it in the trash.
I found a peppermint patty in my purse yesterday. I threw it straight away.
So, it's going. Is it bad that I'm planning on eating about a dozen Cadbury eggs on Easter Sunday???
On another note, I recently saw this Humans of New York post on Facebook:
1. The guy didn’t start running until he was 51 years old!!! Then he proceeded to run a marathon every year for
the next seventeen years, so he was running marathons up until the age of 68!!!
How awesome is that?? It just goes to show that it’s NEVER too late to try
something new, and that something new could just be the thing you need to turn
your life around.
2. The guy is now in his 90s and walks ten miles every day, all because
he started running forty years ago. Pretty cool!
3. He found redemption in running. I love this. The power of running to
restore your soul. The power of running to add meaning to your life. It speaks
to my heart, because I know so well how running can change you.
Here's how last week's training went:
Monday – Cross-train
Swim practice (1 hour)
We worked on flip turns for the last 15-20 minutes of practice. I had
learned how to do them a while back, but had not mastered them; and a
combination of being a lazy swimmer and simply not having a need for flip turns
(our masters swim team does not compete, and any swim event I would compete in
on my own in the future would either be open water or not mandate flip turns)
results in my never attempting them (I just touch the wall and turn around
above the water when I do laps). So, my flip turns are awful, but I’m working
on it.
Tuesday - Speed work
6 x 800 in 3:17 w/ 90 sec RI
Oh my goodness this workout was awful. Keith, God love him, suffered
alongside me for this one. It was pretty painful. We did a one-mile warmup and
then got to it. Here’s how it played out:
Split 1 – 3:23
Split 2 – 3:19
Split 3 – 3:16
Split 4 – 3:18
Split 5 – 3:18
Split 6 – 3:14
Most of the splits show just a tad over goal pace, but they all measured
at .51 (instead of .5), so they were also just a tad long. I need to learn how
to use the “workout” feature on my Garmin so the distance and splits will be
more accurate. Normally just starting
and stopping my watch for the speed intervals and not running it during the
rest intervals is fine because the rest intervals are measured in distance
(i.e. 400 meter rest interval, which is one lap around the track)—but for this
workout the rest intervals were measured in time (90 seconds), so in addition
to starting/stopping my watch for the speed intervals I was also
starting/stopping it to time the rest intervals. Which meant a lot of fumbling
with the watch, delayed starts on the intervals, and inaccurate distance (we
started each speed interval from a different spot on the track, and not always
at a measured spot).
Even though some of the splits were technically off-pace, the overall
pace for the combined splits was 3:12.
So, yeah—not fun. I think this was the hardest speed workout to date. I
felt okay until the 4th repeat, and then I commented to Keith that I
was concerned I might not be able to make the rest of the splits. He reminded
me to run the current split, then worry about the next. So that’s what we did.
It wasn’t pretty, but we made it! Normally when I get to the end of a speed
workout, I just slow my pace and transition straight into cool-down. Not this time. This time, as soon as I finished the last
split I immediately stopped and bent over and panted for several minutes with
my hands on my knees. The only thing that stopped me from out-and-out
collapsing on the track was the fact that there were students on the infield
and I didn’t want to look like a wimp in front of anyone who might recognize me—haha!!
After we got ourselves together, we did about a half-mile or so cool-down. We
did this run at lunch so then we had to go back to work. Ouch.
Wednesday – Cross-train
30 min. strength/core
Lap swim – 1800 yards (a little over a mile, in about 50 min.)
I’m still easing back into the long swim after missing so much the
previous few weeks, so I did this swim in 6 sets of 300, with a minute or so in
between sets. Keith was there and we got to chat a during our rest breaks—but
not much because if I rested too long I started to freeze!
Thursday – Tempo
1 mi. easy, 6 @ 7:38, 1 mi. easy
Tempo splits: 7:42, 7:39, 7:42, 7:35, 7:42, 7:31
Total miles = 8 @ 7:53
Keith came along for this ride as well : ) The tempo portion of the run was supposed to
have been @ 7:53, so we were ahead of pace. I was surprised that this run went
as well as it did, because I hadn’t felt well all day—cough, stuffy nose, a
little achy—and I really didn’t feel like running; plus, it was a cold and windy
day, and the push-back from the wind was rough. At one point, once we turned
out of the wind I went from feeling like I was putting every single ounce of
energy and effort towards a 7:38 pace to cruising along at a 7:20 pace like it
was a 9:00 effort. It was a solid tempo, pretty evenly paced and I felt strong
for the duration.
Friday – Cross-train
Elliptical (30 min.)
I was having a hard time getting up and going Friday morning and didn’t
leave enough time before work to do a full 10K. I think it ended up being a
little over 3 miles.
Saturday – Rest
Sunday – Long run
13 @ 8:13
This run was a pleasant surprise. All week I had thought this run was
17 @ 8:40. Before bed, I spent time prepping my hydration and fuel and laying
everything out, and had my route all planned. Sunday morning I got up, got
dressed, ate and drank as if I was running long, but then when I got ready to
head out the door I decided to check my training plan real quick to
double-check the pace. That’s when I realized it really wasn’t a long run but
just 13 miles!! The pace was faster—8:27/mile instead of 8:40/mile—but I was
happy that I didn’t have to wear the water belt or worry about fuel. (I don’t
use GUs or anything unless I’m running more than 13-14 miles, and the
temperature was in the mid-40s so I knew I wouldn’t be sweating a lot; and I
know where to find water along the route if I needed it.) I did a quick
re-calculation of my route and set out. It was a really sunny day and the
temperature was perfect, though it was a bit windy. A few miles were a little
slow, but overall the run felt great and I was SO GLAD for the opportunity to
rest a little. My previous training cycles always included a shorter long run
of 13 miles every other week—so I would “run long” (starting at 16 miles and
building up to 20-24 over the course of the cycle) and then have a “cut back”
week where, the weekend after a long run, I would run just 13 miles; then bump
back up the next weekend, and cut back the following weekend; and so on. For this
training cycle, every long run is just that—LONG. So this is something new for
me and it has taken some getting used to. Each and every weekend I have to be mentally
prepared for a lot of miles at once, which takes its toll almost as much as the
physical exertion of running those miles; whereas before I always had the
mental break every other week as well as a physical break, because of the
shorter long run. I knew there was a shorter long run about halfway through the
cycle, but I let it sneak up on me—and I was very glad for the break, mentally
as well as physically.
Next week will be the halfway point—woohoo!
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