Actually, the tetanus shot happened yesterday, and I still did speedwork. The shot was purely preventative, I didn't step on a nail or anything, but man, does my upper left arm hurt! I'm such a baby. My arm actually felt better while I was running (helped by the blood flow to my muscles?), but now it hurts. Whine whine whine.
Ok, time to stop whining. Speedwork went pretty well last night. It was hard. I did 5x800 meters with 400 meter rest intervals. My goal for each 800 was 4:05. I think I hit 4:05 on my last one, after very consciously thinking about slowing down! The previous 4 800s ranged in time from 3:57 to 4:02. Oops. :) Ordinarily, I'd be thrilled to be coming in under the goal time, but the FIRST guys are quite clear that you don't want to stray from the prescribed paces by even one second. Otherwise, you risk wearing yourself out for the next interval, even the next workout. I've really been focusing on using my arms during running, though, and I wonder if perhaps that is helping me to go faster? I also try to really work on the rest of my form during speedwork, paying attention to my legs and my feet and just my whole body. I think it helps to distract me from the stress of speedwork, but it's also a good chance for me to check in. I really need to do that more often.
Oh yeah, so my last post was about how I felt that keeping a food journal was neurotic. Well, I got weighed at the doctor's office yesterday, and I found out that I've lost 8 pounds! That's pretty cool. Of course, I'm sure I gained most of it back with my dinner from Burrito Loco, but at least I started at a lower point before dinner. :)
In all honesty, I don't think I've been taking training as seriously since I dropped my plans for the half marathon. It's been too easy to let school or life or weather or fatigue get in the way. I've been doing my yoga and my Pilates, and I've walked home from work a couple of times, but it's been hard to get out and run, strangely. I experienced this around New Year's, too. The FIRST program is intense, and I can see how it could lead to burnout. I'm really trying to avoid that, but I can feel it coming on. Kind of like with studying for physiology, I guess my only choice is to dig in and work even harder.
Speaking of physiology, I should find out about MCTC's nursing program in a couple of weeks. Eek! I'm not expecting to get in, but I could be pleasantly surprised. I guess we'll see what happens...
Tomorrow, it is supposed to snow and snow and snow. I was planning on skipping the tempo run, but then I remembed the good ol’ treadmill. I don’t think I can do a 7 mile tempo run without falling off, but I’ll aim for 5 and mix up the pace enough. Or maybe I’ll be adventurous and go run in the blizzard. It could be fun!
I’ve started keeping track of my “cross-training” in my Runnersworld.com training log. My cross-training thus far is walking home from work 2-3 days a week (it’s about 3 miles), and my Pilates and yoga. You can’t really track the Pilates or yoga—I’ve been entering it as strength-training. Which it is! But it’s good to see on the calendar that I’ve been doing it.
posted by Lola @ 6:27 PM
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