Here we go, day 3 of my self-imposed 30 day writing challenge. Today’s post is dedicated to the amazing moon I ran under this morning, though my picture doesn’t do it justice.
In prep for my 5k this upcoming Sunday, this morning’s workout included some speed work to get my legs ready. My workout went something like this:
2 mile warm up
3 x 800m at race pace with 200m recoveries
600m jog
4 x 200m below race pace with 200m recoveries
2 mile cool down
My average time for the 800ms repeats was 3:21, which was my target, and my average for the 200m’s was 0:46 (also my target), so I’m going to call this workout a success. The 800m repeats felt oddly difficult, but then I felt surprisingly strong on the 200m repeats, so I suppose that’s a good sign? I’m nervous about the 5k after feeling like I was working pretty hard for those 800’s, but I’m pretty sure this is how most pre-race workouts go. You question your ability to run fast, because your last workout before a race always feels difficult. Doesn’t matter what distance, they all seem insurmountable within the final 96 hours. Also, it was dark and 20 degrees this morning, which will not be the conditions I’ll be racing in this weekend, or at least not in the dark anyway. I threw in about 10-15 minutes of strength work on the end of this whole shebang, which also helped me force myself to stretch a little.
I’m crossing my fingers for a better race than last month, and by that I mostly mean a better course and better crowd support…though I’d be okay with simply a better course and a better executed race. I mean, I don’t want to push the limits of what the universe can offer up. Even though the shorter distances are still intimidating for this half marathon loving gal, I will say that I love feeling much less pressure to get my pre-race night and morning exactly right, which is to say that I don’t feel as much pressure to eat the “right” thing, etc. if I’m only gutting out 3.1 miles versus 13.1. It’s like a mini version of race prep; pick and choose your favorite parts and don’t sweat the rest. Okay, who am I kidding? We all know I’ll have the same dinner I eat before all my races, but I will be less worried about feeling 100% when I wake up the morning of.
The bulk of my preparation will be mental, and I’ve been trying to keep at the forefront of my thoughts how much the last half of my last 5k hurt. How badly did I want to throw in the towel at mile 2? Pretty damn badly. Will I ever run a race again that lists “urban trail” as part of its course loop? Hell no. Am I complaining about the free wine samples at the end? You got me there. That was okay. I am looking forward to getting more experience with the 5k’s and learning how they should feel, so in theory I should be learning how to shoulder the mental side of pushing through them.
The rest of my day, so far, has been much less exciting than my run this morning, though there is beef stew currently, um, stewing in my crock pot at home. The only thing standing between me and dinner is a ladle and a bowl, well, plus the 16 snacks I’ll have before then. You know how people do those “what’s in my purse” posts? I think my version would be more like “what snacks are in my desk drawers.”
If you’ve found your way here, thanks for reading my ramble.
See you tomorrow,
Sarah
