Wednesday Workout Update

I don't want to jinx myself, but I had another great run on Saturday!  It was a low-mileage run at only 4 miles (every few weeks we drop it down a bit, which is a nice break both mentally and physically), but each mile felt awesome.  Loretta and I ran at a good pace for mile one, and then?  We kept increasing our pace.  By the last mile, we were an entire minute faster than the first!  I have to say, we were running fast and by then we couldn't talk at all, which really is not what you're supposed to do on the Saturday runs - they're supposed to be a long, slow run where you are just getting time on your feet.  But the weather was pretty decent and we felt like going for the gusto, so we did.  It felt great to put everything into a run like that!

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I thought that Saturday run was weirdly good.  However, on Monday morning, Cary, Jeff, and I had 45 minutes on tap, in disgusting weather - it was so hot and humid that there was fog.  Gross, right?  Once again, we had a strong run!  We were going pretty fast for me, and I did end up with a side stitch for about the last mile, but I kept running to the end, thanks to some healthy encouragement from Cary.  I know my runs will not always be this good, but it's very nice to have these in the mental bank for when the bad running days roll around.

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Last month I ran 48 miles and walked 16 miles, and I went to Planet Fitness 18 times.  Whew!  My vain side hopes some of this effort is making a difference in how I look.  Honestly, some days I think "yeah, there's a difference" and then others I just feel like a blob.  I suspect that's pretty common with everyone.  At least I know it's making a difference in how I feel, so I'm very happy about that.

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One of my jobs as organizer for our running club is to come up with all of the routes for our Saturday long runs.  It's a bit of a task, as this year I'm trying to route three different groups all in the same direction, along with avoiding certain roads because of high traffic or no sidewalks.  I finally finished everything for the season - the half group goes up to 12 miles, while the full group goes up to 21 miles, and there's a variety so it's not the same direction/route each week.  I felt good and confident about the distances that I knew were coming for me to run as well.  Then, out of curiosity, I checked the routes for the upcoming 10K and 10 mile races that we'll be doing as part of our training, and I instantly felt that familiar-yet-unwelcome anxiety wash over me.   I don't know if it's the thought of a race, or the routes themselves, but I sure wish I could get over this!  And the funny thing is that I don't feel anxious when I look at the race routes for the half marathons that are coming up - nope, just these practice races.  I frustrate myself sometimes, I really do.

Other than the mental stuff, training for the half marathons in December and January is going well.  So there's that?  Sheesh.