I feel like my first paragraph should read “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah….”  My training runs have been so-so, at best, since Ragnar.  Adequate, but not exciting; and certainly nothing compared to this summer.

Training this summer was going phenomenally well until the Thursday after the Leesburg 20K in mid-August, when I got my first of several little injuries.  I’m using the word injury loosely, because other than my left foot, everything else has been more of an aggravation than an injury.  Yet they happened, and my training hasn’t been the same since.

  • Could it be that I’m being overly cautious, and a younger Deb would have brushed those twinges off without a second thought?
  • Could I be that I’m suffering from training burnout a few weeks before I had hoped to peak for my big race of the season?
  • Could it be that I’m taking my tapering too seriously, and started too early? (I kid)
  • Could I just be lazy?
  • Could it be nothing, and I’m over-analyzing?

Whatever the case, I can’t wait to get this race behind me, so I can chill as I simply enjoy the last two months of the year, and run for the simple sake of loving to run.  Yes, I have two more races, but they are both going to be approached as fun runs, and I’ll run them depending on how I feel the morning of the race.

Soooo, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, here’s my training recap from last week…

Monday
On Monday I arrived at the wellness center early to get a little workout in before my client arrived.  It wasn’t a hard workout, but I felt like doing something besides running, so I did!  My plan is to get back into serious lifting again after my Hokie Half on Sunday.  My stitches are out, and both arms are healed, so I’m free to lift again; I just didn’t want to start up hard again just before my race.

Tuesday
My MRTT girlfriends and I met on Tuesday morning at 5:15 AM for hill repeats.  We ran a 3-mile warm-up and then hit the hills.  I ran a total of 14 repeats and ended up with 8 miles total at a 10:14 pace.  It was a bit slower than my summer hill repeat workouts, and I do feel that I’ve lost a little strength and speed since the summer.

Wednesday
Some of my MRTT friends started a Plank Challenge for October, and I decided to join in on the fun.  I started off easy and kept my first plank to 1:00, and held the second plank for 1:30.  My goal it to do two 3-minute planks on my last day.  We’ll see…

Thursday
We had five of our regulars meet on Thursday morning for a pretty steadily paced 6-mile run (9:07 average pace).  Until we switch back to Eastern Standard Time, our morning runs will be completely in the dark.  It’s good that I bought a reflective vest, Knuckle Lights, and a tail light for Ragnar DC.  I’ve been putting them to good use these last few weeks.

ThursdayMorningMRTTLegs

Friday
Other than doing two planks (2:00 each), Friday was a rest day.

Saturday
Saturday morning I had a fun 8-mile run at an average 9:06 pace with my MRTT friends.  I recapped our run on Saturday, so if you missed it, you can click back and read it.

SaturdayRunCollage

Before we left the trail, we decided that beautiful shoes call for a shoe selfie!

SaturdayPostRunShoeSelfie

Sunday
Bill and I headed out for a walk on Sunday afternoon that turned into a video making project for Bill.  He shot a few different clips of me running, and put them together with music from Of Monsters and Men.  Here’s his finished product!

 

So what do you think of our short little video?

 

Total weekly workouts:
Running – 22 miles
Run/walk – 0 miles
Walking – 0 miles
Lifting – 1 hour
Planks – 8 (longest 2:00)

 

  • Questions:
  • What is the earliest you’ve gone out on a training run? ~ Bill and I ran at 4:30 AM before his brother’s wedding a few years ago.
  • Have you ever done a plank, squat, push-up, etc. challenge?
  • Who raced this weekend?