A Familiar Road

I got up at o’dark hundred to do my 12-mile run on Saturday morning.  I swear, the hockey season is really killing me on my long-run days.  Weekend games are common in travel hockey, since the teams really do “travel” for most of the games.  But wouldn’t you know it…just as the season really gets started and we spend every Saturday making an hour-long drive, my Saturday runs have been getting looooong.  In order for me to get the run in before we leave, I have to run early so that I can still make it to these far away hockey games.

Saturday’s was a twelve-mile run with 8 miles at race pace (9:55).  I plotted out a route around my neighborhood that would not only keep me from running on dirt roads (the footing is so unsure!) but would also take me to see some different sights, including my kids’ school. I love to go new places when I run, even if it’s places I drive by or through every day.  It’s just fun to see things differently when you’re running!

I was out before sunrise (again), and it was chilly—45 degrees!  I knew rain was coming, but it seemed like it was far enough away that I could get most of my run in before it it. Wrong. Within half a mile, I started feeling the drops, and within a mile, it was a good, solid rain.  Have I mentioned lately how much I hate being wet?!  I really wanted to turn around and go home, but I didn’t. I ran the next 8 miles as fast as I could, trying to dodge the cars and the raindrops (ha!).  Besides the cold rain, a real challenge was the wind, which was coming out of the west from 7-10 mph.  I know 10 mph doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re running straight into it, it’s pretty unpleasant!

Part of mile 5 and all of mile 6 were straight into the wind, and as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t maintain race pace for those miles—it was just too hard on my lungs!  I was only a little over, but I hated that I wasn’t keeping to my race pace goal.   When I was in mile 7, I saw that my total average was actually really close to 9:55, so of course, for mile 8, I had to pull out all the stops. 😉

 

 

Despite the rain and cold, I managed to come out ahead, and I ended with an overall average of 9:51 for those eight miles—go me!  I jogged the remaining four miles home, then had Jamie get a picture of my soaking wet self before we left for the hockey game.

 

 

I am actually more miserable than I look in this picture. 😉  The worst part was that my shoes and socks were soaked, too.

 

 

God, I hate being wet. 😛

Monday morning, when the alarm went off, I could hear the wind howl while I was lying in bed.  At that point, I absolutely, positively did not want to get up and do my 6×800 intervals.  Dear God, how I did not want to do them. I only managed to drag myself out of bed with the promise that I would make it five splits instead of six.  By the time I was dressed and had stretched, I was down to four. 😛  I did finally get out there and do the four splits, and the wind was as tough as I expected—according to my weather station, the gusts were 15-20 mph and frequent, coming out of the south and west.  I’m not sure how I managed to get the four half-mile intervals done, but I did, although it was my worst effort since I started doing intervals in June. 🙁

 

 

When I saw those splits, I knew that my body was tired.  I’ve been feeling it for a while, but I have really felt it in the last week.  Last week, I ran 24.5 miles…that’s my second-highest mileage ever, surpassed only by the last week of training leading up to the Chicago Half-Marathon.

Saturday morning, as I was finishing my run down the road that runs past my house, I was kind of mindlessly trying to dodge the big puddles in the road.

 

 

As I looked down at the asphalt, I was suddenly reminded of the times last winter when I was running on that same road, only instead of trying to dodge rain puddles, I was dodging ice patches.

 

 

It occurred to me at that moment that I have been running on this road 3-4 times per week almost continuously since April 2012.  That’s 18 months of training!!

After my not-so-great run on Monday, I looked down at that oh-so-familiar road again, and I decided I needed to give my body a break.  So, for the next couple of weeks before my final half-marathon of 2013, I’m going to do a self-imposed taper.  No more intervals or even “race pace” runs.  I’ll probably do another long run this Saturday (though not the 12 miles with 9 at RP that I was planning), and I know that I won’t be able to do a long run the following Saturday due to other commitments. I want to do a little “fun” running before I give it my all one last time this year for my November 10^th half, and I’m hopeful that it will be the rest I need to let me have a great final race. 🙂

Meanwhile, I want to share a couple of pictures because the colors have been amazing here in southeast Michigan this last week, and I’m dying because I just don’t have time to do a true fall color tour with my trusty camera. 😛  I did sneak in a few quick shots this week, although the lack of sun on both days has me a bit miffed.  The colors are pretty when it’s cloudy, but they’re downright awe-inspiring when it’s sunny!

 

 

That’s a shot of my dear, sweet son Jamie, still training for his 10k in November.  He’s so dedicated.  The other day we were talking about him possibly running the Corktown run with me next year to help encourage his brother to run.  I mentioned that the Shamrock Run was the very next week, and he might not be able to do a 5k the week before a 10k.   He replied, “Oh, come on, Mom…it’s only 3 miles.” 😉 Love it!!

 

 

Not my best shot, but definitely colorful! 🙂

So, have you ever gotten in an exercise “funk,” where you just feel like you’re totally “done” with it all? But you know you still have to keep training for your goal?  If you have, let me know how you handled it.  I could use some training motivation right now!! 🙂

Thanks for reading!