Yesterday's task: 1 mile easy, 5 miles @7:30 min/mile, 1 mile easy
Yesterday's weather: 50ish degrees, wind in my face in every direction but north (is that possible?)
Yesterday's outcome: 1 mile easy, 5 miles @7:32 min/mile, 1 mile easy (7:41 min/mile pace overall)
I'm not one to make New Year's Resolutions. I don't think there's anything I should promise myself on January 1st that I couldn't have promised on December 31st or August 12th or any other day of the year. That's just me. Going out for a run on New Year's Day had nothing to do with resolutions, but instead the plan outlined for me on my training schedule. We had a very low key New Year's Eve in our sweat pants, and I knew I had a tough run ahead of me the next day, so I limited myself to one alcoholic beverage (which was mostly chocolate milk anyway!). I woke up with the kids at 8am (second time in a week I slept until 8...do you hear the angels singing?), put on my running clothes, and made pancakes while waiting for Ryan to get back from his run. Somewhere in the process, my lingering neck pain went from bad to worse, and I was wondering if I'd get my miles in at all. I went to Plan B, which was to pop some ibuprofen and wait for them to kick in before attempting 7 miles. In the meantime, I did some laundry and cleaned the girls' bathroom (they're adorable, but so so messy!). Not how I envisioned the first morning of 2014 to go, but seeing their bathroom sparkle (even if for just 5 minutes before they find a way to get toothpaste everywhere) made it all ok.
With my neck feeling somewhat better, I headed out to tackle that tempo run. Let's just say it was an out of body experience, and not in a good way! It was as though after the ball dropped in Times Square, an evil wizard swapped my body out for that of say, Bea Arthur.
I felt uncomfortable and awkward. My neck was stiff, my left hamstring felt like it was balled up, and both hips were just plain tight. I had lots of crap in my throat, and trying to cough it up was torture on my sore neck. Not being able to turn my head to spit wasn't pretty, and my ability to look for little things like oncoming traffic was severely impaired. The wind seemed to be in my face in almost every direction I ran, which just added to the hardship. Each mile I conquered during the tempo portion made me wonder how I was going to complete the rest. All I could think about was how crappy I felt and how disappointing this first run of a new year was turning out to be.
When I got home and calculated my paces, I started seeing the bright side. I was only 2 seconds over my target pace for the tempo, and I can't be disappointed with that considering how I was feeling. While the rest of my body was probably worse for the wear, my neck felt a little looser and less painful. Pity party over, on with the day.
I woke up today with my neck feeling better than it has all week, and I skipped my chest and back workout this morning to make sure it stays that way. Hopefully with a little more TLC and two full days off of running, my body will go back to feeling like my own before Saturday's 14 miler.
With my neck feeling somewhat better, I headed out to tackle that tempo run. Let's just say it was an out of body experience, and not in a good way! It was as though after the ball dropped in Times Square, an evil wizard swapped my body out for that of say, Bea Arthur.
I felt uncomfortable and awkward. My neck was stiff, my left hamstring felt like it was balled up, and both hips were just plain tight. I had lots of crap in my throat, and trying to cough it up was torture on my sore neck. Not being able to turn my head to spit wasn't pretty, and my ability to look for little things like oncoming traffic was severely impaired. The wind seemed to be in my face in almost every direction I ran, which just added to the hardship. Each mile I conquered during the tempo portion made me wonder how I was going to complete the rest. All I could think about was how crappy I felt and how disappointing this first run of a new year was turning out to be.
When I got home and calculated my paces, I started seeing the bright side. I was only 2 seconds over my target pace for the tempo, and I can't be disappointed with that considering how I was feeling. While the rest of my body was probably worse for the wear, my neck felt a little looser and less painful. Pity party over, on with the day.
I woke up today with my neck feeling better than it has all week, and I skipped my chest and back workout this morning to make sure it stays that way. Hopefully with a little more TLC and two full days off of running, my body will go back to feeling like my own before Saturday's 14 miler.
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