"I just wanna take it nice and slow."
~Usher
The build up of the first three weeks of marathon training was good and tough. Hard enough to make me realize that shit just got real but not so hard that I was left wondering how I'll get through the next build up, but I welcomed Week 4's drop in mileage and intensity with welcome arms.
MONDAY
4 easy
This amazing team of mine is all over the map when it comes to where we live and work, as well as our family responsibilities. Since the three others are part of the J&A Fall Training Team, they get to run with each other most Saturdays, whereas I've got a husband with a triathlon training schedule to consider and can't make those long runs (or the $2 mimosas that follow...boo!). Being able to run with two of out of my three teammates early Monday morning was such a treat. The dewpoint, however, was not. 4 disgustingly sticky miles to go along with 4 times up and over the Rudee Inlet bridge was a great way to start the week.
TUESDAY
7 easy
.
With lightning and low rumbles of thunder off in the distance, I started this run nice and dry. Less than a mile into it, the skies opened up and dumped on me. These rainy summer runs feel so good because it takes the suckage out of the humidity just a bit. We won't talk about what they do to my hair though. The rain only lasted long enough to make my shoes feel like bricks and it was back to uncomfortable humidity.
I've gotten into the habit of carrying my phone with me on all my runs...you never know when you'll need to send out a mayday, and sometimes I'll listen to music. Thankfully I brought my ear buds along on this run because I was struggling. Motivation was low and I wanted to be done before I was even halfway through my miles. The rain had started up again, but I found shelter under a big tree and got my music up and running. Salt n Pepa radio on Pandora was the cure for what ailed me, and I finished the run and checked the box.
WEDNESDAY
Rest (in this case, walk 6 miles and climb countless flights of stairs at Water Country USA)
I originally planned to do my 7 miler on Wednesday, but I thought it unwise to do all that and then walk around Water Country all day during what was supposed to be an easy week for training. Good thing I shuffled my workouts around a bit because this little birthday girl was up way earlier than usual and I would've been so bummed if I wasn't home when she got up. We had a great day riding water slides and eating churros, and I enjoyed a refreshing Big Wave Golden Ale from Kona Brewing Company...we went there on our honeymoon and I've had a soft spot for it ever since.
THURSDAY
4 easy
This run was exactly that...meh. Nothing fun. Nothing exciting. Nothing earth shattering. Just ran some miles.
FRIDAY
Yoga
Tony Horton's tip of the day on the P90X3 yoga video is simply, "Don't skip this." And I don't.
SATURDAY
ASYMCA Mud Run 8K
My bad ass babies. Yes, I know Brynn's almost as tall as I am. She's also wearing my shoes. Be quiet.
I'm not gonna lie...I was not looking forward to this race. Ryan had done it a few times but this was my first one. The thought of running an 8k on a course comprised of mostly soft sand gave me agida, but we registered as a team - Psilent But Deadly - and believing we had the potential to finish on top was enough to make this buttercup suck it up.
The running gods smiled upon me on Saturday with rain all morning...it helped pack the sand down a little bit and kept the heat from getting to be too much for me to handle. But this race was still so hard. I didn't realize there'd be so many hills of soft sand to climb, and it was nuts to feel how unresponsive my legs seemed to be as I tried to power up them. At one point about halfway through, we were running through some grass and my left quad started talking to me...it felt like it wanted to cramp up and I was terrified of it locking up going down one of those sandy hills. Thankfully it worked itself out over the next half mile or so and I was able to get through the course without any sort of peg legging.
We were in the 4th wave of runners and didn't know if there were any couples in the waves ahead of us, so we just kept another couple in our wave in our sights for the entire race. They had been a bit ahead of us for most of the race, but the guy - a self-proclaimed "fat and old" guy (who turned out to be 4 years younger than me and Ryan) - started to fade and we reeled him right in. The rules were that couples and teams had to finish within 10 seconds of each other, so even though his strong ass chick was way ahead of him, she held up before the finish line so they'd finish together. They crossed about 10 seconds after us, and Psilent But Deadly ended up going home as champions.
I'm not gonna lie...I was not looking forward to this race. Ryan had done it a few times but this was my first one. The thought of running an 8k on a course comprised of mostly soft sand gave me agida, but we registered as a team - Psilent But Deadly - and believing we had the potential to finish on top was enough to make this buttercup suck it up.
The running gods smiled upon me on Saturday with rain all morning...it helped pack the sand down a little bit and kept the heat from getting to be too much for me to handle. But this race was still so hard. I didn't realize there'd be so many hills of soft sand to climb, and it was nuts to feel how unresponsive my legs seemed to be as I tried to power up them. At one point about halfway through, we were running through some grass and my left quad started talking to me...it felt like it wanted to cramp up and I was terrified of it locking up going down one of those sandy hills. Thankfully it worked itself out over the next half mile or so and I was able to get through the course without any sort of peg legging.
We were in the 4th wave of runners and didn't know if there were any couples in the waves ahead of us, so we just kept another couple in our wave in our sights for the entire race. They had been a bit ahead of us for most of the race, but the guy - a self-proclaimed "fat and old" guy (who turned out to be 4 years younger than me and Ryan) - started to fade and we reeled him right in. The rules were that couples and teams had to finish within 10 seconds of each other, so even though his strong ass chick was way ahead of him, she held up before the finish line so they'd finish together. They crossed about 10 seconds after us, and Psilent But Deadly ended up going home as champions.
The rain was on and off during the 8k, and as we waited for the start of the kids' mini mud mile, some more serious weather moved on in. Lightning strikes gave them a 30 minute delay, so we took cover under a picnic shelter and enjoyed pizza, slurpees, and beer while we waited for an all clear that never came. The kids' race was cancelled and we made our way back to the car, stomping through puddles and making the best of it all the while.
SUNDAY
Rest
I woke up Sunday feeling better than I thought I would after the mud run. I expected to be sore in places I didn't know existed, but it wasn't too bad. So much so that it took some discipline on my part not to get started on Week 5's miles on Sunday. The cut back week did its job, and I went into Week 5 feeling ready to go...what a nice little reminder to trust the process.
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