A Taste of Sparkle

Monday

3.5 mile run (10:00 pace)

It was super hard to get out the door for this run! I didn’t get out ’til around 6, which is really late for me. Even though I was dragging out the door and for the first few minutes, I got into a rhythm very quickly and this turned out to be a great run. More reinforcement that, even though the first few minutes may be agony, boring, or sore, the run usually turns into something positive.

Tuesday

10 min warm up, (4 min pick up, 2 min recovery, 3 min pick up, 1 min recovery) x 2, 5 min warm down

Ouch! This run was tough! I woke up feeling sick, but after breakfast felt well enough to get my scheduled run in. I decided to do short pick ups instead of a longer tempo run to go a little easier on my body. I made it through the warm up and the actual run fine, but started to not feel so well toward the end and didn’t get to jog my 10 minute warm down because I started feeling shivery and ill, so I walked instead. I don’t know what the right thing to do was in this case. Do you take the day off because you feel a tiny bit sick, but aren’t sure if you’re sick or just tired, or run, knowing that if you actually are getting sick, running may prolong the cold? It’s a tough call only made accurately in retrospect. Considering the rest of the week, I think this worked out okay.

Wednesday

Rest day

I went to bed at 4 am because I was up late watching the midnight premiere of Harry Potter. Nap > run. Enough said

Thursday

2 mile run (11:30 pace)

Blah. Today’s run wasn’t that great either. It was a combination of feeling tired and sick and the weather being far too humid. Must check the weather reports and if the humidity/heat levels are too high, run in the morning or late at night and shift my schedule as best I can to accommodate it.

Friday

Rest day!

I figured after yesterday, I’d give my body some extra time off so that it would definitely be able to carry me seven miles on Saturday.

Saturday

7 mile run (10:43 pace)

A great run! I wrote quite a long post about how exactly I fueled for my run, but in summary, what I did worked well! This is the longest I’ve ever run and I feel like I could have run more. The day after, I only have a little bit of muscle soreness – no pain. The only thing that bothered me on my run was that toward the end, my feet started to hurt a lot. They felt like they do when I’ve been shopping at the mall for five hours. This is going to be a problem in my race, since it’s 6 miles longer, so I have to experiment with new shoes or inserts or something. Anyone have any tips?

Oh, and another thing I ran into was some chafing – ouch! I got some GoldBond powder which fixed me right up, but I need to look into body glides or something for future long runs.

Sunday

Rest/possible yoga

A tiny bit sore from yesterday and I know some yoga/stretching would do me good, but this sick feeling is still lingering! I’m getting fed up, grr. I’ll probably push my to-do list off to the side for at least half an hour just to get some relaxing yoga poses in.

All in all, a good week. I didn’t feel 100%, but I’m proud of my long run.

What I Learned This Week:

• It almost always gets better after the first mile. Hang in there!
• If it’s going to be hot/humid, don’t run in the middle of the day! Nothing good can come of this!
• I have the mental toughness it takes to run long (even if I have the same annoying song stuck in my head for the entire 75 minutes).
• Fuel, especially water, is oh so important for feeling your best, and doing your best, while running.
• I am making running my half-marathon a reality!

The upcoming week:
Monday: 4 mile run
Tuesday: 7 x 400m at 5-k pace
Wednesday: 3 mile run
Thursday: Rest Day
Friday: 3 mile run at race pace
Saturday: 8 mile long run

Enjoy the last bit of your weekend!

Tip 247, from 1001 Pearls of Yoga Wisdom:

Stand firm When you’re feeling a lack of focus at work, think about the stabilizing qualites transmitted by standing asanas. Imagining yourself in one of the Warrior Poses will help to restore a focus to get you through the day.

With today’s to-do list approaching 20 items, I thought I would take a few minutes to recharge and recenter myself.

It’s easy for me to get stressed out and pretty much work myself up into a frenzy about things not getting done or not getting done right, thoughts about if I am prepared for this test or not, am I working on one class too much and getting behind in another, etc. – whew! It’s stressful just thinking about it.

I liked this “pearl” because as I’ve mentioned before, the Warrior series of poses are my favorite. While in them, I feel strong, confident, and capable. This pearl is somewhat revolutionary because it is such a simple, yet effective concept: you don’t actually have to be in the pose to feel like you are. Just something to think about, whether you’re catching up on work from the weekend or preparing to go back to work tomorrow.

This book has so many great little tips. It is great to just flip through and find the ‘pearl’ that applies to you in this moment.

My lunch today looked so photo-ready, so of course my camera would choose that exact time to run out of battery! I had a Gardenburger-hummus wrap with carrots (with almond butter, of course) and sugar snap peas. The colors made the plate really appealing and now I’ve got energy to continue chipping away at my to-do list Good luck with yours!

I broke my cereal + raisins + soy milk rut today!

Oats! I tried “It’s Not Just Oatmeal” by Cait’s Kitchen. The mix included (all organic) rolled oats, goji berries, cranberries, flaxseed meal, raw wheat germ, shelled hemp seeds, and cinnamon. Yum! I added a scoop of White Chocolate Wonder PB and an Adora chocolate calcium disk. It wasn’t my favorite cereal, but it was really good! The PB added a little bit of needed sweetness, as did the chocolate. The dried fruits were a great addition, and the hemp, flax, and wheat germ added protein to an otherwise carb-y meal. I would buy this again!

It took me almost two hours to fall asleep last night; I was extremely tired, but my head was spinning from my cold (?). Luckily, I slept in a bit and I feel much better today, just in time to spend the day studying for my upcoming midterms.

On the agenda today is some yoga and a Half-Marathon Week 4 re-cap post