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July 04, 2005
Lousy Long Run & Sandy Point
Happy Independence Day everyone! Hope you're enjoying your barbeques and fireworks. I'm at the office today, but I'm trying to look at it as a positive thing. I can do school work, Reserves planning, and rest up my body. I'd be inclined to exercise all day long if I were sitting around at home. My legs, neck, and back feel slightly beat up after this weekend's workouts, despite a complete day of rest on Friday.
Saturday morning I woke up at 5am to drive out to Arlington early and run 6 stealth (pre-SLR group) miles before everyone arrived. Although the meteorologists had predicted it would be less humid, I wasn't feeling it. My face was drenched within the first few minutes even with an overcast sky. I tried to take it real easy because I had 20 miles on the schedule and the Glover Archibald Trail isn't the easiest of routes to do this on (rocks, roots, hills, etc). Also, I switched around my 4th and 5th Pfitzinger weeks, as I never can get in all the miles with Reserve drill weekend with tending to the Marines' concerns and staying late for meetings with the Colonel and staff. Anyhow, the 6 miles were slow but fine, and I made sure to take a Gu to keep my blood sugar up. When we set out for the remaining 14 miles, I felt like we were going a slow enough long run pace. Yet by the time we came off Glover Archibald and onto Rock Creek Parkway, my legs and breathing were pooped. I couldn't figure out if it was the humidity or the scrambling around rocks and roots or a higher mileage week (than I've done in a while), but it was disheartening. The thoughts that ran through my mind included "What am I doing wrong?" and "I don't want this to be a repeat of the Austin training cycle." and "Maybe I should ditch tri training this season...it's too much with the marathon." I ended up jog-walking a significant portion of the last two miles because my legs felt absolutely dead. I felt like such a loser when I got back to Iwo Jima. I realize that everyone has bad days. I just tend to temporarily catastrophize when I have one until I remember that I do this for fun and love of the sport.
When I got home, I soaked in an ice bath for 20 minutes. I'm actually becoming fond of this ritual and occupy my chilly self with perusing catalogs and playing with my wind up solar radio. Afterward R. and I went to Target to pick up snacks and drinks for our Sunday adventure. This was ten times better than going to the grocery store because everything we wanted and needed was available in 3-4 aisles. Ten minutes flat we were out of there. And then we ate lunch at the sushi buffet. We were ecstatic at the sight of kimchee, which they hadn't had since late last year. I soooooooo wanted to SLN (Saturday Long Nap) when we returned home and was envious of R. and the cats snoozing away, but I needed to work on school projects. I finally finished up ~11pm and called it a night.
Sunday, we were up at 5:30am to pack our bikes and gear and meet up with our SLR friends A., E., and Ri. for an open water swim and road bike at Annapolis, an hour's trip away. Good thing we arrived early, as it was packed to capacity by 9:30 and the park police were turning people away. I had a great time swimming in the Bay, but I still got scared of drowning and had to hold onto R. when I got panicky. The other girls are neophyte triathletes but awesome swimmers and had no problems. We were starving afterward and enjoyed some PBJs, pretzels, and cookies while we prepped our bikes. We had to leave the park to find a suitable place to ride. It was hilly but beautiful and the breeze was so refreshing. I was disappointed later because had we turned another direction, we could have biked around the Naval Academy, which I think is a gorgeous campus. But A. had to get back for an evening party, and R. and I was exhausted anyway. My neck was even tired. I had a hard time holding it up at the dinner table. We had crabs for dinner, rented the movie Sideways, and called it an early night.
I had intended to lift at the gym before work this morning, but my workout schedule and insufficient sleep finally caught up. I slept for 10 hours and could have slept a few more hours. I'm still feeling groggy. Time to stretch and find something to eat.
Posted by Leilani at July 4, 2005 12:48 PM
Comments
Like you said, everyone has less than perfect days. Don't worry and take it bit by bit. No need to overanalyze a run, just see how it all progresses. Sleep tight!
Posted by: Nanda at July 5, 2005 11:04 PM
I'm sure it was just a combination of fatigue and heat/humidity. I hope you get some rest soon, I am tired just from reading about all your activities!
Posted by: Barb at July 7, 2005 08:52 PM