TGIF

My 20 mile run on Sunday wasn’t even comparable to my 18 mile run the week before.  When I reached mile 18 two weeks ago, there would have been no problem for me to push on and do a full marathon that day.  I felt so strong, so confident, and as if I could go on and on.  Although I did finish the 20 mile run last Sunday strong, I was not feeling like I could have gone on to run six more miles that day.  Monday was a rest day (THANK GOD) and I blogged about how tough my run on Tuesday was.  Well, Wednesday was worse! 

Usually I get up early, before work and get my run done.  It took everything out of me to get out of bed on Wednesday and get ready for work.  The thought of running nine miles before 6am was NOT HAPPENING. Lucky for me, Wednesday ended up being one of the most hectic morning and days that I’ve experienced in a long time.  I was running late for almost everything, I forgot to pack my lunch, I forgot Aaden’s swim gear, and the list goes on and on (I partially blame this on the fact that I didn’t run).  Although I was able to fit my nine mile easy run in later that evening, it was not a great one.  I was tired, feeling lazy, bloated, and my music was doing absolutely nothing for me! 

Despite the terror that my run would be as terrible as Wednesdays, I got my booty out of bed at 4:30am to run ten miles before the busy Friday would begin.  I chose to run without my music today because I’ve read that after a while you can become desensitized to the motivating effects that music has to offer and should use it wisely.  My goal today was to run seven miles at my target marathon pace and the other three miles would be a warm up and cool down. 

The run was wonderful!  It was a beautiful morning, the birds were chirping, the sun was rising, and I was feeling like myself again!  I was able to keep my marathon target pace consistent for seven miles feeling strong and I was thankful for the two mile cool down for it felt like a piece of cake!  My morning went smoothly having not forgotten any of Aaden’s things and managing to get him to daycare on time and myself to work on time.

There’s about four to five days a month that I am not only a total spitfire to all the people I love, but I find it very difficult to train and feel strong and successful.  I feel very negative and my body is usually physically and emotionally drained and if I were going to throw the towel in on all this marathon training, it would happen during this four to five day time period.  For this reason,  I think it’s important for women to recognize this, read about it, educate themselves, and be familiar with their body and the physiological changes that occur.  Understanding that there is a light at the end of the tunnel can help prevent some of us from giving up!

Time: 1:32:31
Distance: 10.04 miles
Pace: 9.11 per mile