This has been a pretty good week for me both mentally and physically! Mentally, I have had to focus on training for the triathlon as well as the half marathon. I have "made time" to fit in the other disciplines. Weather it was between birthday parties, before work, after work, with the family watching TV, I was able to fit it in. We had three track meets this week as well and I was able to fit it all in. I am maybe going to get one more tide in today if I can!
Another physical obstacle I conquered this week was on the track. I used to think that track people were absolutely, certifiably CRAZY! I would hear of the doing 20 x 400 yards and 10 x 800's? What, sprinting that far, that is NUTS! During my training, the plan has been calling for Yasso 800's. These are a challenge, you take you mile time, split them in half and that is what you run your 800's in. We started with 2 of them, that is not bad at all. This week we hit 8, that is right 8 of them! I was not sure how I would handle all this. Katie G. and I took off and did some good warm ups and then got after 8 x 800! By the time 6, 7, and 8 rolled around, my times were getting faster. Why? I am not sure of that, maybe more focus because I was tired or because I was just getting warmed up? Who knows? What I do know, I finished these and tacked on another mile or so for cool down. I was amazed that I could actually do this. It is amazing what YOU CAN do when you tell your mind you are going to do it. Mind over matter, I think is how the saying goes! I do not like track workouts all that much but I am actually looking forward to running 10 of these. 10 x 800's, CRAZY, but I can see the benefits of these. Last Saturday, I ran my best 5k ever and I think it has a lot to do with the 800's. I needed that last week, now, I have moved in to a mental place I like to be while running, knowing I CAN succeed at whatever I set out to do!
Physically right now, I am feeling pretty dang good. Last week, I weighed in for the first time in a long time. I am down to 212 pounds. This is lower than my senior year of high school. I started back in December at 248! Down 36 lbs and feeling pretty good about it. I am hoping that by Mother's Day, I will be at about 210 for my first half marathon of the year! I think this will help me with my time and feeling good on my feet. I think being this light (for me) I think will really benefit me when it comes race time. Best part of it all, I am having fun doing it, and I don't feel like I am dieting at all. I am really not, just eating clean and smart!
Again, there are so many people out there doing such awesome things, for such good causes! It is really cool to see a running community, such as LIVE UNCOMMON, come together, bring people of all sorts together and give back to such great causes. Not to mention the ledge it has pushed me out on training. I am not sure if I would have taken the steps to prepare to race all summer if it was not for all my running buddies!
Today, Aaron M., Katie G., and I took off to run the practice half for the QC distance classic. They open up the course, not really, but mark it so you can get a feel for the course. We ran a really easy 11 miles and I picked up on the last two just to push a little. I finished the practice run, very nice and easy pace. I was three minutes ahead of what I ran last year. I am excited to do this race again, to see what I can do and see if I have trained smarter and learned anything from a year ago! I have a much better base under my belt now. It should be a better race for me.
I am off to church for another busy Sunday, but productive. Hopefully I can push for a another week and a half and see what I CAN do for the QC Distance Classic. Till then, be productive, see what you can challenge yourself to do. Get out there and test yourself and see what YOU CAN do!
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