She Runs! (And Works Out!)

I’m back kids.

This past week I got myself back into action.  And it felt great!

Over the course of the week, I swam twice, ran twice and did my HCC workout twice.  The plan that isn’t a plan (that Joe pointed out, actually still counts as a plan haha) is working so far.  Every workout was a success and I really believe that it is solely because the pressure is gone.  At some point by the end of summer, I got tired of working out.  It got to feel like a job and when I wasn’t training up to my ridiculously high standards I was frustrated.  Between the nagging calf pain after every race or training run and the fear of getting re-injured, I stopped being excited to get up and workout or throw on my kicks after a tough day.  And that led to working out less and less and putting few miles on my shoes- which meant goals weren’t being met and I was frustrated.  And that all led to a small burnout.  I think if I had kept myself at the pace I was going with all my racing and training, I would have been injured, instead of just slightly burned out.  So, as I have said many times, I think my decision not to race last weekend was a good one.

Both of my swims were great; it felt so good to be back in the water.  On both occasions, I just swam freestyle.  Now that tri season is over, I am going to spend the off-season working on my swim endurance.  I am looking to participate in a long distance swim race next spring/summer so I need to spend some serious time in the water just swimming for distance.  And about running…well, I did it!  I ran for the first time in 2.5 weeks and it WENT AWESOME!  I ran twice- once  in the beginning of the week for 25 minutes and later in the week for 30 minutes.  I think going out for time, and not miles, was a good idea.  Of course, I am aware I need to get a certain amount of mileage in over the next 9 weeks in prep for Philly Half, but I actually ran a better pace when I went out for time over miles.  I was a little crampy (not sore-yeah!) after my morning run Wednesday which ended up being just over 3 miles.  My legs bothered me at work and by the end of the night, I was so tight.  I broke out the stick and went to town on my calves.  By morning they were feeling much better.  I realize that I really need to keep up with my PT dynamics…as with everything else, I slacked over the last few weeks and it was big time noticeable.  If I want to have any chance of running well at and recovering well after Philly, I need to be vigilant about this!

As for biking…well, that didn’t happen this week.  Still haven’t gotten my bike from my parents house yet.  And I didn’t make it to spin class.  It would be easy to get mad about it but I am not going to do that; I am going to let it go and hope to get to spin class this week.  All things considered, I feel really good.  I have a good feeling about Philly and about the off-season.  I hope it stays that way! 🙂

Lastly, even though my workouts are seemingly getting back on track, I still feel like I am lacking inspiration and/or motivation with this blog.  I feel like posts are just lacking something…maybe because all summer I raced and had more material…I don’t know.  But I feel boring and uninspiring!  I need to find my blogging mojo!  I have been toying for a long time about getting my own domain and I think it might be time.  Perhaps if I re-vamp the site a bit…make necessary updates, add some pages, change my format…etc…I will get re-inspired.  Stay tuned 🙂