Chickamauga Training: Week 4 Recap

I've been trying to post this since Monday!! Come on, Blogger...

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Week #4...
Seriously? We're already in week #4??


Monday, August 1
Plan: Rest or Cross Train
Actual: 30 minutes of Exercise TV on Demand (10 minutes belly dancing; 20 minutes hip-hop) + 1 hour massage

Since I didn't do a ton on Sunday, I wanted to do something before heading off to my massage appointment. I thought we might take the dogs for a walk but Matt went to a 5pm showing of Cowboys and Aliens (no thanks!) so I was left to my own devices. I had previously noticed a pretty extensive listing of options when I was flipping through On Demand (to find the latest episode of Teen Mom) so I thought I would look at this a little closer.

I was actually a little overwhelmed by all of the options! (And pretty excited to see several Jillian Options) Not wanting to kill myself though I thought I would try bellydancing and started with a 10 minute video to get warmed up.

Oh.my.GOD. I don't think I can adequately describe how HORRIBLY BAD I was at this. I was embarrassed that Roxy and Bali were subjected to watching it and was especially thankful that Matt was not home.

Next up? 20 min hip hop dance. There were tons of options for this so I pretty much just chose the first one I came to. Now I know I am not great at hip hop either but I at least feel comfortable with the basics. Admittedly some of the moves (and especially the music) were pretty cheesy, but I was working up a sweat. Matt came home in the middle of this and thankfully spent the remainder of the video time cooking dinner instead of watching (making fun of) me!

Later in the evening had a fabulously painful 1 hour massage at Massage Envy where I got some intense glut/leg work done. Hurt so good and I KNOW I need to keep this up at regular (~3 week) intervals throughout the training cycle.


Tuesday, August 2
Plan: 3 miles + boot camp
Actual: 3.2 miles + 2.5 mile walk w/Matt + dogs

Hello, heat wave!! With triple digit air temps and the heat index topping 110 degrees, boot camp was cancled this evening. Admittedly, I had pretty much decided to skip it anyway (WUSS) but having someone else reaffirm my decision made me feel a tad better. Headed out to the trail for a pretty decent 3 miles. The humidity didn't seem as bad as it had been and only had to take a couple of quick walk breaks at the turn around points.

Took a sweaty walk with Matt and the dogs once I got home, taking the lake route so we could feed the ducks/geese. I am such a dork and I LOVE doing this and interacting with all of the different bird personalities! Just call me the crazy bird lady!


Wednesday, August 3
Plan: 6 miles
Actual: 5.5 miles + 2+ hours walking

I was EXHAUSTED today, wiped out from the heat and then also a walk through at work that was supposed to take 45 minutes...took over 2 hours. Our hospital campus stretches for many, many city blocks (connected for the most part by indoor sky bridges, luckily) and we were moving almost the entire time. I wished I had worn a pedometer to track the number of steps. My legs were really feeling it at the end of this as of course I was in dress shoes and not anything sensible. I had also not really eaten anything for lunch due to a tight schedule with other meetings...

I usually try to run right after work during the week so that when I get home my time is MINE...to be with Matt, get stuff done, relax, whatever. Tonight I was hungry and cranky and tired and decided to go home for dinner first and then head to the gym to hit the treadmill later.

I finally made it to the gym around 8:15 and decided to run for an hour. (The gym closes at 9:30 and I wanted to make sure I had time to cool down, stretch, etc) As I was walking in I was thinking about how drained I was and how I had been holding on to the great feeling I had on my long run in Auburn and how that was keeping me going despite feeling beat up lately. It's amazing, but this run was JUST what I needed. I was able to keep myself occupied with So You Think You Can Dance and completely get out of my head. I knocked out 5.5 miles in an hour and the best part was that I did not take a single walking break during that time!!! After battling the weather and needing to take walk breaks, it was great to know what my body could still do.


Thursday, August 4
Plan: 4 x hill + yoga
Actual: 4 x hill + 3 mile walk w/Matt + dogs

Confidence building run #2! It had rained a good bit of the day and felt less hot than it had over the past few days (is it sad that low 90s feels like a cold snap?) plus I was blessed with awesome overcast skies. I decided to tackle the downtown hill again since my Garmin was dead and I knew the route/distance/etc. I wish I could compare paces against the first hill effort but it was not to be.

On the first repeat I felt like it was tons easier than last time even though I felt like I was pushing the pace, etc. At the top of the hill, I decided to ditch the handheld so I found a little alcove to hide it in and tucked my key and ID in my bra (in case the handheld got stolen!) Funny how 20oz or so can make such a difference!

I thoroughly enjoyed the workout and was happy to see progress from the last time I attacked the 3x hill workout in week #1.

Yoga was being practiced under the pavilion tonight (b/c of the wet ground) and I was not prepared to practice on concrete so I headed home and out for another nice walk with the "fam". On the way back (with about .75 left to go) the skies grew black and wind picked up and I thought for sure we were going to get caught in a monsoon. My legs were feeling trashed and unable to sprint so we picked up the walking pace and made it back inside just before the skies opened!


Friday, August 5
Plan: Rest
Actual: REST

I had not had a true rest day in almost a week and I was determined to embrace it. Matt tried to talk me into going for a walk and I told him that I just needed a night to chill! We ended up going to the mall instead and I scored a couple of great deals at Banana Republic (25% off clearance + tax free weekend!) and got my eyebrows threaded.


Saturday, August 6
Plan: 11 miles
Actual: P's core routine

We thought that we were having Matt's family over to celebrate his dad's birthday so I made the decision when I went to bed on Friday that I was going to sleep in, do a quick core workout and get ready to entertain.

To make a long story short, we found out that plans were changed to have Sunday dinner together and I took the opportunity to get a few errands done and to relax. It was blazing hot even early in the morning and I hoped that the weather would be more favorable to me on Sunday.


Sunday, August 7
Plan: Cross train (choice)
Actual: Run for 1 hour 45 minutes

When my alarm went off I immediately knew why I had been so tired the past few days: I had the beginning of a migraine. Ugh. The pounding in my eyeballs and stiff neck really made me want to roll over and go back to sleep. I really didn't want a skipped long run hanging over my head though and I thought about Beth getting ready to take on her Half Ironman and it kicked my ass out of bed.

I took my time getting ready and was so grateful to see fully overcast skies. I had a hard time choking down breakfast and decided that I would head out for an hour loop and then reassess how I felt at that point. I had forgotten to charge my Garmin and didn't really care. I also was battling significant anxiety over a presentation I have to give in the coming week and wanted to focus on talking myself through that and I wasn't in the mood for more pressure.

The first hour went by pretty well though toward the end I wasn't feeling so hot. Though it was overcast it was still very warm and humid and I wasn't wanting to drink anything. I tried to eat my sports beans at the 45 minute mark and gagged one up so decided not to try eating anything else. I took a pretty liberal walk break shortly after that but finished strong at my house in 1 hour and 40 seconds (talk about judging time/distance pretty well!) I really wanted to sit but took a moment to drink some undiluted gatorade and headed out in the opposite direction for a 30-45 minute route that I could vary based on how I felt.

The rest seemed to help but I was quickly drained as I came upon hill after hill. I started to feel nauseous but just kept pressing on and made it through the longer 45 minute version. I KNOW this was not 11 miles but was probably somewhere between 9-10 and I am OK with that. I was completely DONE and proud of myself for getting out there even feeling like crap. I ended up napping on the couch before even getting a shower (yes, GROSS but thankfully Matt knew I was not feeling great and did not press the issue...and forget about any sort of refueling) and then taking another nap in the afternoon...trying to sleep off the headache. Is it sad that I am still glad that I ran Sunday...that I would choose to run long with a migraine over running long in the heat?

For the record:
Pre-run fuel: 1/2 of a honey wheat bagel with nutella, about 4oz of water
During the run:not quite 20oz of water/Gatorade mix plus about 8oz undiluted gatorade (lemon-lime)
Wore:UnderArmour capris, Nike dry fit tank, WigWam IronMan socks, blue Mizuno Wave Nirvana 7s, UnderArmour headband
Accessories:basic Timex watch, Nathan hand held