and some days you don’t.

The entire workout today was a struggle. Hard from moment one.

It didn’t help that about thirty seconds after I started my warm-up, my ankles both cracked, one after the other. It felt uncomfortable for a few second, then got better. Throughout my whole warm-up, I’d feel different sets of muscles get tight, then loosen up. This is different from my normal warm-up experience, in which I just feel everything start to get easier.

Starting my 4 miles at a 9:15 pace, I was hesitant. The treadmill doesn’t have a 9:15 setting, so I tried to average it out – 1 mile at 9:13, 1 mile at 9:22 (repeat). The first two miles were such a challenge – I was using mental tricks I usually have to use in the last part of my workout – not the first. But I just kept going. Up until 2.75 miles in, I wasn’t sure I could make 4 miles. The gym was so hot, and I just wasn’t feeling it.

Thank goodness for that second wind. I made it through all four miles – and the last was probably the easiest. A .5 mile cool down, and I felt awesome. Mostly because I was just so proud of myself for finishing.

(Synopsis: 1.6 mile warm-up, 4 miles @ about 9:15, .5 mile cool down – total, about 6 miles)

I am also immensely thankful that tomorrow is a scheduled swim day. And I’m considering switching my easy Thursday workout and my not-easy Wednesday workout to get an extra day of rest in. I think I might need it.

Today was a rest day. I think because I didn’t have anything scheduled, and decided I really shouldn’t do any running, I internally decided that I had to get something else done.

• cleaned all the dishes
• organized the pantry
• reorganized the coffee mug shelves (hey, there are two of them!)
• planned meals and made a shopping list for the next week
• organized cookbooks and recipes
• copied printed recipes to recipe cards
• made chocolate chip muffins
• made jello
• cleaned dishes again
• started to make the apple picking contraption that will be used to get apples off the tree (meaning, cleaned an old milk jug and cut it up) (okay, Chris did the cutting…but I cleaned the jug)

It’s only 6PM…what else will get done today?

My planned workout for today was 6 miles at 10:20. I was initially planning on  going to the gym, then heading to a friend’s for garage sale-ing.

When I got up, I realized that I did not want to run 6 miles insides, and that it really was light enough outside for a safe run sans headlamp. I checked the weather. A supposed 50 – 55 degrees over the hour of my run, plus the sun would be coming up sometime in the process. I put on my regular 35 – 65 degree weather clothing – shorts, a t-shirt (not tank top), shocks, shoes…

I was so mislead! I headed out for the same route I did last week, and about half a mile in realized my hands were cold. About a mile in, I got goose bumps on my arms and my hands were really cold. I kept trying to move them by pumping my fists and doing finger movements. When I got to the turn around point – around 3.1 miles, my hands were so cold and my arms so tight from it that when I tried to lower my arms I got numb tingly feelings from my shoulders to my fingers. It was NOT pleasant. I spent the next mile or so begging the sun to come up over the mountains.

Well, it didn’t. I decided it was the smart idea to run straight home instead of finish off the run since it didn’t look like the sun would be up over the mountains before the end of my run. There were serious thoughts of frostbite in my mind. So I ran home, a much less friendly running route. About the exact time I got to my house, the sun hit it. My hands and arms were magically warmer. So, I kept going, finishing the length of my intended run and then some. It wasn’t quite as fast as I wanted, but as least I finished it.

I will be investing in several more pairs of cheap cotton gloves.

I always have the goal of getting up in the morning to do a workout. I’m just not a morning person, so it usually doesn’t happen.

This morning, I did it! Yay! I got up at 6, wore my clothes to the gym, ran about 24 minutes, then did some pushups, crunches, bridges, and weights.

It felt very good to get up and get moving. After that, I was so ready for breakfast!

It’s true, I haven’t posted since Monday. But, I also didn’t workout Tuesday or Wednesday, either. Tuesday I had dinner with some friends, Wednesday I was just not in the mood. I was exhausted and needed another day. Thankfully there was nothing really big scheduled – just a 30 minute easy and a 30 minute hill / speed treadmill workout, of which I’ll probably transfer one or both to Friday and Sunday.

I was so excited about today’s workout, though. It was my first tempo run of the training plan – 5 miles, including a warm-up, 3 miles at 9:10 per mile, and a cool down. As I’ve found that a good warm-up is important if I want to maintain a pace that fast, I did ~ 1.5 mile warm-up, 2 miles at 9:13 per mile, a mile at 8:57 per mile (to average it out a little…and because I could!), and a ~ .5 mile cool down.

There’s always a question of ‘what can I do’. Let me tell you, I am SO excited to know that I could do this. I did it! Really! I felt so loose and so good afterward.

Then I came home and did a metric ton of dishes. As many as I could do before Chris finished making dinner. And now I’m completely exhausted and going to bed asap.