August Runfessions
First of all- seriously? This month REALLY flew. I know it’s not over yet, but if it’s time for Runfessions, then I know the end of the month is near. Thanks as always to Marcia for hosting! Let’s start runfessing right away. The first thing on my list is that I’m really, really tired of running slowly. Over the past five or six years, the speed has just seemed to drain out of my legs. To make the situation even more frustrating, every time I try to do speed work, I end up injured. But I refuse to give up! I’m currently trying some less structured speed workouts. This week I did a “7-11” where you run fast for seven breaths, and then slowly for eleven breaths, repeated indefinitely. It was pretty fun, and nothing hurt. We’ll see how that goes. Meanwhile, I ran on my old favorite trail this week, and I did NOT see my “running spirit animal” as I usually do here: Instead, I saw… a RABBIT. Well! Maybe it’s a sign from the universe that I can get some speed back, after all. Next up in the “runfessional”: soon I’ll be officially training for my February race, and I’m realizing that putting together my weekly workout schedule will be a challenge. My long runs will be Wednesdays… I want to do two leg days at the gym, but I don’t want either of them to be right next to my long run day (or each other, obviously)… I want to run four days a week, and when the race gets closer I want to do some back-to-back long runs… one day should be a day off…. GAAAAHHH! Is this even possible? I’ll just have to piece it together week by week. It worked (more or less) this week, but this was a relatively easy week compared to what’s coming. Well… as always, I’ll work it out. The last runfession is that the heat continues to beat me down. It’s become clear that my longer runs are going to be all about heat management. I was doing okay with the shorter runs, but soon I’ll need my cooler of ice and my ice hat, because I have some long runs coming up- and it’s a long, long summer here. Thanks for listening to my runfessions! What’s your “running spirit animal?” – I wish I could see cheetah. Arm sleeves in the heat- yay or nay? – I’ve been hearing that some people like to put ice in them, but I think it might feel annoying to have an extra layer on my arms?