Crunch time!
Last week was a rest week, and hallelujah for that. I was ready for it, and spent the week being entirely TOO lazy. I was a bit under the weather, so spent the week reading, sleeping, eating (cinnamon rolls), and generally being easy on my body. I got back on the (metaphorical) horse this weekend, riding my bike and skate skiing. We were in the car, on our way to ski on Saturday, when we realized it was 47 F outside. Umm... why are we going skiing? We quickly turned around and hopped on our bikes for a warm mid-winter ride! Who said Montana was freezing all the time? Usually me...
This week is my first HARD week of my final set of three weeks before my taper. Here's what it should look like:
I am toying with the idea of doing two hard, mid-week workouts: the Tempo run above, and Yasso 800s. I'd do the Yassos on Tuesday, and push the tempo until Thurdsay. I know I'll need to work really hard in these next few weeks, but am also feeling like I am SO CLOSE I can't be careless and risk injury either. So far my legs and joints feel awesome, it's just been the damn toenail issue!
On that topic, the toes are feeling a lot better. They still look pretty darn gross, but I'm hoping my run today will not aggravate or worsen the situation. They should fall off before the race, but I'm mostly worried that these next few weeks of training could be hampered by them. I'm determined to NOT let that happen! I have my new pair of Newtons, half a size up, ready to go!
Something I felt last week, more than I have in training thus far, was the specific desire to NOT run. I am certainly not one of those runners who gets itchy if they haven't run in the last 24 hours: I am, honestly, very content to be a couch potato. I like to be outside, I like to do active things, but I also REALLY like to relax and not have to put effort into something when I don't feel like it. And a lot of times, before I head out for a run, I really don't feel like doing it.
This is perhaps that most interesting part of my new escapades in marathoning: my motivation. Shouldn't I be really excited to get out there and train?
Well, I am... sometimes. I love seeing results. I get SO much satisfaction out of seeing my mileage tick up, and mile-times tick down. I scour my Garmin data over and over to see how I'm improving, what I can still improve upon, and plan out my next "PR" in training. But how long will that last? I'm still in the point in my running career where I'm making big improvements regularly, and doing things I've never done before. In a few years, when I'm training just as hard to knock a minute off of my time, am I going to be as excited to get out there in 15 degree weather for a 20 mile run? Knowing me (and my lazy side) — I think probably not.
Both Derek and I are still perplexed by what really motivates me — what will keep me going no matter what. We've yet to figure it out, and really wish we could.
No matter what has motivated me to this point in my NVM training, I will be at that start line in 5 weeks, ready to BQ!
Who wouldn't want to run when it looks like this? Let's all hope the weather is beautiful, too!
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