Run, Run, Run, REST!

Pace. Push. PR. This past month has been great for me running wise, and I have to say, I'm quite proud of my times/negative splits...especially since it's February and all of my runs have either been on the dreadmill or in the fricken cold! But after three weeks of running it's time to pull back and recover. Now I'm not a big fan of recovery weeks because it actually throws me for a loop. I go from longer/more intense workouts that I need to designate a good chunk of my time during the week, to shorter less intense exercises. And the extra time, what the hell do I do with that? Mentally it's tougher to try and convince myself that I am in fact NOT losing fitness, but rather that my body needs this in order to get stronger. My coach actually wrote on my workout plan: "Be sure to pull back this week so you don't peak too early". Yea, definitely don't want that.

So it was a week of extra swimming. Unlike most triathletes I actually really enjoy swimming workouts. They may not offer the same intensity as running or biking but I find them enjoyable and challenging at times. But with the increase of swims this week I found myself smelling extra chlorine-y and basking in the luxury of putting on a semi-wet swim suit since I swam Tuesday night and then again Wednesday morning. One of my friends who swam in college laughed at me when I was telling her about this and goes, "Such is the life of a swimmer".

During this week I actually spent a little more time in the gym getting a few extra lift sets in too. I do miss those long workouts with my training partner, where we would be in the gym for 2 hours pushing through sets. Obviously I don't have the time or the energy after tri workouts to do this any more but any chance I get to do a quick back/chest/shoulders workout with a few bis/tris I'll take it! But by the time I got to the weekend I was spent. Early wake ups Saturday morning and 4 hours working at the pool is enough to say, "It's going to be a pizza and red box night". I recruited my dad for my veg out night, but sadly ended up falling asleep before him....and before the end of the movie :S


Now before I make myself out to look too much like a wimp, in my defense, I have been trying to find this happy, healthy balance at work. Things have been a little crazy lately and I feel like I am running just as fast to try and keep up as I am in training. Busy adulthood has been bogging me down and I am hoping that with some hard work and determination, I will be seeing some change within my career by May. Fingers crossed! Until then, I will just keep this threshold pace.