Saturday was a big day in terms of necessary accomplishments beginning at 5:45AM. There were a few wrenches thrown in and I might have had a small meltdown, but I survived. I was up at 5:45 AM to meet my running group for an 18 mile run. We started at 6:30 today instead of 6:00 which gives me about 30 extra minutes of sleep, which feels like three extra hours as a general rule. Lately I am having an issue where I wake up every hour on the hour after 1 AM until the alarm goes off. It is super terrible as I end up getting out of bed feeling as if I have been up since two in the morning to run a ridiculous amount of mileage.
So, I arrived at the park feeling rather grumpy, but I was on my nutrition with a big bowl of oatmeal with protein powder and soy milk and lots of green tea as well as an Odwalla bar. I also packed a Cliff Quench for my midway power fuel. This sounds like an adequate amount of food, am I right. I did not feel hungry while I ran today, but I FELL APART during the last two or three miles. Just couldn't keep up. I got separated from my running group, because I was so far behind. It was demoralizing.
I think that in lieu of talking about the rest of my day, I will discuss my concerns about my current inability to keep up with my running group. Undeniably, I am running slower than I was at this time last year. I maintained sub-eight minute miles in a marathon last year. This year, I can't do it, AND I am doing speed work.
There is a rumor and I guess some research that states that a women's athletic performance in the year after she has a baby is significantly better. What I know is summed up in this linked Huffington Post article. I have read the same in Runner's World and The New York Times.
What if I had a stellar running year last year with little effort on my part, and now, I am training significantly, have added speed work to my regimen, and am really rather diligent all to little avail? It is all quite frustrating and exhausting, but on to swim.
At swim (Sunday), there was an emphasis on kicking before we started our main set.
- 400 warm-up
- much kicking (including one set where we partnered up, grasping a kick board between us and kick-battled to try to push our partner further than our partner could push us. This reduced me to a fit of giggles and a lung full of water.)
- 3 x 100 easy
- 4 x 100 pull
- 8 x 25 pull with buoy between ankles
- 4 x 100 pull
- 8 x 25 with kickboard between thighs
- 4 x 100 pull
- 200 cool down
The attached pic is of me swimming. Check out my arm hooking in. This is what I need to focus on this week.
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