running: the dawn

It’s done.  My beastly beastly week is behind me.  University finals are over the AP exams are coming up quickly.  Life is almost ready to calm down.  Oh, yeah.  And I just killed (and by “killed” I mean survived) my highest weekly mileage of this training cycle.  Wowza!

This week’s miles:

Sunday–nothing; forgot my shoes.  Silly girl!
Monday–12; “easy” miles.
Tuesday–6; with 6×100 meter strides.
Wednesday–20; the beast of marathon training.
Thursday–5; recovery miles.
Friday–12

Total miles: 55 miles

[deep cleansing breath]

I must confess.  More to myself than anyone else…Today was the first day I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to with my workout.  Yes, I did the miles.  But no, I didn’t do the speedwork I had on the schedule.  I have a list of excuses and/or explanations.  But the bottom line was my heart wasn’t in it and I have (almost) forgiven myself for it.

Oh yeah.  I came home sick yesterday, something that I NEVER do!  I was in the middle of my first class when I noticed my head feeling really fuzzy and I began to get dizzy.  I thought I just needed to drink some water and walk around some.  This did not help.  By the end of my second class I was sitting in the chair behind by desk with my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands because that was the only way to keep the room from spinning.  Finally I called Mr. Dawn to come pick me up and take me home since I wasn’t sure that I should operate heavy machinery.  I laid in my bed in the fetal position.  I decided to get up and clean the kitchen and make dinner because otherwise I knew my husband wouldn’t let me out of the house to run

I felt much better today.  There was a lingering headache but nothing I couldn’t handle.

So, today’s run.  First of all, it was 80+ degrees with high humidity.  Ugh.  And the weather website used the words WINDY like it was actually being blown down.  Strike two.  Then, of course, I found my rolling hills.  And I was done.  My goal was to run 7 of my miles today at least at a 8:30 pace.  I know I got three miles in that range…I did walk some…so maybe I’ll call it an interval workout?  Ah-well.

So, can someone explain this to me: no matter which direction I ran north, south, east, or west I faced a head wind!  Seriously?  With every turn in the road I would think to myself, “whew I can wait to turn out of this never ending wind?”  I would safely cross the street and bam.  Run smack into another wall of gusting air.  All I could think was, “So this is what it feels like to be a  biggest loser contestant with Jillian holding me back with exercise bands whilst making them run across the room.”  There were times when I am sure I was just running in place.

No matter what.  The week is done!