Are we there yet?
No. But we’re getting there. Week 13 out of 20, and this week was a pretty good one. My hip is still cranky, but it’s a little bit better than it was. I found a couple of stretches in yoga class that seem to get into the spot that is at the heart of the problem.
But the downside is that the ragweed is in full bloom. Does ragweed bloom? I don’t know, actually, but the ragweed is in high production mode, whatever the mechanism, and it’s got me popping pills–sinus Tylenol and prescription Imitrex like there’s no tomorrow. Sunday night’s headache was so bad that not only did it make me hurl (sorry if that’s TMI), but it also put me to bed at 9:30pm even though I was pretty sure that going to bed that early would bring on insomnia later on. I did wake up briefly at 11:30, and again around 3:00, but I had no problems falling back asleep. But the point of all of this is that it’s headache season, and I really hate headache season. Sunday’s headache was especially bad.
I’ve been able to make it to the Cottonwood trail a few times a week for the last couple weeks, which is helpful. The softer surface is welcome on my legs, which are feeling the effects of training, and the last few times that I’ve been there, I’ve gotten a glimpse of the Great Blue Heron who lives there. Great Blue Herons are my most favorite bird.
The speed and tempo workouts were pretty good. I managed to hit my paces in both and not overdo it too much. I did misread the assignment for the mile repeats though, and I only did 5 instead of 6. But in the grand scheme of things, one less mile isn’t going to matter. And the scary long run went pretty well. I was really nervous about this one since the last time I had a long run with tempo miles sandwiched in, it was a disaster (or I was a disaster), and then I learned, the night before, that instead of 16 total miles with 8 at tempo, I was to run 16 total miles with 10 at tempo. And my Garmin decided not to cooperate (as it turns out, I set the repeats to 1 meter instead of 1 mile, so that was my fault), so I had to find the pace myself. That’s probably a good thing though it was annoying at the time.
The run down:
M: Easy 8.
T: 6x 800 for 8 total
W: OFF
R: 5x 1 mile for 11 total (should have been 12)
F: easy 6
S: easy 6
Sun: 3 easy, 10 at marathon pace, 3 easy = 16
all in all: 55, so on we go.
[Creative Commons licensed image by Flickr user Leo Reynolds]
