Bipolar

I feel like I've had the least consistent feelings lately regarding my running. One day I feel great, like everything is going well, and then the next day I'm mad because things didn't go as planned. I had a great hill workout Wednesday morning even though I was pretty tired. I wanted to get to bed early, or at least on time, last night, but that didn't happen. I stayed up late and didn't run this morning, leading to my feelings of guilt and anger at myself.

Where should I draw the line between sleep and running? Should there even be a line? Right now, the line is basically at six hours. If I'm going to get up and run, I have to get that much sleep. I can't say exactly why my line is where it is, but it seemed like a good line at some point. Last night I only got a little more than six hours without running. I guess if I'm not going to sleep much, I should just get up and try running and see what happens. The worst thing would be I get a mile or two, decide I'm too tired, and turn around.

Wanting It

This morning I really felt like I wanted to do what it takes to reach my goals. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do what it takes. Reading Chelle's post today helped cement that feeling. I want it bad too.

This morning I ran 10 miles on the bike path. It was uneventful except for the fact that I seemed to think everything I saw was an animal. I saw two plastic bags caught up in the weeds, one that I though looked like a rabbit and on that I thought looked like a flying duck. I saw a thin stick that I thought looked like a worm. Finally I was passing some construction and on the tyvek-like fencing they had around the site I saw a piece of string that I thought was a bird at first. I have no idea why I had this animal fixation this morning.

New Loop

Yesterday's run took me over a new loop, one that actually includes some trails. Almost 100% of my running is done on the roads, mostly because I begin and end almost 100% of my runs at my house, which is in a highly developed area. I don't have the time to drive anywhere to run. I ran over to the park yesterday intending to run on the golf course, but I changed my mind when I saw some cars there. You're technically not allowed to run on the golf course, but I was just hoping no one would be out to see me. I ran a little further into the park to the boathouse (where a few local crew teams practice) and on to the trail there. I had run on it once before. I followed the trail to where it ended, about two, two and a half miles, and ran home. I ran six miles total.

This morning I ran eight miles in the rain. It wasn't raining too hard, but the combination of the raindrops on my glasses and car headlights made it hard too see at times. I can't wait until I go to the eye doctor and get more contacts so I don't have to run in the rain and in the dark wearing my glasses.

Weekly Summary

Miles: 27
Workouts: None
Races: None

This was not a good week. I was tired and/or sick for most of it. I'm feeling better now and this comin week will be much better.

Stress

I'm not in the best mood right now. I'm sick, I've only run two out of four days this week, and work is making me upset. The worst part about work is that even though I don't cause the problems I have to fix them.

I got up this morning intending to run, but after I got dressed and went downstairs I changed my mind. I was tired, and it didn't help that it was raining. I went back upstairs and got back in bed for another hour.

I'm only working one more day this week, and then taking Good Friday off. Hopefully the three-day weekend will recharge me.

Weekly Summary

Miles: 65
Workouts: Hill workout Wed.
Races: Frozen Slopes XC-24:16
Super Sligo 4 Mile-24:48

Sick

I have a cold. At least my sore throat is pretty much gone though. Thursday night I came down with the sore throat, and then yesterday I got the runny nose and cough. I don't think it made a difference in my race today, though.

Today was the Super Sligo 4 mile race. It says four miles, but it's actually 4.1 or 4.2, as the start and finish of the two-loop course are not located in the same place. The race was late getting started to begin with because the kid's mile took longer than expected. The race starts on a path maybe three or four people wide, so it would not be a good idea to run toward all the kids. I just stood around, but should have jogged a bit to stay warm. I didn't feel good during the race until it was almost over, but at least I passed a few people in the last mile and a half or so. I ran 24:48 to finish in 14th place overall; I'm not sure how I did in my age group.

Yesterday I ran nine miles. I ran one of my normally eight-mile loops and added on some distance by running back on the trail rather than straight back to the house. Despite the fact that I slept well, I still was pretty tired when I woke up. I briefly considered staying in bed, but once I started running I woke up.

10 Miles

This morning I did 10 miles. I didn't run my 10 mile loop, but instead ran out and back on the bike path that goes out the Parkway. I felt pretty good after my workout yesterday. I did stretch out well after the workout, which is not something I do every day. I thought about going a little further than 10 miles, and even got up 10 minutes early so I could run some more, but I didn't get out the door quickly enough. Puff woke up, so I took a minute or two to put him back to sleep, and then I just took my time getting started. I'd like to get in a longer run during the week, something like 12 miles with maybe a few miles near tempo pace.

I'm running another race Saturday. This one's a road race; there's not another XC race until next month. I ran well at this race last year and hope to do even better this year.

Work has become incredibly hectic right now. My desk is just a sea of paperwork. I'm hoping to get some more help soon, but that does not seem likely.

Hill Work

This morning I did my first hill workout of the year. It was actually my first workout of the year other than the three races I've run. The workout was simple: just go up the hill and then come back down. The hill I ran was the parking lot for the soccer fields for the library/fitness center complex near my house. It's probably about 400 meters long, gradual at the bottom but steeper at the top. I did six repeats at maybe 10k pace, which along with my warm up and cool down gave me about 7 miles for the day. I would have done a few more, but I had to meet my carpool early. One of my coworkers moved down near me and I've been carpooling with them to work. She had an early meeting this morning, so she wanted to make sure she got in early enough.

Yesterday I ran my 10 mile loop. It was fairly uneventful, except that I was concerned about getting back late, so I picked up the pace a bit. In other news, I found out the the course for the Frozen Slopes race was long, so my performance was a little better than I thought. There's also some pics of the race at this site.

Race Recap

Yesterday I ran my club's first XC race of the year, the Frozen Slopes 6k. Rolling does not adequately describe the hills in this race. The race starts by going up a small hill on to the only extended flat portion of the race. After maybe half to three-quarters of a mile, the course goes up and down until you get back to the flat portion and then go down the small hill to the finish. I ran 24:16 to finish in sixth place. Last year I ran over a minute faster but didn't place as high. In fact, if you compare the times between last year and this year, they seem a minute or so slower. I warmed up and cooled down for a half hour each to end up with 11 miles for the day.

Saturday I did my 10 mile loop. I've had success running that loop the day before my last two shorter races (not the 10 miler) and why mess with success? My calves were a bit sore, but I still had a good run, running just under 8 minute pace.

This morning I did 8 miles. I didn't sleep too well, but I guess since I got a pretty good night's sleep Saturday I didn't feel too bad this morning. I stretched out well after the race and my legs weren't too sore this morning. My calves were still tight, though. I gave them a brief massage with The Stick in the hopes that it would help.

Tired

I felt pretty sore and tired for this morning's run, especially in my calves. This was likely due to yesterday's run. Yesterday I did another 10 miles. I didn't sleep too well the night before because J. was sick. She was still awake and watching TV when I went to sleep, and she woke me up when she got into bed. I wasn't sure how much I'd feel like running or if I'd need to take a break during my run, so I did some loops close to my house. I felt good enough to do ten miles, so that's what I did.

This morning, I had eight miles planned, but only did seven. I just never really woke up, and my calves were sore. I slept all night last night, just not long enough. I briefly thought about staying in bed, but I got up after a minute or so.

The first cross country race in my club's series is this Sunday. It should be fun. We're supposed to get a little snow Saturday. This is the third year they've had this race; the first year it was scheduled in February, since then it's been in March. Of course, when it was in February, the race had to be postponed until March because it was the weekend after the President's day blizzard that dumped two and a half feet of snow on us.

Update

I really need to try and update my blog regularly; otherwise, what's the point in keeping one? My training's been rather sporadic lately. J., Puff, and I have all been sick twice with some kind of stomach bug. Thankfully the second time around the illness was not as severe.

This morning I did 10 miles. It's really nice that the sun is coming up as I finish up my runs. It's a nice change from running in the dark all the time. I ran one of my eight mile loops and added on a two mile segment at the end to get to 10 miles for the day. The two mile segment goes in part on the trails behind the fitness center/library complex. I'm looking forward to all the snow and ice being gone so I can do some speedwork back there. Speaking of snow and ice, the freak weather that dropped temperatures almost 30 degrees yesterday and brought snow to northern VA left parts of my run kind of icy, but there was only one patch where I really felt like I was going to slip.

Work is going to only get busier in the next few weeks. One of the programs I work with has had its dollar limit increased, so we have to let everyone know, and then brace for the surge in orders that will come in. I'm not looking forward to it.