I have taken a break from writing weekly recaps for quite some time, prior to starting this iteration of my blog. I think I had reached a stale point where the writing no longer challenged me and I fell into a running rut. As I start my second marathon training cycle this year, I want to pick up this habit as a way to analyze my workouts in more depth and to also track how training changes throughout this uncertain era.
Just after Atlanta, I registered for the full marathon in Ottawa. Then, as COVID-19 picked up steam rolling downhill, more races began to cancel or postpone, including what would have been my first half marathon for the year. Even Boston and London postponed.
I began to wonder, especially last weekend, whether many of these seemingly draconian measures would have lifted by Memorial Day. I decided to purchase travel insurance when I booked my flight but had no need since all the airlines I looked at offered free flight changes.
In my over-wordy way, I reach the point of my title. I do not know whether I will run the Ottawa Marathon on May 24 or not. I still want to train but I know that things may change in the meantime. We shall see how this progresses.
Monday – 45 minutes regular with Mom, 5.04 miles
These days running feels like such an outlet and a privilege. I know that gratefulness has a lot to do with how amazing I felt on this run. Mom and I did not talk much but the run still went quickly. I felt strong throughout, even on the hills. Hopefully this continues.
Tuesday – 10 min. warm up, 36 min alternating 3 min. hard effort, 10 min. cool down
The first change came even as I wrote the beginning of this post only I did not realize until I looked up my gym on Facebook. My gym closed for the foreseeable future Monday night. I planned to go Tuesday to get in my speedwork. I have long known that I need to ditch the crutch aka the treadmill for my speedwork; I run my races on the road after all. So, I headed out and aimed for hard effort intervals instead of trying to hit specific pace targets. I needed this run. I have a feeling that I will need these runs for quite some time. I maintained the hard effort intervals having to stop to catch my breath only after the interval that coincided with one of the steepest hills on my route. I did have one other concern, my right knee, right around the spot of my hamstring strain of 2013. That made me focus on form and wonder about whether I need to squeeze in one more ART appointment before everything shuts down.
Wednesday – strength training
I ended up doing nothing fitness-wise. Since the gym remains closed and I have not had a chance to study any of my strength training books, I spent most of the day adjusting to the new eLearning process, going a bit stir-crazy in the process. I need my exercise-induced endorphin boost!
Thursday – 40 minutes regular, 4.66 miles
I looked forward to this run all day. I think it helped stave off a bit of the stir-crazy throughout the day. Even though the run itself faced the additional challenge of near 80 degree temperatures (supposedly the first day of spring), I still felt so grateful to get out and move my body. Every run I get to run outside right now I count as a blessing. It felt like a bit of a slog at times, thanks heat and humidity, but I felt strong and kept focusing on my form.
Friday – attempted speedwork, 7.37 miles
I knew when I headed out shortly before noon that I had not chosen the best time of day to run. However, I needed to run then so that I could get the run in before the rain later. The first portion of the run went fairly well although the first 800m interval felt incredibly difficult. On the second 800m interval, I glanced down at my Garmin and saw how high my heart rate had reached. That explained a lot. I also made the decision as I walked for a little bit to calm my heart rate that I may have to just jog out the rest thanks to temperatures around 80 degrees. I still wanted to get in the speedwork so I made it through the third 800m interval and the first 400m interval but realized that I could not keep going with that pace, not if I wanted to finish without heat stroke. So, I jogged it out and walked whenever my heart rate climbed above 185 bpm. I got it done.
Saturday – 12 mile long run, 12.25 miles
I got out there and did this one on my own. Mom headed out to the house with Ellis and a few others to get the sod laid for their yard. (Don’t worry. They are all practicing social distancing while out there.) I felt pretty strong for this run; I faced only mental difficulties on top of the warm temperatures. Towards the midpoint of my run I started to think about all the people I saw out and about driving their cars and walking on the sidewalks. My thoughts started to spiral for a while until I realized that part of my escalating heart rate had to do with the negative thoughts and my frustrations at having to continually jump off to the side to maintain social distancing as I ran as well as the obnoxious glares from people in their cars. I stopped at one intersection for a couple cycles of the light to calm my thoughts and continue on with my run. I did walk a couple more times in the last quarter of the run but did so because the temps had risen 10 degrees since I started running and I encountered a couple of the largest hills on my routes. I also seriously started contemplating getting my treadmill back from Dad to set up in the garage for the mandated quarantine that seems inevitable.