June Journaling 1-2

I found a list of daily prompts for journaling in June and thought I'd give it a shot.

1. A step you have taken toward your goals:

I'd set my alarm so I could get up and run at 5 a.m. for Global Running Day, but I was sleeping so well when it sounded that I just turned it off. I woke nearly 2 hours later and still had time to run before work, so I threw on my gear and set out with a goal of running at least 4.5 miles in an hour.

I had to stop a lot because the volume on my Zombies, Run! missions was too low to hear, and the app kept stopping my music entirely. Even so, the weather was unseasonably cool and I enjoyed it.

I saw a man leaving his house with two dogs, and I slowed as I approached because they were unleashed. The big brown one looked to be a bully breed mutt (boxer and pitbull look) and came right up to greet me and ask for pats and leaned against my legs sweetly. I've found this is usually the case with big dogs; stop running and say hi. The little one jumped around excitedly too, and the owner said the little one was for sale as I fawned over the bigger one. "Thanks, but we have cats." He took them in the opposite direction for a walk, and I continued my run.

I was surprised with all my stops to log 4.85 miles total in about 65 minutes. The humidity had me totally covered in a sheen of sweat and dripping from my elbows as I ran. It felt good, though; I'd taken too long a break. It may have been just what I needed, though, to tackle marathon training with fresh enthusiasm.

2. Something good from last week:

• I finished that damn triathlon.
• We had a neat presentation at work from Camp Gladiator coaches and got free lunch, too.
• My escort shift at the clinic on Friday was pleasant. I brought my big rainbow umbrella to block the protesters' view, and one woman extended her middle finger to them all the way as she walked up the steps to the clinic doors.
  
  The protesters call out to say that the crisis pregnancy center (link to exposé on another local CPC) a few doors down offers free pregnancy tests and sonograms. Somehow I doubt that people walking into an abortion clinic need a pregnancy test.
  
  You should know: families with small children come into the clinic EVERY DAY.
  
  At another volunteer shift, one escort told me that she'd seen a father come out with a fussy 18-month-old and quip that he hoped the tot was making the choice easier for others in the waiting room, because he was DEFINITELY making it easier for mom.

Camp Gladiator: Mixed Bag

This morning was my 8th visit to Camp Gladiator and marked the beginning of metabolic conditioning week, where the workouts utilize the things we've worked on for the past 3 weeks and take it up a notch as far as difficulty/intensity. But where I floundered over the last 2 weeks, today was my favorite CG workout of all.

Camp Gladiator is kind of like a boot camp setup with challenging exercises but with a positive atmosphere. The trainers are very upbeat and encouraging, quick to offer suggestions for modifications and reminding you to try your best; they let you determine what your 100% effort feels like.

I signed up because of a spring promotion where I pay $10 up front and can attend unlimited sessions for 4 weeks. If I attend fewer than 10, I get charged more money, so it’s a great incentive.

Week 1 focused on endurance exercises and included a fitness test that I finished in the allotted time but was unable to complete the last 9 of 50 consecutive push-ups. We’ll test again this Wednesday. Week 2 focused on functionality, specifically core-strengthening exercises. We use yoga mats in a parking lot, and my back, knees, and elbows have been bruised to hell because of it. Week 3 was high-intensity interval training. As an endurance athlete, I can’t really do this stuff.

Week 4 started today, its focus being metabolic conditioning. We did 3 minutes of alternating hard exercises (dumbbell squats + curl, push-ups + row, dumbbell squats, dumbbell swings, and Russian twists with a dumbbell) followed by rest and then a quick seven-tenths-mile lap for three or four rotations.

I usually lag far behind the rest of the campers except those who are injured, but I freaking killed it today, pacing and passing a few back-of-the-pack runners on every lap after the warmup except for the final lap when I bonked, in need of fuel.

And actually on Saturday, my workout partner and I dominated one of the exercises where we take turns holding one another back with a resistance band while sprinting and finished ahead of everyone else, working just as hard. A lot of this can be attributed to flow; we figured out how to quickly switch holding and wearing the band on each rotation, but that doesn't detract from the accomplishment in any way.

It's been fun and surprising to find out how my strengths translate to CG workouts, because mostly they don't.

Flexible Training for Real Life

I set up a pretty intense training plan for myself leading up to the May 22 Olympic triathlon. I never follow training plans religiously, but I’ve been sticking pretty close and enjoying my workouts this year. I may go to bed at 8 PM most nights, but I still make social plans when I can, and I have a life outside my sport. So I plan for flexible adherence as well.

Saturday I was supposed to run 6 miles for the first week of Hal Higdon’s marathon training plan, but I had signed up to run the Dash Down Greenville 5k. I planned to run an extra 3 miles when I got home that afternoon, because it can still count even if you split up your miles across the day. But I walked a mile to the start, ran the thing, walked a mile back to my car, and walked an additional 6 and a half miles that afternoon and would not run any more that day. I was certainly active enough on my feet, and one day isn’t going to have a negative impact on my plan to run a marathon 9 MONTHS from now.

Sunday was busy with socializing but not physically demanding. That night I had an especially wicked migraine and went to bed before 7 PM without setting an alarm. I woke naturally at 4:45 Monday feeling surprisingly decent, so I jumped out of bed and went to Camp Gladiator. My performance felt a bit weak and slow, but I finished every task and felt okay about it.

I went to bed early Monday and set my 4:30 AM alarm but was really tired and slept instead of working out Tuesday morning. I often have trouble identifying the difference between actually needing a little more sleep some days for recovery and just wanting to stay in bed because of my depression. The migraine hangovers can last a few days, so I’m not going to fret about needing an additional rest day so soon.

I’m confident that I'll hit it hard tomorrow.

Beating one’s self up over a missed workout doesn’t accomplish anything and is more likely to lead to more missed workouts. Life happens. Let it go.

There’s always tomorrow.