Running Dailies

Readers of this blog know that recently I have not been posting regularly. I wrote about it here. Thank you to all the people who sent kind messages after my last post. I appreciate them more than you can possibly imagine.

The truth is, I have been in a funk.

Every step of my last few runs has been a struggle, but I do believe in the truth of the Kara Goucher quote above, so I keep running.

A simple way to get back in the habit of putting my thoughts to paper (or to the computer, in this case) is to recap my fitness activities of the week, so I am linking up with Kim and Deborah at Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner for their Weekly Rundown.

Monday

• Three-minute plank
• Five minutes of glute and hamstring stretches
• Bill and I ran our hilly 4.08-mile out and back route on tired legs. I had not slept well the night before and my heart rate showed it.
• I have been doing this 30-day online yoga program. Sessions typically last between 15 – 30 minutes, and I do them after running. Right now, I am loving yoga. The instructor, however, does the sessions “with” her dog, Benji, so it can be difficult for me to watch at times, because it reminds me of my dog Benji, and doing yoga after running means that I am always last to shower. You realize this means I am then the person who has the job of wiping down the glass surrounding the shower. *Sigh* The things we do for fitness, right?

Tuesday

• 30 push-ups
• Five minutes of glute and hamstring stretches
• I ran a 5.11-mile route in town with Bill. Initially, I felt great but we made the mistake of grocery shopping before running, so it was very hot by the time we finished and I did not have anything to eat until almost noon.
• 20 minutes of yoga.

Wednesday

• 2:45 plank
• Five minutes of glute and hamstring stretches
• Bill and I ran my current favorite trail route – 7.5 miles in the nearby State Game Lands. We typically do trail runs with our friend Al on Thursdays but Al was scheduled for cataract surgery this week, so we switched it to Wednesday instead. The day was very hot and humid but I love this run, and we took it easy. It was, by far, the best run of the week for me.
• 25 minutes of yoga

Thursday

• 30 pushups
• Five minutes of glute and hamstring stretches
• We ran the course where we had been doing our virtual 5Ks earlier in the year but not at race pace. In fact, not even close to race pace. My legs were tired and I was ready for a rest day.
• 20 minutes of yoga.

Friday

• Rest day! We hung out at our community pool and I swam a few laps, but mostly just relaxed and read. Exactly what I needed.

Saturday

• Five minutes of glute and hamstring stretches
• This was our long(ish) run day and kind of embarrassing to write about. I have been struggling with my long runs lately. I get to a certain point, begin feeling hopeless, as if I can’t complete the run, and break down in tears. During this long run, Bill and I wound up having an argument halfway through the run and we ran home on separate routes. The pitfalls of being married to your running partner! I did 8.41 ugly, ugly miles.

Sunday

• 2:30 plank
• Five minutes of glute and hamstring stretches
• Bill and I (after talking out our issues from the day before) ran 3.4 uneventful miles in town.
• 16 minutes of yoga.

And, that’s a wrap.

I have gotten a lot of joy and serenity from running over the years. I now must trust those feelings of freedom, strength, and happiness will come back. For this reason, I keep plodding away, waiting for the spark to return.

Keeping the dream alive is, after all, half the battle. Thanks for the reminder, Kara.

 

You can find the places I link up here.