Back to loving running

So I have pretty big news: I enjoyed my workouts this week! I LOVED it! And even more surprising, I WANTED to do each workout! It was great! After spending the past 2 weeks in a funk, it was so refreshing to actually WANT to be out there running.  🙂 I really hope this continues! Here were my workouts last week:

Sunday:

I don’t know if this really counts, since it was supposed to be my long run from the week before, but I’m counting it because it felt like a turning point.  I did about 10 lovely, relaxing miles.  It was fantastic.  I truly enjoyed myself, and finally I felt like I was myself again.  Runs like this are so rewarding.

Monday:

Cross training – went swimming with my roommate.  Since we live like 2 blocks from the community pool (it’s free!) we decided to check it out.  I don’t know how many laps we did, but we swam for like 40 minutes.  I really enjoyed it, and I think we’ll try to make this a habit.

Tuesday:

Run club! I did the 5 mile loop, but on the way back, we discovered some road closures that were also closed to pedestrians.  So we had to figure out a new way back, which added a bit more mileage.  Total for the run ended up being 5.5 miles.  I should add that I spent the entire time trying to catch up to the 2 guys I was running with.  Needless to say, it was a harder run than I had planned to do.

Wednesday:

Rest Day.  My legs felt super tired from playing catch-up yesterday, so I decided not to do the planned speed work.  Instead, I went home and watched the Olympics!  In retrospect, I should have done an easy recovery run instead.

Thursday:

Hills! It’s a hard thing to really WANT to do, but I somehow convinced myself that it wouldn’t be too bad.  Started with about a 2 mile warm up, and then ran up Capitol Hill 5 times.  I originally told myself I was only going to do 4, but I decided to tack on another for mental toughness (i need to start proving to myself that I’m stronger than I think).  Followed by a mile-ish cool down.  It was a hard work out, but one that makes you smile as your making your way home.  “Yep, i DID just do that.” 🙂

Friday:

Rest Day.  Another rest day to get myself mentally ready for my upcoming long run.

Saturday:

Long run! Left my apartment at 5:30 to meet my friend downtown (about 4 miles away for both of us).  Then we continued to do 8.5 together AND to finish at Iwo Jima.  It was a pretty hilly route (about 3 of it was straight uphill) but it was a nice challenge.  And finishing at Iwo Jima will help prep us for the finish of the Marine Corps Marathon (it’s a pretty tough uphill right at the finish).  The pace for this run was a bit slower than I would usually like, but I think it’s important for me to do these at an easier pace, and make my other runs faster.  So overall, I was very happy with this!

This week doesn’t seem like a big deal, but for someone that was struggling to get in 2 runs a week, this is a huge deal! I really hope it continues! I’m also going to try to squeeze in one more running workout a week.  It will have to be something easy-ish, but I think it will ultimately make me stronger.

Also, huge thanks to Claire at Let’s Go On A Living Spree and Alli at See Alli Run for the blogger award nominations! I’ll post on those this week!