Welp, it’s Race Week! And I feel like I’m getting the boyfriend’s cold. UGH.

I leave Friday for Florida to run in the Gasparilla Ultra Challenge races. I feel under-trained and unprepared, but trying to stay strong with my mental game. I do NOT plan to race any of these distances, and I WILL plan to have fun and listen to my body if things start to go awry (despite really, really REALLY wanting those five medals and that crazy-ass finishers jacket). I mean, worst case scenario, it will be 70 degrees and I’m staying on the beach, so I cannot complain about taking this mini vacation at all.

MONDAY: [walked home from work] Spinning for an hour at the Y. This class felt much more intense than usual (which felt good). No knee trouble either.

We had three scheduled house showings in the evening, so killing some time with exercise was the best idea I probably had all week.

TUESDAY: [walked to the hair salon from work, about the same distance from work-to-home; and I went back to being a brunette!] Rest day and catching up on The Bachelor. 😉

WEDNESDAY: What a difference in a week! Last week, I wish I had packed shorts; this week, I wish that there was a Snuggie made for runners. At run//yoga//run//club, we got in about 2 miles and it was SUPER FRIGID. Probably a bad idea to start along the river too, where it was windy enough to make your eyeballs freeze. Running back up on the stadium level was a much better option, but that chill made two miles feel like five.

Hot yoga was THE BEST after that run. I don’t usually want to be in the warm room too early, but I went in and settled into savasana for a good 20 minutes before class started. I felt a lot more intention and emotion in this session that I ever do when doing yoga, and I loved our instructors teachings to not listen to all of life’s scripts – just listen to what your body needs. And be awesome, duh.

THURSDAY: [walked to work] Rest day (another house showing after work!)

FRIDAY: Foam roll day with my short-and-thick roller AND my Rad Roller, followed up with a lot of stretching of my legs and hips.

SATURDAY: Since the cold weather cancelled all the outdoor fun, I intended to go do a couple miles on the dreadmill at the Y. But when I started doing some squats and lunges for a pre-workout at home, I was experiencing some left knee tenderness again, so I nixed any running for the rest of the weekend. Later in the day, I felt it again when walking up and down the stairs, which wasn’t enough to mark as “pain”… but it felt different and not normal. Man, I really hope this is just the usual training pains that I experienced before both my first half AND my first full last year!

I also played around with attempting my tripod headstand AND I FINALLY GOT IT without kicking my legs up. Core strength like WOAH. At least I got that to brag about.

SUNDAY: More foam rolling and I did a hip strengthening workout from Runners World. Not overdoing and/or overthinking this right now, and just going to be OK with a less-than-ideal training week.

TOTAL CROSS-TRAINING WORKOUTS: 2 (1 hour of spinning; 1 hot yoga session)
TOTAL RUNS: 1
LONGEST RUN: 2 miles
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 2 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 80.64 miles