I had a really rough week again; I won’t sugar coat it. My lack of motivation to do, anything really, hit a high, and I reached out to my local run buddies to hold me accountable for my weekend long run. Needless to say, I only completed one run from this week’s training program (my long run, for what it’s worth). I’m starting a February 1 Fitness Challenge too, to help get me back on track. With a full week of derby practices ahead of me, my race in less than three weeks, and preparing for a big life change (I know, #vaguebooking), I need to be SO CAREFUL of not burning out and keeping on a schedule. My training week definitely ended on a high note though!
MONDAY: Two-hour roller derby practice, which included scrimmaging. I’m really tired and cranky this week, so I know that I’m PMS-ing super hard. Also, I’ve written about this before, but I generally feel pretty useless and lack any amount of energy the week before my cycle starts. It was tough to get into 100% mode at practice, and I was honestly really annoyed that it was a scrimmage practice. But, I showed up and gave my best.
TUESDAY: Rest Day. Needed to watch The Bachelor. Duh.
WEDNESDAY: Had to work late… really bummed to miss yoga.
THURSDAY: [walked to/from work] Since I missed yoga the night before, I packed my bag and mat for work – with the intent of doing a lunch hour yoga at the PNC YMCA downtown. Wouldn’t you know, despite my setting an alarm on my phone so that I wouldn’t get caught up in work and forget, that it never alerted me? And I ate right through the noon hour and COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT DOING YOGA. Until the afternoon, when I turned around for my purse and saw all my workout stuff.
This week is officially The Worst.
FRIDAY: Nothing. Absolutely, lazy nothing.
SATURDAY: With a friend’s help to MAKE SURE that I woke up for a morning group long run, I joined Steel City Road Runners for 9 miles (finished 8.89 miles at average 10:48 pace) in the morning. I also ran to the start location, so I got an extra mile for my “warm up.” This was the furthest out that I’ve taken on the river front trail (on the Allegheny), so it was exciting to get a change of scenery! We stuck with the 10:30 pacer, but we were really all over the place in terms of average pace. At a certain point, we crossed back into the city side of the river — running that LONG 40th Street skyward into Upper Lawrenceville (we were basically at a 12-minute pace there). It was rough.
I sincerely needed a good run, though, and the camaraderie of my fellow runners. While I felt awful and tired and sore (that will happen after not running for a week!), I’m so glad that I got out there. My IT band was giving me a little trouble on my left leg for the last 4 miles, so I spent a good amount of time foam rolling my legs and doing some yoga stretches in the evening.
SUNDAY: I was having a little bit of knee soreness today — my quads were also SCREAMING at me and I was feeling generally exhausted and cranky… but it’s BOUT DAY! Despite the nag, I didn’t feel sore or hurt while skating at all (Monday morning is another story, though). Our Heroes vs. Villains game was INTENSE! (I was on Team Hero.) I had FIVE PENALTIES – probably the most I’ve ever had in a game (and they were all something different); and since we were a little short roster, we were all playing basically every other jam. The game of roller derby is an hour long, with two 30-minute halves and a half time. For as apathetic as I felt about playing before the game, I felt the complete opposite when I was on the track. I had an awesome game. And the other team picked me as the game MVP Blocker (aka: Most Tenacious Blocker)!
Man, it was so hard not to be outside running in the 50-degree weather, though. Yes, the spark is back!
TOTAL CROSS-TRAINING WORKOUTS: 2 (both skating)
TOTAL RUNS: 1 (better than nothing, I guess!)
TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 9.89 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 63.90 miles
