Week 7: Stressed AF

Week 7: August 12 - August 18, 2019

It was one of those weeks that mentally wore me out and really messed with my body. When you deal with people who stress you out more than anything, they can toxify your physicality just as much as with your emotions. My cortisol levels were more than likely heightened due to the stress I was under. This is what the week was supposed to have in store for me:

• Monday: 6 miles easy

• Tuesday: 1.5 mile warmup, 4 x 1200M @ 10k pace w/ 600m jog, 1.5 mile cooldown

• Wednesday: Rest/Crosstrain

• Thursday: 1.5 mile warmup, 3 miles, 2 miles, 1 mile @ goal marathon pace w/ 0.5 mile jog, 1.5 mile cooldown

• Friday: 4 miles easy

• Saturday: 6 miles easy

• Sunday: 10 miles long

I had a lot to reflect on Monday morning, so on my recovery run from my 12 mile race the previous day, I just listened to some Chris Stapleton and let my legs go at whatever pace they wanted to go. My splits were still surprisingly pretty fast, but my effort felt low. I felt good overall and the run made me feel better than when I started. I even got in an extra two miles that weren’t on the program.

I lifted on Tuesday instead of Wednesday due to the stormy weather. The run to the track from my apartment was about 3 miles, then I ran really fast on the run portions and stuck with the jogs for the first two rounds, but as fatigue set in I had to speedwalk the jog portions for the remainder of the time on the track. My legs were tired after the 7 logged miles so I biked the 20 minutes home on the bike share. 

My Thursday was so busy that I knew I wasn’t getting my run in. At least I’m always on my feet anyway.

On Friday, my body’s anxiety was catching up to me so I had to run into a Starbucks to use a bathroom right at the beginning of the run. I mentally didn’t want to keep going and I was worried I’d need another bathroom break along the way, so I stayed near some restaurants just in case before I headed to the East River track for more speedwork. Thankfully I got 11 miles in without a hitch.

I rested on Saturday, but I had to get out of bed early on Sunday for a run. I purposely went up the steep hills of the aqueduct to train myself for elevation change, knowing that my reward for this humid torture would be time spent by a pool in the afternoon. My legs did not want to carry me the last two miles, so I finished 8 miles instead of the programmed 10. It wasn’t a complete loss since I had quite a journey on my feet to get to the pool. 

Recovery run views along the East River 🏃‍♀️