Week 4 - Losing Confidence

It hasn't been a great week in running. I was so proud of myself after last week's four mile run. And, then this week happened.

Monday morning I headed out on a 3 mile run at 6am. Things were going well, my heart rate was a little low but that frequently happens early in the morning. My goal was to run 1.5 miles, walk for 1 minute, and then head for home. Things were going well until I reached 2.5 miles. My knees were complaining. Loudly. I toyed with powering through but then I remembered that I have 4 weeks until the 10K and it wasn't a good time to do any serious damage. So, I power walked that last half mile. I was disappointed.

I had a track workout on schedule for Tuesday but decided to give the knees some rest and lots of time with frozen peas. And, I decided it was time to use my gift certificate to Rose Garden Health for a little Active Release Therapy. Or, as I like to call it, torture. It's good for she always seems to find things that didn't hurt before my appointment.

I was supposed to swim on Tuesday but couldn't wake up, but I did make it to the pool on Thursday. Our coach was offering to do stroke evaluations so I took her up on her offer. I figured there must be something I need to change. I swam a 50 as naturally as I could knowing someone was watching. She said, "I have no suggestions. You have a very pretty stroke." Wow. Nothing? Cool!

Friday, it was time to try running again. My knees did okay for my 2 mile run. (Whose idea was it to this 10K anyway? Also, this is a really long post. Maybe weekly isn't often enough.)

Saturday. Usually this is my long run day, but this Saturday was the first day of Cinderella Ride Training. The Cinderella Ride is an all women 100K or 100M ride in the east bay that has been going on for about 18 years. I met Chris, Deepika, Jill, Naama, & Sara for the first day of training. There was a lot of talking, checking bikes, assigning groups, but we finally got rolling. Chris, Jill & Naama are hardcore and doing the Challenge series, so they will be riding longer and more hills. I lost Sara after the talking, but she said she had a good time. Deepika and I started out in the Intermediate group which was HUGE. When the group leaders asked for some people to give the Advanced group a try, we pulled on our big girl panties and headed over to the Advanced group. We did a short, flat 12 mile ride to see if people thought they had picked the right group. We fit right in and will be staying with this group.

Sunday, my new long run day. Today 4 miles. I'm kinda figured myself out. I don't like the 2nd quarter of my runs. Once I make the turn for home things start looking up. I really like the first and last miles the best. I got my heart rate a little high and I've discovered that I really don't like that and it makes me cranky. I got really pissed at the "speed up" beeping of my garmin, so I think I will change it to heart rate instead of pace. Speaking of the garmin, it was so not working in the last mile of the run. It seemed to think my pace was 16 minutes. Umm . . . I don't think so! My knees were hurting in the last half mile but I kept running. I was a good girl and walked for almost a half mile to cool down.

I may have to make some adjustments to my goals for the 10K but I will be doing something I never thought I would.

Weekly Totals:
Miles - 9.47
Time - 2:23:00
Avg. Pace - 15:05