This morning dawned slightly cloudy and really humid. I think August is feeling a little petulant.
I took yesterday off (except for a 30-minute walk at lunch) because on Sunday morning I ran another 10.25 miles even though I know it is best to take a rest day after a race and even though I know that my leg is injured. It was the last semi-cool morning I have witnessed since then—and fine, it’s only Tuesday, but still—and I practiced squashing feelings of frustration and inadequacy that were brought on by the fact that I couldn’t run very fast. I spent most of the run enjoying the weather and even discovered that my leg doesn’t hurt as long as I don’t make sudden movements to the left or right. I felt so good, in fact, that I nixed my earlier plan of running eight miles and went for 10.25 in 1:25:00. Ha!
As I said, the weather is not cooperating at all and I have plans for after work, so I got up at the crack of dawn to go run on campus. I really look forward to the actual fall, but the end of summer is so bittersweet, and most mornings it’s kind of bitter because previously when I woke up at 6:00 a.m. the sun was already rising and everything looked awesome, but now it’s pitch-dark until almost 7:00. Then later, when it’s light out, it’s 90°! Get it together, Lansing!
I rolled up in the still-darkness and started running despite the fact that my soul recoiled from the returned humidity. Last week was so lovely! And this week is so hot. But after a couple of miles I didn’t care, because even if my leg was being ridiculous and the weather was not ideal, I was still running.
This morning I thought a lot about what has happened in the past two weeks. The injury from last week is slowing me down—there’s no doubt about that—and I’m not sure if I’ll get back to my previous speeds this summer. I almost cried with joy when I ran a couple of miles under 8:00 this morning, but I definitely paid the price. By the end of eight miles I was really struggling. This does not bode well for the half marathon coming up—or for any of the races I have coming up. I’m a little nervous about that, but part of me thinks I’m just supposed to run slowly for the rest of this week and the next and then bust out. It’s not so bad as long as I can still run.
I ran eight miles today because it’s the last day of August and I wanted to send it off with an appropriate number of miles. Done! Maybe I should kick off September with a nine-mile run tomorrow morning. Or maybe not. But here’s what I do plan to do in September:
- Run many races, and run well. I have four races scheduled, and I’m really hoping to be back at 100% for those races. The first one will be on September 11th on Mackinac Island, and I really want another big trophy! This will involve trying to figure out a good balance between resting my stupid leg and still running. The combo of too much rest + not enough running is making me slow, and I need to fix it ASAP.
- Do 30 push-ups and 50 crunches each day. I want to get toned again, but I’m just not ready to commit to another workout video regimen. I especially don’t want to overdo it on the lunges, etc. because I might actually snap my leg off and that wouldn’t be great. I’ve heard that push-ups are a good way to get toned arms, so I think I’ll try it out and see what happens. Martial arts will assist with this goal because we usually do at least 15 push-ups and crunches in each class. At any rate, it will be a good base for getting back into weight training and videos.
- Have a good time. I tend to be stressed out in September because there are so many things going on—football games, races, work, trying to run, thinking about how nice it is not to be in school, watching my shows on Netflix and Hulu—and then eventually my mood is perpetually bad. This September, I’m going to do what I want and have fun, dangit! I will eat popcorn at football games! I will run after work! I will go to martial arts too much! Bam!
- Try out some Core Fusion. This is another thing that I decided to try right now. I bought a bunch of Core Fusion DVDs forever ago, and I never really got into them because I didn’t feel like they gave me much of a workout. However, with my leg in the state that it’s in (annoying), it might be the perfect thing since it involves no leaping around or anything like that. I would really like to do some of these videos two or three times a week.
It’s already looking like a banner month! Do you have any sweet plans for September?
Have a great Tuesday!