Week of Training July 13-19

This was my first week back from my break. I only ran once last week, a 6 mile run on Thursday, so I did not feel like a training log was necessary or would have been remotely interesting. But by the end of that week, I was started getting antsy to run again, especially with the challenge of a marathon lurking in the shadows.

It’s gone!!

Wanting to run again is a good sign, as it means that I was not mentally fried at the end of the season. In the past, I have pushed and pushed to the end of the season so by the end I was more than ready to take a break when season was finished. This happens in college quite a bit, as there is a set beginning and end of the season. Now as a professional, I get to pick and choose what races I run and most importantly, when to throw in the towel for the season.

Along with mentally burning out, you can finish a season physically burnt out. Both usually go hand in hand, and react to each other in a vicious cycle: You feel terrible, so you do not want to race, which makes you even more tired trying to power through, which makes you not want to race. Earlier in the track season, I felt like I had burned my candle for too long, but was able to come back and pull together a decent track season and finish with a bang at Peachtree.

Finishing my year on a positive note made me really want to keep racing. I felt that I was on an up swing, and could hit up the summer road circuit. But I knew that I needed to take a break and step back a bit in order to make it ready to roll in October. Since a marathon requires so much investment, the last thing I wanted was to get to the middle of August feeling stale and tired and six weeks until Twin Cities.

Other than running, I occupied myself with updating my videos page, fixing the broken screen on my phone, and a few late nights. We also had camps for pretty much the entire last two weeks, which was another thing that kept me busy. Right now we are in the middle of camp season, and there is hardly a day where a group is not occupying the lodge. That means that we have to clean ZAP before each group gets in and make sure everything runs smoothly. While having so much going on can be tiring at times, these camps are the main way for ZAP to help give us support.

This last week of running was all about getting back into the swing of things. Which was tough after nearly 10 days of having no set schedule. I was staying up late, sleeping in, and most importantly trying to relax. While I am not successfully on a great schedule yet, I am well on my way. I know that once I get there, training will become much more mechanical and easier, which is where I function best.