Taking Time to Regroup

These past 2 weeks after Grandma's Marathon have been exactly what I needed. 2 weeks of low running without expectations, the ability to skip a run if I wasn't feeling it, a complete transition away from my overly stressful job that was taking over my life and working to make myself and family a priority.

We spend much of last weekend at the softball fields coaching O's team to a consolation bracket win! In true MN weather we were cold, bundled up in jackets and pants and even pulled out hand warmers for the Sunday morning games! All weekend I was wishing that this weather had been there the previous weekend for the marathon.
Heading to the game! Is it really June?!
This week I struggled with running, legs were heavy, I was tired, I just didn't have that push. I kept low miles, walked if needed and didn't look at pace, my body was asking for recovery. I even skipped my 4 miles midweek when O asked to join me, we did 2.25 miles run/walk averaging around 10:30 pace! Way to go! It brought a smile to my face to share this with her and see her enjoy running. She got warm and requested to run in just her sports bra.


This morning I drove to meet coach Nichole for a run, I wasn't sure what I was going to do and luckily she was running 20 miles so I figured I could handle the pace! She texted last night asking if we should run some speed, after the other 2 sluggish runs this week I was scared! Secretly (okay now not so secret) I was hoping the predicted storms made us cancel. Yep, I am known to doubt myself and defeat myself a little too much. No such luck on the storms...
I met Nichole and she tells me this would be a great time to run 8x 90sec repeats! Can you really say no to your coach? A couple easy miles then the speed! I was great to have someone encouraging and giving mental cues and pointers as we ran. The 90 seconds seem to go quickly, yay! I was happy to look at Strava after and see this...


Now I have only used Starva for about 2 months but my fastest 400m and just over 6:00 pace less than 2 weeks post marathon! I'll take it! 

Now a little time to relax and enjoy the long holiday weekend. I am running the annual 4th of July half on Tuesday and excited to have a friend running with me this year. After that I'm looking to focus on half marathon training for a while while still getting some miles towards Chicago training.

What are your holiday weekend plans? 

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