Week 7 of Un-Marathon Training

Mon: 7-miles elliptical
Tues: 1-mile treadmill; 6-miles elliptical
Wed: off
Thurs: 7-miles elliptical
Fri: 7-miles elliptical
Sat: 2000yd swim (5 sets of 200yd swim / 200yd pull w/ 50yd cooldown)
Sun: 2500yd swim (6 sets of 200yd swim / 200yd pull w/ 100yd cooldown); 2-miles elliptical/stairmaster hybrid (aka I don't know what to call it, but it was on an end so I didn't have to deal with people... wow I'm getting bitter!)

I was super proud of myself for managing 1-mile at an 8min pace, but it was everything I could do to keep running and not scream. It hurt.

I went to the chiropractor again on Saturday. What she did last time seemed to help, and I hadn't done any more damage, but I am still super tight. So, headed in the right direction, which is better than I was 2 weeks ago.

The weekend workouts were lacking. I found out 10 days ago that we needed to write a paper by today (the deadline was extended to Thursday because we got new data). And, this paper is "for school" (even though I graduated 2 years ago) and not "for work", which means I need to write it after work. Also, by write a paper, I mean do the analysis, which resulted in me pulling out my thesis for the second time in a matter of weeks. That's never a good idea. I just kind of want to black the last two years of grad school out. Ugh. And this was the stuff I spent the majority of that last two years doing. Wicked Ugh!

Also, I haven't been sleeping well owing to being more than a little stressed out about this paper. I have tried to get my mind off of it by watching TV before I go to bed (the night I tried to just close my laptop and go to sleep resulted in a midnight-1PM bout of what if I try this...). But, I really can't focus on anything that requires even the slightest bit of thought, which includes reruns of The West Wing, which is pretty pathetic. So, we've been watching reruns of RuPaul's Drag Race... Star Search meets Survivor with drag queens... reality TV doesn't get much better!

Week 6 of Un-Marathon Training

Mon: 7-miles elliptical
Tues: 7-miles elliptical
Wed: off
Thurs: 7-miles elliptical
Fri: 7-miles elliptical
Sat: off
Sun: off

I went to the chiropractor on Wednesday... my legs and back are super tight, and apparently that is the problem. So, good news I guess. Stretch, stretch, stretch, foam roll, foam roll, foam roll... run again someday!

I also went to a wedding in Charleston over the weekend, which was super fun. I even managed to drag Matt onto the dance floor. For this, I owe him 1 million (said in your best Dr. Evil voice) hugs. I'm an engineer. I hate hugs. But, it was worth it.

Weeks 4 and 5 of Un-marathon Training

Decided to combine them since my parents were in town for half of week 4 and I wanted to spend time with them. Cross training takes a stupid amount of time. Also, this is officially the longest I haven't run for. In fact, I think I crossed the threshold at week 3. AGGHH!

Mon: 7-miles elliptical
Tues: 7-miles elliptical
Wed: 0.25-miles treadmill; 6.75-miles elliptical
Thurs: off
Fri: off
Sat: off
Sun: off

Mon: off
Tues: 7-miles elliptical
Wed: 7-miles elliptical
Thurs: 7-miles elliptical
Fri: 6 sets of 200yd swim / 200yd pull, 100yd cooldown
Sat: 3-mile "run"; 5 sets of 200yd swim / 200yd pull, 100yd cooldown
Sun: 6 sets of 200yd swim / 200yd pull, 100yd cooldown; 3-miles elliptical

I attempted to run on two days. Wednesday of the first week was supposed to read "3.5-miles treadmill; 3.5-miles elliptical. Step 1 hurt, and step 2, and pretty much all of the steps I took during those 0.25-miles. I adjusted the pace faster, and then slower, and nothing. Being that I was pretty much limping after 0.25-miles, I stopped and stomped my way over to the elliptical. Have you ever tried "limp running" on a treadmill? It's not that easy.

I attempted to "run" again on July 4th. Everyone else was doing 5k's or 4-milers, so I was bound and determined to do a "fun run" from my house. It was not fun. Well, it was fun to actually use my Garmin again, although it took forever to find satellites. But, pretty much every step after I found satellites killed. My left knee hurts, but worse than that, my right hip (well, really, whole right side) really freaking hurts. However, I decided to see if things would get better as the run progressed, so I didn't turn around at the end of the street. I really can't drive my right leg up all that well, and landing on my left leg hurts my knee, so I was pretty much running using only my calfs. I'm actually semi-impressed that I held up for 3-miles doing that, a testament to my former triple jumping days I guess. Anyways, it was pretty miserable and I'm not going to attempt running again until I see someone and figure out what the heck I've managed to screw up!

On a positive note, swimming is going better, and I only miss the wall on about 1/3 of my flip turns now...