Crazy Leg Day

Turns out, not at all shocking, sleep was the vital key for my body.  Monday night, after having slept 12 hours, I really did feel much better yesterday. I didn’t get that afternoon crash and when I went to the gym I felt REALLY good. Like better than I’ve felt in ages.  My training plan called for 3 miles.  I wanted to do a leg day workout earlier in the week to not sore my legs for the weekend.  I decided that if I felt good I might try to do one of my two scheduled 4.5 mile runs yesterday and then if I felt tired alter in the week I could opt to only do 3 miles instead. 

Honestly I had every intention of running 4.5 miles so I made sure I set the treadmill to 60 minutes and I immediately just started the machine at 6 miles per hour.  I felt tempted to bump it up to 6.2 but I decided because I wanted to run longer that just going at a comfortable 6 mile pace would be fine.  And it instantly felt REALLY good. Crazy comfortable.  I was tempted to bump up the speed but I just thought no, just run a 6 mile per hour pace for a while and see how comfortable it is.  It’s perfectly okay to have a comfortable run. And I couldn’t get over how improved I felt. How light weight and easy it was. And I was so thankful for the quality sleep that made me feel this good. And I thought this is exactly how running is supposed to feel. This is exactly the feeling I haven’t had in a while.  No secret I’ve been struggling the past couple weeks with running. I do think it was allergies and tired and stress and motivation. 

Struggling so much that I was starting to get nervous if my body was up for the challenge of running. Runs like last night remind me of the beauty and joy of running. I hit the 3 mile mark and felt great and was like heck yeah, let’s definitely do a 4.5 mile run.  And as I approached 4.5 miles I’m like, well, I’m only 1.5 miles or 15 minutes away from a solid comfortable 1 hour run, let’s just do it.  And I kept running and it felt great.  I finally started to feel a little hint of tired around 55 minutes. Like the last 5 minutes I thought okay, I’m ready to be done.  But not out of breath crazy I have to stop kind of tired.  So I finished 1 hour, 60 minutes, exactly 6 miles and I felt amazing.  Single handedly the best run I’ve had in a month.  And I was so beyond thankful for that. It’s nice to believe that it’s still possible for me to run a 10 minute mile pace for 6 miles and feel good. 

Perhaps my slow pace this last weekend was a direct result of my Vegas trip and feeling extra heavy and full and lack of running. Perhaps my half this weekend will go a little smoother now that I’m getting back into the swing of things. 

After I ran 6 miles I was ready to go on my killer leg day workout.  I had of course planned out this workout with the intent of only running 3 miles or 30 minutes beforehand and it was kind of long and brutal.

But I decided to just go for it anyway.  I started with the first set of exercises and I was in fact dripping sweat all over the place.  And I kept going and I kept getting more and more tired.  And I kept going.  And I kept drinking my water and refilling my water bottle because I needed the water.  I was dropping sweat.  And honestly by the time I had finally finished I had nothing left in me.  Overall I had been in the gym almost 2 hours 20 minutes and burned 1,060 calories. That is crazy intense for one night. 

I wanted to quit on my list early but I am not a quitter. I just kept going and going.  And seriously by the end I really was just ready to go home.  And eat. And take a shower.  Food and fresh water never were as good as last night.  It all restored my faith in myself.  I needed this crazy good workout.  Completely.

Tonight my training plan calls for one of those 4.5 mile runs.  I will run it but I have no illusions of it being that easy breezy tonight.  My legs are in fact a little tight and sore already from this leg day workout.  But I figure if I do a 4.5 miler tonight, rest Thursday night as my plan calls for (rest from running not working out) and then run 3 miles on Friday that would be sufficient.  Saturday will be rest day and then Sunday another half. As I try and get my body back used to running long distances weekend after weekend.  That is essentially what training plans call for. Of course they don’t immediately start out with 13.1 distances every weekend but I’m just over the top like that.

Honestly I just have a half this weekend, then a 10k the following weekend and then nothing planned the following weekend.  Then it is 3 weekends of half’s in a row. I would think by the time that set of half’s rolls around I should be really ready for them.   Especially if I keep going at the rate I am now.

So tonight I will do 4.5 miles and then do something lighter on upper body. I might do a real targeted 1 or 2 muscle group workout for about 30 minutes and call it good. And then tomorrow night will be no run so I will do a full on upper body workout. Well I might do a quick 15 minute warm up run but that doesn’t count.  Last night’s run made me feel amazing and happy and blessed for this life that I have.  Happy to be so strong and capable.  Blessed to have a partner in life who is on board with my goals and dreams. Usually J

Things are generally very good today and I like it. That’s what comes of an incredible workout.  This is exactly why I love this life so much.  It just makes me feel good! I am at my best when I am working towards goals.  I know this about myself.  Running a marathon this year was simply the best goal I could possibly have chosen.  It makes me more accountable and it gives me something solid and tangible to work towards.  I like checking boxes and numbers and statistics and marathon training is all about that. I literally get to compute data almost daily. My little running plan app is perfect for my overly obsessed numbers mind. It makes me happy every time I get to cross off a run from the plan. Yes, it makes me far too happy.

I’m a girl with a plan and goals and I’m going to succeed. You kind of have to remind yourself of that every single day! Today is a good one so I am going to go with it. Not all days are this happy. Not at all. Enjoy the ones where you feel like you can conquer the world. Because I promise you tomorrow it will kick your ass, knock you down and remind you how hard it can be.  Just keep fighting the good fight.