Taper Time!

The hardest part of distance running for me I think is the taper! After my 21 miler last weekend I was pretty excited that this week would be an easy week. My original plan was to do a fairly long run this weekend by meeting with the training group and doing 13 or so but took the advice of my smart runner friends and decided this week and my long run would be much easier than that.

My runs this week have been short.

Monday - BodyPump plus elliptical
Tuesday - 3.25 run
Wednesday - rest (family hike)
Thursday - 4 miles w/Terri
Friday - 3.57 post work run
Saturday--

Oh long run Saturday, how I miss you!? That was my thought at bedtime last night. I was actually going to miss my super long runs. Training for this marathon has been fun and definitely a great experience. I've loved all the distance PR's over the last several weeks, seriously! Last night before bed my husband and I agreed on 8-10 miles for our long run today. I was leaning very much towards 10 because I know the next 2 weeks will be much more easy than this week.

Last night my husband went to his second sleep study. This meant a promise to the kids to sleepover with me, like in my bed. It also meant I would be sandwiched between two hot bodies. Woot, FUN!! haha It makes for awesome sleep let me tell ya. Anyway, it was about 7am when Daddy-O got home, the kids were stirring and so was I. Upon waking up I noticed that my ear (the infamous left ear, might I add) was throbbing a little. It may also explain some of the dizziness I have felt the last few days. It was also a bit rumbly and rainy outside which was less than exciting for the runner in me. Bummer.

Rather than getting up and being all excited about going for a long run (the last one before my marathon) with my awesome husband I sent the kids in the living room to watch "kid shows" while my husband and I slept a little longer. Mom of the year? You betcha! ;) After a good little snooze we finally got out of bed around 9:45, had a little breakfast and by 11:30 were finally headed to the gym. The rain had stopped but with all the rain we assumed the greenway would be somewhat flooded and I was not in the mood to puddle jump. We decided on a treadmill run. I was still hoping for 8 miles but knew at this point I was pinched for time since it was close to noon and we only had until 1pm to leave the kids at the gym's childcare. We plan like rockstars!

I hopped on a treadmill and started my run. 1 mile in and I was headed to the bathroom. Dumb.
2 more miles down and I was bored. After a 5k I was ready to stop running. I have been so use to at least 3 treadmill runs each week but for the last several runs (with our awesome weather!) I have been outside running. I was basically bored to tears and needed to cover at least another 3 or so miles. I whined to my husband for a few seconds about how the treadmill sucks then sucked it up and kept on running. I tried to make it exciting my changing up my music and running different paces to the beat of the song playing. I played with the incline on the treadmill. I watched the clock and tried to play games with it. It wasn't working much to entertain me. Finally at 6.50 miles I was done.

Saturday - 6.5 miles of boring treadmill running 63:40.

The best part of the "long" run was having it done and having burned several hundred calories. The next best thing is the feeling of having finally moved past my love for treadmill running. Get me outside!!!