Happy Happy Wednesday!

The weeks just seem to crawl by don’t they? Or, maybe that’s just because I am anxious to get on the road! We are heading to Wes’ family’s beach house for a long weekend and I am already ready to go!

There is nothing more soothing to me than the peace and quiet out there!

I went in for a physical on Monday afternoon. Even though I didn’t think anything was wrong, with the crazy struggles I’ve been having lately I figured I’m better safe than sorry.

Lots of blood drawn! The verdict?

All my blood work came back normal. I had a feeling it wasn’t anything but just trying to fit a lot in each day, but you never can be too sure!

Tuesday morning I was bound and determined to get in a consistent tempo run. The goal was to get up and go to my normal course, but the weather had other plans.

I took my dog out first thing and it was raining and about 95% humidity. The rain wasn’t so awful that I couldn’t have run in it but that mixed with the humidity just felt like I was setting myself up for a frustrating tempo run. Let’s face it; I don’t need any more of those!

Even though there was more than one thought about getting back in bed, I headed down to the treadmill. Going into this I didn’t have a set distance I wanted to hit. I just wanted to see how my body would do.

After a quick 1 mile warm up with some strides I got right into it. I typically would rather a 20 minute warm up but I am on a time crunch in the mornings and wasn’t sure how far I would go.

The first 1-2 miles was a bit of a struggle. My legs were still asleep but I tried to focus on relaxing and taking it one small interval at a time.

Treadmill tip: To help the time pass quicker I break up the run into 6 minute intervals. After every 6 minutes I take a sip of water. For some reason this has always helped me mentally.

I started to get more into it around 3-4 miles. I always find that the first 5-6 miles are the worst when it comes to tempo runs. After that point it is just about getting to the end. I had in my head that once I got to 7 I would re-evaluate. If I felt good I’d continue to 8, and then if I still felt “good” I would continue to finish 9.

Well, I got my 9 done! There was a lot of sweat and tired legs but I’m happy to get it done.

I was beating myself up a bit about doing another tempo on the treadmill. There have been more than I would have liked this training cycle, but then I stopped and realized:

• I just ran 9 miles at GMP even finishing the last mile about 10 seconds faster
• I still put in the work even if the treadmill helped push me along
• The treadmill was at a 1% incline
• It’s all about doing what it takes to get done
• I’ve got 5-6 more tempos before this cycle is over

At the end of the day I was happy I put in the effort and got it done!

After I got finished I did some leg strengthening, stretching, and then proceeded to take this girl out to go to the bathroom where she decided she wanted to play a game of chase with some deer in our back yard.

This is becoming more and more of a habit, thankfully she always comes back! It still makes me nervous every time she runs off after them.

Training is a lot of ups and downs but at the end of the day what matters most is putting in the work! Don’t beat yourself up if you have to run on the treadmill, or change a workout, switch your plan around a bit or whatever it may be to make it work!

How often do you run on a treadmill?

How is the weather where you are?