Post race week

This week has been a struggle. It is even a struggle to type this blog posting. I have been really tired and I am pretty sure it is because I have no properly rested after the race. My three runs this week have been ugly but at least I got them in.

July 23

The ugliest run of the week definitely happened on Tuesday. Despite the ugly run. I had a good Tuesday. I ran who two good friends who no longer live here and had lunch at Chicago Bagel Authority. When we got done with lunch, one my friends and I stopped in at the Nike Training Club store in Lincoln Park. It is definitely a cool store for women interested in Nike gear. I then walked her home and ran an errand. Once I completed that errand, I had to make the decision to run or not.

I probably sat on a bench for 10 minutes deciding if I wanted to put my sore body through this four mile run; eventually my body and legs lost the battle. Part of me wishes I could have videotaped myself during the first couple of miles of this run. It did not look pretty at all. Once I got past the point of looking like a gimp, I gained some good form. My body and legs still hurt but I made it through the four miles. Miles three and four were definitely my best because I actually started to feel somewhat normal by then. I ended up walking and running a total of 8.3 miles that day. Wednesday could only get better, right?

July 24

Meh. My thighs still killed me but I had an old friend of mine celebrating a birthday downtown and I decided I would run part of the way there. Once again, it kind of looked like I limped through the first couple of miles before looking like a normal runner. I put the little asterisk by my time Wednesday because I stopped and chatted with a friend around mile 4.5. I have not seen her or her fiance in a while so it would have been rude to just keep running. We stopped and talked for five minutes before I continued my run again.

According to my running app, the next two miles were fairly slow. I felt pretty good so I did not really notice. The last went well very well and I walked a bit before getting on a bus downtown.  I had a fun time celebrating my friends birthday with him and his friends. We went out separate ways after dinner and I went to go meet up with another group of guys in town for a wedding.  I took it easy at this bar because I wanted to get a run the next day.

July 25

This would be the day I start working out and running again, right? Wrong! My body has been angry with me for running so I decided not to work out and just run. It also did not help that I had a very lazy morning and did not have time to workout.

According to the numbers I had my best run of the week on Thursday. I got off to another slow start and eventually got it going. I had a great second mile run but my average pace went up during miles three and four.  I imagine that if I were running on a path with no stop lights that my time would have been better, but I am not complaining. I am just glad I could get these runs in.

Normally after a race I take a week off before running. I honestly did not know if I could complete these runs because my legs hurt a pretty good amount. It should also be noted that I turned the announcement feature on my running app so I could worry less about time. I think that this is something that I will continue over the next few weeks of training to see how I feel.  It should also be noted that I have not done the squat challenge or any type of workout this week. I am hoping that my legs will feel ok after my long run on Saturday.


Here are my paces from the past week:

July 23-4 mile run at 9:04
July 24-7 mile run at 9:06*
July 25-4 mile run at 8:41


Last but not least, I started the Art of Fielding this week. I am looking forward to it after hearing a lot of good things about it. That is all I have for today.

Run Happy!


What books are you all reading?