That's what my training has been like the past few days. Earlier last week...I ran through 2.5 hours. It hurt. I banked a few hard swims. I ran a little more. Friday I cranked out a pretty hard 100 miles and then a fabbbbbbulous run. Loved that run.
Saturday, I had another run. A "it's time to see if you can hack this" run. Okaaaaaay. I knew I was running that day. I was excited for it. I love to run. But I failed to read the details of the run...until about 15 minutes before I headed out.
oh oh. My quads were Super sore from the day before. Um, can I do that? I had some intervals. 8 of them. That's a lot. Faster than 5K pace. That's pretty damn fast. Especially on my sluggish 'what are you doing to me now' legs.
I bucked up, grabbed a gel and a water bottle to stash, and put on my game face.
Time to make it count. My warm up was slow and relaxed. I was sore. I stopped numerous times to stretch. Run 1 mile, stretch 1 minute. I felt my quads loosening.
GO! round 1. Pretty painful.
round 2 -miraculously better and faster---that warm up phenomenon is real.
round 3 - more pain
round 4-serious wind sucking. Bending over at end and wondering how I'd do 4 more
round 5- hanging in there and getting faster again.
round 6-really want to stop. My body is on fire. I can barely control the muscles in my quads. Ready to stop. Walk. bend over and sit down.
Instead--DIG DIG DIG!!!!!!! I was determined to make it count. These are the moments that make us stronger.
rounds 7 & 8 Knees up and push. Just put your head down and go.
It hurt so much. It pushed me past my comfort zone. But, I did it. I hit the goal pace and can check that one off.
But wait! You're not done yet Ange. One more biggy for the week. Jen said it would be a tough one. It didnt' get to me until the end.
Today was a beautiful day in Maine. Warm temps and sunny skies. But not warm enough. And, in Paris, not flat enough. I had a date with the trainer. And three shirts. And closed windows. And my recording of Ironman Hawaii.
I am not sure if I have ever sweat that much in my life. My shoes were soaked. My 3 layers were saturated.
I cranked the resistance on my trainer to the max, put it in the hardest gear, and pushed my quads until they shook. I did this for several hours. And it was great. I watched the athletes from Kona '08 and felt massive amounts of inspiration.
I can't wait to get to Hawaii.
And this week I put in the work needed to get through that day.
Tomorrow...I will start again!
6 comments:
OOOOOOOHHHHH. That trainer workout sounds BRUTAL. I love reading about your training though! I never really thought that I am 'lucky' to train in this heat, but I guess I can say I'm lucky I don't have to do trainer workouts like that!! Did you set up the hair dryer? That would have been CLASSIC. ;)
But just so you know, the dripping with sweat excessively thing is exactly what you will experience when you're here. I regularly wring the sweat out my shorts and socks after every run, even easy 45 minute ones. Yep.
Oh my God, Ange. You are so tough. I'm not sure I could've hacked that track workout right after the long run and brick! Amazing! And then that hot trainer ride!
Now recovery a bit to absorb? I hope?
:)
You are going to kick ass in HI
holy moly ange - i want to go hide in a closet thinking about that trainer workout!!!!! you are a trooper for sticking that one out!
i heard over the weekend just how hot HI is - you will be ready with all that simulation and sweating!
We all bow down to thee...
You dug deep for that one. Nice job on committing. Sounds grueling.
ohhhhh holy hell. yowsa. jen is a tough tough cookie. and so are you.
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