Letting things not go according to plan. Being bigger than the fear.

So the drafting of the training plan from now until the Hot Chocolate 15k is well underway and my life has already thrown me enough curve balls that I've had to modify my first week plans about three times. It's a funny reminder to just keep focused on the big picture instead of getting caught up in the details. I guess it's really the only way to make training work alongside everything else in my life (by which I really just mean med school). Flexibility is key and flexibility is not detrimental to my progress so long as I do it right. Gotta remember to keep that in mind over the course of this training block.

Yesterday I went for a swim in the evening with Victoria. I don't know why I decided not to take a day off (I'm actually not planning on taking a day off for a while, just planning on doing a lot of active recovery) but that's what I decided, so I rode my bike out to the Athletic Complex and took a swim! I blew a flat on the way out which was a bummer because (a) I had to ride half the way there and the whole way back on a flat, which was rough on my legs and also likely rough on my bike and (b) I was planning on going to masters swim on Thursday morning but it seems like that won't be happening until I get my new tubes in the mail (thus more plan readjusting!).

In any case, the swim itself was alright. I had been planning on just chilling it but ended up doing some real work because Victoria was there with a friend and they were actually working out so I hopped in and out for parts of their set. I was extraordinarily slow and it really hurt to be swimming intervals that should have realistically been easy. I'm sure it was a combination of having been out of the pool for a while (and not really focused on the swimming in recent months even when I was getting pool hours in) and having run a half marathon the day before. There was also a lot of dawdling and chatting during the workout so I spent about an hour and a half at the pool but only maybe 50% of that was real swimming. It was fun though, I got to hang out with my friend and meet someone new and make a new friend, and I got some swimming in. All in all it was a very enjoyable experience.

Monday's Workout: PM rec swim

• WU: 1000 SKIPS
• Main Set:
• 2 x (2 x 100 free @ 1:30) w/ copious amounts of rest in the middle (I just butted in during parts of Victoria/Thomas's workout)
• 8 x 75 @ 1:15, odds 50 swim easy/25 kick fast, evens 50 kick fast/25 swim easy (this was particularly rough on my already roughed up legs...)
• WD: 100 easy
• Total Distance: 2100 SCY

Hit Rate: 1/1 (100%)

Today, after quite a long day in terms of general life, I took a short easy run just to shake out the legs. Nothing fancy. I had this entire conversation with myself while I was out there about the upcoming training block and how it's crazy that my PB in this recent half marathon has really made me feel like if I worked hard for it, I could improve my running by a lot. It makes me want to be really focused and disciplined and structured about my training and it really makes me want to chase speed rather than just chasing more endurance. That's also really tough though, I find intensity a lot more mentally challenging and intimidating compared to distance so I know it's going to be a struggle to really get myself to commit to something that is in reality just going to hurt a lot and be really difficult. But now that I think I have the ability to improve, I can't just let that go to waste, I feel like I have to pursue it. And I guess more importantly, I really really want to pursue it. So it's all very scary and I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to rise above that fear and get what I need to do done. I have no answers, but I figure if I tackle it one workout at a time the way I tackled the race one mile at a time, I'll end up getting to where I want to be (or at least I'll be however many steps ahead of where I am right now, even if I do ultimately fall short). 

Today's Workout: PM easy recovery run

Summary: 3.13 mi, 30:35, 9:46 pace.

Pace splits by mile: 9:40, 9:54, 9:44, 9:38.

Hit Rate: 2/2 (100%)

As you can see, I'm starting up the hit rate measure again. I'll keep this up until the race in December and see if it continues to serve me well. In the meantime, the current update is that tomorrow will be an early morning gym session, the contents of which I will be flexible about pending how my body feels when I wake up. I'll hopefully be reporting back more frequently than I have been the past few weeks as well. I think I'm off to a pretty good start. Excited to start on this new block! Yay! (:

Much love,

Jess

PS - I signed up for next year's Rock n Roll St. Louis Half Marathon yesterday! Presale pricing was too good to pass up, can't wait to run this race again in a year and hopefully scrape off some more time! (: