Rough Day

Snow. Needs. To. Go. Away. (This is actually a picture from 2 years' ago's fall; this years' is WAY MORE).

Today was rough. Last night, I found out I didn't get accepted for the fall semester of one of my schools (I got accepted for spring, but it is still a bummer, because that was my safety school...). Then I got up, dreading my track workout but knowing I needed to do it, but because it was a snow day, I thought oh hey I'll just do it at 9! or 11! or 1! or 2:30! Or never!!! Because at 4:00 I went to meet with my coach, who is basically SuperWoman, and told her I hated my track workouts and couldn't do them, especially not today. Today all I managed to do was some laundry, a little eating, some reading, and A LOT of sleeping. Remember my post about naps? Today involved major nappage.

    After talking to Coach SuperWoman, who has competed in countless Ironman's (including Kona! a personal dream of mine!), over 30 marathons, and probably more 5ks than me and all my 5 readers can count on our fingers and toes, I did feel much better (My pre-coach-meeting 5-miler with pickups also helped. 5 miles in 41:30!!). She is fantastic and totally understood my anxiety over my track workouts. Like me, she loathes 5k pace, which is what all the workouts were based on, because for the past month I have been thinking I was going to run on a team in college, so I wanted to increase my speed and decrease my mile and 2 mile times, but this is no longer my mindset (the college I wanted to run for ended up not being at all what I expected, and I also realized I kind of would rather not eat peanut butter for 2 years than have to only run 5ks all throughout college).

  We realized that I am way more of a 10-miler to half-marathon runner; I can hold a pretty strong pace for a long period of time and still have a kick at the end, but though I can usually place in my age group at 5ks, I feel like vomiting/breaking my legs off the whole time. I am so happy that I found my running niche!!
  
    Now, all my track workouts will be based on time, which is way more of a motivator for me than distance, and the fastest the intervals will be is at about 7:30, a totally doable, I-can-run-without-throwing-up-but-still-get-speedier pace. Anyone else besides me also sort of loathe 5ks? It stinks that almost all local events are that distance; what about us endurance people?!?!
    After the meeting, I headed to the gym for 20 minutes of elliptical intervals, some leg strengthening exercises, and a serious 1/2 mile or so in the pool. I was literally pouding away my frustration in the water; the residual shoulder and ab pain was totally worth it. I now feel almost too fatigued to be angry/sad... though I am not sure how well that will bode for the track workout I have tomorrow (because yes, even though I skipped today's, I am still going to get it done sooner or later).

Moral of today: It is okay to wallow for a bit, but never underestimate the restorative powers of exercise. Today was yet another occasion were I didn't want to run, and yeah, I was emotionally exhausted and wanted to cry like a baby when I got on the treadmill, but 41 and a half minutes later, I felt better. Not total back to normal, but better. I have never regretted a run, and today was no exception.