This week I have been sort of going through the motions of working out. I did nothing on Monday. I read that after a race there are a certain number of days to rest. So Monday I did nothing. Tuesday I got antsy and went for a run. Originally it was suppose to be a slow three miles. Halfway through I decided to go three point one to make it a full 5K. And somewhere going slowly morphed to trying to keep it below a ten minute mile. And I paid for it for two days with aching legs. And then yesterday I had an amazing run. I ran a little over three miles in under 29 minutes, a personal best for me. And I felt great afterwards.
Loved this run.
So now what? Now that there is no race, no endurance challenge to train for, now what do I do? I have become seriously obsessed with the whole topic. From food, to body mechanics to shoes, I love reading about how to go farther faster. I love trying to put it into practice and testing my limits. It has to be about that even more than about getting healthy and never about how does it make me look. Seriously, I have been retooling workouts based on what I have read. I have a workout plan from my nephew designed to make a runner faster. I am rearranging the work out, both the exercises and they order of the exercises based on primary and secondary muscles used by a runner. I am also creating a second work-out based off of this so that my muscles don’t get too accustomed to the routine. I have also found a core work out designed specifically for runners, which I plan to incorporate three days a week.
Doing this means totally changing up my current routine, which worries me. I don’t like change. The plan also only includes two run days a week, and both days are tempo runs. One day of cycling is rounded out with two strength training days. It is a big break from my current routine. But since I think I want to enter some 5K’s to benchmark myself, this seems like the plan.
As for biking, it remains something I love to do. However, for now, I want to take it out of the realm of racing. Not that I don’t want to bike as fast as I can, but I want to do it for joy. It is harder for me to fit in longer rides, and I see that becoming more of a problem until the spring. So biking supports my running and my mental health.
So… I need to find a 5k.
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