Giving myself a chance?

The TC10 mile is this Sunday.  I’d really like to set a new PR (and finally go sub 60!).  You’d think that if I can hold 6:15’s for a marathon that I would have a PR faster than 1:01.something, right?  Yeah, it’s time to remedy that 🙂

My legs have been oh-so-tired, lately, though, so after last Tuesday, Jerry instructed me to be pretty drastic in cutting out mileage and some intensity from the plan leading up to the race.  After about a 5 minute “Gasp! No doubles! No! My legs aren’t that tired, are they?!?” freak out, I came to my senses, knowing full well my legs WERE that tired (if not more so!), and I desperately needed a BIG down week (or two).

After just easy miles and a rest day, the workout planned for Saturday went OK – Jerry edited it down to 2x (2 miles at MP, 1 at T).  I felt like I was doing a fast tempo segment to hit the marathon paces, and practically an all out mile to do the tempo.  Not super encouraging, but at least progress vs. the Tuesday workout.

Fast forward to this week.  By Monday evening’s run, I could tell the legs were starting to come around.  Tuesday’s workout with the Run Club (we need a team name…) actually went OK, despite a slow start.  We did 6×1 miles at tempo, and I finished in 5:55 (hmm, I thought to myself), 5:50 (okay, you can just focus on getting faster each one!), 5:49 (yes, I fought to make that one faster), 5:45 (Nate stuck with me on this one, so nice to have the side-by-side push!), 5:43 (again, fighting to make it faster!), and 5:40.  Yes!  I was still working harder than I should have been for the 5:40-5:45 pace, but it’s nice to know that I can at least move that fast. 

Today’s run was mighty slow as a result of Tuesday’s effort.  Any spring I gained before Tuesday has since left, so I know I’m not still 100% (maybe 80%?).  Ahh, oh well.  All in good time.

I’ve also been trying to eat as well as possible.  I figure I need to be giving my body every possible opportunity to heal itself, and I feel like nourishing it with plenty of good foods is one of the best things I can do for it.  There have been several times where I’ve actually went out of my way to make something that consists mostly of vegetables, grains, and beans (think late night at the office, tired… easy just to scrounge…).  It’s actually been a lot of fun!

Except when I opened a package of burrito shells (Chi Chi’s brand) – yes, bought on sale with a coupon – for my typical egg white/spinach burrito and found myself tasting the un-natural-ness (is that a word?) of the burrito shell.  I took a look at the package to find:

Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin,
Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, and Folic Acid), Water,
Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oils, Leavening Agent (Bicarbonate
of Soda, Cornstarch, Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, Monocalcium Phosphate),
Salt, Fumaric Acid, Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Propionate to Retard
Mold and Conditioner (Soy Flour, Calcium Sulfate, and Sorbic Acid).

Definitely not within my “5 ingredients or less” goal, and I could completely tell (when did that change happen?).  Guess it’s time to get back to the Co-op :).  Or find a way to make tortillas myself?  I really wish I had more time in my day to make more meals, make things from scratch, keep learning creative ways to substitute for better ingredients (Craig’s bread making and ingredient list he told us about this weekend sounded SO good!  On the prowl for a bread maker now!) etc.  Maybe someday? 🙂

So… here’s hoping that the legs soak up the rest of this down week and come to the line Sunday feeling springy, light, and FAST!  (also very excited to cheer for everyone that’s running the marathon, especially fellow GAC alum Brooke, who will be running her first!)