Frustrating Start To A Great Finish

Having taken the last two days off from running, I was getting a bit tired, I was anxious to run today. However, my run got off to a frustrating start. First, it was 29 degrees out with a wind chill at 21. I really did not want to run outside in that, plus, the overnight and early morning weather we had had left numerous icy patches around. Again, I did not want to run in/on that and risk injury. Therefore, I settled to go inside on the treadmill. The frustrating part is that when I went to the fitness center here at my condo complex it was locked up still. Someone forgot to come unlock it for the residents to use. I called the management company and through a series of phone calls I was told it would be after 3pm before someone could come by and unlock it......grrrrrr! I was not happy, I wanted to run then, not later. So, nearly two hours later someone came and unlocked the fitness room....yay! Finally inside I get on the treadmill and within two minutes I stopped and had to change treadmills. The first one kept slipping and I just could not get into a groove. So, onto the second treadmill. This one, upon first start up screeched at me as the belt stayed in place and then all of a sudden let loose and started to rotate. Good thing I was not standing on it. After a few minutes and a rise of the incline I did not notice the treadmill slipping anymore. I have noticed it slips the most when it is at a 0 incline and when it is cold.

Onto the workout. Once I got moving I set out for five miles to nowhere by way of speedwork. My goal today was to do the first and last miles at 17:10 with the middle three miles at 15:30. Not once during the workout did I feel tiredness in the shins, yet I could feel the calves working. When I was on my last mile at the slower speed I noticed how much easier it was to do after having done the previous three at a higher rate of speed. Forty-five minutes into the whole workout I sucked down a GU Gel, Chocolate Outrage. It tasted like I was eating chocolate frosting. This was MUCH better than the banana-strawberry I had sampled over the weekend. I see today's run being easier partly because I was on the treadmill, but also because I had given my body two consecutive days of rest, something I had not done in more than a week. My training plan up to this point has had me down for one period of two off days a week or cross-train on those off days. Not having really excercised much in the previous few months I had been out of shape and was sticking to the two off day plan, until I tried to compensate for my working schedule. Doing so caused me to run five of the last nine day prior to these past two off days. I am sure I have just lost you, but it is just the ramblings coming out of my head as I think of them.

Now onto the exciting post workout. Tonight was the showing of Spirit of the Marathon up in Oklahoma City. Hayley and I opted to share our weekly Thursday "date night" at the movies. With our not so healthy bags of popcorn and sodas in hand we made our way into the theater to pick out our seats. Arriving in the theater nearly 50 minutes early we thought we would be really early. We were surprised to see about 20 others already in there sitting and waiting. By the time the movie started the theater was nearly full, it was not a sell out. For the next two hours we watched the movie and the "extras" . We thoroughly enjoyed the movie and laughed at a number of spots. Our hearts went out to some and we could certainly feel and relate to others in the movie. I hear the movie will be out this summer on DVD, so if you did not get to see it you will still have the chance. I would recommend seeing it, if not own it, as it helped put some things into perspective. It was great to relive some history, gain knowledge of some other history and just feel the power of the Marathon.

Back home now, I am trying to figure out my next run. I am scheduled to do my long run of 6 miles sometime during the remainder of the week. I have to work the OSU/OU basketball game Saturday at 7am and won't be home until about 5pm. Wanting to do my run outside that late won't provide me with enough daylight. So, if I do not do it Saturday I would have to do it on Sunday, but that gives me another two days off before I run again. I am leaning towards doing the six miles on Sunday with a cross-train day on the bike and eliptical in the fitness room either tomorrow or Saturday after the basketball game. Any suggestions?