Until the NYC Marathon.
It’s no secret that life and training go hand and hand. If you have the pleasure of being an elite athlete, you may not have a full time job. You are coached and your life revolves around your training…after all really being an athlete is a job if you are getting payed.
But alas for me , I’m nor elite nor training is certainly not my job. Though I wish it was but for me (between 2 jobs) I worked around 70 hours this week. Needless to say my running has taken a toll and mentally…it has taken a toll on me. I’m taking care of myself physically and mentally, it’s just frustrating to have little to no free time right now. (Despite what you may think I’m not a people person 100% of the time). This post isn’t to complain though because this is how my summer is going to shape up (which is fine, it’s not lifetime). I’m not trying to stress too much about it.
| Monday: | AM: 11.3 miles untimed |
| PM: 55 minutes strength class | |
| Tuesday: | 11.3 miles untimed (basically the same run as Monday) |
| Wednesday: | 11.1 miles |
| Thursday: | AM: 12.12 miles tempo 6:59 pace |
| PM: 5.3 miles treadmill 8:29 pace | |
| Friday | OFF |
| Saturday: | 12.25 miles easy |
| Sunday: | 12.2 miles (roughly 8:45 pace). I actually brought the watch this morning! |
| Total: | 75 |
This past week in Southern VA it was extremely hot and humid every single day. Often days the heat index was above 100 degrees. I knew if I was going to get any speed workouts worthwhile they would have to be in the morning or on the treadmill. After careful considering (read: what fits into my work schedule) I decided Thursday would be my speed day. I had contemplated doing 5 easy and then 6 at a tempo pace (I did this a couple of weeks ago) but just decided to go 12 at a tempo pace. Since I didn’t race this previous week, I would have liked to have two relatively quicker workouts but that didn’t happen.
So my training was semi productive and I managed to stay injury free for another week. I am in need of a deep tissue massage which is something I’ll look into after my mini-vacation this week.
Speaking of this weeks training:
I am doing a local 5k on July 4th. I’m really excited to actually race a 5k, though it’s going to be hot and humid as that is what the weather is here. I’ve somewhat let go of being back under 19 in a 5k for a while. My long term goal is still New York City…would it be nice to PR in the 5k? Well duh…am I holding my breath? Well no. So with that, we will see where time takes me.
I’m also getting to see Tim when he flies over to East Coast for the rest of the week. While I can pretty much tell you we will be running, past that I don’t know. So that’s that and as long as I continue to stay injury free I am progressing in the right direction.
Questions for you:
Does your job(s) effect your training?
I didn’t realize how lucky I had it when I lived in Upstate NY. While 40 hours seemed daunting for training then….now I’d happily take that.
What are you doing for July 4th?
Although I’m no elite athlete (far from it) and not getting paid to run (but occasionally getting runs paid for), my job is actually very conducive to training. I can go into work later if I want- just have to be working by 8:30 or 9. Also I can take a slightly longer lunch break to run- which I do. I actually take 1.5 hours for lunch when I take it and work .5 hours more because if I don’t run or work out at lunch I usually run errands like buying groceries while there’s less traffic out.
But I *can’t* just take off and run whenever I want to, as I do have fairly set hours… have had to explain this to some people who think I literally just work when I want to (no, not how it goes). I really do admire how you made it work this week and ran around working 70+ hours, but you are right, it will not last forever and that’s a good way to look at it.
Good luck with the July 4 race!!
Do you have to be in buisnessney clothes working at home? I didn’t say anything about my commute/shower and with traffic that is little over an hour so that is def where I lose time.
No… no business clothes. We do skype meetings but I rarely go on the camera… even then they don’t care if I’m wearing a t-shirt or whatever.
I am taking a short trip to South Carolina with my kids to visit my Mom for the 4th. All of us are running the Hilton Head Firecracker 5000 on the 4th, which should be a ton of fun. At 71 years old, this will be my mother’s first race. Family running is the best! Good luck with your race.
Kudos to you for finding the time to get all those runs in. My job is always fun trying to schedule my week of runs/workouts since my hours are NEVER the same and they range anywhere from starting at 6am to leaving at 12am. ugh.
I can only imagine how taxing it must be to not have a minute to relax for just yourself besides sleeping at night. I find myself extremely angry and short-tempered when I have no time to just spend a few hours on the couch with myself, even if that’s not what I’d actually do with my time… I like having time to have a choice in what I want to do, not a required activity.
The best thing you can do is remind yourself what all this busy-ness is for… your first marathon, which you’re going to absolutely kill it at, and all the envious runners who wish they were there too. Just be sure to keep yourself healthy and as rested as possible — no injuries here!
Exactly. I could have 30 minutes of just sitting there mindlessly to myself and it would still be…30 minutes rested to myself.
I don’t have any real plans for July 4th. Since we’re both on grandma status, you understand my decision to choose sleep over boom booms haha! Maybe I’ll venture out…………… Maybe not. 😉
It is SO hot this week, I don’t blame you for trying to get miles in before the heat or contemplating using the treadmill. The air is so STALE it’s gross. I feel like my tongue is sweating as soon as I step outside.
Yay for one more week injury free! You can do this!
I’m running a local 5k on the 4th too – The Firecracker 5k. Should be fun. I’m hoping to take a little time off of my 5k time from the mother’s day 5k I did this year. Good luck at your race!
That’s an amazing training week on top of working 70+ hours!! Last summer (right after I graduated) I was working 3 jobs, around 65 hours a week. I was so exhausted, I pretty much gave up running. I even sold my bib for a half marathon I had intended on doing last August (the same one I’m training for now). So congrats! And good luck on your 4th of July 5k.
I have never trained for a full, but when I train for the halves before, I remember dreading just finding the time to do the long runs (which are nothing compared to what you are doing!) keep up the good work!
I have to work for the 4th 🙁
I have a feeling that you’ll be just fine with the training you do. You were running almost 20 milers before training and still managed to enjoy life. I can’t imagine the hot weather, though. I know that most people only run 20 miles as their longest run before their fulls!
I actually have off July 4th which is insanity! I will prob just hang out with Travis! My job does affect my training because, though I’m not training for anything, I also don’t have time to workout.
I am as far from “elite” as we get, but I know that I trained better when I worked less (15 hrs. per week) and concentrated on my goal. That being said, I am working more now, and I have no goal, and training seems to be much more difficult. Not to mention that motherhood job that I have! LOL. I know what you mean, maybe on a different scale, but I definitely get it!
Being a mom is a full time job and I can’t even imagine doing that!
I don’t know how you do it- you have a lot to squeeze in! The on-the-go meal ideas make a lot of sense now. 🙂 Awesome mileage, as usual!! Yes- the heat really affects our pace. Have fun at the July 4th 5k- I decided I am done with 5ks in the heat for awhile. 🙂
Yes and I look up to you and your nutrition advice/wisdom a lot so I am always interested in your ideas!
My job effects my training sometimes; especially during “transitional” times. Because I’m kind of in a nomadic state of my career (as a post-doc, my job is only for a finite period of time; which was the same as a grad student), I had a hard time transitioning between grad school and post-doc life a few years ago. But now that I have the swing of things, I can focus more on training and still stay organized with my research. That being said, there are weeks when I have 30hrs of work, and there are weeks when I have 80hrs of work. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is the give-and-take, the ebb-and-flow that is work-training negotiations. Negotiating with myself; if you get your shit done at work this week, it will make for a good “recovery” training week, so plan your training that way. Some weeks need less training hours in order to keep my stress levels in check; other weeks I can get in two-a-day runs without any issues. It’s all about knowing what you can handle- stress-wise- because life stress and training stress effect you. I think that’s why elite athletes take so many naps. 🙂
I cna’t even imagine and thank you so much for your words of advice. Wow.
HOW DO YOU DO IT GIRL!?!?! Seriously. Tell me. I am so amazed by you and you continue to inspire me. Yay for another injury free week and can’t wait to read about you smashing your 5k. Oh the NYCM. You will rock it.
You’re amazing. Like seriously. You’re going to be amazing!!
I know you are having a rough time fitting everything in, but I can honestly say after seeing you this weekend that you are doing a great job managing it all and like you said it is just summer. Take advantage of this mini vacation. We are at the half way point of summer!
I just signed up for a local 4th of July 5-K too! Great minds. 🙂 I totally feel you with the training and working balance. I felt totally drained and out of it this past week. I’m really excited to head home for the holiday and recharge.
My job doesn’t always have an impact on my training, but sometimes it does. Last year I had to change when I trained because my schedule was so messed up. I am usually pretty tired after work since what I do is pretty physical, but I definitely make an effort to get my workouts done.
Yay for the 5K! I hope you have a great time! We aren’t racing on July 4th, but we might do a 5K on July 25th.
I’m nothing less than overly proud of you for how well you are managing everything, but I am super glad you get a little R&R time with your man this week… enjoy it love, you deserve it!
Dude… seriously, the heat. WTF? It’s killer. I honestly don’t care how slow I run. My pace doesn’t matter to me. But I feel like I an’t even BREATHE in the humidity. I’ve started praying for rain. As soon as the rain starts coming down, I lace up and run out the door. It stomps out the humidity. I may be soaking wet, but I can breathe It makes running fun again. haha. Great job this week! Isn’t it NUTS how fast time is flying? I feel like I just signed up for my marathon yesterday and now I’m only 17 weeks out!
I can go into work anytime before 9:30AM and currently I get in at 7AM and leave at 4PM if I go to the gym over lunch, if not I leave at 3PM. When I was planning on training for MCM this summer I was going to switch my schedule and go in later so I could take advantage of the cooler temps in the morning. So I would definitely say that it is conducive to training! I am amazed with the miles you are putting in in this heat! Nice work!!