Not Beating Myself Up

The past couple of weeks, I have realized that I have been disappointed with many of my training runs. In the past, I would put little stickers (a sign that I'm a true blue elementary teacher) in my training log to highlight particularly good runs - runs where I ran a little farther than I had planned to, ran a little faster, or really pushed myself on the intervals. I haven't rewarded myself with a little sticker for nearly 5 weeks!

It has been evident in my blog posts - my disappointment in my pace has come through. I'm typically not so negative. All of this came to my attention last week when I re-read my posts and the comments in their entirety (generally, I read the comments one at a time as I receive them in my email inbox).

"Enough already!" I said to myself. "Stop beating yourself up and remember to enjoy training. Don't push so hard!"

So that is exactly what I am doing, or trying to do this week... Week #5 of my new 16 week training plan. The Circle the Bay 30K falls on the 11th week. I don't yet have a marathon for the 16th week... probably won't. I'll likely take Wes' advice and make Circle the Bay my 'A' race for the year. However, I am also using it as a carrot on a stick. If I hit my pace goal on the 30K, I'll register for a full marathon a few months later. Of course, I need yet to convince DH that the associated travel expenses are worthwhile. Hopefully, the races I am considering won't close registration by then. It is all a gamble.

~~~

The kids had their dance recital on Saturday. They looked so cute dressed in their costumes... the Princess was aptly dressed as a princess and my little guy was dressed as a raindrop.

The recital theme was Disney Dancing and thereby all the costumes and choreography reflected the theme. The four-year old girls danced to Josh Groban's "So She Dances" and I guarantee you there wasn't a dry eye in the auditorium.

The parent-tots were raindrops and performed to "Little April Showers" from Bambi. The accompanying parent (that was me!) wore yellow rain jackets and carried umbrellas. They were adorable! We even spiked the little guy's hair with blue hair paint and sprinkled glitter all over them both.


The rest of the weekend, DH and his father painted the shingles on the house. Yes! Even on Father's Day - they were both outside on the scaffolding that my FIL constructed himself, specifically for this job! A neighbor shared a story of a man he knew who continued to paint his house on his own when he was 70 years old. My FIL replied, "I'm 68. That's not unusual. You've got to stay active."

Previously, the shingles had been stained to reveal the natural color of the wood. However, in the harsh weather conditions of the high desert here in Oregon, they weren't looking very good... despite the fact that DH had re-stained them just last year.

I love the new cedar color of the shingles. I am thankful that I have a husband that is so intent on maintaining our home. I never have to ask him to mow the lawn or repair something. He is always 'on top of it all'. In fact, to be quite honest... I have to admit it that it can be a little frustrating to me because the same level of anticipation and care is expected of the kids and I. But then again, I wouldn't have it any other way. I appreciate all that he does and I know that I am blessed to have such a wonderful man as my husband and the father of my children.

~~~

In regards to training, I ended the week with a record high 36.6 miles (of course, I counted the 2200m swim on Monday as a 5.5 mile run). That, in itself, is worthy of a sticker in my training log! :)

As usual, I did my long run on Sunday and again, pushed the jogging stroller. As Grandma was home, the princess elected to stay with her so it was just my little buddy and I. I elected to go along the river trail - knowing full well that it would be rather tricky to maneuver the double stroller around the rocks on the portions of the trail that are 'single track'. The goal for the day was 13 miles with a fast finish and with my new attitude... I wasn't going to get too focused on pace. There are several steep hills along the route and pushing the stroller forces me to walk them... my pace slows to about 24 min per mile. Ewwww! But I reach the top in just a few minutes so no big loss.

When I was in the vicinity of home once again, I elected to return the jogger and my buddy to run the last mile (3x around the loop in front of our house) alone. Therefore, on my last 1.39 miles I averaged a 7:42 pace. SWEET! A fast finish for sure. Overall, I did 11 miles at an average 10:30 pace.

I swam 1800m on Monday with Masters. Due to our busy schedule (we were in 1880) and the heat (it was in the high 80s when we returned home), I chose to take a rest day on Tuesday. I've decided to thereby forgo swimming today to do the run slated for yesterday 2x3 miles at Tempo (8:00). With our plans for the weekend, this forces me to do another hard run tomorrow (4x800 and 4x400). Not ideal.

On a bright note, I now have a sitter lined up for Thursdays and alternate Tuesday mornings. So, I'm thinking I'll try to go to the gym on the other Tuesday to fit my run in before the kids and I head to the museum. We'll see how things work out. :)

Run long and strong! :)