Balance and Flexibility
In many ways my darling and I are a study in opposites. Planning is the bane of his existence; he relishes spontaneity. While I have my impulsive moments, I take comfort in knowing what’s ahead. For example, with our trip to France, I booked the Medoc portion through a tour company (I wanted guaranteed entry into the race, plus comfortable accommodations for our weary bodies). It’s costing us a pretty penny (actually several), but brings peace of mind knowing we’re covered. My darling is responsible for the Paris leg, and he assures me we’ll have no trouble finding a place to stay once we arrive (I have, however, asked him to at least book a room for our first night).
The same holds true for our training styles. He’s naturally athletic, so he’s not interested nor concerned about a regimented plan. He figures he can show up and set his mind to running 26.2 miles. “You train for the day after” is his mantra. (What he means by that is training helps you recover quicker). I’m significantly less athletically inclined, so I gravitate toward a more rigid schedule to keep me on track and injury-free. Fortunately my darling is also very easy-going; he not only puts up with my anal retentiveness, he often joins me on my training runs.
But now that the lazy days of summer are upon us, I’ve become more flexible in my schedule. We’ve suffered through a bit of a heat wave of late (nothing compared to the Southwest, but still pretty darn hot for this area), so afternoon runs have held little appeal (we’d rather sit on our deck with a frosty beverage). I’ve also cut out the cardio classes at the gym in order to save my legs and instead have been focusing on an upper body weight routine.
We had planned to run 8 miles on July 2nd, but the heat sapped most of my energy and desire. However, we managed to slog through a respectable 6 miles. On the 4th the intended early start to our 10-mile run turned into a leisurely morning reading the paper and drinking coffee, so the sun was already beating down by the time we hit the Burke-Gilman at 10 a.m. Given it was the first sunny 4th Seattle’s had in years the trail was like rush hour on I-5; at one point a group of at least 25 bikers passed us, and we didn’t go for more than a few seconds before seeing another runner or biker. I had decided to run the entire time rather than do the run/walk program, but by mile 7 I was ready for a walk break. By now we were getting full-on sun, so my pace slowed almost a minute per mile. I was thankful we parked at a beach so we could take a dip in the water to cool off.
One of our friends invited us on the inaugural “Bike to Brews” ride on the 7th — a 20- or 40-mile ride along the Burke-Gilman to the Redhook Brewery in Woodinville (the mileage varies depending on where you started). Because we were scheduled for a 20-mile run that day, we decided we’d start and finish at the brewery and join them for lunch. However, after a thoroughly enjoyable bike ride the Thursday before, we decided we could forego one long run in favor of a long bike ride. After all, I reasoned, we have a 22-miler coming up this next weekend, and a 26-miler the weekend of August 4; it’s not like we’d be slacking off! Besides, it gave me a good excuse to buy more biking clothes (yes, I have a problem). We made up for it somewhat by running another 10-miler the day after, but by then my hamstring and left hip started to protest.
This past week has been rather mellow, but on Monday I finally shimmied into my wetsuit for an open water swim in preparation for Danskin. I had planned on doing the Seafair tri tomorrow, but since I hadn’t been training I decided to bag it. I know I could have finished, but why bother if I’m just going through the paces? (Besides, I figured the registration fee could be better spent on clothes!) My hamstring has welcomed the low mileage (3 miles on Wednesday, 6 on Friday, 5 today), and it’s been great to do a bit more cross-training. We’ll be doing another winery ride tomorrow (it’s the same ride as the Bike to Brews; Chateau Ste. Michelle is across the street from Redhook), and then it’ll be back to the training schedule. However, I’m going to try to get a massage in before the weekend to work out some kinks!
