Turning meh back into awesome

It's been awhile since I felt like I was dragging my feet to go out running. Thankfully. But after 43 miles in 5 days and smack dab in the middle of a long stretch of working--I was having a hard time mustering anything feeling beyond meh. Thankfully, it appears to be just a small blip and I am feeling better after scaling back the miles over the course of 10 days.

I ran 2 little recovery miles (8:34 pace on the TM) last Thursday and the 3 short n' sweet miles Friday (8:34, 8:00, 7:30 with the last .25 at a 6:00 pace).

Sunday morning, I donned my half-zip, gloves, capris, and went out full of meh. 

I had a 7 miler with 5 at 7:48 tempo pace on my "schedule".

Sidenote: This is not really my tempo pace right now, but according to Smart Coach, that's what I should be running for a 3:32 marathon.  Which is a bit silly that I'm "training" for a 3:32 marathon when I am planning to run Shamrock (3/16) and Georgia (3/23) slower (like maybe a 3:45-4:00, I dunno) since they are only a week apart. I wrote out my training plan when I was just going to run the Georgia marathon and just moved everything up by a week when I added Shamrock. Anyway, I know what a comfortably hard tempo is supposed to feel like so I am not super concerned about whatever time that translates to. I think if I didn't have the Georgia marathon the following week, it's possible I could lower my Rehoboth time at Shamrock. But I am really looking forward to running for fun at Shamrock and going for Maniac status! This training cycle can give me good confidence for when I attempt to lower my PR in December.

Anyway, I digress. I knew I was gunning for a tempo, but I cut a deal with myself that I could just do an easy 7 if I wasn't feeling it after my warm-up mile. Fortunately, I started feeling much better once I got warmed up and started finding my groove by the middle of the 2nd mile. I thought about the Loopsters who finished Surf City strong (PRs, BQs, injury comebacks, etc) and those that had just finished 50 miles at Rocky Raccoon the day before. I heeded my own advice and smiled like a wackadoo in the middle of the Greenway. And then I just ran my little heart out.

By the time I was done, I was so warm that I immediately shed my half-zip. Phew!

Monday night, I ran 5 easy miles on the TM and was so elated that it felt fantastically easy.

Today, it was even better. I teetered between running 5-7 miles, letting myself decide once I got to the 5 mile mark. Of course I ended up doing the 7.  I even tested my awesome Shamrock tutu for 2 miles.
I took some tulle and turned this:

 Into this:

I've been stuck inside since the middle of yesterday afternoon when we closed our store early because of the impending ice storm.

 Of course, that means I've been catching up on Olympics and baking.

I even have supplies for when the going gets rough tonight:

Torrance hopped on the TM with me while I cooled down, enjoying a few minutes of ice-free walking:

 

She spent the rest of the afternoon hanging with Luxy in front of the fire: