April 20

FIT:
Yesterday: 35 min strength. 2.5 min plank, 1.25 min 6-inches. 6-inches getting easier.

Today: 45 degrees and rainy. What a change from two days ago when I was moaning about the heat. I started out in warmups and ended up going to shorts and my philly tee, which continued to feel dry even in the rain - the magic of tech shirts. I'm glad I bought another $25 tech shirt yesterday on eBay. Pricey, but I don't buy that much stuff, and I'm sure to get lots of use out of it, since I wear that kind of stuff as opposed to pretty stuff, haha. My shorts and warmup pants ended up getting soaked through. My visor did well to keep the rain out of my face.

It was windy, too, so I only heard about 1/3 of the podcasting I was listening to on my Shuffle, which I kept under my shirt to protect it from the rain. When I was going against the wind on the back straightaway, there was only ;lfja;lsdjf;asejohsqikhse of the wind. It made for tough running, too. You only notice the wind when it's going against you and not so much when it's helping you along. Kind of applies to life, too. You take for granted the good times but freak out when stuff is against you.

Speaking of freaking out, I've been so anxious about my interview on Wednesday. It was hard to sleep last night, and I just feel tense, like my heart rate is up. This is even after encouraging a friend about getting through a tough time by remembering that through God's strength, she can do it. Gotta live out what I say. She unknowingly helped me out with this today during DP - "Lord, we put our trust in you." Lord, we can't handle this stuff. We're weak and scared. But we know you are strong. We throw ourselves before you, knowing you are gracious and mighty. Help us, Lord. Our trust is in you, not ourselves.

So for today's excellent workout... I'm excited to report on this. I read Once a Runner this week, for the first time (it's like being inducted into a special club), since I finally finished my thesis (yay). Cassidy did a workout of 20 quarters (which Denton made him do two more times after that as a surprise), but that was the original workout, and I did a modified version of it today. He ran 220's after each quarter and then a 440 after each set of 5 quarters, I think. I just plain stopped and rested for about a minute, but I was glad to get in the 20. It's good training for me to try to get some speed back. I haven't decided whether I'll go through with the 5K this weekend, since I should maybe stick with my team for regionals. I don't know. If I do run, this will help. If I don't, it's still good to help me get back some speed I lost during my month off.

Splits> 1:26, 1:28, 1:29, 1:30, 1:30, 1:31, 1:28, 1:30, 1:31, 1:31, 1:29, 1:31, 1:34, 1:33, 1:34, 1:34, 1:34, 1:34, 1:34, 1:34. Not bad, I'd say. I'm satisfied. Oh yeah, I did an 800 warmup and an 800 cooldown, too. That's about 6 miles. The 20 quarters / 5 mile part of it was done in 30:37. Probably not 5 miles.. the track is a 400 and not a 440, I think. Oh well, don't care today.

Oh man, afterwards, I was so cold. My shoes (it was the 3's again) were soaked. I was cold. I went to 2D and had Miso Soup, Mixed Greens w/ Balsamic and Soy Feta, Yogurt w/ Sour Cherry Fruit Spread, and a bit of Banana Bread. I had to refuel, since I had frisbee practice in less than an hour! Yup, that's my schedule. Today's econ class was rescheduled, hahahahahahahaa. Yay.

My knees are clearly bruised now, probably from doing the worm on concrete. The bruises didn't appear until days later, it seemed. JG was right. I probably won't do it again Friday, then. Worth it, though (at least for now). And my right knee was in some pain during the last mile or so, but I really wanted to get in the 20 quarters, since at around 16, I didn't feel too drained. It was fairly easy to take on one at a time, especially with the rest. I'm so cold right now, even after having changed into dry shorts. I think I ended up getting a good workout, though, since for the latter quarters, my hamstrings were numb-ish from the strain. My quads were also numb-ish. My calves are already a bit sore, too. It was a good day. All the praise and glory to God.

Cumulative mileage: 245.2 + 7.5 + 6 = 258.7

// and then an hour after I refueled, frisbee practice. i skipped the warmup, but i scrimmaged okay, taking it easy because of my knee. it was nasty windy and rainy.

// kinda big news - the MCM ended up selling out in 16 days. who would've thought. that means i'll have to look for another one. i can try to get into the nyc through the lottery. it's ranked the #2 best marathon behind boston. the mcm was #9. (from http://www.americasbestonline.net/marathon.html). so maybe it's for the best. if i'm in north jersey, it'll be even more convenient. i like dc better than nyc, but #2... must be good. i'll save the mcm for next year, then. now, the big day is no longer oct 21st but nov 1st. an extra 10 days to train! Another top 10 list (this was actually a top 100 list) had completely different rankings, though. Maybe I'll do the Oct 10 Baltimore marathon - I already have a shirt for it. I liked the Inner Harbor when I visited JHU, too. Dunno what to do! Maybe go for NYC (they don't do the lottery until mid-summer) and hope that the BM is somehow still open then if I don't get into NYC?