Training Week 323
Highlight of the Week: Seeing coyotes on my Saturday run / teaching fitness boxing!
Monday | December 21, 2015: 6.5 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: Gages Lake/Gurnee Loop, Temp: 47°/47°, Time: 55:36, Pace: 8:33 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: fantastico
Strength: Kettlebells + plyo box, boxing, and dice game, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good (but too sweaty)
Tuesday | December 22, 2015: 10 m ride
Bike Time: 40:30, Pace: 14.8 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Wednesday | December 23, 2015: teaching strength class + 8 m run
Strength: Kettlebells + plyo box, boxing, and dice game, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good (but too warm again)
Loc: Gages Lake/Gurnee, Temp: 56°/56°, Time: 1:12:43, Pace: 9:05 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but challenged by the wind (and still hot)
Thursday | December 24, 2015: 5 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 39°/39°, Time: 44:38, Pace: 8:54 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Friday | December 25, 2015: rest
Saturday | December 26, 2015: 12 m run
Loc: Grayslake Loop, Temp: 39°/39°, Time: 1:50:45, Pace: 9:13 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | December 27, 2015: 5 m run (incl. 1/2/3/4/5 ladder) + teaching fitness boxing
Loc: hood, Temp: 37°/37°, Time: 42:26, Pace: 8:29 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good, pushed back by the wind
Strength: body weight and boxing , Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: great
Notes:
- Ha! Look at all those photos – they depict a gloomy week, don’t they? But, I like running when it’s overcast, and they were all good runs (despite some gusty days)!
- I had my post marathon recovery massage first thing Monday morning, again, focusing on my right hip/iliacus. It feels great most of the time… except when I am going up and down the stairs to the basement a lot. I’m not sure what to do about that – the rental house has so little storage on the main floor that most everything is in the basement! I bet I got up and down those steps 15-20 times a day! Not sure why those bug me, and the steps at our old house didn’t. Eh. I’ll be careful.
- I received How Bad Do You Want It?, by Matt Fitzgerald, for Christmas, and so far, it’s a really interesting read. The gist of the book is that endurance sports are highly dependent on mental toughness – that training doesn’t get you to (your version of) success alone. Mind over muscle, basically. In the second chapter, Fitzgerald talks about how you never know how much your next race is going to hurt, and that being hopeful that it won’t be as hard as before is harmful – that you should actually “brace yourself” for the worst – only then can you mentally prepare for competition. That was a bit of a revelation for me, as I have said, many times before, I want my races to be as pain-free as possible (and I don’t mean injury type pain, but pushing my threshold type pain). Hmm.
- Teaching fitness boxing is such a blast. The students just love it and really get in to it, which makes me happy to see. I hope I can do quite a few fitness boxing classes in 2016! We already have one set up for January 2!
Themocracy
As a total head case when it comes to running, I could see how what that book is saying is true. I always think it’s going to suck; races included and then am a pleasantly surprised when things go well!
Yes, more of your boxing classes please! I love them. They’re always challenging but fun too.
I’ve thought of you when I’ve read the book and that it could be really beneficial for you to read, as well!
I like overcast too 🙂 I enjoyed it today! Last week was rough here, pouring rain all week.
I hadn’t heard of that new Fitzgerald book. (He wrote “Racing Weight,” right?) That mental toughness part really makes sense to me, not that I want to put in the effort to improve right now though, haaaaa.
He did write that! (I also own it, lol) And several other books, I think?
This is actually an interesting read! Each chapter is a different point on how to build mental toughness, accompanied by real life stories of endurance athletes.