final workouts

So after my showdown with the kid, I was left feeling very sore. I had a massage on Wednesday, which seemed to help a bit, but I can never really tell until a few days later, because Eliza really gets in there. Some people think it is decadent of me to have a massage therapist come to my house. If you were laying on that table, you would not think it is decadent. It is painful! Also, another opinion is that it is not supposed to hurt. Well, I usually end up with pretty happy legs 3-4 days post-Eliza, so it does work for me, that's all I know!

I took Wednesday-Friday easy, partly because of the massage and because of the lack of warmdown on Tuesday, and also because I was just in a funk. I was not really that much into doing François' workout on Saturday, so much so that I forgot my watch at home. I biked to McGill (in case I couldn't get in--that way it would be easier to bike to Etienne), and jogged a mile easy while an intra-mural soccer game was going on. There was a McGill sprinter there doing 150s. He did 3 in the entire time I was there. He would do one, then put his pants on and lay in the endzone listening to his walkman for 10min. Oh, to be a sprinter!

My workout was 600 in 1:40, 45sec rest, then 300 in 48. I was supposed to do that 3x. I did it once, and I'm not sure how fast it was, but it felt like race pace for the 600 and then the 300 felt fast. I acheived my goal of feeling good after the workout (or at least better than I had felt going in). The mile cool down was nice. The bike home was nicer.

From Thursday night to Saturday at the workout, I just felt horrible. I'm not sure what it was. I had a serious bout of paranoia or insecurity or something, that was making me question everything. I just sort of kept telling myself that it was nothing, that it would pass. It did. So there's a lesson kids, haha, hold your feelings inside and they'll just go away! No, there's more to it than that. I think the workout helped, actually. I haven't really been eating well lately, nor have I been sleeping enough. Friday afternoon I had a 3 hour nap, which is evidence for sure that I need to sleep more (hence writing the blog at 7:30pm instead of 2am!).

So hopefully I'm on that for the next couple of days. I did a workout today: 3-4x400 in 66 with 3-4min rec. Stop when it gets to "cote 4" which is François for "pretty easy." I did the first one in 68 and it felt like garbage. I was not pleased. I was almost ready to call it at that. But then I did another and I managed 66, with about the same effort. I started and finished the quarters from the 1500 start. On the main straightaway I got a boost of energy, or at least I realised that I had more in me, and that helped. On the 3rd quarter I did 65, again making use of a good feeling. My plan had been to do 3x400 and then finish with a 300 to make a total of 1500 for the workout. So I let it rip, a bit, for the last one. I had been starting slow (splitting 17 high mostly) and reeling it in, but for this last one, I pushed from the start. I was through in 16ish, and then I just held it for a 48. Total, give or take a second, would be 4:08.

Not that that workout is at all indicative of anything, but I feel confident that once I get warmed up a bit, I can handle the pace. I just need to get into the groove. The first 400 was awful, so maybe when I warm up on Wednesday I'll do a few longer strides, full 100s maybe, to get down to a comfortable 16.

I was confident before that I would run a PB, but I did not have it that day. I am pretty sure I am in the same shape now, and so it's just a matter of finding the groove, being rested, and letting it happen.