Heartland Series Week 16

Almost time for my favorite half of the YEAR and of the Heartland Series and my 3rd year finisher's jacket!

I am begging my body to hold on for just two more weeks and then it can have a break, if  it so much desires.  Here is how the week went down.

Monday:  Rest day and last day of t-ball.  T-ball has been a love hate kind of relationship.  I guess we will call it an overall win, as Andrew stayed mostly on the field for three out of the four dates.  Last night was kind of tough.  After last week, him coming off the field screaming bloody murder, and then him staying on the bleachers for the rest of the night, I had no clue what we would be able to accomplish.  I asked him if he wanted me to be on the field with him and he said yes.  I don't want to be the helicopter parent that is always with their child holding their hand and helping them, but I wanted him to try to stay on the field for much of the night.  We started by running the bases together and then after that, we broke into groups.  I think some people don't realize that andrew is actually still 3, because he is as tall as some of the 5 year olds in the group, so they treat him like an older kid.  After we broke into groups, he actually put his glove on and participated in the activities with me staying back a little bit.  I actually had fun helping the kids, and told tony I wouldn't mind coaching t-ball if they needed coaches, when andrew is old enough(our town starts t-ball games at 5 years old).  After the drills they participated in, they were given certificates, free ice cream cone coupons, and fruit snacks.  Andrew seemed pretty happy, and we headed to McDonald's for a celebration dinner (remember the bribe has been a beloved cheeseburger).  We will try again next year, since he can't do official t-ball till he is 5, and will probably do soccer again this year  since he liked kicking the balls more than throwing them sometimes :)

Tuesday: Planned 5 miles.  Mel and I ran together and just talked.  It is starting to get hot and was pretty warm, but no humidity and little to no wind.  I dread having to go back to early morning runs, but the day will come soon when I have to switch over to beat the heat:(  I did try carrying my body bottle in my pocket of my space shorts that I got from Gypsy runner.  It fit, although made me look super funny, but oh well, it works.  My only complaint is no matter what I put in that bottle, it always tastes super nasty coming out. I keep thinking this will pass over time but it hasn't.  Anyone else have a body bottle from ultimate direction and having the same issue?  Any advice?  Is it just the plastic that the bottle is made of and I am destined to drink nasty tasting liquid?  I am sure when it gets hot, I won't care what it tastes like, but even with my grape flavored Nuun tablet dropped in, the liquid tastes horrible.

She was super worried about me and I felt horrible for letting her down on her birthday.  I had planned lots of frisbee and a burger from Mcds.

Wednesday:  Planned strength.  Sigh.  Felt great in the am.  Foot was a little ouchy, so decided to take a big dose of advil.  For whatever reason (advil, virus, something I ate), I started feeling kind of sick to my stomach in the afternoon.  I had about an hour to go of work but I decided if it was going to hit, I would rather it hit at home.  Let's just say there was a lot of praying to the porcelain gods.  I am happy that it was a very short lived virus, or whatever and that I got over 12 hours of sleep, which I probably needed.  The dogs stayed in bed with me from the minute I got home till if finally ventured out of bed this morning.  They sure do love me although I have to remind them that smothering me is not a way for me to feel better.  No work out done.

Thursday:  Planned 5 miles.  I woke up well rested thanks to a massive dose of sleep, but my body felt weak due to the following day of puking.  While I am trying not to drink any soda during the week, water just sounded horrible, so I sipped on a soda throughout the morning.  I then did something incredibly stupid.  I had eaten little bits of things throughout the day, but nothing sounded good.  After I picked up little red, suddenly a milk shake sounded WONDERFUL, and my tummy started growling like crazy.  I thought, well, I will push back my run an hour, and I should be fine, it is after all warm out so pushing it back will be a good thing.  Well, I started out feeling fine, but the longer I ran, the worse the side stitch became, probably from my body digesting still.  So the answer is no, no you can't eat something and run 30-40 minutes later because I bought the milkshake around 5 but probably didn't get done with it till 5:20ish and went out at 6.  For the record it was a mini but fresh banana milk shakes take forever to suck down:)  Anyway, ended up doing 4 with lots of walk running in the 2nd and 3rd mile.

Friday:  Planned shake out run pre race.  My foot has suddenly flared up.  I should have known, any time I write anything about my foot, it decides to remind me that it isn't healed.  I am not sure what did it, the back to back runs last week, or the fact that I did my long run in my triumphs or something else.  I haven't been doing my weekly massage appointments because Doug has been out of town and well, they are expensive.  I just have one more week till my last race of the Heartland Series, and did not have a long run on the books this week anyway.  In the end I decided that I needed to head back to town to work on one of my machines, so no shake out run.  We instead did pizza at Pie Five, did a little bit of work, and then went to city park to play on a new to andrew playground post some insomnia cookies.

Saturday: Paw Valley 5 K benefitting the Lawrence Humane Society and a 6 mile run planned.  This is my first time doing this race and the 2nd annual running of this race.  Y'all know I am sucker for dog themed runs that also allow dogs to run with you.  I will post a review here.  I had toyed with the idea of a double, the race in the morning and then 6 at night but I was just too tired thanks to the heat.  After a full afternoon of laying around and being lazy, I just couldn't muster the strength to get up and get back out.  2.91 miles done because the race measured short on my watch.

Sunday:  Mother's Day!  My wonderful hubby had andrew and I doughnuts and coffee when we got up.  I had planned on a nice bike ride before the day started in full swing, but about 3 miles out, it started lightening and we (My BRF Robin) had to head back.  When it looked like we were socked in and the rain wasn't going to stop, my hubby suggested we go to lunch as a treat.

Since I got to pick, we headed to Tall Grass Tap house.  We had a few beers and then some yummy food before we went grocery shopping.  We even splurged and got a brownie sundae with peanut butter.  It was divine!!!!  Post grocery shopping, we went for a family bike ride and played some frisbee with the dogs.  All in all, we enjoyed a nice relaxing day and no work out per se really went down.

Total miles for the week: a little short of 12 miles

Well, I guess we will call this a taper week.  This whole training cycle has been, well, unique in how it has gone down.  Part of me is dying to get back to some speed work.  Part of me is really enjoying just logging some miles.  I am still thinking about two 25 Ks and the 50 K but nothing is set in stone.  I NEED to get back to my strength training.  I NEED to get back in the pool.  Sigh.  Oh well.  Next week is Running with the Cows and I am going to focus on my last half of the spring!!!!