You know what balancing training and life is hard, sometimes really hard. No matter who you are and what you have to do in a week you have to make it a priority to succeed. As much as I would like to be a fitness wife with nothing to do besides workout while someone cleans the house for me that’s pretty much no one’s reality. This week running wise was a tough one but for life an awesome one. We surprised our families and closest friends on a boat day with the fact that we were getting married that very day. When you have a wedding this way it turns out it is super fun but you have to do literally everything all by yourself. So all week my time seemed like it was better served working on that. The thing is it’s also penultimate peak week, so there’s that.
I knew I needed a plan and a backup plan this week if I was going to get it all done. So I added 2 km to each of three runs, cancelling the fourth this week. Looking ahead at the outset 4 runs was just one too many blocks of time this week. Should stuff fall off the rails I figured I could just make one taper week a training week. In the past though I’ve really needed that taper to recharge, rest and get that speed back on race day. So here’s how this week went.
Wednesday: This was meant to just be 6k but I tacked on an extra 2. I pretty much got up at a$$ o’clock in the morning and you know what those days are getting shorter, the runs longer and it’s now dark when I wake up. That’s pretty sucky. I realized I’m getting to the point in training where I’m tiered, tiered of running, not quite yet but my legs and my mind are tiered. I can’t remember what list exactly of errands I was doing that night but there were errands. Between that and work 6 am was the only choice. It was a pretty easy fast run after my race and I got to re-wear thy new race tee, which will probably be part of the quilt eventually. All in all it was a great run and nothing terribly exciting happened. Save for the second half of the race this weekend I’m at the stage of training now where I’m getting slower and slower.
Friday: Wedding eve, if you will. I had planned on doing my long run today but I had a weird energy. It’s a shame really because in the morning I had lots of time, perfect cloudy weather and the time to do it while honey was visiting with a friend. I really ought to have done the long one on Saturday but I was feeling a bit anxious about the next day’s moving parts and feeling jittery and a bit weak really. I got out to do my run at supper time so I decided to go for the 9k which was actually 11k. Fartleks were on the schedule but given the humidex in the 90’s I figured I would just run my favorite yet hilly route and not focus on speed.
It felt like the right choice to run my favorite route the night before my big day. In the month we spent planning I tried to find a way to sneak a run of the day of but it just wasn’t possible. I also thought hard about wearing running shoes under my dress but that seemed like it would only be funny in the moment and not pictures. It was a hard one not fast since that route takes me over a stretch with beach rocks. Also I answered a FaceTime call for my niece for almost a km which was a welcome break. I made it through though and the odd km was even fast-ish.
Skipped long run: Maybe. So I totally had plans to run 18 km my first day of getting married but… it didn’t happen. The weather was perfect and I had the time but we were in a haze even though we went to bed early the night before. In fact we were so lovey dovey we lost out boat! We went back to the island the next day to collect shells for favors and take it all in, we lost track of time and the tide came up. Cue to the boat on the shore floating away, right past us and we didn’t even notice. Anyway it didn’t go far and a friend came out to pick us up and locate it. So I spent part, about 20 minutes of my first day married stranded on an island with my new husband! It also made me think maybe a long run isn’t such a good idea today!
I’ve never in all the years I’ve been training skipped a long run or the big workout for the week. I’m not sure how I’ll handle that yet but there are a few options:
– Skip it for this week and make next week’s long run 18 km and do the final long run in taper
- Make my next run that skipped long run and move the days of the week for peak week. That probably will mean a skipped workout in taper but I usually do that anyway.
Since Its supposed to rain until three tomorrow I gotta say I’m hoping option 2 works out. But if there was ever a reason to skip a long run right?
Stay tuned to updates to see how I handle that skipped long run and peak week next week. I’m not sure I’ll be posting all about the wedding, but I will be doing one on why tor why you might not want to do a surprise wedding and what to consider at some point for sure. Like anything else there are pros and cons but it was perfect for us. Next week I’ll let you all know how this week’s training went and post in the comments if you’re doing you’re 1/2 or full or whatever training along with me! You can download my bare minimum 1/2 marathon training plan here!
Sweat Sweetly 
Absolutely Right!! I agree with you.
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