Back to the waterfront

Vacation is over. And I'm glad. It's so much easier to train when you have people keeping you accountable. You know, not that my cousin and CIL didn't try to keep me accountable while I was up there for eight or nine days, but training with my team is different.



It began with the torturous crunches that get easier and easier the more I do them. Imagine that! Then, Coach wanted us to do a fifteen minute run. My coach ran with me and another girl (let's give her a name... Laura) the entire time. He kept me at a slower pace, and we ran seventeen minutes without stopping and without walking, which added up to 1.23 miles. Then, we took a bit of a breather as we walked over to another part of the park.

Coach had drawn two lines on the pavement, approximately 150 meters (?) apart. He had us do fartleks. This was my first time doing fartleks, and I'm not sure I'll ever be a fan, but I understand the value of them. Laura, Coach, and I would run a slow pace from line to line, then turn for a faster pace back, and slow again, and fast again, and slow. Then, Coach let us walk for a minute or two before starting the second set. Walk some more, and a final set of fartleks.

They were so hard. I was okay for the first two sets, but that third set, OMG, I thought I'd die. Thank goodness Coach and Laura were there to offer me encouragement, or I promise I would have quit. It was hard.

I am so proud of myself and of Laura. We totally rocked our training tonight. The other team mates that were there tonight are much more in the "runner" category than I am. Must not compare myself to others.

I left training feeling very positive. Oh, and I talked to Coach before training began (I got there half an hour early and planned to get in 2 miles to make up for being short on miles last week, but Coach was also there, and so we talked) about my leg issues of last week. I'm thrilled to tell you that my left leg had no issues tonight. Yay!

I'm still not sure I really want to do the full marathon, but I have a month before I have to recommit and make that decision. If Coach keeps riding my ass like he's doing, I'll really have no excuses to not do the full marathon.