Daddy's Little Girl

Today is a really special day in my family. Today is my daddy's birthday!!! We all celebrated Monday night at the Olive Garden. I have been blessed with the best dad one could ever ask for - no matter how biased that may sound - I believe it and that's what counts :-)

Well, I am pleased with this week thus far. I have managed to exercise 3 days in a row - that's a great reason to finish off the week as good or better than you started it!!! I did another test-run on the knee today. Good to go!!! :-) YIPPEEEE!! Virtually no pain. Right around 1/2 mile there was a bit of discomfort but I slowed my pace down a little bit and tried to get my mind off of it. 2 weeks of rest was the right prescription! No side stitch today - however... running is just HARD. 4 miles = 36:32.

I've been on my trainer a lot lately and it got me to thinking about how if my heartrate is out of control, I can just change gears and give myself a bit of relief and recover. But in running.... I suppose you can slow your pace down some and sorta kind recover -- but there is really no recovery involved in a run. You have NOTHING to help you out. No gears to rescue you. It's just you - and the hard @ss pavement. You are all the power you have. You have almost no momentum to carry you, unlike on a bike. It's just a totally different workout. I am still so out of breath when running!!! It's that terrible out-of-shape feeling! I am hoping this is going to subside with a few more runs and I will feel like a runner again instead of a stomper! I have no idea where I'm going to go from here.... my training plan is shot. I had an 18 miler on my schedule for last week. I'm not sure when I should actually try that. Should I give it about a week before I run long? 2 weeks? I don't know. I am 7 weeks from race-day and have only peaked at 16 miles. OMG - I'm in trouble! I'm supposed to start tapering in about 4 weeks! This is not good.

Congratulations to Lana for blistering the infamous "ALTO" climb yesterday. That is TOOOOOOO awesome! :-)