Roller Coaster

Ever feel like your life is one of these?




Mine certainly has been lately! Marathon training has now officially been downgraded to half marathon training and despite a great month of August (I ran over 200K total for the month), everything fell apart in September. I started a new job that is intense and involves major class planning and since work pays the bills while running doesn't, it became (and still is) the priority. Since it's now week 3 of a 3-week intensive (read full time!) course that I should end up teaching every month, it's getting easier, so this week is supposed to be my triumphant return to training after a 2-week break. And Lord knows, I am feeling fat and out of shape after these 2 weeks of no real physical activity-- and poor eating habits...

Seriously, when I'm not working, feel like one of these.



I didn't run at all the week of Sept 16th when the job started, not during the week, anyway, but did run a half marathon that weekend (nothing spectacular, a sedate 2:10, but not bad considering that I'd skipped an entire month of long runs due to being kind of bummed about life in general and the longest regular distance I'd been doing up until then was 12K). The last kms of that half were hard. Last week was the same story, no running during the week, and strep throat kept me from doing Paris-Versailles which I was a little gutted about. That's how life is, though, right?

My next race is the Amsterdam Half in 3 weeks and I'd hoped to beat my previous PB of 2 hours (on that same course) but even if I just do it in around 2, I won't mind. My big Nice-Cannes marathon is probably going to become a half marathon relay, so if Amsterdam isn't a PB (which seems a little unlikely now!), I can just go for it on the French Riviera. It should be a fun weekend away, anyway.

I started planning training sessions during the week again and plan to run and swim tomorrow, run track Wed and swim on Thurs and do a long(ish) run on Saturday and a 10K race on Sunday. The race is a fundraiser for breast cancer research, so should be a fun run for a good cause.

Anyway, finally, after quite the hiatus, off to pound the pavement, first run in 8 days (!) and think about what to do with my students the last few days of their language course...