Summer Time, and the Living is Easy.

I ran 6.2 yesterday, though I was not feeling it at all. You know that little voice in your head that says "Ewwww, you don't want to do this! This is going to be bad. Your legs are heavy. You are tired. You could go home and get on the sofa and watch bad tv for an hour or two while the kids are at camp, or you could just go to sleep. Really you could do anything but this right now. And you can run tomorrow! Or the next day!" Do you know that voice? That voice was giving me the business about 24 seconds into my run, which is never a good sign.

I managed to finish, albeit a little slowly. I did run some hills and I do live in South Carolina and it is June, so I'm not going to be too hard on myself. And after some sub-stellar races this spring, I've been taking it easy, forgoing speed work and tempo runs for longer, slower runs.

That's all about to change.

This week I received my training schedule from my virtual Team in Training coach Joe English.The schedule starts out slowly, with the long run at 3 miles. It has me running 4 days a week--one long, one tempo, one "speed", and one easy. The other day is a cross-training/weights day, and there are 2 days of rest. In the past I've typically used the FIRST program, an intense routine which has only 3 days of running. Anyone have any opinions on this subject? I'm having trouble committing to the schedule as 5 months seems like a looooooong time to train. I know that sounds a little silly-it's not like I'm going to be able to run 26.2 miles over night.

I've had no problem jumping into the fundraising.

And I'm enjoying the writing.

But I'm hesitant to hop back into a schedule. I think part of this reluctance stems from the fact that it's summer, and all notions of a schedule flew out the window when school let out. So though I've been getting the workouts in, it's been a bit more fluid than usual, as the school year lends itself to a more routine approach to everything.

Case in point. We have new neighbors moving in next door whom I've not yet met. They're doing some work on the house and so haven't moved in, but they do check in periodically. They came by one Thursday morning (and I use this term loosely) around 11:30 while the kids and I were all out in the yard. In our pajamas.

I had heard voices in the back yard and assumed it was the contractor, and it was-but it was also the new couple. When I glanced over my shoulder and saw them coming up the driveway, I grabbed Patrick and disappeared into the house. I'd like to think I did so discreetly, stealthily. But I am one of the most uncool, unsubtle people I know. I'm sure I looked like I was rescuing Patrick from a fire. But I'll be darned if these folks' first impression of me is of a lady who's still hanging out in her pajamas at 11:30. On a Thursday.

So summer finds us moving a little slower, making fewer commitments, hanging out at the pool, hanging out in our pajamas, watching cartoons, eating popsicles for breakfast. It thus seems counter-intuitive to amp up the training, but such is the life of the super-athlete marathoner. *sigh*

On a completely unrelated note, I made these last night and they are not to be believed. Though Coach Joe hasn't yet sent us any information regarding a marathoner's diet, I'm fairly certain he would not advocate mowing through a row of these. Or eating popsicles for breakfast.
But I did!
There's plenty of time to change my summer ways, right?