Short and Sweet

I had a relatively good, but different start to the week. Like I mentioned, I went out of town this past weekend. I got back to NYC around 1am on Monday and had to be in office, so I knew the Monday workouts weren't in the cards for me. I adjusted my schedule once again and settled on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for running and/or lifting.

On Tuesday, I tried to change up my workouts because I've found that I've been less motivated to lift recently. At the end of last year, I got into a great workout routine and had all my workouts down. I stayed consistent with those for about 6 months, while adding weight of course. Then, I decided to change them up a bit. I kept the compound lifts, but I wanted to experiment with different gym equipment. All of that was great when I was at EoS fitness (a lovely gym). Now, at my apartment gym, while it is nice, it's also jam packed with gymbros at 6pm. I can walk into a gym pretty confidently but once my routine goes out the window, so does my desire to workout. Plus, I started overcomplicating my workouts. I thought I was plateauing, so I started adding more movements (when I should've been adding even more weight) which turned my 4 movement workouts into a chaotic 7-part series (exaggeration, of course). Hence, I'm not loving them. I've also lost a lot of my strength since I've been in NY and that never helps the ego.

So, I decided to do a different workout Tuesday. I won't get into it but honestly it was not it. I used NTC, which I do love; but this specific workout wasn't for me. Too many circuits and too many movements. I felt like I was doing a little bit of everything instead of focusing on a specific component of a workout. Afterwards, I headed straight to the treadmill. I had been trembling during my workout so I wasn't very excited, but I opted for the 25-minute recovery run which I knew would be doable. I very much listened to Coach Bennett today and just set my treadmill to 10'49.

On Wednesday, I knew I also had to double up on the workout and running. I wasn't going to make the same mistake as Tuesday, so I looked at my workouts that I've uploaded onto my Garmin and had Chat simplify them for me. I just don't want to be running around the gym, and I don't want to be at a loss of what to do if I get to the gym to see none of my equipment available. I settled on 4 movements, 2 of which used the smith machine and 2 that used dumbbells. Plus, a core circuit after.

Deciding on my run was difficult. The recovery distances left over this week are 35-minutes and 4.3 miles. I knew after hitting legs I didn't want to run that far, so once again I opted for a speed run. This one was also different than a typical speed run, which is usually comprised of short and sweet intervals. This was called "Triple 7's." After a 5-minute warm up (3-4 effort), you do 3 7-minute intervals at a 6-7 pace. The beauty of it is you get 2:30 walking recovery between each interval.

I honestly did myself a little dirty on this one. I started the warm-up at a good pace, somewhere in the high 10s. While I'm aware of my estimated 5K pace, I haven't done it in a very long time, so I started the intervals on the conservative side. A 7-minute interval is considered pretty long, so that didn't help my motivation either. For the first one, I ran at a 9'40 pace for most of it. This was technically not the right pace for me. If you've seen my runs, you know I run long runs at around a 10'15 pace. If I can run 10 miles at 10'15, my best 5K is not a 9'40. I was really selling myself short here. But I was just really nervous for some reason. Fear of failure runs deeps.

So, for the next interval I started it at a 9'15 pace. Still conservative, but at least I was running a pace that I know I can't run for long distance. This one felt better. I've said it before, but fast is more fun, and at least at this pace I physically felt different running. I did have my breath completely under control and knew it still was likely not a 7 effort, but it was improvement.

For the next and final interval, I knew I needed to do a little better. This time I set off with an 8'40 pace. This is a lot closer to what my 5K pace realistically is. I was at 8'20 by the time I hit halfway and kept increasing until I hit an 8-minute pace. This was technically me overcompensating. While I felt completely fine and was still in control, I know for a fact my 5K pace isn't an 8-minute pace. This is why selling yourself short in the beginning of a run is never the answer. Realistically, I should've run all 3 intervals at an 8'40 pace. I should've never started slower nor increased throughout, but I did. So, it is what it is and honestly, I was pretty pleased at the end to at least have learned my lesson. Now I know I very much can keep this pace up and will be sure to do better next time.

I'd say the biggest lesson is that the treadmill is great, but if you're not 100% locked in and disciplined and confident, it can make it easier for you to sell yourself short. If I hadn't had to manually click a button to choose my pace and have that pace and my distance staring back at me, it would've been easier for me to run focused on effort. On top of this, my treadmill did indeed break again. Right in the middle of me running at my 9'00 pace, it just shut off. Absolutely throws you for a loop when the ground below you stops moving. Plus, I actually had to wait for a treadmill yesterday. When I had finished up my workout all of them were taken so I went back to my apartment and chatted with my roommate and then came back up about an hour later. Another downfall of treadmills. For context, it was raining pretty hard out that night, and it was already dark by the time I was running, so the treadmill was my best option. I know I've said all those things about free will, but sometimes you just need the treadmill.

Run #28: Tuesday, August 19 - End of Day Run with Headspace - 25 minutes 2.32 mi 10'49 pace

Run #29: Wednesday, August 20 - Triple 7's - 2.72 mi 9'33 pace