April 19, 2009

Lessons Learned

Under normal circumstances it wouldn't matter if I stayed out too late or drank too much. Everyone does it occasionally, right? But when there's training to be done, it's harder to get away with such things as I learned from my experience today. After finishing yesterday's brick I decided to head out to a bar where a friend was working for a quick visit and her famous watermelon margaritas. The plan was to have two and leave, thinking I'd pick up take-out and call it an early night. But the crowd was really fun and then a friend stopped by so before I knew it, I'd been there four hours. My friend finished her shift and we headed out for a late dinner.

I wasn't up terribly late, but I definitely had more drinks than I should have and I didn't drink any water the entire night. This led to a not-so-fun Sunday morning and I had a relatively big training day on the schedule. I knew attempting the workouts while still feeling poorly would be a waste of time so I focused on getting rehydrated and eating enough to feel somewhat back to normal. It was 3 p.m. before I felt ready to go.

I did my first long run since the race and despite the "conditions," it went pretty well. I forgot to stretch after yesterday's workout so my legs were tight, but I was surprised they felt as good as they did. I got off to a good start, hit a wall about halfway through and had a stronger finish. The hardest part was finding enough ground to put together eight miles in the neighborhood without going to Prospect Park. I simply wasn't in the mood and I'm also tired of Brooklyn Heights so I ventured back to Red Hook. But Red Hook is only about two miles away so I had to do a lot of looping through the streets to build up the mileage. When my long runs are back to 12 plus miles I'll do them in Central Park.

Immediately after finishing the run I did an interval session on the trainer. The intervals themselves only took 30 minutes, but my coach said I could increase the time up to 1.5 hours if I had the flexibility. I made it to 45 minutes and just felt the need to be done. I did a five-minute cooldown and called it a day.

I know I'm getting to a point in my schedule where drinks on a Saturday night with friends will be a thing of the past so I don't regret my decision. I'll be MIA for most of June, July and August and literally non-existent until after September 13. I might as well enjoy these last moments before the training totally takes over.

Running
Distance - 8 miles
Time - 1:10:20

Biking
Time - 50:00

2 comments:

  1. A long run is the best hangover cure!

    ReplyDelete
  2. All that exercise makes the beer taste that much better, doesn't it? I'm glad you had a good time, and more glad that you don't regret a fun night out. One (slightly) compromised workout isn't going to hurt you one bit. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete

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