This week was spring break for many, including myself. The plan for the week was to relax and run. That is all that it was suppose to consist of. But naturally it turned into more than that. It seems that the week turned into a week long learning experience. It's amazing how much can be learned in a week!
Monday: I was notified at about noon that KTUL channel 8 News wanted to meet with me TODAY to do a story on the project. After several calls to inform the principal of the interview I learned he is a busy man over spring break. I also soon learned news people are cramming in all kinds of things into one day. We ended up meeting at 2pm for the interview. What was suppose to be a 15 minute thing turned into an hour. No big deal though, it was kind of fun! Later that evening when watching the news to see the segment I learned: One hour of set up, interview and filming equals 20 second segment on the news! That was a new revelation to me! Then, it came to running. Monday is suppose to be an easy 3 mile run just to get your muscles moving after the long run over the weekend. Well lets just say my muscles didn't want to move! I had a pretty painful first mile. I only could manage a mile and a half. Then I decided to call it done for the day. I learned although my body holds up quite well for a 20 miler it is not quite use to the after math yet.
Tuesday: I decided I needed to go ahead and start adding some hill training in my workouts. I did a four mile loop of hills where I had to cross traffic and be very aware of my surroundings. I learned two things this day. 1)If there are bugs out they will find your eye ball! Thus, I need to buy sunglasses to run in. 2)Most people sitting in objects that are made of large pieces of medal moving at a fast rate usually care less about the unshielded, unprotected, out in the hazardous environment runner- so beware!
Wednesday: The warmer weather had started to move in. I took this as a nice opportunity to get a 5 miler in some warmer weather. I mean the marathon is May 1st. There is no telling what the weather may be like. As I run I'm feeling okay. Not great, but not horrible- just okay. This lasts for about a mile and a half. I begin to get a massive torso cramp. It was the worst I have had. I try to make it through, but it is getting worse. I begin to walk. I feel nauseous and I can barely move. Here is where the learning comes in: I hadn't done anything different than what I normally do. Why would I be having such a hard time on a 5 mile run when I completed a 20 mile run like it was nothing? I learned some days things just don't all line up and you just have a bad run day. I ended up running 2.5 miles and walking back the rest. It was a long walk home!
Thursday: This run is a speed training run. I am training for the marathon at 9 minute pace because that is what I need to do for my first marathon to be successful, however I run faster on shorter distances. This workout helps increase those speeds for the shorter runs. I start the run at 9 minute pace and work my way down to 7:30 minute pace. I accomplished each time and even went extra distance. I'm starting to realize or learn although speed is not my key focus right now the distance training is still helping me in this area. Which is wonderful because I think my goal after the marathon will have something to do with speed. :)
Today, I also wrote a guest blog. I was asked earlier in the week if I would be a guest blogger for National Education Association's EdVoices website! This is pretty exciting stuff! (The blog will be posted tomorrow on their site so I will link it here as soon as possible) As I sat trying to make all the words flow in a way that readers would understand I wished that I could make others understand and have the same passion as I do. Then I realized, there are already people out in the world that have the same passion as I do for our students! After finishing the blog post I looked into some organizations and learned about what others are doing for our students!
Friday: Typical Fridays are no running days to let your body rest before the longer run on Saturday. However, a little discouraged from Wednesdays run in the warmer weather I was going to take a short mile jog in the heat of the day that was suppose to reach 83 degrees. Just trying to give my body a little jump start on getting use to the heat. What ended up happening was I spent four hours with my car in the shop where I sat inside the whole time because a cold front came in. I was reminded this day that sometimes things don't go as planned and Oklahoma weather can change in a moments notice.
Saturday: This week was a easier recover week. I only had to run 10 miles. You know you are half way through marathon training when you say "only 10 miles"! Again with my experience on Wednesday I decided I need to get as many runs outside that I can between now and the race. I knew that the weather said rain showers at 11am. Here I am running at 9:45 and it begins to rain. Again you gotta love that Oklahoma weather! My route changes a bit, but the plan is still on. 10 miles. Today I had to work harder to accomplish the run than I have had to in awhile. I was trying to keep my pace regulated and it was quite windy. Today I learned running on the road is much different after running a few weeks on the treadmill!
All in all, spring break was an adventure and I didn't even have to go anywhere! Interview, guest blogger, awful run, great run, some time at school, relaxation and even some massive dosages of learning took place. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity not only to help the students at my school, but also for opening my eyes to new learning experiences! I am excited to get back to my kids at school where we will have a great week of learning together! I can only imagine their faces when we log 41 miles that I ran over the break!
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