Wednesday Was Not My Day

At least in terms of rockclimbing.  I went last night post-work and man, it was HARD! Maybe stress got to me or maybe it was that I went at 2200 after working 9.5 hours.  But in either case it was one of those nights where it was a struggle: even though climbing isn’t really about the upper body strength, my arms were really exhausted. But I’m glad I went.  Every once in awhile you need those days that kick your ass and remind you that you can improve.

Wednesday was the day, however, for me to kick my tempo workout’s ass:

• Warm up
• 5.6 mile Tempo @ 7:24 (2.2 @ 7:29, 2.2 @ 7:24, 1.2 @ 7:15)
• 1.2 miles easy
• 1.2 miles HARD @ 7:23
• Warm down

It was HARD to do this workout.  I was originally going to do it Tuesday but woke up feeling really run down.  After doing the warm up that morning I nixed it and postponed it to the next day.  My run Tuesday was really tough by the way, even though it was an easy “just-go” run. By the time Wednesday rolled around I still didn’t want to do it but after checking my watch after the warm I decided to at least give it a go.

And boy am I glad I did.

I was so surprised when I saw my time (because I knew that it was ~7:30 pace).  Granted, maybe I shouldn’t have been because I was running hard and the effort was great, but not over the top.  I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to hold onto the pace but I did.  I kept having to tell myself that “I can do it” and to stay focused because it felt great in the moment! Obviously I would like my “tempo” pace to be faster (like where I was pre-WR) but this is a significant improvement from weeks past.

I got that really exhausted but energetic feeling in my legs for the rest of the day.  I was on a TOTAL cloud 9.  There’s something so amazing about pushing yourself hard and being able to handle it.  This run may or may not have gotten an air fist pump at the end…just saying.

Totally worth the struggle of a rock climb later that day!

Also: a couple people have asked how I come up with my odd distances for tempo runs. I map out areas that I know will be not-so-traffic ridden and such and that just happens to be how they fall.  Maybe someday I’ll be able to get a garmin but for now I’ll be sticking to my 5.6 mile loop where I know that, for example, my house to the end of the path is 2.2 miles, and a loop around my house is 1.2.

Rather than tell you about all the mediocre runs, other than my tempo, or go on about the stress in my life (still ongoing but I’m managing. Apologies again to the sporadic commenting. I promise I’m still reading! It actually de-stresses me a bit reading y’alls blogs.) I’ll leave you with this dessert, described as “crack” by one of my friends.  With a tall glass of milk it’s perfect after a long day…which after the way my Thursday night is going might just be my post-work activity!

Chocolate Caramel Saltine Crackers

(taken from a friend but I’m pretty sure you can find the recipe on AllRecipes or something)

Ingredients:

• ~40 saltine crackers
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Sheets of caramel coating

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet (with sides) with foil for easy clean-up. Place caramel down on foil and arrange saltines on top in a single layer and touching.
2. In a small saucepan, bring butter and brown sugar to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Pour over crackers, spread to coat evenly and bake 6 – 8 minutes.
3. Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over and let them melt.  Spread with a spatula / knife to cover the crackers. Place in a fridge to cool and then
4. ENJOY!