Monday? Ewww.

I detest mondays on principal alone (waking up early after 2 days of going to bed and waking up late is a pain in the backside), but I was absolutely DREADING today. Start of spring semester. I'm not teaching, I'm not taking any classes, I knew my master's advisor would be tied up all day and unable to spend any real time talking to me, and pretty much nobody comes down to the basement of the lab to talk to me. So WHY did I bother getting up early (on only 2.5 hours of sleep) to go into campus? Even though I got there early, the parking garage by my building was already a mess. After a couple hours of TRYING to be productive, I threw in the towel and headed home again. I figured I'd be able to settle down to work again once I got in a run in the sunshine and warmth (another 50* day in January? Really?).

My training plan called for 4 miles at a 12:40 pace today. I groaned when I saw the pace because it's been difficult to SLOW DOWN the last couple runs and it's lead to some SERIOUS exercises in mental focus to keep my breathing deep enough to prevent/ help with the dreaded "stitch in the side". I spent a couple minutes throwing together a new playlist of songs I thought better fit the pace I needed to run at (more country, less hard rock), hoping it would help.

I think it did. When I started out, I tried to keep my steps short without shuffling them. It was a lot easier than usual to find that slower, more comfortable pace and holding it (sort of). It got even easier once I realized I wasn't forcing myself to breathe deeper to keep away the pain in my side which let me focus more of the cars around me. You would think that I've ran every possible combination of the roads around my parents' house, but apparently not. I tried out a new(ish) route today and liked it, even with the increased traffic. Though, the traffic wouldn't have been so heavy if I hadn't chosen to run on Eber just as the High School was letting out. Oh well. It was the perfect distance for today's workout and it took away some of my fear of running on a busier road.

My plan for the rest of the week:

Tuesday: Cross Training

Wednesday: Easy run, 3 miles at 12:40

Thursday: Cross Training

Friday: Cross Training or Rest

Saturday: Easy run, 4 miles at 12:40