Getting Back in the Groove...

I still haven't gotten together a post about vacation but I am itching to write so here I am.  =) We are supposed to get a huge storm tonight similar to the one we got in late June last year.  It has the possibility of turning into a Derecho (Long lasting, straight, damaging winds) also like last year.  It's pretty frustrating and I am kicking myself that we didn't buy a generator earlier this year when we were considering it.  Last year we were without electric a total of 5 days and some others in my county were without for 14-15 days.  It was pretty crazy.  People were rushing to anywhere that said they had ice because places were running out really quickly when they got it in and they had bag limits on what you could buy.  The husband is supposed to stop today and pick a bunch up for our deep freezer.  Luckily last year my mom, who lives an hour away, wasn't affected and she and my step dad brought me their generator to use and we could run a couple fans and the fridge... Here's hoping it's not as bad.  Anyway, that is why I am wanting to get a post out there in case my electric goes out for a few days! On to the actual topic of this post!!

I am having SUCH a hard time running regularly without having a schedule to follow and something specific to train for! When I was training for The Flying Pig I was really focused.  If I missed a run, I was sure to make it up because I knew it was a bad idea to miss training runs when I was going to be running 13 miles in the near future.  Now I have this 10k coming up on June 29th that I am excited about but for some reason my motivation is waning.  I think mostly because I know that I can run the race without super scheduled training and I am not expecting to get the time that I want because I apparently suck at running in the heat.  My next half is in November so in August I will start a training program again to get ready for that but until then I have been doing terribly.

While we were on vacation we had a total of 6 days.  2 of those were partial days because of travel with 4 whole days at the beach.  Of those 4 days- I ran 3 of them.  There is something wonderful for motivation about just being able to ride down the elevator and take off running with no worries of being run over by crazy drivers since there is a nice sidewalk/exercise trail as well as a bike lane when that runs out.  Here at home, if I want to run somewhere that I don't have to worry about those things I have to drive somewhere.  I wish I wasn't so worried about how people drive because there are actually some decent back roads but people drive these curvy, hilly, can't-hardly-see-anything roads wayyyyy too fast and there are no berms...

 

The road in the background there is a pretty good representation except it doesn't show the huge hill to the right and the blind curve you hit when you continue down the road to the left of me.  Last year when we were running that road the husband and I both almost got hit by some j*rk who refused to get over even a little bit even though nothing was coming the opposite direction.  On top of that we live in fairly small towns so basically 5 miles is all you can eek out and after that you have to loop or run up and down streets.  It's annoying....

Anyway, I haven't been too successful at getting up super early like I have wanted since I have such a hard time getting to sleep at night.  Generally I have been getting to town at around 8am and because of stretching and getting situated to leave it is probably 15 after before I even get started.  I really, really need to attempt to get out the door by 7 or so. 

Ok, so this is apparently turning into a whining post because I have yet another reason my motivation is suffering. My 3 mile, 5 mile, and 6 mile paths are all fairly desolate on bike paths surrounded by woods. The drug/crime problem is escalating fairly badly in this area which is one of the reasons we are trying to get a fast pass out of here.  I have a CCW license and in the winter I run with protection but I have noticed it is harder to carry with summer clothing.  

If you have made it this far through my whining you get a gold star!  I am not usually one to whine without trying to do something to fix it, so here is my plan:

1) I am going to break out my half marathon program and jump back to week 6 or so and start working forward again.  I figure this will keep me on track fairly well and that way when I start in August for my fall half I can focus on improving my speed because my endurance should be there.

2) I am going to hit mapmyrun.com and attempt to map a few more routes to follow through town.  Don't know how successful this will be but I am going to give it a go!

3) I am going to try to get to bed by around 10pm to make it easier to get up in the morning instead of my normal 12-1am.  I figure after a couple days of getting up early it won't be that difficult to get myself in bed by 10pm =)

In all, I hope that I can get into a good groove again because I don't want to lose what I have gained over the last few months running!

Happy Running!!