A Different Kind Of Preparation

This morning we woke up, had breakfast, packed up the car and my dad & step-mom drove us back into the City. We spent yesterday afternoon doing a ridiculous amount of shopping and buying all kinds of cheap stuff. It's not that often that I really recognize how much we are really paying for groceries in NYC, but it was nice to stock up on some essentials. Once we got home, we unloaded everything and I plopped myself down on the couch.

I ate a bar and drank some Gatorade and watched some TV. Drew did the same and then got up and ready to go to the gym. I should have done the same, but was feeling really unmotivated. He told me that I had to be at the gym by 3:00 (it was currently 1:30), so I took my sweet time while he went off and exercised. I actually did manage to get myself to the gym before 2:30. I debated for a long time if I wanted to chance the weather outside (raining on and off) or if I should just go to the gym and run my miles there.

Today was supposed to be my last long run before the race, except I knew I wouldn't have it in me to do anything that long at the gym. I pretty much hate it there now. At least for running. The treadmill is just so awful. I also noticed on Friday morning how hot the gym is. And today was more of the same. I was wearing shorts and a short-sleeved tech shirt and I think I ran one mile and was drenched with sweat.

I figured that since it's supposed to be warmer in Atlanta this coming weekend, it might be good practice to run in warmer weather indoors. As of right now, it says 40% chance of rain for Sunday. Of course, I'm obsessively checking all the time to see if it changes. Of course, it doesn't seem to want to change to suit my needs.

The run at the gym today was rather boring, as most treadmill runs are. I listened to my iPod, which worked out almost perfectly as the playlist I was listening to was just as long as the warm-up, running and cool-down! (I normally walk for 5-7 minutes before and after the run). I guess my plan now is to not worry about having a shorter than planned run today and make Tuesday my last long run - probably about 8 miles? I think it will all work out just fine.

I also went old-school today and didn't wear my heart rate monitor. My strap was in my bag from my dad's house and I gave a half-hearted look in the bag and then decided I didn't really care. I was more worried about just doing some running than anything else. I kept the pace fairly steady the whole time I was running and it worked out pretty well, I think.

Running
Time: 55:00
Distance: 5.50 miles
Pace: 10:00/mile