Weekend Workouts: I love not training for a race

I am loving the 'not race season' experience.  I do still have one more race coming up this season, but I'm traditionally totally under trained for the Dreidel Dash and I'd hate to break with tradition.   Instead I'm just enjoying just running for the sake of running.  If I don't want to go fast, I can slow down.  If I don't want to go far, I can go short.  If I don't want to go now, I can go later.  It's fairly awesome.  Here's a recap of the no stress approach to training:

Sunday was a "let's stay on the couch" kind of day.  I was finally motivated to go for a run just before sunset, and then motivated to keep it short because I didn't feel like wearing a reflective vest or light or any other stupid gear, so I had to get home before it got dark. 

Monday I had a running date with a friend from work.  It was hill day.  This hill route is one of the better hill routes there is becuase the long ascent is like the first thing that happens and the end is down hill and then flat.  Next time I need a better head light. 

Tuesday I ran with my speed coach.  Because of scheduling, we could only get in 4 miles.  It was the coldest 4 miles of the year.  We both kept waiting for the other to say it was too cold.  Never play chicken with a runner.  It got back up to 50* by the end of the week so I still have trouble believing it was so cold then.  Oy.

Wednesday I really wanted to run and kept feeling like the deck was stacked against me.  I woke up early, only to be so tired that I turned me alarm off and went back to sleep.  I'll run after work.  Then I figured out that I had a board meeting after work.  F*ck!  Ultimately I wanted to run so bad that I hit the gym after the board meeting and did a track workout.  When I arrived at the gym I realized I forgot my foot pod. F*ck, again.  I remembered the Nike+ app has an 'indoor' setting but I never used it becuase it required me to hold my phone in my hand.  Stupidest thing I'd ever heard.  I decided to try the indoor setting and just keep the phone in my arm band like normal.  It worked really well and I'm glad I gave it a try.  Perhaps the only thing that went right all day.

Thursday I got in a little treadmill run between Circuit and Zumba.  This one was hard at the beginning becuase my legs were fried from circuit.  It was fun again by the end.  And then when I uploaded the run to the Nike site, I got this little gem:  I've logged over 4000 miles with Nike.  I wonder how far it'd be if I used their app all the time instead of cheating on them with Endomondo and Strava.

Friday was a "lay on the couch and don't move all day" kind of day.  Know why?  Because Circuit kicks my butt and I don't want to do anything the next day.  Ever.  It was so serious I didn't even get out for a run until the evening which meant I was wearing a reflective vest.  Sigh.

Saturday was one of my favorite runs all week, even though I was half asleep and in a grumpy mood when I started.  Saturday's are a tough running day because I have to get up early which I hate becuase I have to be done in time to make it to Zumba which I love.  I also have to have time in between to change my shoes and grab a snack so I can live through Zumba.  Today I had enough time for a five-miler on the Greenway.   I felt like I was out with the Stepford Runners because everyone was so happy to see me.  "Good morning!"  "Keep it up!"  WTF?  It's cold and there's no sunshine.  Why are you so cheerful?  One of my favorite things about the Greenway is there's a pretty reliable dirt track next to the path almost the entire way so I can run in the soft stuff for a long time.  And it's fairly flat (as you can see from this elevation profile).

I have no idea what next week holds.  I always sit here and think 'oh tomorrow, I should run this far...' and then we get to the next day and I'm too exhausted to move so those plans get put on hold. Nice thing about not race season is I don't have to be too concerned about not sticking to a plan.  Excellent.