Hello, again! I apologize for my unscheduled break in my weekly posts. Honestly, the reason that I hadn’t posted in the past couple of weeks is because I didn’t workout and I was embarrassed. I have terrific excuses for why I didn’t work out, but they don’t really matter. I just didn’t prioritize working out.

I will say that I am back in the game. However, I realize that after taking a few weeks off so late in my training, I probably won’t be able to run the half marathon as fast as I originally wanted to. I will probably end up doing more of a run/walk thing. At this point, I’ve just decided that I’m going to do the race, and I’m going to continue to workout and train beforehand, but I’m going to focus on feeling good, having fun, and crossing the finish line.

I realize that it probably sounds a little crazy that I just said I wanted to have fun while running 13.1 miles. I guess this is who I’ve become.

Anyway, so I’ve officially started optometry school now. And wow, they weren’t kidding when they said it would be a lot of material. I think I’m in like seven or eight classes. That might not sound that bad, but they’re all graduate level classes, so yeah, it’s a lot of material.

Honestly the hardest part for me so far is figuring out how I want to review my notes. This summer, we were assigned to read a book called Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel. The book discussed several effective learning and study strategies, so I had a knowledge of some study techniques, but I’m still trying to work on implementing them.

And, since I’m back in school, I have access to a gym/rec center again. And this one is nice! They have a ton of treadmills, and a really cool indoor track. I’m also excited about the stationary bikes, ellipticals, and some of the FREE group exercise classes they offer, because those will be good for cross-training. They, of course, have a bunch of weight and strength training equipment, but I haven’t explored that portion of the gym as much. That section still really intimidates me.

This gym also has a rock-climbing wall and a pool. It’s pretty great. I probably won’t use the pool that much, considering I didn’t bring a bathing suit with me. I also don’t really know anything about rock-climbing, so I probably won’t utilize that as much either. I still think it’s cool that we have it.

I know I’ve only been here a little over a week, but I think running in the mornings really helps with the rest of my day study wise. I just don’t feel as defeated as quickly when I’ve worked out in the morning. Coffee also really helps with the studying as well.

So, let’s get back to the whole running thing. I was able to run for thirty minutes of straight treadmill running on Friday. Yesterday, my roommate wanted to go to the gym to do an exercise class, and my brain was about to explode after studying Anatomy, Physiology, and Disease Processes (APD) for the past two hours, so I decided to go with her. However, I didn’t partake in the exercise class with her, because I knew that I needed to spend some time running.

Her exercise class went from 6 p.m.- 7 p.m. and we got to the gym a little beforehand. I got on the treadmill at about 6:55 p.m. and walked for five minutes. Then at 7, the same time my roommate’s class started, I started running.

The treadmills at the gym are pretty cool, and you can even pick out different “courses” you want to run. The incline changes along with the screen, so it kind of feels like you’re actually running in these places. Yesterday, I ran along some beaches in Maui and also through some mountainous paths in Argentina. It was fun, but it still felt like I was running on a treadmill. At least I had a pretty view to look at on the screen!

Anyway, since I knew my roommate would be in her class for about an hour, I decided I would do about 45 minutes on the treadmill, and then after I finished cooling down and doing my stretches, she would be about done with her class. I wasn’t able to run for 45 minutes straight. Instead, I ran for about ten minutes (which was about a mile), and then I walked for about two minutes and drank some water, then I ran for about another 10 minutes. This continued until I had reached about 45 minutes. I then walked for another five minutes, wiped down the treadmill with a sanitizing wipe, and then went down to the locker room to finish doing my stretches.

I could’ve done my stretches out on the floor, but gyms make me feel very self-conscious, so I felt more comfortable stretching in the locker room. Maybe someday I’ll feel confident enough to do them outside, but for now this works.

Also, more honesty time, I didn’t do any warm-up stretches… either time. I was just proud of myself for getting my butt to the gym.

Wrap-Up

So, I kind of need to wrap things up here. I’m sorry for ghosting you all for the past couple of weeks, but I’m back now. I still plan on participating in the half marathon, even though I did take a few weeks off.  I plan to begin doing my regular weekly updates again on Monday. Although, it is Labor Day, so I might push it off until Tuesday again depending on how busy I am this weekend. Either way, I should be back with more updates for you next week!

Week 27:  
Miles run this week: 3.1 (I'll include the 4 miles I did on Monday with next week)
Miles run total: 126.55
Overall mood: Determined