Track Training, Santa Barbara City College

Time: 6pm, approx. 1 hour, 30 minutes

• 4-lap warm-up
• 2-laps strides
• 3 x 1200 (3 laps @ 2:05-2:15 each, 1 lap easy - repeat 2 more times)
  
• 1 x 1600 (4 laps (1 mile) @ 2:10 each (8:40 minute mile)
  
• 2 laps cool-down
  

Meal: Late lunch at 3pm - salad with lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber, chicken and 1 cup brown rice (added for carbs). Clif Bar at 5:30.

Tonight's practice proves my theory about training by myself vs. training with others. I had such a difficult time on my Monday and Tuesday night runs this week that I was really worried about this track workout because the coaches usually push us pretty hard. But tonight I felt really good. The knee and foot pain was still present, but I had no problem sucking it up and completing the workouts within the time we were given. Yes, I pushed harder than usual but my body didn't resist as much as it had earlier in the week. Even at the faster pace I was able to keep up conversation (I forgot to bring my iPod) so I feel really great overall about the practice.

Something else that I found to be true tonight is that I wasn't nearly as tired as I have been after work. This morning I actually slept in until 8am (as opposed to waking up at 7am on Monday and 6am on Tuesday). I got to bed late last night so it was still only 8 hours of sleep but I found that I had much more energy today. I think the extra hour in the morning might be helping to give me some extra "umph" in the afternoon. Between now and the marathon I think I might take more advantage of my flexible work schedule.

The purpose of this journal is to record everything that's happening, so here's my warning that I'm going to be fairly candid here. For the past couple of weeks I have been experiencing some depression. Last week I wrote it off to being sick and having stress in other parts of my life, but I definitely recognized a high and a distinct crash tonight after the workout. I felt so GREAT driving home, but by the time I got there (literally minutes away) I found that my mind was racing and I was feeling worried, overwhelmed and hopeless. I can't pinpoint what exactly was getting me down...pretty much anything that popped into my head: work, family, relationships. Anyway, I'm saying this because I was able to find a place to just observe how I am feeling and pay attention to what was happening in my body as a result. The more I question it the more I think that, with all this training and the toll it is undoubtedly taking on my body, perhaps I am experiencing some sort of nutritional deficiency. I haven't been very good in the past about paying attention to my body, but I do know that things can shift drastically in my physical and emotional condition as a result of any sort of chemical imbalance.

The short amount of research I did on the subject tonight didn't turn up much - really all I read was that depresssion the week after the marathon is really normal and is to be expected. I'm still trying to find some information on nutritional deficiencies that may result from this kind of intense training that I could possibly link to the depression. I'd say the good news in all of this is that I'm getting better at reading my body. It feels healthy to recognize that I may be feeling insecure and down on myself emotionally but that there could be a perfectly good physical reason for feeling this way.

The body...and the brain...work in strange ways. Anyway, I'll keep you posted on my research about this stuff.