Exhaustion can't keep me from running

May is the hardest time of the year.  Especially now that I'm in charge of the Yearbook.  Getting that done to my standards of excellence, and approved for production on time was difficult this year, to say the least.  Somehow it seems to have become a volunteer project, since I had very little time to work on it during school this year.  Of course I got it done on time, (and it looks awesome, they just came last week), but I am exhausted.  And burned out.  And by the end of each school day I usually just want to collapse on the couch.

But I decided that Wednesday was long run day.  I felt pretty drained by the end of the school day, but it was apparently only mental exhaustion, not physical exhaustion, because I had a really great long run.

The week : 

M : Pub Run 3.7 / 7:47 / 0 ft

T : AM run 4 / 7:44 / 200 ft

horseback ride 1 hour

W : long run 10.1 / 7:48 / 771 ft

R : TRX 30/10 x 50 (5 rounds of 10)

F : horseback ride 2.5 hours

Sa : run 6 / 7:41 / 548 ft

Su : run 5.3 / 7:40 / 420 ft

total miles run : 29.1

On Saturday, I did an out and back run to push a hill I rarely run.  I decided to push on the down as well as the up, because lately my hips have been hurting after any kind of downhill.  Time to build them up...being strong on the uphills is great, but what goes up must come back down!  I felt really strong until the last 2 miles or so, and then I started fatiguing.  Understandable, because the first 3 miles were more downhill, and the last 3 miles were more uphill.  I had to stop at a red light 1/4 mile from home, and got very lightheaded all of the sudden.  It's certainly not the first time I've gotten lightheaded at that stoplight, but it's been a long time since it happened.  I think the light turned green just in time, any longer and I probably would have had to sit down, wait for it to pass, and walk home.  But I managed to start running again, even with slightly blurry vision, and made it home.  I have no idea what caused it this time, I didn't think I was running quite that hard at that point.  Perhaps I was just dehydrated.  

I have been happy to see my pace getting faster, now that I am making a conscious effort not to "jog" on my runs.  The main goal is not to have a run slower than 8:00 min/mile right now.  Most of my runs are starting faster and ending slower as my legs fatigue, but I'm ok with that.  I expect that I will get a little farther at pace each week.  My lungs are starting to feel stronger, which is reassuring.  

Only 2 more weeks of school, and then hopefully I will have more time to get back on the bike in addition to adding more longer runs!  Right now the wind is way too strong by the time I get out of work, and I don't want to blow off the road...

Friday afternoon was absolutely gorgeous, and I loved spending it riding through the fields and woods with my barn friends!  Lots of playing in streams and ponds, and taking pictures. 

I opted out of walking through this pond...we had already walked through what looked like a shallow stream, and ended up belly deep in muddy water.  I would have gotten wet if I tried to walk Pony through this one!  So, I was tasked with taking pictures of the others. 

It looks like just a bit of water on the ground...but when you walk through it, you often end up sinking much deeper than you would guess.  Rain is good, but we've been getting way too much of it lately!  The ground can't take any more.