The Plan - The Final Week - Six

Aha - the final week. If I wasn't so tired I go into this whole long thing about how proud I am and what I've learned. But I'm tired. It's been a long day. Heck, it's been a long week.

I ran 3.5 miles today! Woot. It felt good - it felt especially good because I wanted to stop at 3.25, but I just kept on going - and finished. (then we rushed home, fed the kids, showered and headed to my favorite pumpkin patch/apple orchard!)

And on the 24th - The Big Day - I only have to run 3.1 miles - so I know I can finish.

The best part about running is this:

On Friday I found out that the program that I teach is on the cutting board. Meaning, all three plans of budget cuts that our superintendent proposed to the school board had my preschool program cut. Nothing is official yet, but hearing that was not the way I wanted to start my weekend. To top it off as I was pulling into the gym after work I sent Mike a quick message letting him know about what time I'd be home and he texted me back letting me know that our fridge didn't appear to be working. Right. So off I went into the gym. And I ran 3 miles. It never felt so good to run. All the thoughts of what I'd do next year without my "perfect" job and all the thoughts of "oh my god we just got a new dishwasher - seriously - now a new fridge" were gone. It was me, my music, and my run. (Of course I did sort of freak out a bit on my way home when I finally stopped to think about what may or may not happen. Which is silly.)

On Tuesday I woke up and Mike told me our dishwasher was broken. Seriously. The new one he just installed was leaking water all over. He went to work, my kitchen was once again torn apart, and I took Quinn to school and headed to the gym. The plan said run 3 miles; I told myself I would only have to do 2 miles, since, you know, I was having a bad day. But you know what? I got to that 2 mile marker and thought, "What good would stopping here do you?" And so I ran 3 miles and it was great.

So anyway... here's my plan for the week.

Week 6
Monday - Rest.
Tuesday - Run 3 miles easy.
Wednesday - Run 2 miles easy. You will begin to taper after this workout. A taper is a gradual decrease in mileage. The purpose of the taper is to be sure that your muscles are well rested before you compete in the race.
Thursday - Rest or cross train.
Friday - Run 2 miles easy.
Saturday - Run 1 mile easy.
Sunday - Race Day. Have Fun!!

If you completed the workouts in this program, you will be able to easily finish your 5K. Keep you pace easy in your first race. Do not worry about your time. You can work on improving you speed in later races. Run at the same pace you were training at or if you are feeling good, just a little faster. Avoid the temptation to start out a lot faster than you have trained for. If you start out too fast, you will have a hard time finishing. Most importantly - HAVE FUN. If you would like to improve your performance, move on to the more advanced training programs.

Of course I know you're all just dying to know what I'm going to do next week, right? Now that I'm done running - what am I going to do?

You'll just have to wait and see, my friends, wait and see...