Thursday Already?!

At times, four-day weeks are more of a curse than a blessing. With one day less to work, the stress of cramming five days of work into a limited time frame doesn't always seem worth it. Fortunately, I've been been able to manage my workload this week, so the minus-one-day has worked out quite nicely. Thursday is here already, and the weekend will be here before we know it!

I've had a decent week of training. Here's a rundown:

• Monday: 6-mileish run. B. ran three miles with me before he went home to throw the baked sweet potato fries in the oven, and I continued on. On a non-training related note, we watched Kung Fu Panda, which I highly recommend.
  

• Tuesday: Off day. Having completed Bikram Yoga's 30-day Challenge a week ago today and jumping right into pre-marathon training, I realized it had been more than a month since I took a day off exercising. In any case, I had a major case of the "Mooondays" on Tuesday since it was the first day of the week, and the weather was crummy. The combined reasons were enough for me to park on the couch for the evening and consume a random dinner of sweet potatoes, oatmeal, hard-boiled eggs and nutella, as my grocery money was spent on running shoes. Ahhh...young, fabulous and broke in the city, am I.
  

• Wednesday: Elliptical at Bally's. Though I'm enjoying the variety of my workouts, I miss my "friends" at Bally's that had been used to be coming in nearly every morning. These "friends" include Basil, the security guard, and Steve, the door attendant. When I walked in to Bally's that day, Steve said that he and another staff member had "just been talking about me!" and "wondering where I had been!" In any case, I had a great workout and got caught up on some of the magazines I've been neglecting, like the May issue of Shape (June has already arrived... I'm THAT behind) and People Style Watch.

• Today: I forced myself up at 6:15 a.m. and went for a 6-mile run. This was my "usual" route that consists of running south on a trail along Lakeshore Drive to North Avenue beach, north up Lakeshore Drive and back west to my apartment. Overall, I'd say the run was "meh" -- not good or bad. Though I can easily force myself into a brainless elliptical session, running is a bit harder on the body and therefore not as fun first-thing. I'm definitely filing that note.
  

What's surprised me the most in my training is how quickly I'm molding back into runner shape. I have blisters on my ankles from the new shoes (not fun), and the stopwatch on my iPod is encourages me to kick up the pace. I'm more concerned about how much water I'm drinking, and I'm pre-planning when I'll run how many miles.

Moreover, I'm starting to get pumped for CARA training to begin. The first run is in two weeks, but we can pick up our training "packets" a few days before. Pretty sure I'll feel like this:





... except maybe a little more in control.

It's a toss up whether tomorrow will be a running day or an elliptical day... but I'm thinking elliptical. I can't have my friends at Bally's worrying about me!