Adrienne Langelier Running

First, let's rewind back to Friday, when I received an awesomely large shipment by my beloved gear sponsor, Brooks...

New gear is always a great way to cap off a busy week.

I always enjoy "new shoe day", and my coworkers seem to do so as well, watching me giddily tearing open the brown boxes addressed to yours truly and then taking turns passing around the schwag of the month. I'm slowly trying to convince them to give running a try-maybe the stylishness of the women's line will help?!  My first shipment of the year included my favorite Epiphany top, a couple singlets to race in, and some flower power shorts that resemble the board shorts I was so fond of in high school-sweet! As for shoes, I picked up the new Ravenna 3 and second pair of Pure Flows in pink. (You can read my original review of the Flows here.) I took the flows out this morning and noticed that the seemingly white midsoles were actually iridescent-what a flashy touch!

Now for the real meat of this post... Each training cycle I learn a little more about what my legs do and do not tolerate. Apparently a considerable down week after a solid 3-4 week (or just a crazy-busy month) or  build is something that is necessary for me. Early on I was dealing with some nagging soreness in the lower left leg, talked to Coach, both deciding to take it easy this week.

In fact, I voluntarily took a detour to cross-train lane  in order to avoid any possible complications for my upcoming races. I actually just completed my first run a few days this morning and felt the benefits of rest.

Don't feel too sorry for me though-I have stayed busy and found this past week actually refreshing. I'm a fan of cross training, personally. A fun thing that happened was conquering my fear of flip turning-and the self-consciousness that often comes with runners hitting the pool. I had the itch to jump in at the Texas A&M Natatorium when I had a break from working last week. The goal was to just get comfortable in the water again but it actually turned into a nice 45-minute personal clinic in observational learning.

Apparently if you spend enough time on a pool deck observing-you learn a thing or two; I found a stroke that actually felt smooth and pulled off some flip turns. Granted the turns need considerable work, I have been afraid to do them after hitting my head hard during one in college. I didn't care about style points-as the diving team was standing right there-I was just pumped to re-establish the skill again. I guess the older I get the less I care about what other people think.

In addition to putting in some swim yards, I threw in some cycling and made up my own spin workouts to get some LT work in. With some good music in the iPod, a little focus and a lot of intensity-it can almost be fun. All in all, I may have done MORE volume this week with less running, but my energy levels feel higher than the weeks prior. Perhaps having work his magic helped as wel.

I am constantly re-teaching myself and learning again the limits and preferences of my body. Each time I do, I feel more confident and mature about it. When I wanted to freak out about missing a run in the face my upcoming half, I would talk myself through it and remind myself of the importance of rest and changing up the stimulus every now and again. If today's short run was any indication-it makes me feel much stronger in the end. So here's to nailing negative cycles-just all part of the process of becoming a better athlete!

Stay the course- even when you have to mix it up every once in a while!