So not this past weekend, but the weekend before, forty-nine robbers came knocking at my door.
Um.
No.
That didn’t happen. (But does anyone else remember that rhyme? I did some mean double-dutch to that bad boy all throughout my grade two year – you know, when I wasn’t chowing down on eggos and drinking Labatt Blue that is.)
I asked them what they wanted, and this is what they said – Spanish lady go like this! Spanish lady do the twist! Spanish lady touch the ground! Spanish lady turn around! Spanish lady jump once more! Spanish lady out the door! [at this point you had to run out of the rope circle. This was always the hardest part of double-dutch. It’s crazy difficult to run in or out of the circle with two ropes going! Also, why Spanish lady? I HAVE NO CLUE.]
But I digress.
Two weekends ago, I over did it a little bit with the training. M and I ran a long run, filled with hills and sprints, before ending up at the circuit track at Queen’s park. The monkey bars were slick with rain, and as I worked my was across I slipped halfway and twinged something in my right bicep.
Of course, because I cannot ever leave well enough alone, the next day I ran a seven kilometer “recovery” run.
By the end I was completely and utterly knackered.
Things hurt. Things that don’t normally ever hurt, HURT A LOT.
I was done.
So for the next five days I didn’t do anything – no running, training, weight lifting, or core work.
I even went for a 30 minute massage on Monday after work.
And it was pretty awesome. I got to come home, cook food, write, read, watch Damages (if you are not watching this show YOU MUST SERIOUSLY START NOW), and hang out with Ms. Nymeria and Mr. M.
In all honesty, it was actually a little shocking how much extra time I had in the evenings, not lugging myself to the gym two or three nights after work – especially on the days when I would usually be rushing to the gym, rushing back home, rushing into the shower, and then rushing out the door for my volunteer commitments.
I’m certainly not going to give up my regular scheduled program (because at the root of it, I really like it) – but it’s good to know that when push comes to shove, and my body is telling me to rest up, I can, and I will.
And I did.
After five days however, I was revved up, ready to run.
This past Saturday I was practically giddy as I got ready to get out of the door and out into the sunshine.
And let me tell you, that week of rest did my body a world of good.
I had an absolutely stellar run, and I killed it on the circuit.
The loop at Queen’s park is about 2.5 km, and very hilly. I ran it three times. In between each lap I would head to the circuit where I would do one set of monkey bars (I felt like I really was a monkey – I made it across each time no problem. I could not believe it!), twenty push-ups, and ten box jumps.
At the end of my run, I did three sets of sprints – 1 minute as fast as I could.
And as I made my way home, I felt as though I was flying.
Over the last few hundred meters back to my house, a couple of tears leaked out of the far corner of my left eye.
Not from exhaustion, but from exhilaration.
I was on fire.
(Maybe that’s why I was crying – to put out the flames.)
I do, however, have some pretty brutal blisters on my hands from those accursed monkey bars. Check it:
Urg.
But even sore hands couldn’t keep me still for long.
The next day, Sunday, I set out once more, and my legs propelled me through another absolutely smashing run. The sun’s rays burned bright, but not too hot – the green of the park’s trees, so lush and ethereal, while the sky burned a white opal, sapphire blue.
It’s moments like that were I truly believe that my body is capable of anything.
As long as I listen to it, it will tell me when it’s ready.
And goodness knows, beware to anyone standing in our way.
…
Post script – I just received one of the most hilarious and completely incoherent spam comments of all time. It reads: Good afternoon fellow , probably fire a torpedo from grace is increasingly cumbersome due to the restricted set of telephone operators.
“Firing a torpedo from grace” is now what I’m calling my tough mudder training. Boo yeah.
Rant and Roll 
That sounds like an awesome work out! Those are some nasty and impressive blisters. And that is the funniest spam comment I have ever seen too. Love it!
It’s like everything went into google translator multiple times before coming out the other side!
I think I may invest in some bike gloves or some such as a go-forward preventative measure :)
And thus is anything that gets you under the weather now known as “restricted set of telephone operators.” Glad to hear how well you felt during both your rest and recovery period :)
And geez, woman, bringing up childhood memories on the internet? You might as well just link us straight to TV Tropes and be done with it! Yes, I remember the 24 robbers game from neighborhood skipping games – although we didn’t play it double dutch (and thank god for that, because I never did manage DD). It actually went more like the pattern found here, except at the end the counting would be done not with eyes closed but “pepper” until they fouled up, highest count wins. I never won. >_> We also skipped to – as named on that site – Cinderella, I Like Coffee, School, and Had A Little Sports Car.
In retrospect, “kissed a snake” sounds a lot dirtier than it did when I was 7, and makes me wonder who wrote these things.
We also skipped to the two versions of Miss Lucy found on this site, although we tried never to play the third version in front of parents, because somehow they managed to see through our incredibly clever use of bad words without falling for our incredibly logical explanations for why they weren’t actually bad words, because see, we never actually finished those sentences, but started new ones, that just happened to start with words that…that… well, usually at this point we were sitting in our room thinking about what we’d done. I also clearly remember getting in shit* for singing the old Batman version of Jingle Bells – and now I’m having memories of that little glass Christmas tree which my grandmother used to own and OH DEAR GOD WHAT HAVE YOU DONE I CAN’T STOP
* And yet now I can make my mom pee herself laughing when I clown around about giving someone the finger in (completely unsubtle) subtle ways. What a world.
Nice work! Amazing what we’re capable of! So glad you took a rest week though because it sounds like you give it all when you’re going! (But I guess there’s no other way to do it, is there?)
Good on ya!!
Thanks! Go big or go home right? And as the race gets closer, I’m getting more and more excited.
Very inspiring work out post Eth. I have to say it makes me want to work out right now! But my work out today will consist of a 20 minute walk at lunch… These knees don’t sprint any more. I can honestly say that the only time I might sprint now is if I were actually being chased by zombies OR if I were Katniss being chased by the fire bomb exploding forest. I don’t see either of these two scenarios happening in the foreseeable future… so…. 20 minute walk it is!!
Fondly,
CN&E Ba gock!
oh, yeah, dude, that blister? OW. Wear some bike gloves to the monkey bars or something, will ya?
I’m definitely going to start wearing gloves. Especially because I didn’t really know what I’d done until I got home. And then it became very apparent!
And hey, walking at lunch is the best! I find it so important to get out of my office and walk around over the break, just to get the blood flowing and breathe some fresh air :)
And know that are you are prepared to survive the zombie apocalypse or an arena is good! The mister and I often talk about what we’ll do when those days arrive!
Oh man, I am not a palmistry expert, but I’d have that life line checked out. Its too long. Stop exercisin and eatin right all the dang time so you can die at a young age like normal people! You’re throwing off the curve!
Did you, Mr. M and Nymeria make it to an Odeon (or whatever theatre chain is in Canada…I think it is Odeon though) to see The Avengers?
Okay FINE. But only for you Versi!
We didn’t get a chance to see it this weekend, but we are for sure hitting it up by the end of this week. I’m going a bit mad what with everyone raving about how good it is!
Joss Whedon is a writing god.
This is fact.
Nice blisters! I recently gave someone a hi-five and they were like “Why are your hands so calloused?” It made me laugh inside. We do tough stuff, girl. :D
I love it! I always joke that M could exfoliate using only his palms, they are so rough. We do tough stuff, and we are tough stuff! :)
i’ve had “too many” mandated (at least one mustuv been womandated) rests/respites/breaks from the workout. but, yeah, all the same. recharge. change the routine. the majorest change to my routine (pun inadvertently intenderated) is to turn off the alarm clock.
as pynchon said: the tiresome demands of the quotidian.
but i had a heckuva workout sunday — ended up ‘trespassing’ into the Colorawdough Nashunull Monument and on a downward spiral path of doom before i turned around and shuffled out. a two dog run. (other dawg wuzz with betty).
Sounds like a wonderful place to hike! Colorado sure has some amazing mountain-scapes. I would love to visit that area sometime.
And I really like that Pynchon quote – very apt.
Lady, you rock! Love this, you are most definitely on fire. So very inspiring and exciting. You’ll be kicking butt at TM! Those blisters are gnarly though, hope they heal quickly.
Sounds like the break did you well, what an awesome day to get back to it! And the weather was perfect for it too.
We have the best weekends…. :)
We really do, don’t we? :)
It was so nice to slip into my runners again after such a good break. But I think I may have to look into some bike gloves to keep the blisters at bay!
I watched some friends run the TM in Denver last year and noticed that so many people opted for gloves. Just so long as they’re breathable too, otherwise water obstacles will keep your hands frozen for a while.
You’re so going to rock it!
Wow, Ethel! Tough Mudder – your ass is definitely badder than my ass, woman! LOL
BTW, did you know that Peter Wingfield (actor dude) does TM too? Copy and paste this URL: http://www.pwfc.org/
And yeah, I second that motion for bike gloves – ewww blisters! Ack!
Haha, we’ll see how I fare! I hope to be walking by the next day :) Pete’s a TM eh? That’s awesome!