BACK TO BERLIN: WEEK 9

taken by my P before a quick 4.42 km run
18th of March, 2017

“I wish I could do whatever I liked behind the curtain of “madness”. Then: I’d arrange flowers, all day long, I’d paint; pain, love and tenderness, I would laugh as much as I feel like at the stupidity of others, and they would all say: “Poor thing, she’s crazy!” (Above all I would laugh at my own stupidity.) I would build my world which while I lived, would be in agreement with all the worlds. The day, or the hour, or the minute that I lived would be mine and everyone else’s - my madness would not be an escape from “reality”.” ― Frida Kahlo

This Week's Purpose

I love beginning the week with a sense of purpose.  

My purpose this week (Week 9 : 13.03 - 19.03) is to keep everything simple because I feel, I am spreading myself too much again - both mentally and physically. 
***** (please, see at the bottom of the post, how I fared at the end of the week with my intentions) 

Something I wanted to remind myself:

Pause . . . (I would like to do periodically during my marathon training, a sort of "reality check-up" with myself)

Monday, 13.03.17
a picture from my IG story
I love using that Instagram feature
to save thoughts, ideas & blognotes

I published Week 8 of my training a day later, than I planned.  Nobody is putting any deadline pressure on me but myself. 

This is just one of those things that I want to get rid off, which are still remnants from past experiences during marathon training.  It robs me of the joy of training and blogging about the training.  

The simple fact I am successfully running 3-4X/week (8 weeks!), and blogging weekly should be a source to rejoice.  Rejoice in each moment, and not wait until after I reached the finish line in Berlin!

“Our true joy is like those sunglasses we’ve been looking for all over, suddenly realizing they’ve been propped on our head during our entire search. They’re already there, quietly waiting for us to reach up and realize they were never lost at all.”  

― Kelly Corbet

There will be a time, when I will not train for a  marathon or any other race events. I still would like to continue running, writing, and living life to the fullest.  There is life before marathon running, and there will be life with running without the trappings of marathon training - it's super highs, the dramatic predictable lows and unpredictable stumbling blocks along the way.

13.03.17, Monday : 0 biking, 0 running, 3 minutes planking!

M' was not feeling well, when she woke up in the morning.  I was feeling exhausted myself.

We both rested.  In the evening, I felt better, and dropped down to plank to support a fellow runner in my plank group, and felt "less lazy"! LOL 

It's awesome to get a surge of energy from people, whose passion you share and they live 1,000 of miles or even ocean or continent away!

You made this day
end great for me @kyrstie! XO

14.03.17, Tuesday: 

More of what Monday was: restful day.  

During the course of the day, I randomly meditated.

It's been on my marathon training list to practice meditation again; I have not been doing it with structure.

So, I added the Stop Breathe & Think app on my phone to help me.

15.03.17, Wednesday: 

M felt much better, and was brought by a friend to school.  K, her older sister picked her up after her playdate. This meant, no biking for me on this day.

My hormones was going haywire on me as usual, or I was simply fighting a virus because I felt so tired; I slept after J - oldest daughter - left.

P was at work, the girls were at school, and without any energy to do anything at all, I gave in to what my body needed, and slept until way past noon.

Oldest daughter served me chai tea before she left for school

Not feeling rested after the decadent nap, I forced myself to eat lunch, & drink the coffee I have been wanting to give up since marathon training started!  

I felt much better after publishing Week 8 blogpost and having done updates on this blog gave me a surge of energy as well.

I think, I will rest one more day and start running again tomorrow! 

(see after clearing up the house, how I feel! MAYBE I can manage 5K -  Wed 15.03.17 16:37) 

Nope, I rested! (update: Thursday, 23.03.17)

16.03.17, Thursday : 

I ran back to back on this day: 

11 km to M's school and 4.42 km  with her on the bike and me running behind her.

17.03.17, Friday :

Biked 10 km to bring M to school.

"Rested" from marathon training for the day, the rest of Friday!

K, middle daughter picked up M and her classmate, with her friend. 

M's playdate was cut short because of an emergency, and the boy was picked up earlier. 

K's friend stayed for dinner. 

18.03.17, Saturday : 

It was a long day.  We got up early to go to Utrecht for an information day.  I will blog about my eldest daughter's search for university in My Daily Mooosings in the Netherlands.

Before dinner, I manage to do 4.50 km to "symbolically" pre-celebrate my 45th birthday (20th March).  P made pictures and video before he drove home with the groceries we bought. 

19.03.17, Sunday :  

Life is busy but I do hope I can publish separate blogs about "difficult" runs of this marathon training.  This Sunday's 12 km can be documented under that category.

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have already read about it. 

Now, I am updating this blog 5 days later, on a Thursday the 23rd of March, and have read once again, how the week was, I got an even better perspective of why this run turned out how it did.  

This is why I need to blog about my process ! This is why I love to blog about the process.  One can get lost sometimes in the muddle of every day life, and clarity is acquired again and again when you take time to sit and truly reflect in peace. May it be about marathon training or simply about the life, we live.

You can find impressions I wrote about this run, here and here.

Also, here :

21st of March 2017
...more impressions about Sunday's 12 km run,
shared in my IG story.

Total  :  20  biking km /  32 (rounded off ) running km

***** P.S. On the purpose of this week : short and sweet  - I simplified. 

✓ Week 1, 2 and 3 (Biking : 188 km Running (started 3rd week) : 21 km)
✓ Week 4 (Biking : 60 km Running : 13 km )
✓ Week 5  (Biking : 50 km Running : 29 km )

✓ Week 6 (Biking : 0 Spring Break! Running : 29 km )
✓ Week 7 (Biking : 60 km  Running : 36 km)

✓ Week 8 (Biking : 43 km  Running : 35 km) 

✓ Week 9 (Biking :  20 km  Running : 32  km)

9  weeks of Biking : 421 km
7  weeks of Running : 195 km

created 15.03.17 15:05, Wednesday

updated   23.03.17 10:07 Thursday