I have been defeated by a hill...

So today's hill workout was not-so-great. First of all, I had no one to run with, seeing as Brennan went skiing and Ryan had something to do, so I had no one to pace with, and thus consistently started running up temple too hard, and then slowed down exponentially by the time I reached Eve's house. oops. Secondly, I kind of psyched myself out before the workout because I ate breakfast at 8, and I remembered that warning about not eating too much from last week, but that was after I ate, so I was afraid I was going to throw up. Lastly, my legs are really sore, I think from canadians...I was reading in this book I got for Christmas that soreness can result from DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)in which one performs an exercise one's muscles are not used to, and the morning/day after they get very very sore, even if it was a light workout. I think that because I have not done Canadians yet this year, my muscles were not used to them (?) and resulted in much soreness.

Well, as for the actual hills, I was quite miserable from all this soreness, and I would get about halfway up the hill and my quads AND calves would start burning like no other. It was like they were screaming at me. To motivate myself, I tried singing "just keep swimming" in my head, but then my legs' pain was "louder" than this and I just gritted my teeth and kept running...maybe I would've been more motivated with other people there, I'm pretty bad at motivating myself. That is not to say that I quit on the workout. Because I was feeling so unmotivated, I decided to force myself to do an extra hill, so I did a total of 32:05 on the hill. That was good for 8 hill repeats. I believe this was a tad less than last week, so I was a bit disappointed. They felt slower than last week, but again, hopefully that is a self motivation problem and not a physical one. I did feel like I was recovering nicely on the jogs down though!

I had warmed up with 15 minutes, and cooled down with 16, so the day's total was 63.

My morning heart rate was 13, so 52.

Reggie!

We went to Reggie today, which was fun, but really weird, since we weren't racing...like i started getting stressed just being there, well, until I realized I wasn't racing! Brennan and I warmed up for 20 minutes, then did Canadians by the check in area plus some power drills (lunges, right/left hop, no frog jumps though...) and then 8 strides on the track. Then I cooled down for about 19 minutes. It was a pretty good day, my legs felt a tad sore from circuits, though nothing too bad. Can't wait for hills tomorrow =)

Morning pulse - 13/14

yoga mats are a wonderful invention...

No, I was not doing yoga today, but Brennan, Ryan and I did do circuits! I realized that the circuits would probably hurt a lot less if we had yoga mats so, TAADAA! I brought us yoga mats and they cushioned our butts perfectly! =)

We did 4 sets - 2 abs and 2 strength. They felt a bit easier then the past two weeks - so hopefully thats from getting strong and not not having Chisum...but we did try really really hard! And we even added on extra time to the exercises (sometimes, when we forgot to check our watches!) And I didn't even fall down once during planks or leg lifts! AND I did two wall sits that were each 1:40 long! WOOHOO! We also decided to split up our 400s. We did the first two sets - then went out to our parking lot loop. I ran a 87, then 92, but that was partly due to snow (in a part that had not been shoveled and we had to hop through it) and slush. We did the first one the regular way, and the second in reverse. Then we did our second set, and had to stop by the yankee swap quickly on our way back out. We then went out to the 400's that we did once last year where you run from that big tree up to washington and around the corner. Except I don't think it was quite 400 meters because when we got to where we thought we were supposed to end, my watch was at 82 - and that was after slipping, laying on the ground defeated for a couple seconds, and getting back up! And then the second one was 75, so there was no way it was a full 400, but we tried!

As for the warm up and cool down, we warmed up with 15, cooled down with 15, but my mileage was looking a bit shabby this week, and I added on another 15 when I got home. So now, Brennan can't hold over my head that she did more mileage than me this week and force me to cut my cool downs short - I win!

And unfortunately, I legitimately forgot to check my heartrate this morning...

Snowy Sidewalks...

Today we had practice! After only 4 days off, I already missed track, so it was great to see everyone! Everyone else got to do 400's, but I had a B run, so I got Emily come with me! I ran for 40 minutes with her, down the sidewalks of Washington and various plowed streets. Its really really hard to run on semi-plowed sidewalks - it feels like running on sand! It really tired out my legs! So then Emily went home and I ran 20 more minutes by myself. Weirdly, my legs felt really tired, so I went slowly, and finished up with 6 and a half strides because I think they were too short, so I added on! Total B was 60 minutes, which may have been a bit long, but oh well....

Also - my ribs were acting weird. Maybe from the cold?

And morning heart rate - although not completely accurate, was 56.

Monday

So today was a bit of a snowstorm, so I didn't run today - I switched yesterday from off to flows, leaving me with today off! Although I did get quite a bit of exercise anyways! Lots and lots of shoveling! And then I went sledding with Rachel, so got in a bit of a hill workout too!

-forgot to take the pulse this morning though - oops!

More Snow!

So today was Sunday, but since a big snowstorm is on the way, we were told to do our runs today instead of tomorrow. I did the flows workout, which was 2x5, 2.5 min rest, 2x3, 90 sec rest, 3x60, 30 sec rest. I warmed up with 15 minutes and then started. It was flurrying a bit, but not too much. I had to talk to myself to try and keep myself at the right pace, but i really have no idea how I was doing! I think I went a bit harder than last week, but then again last week felt pretty easy of the conversation- scale thing, so I guess it was fine. I wish I had run with Brennan though because she's probably better at pacing those types of things =) I slipped and fell after the first five minute segment, which was a bit of a downer, but I was fine. No bruises!

I cooled down for 20 minutes to get some extra mileage in before the snow. In total, thats like 63 minutes of running, and it felt pretty good. I felt wiped at the end of the cool down, but I was also cold, so that could have had something to do with it.

Heart rate this morning was 14/15, but I woke up again freaking out at the alarm clock. Last night was 52, so I think it jumped when I woke up.

Merry Christmas!

Today was my first ever Christmas run! All these years I've been avoiding them, but it was really quite pleasant! I ran down the brook path out to the highschool, where I saw Priyanka and her dad running. I ran with them for a bit, which was very nice because I haven't run with Pri in a long time! Then I ran back down washington to Wellesley College, and around there a bit. I finished with 6 strides on Leighton. My running time was about 55 minutes. IT felt pretty good, maybe a bit sluggish, but refreshing. The ball of my foot also starting feeling sore, but only for like 10 minutes of the run.

Morning pulse was 56, but last night it was 48, so I don't know what happened there...

And I'm very excited because I got all sorts of running gear/ books/ stuff that I can't wait to use!!!

total this week was about 334

Christmas Eve

Today I went on a wonderful run with Nina and Sabina! We met at the track and proceeded to run to FJ, and then back to the track via Grove. In total, it was a 52 minute run, and we ended it with 6 strides in the parking lot (the track was a tad too snowy). Ultimately, I ended up running 60 minutes, because after we finished I tried to drive into town for some last minute Christmas shopping, but there were absolutely no parking spaces, so I had to go back home and run into town.

My morning pulse was 60, which is higher than its been all week. Maybe from the hills?

Speaking of hills, my legs feel a tad tired, but not too much. They're more tired from today's run on top of the hills. I plan to do some nice stretching.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Hills Hills Hills!!!

Last day before vacation! Of course, we finished with a workout! No breaks for trackies!!! Well, we warmed up with 15 minutes to Temple to meet Chisum. Then we preceded to run 30 minutes on the hills (up Temple and Sterling). I was very very scared going into them, especially when Chisum said we "better not have eaten much" because we were going to work "very very hard." I, of course, had eaten my fair share of treats, and was a bit concerned. But once the hills began, they were actually very nice. I think I enjoy these kind of hills a lot more than hill drills at Elm, I think because they are less repetitive. I feel like I did pretty well, and I had a lot of energy. However, I felt like I slowed down by the end, although I suppose that is to be expected! I also felt very good in the recovery coming down the hill. My breathing had usually gone down by this point and I was ready to hit the hill again!

We finished with a 16 minute cool down back to the high school. I really enjoyed this workout! It felt really good, and I think I could have gone even longer! It put me in a really good mood too!

Morning Heart Rate: I jumped awake AGAIN, but I think it was like 52 this morning. It was 52 last night too.

I also have a question: should my total mileage for this week go up by 10 percent? Last week was 329 minutes, and it looks like if I do 55 minute runs on Friday and Saturday, I'll get 329 again. So should I increase both runs? Or do one longer?

WInter Wonderland

Today was a beautiful run. It was snowing in these really really big flakes, and the ground got covered pretty quick, so everything was white and pretty. Today was a B + 15-20, and I went with Brennan, Nina, Allie, Dan, Chandler and James. We had a very "adventurous" run around Morses Pond, or more accurately, through the bushes surrounding Morses Pond. It was really pretty out there, which was nice, but the footing was a little iffy. Plus I did not enjoy the many stops that were taken, but I got over that!

Overall, I ran about 78 minutes. This was a bit longer than I had intended, but I had gotten 4 minutes extra time before we actually started our run, and then I was aiming for 70 by my watch, forgetting those 4 minutes, and it took us 4 extra minutes past 70 to run back to the school. But the pace was nice and slow, so I don't think it mattered too much.

We did our 6 strides in the Sprague parking lot/ fields so as to avoid the slippery track.

Also - I'm not very sore from circuits yesterday, which I'm not sure is a good thing. At least, I'm not consistently sore, and only sore when I move in certain ways (such as try to laugh!) Although, I do think I have bruises on my back from the floor! Well, since I'm skeptical about the amount of work I put in, I will be sure to put all my effort into the hills tomorrow!

And this morning, yet again, I jumped awake when my alarm clock went off. I literally jump out of bed and slam the clock when I wake up, and by the time I take my heart rate, I have already come out of my "resting" position. This morning it was 60, but I suspect it was originally lower, and was raised by my jumping out of bed.

Indoor Circuits!

At first, I was very excited at the prospect of doing indoor circuits - it certainly beats doing them outside in the snow and freezing cold! The only problem was the floor, which although covered in a rug, was still very hard!

We warmed up for 15 minutes down the brook path. Then we came in for circuits. I felt pretty good for the first few exercises, but then I started feeling really weak, especially in the ab sets. Especially for planks and leg lifts, I felt like I was about to fall over. The strength exercises were ok, but I felt really weak again. I think I do better on the exercises with continuous movement, like sit ups or jumping jacks, etc, than the ones where you hold still - like wall sits and planks. Maybe its a mental toughness thing?

After 2 sets of abs and 2 sets of strength, we went outside to do a modified loop in the parking lot. I ran with Brennan, Nina and Sabina. We ran 1:33, 1:30, 1:31, and 1:34. These felt tough, especially because I was tired. I think they were also slow because of the snow, and we were trying to avoid slipping!

We finished with a 15 minute cool down on washington street!

Also this morning - I tried to take my heart rate, but I couldn't get any one number. I think this was because when my alarm went off I sort of jumped up and out of bed to attack it, and then took my heart rate, so I think it was a little high from that sudden burst of activity! I'll try not to be so violent waking up tomorrow!

Snow!

Today it snowed! It made the workout so much more pleasant =) albeit a bit chillier!

Unfortunately, we were not able to use Babson today, which caused a brief period of distress because I forgot to bring spandex and only had sweatpants...but then Brennan saved the day because we ran to her house and she lent Nina and I spandex and some spiffy hats. Hats are a wonderful invention, and help a lot at keeping the snow out of your face!

We warmed up about 12 minutes so we wouldn't be late at the track. Then the workout was 1xmile, 1x1000, and 4x400. We paced okay...the mile was a bit rough, although we did run a 6:57, which was closer to 7 than we thought we would be. 1000 was like a second slow at 4:11, but it was close enough. And the 400's varied. The first was 92, then 96, 96, and then 94. I would like to note that I paced the 96's, and Brennan did the others!

Then we cooled down, I cooled down about 20 minutes. Running felt great today, I was a bit tired still from last week, but still feel pretty fresh! Total time today was about 50 minutes.

Morning heart rate - 13/14, so 52-56

Sunday Off

No Running today....

But I just wanted to record my morning pulse, which as a 14/15, so 56 - 60.

Also, I'm not at all sore from yesterday...wondering if that's a bad thing??

Up...up...up

I forgot how tiring hill drills are...it was weird, it wasn't that my muscles were hurting or anything, I just got really really tired. Nina, Brennan and I were on the hill for 30 minutes and something seconds today. We did springing, bounding and high knees/sprinting up, then stride to the tree, and then jog down. After about 15 minutes I started to get very very tired, and kind of lost it mentally. I think I got really bored, and couldn't really breathe very well, so my form felt like it deteriorated. Hopefully next week they'll feel better, and I can push myself a bit more!

Today, my abs are still a bit sore from circuits, and my hamstrings too, otherwise everything felt pretty good.

We warmed up with 15 minutes in the woods, and cooled down with 15 as well. So that's a total of 60 minutes running. It was fun to see Bo Julie and Allie there! And we cooled down with Rachel and Jessie and Eva, so it felt like xc all over again! I'll rest tomorrow, and hopefully be ready to go for Monday!

Total minutes this week: 319

Morning Pulse was 60 again - must've been the race that drove it up!

Longgggggggg run

Today's long run felt very very long. It wasn't that it hurt or anything, there was just a lot of stopping! But then Nina and Kevin and Chris and I broke off and did some nice spontaneous running, which made it all better! In total, I ran 66 minutes. I know this wasn't quite 15 minutes more than Wednesday's 53, but if my base is like 50, 66 is about 15 minutes above.

This morning my heart rate was 68. 8 more than yesterday. I guess my body didn't really like that race =) I'm still pretty sore too. Not from the race so much, but still from circuits. It's mostly in my hamstrings, but also in my arms and abs. My ribs feel bruised, which is odd, and I think its from the abs. But after my long run everything felt a lot looser, so I'm hoping it will all clear up! I made sure to go slowly on this run, and I think it really helped.

6 strides at the end.

I can't wait for hills tomorrow!!

splits..

After reading Coach Kelley's splits for me, I guess I did even worse than I thought. Finishing in three 44's?? What was I thinking?? That's MILE PACE! gahhhhh, and basically the workout pace we were doing on Monday....geez, I suppose I REALLY need to work on my pacing, and work on pushing harder in the middle. I think I had it in my mind that the third and fourth laps would be harder than the first ones, which of course they always are, but I don't think I pushed hard enough...oh well....as Rachel says, there's always room for improvement!

um....

So today was, to say the least, a disappointment. But I suppose that was expected. I have only been training for three days, so I couldn't really ask for much more. When I started out last year, I ran a 3:32. And I ran a 3:30 (I think) today. So at least I didn't fail entirely =) But I am quite mad at myself. I paced horribly - my first 100 was something like 17, and my 200 was 37. Then I settled into pace for the second and third laps - I was on pace until the 4th and 5th. Then I tanked. I was struggling a bit to hold my form, and tried to relax, but I guess it didn't do much. Oh well, I guess I'm already over it. My new goal is to get much much better, and train hard, and blow away today's results!

As for warm up and cool down, I may have gone a little bit long. I did a 16 minute warm up, and 3:30 racing, and then a 38 minute cool down. I meant to only go for 30, but, obviously, I went over. I ran for like 20 minutes with Nina, Carlijn, Sabina, Ellen and Taylor, so it was nice to get to know some of the freshmen! And then I ran for 10 with Rachel, and then Brennan looked very forlorn and wanted somebody to run with, so I ran 8 minutes with her. So that's a total of about 58 minutes.

Oh, and my heart rate this morning was 60.

I can't wait to get back to the track in January and run well. I guess it was a good thing that I ran today, because now I have incentive to get much much better, and I'll push myself harder!

My Goals for this Season

Since no one has actually posted their goals, but we have a race tomorrow, I wanted to get mine written down. I guess I'll do that short term, mid term, long term thing...

SHORT TERM:

Well, to start off with, very short term, I would like to do well in the race tomorrow. By this, I mean I would like to run a 3:20 in the thousand, ideally. At the very least, I want to beat my pr of 3:22.8. But if this doesn't happen, I understand that I just started training, so I'll try not to let it bother me too much. Other short term goals: do well in workouts. I want to be able to do them to the best of my ability, meaning hitting splits, working out at the right percentage for runs that require 80% or something like that. Also, not to get too competitive. And to enjoy the winter, which I'm already doing. Oh! And I would like to get stronger fast, and enjoy circuits, even though they can be miserable!

MID TERM:

I guess these are more racing goals. After running my 3:20 tomorrow, I would like to drop my 1000 time down to 3:10. I feel like that might be a bit ambitious, but I'm gonna work really hard for it. Also - for the mile, I would like to make a 5:24. At the beginning/ middle of the season I would like to break 5:30, and get it down even lower eventually. Then I would also like to try the 2 mile again. If I run it more than once, I want to break 12:30 my first time. Then I want to break 12:23, because that would be a minute faster than my silly 2 mile pr right now, which would make me very happy. Also, I assume I will be running the 600 at some point, no matter how much I dislike it, and I would like to qualify, and break my pr. Maybe a 1:45? Over all, I would like to qualify in the 600, 1000, mile and 2 mile. That would be wonderful. I hope I'm not being too ambitious, but these are my goals...Oh, and I also want to go to the state meet, and run either the mile or 1000, and also run the 4x8 again. I want to get better at doubling...and I also want to get to all states, since we missed it in outdoor!

LONG TERM:

Long term, I want to stay injury free. I want to be healthy for outdoor, and do even better in outdoor than in indoor. I want to keep improving all the way through, and try not to have any setbacks. I want to meet all my goals in outdoor too. I also want to feel strong through the summer, and come back strong for cross country. And long long term, I hope to run in college. And longer than that, run for the rest of my life!

A Tad Chilly...

So today's run was a nice base run, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I went with Rachel, Eva, and Nina, and Katya and Brennan came too, but they broke off. We ran the Waban Loop, assuming that we won't be able to run there very much longer, so we wanted to run it before it gets too icy! It was very pleasant, and added up to be 53 minutes. This was a tad longer than I would have wanted, but it was around the right time...Nina and I did 6 strides on the track after. We tried to pace out 20 second hundreds, which of course, felt fast, so we will see how tomorrow goes! I'm very very sore from circuits yesterday, pretty much all over. My legs, abs, arms, etc don't feel too great, but they didn't hurt while I was running too much, so hopefully it will subside enough by tomorrow that I won't notice it while I'm racing!

Racing - I think I've gotten used to the idea that I have to run tomorrow, so I'm not nearly as scared as yesterday. Still very very nervous, just not as much. Hopefully I can forget it and run my hardest and (hopefully) please myself.

My heart rate this morning was somewhat undetermined. I took a couple readings because I never trust myself counting right after I wake up - I'm always a bit groggy - and I got rates at 60, 64, and 68. I got 64 more often though, and I took it again after breakfast just for kicks, and it was 64. This is going up from yesterday, so I hope nothing bad is going on...


...and tomorrow - racing!

A Return to Circuits...

Tuesday Circuits - I forgot how much those hurt! Truly, I don't think I've been this exhausted since last spring!

We started out with a 14 minute warm up, I felt pretty good...My legs were a tired, not sore, from yesterday, but I didn't really feel this in the warm up, just when I was walking around at school.

Then circuits started...ouch! No, actually, they weren't that bad. I think my combined freezing cold hands and stress made them worse though. The first ab set felt pretty good - definitely doable, except for maybe the six inches of fun, which is always horrible. The next set felt ok, I started getting really tired though, and very cold. My clothes froze around me because the ground was wet - I think it was something like 19 degrees out there. My hands started going numb, which probably added to my discomfort. Oh, the 400's felt ok...I still wonder if I'm doing them fast enough =) I still feel very slow and worry about the amount of effort I'm putting in - it always feels like a lot in the moment, but not enough afterwards!

The second abs set I started to deteriorate a little, I got very cold and whiny! I guess I have to work on "pushing through the pain" a little more! That 400 felt better than the others though. And then the last set was cut short due to waning light and cold children, which I must admit, was wonderful =) The last 400 felt ok too, maybe I could have pushed a bit more?

After the circuits, Brennan, Nina and I hightailed it inside to warm up. We then ran on the treadmills for 13 minutes. I added on 8 minutes to that when I got home because I wanted to go a bit longer, but the fitness center was closing, so my cool down totaled 21 minutes. All in all, today was a pretty tiring workout day, but good. I love being back in the swing of things!

The one damper on my day was probably the upcoming race. I'm really scared of it, probably overly so, but I really don't want to do badly, although that is probably inevitable seeing as I've been training for only 2 days...I tried to find you after practice, but you were in your meeting already!

heart rate this morning: 60

FINALLY!

So today was an amazing day! I felt wonderful to be running again, I missed it so much!

It was a bit strange coming back for a workout...I'm not sure I'm very pleased with my effort. I think we were trying to conserve at first, and then it never got as bad as we thought it would. I did feel a little bit of soreness in my calves on the 800's, but that went away. Surprisingly, my legs felt very loose on the four hundreds. After finishing, I still felt ready to do some more, so maybe I could have pushed it a little more? But it is my first day back, and it was "conversational" pace, so I suppose it was okay. I guess I'm just disappointed because I didn't feel very fast, but I know that will come!

So total time today:
15 minute warm up
19 minute cool down (I was feeling fine, and probably could've gone longer, but Nina and Bren wanted to get home, so we stopped)
workout mileage: 2 miles 200 meters

I'm looking forward to circuits tomorrow! Maybe not so much the predicted snow... but I'm otherwise very excited! I"M SO GLAD TO BE RUNNING AGAIN!!!!


Almost forgot! My heart-rate when I woke up this morning was between 60 and 64...I was half asleep, so I counted 15 in 15 seconds, but I could very well have missed one, so I decided to tack on that 64. After the workout, my heart rate was 140. Hopefully I'll remember to check tomorrow!

Sunny

Another beautiful day! It was considerably warmer than yesterday, I think the temperature was about the same, but the sun definitely warmed things up! I ran 21 minutes to Elm Bank with Brennan - we went the aqueduct way. Then we sat around and watched hill drills, and tried to help with form, etc. We also got to watch Coach Kelley do some hill drills with the boys, which was fun! I hope he blogs about it later! After they were all done, we ran back the same way, so the run ended up being 45 minutes (I added those 3 minutes at the end to get to 45!) I felt very loose and energized, my legs weren't tired at all from yesterday's run. And this was my first time running two days straight in two weeks! woohoo!

I cannot wait for Monday to start actually working out again! Although I must admit, I am very nervous about racing. If I am running the 600, I need 36 second 200 splits to qualify, and I have not run that fast since outdoor. Plus, my 600 pr was a 1:47 in the finish the eight workout at the end of last year. Meaning it took me a whole season to work up to that. Meaning I have little chance at running that fast this week. Meaning the race will be disappointing. AHHH! If there is any way I can not run on Thursday, I would be thrilled!

Refreshing

TODAY WAS WONDERFUL!!!!!! I ran again, which felt amazing! I wasn't tired at all, and I literally could have kept running forever! I went with Brennan, and we ran out the Caroline Path and up to Weston Road, and through Sprague. All in all, it took 43 minutes and 53 seconds! Which was quite good luck because Brennan was refusing to run longer than half an hour, but then we went on this longer route, and ran longer! I especially love running in the cold, I realized. The brisk air is very refreshing, hence the title, but it put me in a great mood!! Tomorrow I plan to run to Elm and back, and maybe a little in between? I can't wait till Monday!!!!

Nonexistent

I've decided to use adjectives that describe my runs as my post titles, and in today's case, it was "nonexistent." I was going to go for a short run, and got all dressed and everything, but then Brennan peer pressured me into not running. Well, she said she wasn't going to run because it was too cold and she would get sick, which scared me because I DEFINITELY do not want to get sick. So I did not run. I walked to and from school though, which is like 2 miles. And then I was going to go on the elliptical at home, but returning to my fear of getting sick, my throat is bothering me a bit, so I decided to rest, and now I'm going to bed right after this post. Hopefully I won't get sick and can run tomorrow afternoon!

Wednesday

So today, much to my disappointment, I took off again. Well, I sort of took it off...I biked for 15 minutes with Emily! I also walked approximately 3 miles, if that counts for anything! I'm feeling pretty good after my run yesterday...my legs were a bit tired this morning, which was slightly frightening because I only ran for 1/2 an hour yesterday, but they weren't sore or anything. And they felt pretty refreshed. I think I may run tomorrow, again, slowly and not too too long, but we shall see...

Technically, my two weeks are up on Saturday...I can't wait!!

Tuesday

Today I ran! For 30 minutes, but it felt wonderful!! My legs weren't sore or anything, and I could have kept running on and on and on and on!!!!!! I ran pretty slowly too, which felt nice, I suppose =) I can't wait to actually start training!!

hello!

Hello to all, (mainly Mr. Chisum) who may be reading this!

First off, you wanted us to keep a blog on "how i'm feeling" and "track my workouts, progress, mileage, and frustrations." Except for the fact that I'm not really running right now, so I don't have mush mileage! But I thought I would write down how I am feeling before I start running so I can remember how I really wanted to run when I get annoyed with it in February!

Basically, I really really really really want to run!! I would even hop in on a circuits or flows workout if I could! Literally, I'm going crazy without running! I did run 20 minutes on Weds, and 37 minutes on Saturday, but otherwise, I have taken 7 out of the past 9 days off. And this is stressing me out. You see, I don't want to injure/ jeopardize myself by returning to running too early, but I don't want to lose more fitness than I'm supposed to during rest. And I don't want to fail at the meet on Thursday, and I don't want to not run at all this week and then die next week when I return full time. So basically I don't know what to do! My current plan is to (maybe) run tomorrow (tuesday), thursday, and saturday...does that sound ok? And I would never go above 50 minutes or so, I promise! If you see this, is it ok for me to run like 3 or 4 days this week??

ps. I did almost everything you suggested I should do: I went for walks, I took my dog for a walk, I tried to get my mom to go for a walk, but she wouldn't, I took a lot of naps, I went to bed at 9:30, I biked, and rested a lot!!