Motivation for a sore, sleepy Friday

Earlier this week, I started an amped-up core routine that aims to make me

Jumping in today will be tough. But I need to do it to remind me I’m fierce.

the Tim Tebow of amateur marathon running: I may not have the slickest form or most natural skills, so I am going to get strong enough to plow through my obstacles. For Tebow, the obstacles would be linebackers. For me, it’s a perenially cranky IT band.

I’ve done two hard-core days of the new routine. Then, I did the first “long” run in my tentative plan to train for the Marine Corps Marathon. It was only eight miles (I’m used to six, and ran a 10-mile race as recently as May), but the core work, plus the run, plus some hard hills earlier this week has left me really, really sore.

I’m also the kind of tired you can only be on a Friday afternoon, when you’re trying to spur yourself to get that one last little bit of work done before the weekend. I might be tempted to skip my swim workout this afternoon/evening — if not for two motivators.

The first is Steve, my husband and swim partner, who is planning on a swim date.

The second is this nice quote from Anne at her Audacious Redhead blog: “Running doesn’t define me. It’s just something I need to do to remember who I am- which is FIERCE.”

I agree wholeheartedly, and I know I need to swim this afternoon to remind myself that I’m fierce, strong and graceful — no matter how I might be feeling at the moment!

My workout, adapted from the super-cool Diving Back In blog on The Washington Post’s swimming page:

500 warmup

five 100s (500), five 75s (375), five 50s (250) and five 25s (125) = 1,250 (do 2x = 2,500)