(welcome back to USA) Week in Review

60 miles

16M long run in 6:52 pace

8M with 5 laps of curves easy / straights fast on the track

Coming back from international travel is always hard.  It's especially hard when you barely got any sleep.  Take my schedule for the last 10 days:  I attended class from 8AM - 6PM, then I had to meet with my teammates to start and complete assignments that were due the following morning, and then I had to wake up for a morning run before repeating the same process again.  You might say "well, Caitlin, you didn't have to run."  Well, that's true, I guess…But I don’t want to lose fitness.  After all, I have the Olympic Trials in February and every single mile I run is a small step the propels me closer to my dreams.  So that's why I still ran in India, even though some days sleep sounded like such a better idea.  And I've got to say, I have never appreciated fresh air and clear, blue skies as much as I did on my run on Tuesday morning.  Don't get me wrong - I am so grateful for every single moment I've spent abroad.  But in doing so it just makes me appreciate the little things here even more.

But back to my original point, it was extremely difficult to adjust to being back home.  Even though I slept a full 8-9 hours of sleep every night, for the first four days of the week, I was completely ready for bed around 6PM every single night and found myself crawling into bed around 8PM, which was the point at which I could not ignore my heavy eyelids.  My runs felt like total death and the legs were completely trashed.  I hopped on the track on Tuesday to do merely five laps of work and I felt like I may pass out.  I ran the shortest possible route back home and crawled immediately into bed.  This was the basic theme through the whole week.  I somehow managed to still squeak in 16 miles at a solid pace.  Although Coach T-Bone had etched in a progression tempo, I knew that wasn't in the cards and adjusted accordingly so that I could just at least hit the goal distance he had prescribed for me.  I'm looking forward to another week of coming back so that I can be ready to toe the line at Brooklyn half in just three weeks!

I was so happy to have dark, leafy greens again!

A little hike at Eno River State park 

Guillermo and Merry greeted me at home!