Longest Run To Date

The long run should have techincally been on Saturday but I had my Mary Kay Career Conference all day so we decided to do the run on Sunday.  We slept in late, which was much needed, but got off to a late start.  We parked by the Valley River Inn.  We did our warm up and then went into 3 minute run/2 minute walk intervals.  We ran along the river all the way to the I5 bridge where we were stopped because of construction.  We needed to go another .75 miles to really get in our goal.  That turn around interval was pure evil.  I wanted to walk.  I wanted to stop but somehow found the strength to put one foot in front of the other and keep going.  We made it all the way back to where we parked and continued on to get our full run in.  My oh my how good it felt to do the final stretch, to meet the goal, and to be done!  We ran a full 7 miles in a 15:03ish pace...pretty darn impressive for us!  With warm up and cool down, our total distance was 7.8 miles in roughly 2 hours.  I'll take it!

That's another 7.8 miles for a weekly total of 15.36 miles and a training total of 56.65 miles!  Wahoo!

One Hour of Greatness

Again, I did not want to work out today but I challenged myself to a full hour of pure training, not including warm up or cool down.  That's an hour and ten minutes total on the treadmill.  So at the end of the 2 interval mark in the run, I gave myself the option to stop at 10 intervals which would have been cutting out two intervals.  The best thing happened, though...I got totally into the run!

I started to feel excited as time passed by.  My form was relaxed but with great posture.  I was working but not working myself to death.  I was excited as each interval passed.  I was not focused on the time or the distance but just enjoyed the run.  I watched my feet in the reflection and listened to my stride as my feet landed.  My breath was steady.  My heartrate recovered very well through most of the run.  All in all, the whole thing felt awesome.  I did 3.61 in one hour with 12 intervals...that's a 16:37 pace!  Not great but not too shabby either!  Total milage was 4.09 in 1:10:00 (pace 17:07)

Feeling good! 
Total 48.85 miles!

Swim Fishy Swim

That's the phrase that continually went through my head as I got my tired body in the water this morning.  I don't like waking up at 5:30am and I do not like driving into work to meet my swim buddy at 6am.  I start to feel a little better about the world once I get in the water and start swimming and usually feel great for the rest of the day...but, not today!  I did not like swimming this morning, even at the half way mark.  I certainly did not like it at the end, just grateful that it was finally over.  I have been so tired all day long and just dragging...but I still swam half a mile this morning.  I am proud of that.

The Pear Blossom Run

I have taken a few weeks off and sort of adjusted my training program.  I was going to only do the 5K or bail entirely on the Pear Blossom Run in Medford...until Shawna told me that she has told everyone that I am coming.  So either 5K or 10 mile.  I checked with Tamika to see which race she is doing and it is the 10 mile.  I am keeping to my goal of doing the 10 mile...YIKES!  When I realized that the Pear Blossom is only in about three weeks, I pushed extra hard on my run.  While I do believe that tiling should count as workouts, it's not a run. 

Today was my first run in a while and it actually went better than expected..pheew!  I did a nice five minute warm up and then my 3/2 intervals ten (yep, that's right, 10!), and a five minute cool down.  So my milage with warm up and cool down was 3.47 with a pace of 17:17.  With that pace, I would BARELY finish the Pear Blossom within the time limit.  Thank goodness my run, without warm up/cool down, was 50 minutes and 3.04 milage for a pace of 16:27...so much better.  I am not saying that's a good pace but if I keep that, then I will actually finish within the time limit!  Wahoo!

So another 3.47 down and so much more to go!

Maybe It Has Been Awhile...Oops

I went for my follow-up appointment with Dr. James about my knees.  The good news is that my shins and knees feel a lot better but my left foot and ankle still get pretty darn sore.  He gave me all sorts of fun exercises to do to strength and heal but he also gave me a return to run schedule.  I can't just dive back in...I don't think he understands that I am not the most patient person in the world but I am doint my best!  So next week, I start again...

I think my goal is still going to be to continue to build milage slowly but to do the half at a 3 minute run/2 minute walk intervals instead of the 4/1 that my training program was building up for.  I still want to run most of it but it's looking like a walk/run half might be better...just have to wait and see!