Gettin' my groove on

I've been waiting for this week for MONTHS! Not necessarily the week we were to run 17 miles or the fourth weekend in April. Just the week where it finally felt good to run a long run. I was hoping our oldest daughter could take our carpool this week so we could head out a little later but no such luck. She couldn't swing it so we went with our only other option: wake up SUPER early and get it done before carpool. We have to be in the car by about 7:20 so we got up at 3:45 so we could be out the door by 4:00. It's funny. When I plan training runs, even though I run faster now than I did when I first started running, I still calculate the same pace when I plan a run.

3:45 my alarm goes off. Are you KIDDING me?! I can sense my husband is having the same relationship with his alarm. Really? It's already 3:45. We'd slept in our running clothes so we could sleep a few minutes longer and get out the door faster.  Roll out of bed, hit the bathroom, shoes, contacts, pull hair back, fill hydration vest, eat banana. Watch out 17, here we come. This spring has been interesting. It's late April and I still haven't run a long run in short sleeves. When does that happen? This week. And it was dark too. Short sleeves, capris, no jacket, no sunglasses. Anyway, we headed out and soon hit our stride. I really do love the peace of running early in the morning but I kind of dread knowing I have hours to run in the dark. The run was pretty uneventful. Mile after mile passed. We fueled at miles 6 and 12. That long hill, the one that has kind of been kicking my butt every week, it was okay this week. About six-ish miles into our run, my body decided it was time to think about hitting a bathroom. This particular course has them periodically but we'd just passed one about a mile and a half before. I figured I'd be okay for awhile. I'd have to be. When we started down the last hill on the Parkway, my body let me know that it had made it's decision. The time was NOW! I knew we had about two miles to an open restroom. The only thing I could do was run so we did. I will admit there were moments I almost didn't breathe for fear my body was going to protest. I'm happy to report, because I know this is why you read this blog, that I made it! I want to say this was around mile 12. The sky was starting to lighten but our pace was really quite good and we were both much happier now that we'd had a pit stop.

As our miles continued to climb, our bodies started to grump a bit. About a mile and a half from home, I asked my husband what our pace was. He said, "Not good." I kicked it up and so did he. We finished the last mile strong and with about a half an hour to spare before we had to be taking carpool.

Spring training has been strange this year. Many times I've trained in the spring but it's never been quite so cool or unpredictable. It's a good thing I have plenty of things to layer up. I've learned to run with toilet paper. Just in case.

Thanks for checking in with me again. I hope you are doing well and progressing toward your goals. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.  Happy running!

Building again

So Saturday we ran 15 miles.  It's that time again.  It's time to build to peak week.  I don't know what it is about spring training but I am struggling to want to do long runs.  I think it may be the weather.  During the summer months, the weather is so predictable: hot.  We never have to decide when we're going to run: early. You have to or you die.

Anyway, we got out the door about 7:00.  I knew we would be dealing with the wind a little bit and it was kind of cold.  We added two miles to the front end of our previous week's route.  That kind of played with my head a little bit because we were two miles farther into our run than we usually are.  For some reason I seem to be struggling to just find a rhythm.  We decided to add the surges that we did last fall to try to build some speed into these long runs.  I really can't say that at any point early on in our run it felt good.

About seven miles into our run we git the good hill, the one that is just steep enough and long enough to be brutal.  Last year when we'd run this hill, our go-to song was "Fight Song" by Rachel Platten.  This year it's "My House" by Flo Rida.  It's nearly perfect in length.  We start it at the bottom and are nearly at the top when it's over.  During this song, I focus on the beat, on just putting one foot in front of the other.  It just gets me to the top.  After we crested the hill, I finally started to feel like I'd hit my stride.  We fueled shortly after this hill.

We have a decently long decent after these rolling hills and that felt good.  I'm not going to lie.  Our last two-ish miles were kind of tough and we ended up being just a little long but we felt like our time was pretty good.  I had some tightness in my hips afterward but I moved around a lot that day and it seemed to subside.

Thanks for checking in with me.  I hope you are moving forward in your goals.  Let me know if you have questions or comments.  Best of luck in whatever you're pursuing.  

So, I might be a little competitive...

I tell my kids all the time life, in general, is not about being better than someone else.  I tell them if they want to beat someone, beat themselves.  Do better this time than they did last time.  I tell them not to compare themselves to others.  And I tell myself this too.  It's not about how many people I pass or who I finished before.  It's about how I did in relation to myself.  Mostly.  Because, I do have a little competitive streak.

Over Easter weekend, our lives were crazy.  We had company in town, my older son had a tennis tournament that lasted two days, our daughters had a dance competition that lasted all day Saturday, and it was Easter.  I needed to have my girls to their dance competition by 8:30 with our older daughter being ready to dance.  That meant that I needed to be home to help her and keep her calm.  Translation: no Saturday morning training run.  The run would need to be done on Friday.  My favorite running partner had to work that Friday so I headed out alone.  Not my favorite thing but I really don't mind when it happens periodically.

I head out about 6:45-ish.  I head out for the usual run.  Ironman St. George 70.3 is the first weekend in May.  My favorite training run just happens to be part of the Ironman bike and running course.  That means that right now there tends to be quite a few people out running on the course.  About 4 1/2 miles into my run there's a guy a head of my that was running toward me then crosses the road and turns around.  Dead giveaway that he's training for Ironman.  For a fleeting moment I contemplated what it would take to catch and pass him but upon watching his cadence and knowing the hills I have to climb still, I opted out of that and set out to run my run.  After all, it's not a competition.  Just passed mile five, there's a hill and it can be brutal.  It lasts about 6/10 of a mile and has a decent grade.  The guy ahead of me ran it and stopped at its crest.  I continued saying "Morning" as I passed.  I figured he'd eventually continue down the trail but really didn't give him another thought.  Until he passed me nearly a mile and a half later.  Again I thought about giving him a run for his money but I still had about half my run to complete and, again, it's not a competition. At mile seven, I crest the last hill for roughly four miles.  I fueled as I ran and as I'm cruising down the hill I decide to use the downhill and kick my speed up.  Again, I considered trying to catch the guy. When I got a little farther ahead I could see him again and he was about two blocks-ish ahead of me.  I decided catching him wasn't my goal but pushing myself a little was.  Slowly, with my 80's playlist pushing me forward, I started closing the gap between us.  It took me awhile to realize that I actually was closing the gap.  And then I knew I would pass him.  I was moving too quickly.  He never saw me coming.  I almost feel badly.  His ego probably took a slight hit when I passed him.  Anyway, it made my solo run interesting and before I knew it, I was home.

Now, I do not advocate doing what I did.  It wasn't very nice.  But, having a goal is a good idea.  I didn't set out trying to beat anyone.  I usually don't make it a point to make other people a part of my goal.  I like to better me, to try to be stronger or faster or more mentally strong.  Every once in awhile, I get a little competitive and something like this happens.  I try not to.  But have a goal in mind when you head out to run. Conquer that hill.  Sprint home.  Whatever your goal is, achieve it.

Thanks for checking in with me.  Let me know how you are doing with your goals and if you have questions or comments.  Good luck on whatever you are working toward.  Come back again soon!