It’s Monday Again?

8/15/11
7 miles easy…Garmin-free!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  This is the second weekend in-a-row that Matt and I didn’t have to travel anywhere and it was fabulous.

Friday
I had a very early wake-up call (4:30AM) for a 20-miler.  It went well and I felt pretty good throughout the day.  That night, my friends from high school came over.  We sat out on the deck, ate pizza, drank (well, I did most of the drinking), and chatted the night away.  It was so good to see everyone.  We only get together a few times a year and I always look forward to it.

Saturday
I didn’t get to bed until midnight on Friday (super late for this grandma) but, of course, woke-up at 7AM.  Normally that’s “sleeping in” but it was my rest day and I wanted to take full advantage of it.   Oh well.  Matt and I ran some exciting errands (looking for granite countertops and bathrooms floors).  By 5:00, I was a zombie.  We re-watched The Hangover and I was in bed by 9:30.  Don’t judge.

Sunday
It was raining so I donned my hat (the only time I sport a hat, you can see why below) and went outside to run my 7-mile tempo.  I love to run in the rain in the summer – it’s so refreshing.  5 miles at 8:00 pace with a mile WU and a mile CD:  8:19, 8:00, 8:02, 7:54, 8:20.  I dodged puddles and ran in the grass for the first and last tempo miles.

This is a familiar site – soaking wet shorts.  See why I don’t wear a hat?  I think some people have a good head for hats and I do not.  My head is rather large and so is my hair.  And I look like a boy.

hello there, sir

On Sunday afternoon, Hawk had a very special play date!  My friend Michelle brought her daughter, Charlotte, over for a visit.  Charlotte loves dogs so we thought it would be cute to get them together.

the initial introduction

hawk is OK but posing for the camera is way more fun

2 Hawks

who is this small human?

adorable

Question of the day:  did anyone run in the rain yesterday or did you stick to the TM?  Do you like to run in the rain?  I like to run in the mud too.  I need to sign up for one of those mud races.  

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20 Miles, Take 4

8/12/11
20 miles / 2:52:52 / 8:38 avg pace

It’s a beautiful day!  When I got back to my car post-run the temp was 67?!  Wow.  Further evidence…my shorts were (somewhat) dry after my run!  If you can’t tell, I’m holding up 4 fingers because this is my 4th 20-miler…obviously.

don't be jealous of my tan

I felt pretty good throughout this run, aside from some GI issues around mile 14.  This is odd for me, usually business is taken care of pre-run (sorry, I mean how else can you talk about this topic?).  Isn’t funny how your GI tract knows exactly where the bathrooms are and notifies you?  OK, movin’ on…

Splits – the first 10 miles.  I was in complete awe of the sunrise this morning (I need to bring my camera – it’s unreal) and you can tell I didn’t start getting serious until mile 6.

The second 10 miles.  I’m happy to see I picked up the pace at mile 14.  Mile 19 was an awful hill…but I rebounded nicely with mile 20 🙂

So. Happy. To. Be. Done!  Beer and pizza tonight with friends…and we all know how much better it tastes after a long run!

Unrelated question of the day:  I’m thinking of switching to wordpress.org but I need to choose a web host.  Anyone have suggestions?  How is Blue Host?  Has anyone used Revive My Blog?  

20 Miles, Take 3

7/29/11
20 miles / 2:53 / 8:39 avg pace

Oh happy day! No work, a 20-miler, and a weekend away make for a good Friday.

The weather cooperated somewhat so I was able to finally push the pace.  I’m getting sick of LSD runs.

Splits:

And some post-run pictures. Yes, I do tend to wear the same clothes each week.  I was trying for a jump pose but that’s impossible to do with a self-timer so instead you get a bunch of missed jumps.

Gotta run (ha)…I need to drop Hawk off for the weekend and finish packing for Baltimore. Get ready for another wedding recap on Monday!

Happy Wedding Eve, Amanda!  I cannot wait 🙂

20 Miles, Take 2

7/8/11
20 miles / 3:07 / 9:21 avg pace

One of my Dad’s favorite sayings is “no one ever drowned in sweat”.  I think I came pretty close today.  90% humidity is no joke!  I was planning on doing this run as a long, slow distance anyway but the weather gave me no choice.  By mile 10 my shorts were drenched and sticking to me.  Shortly after that, I started getting exhausted and my stomach started to cramp up.  I dehydrate pretty easily so I always carry my handheld water bottle with me…and I refilled it 4 times!  So after a 4:30AM wake-up call and 20 miles, I feel completely hungover – headache, nauseous, etc.  Awesome.  On days like today, it’s unavoidable.  I drank a ton of water, ate Shot Bloks every 4 miles, and even took electrolyte tablets pre- and post-run.

But I need to recover quickly because tonight is summer wedding #2. My friend Wendy is getting married! I’m so happy for her!

Are you dealing with this ridiculous humidity too?  Please feel free to vent!

Have a great weekend everyone!

I May Be A Believer After All…

2/21/11

6 miles speed

I get nervous every time I do speed work.  I worry that I won’t hit my splits and that I’ll never get faster.  I tell myself that I’m built for endurance, NOT speed.  I’ve said numerous times that I was on the fence as to whether speed work makes a difference.  I’m giving it a real, fair try this training cycle to see what happens.  In the past, speed work has been very taxing on my body.  I tend to take longer to recover and often my tempo and long runs suffer because of it.  I was just reading in Brad Hudson’s Run Faster that runners whose strength is speed generally recover faster from speed work and runners whose strength is endurance (me!) recover faster from longer runs.  The converse is also true which explains my prolonged recovery after speed work and my speedy recovery after 20-milers.

Today’s speed work called for 6×800 at 3:33 (7:06 pace).  I did 5×800 (the 6th one so wasn’t happening…I was exhausted).  My spilts:  3:34, 3:34, 3:33, 3:32, 3:32!  Woohoo!  Why was I so happy?  Let me explain:

1.  I have never done 800s this fast before.  I generally hover around the 3:40 range.  I was surprised I was so consistent too.

2.  For the past 7 weeks, I’ve been doing speed work on the treadmill because of the weather.  Today I went to the track (yeah!) but I was concerned about my ability to adequately pace myself.  It’s so much easier on the treadmill – just set the pace and stick to it.  The track is much harder.

3.  I did a 20-miler 2 days ago!  Now I’m wondering what my splits would be with fresh, rested legs!

So maybe all this speed nonsense is helping?!  Could it be that I’m a believer in speed work?  Nine more weeks of speed work plus a little bit of confidence in myself and who knows what’ll happen?

I’ll leave you with this picture from SF (technically Stinson Beach, CA).  This is how I felt after my run today…

Can you tell I was a cheerleader?

 

Mm Hmm

1/28/11

60 min yoga

Snowstorm #86 brought a ton of snow.  All in all, I think we got around 15-16 inches.  I wanted to get some easy miles in today but decided to hold off on that until Sunday when I’ll have access to a plowed trail.  So instead I went to RYAH for a lunchtime vinyasa class.  The class was OK but the teacher kept saying “mm hmm” the whole time.  I noticed it early on and became fixated on it…then it began to drive me crazy.

“Downward facing dog to high plank, mm hmm”

“Breathe in, flat back, mm hmm”

“Hold it right there for 1 more breath, mm hmm”

Ahhh!  Make it stop!

Thankfully she refrained from “mm hmm” during savasana.

Moving on to running-related stuff…

I have a 20-miler tomorrow…yeah!  This is my first of 5 (yikes) 20-milers.  I usually do 4 during a training cycle so 5 should be interesting.

A few weeks ago I bought a Tiger Tail Rolling Muscle Massager to help with some of the tightness in my right hamstring (which, thanks to yoga, has all but went away).  I really like it.  I use it on my hamstrings after my runs and I find it more effective than stretching.

I took some pre-yoga pics today to show you how I use it (because it’s so difficult to figure out).

Mm Hmm

Can you spot the cornflake stuck in Hawk's mush?

Finished!