Going that weeeeee bit further

September 7   Plan:  16k LSD  Actual:  16.2k LSD

After getting home around 9pm from a very long day of crewing a major event, we didn't last long and hit the hay rather early.  I knew I had this big run the next day and my bed was calling.  Which tells you just how hard it was to get out of the next morning, but get out I did.

Had my cup of coffee and some toast, gathered my stuff and was off.  Decided not to re-do the same 16k route I'd done the week before thanks to the hills and stuff so tried for an out and back to get me the same distance.

All in all this wasn't a bad run.   The temperature was great but the sun, that damned sun, beat down on me and made me hot.  Real hot.  Like, soul draining hot.  Fack. 

Thankfully I was wearing a white shirt, the re-registration shirt from the event we'd worked the day before, so that kept the sun at bay a bit.  But just a bit.

I decided to pace myself and do the best I could without trying to kill myself.  I figured I'd be able to beat my last time at this distance because I didn't have the rolling hills and, fingers crossed, wouldn't have a tweaky knee to walk off for a bit.  Sadly that didn't pan out, and while I wasn't off by much, this run did take me longer than my last outing.  I attribute this to the fact that going down Brock Street, which I avoided entirely this go around, gained me some serious time since it's so downhill.  My first few splits on that run were well faster than my normal pace, so even with kms being slower later, I'd set myself up well for a better pace.  And that day was overcast, therefore less sun impact to deal with.  So yeah, we'll just go with that.

Passed a good many runners on this jaunt.  Pretty sure, in fact, that I passed the Whitby Running Room half marathon clinic as we went in opposite directions up and down Garrard.  Runners are the best - always waving and smiling at one another.   In fact, I got a great boost from another runner who passed me around my 11k mark.  I had slowed to eat a Shot Blok and sip some water and as he ran past he said, 'hang in there, you've got this!!' and kept going.  Put an extra bit of spring in my step as I started off again.  He was right - I did have this.  :)

Legs handled this distance well, too.  Not nearly as crampy on the walk intervals as they'd been the week before which was a nice change.  And I was careful to stretch and roll and soak and all that good stuff when I got home which I'm convinced plays a huge role in how I feel overall.

Pushed myself to go that tiny bit extra at the very end because I like getting new records.  Wasn't by much, but I'll take em!!

One last shot - me sporting my new shirt and celebrating my longest distance yet.  :)

Breakin records and poppin knees

August 29  Plan:  rest day  Actual:  16k LSD

So this was a crazy, flip floppy kinda week.  Usually I run Tuesday and Wednesday nights, the my LSD on Saturday and my shorter run on Sunday.  But for a few reasons that wasn't going to work this week so things got all moved around.

This was the start of the long weekend which meant a half day of work at our office.  Fortunately I was able to work from home Friday morning, thus negating a $22 commute into Toronto for three hours of work AND allowing me to get my 16k LSD in early as we were heading to Waterloo Saturday morning and I really didn't want to sit in a car for hours right after having done my longest run ever.

Right?  Right.

Got up at regular time - 6am - on Friday because I wanted to ensure that I was done, at home and ready to be working no later than 9am as I didn't want to take advantage of my boss' kindness in allowing me to work from home.  Had my toast with PB, a cup of coffee, and I was out the door just as it was getting light out at 6:40am.

I knew this was going to be a loooong run but I was jazzed for it.  A bit concerned about how my legs would feel and if I'd run out of water but off I set.  Managed to map a great route - one giant square - and on Micheal's advice elected to run south on Brock first to avoid the big hills on the way home.

What I didn't pay attention to, however, are the insane ups (and a few downs) along Dundas Street, especially between  Garden and Garrard.  Sweet mary mother they almost did me in!!!

When I finally rounded the corner onto Garrard I almost cried with relief.  This is a street I run often so I knew it was relatively flat and would be much kinder to me than it's east/westerly cousin.  I was ready for easy by this point as I'd crossed the 10k mark and was heading to 11.

Then, just as I was getting back into my intervals and feeling better about things, I felt a pop in my right knee.  Or maybe it was a twist or a twinge - who knows, it just felt pained.

I tried to run it off but it just kept hurting so I slowed to a walk for a bit to see if it would go away.

Sure enough, didn't hurt at all when I walked but as soon as I attempted running anew, sharp pain.

This was NOT good.

I was more than 5k from home and since Micheal was on his way to work, calling him to come and get me wasn't even an option.  So I just kept going.

Walking then running a bit, walking then running.

Eventually I could get into a good rhythm where the knee wasn't too painful. Which of course meant that I ended up with pain elsewhere, namely my lower back, as I changed up my gait and compensated for my knee.  But I was running again, every step one closer to home.  And that was good.

Thankfully the conditions were ideal for me - overcast sky, light breeze and a decent temperature so that really helped.  Until the sun started to come out on my last few k.

At the 13k mark I was feeling generally better and able to run my entire intervals.  The hard part came when I'd slow for my walk breaks, then have to try to start running again.  I guess this is part of getting used to the longer distances but boy howdy did my legs hurt like crazy as I made the transition from walk to run.  But I kept at it and made it back to the house in one piece 2 hours and 15 minutes later.

This is the face of someone very, very, very glad to be done.  And someone who will definitely rethink this route for next weekend when I have to run this distance all over again.

Once I got home I did some quick stretching, grabbed another cup of coffee and had my solid meal of Greek yogurt, frozen berries and some granola.  Got down to business until noon with frequent walking breaks so I didn't cramp up entirely, then when noon struck I broke in my new foam roller and headed upstairs for a nice, warm Epsom bath followed by a delightful shower.

Scrubbed clean I was now starving, so I got dressed, slapped a different pair of running shoes on, and made a very slow walking trek out of my hood to Mucho Burrito for a nice lunch salad.  After refueling I slipped across the street for a Starbucks and then slowly made my way home.

I was pretty sore as I walked - or bent down, or sat down - but I really believe that this extra bit of walking helped save me overall.  That and the stretching and rolling.  Good times.

All in all I enjoy the challenge of a long run but wow, 16k is far, yo.  Hard to believe that I have this PLUS 5k more to do in a few short weeks.  Eesh!!

12k and it felt great

August 16  Plan:  12k LSD  Actual:  12k LSD

I was a bit nervous about this one, I'll admit it.  I haven't run anything more than 10.5 since the middle of June when I hit the 15k mark.  I know the kms are going to increase pretty rapidly now so 12 was the start of the climb. 

Last weekend's 10k damned near killed me so I was both stoked and terrified at the thought of 12.  I felt a bit better during my week runs so that was something but I really had no idea what 12 would feel like when I actually got out there. 

Saturday morning I set my alarm for 7 something and got out of bed after a snooze or two.  Had a cup of coffee, two pieces of toast with some peanut butter, and got all my gear together.

Loaded up my fuel belt with all three 10oz bottles, two water and one with lemon lime sport Mio for electrolytes.  I find that any run over 7k means my hands will swell up like crazy so anything I can do to try to keep my sodium levels in check I'll do. 

Still trying to find a balance on the nutrition side of things as I run.   Haven't tried any of the gels - quite frankly, they freak me out.  But I do have a good supply thanks to a friend of Clif Shot Bloks and those seem to do the trick for me.  So I popped three of the cherry chocolate ones into a ziploc bag, tucked it into my fuel belt, strapped on my heartrate monitor, and hit the pavement.

It was still rather early and pretty overcast and, therefore, the perfect conditions for running.  Truly, I loved almost every minute of it. 

When planning my route I was looking at different options nearby and decided to try something different.  Mapping things out I realized just how far 12k really can be.  I thought I'd start and home and run down Brock Street then get Micheal to come and pick me up once I was done.  Well, turns out my house to the frickin lake is only 8ish k!!  I would have had to run along the lake then up part of Thickson to actually make it to 12k.  Seemed way too far for me and way too much of a pain in the ass to coordinate a ride so I went for a straight out Taunton out and back.

By and large the run out that way is rather flat. There are a few inclines which, funnily enough, I didn't really notice until I'd turned around to come back home.  Didn't seem downhill on the way out but back, you sure did feel the uphill!  Had to cross Taunton a few times as there's no sidewalk for some reason in certain strips of the road but as always I made it work. 

At the 10k mark my lower back started to get sore which was a bit unusual but I'll chock it up to carrying so much liquid around that area for a longer time than I normally would.  Since it wasn't as hot out and there was some great cloud cover I didn't go through as much water as I normally would have meaning I carried it for a lot longer. 

All in all it felt really good to be out there, and I was delighted I was able to improve my pace even over 12k.  I'd been over 8 for a while and sure, 7:55 might only be 5 seconds under 8 but I'll take it after the week I'd had!!!

Race report - Durham Quarter Marathon

July 26   Plan: 9k LSD  Actual:  10.5k LSD, Durham Quarter Marathon Race

Soooooo if you read my recent posts you know I've complained a lot about how my running has been lately.  I've felt slow and fat and hot and bloated and blah, many times in my past few runs, which made me a bit more trepidatious than usual going into today's race.  Not cool, my friends, not cool.

Running has never been easy for me.  Ever. You'll never see me type the words 'went for an easy 4k' because they'd never be true.  Every bit of running is hard, IMHO.  Not insurmountable hard, otherwise I'd never do it, who's kidding who, but it's mentally and physically challenging all.the time.

Part of that is because I'm significantly heavier than your average runner.  Still way smaller than I used to be but let's call a spade a spade - I'm not 140lbs.  I have way more of me to haul around.  Which makes it harder on my muscles, joints, heart, lungs, you name it.  And all that makes me slower than most people too, a fact I've come to find some strange sense of peace with, despite the fact that eventually I'd like to get faster.

 But these past few weeks took a toll on my running psyche and thankfully a great group of gals helped pull me up and out of my self induced funk when I reached out and asked for some words of support.  I held on to those this morning while I waited at the start line and they served me remarkably well.

You see, this race had pretty much every opportunity to be a disaster.  It rained, my Garmin wouldn't connect, I had 'system' issues, I was crazy stressed out about it, I was at the very back of the pack and my worst fear was being at the back, did I mention it rained?, I was worried about my new phone getting wet, my IT band started to hurt, then the sun came out and it was HOT. 

And in the end?  I'm delighted to report that none of that mattered, none of it bothered me at all. 
  
Start to 2.5k:

Micheal dropped me off at the start line and I promptly made my way into the line up for the porta potties.  Why they never have enough I don't know but I one thing I did know was that I had to pee.  And perhaps more.

Sigh.  WHY does my body have to betray me gastrointestinally with every big race!?  I'd even taken a pre-emptive Immodium last night to ward off evil and while it kicked in eventually it was touch and go there for a bit.

Finally got in for my pre-race pee, sanitized my hands, and it started to rain.  Fantastic.  Just spitting so nothing too horrid but still.  Damned weather folk - they said it wasn't supposed to start until 1pm.

Walked to the back of the pack because I knew I wasn't going to be fast this go around.  I had decided to make this my LSD and not really attempt to race it hard because, well, I'd had shitty runs lately and didn't want to put too much pressure on myself.  So back of the pack it was.  Once I got there, I promptly took my starting line selfie and pressed the button on my Garmin to get my signal so I'd be ready to go at start time.

Well damned if the satellites don't like Oshawa because I couldn't get a flippin signal.

I can't run without my Garmin now that I have it.  I NEED it like I need oxygen.  Well okay, that may be overstating it, just slightly, but still.  I need it to track my intervals, to see how much further the next km, all that stuff.  And the bastard wouldn't get a signal.

Even after the gun was fired.  We were off, and I wasn't ready.  Fuuuuuuuuck.

I started running, because that's what you do when the gun goes off, and still nothing.  So I actually pulled myself off the course, stopped, and waited for it to finally connect.  Then boom - I was ready and could finally get started.

Of course, this now left me at the very back of the pack.  THE last runner.  One of my worst running fears is to be the last person to cross the finish line.  You know, the one that the dude on the bike hangs out with the whole time?  Yeah, that person.  I don't ever want to be that person. And all of the sudden I was primed to be that person right from the get go.  Waaaah.

I gave my head a shake and started running.  And felt a bit better when I passed a few people.

The first 1-2 k were through the streets of downtown Oshawa leading us to a long trail.  Some of the side streets were closed off to us which was nice but once we hit Simcoe we had a single lane to work with which was more intimidating but given where I was in the pack it wasn't a big deal at all.


2.5k -5k:

Once we hit the trails everything changed.  For starters, the skies opened up more and the rain came down with a bit more gusto. It never got torrential but was definitely enough to get a good soaking going on.  But because we were on trails from here on out, most of the time we were saved by the tree canopy.

It's without reservation that I say this was the second most beautiful route I've ever run (the Vancouver seawall being the first).  We traversed the same creek many times by running over quaint wooden bridges.  Because I was at the back it was relatively quiet and peaceful (despite the tunes blaring in my ears) and I really had the opportunity to enjoy running for what it was in that moment - me and the pavement and nature.  Cheesy but true.

The route isn't flat but there weren't any really crazy hills either so it was just enough to keep you guessing as to what elevation was coming next.   It was pretty cool to run over this bridges and under all kinds of tunnels - including one that had us run under the 401!!! Nifty.  And noisy.

There were a few lone runners around me during this time and one of them was obviously there to encourage her friend, her much-slower-than-her friend, to keep going and finish strong.  We were generally moving at the same pace, give or take a walk break here and there, and it was nice to see just how encouraging she was to her friend - and even me on more than one occasion! - throughout the course of the race.   She helped us push a bit harder to get to the 5km marker.


5k-8k:

I was starting to feel a bit tired around this point so I popped a Shot Blok for a hit of energy.  Even if it was pure placebo I was going for it.  In this strip we left the one park and crossed over into another one on the Oshawa waterfront.  The rain had stopped, the sun was starting to come out, and rounding a corner to a gorgeous lake view was the mental boost I needed as well.

I'd never been on any of these trails or down to this waterfront park so turning every corner was a new experience which I really enjoyed.

After the 5k mark we were joined by the 1/8th marathon runners who had started relatively close by to that point.  Most of them had gone through already but a few stragglers were on the route still.  As I rounded another corner a group of girls, maybe 12 years old, where standing there with great signs ("Go Stranger, Go", "In my mind you're all Kenyans", "If it was easy, I would do it", 'Tonenails are for sissies", "Call a cab, it's faster", "Run like you stole something") which made me laugh and broke up the monotony of the run by that point.

Then shit got real.  I rounded another mystery corner and sweet merciful crap - a hill.  A crazy, nasty, straight up hill.  So much for relatively flat!  I tried to run up it but realized it wasn't going to happen so I walked my way to the top. Thankfully what goes up must come down and there was a nice downhill portion on the other side.


8k to finish:

By this point we were exclusively on the waterfront, lake to my left.  The sun came out for a bit and I not so secretly hoped for it to slip back behind some clouds because it just made everything so hot.  The benefit of being so close to the lake is a breeze so I took that for what it was worth and just kept going.

It's funny, at this point I knew I was in the general home stretch.  And I still felt great!   My legs were good and I was better able to fully run my intervals from 8-10k than I was from 3-7.  Weird, but I'll take it!  As far as I'm concerned that bodes well as I get into the longer distances to truly be ready for my half - it was great to acknowledge that my legs weren't dead by that point so I took some momentary pleasure in that.

Because I was running my intervals straight as others were starting to lag it meant that I was able to pass even more people.  Yay!  People whose backs I'd stared at a long time I was now passing.  Delicious.

With 1k left to go we rounded a corner and yet again, a killer hill.  Like really, who puts THAT kind of hill less than 1k from the finish line!?  Not fair at all!  So I pushed myself a bit until I got to about a third of the way up then allowed myself to walk the rest.  From the top I could see the finish line at the end of the winding trail so that gave me a boost and I went for home.

Micheal and Finn were there as I crossed the finish line which always makes me smile.  I eventually remembered to stop my Garmin and my Nike app and promptly downed the bottle of water a volunteer handed to me.

We stepped out of the way a bit and I got a big smooch from the husband and many muddy paws on my running pants from the pooch.

A short while later the two women I'd mentioned earlier - the one runner with her friend motivating her - crossed the finish line and walked past me.  I looked at her friend and told her she was lucky to have such an awesome cheerleader to run with her and keep her motivated.  She agreed and her friend gave her a huge hug for finishing, then turned and gave me one as I thanked her for helping push me along, too.  Gotta love runners - sweaty hugs from complete strangers are totally normal.  :)

Did some grocery shopping a la Leanne at the finish line, took a quick look around, then it was time to go. The sun had started to come out more and it was a perfect setting for the end of the race.

Once in the car I looked up my time.  It was gun timed only, so yeah, obvs this is a longer time than it actually took me to run the course because a) I was at the back of the pack right from the start and b) I pulled off for a bit to get my Garmin signal.

When I did the Sporting Life 10k back in May, my first 10k ever, I finished in 1:14:02.  Going in to today's race I knew a few things - one, I'm slower (aka heavier) now than I was then, this race was .5k longer, and it wasn't all downhill like SL was.

I told myself that I'd be happy if I could come in under 1:30, all things considered.  I'd be delighted with 1:20, but 1:30 would be okay.  Gun time, as you can see on the left, is 1:24.35.   Nike says 1:23:49 and Garmin says 1:23:25, so a whole minute less than gun which is much more realistic.  And I could probably take another 10 or so seconds off of the lower times because it took me a bit to remember to turn them off once I crossed the finish line.

So all in all, a lovely day.  I'd like to get my pace up - today was a very slow 7:57 - but I'll get there.  Eventually.  The course was beautiful, I never got completely soaking wet, I passed people that I wanted to pass, and I came nowhere close to last. 
 
Today, that's good enough for me.  :)

And if you read through alllllllll of that, thanks for reading and for all the support!!!

Back in double digits

July 19  Plan: 9k LSD  Actual: 10k LSD

The Running Room schedule calls for the long slow distances to be done on Sunday, mostly, I guess, because that's when their run clubs are, but I much prefer to do my long run on Saturday.  Not sure why, just do. This weekend was no exception.

As I've said over the past few days I haven't felt great, like I was coming down with something.  I didn't run Thursday night even though there was 3k on the schedule, but between being out for dinner with a friend Thursday and therefore getting home late and just not feeling well I knew it wasn't going to happen.  So I just didn't do it.

Then Friday I felt like this cold I've been battling was making real headway so I wasn't sure if I'd be in any shape to run today.  Thankfully I woke up this morning and didn't feel any worse than I had previously so I got up and went out to see how I'd feel.

The plan was to cut it short if it felt horrid but thankfully, all good.

The best part was that it was overcast and not too hot when I started out shortly after 8am.  This beautiful sky, as photographed here, is a runner's dream.  Well, this runner's dream at least.  Not threatening enough that I had to be worried about getting drenched, but just enough to ensure that none of my much needed energy was sapped by the killer summer sun.

These delicious conditions continued for the first 5k of my run but alas, all good things must come to an end and the sun started to come out in earnest on my second half - unfortunately the part where my run is on a slow, steady incline.  Perfect. 

All in all it was still a nice run. Felt good to get back into double digits again - it's been a few weeks since I've been over 10k.  Even though the plan called for 9 I felt it necessary to stretch it a bit in preparation for next weekend's Durham Quarter Marathon that I'm signed up for.  10.59kms through the streets and trails of Oshawa.  Looking forward to it, and feeling more ready for it now than I have been for the past few weeks of shorter distances.

In other general notes about the run, I saw at least four bunnies in my travels, starting with this guy in my own backyard just before I left.  Not sure about everyone else, but these guys are living up to their prolific reputation this year like never before - they're truly everywhere! 

4k steady on the schedule for tomorrow.   Bought two new running bras today and am looking forward to taking one of them for a spin.  Will likely go in the evening because I really really really need to sleep in tomorrow - that's right, it's not a want, it's a real need at this point - but also because it's supposed to rain in the morning and I'd rather avoid that if at all possible.  We may be taking the dog up to a puppy festival in Port Perry with friends in the late morning so that helps solidify things time wise.

And if all else fails, there's always the dreadmill.   Ugh.  Fingers crossed for decent afternoon/evening weather!

Ahhhh weekends

July 13, 2014  Plan: 3k steady   Actual:  8.12 LSD

 Had a massively busy weekend ahead of us so I decided to get up super early and do my long run today instead of Sunday as per plan. One, because I prefer long runs on Saturday and two, because it's supposed to rain tomorrow and I'm what you might call a delicate flower - I avoid running in the rain if and when I can.

So that decision made, I was up out of bed at 6:30 this morning, ready to pound the pavement for a no later than 7am start.  Happy to report I just made it.

I like this route a lot - it's one I use often.  A good downhill section, nice long stretches, not too many lights given the distance, and it feels okay.  I've run it a bunch of times now.  And while the plan only called for 7 this week I knew that since I skipped one of the weekday runs and I've done this so many times before, it was no biggie to add that extra k into the mix.

Was interested to see what my HRM would tell me today so I was sure to wear it.  Thankfully the sun wasn't too blazingly hot at this time of day and I was able to spend a good portion of my run in shade which really helped.  Nevertheless, my heart rate was all over the place.  At one point I peaked at 173 or something insane like that - and this is after running down a big hill!  What gives!?

Then my HRM started playing games with my mind.  I decided that I wanted to work on keep my heart rate a bit lower where I could so I decided that every time I crossed the 170 mark I'd switch to walking until I got back into the low 150s.  Well.  You'd be surprised at how long that can take!  And prolonged walking breaks are no friend of a decent pace, and as my pace slowed down that brought on a whole new set of mind games. 

So I gave my head a shake, reminded myself that I'd been just fine all these times before and that while the information was useful in many ways, I couldn't let it take over my run.  So I switched the display on my watch and paid attention to other details for the remainder of my walk.

The highlight of this particular run was realizing that if I ran on the east sidewalk going up Garden Street I could have shade pretty much the entire way up.  No so on the west side, the side I've traditionally run for whatever silly reason.  Alas.  I guess some lessons really are better late than never.

Once I finally got home after my HRM mindfuck run, I hopped in the shower and quickly got ready to head up to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for day two (to us) of the Grand Prix.  Micheal loves race cars and racing in general and I have to admit, the first time I went with him two years ago I was skeptical.  I don't give a flying proverbial about cars so this was really me going in solidarity/moral support for him.  Luckily and to my own surprise I really enjoyed myself so this is something we look forward to each summer.

They've changed the schedule around this year so whereas in the past we would have one for a few hours on the Sunday to see the races he was interested in, now we have to go three days - Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Eeps.  He's a huge Porsche fan so was really keen to see the GT3 Cup Challenge races last night and this morning.

I was delighted because this year there were not one but two pink Porsches in the race.  Anyone that knows me is well aware of my addiction to the colour so this was just an extra sweet spot to the day.

After the race we toured around the paddock to get a closer look at the competing cars and I found one of them.  Driven by a woman (too cool) named Michelle Snow, I have to say I loved the decal on the rear bumper of her car:

Loved it so much it's my new Facebook cover picture.  And while I don't necessarily pass a lot of boys at my current running speed, I love the sentiment. 

Back to the track tomorrow if the rain holds off, then likely a late day 3k treadmill run.  Enjoy the weekend, everyone!!

An overdue weekend update

July 5  Plan: 7k LSD  Actual:  7.4k LSD

Got up surprisingly early for a Saturday to do this run for a few reasons.  One, wanted to beat the heat.  And two, more importantly, we were on a timeline.

Plan was to finish the run, have a quick shower, hit Starbucks, then drop the puppy off at the boarders and hit the highway for a two country outlet shopping tour extravaganza.  And that's precisely what happened!

Run started out quite well - the conditions were lovely.  A nice breeze, no humidity, and the sun, while omnipresent in the mega blue sky, wasn't beating down on me just yet with killer intentions.  I had planned to do my 8k route - one that would have made for a nice rectangle in the picture to the right - but given our time constraints and some sore legs I opted to try out a shorter route to be closer to 7 as per the schedule.

Run started off with a nature inspired comedic twist. I was but two streets away from my house when I was approaching a family of Canada Geese.  About six adults and an additional six babies, though they were hardly babies by this point - more like geese tweens.  They were in a grassy area just to the right of the sidewalk I was planning to run along as I rounded the corner.  I barely made it three steps before what I can only assume was Mother Goose came flying towards me with the devil in her eyes.  I quickly fled the scene and made my way to safety on the other side of the street.   Yeesh!

The rest of the run was relatively good.  Legs felt okay for the first few k and I really flew down Anderson - great hill there that's a joy to run down.  Up, not so sure yet, but I'm considering it for hill repeats in a few weeks.  We shall see. 

As I rounded the corner to head up Garden, the last long stretch of my route, I lost steam. Big time.  I couldn't get through my intervals, requiring more walking breaks than normal, and started to get some strained feelings throughout my legs.  I was really surprised that they were bothering me so much, especially since not two weeks before I'd run twice this distance, and then some!  So strange. Is it the weather? The fact that I'm just going shorter distances overall?  Who knows.  Hopefully it improves!

To add insult to (almost) injury, the last km was run straight into insane winds - where the hell did those come from!?  I actually started laughing as I was trying to plow my way home.  At least I didn't have much further to go from there. 

Micheal and I had a great time on our weekend trip and were both exhausted beyond belief when we got home last night, hence why this post is only getting knocked out now.  Better late than never?  Here's hoping.  Also the schedule called for 3k yesterday as well but yeah, didn't happen.  Noooooo way.  Too tired, not enough time, pick an excuse, any excuse.  I'll make it work.

Rest day again today, then back at it again tomorrow.  Now my biggest decision is whether or not I put on my brand spankin new shoes for the run.  :)

Back tomorrow!

First long slow - very slow - distance

June 28 Plan: 7k LSD Actual: 8.11 LSD
 
Plan called for 7k today and I was happy to get back to a bit of a distance.  It's weird - two weeks ago I ran my longest distance ever, 15k.  Felt fantastic.  There was a good degree of cloud cover and everything was in sync.  One of those overall great runs that just leave you feeling fanfrickintastic as you round the corner to home.

Last weekend I spent too much time in the garden and pooched my hamstrings.  Ouch!  Had a 5k race the next day and man, did that hurt!  So it was great to get the kms back up a bit, even a little bit!

At the same time it felt a bit strange to ONLY be doing 7k, strange though that may sound.  There was a time when the very thought of 7k would fill me with dread.  That's far, yo!  But not today.  Today I was ready to pound the pavement once again and round out week one of training.

While the schedule calls for the LSD to be run on Sundays, for me, Saturdays are way better so that's when I'll likely do most of these long slow distance runs.  This weekend was no exception, so I got up early-ish this morning to get out there.

I love sleeping in as much as anyone else so yeah, it's a challenge to get up at like 7:30 am on a Saturday to prep for a longer run.  But had I known how hot it would be I would have sacrificed sleep for better conditions hands down.

Got out the door at 8:20 and realized the error of my ways.  While the temperature wasn't insane and there was a decent breeze, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and that sun was relentless.  Zoinks.

Now, I know the plan called for 7 but I have a lovely 8k route that I like - see that nice, neat box up there? - so since I knew I was a few kms behind since missing Wednesday I thought adding an extra k wouldn't hurt anything.

Thank goodness I didn't shoot for my 10k route - I never would have made it.

At the 4.5k mark I was in rough shape.  The sun was trying to kill me.  True story.  Just beating down on me, relentless.  Didn't matter how much water I drank, I thought I was going to pass out.  I did everything I could to stay on the shady parts of the sidewalk and no dice - killer conditions.  I tried to go with my 6 and 1 intervals but at certain points it felt like I walked 6 and ran 1 it was that bad.  At one point I quite seriously considered calling my husband and asking him to come pick me up.  Yep, it was that bad.

Was incredibly happy to be home and didn't give a flip about my eventual pace or run stats.  I was just delighted to have made it.

Lesson learned - on this crazy hot days, get up earlier then go back to bed after your run.  The sacrifice of that bit of sleep will be well, well worth it.

Schedule calls for 3k steady again so I'm already setting that alarm for 6:30.  Can't have a repeat of today or I'll never survive this!!!