39- OMG x 3!!!

To quote my high school students...Today was "EPIC!"

Starting bright and early on the roads by 6:30 am.  It is 'triple thursday' which meant 3 workouts for me today!  I usually do some treadmill speed work as my first run of the day on Thursday, but it was much too nice for that today.  Instead, I decided to do alittle hill work.  There is a hill in my town that is very similar in dimension to heartbreak hill, so I decided to do a couple of repeats.  Sooo, I parked at the Y, ran a quick warmup to the hill, and did 2x1mile hill repeats of 'broadway' (the street name.)  The second was faster which was good and overall it felt good, although my legs were tired on my short but sweet cooldown.  Overall, the 6 miles went by much faster than the treadmill.  Annnddd, although I get tons of hills just running around town, I was glad I made time to do this specific one.  Good workout #1.

Then, it was off to the pool!  The swim was actually really tough and I wondered why until I realized it was the third swim session I had ton in about 36 hours.  By the end, my arms were tired, but totally in a good way.  My form is improving too, which is promising.  The only thing that could have made the morning workouts better is being able to crawl back into bed afterward.  But alas, work called!

Now is where 'epic' comes into play.  I was PUMPED to get out of work and meet up with my Thursday night group.  Like I mentioned before, I train with a guy who is also training for Boston.  It is so much fun to catch up with him about training and everything once a week.  The weather was breezy and storm-like but amazing because of the prospect of getting in our run before dark.  Like I mentioned before, my friend trains a bit faster than me, so it is always a good workout.  When I got there, my legs were alittle tight/tired from the morning + teaching all day, so I wasn't sure how I would do.  He said he wanted to go 8 miles, and so we set out.  Immediately we hit a HUGE headwind and spent the first 2.5 miles running straight into it.  We seriously had to laugh at how nuts it was (or else we probably would have cried!)  It was around this time that he informed me that he did a 20 miler over the weekend at 7:40 pace, proving the fact that he does train much faster than me (although his marathon PR is slower ;P So anyway, the moral of the story is- we were cruising!  Butttt, more importantly- it felt SO GOOD and SO NATURAL.  I looked down at my Garmin a few times and kept seeing 7:15, 7:22, or 7:30 pace the whole time!!!  And it was a hilly, windy route, where we were totally conversational!!  Literally, getting done with 8 miles at 7:30 pace felt easy, which was such a confidence booster, especially after the workouts this morning.  The last mile was alittle rough for him due to eating a late lunch at Rio Wraps...ha.  Buttt, we agreed that it was a great run.  Usually when I end a faster run, I am happy to be done but today I was thinking "I wonder how long I can keep up this pace?"  Really today was just like switched a gear into a whole new level of confortable pacing.  Like I know I can do this, I just have to make myself do it.  So.  Satisfying.  Maybe this training thing is working!?!

Ok, I'm rambling.  But I'm obviously pumped.  14 miles, a swim session.  Hanging out with runners.  It was a good day.

Back at the bakery at 6am tomorrow, before a day of teaching.  I'm going to 'treat' myself to sleeping in till 5am and running later.

Happy Friday everyone!