12- lots of hills, little run and a PSA

Good afternoon!

I'm posting a bit earlier because I'm meeting my friend for dinner, then have to do a few things in the area afterward, so I won't be getting home until 'late' (ie like 9:30pm for me!).  But in my defense, I have been up since 4:45am....

Today was all about the hills.  I wanted a more 'chill' day milage and pace wise, and I needed time for a swim.  Sooo, I parked by the Y, at the base of a series of hills that my elevation map told me were steeper and longer than Boston.  The route was short, (only 5 miles), and I tried to keep the pace natural (ie not kill myself pushing it uphill, and not pound too hard/fast on the downhill.)  Ended up being at about 7:55 pace overall, with uphills at 8:10ish and downhills at 7:40ish.  Last mile = flat = 7:29.  Yay!  I'm really happy with my sporatic hill work for this training cycle.  Although most of my routes contain some hills, the specific hill workouts are what I am going to draw upon mentally once I reach Newton in Boston.  The idea of "you have done this already only steeper and further" is going to propel me up those hills!  Plus, I've noticed that my swimming = more arm strength = helpful on the hills!  Speaking of which, the swim afterward today felt great too!  I couldn't believe it had been a week since I was in the pool- much too long.  Glad to be all loostened up and good to have an easy day.  Last year, I would have considered a day like today 'hard-ish' with a run + a swim.  Now, I am doing doubles or triples more often than not and running high-ish milage, so it seems easy!  Yay for progression!

My PSA for today (and another reason why I kept my hills not-too-hard) is this: do not eat cake immediately before running.  Let me provide some background info by saying I have been eating EXTREMELY clean for the past 2 months or so.  I haven't really talked about it on the blog but for this time I've eaten completely sugar-free and fairly natural.  Well, today at work, my boss was sampling this new gluten free cake we are making.  He got really excited because I can never try anything at the bakery and I'm the only gluten free employee.  Right before I left, he gave me a nice sample to try.  I'm not one to turn down cake, and I was hungry because I didn't get a lunch break.  Yeah, not a good plan.  My body was in shot/rebellion for awhile.  Sugar free clean eating = much better for my body and my performance!

Tomorrow I'm FINALLY back teaching.  The break has been nice.  Too bad I fell asleep while doing prep work in my bed this afternoon (yeah, that was dumb.)  Tomorrow is also a triple thursday - my favorite!  I'm going to attempt a tempo run in the evening with my running boston bud (who is super speedy)!  Wish me luck on that!

Peace!
T-mart