running in shorts....priceless.

Ok, this post may get a bit lengthy because I'm on a total post-run high right now and all week I've been running and thinking of the most random things that I wanted to blog about, but never having the time until now!  So here goes with the play-by-play recap....

Monday:  "easy" day = 10 miles split- 6 in the morning (on treadmill) + a nice swim, then 4 at night up to core class + 60+ minute core class with running group.  All of this went well.  Swimming felt great.  I honestly love swimming in a way so different from running.  It is so natural to me to be in the water and I really think it helps my recovery, although I didn't have a whole lot to recover from without a LR the day before.  My paces were fast too, which I tried to hold back a bit because I really need to focus on keeping hard days hard and easy days easy.

Tuesday:  8 miles.  Post double-work day, on my favorite random-off-the-freeway route.  This run was unexpectedly great.  I spent the first two miles going into the sub-zero freezing wind uphill.  The whole time I wasn't looking at my Garmin, but instead thinking how great it would be when I got to "Joy" (yes, that is literally the road's name) road and got to run with the wind at my back.  But when I got to Joy, I realized that since it is a not-very-travelled dirt road, it hadn't been plowed.  Fail.  So I slipped and slided and had a really hard time keeping pace.  Once I hit pavement again, I pushed it in to get done before sunset.  7:38 pace.  Very pleased, especially considering the conditions.

Wednesday: Quickly becoming one of my favorite training days.  13 miles on the treadmill before work - I feel like this is building me mentally more so than physically, which is good.  I did it progressive style, starting at 7.0 and working up into the high 7 mph for the last part.  Again, this is something that is not natural for me, so I'm glad I pushed myself to do it.  Ended at 9.0.  Ouch.  That was a hard 1/2 mile.  No time for a swim though.  Spent much of the run wondering why anyone would work out inside in pants.  Isn't the whole point of working out indoors in the winter that you don't have to wear alot of clothes?  Digress.....
Post work, I got a 'fitness assessment' at the new gym I joined.  Moral of that story = my flexibility is in the toilet.  Hmm, maybe I should try that stretching thing?  Then, it was core class and cycle class.  Favorite instructor wasn't there. :(  Replacement instructors were pretty good. :)  Lots of working out on Wednesdays makes me happy!

Thursday:  Another bakery morning = easy run at night.  6 miles that were by far the worst of the week.  I left G-man at home so I have no idea my pacing.  All I know is that it felt uphill and against the wind the whole way.  It was a loop so that probably wasn't the case.  Blah.  Glad I did it though!

Friday:  GREAT day.  Did 9 miles on the treadmill at 4am before cycle.  8.0mph for the last few miles felt effortless.  That hardly ever happens, lol.  90 minute cycle class was good too.  Very different instructor at different gym.  Lots of folk music.  Somehow it works though.  Did 2 more shakeout miles afterward on the indoor track to make it 11 for the day.

Saturday:  Early.  4:30am run.  8 miles.  Very windy, even early and I made the mistake of running 4 miles with the wind first.  Fail again.  Not a great run, but glad to get it done before 8 hours at the bakery.

Sunday (today):  Good, no GREAT run.  Had to work again at a market, (blah, 7 day workweek!) but only from 9am-2:30pm.  I am a terrible run-late-in-the-day person, especially for my LR.  But there was no other option this week.  I knew my leggies would be a bit tired after standing all morning, but I decided to run where we were at the market for a change of scenery, and because if I just changed and went right after, there would be no time to procrastinate or change my mind.  The city was totally geared T-mart style - open, flat, roads (but very windy.)  I actually ended up running all 19 miles on one road that was about 5 miles long.  My schedule called for some marathon-pace miles, but I'm deathly afraid of doing that, so I thought about scrapping it.  So I just started running.  Mile 1 = easy = 7:25.  From there, I decided to just go for it, and hit the first 5 HARD.  7:07, 7:07, 7:04, 6:52. Average = 7:09 Woah nelly.  I stopped and reset my Garmin, planning to run back "easy."  First "easy" mile was actually at MP - 7:32 but it felt slow.  So I decided again to go for it.  7:25, 7:17, 7:14, 7:06.  Average = 7:18.  First 10 miles @ 7:14 pace.  At this point, I knew my legs were pretty tired.  I decided to stop being a slave to my Garmin and just *run* the last 9 miles.  They felt soooo good up to the last couple.  Pushed it at the end and hit 8 miles @ 7:58 pace.  (then did a very slow mile to end.) 18 miles at 7:33 pace.  1 second under my PR marathon pace.  I realize that they weren't at all even, but I was really pleased to hit sub-8 pace after the initial 10 hard miles.  By the end, I'm pretty sure my fatigue was due to the fact that I hadn't eaten or drank anything during the run and it was warm (40s!).  But I loved that.  Running in shorts.  Melting snow.  Freedom.

Now, I'm sitting here with my calves twitching like crazy (anyone else have a horrible time with this?)  I'm sure I will probably feel it a bit tomorrow.  I so wish it was Saturday because I feel like it should be and I'm headed back into another work week without any time off.  Yucky.  Oh well, thus is life.

Recap:
2 cycles
2 core
1 swim (boo, I wish it were more!)
75 miles :)

Bring on the next week!  Love me some training!

Peace, love, and Running,
T-mart