Pirate's Day and a Great Long Run

10 miles in 2:02:18 - average pace of 12:13 min/mile, avg heart rate of 159 bpm (aerobic). A great ending to a great training week. I managed to rack up 28 miles total!

I strayed from my diet a bit this weekend. After not getting some news I have been waiting for at work late on Friday - I felt tired and just wanted a big juicy steak. So I went to the store, picked up a couple of nice looking ribeyes and New York strips along with some baking potatoes and brought them home. That with a nice glass of some riesling I was all set. The up side of not hearing the news was that I could just relax and enjoy the 3 day weekend!

Saturday was a day off from training. It was my husband's birthday so we did a "Pirate Day." We watched Pirates 1 on Fri night, Pirates 2 on Sat morning, and went to see Pirates 3 at the theater. We also wore our Pirates of the Caribbean t-shirts which we had picked up in the Magic Kingdom near the Pirates ride. It was a fun day!! A bit more straying from the diet by eating cake....ah well.

This morning I slept in a bit - and didn't get on the road for my long run until around 8:30 am. The sun was already pretty high in the sky and there were few clouds to be seen. The temperature was in the low 70s already with a forecast high of 86 deg F. So, I put on plenty of sunscreen and brought plenty of drink for the run. I have not replenished my supply of Cliff Shots so I ate a soy pudding before the run and brought primarily Gatorade to replenish along the way. I brought 21 oz of Gatorade along with 6-7 oz of water on my fuel belt.

I felt pretty good through the run and maintained about a 12 min/mile pace which was good. About the time I was nearing 8 miles I could begin to feel my legs wearing out a bit - not surprising since that was the longest run I had done to date this year. I pushed through the last couple of miles in the sun and had enough fluids to get me home.

This coming week my focus will be on sticking to the training plan, eating healthy and getting good sleep. Per Terry's advice, I am hoping that in a week or so my body will adjust to the new training schedule. The heel seems to be doing ok - I don't feel the need to ice it but I am using ibuprofen when it aches a bit to control swelling. I have had to retire one pair of my running shoes that has about 400 miles and over a year on them. I have a second pair that is nearly a year old with just over 300 miles and a third pair that is newer with just over 300 miles. I am going to try a new type of shoe to see if it works better with the heel. My current shoe is Brooks Addiction.

I am so excited to be training with so many fine runners through the summer and into the fall. I like the idea suggested by Maddy (I think) that we find a way to track all or our mileage. We could all just report our total weekly miles once each week and someone could put it on a spreadsheet to total it up. I am not savy enough to post spreadsheets on my blog. Could we start a new blog that we can all log into to post our results? I am open to ideas!

Staying on Track

The good week of workouts continue:

Wednesday was my first go at running twice in one day. I ran a 4 mile tempo run in the morning to be followed by a 3 mile easy run in the evening. This is to provide a way to build my mid week miles up a bit.

The 4 mile tempo run went well, 4.01 miles in 43:28. I felt tired but it was still a good run. I felt kind of tired all day, chalking it up to lack of sleep (can't go to bed at midnight and get up to run at 6:30am each day!). To get motivated for the evening run, I offered to jog slowly with my husband while he hiked quickly with his 50 lb backpack (he is training to hike the Appalachian Trail next month). Instead of doing 3 miles, we did 4 miles at a 14:40 min/mi pace. To make it more challenging I ran in the grass next to the sidewalk rather than on the sidewalk. For folks who know Florida grass, this was the very thick, spongy St. Augustine grass. It gave my ankles a good workout and the give allowed me to take smaller strides and keep pace with my husband. Overall, a good day.

Thursday was a cross training day and strength day. When I got to the small gym in our building the elliptical was in use so I used the stationary bike for 15 min to warm up, did 3 sets around on the weights, then ended with 15 min on the elliptical machine.

This morning I did a 5 mile run. My Garmin was acting a bit funny - I think it was off this morning. But it recorded a 5.18 mile distance at 55:59 min - a 10:48 pace - and an average heart rate of 159. I felt bit on the tired side this morning but was able to keep pace thanks once again to my trusty podrunner 174 bpm mix.

Looking back at the week, it was a great training week. I am on my plan, but I am feeling a bit tired. I think I need to do better in the sleep department - but I believe I am adjusting to the more rigorous training routine. It seems to be paying off. My pace for the shorter distances is consistently under 11 min / mile and my heart rate is staying in the aerobic zone longer.

Now to rest up and see how 10 miles goes this weekend!

Run strong everyone!

Week 23 - MCM Training - Great Start!!!

From the website http://www.thortrains.net/armymen/realsho2.html

This has been a great week for MCM training. I had a super 8 mile long run on Sunday morning. I tried to pick up my pace to my target marathon pace (11:15 - 11:30 mi/mile) at miles 5-7, but I only succeeded in running a little bit faster than my slow 12 min mile pace. Still I am pleased. I only took 1 min walking breaks at each mile and I ran a negative split - running the first half in 47:54 and the second half in 46:40 for a total time of 1:34:58. My total avg heart rate time was in the aerobic zone at 160 bpm with the first 4 miles under 160 bpm and the last 4 averaging under 170 bpm. I kept thinking later in the day that I needed to run some more!

Monday was my rest day. Today I got up and ran a "blazing" 5 miler, running 5.09 miles in 54:07 min, a 10:38 min/mile pace! My heart rate averaged 163 bpm - just above my aerobic zone (which ends at 162). I kept a good steady pace throughout and fired up a 174 bpm podrunner mix for the last 2 miles. Before the run I ate some applesauce because I ran out of Cliff Shots. Maybe I am on to something!

I ended my work day with 10 min on the elliptical machine followed by 2 sets through my strength training routine.

I am an exercise machine!! :-)

Comment Link on Podcast Post

I wonder where the comment link is on that posting....ah well. Post your comments here :-)

Episode 5 - Go Red for Women 5K / Seaworld Weekend

This edition of Running Adventures takes you along with my daughter and I as we run the Go Red for Women 5K race. You will also hear some sounds from Seaworld where I went with my younger daughter the next day.

I apologize for the sound quality (hey, after all I am an amateur!). Race starts and finishes tend to be noisy places.

Featured music this week from the Podshow Podsafe Music Network includes:
"Ridin West" by Jon Schmidt
"Joy" by Michael Mucklow
"I Still Remember" by Jim Fidler

The opening music is "Super soul" by 4saisonz and the closing theme is "Adventures of the Deaf Dreamer" by Josh Woodward.

Other mentions this week:

Steve Runner and Phedippedations (short clip from his podcast)

Have a great adventure in the coming week!