Monday, January 05, 2009

First Week Of The Rest Of My Life

Thank you so much for the congratulations! Crazy enough, I ran into THREE bloggers on my run yesterday and got to show them the ring before they read it here. How fun is that?

So yesterday's run was to be 11 miles with 5 miles of race pace (7:55) in the middle. The other 6 miles at zone 2-3, which is a wildly large range. I always try to stick to the lower end of that, which is about an 8:15 pace (unless I'm going downhill and then I can go however fast I want!). I woke up about 9 a.m., had a cup of coffee, one piece of buttered toast, two pieces of bacon (eww) and a bunch of water. I let that digest for a while and hit the road by 11:07 a.m. Here is how I did:

Mile 1 = 7:38 (149 bpm)
Mile 2 = 8:05 (167 bpm)
Mile 3 = 8:20 (173 bpm)
Mile 4 = 7:40 (180 bpm)
Mile 5 = 7:56 (180 bpm)
Mile 6 = 7:35 (175 bpm)
Mile 7 = 8:05 (183 bpm)
Mile 8 = 7:47 (183 bpm)
Mile 9 = 8:23 (179 bpm)
Mile 10 = 8:04 (182 bpm)
Mile 11 = 8:00 (183 bpm)

TOTAL = 7:57 (176 bpm)

Let me explain some of the fluctuations above...I stopped at the end of Mile 4 to show off my ring to Gazelle and Junk Miles. I swear I only stopped for 30-60 seconds, but this would have contributed to my slower HR during mile 5 (it was the same as 4 but I would guess it would have increased had I not stopped). Then, right at the beginning of mile 6 I ran into the Ambitious One and stopped to show off my bling there too.

I am super impressed with my overall pace and want to take credit for it, but I feel that stopping twice holds me back from doing that. I still did okay.

Once I picked back up at mile 6 I did not stop. It was a tough run from there on out - my legs were tired, specifically my joints up in my hip area. Maybe I should have done my track workout on Thursday instead of Friday and given myself more time to recover? Had I not celebrated my engagement as much in the preceding days I bet it would have left better. It was also cold out there and took my legs a while to warm up. I don't feel like I ever did get fully warm, which sucks. Afterwards I stopped at the fountain to talk with Alisa who was waiting for her hubs. In the few minutes that we were talking we both got really cold as our bodies cooled down. I had to leave here there waiting so I could run home to a warm shower. Sorry Alisa, I hope he didn't take that much longer to finish!

I was pretty exhausted after the run, but not ungodly tired. Today my left shin is a little splinty but I'll ice and do some TP to soothe it.

This week is going to be tough. Today is off, thank god. Tomorrow is a 5 mile tempo-ish run with lots of speed built in. Wednesday is 3 miles easy. Thursday is a track workout with mile repeats (!!!), then a couple of easy days, then a big 14 miler with 7 mile of 7:55 pace built in. Help me! I'm looking forward to it though. The race is only a couple of weeks away and I'm excited for it.

Have a great week peeps!

7 comments:

Amy - the gazelle said...

you are a crazy worker-outer!

It was so cool to run into you yesterday & see the pretty ring in person. Plus, it's just fun to see people you know on the trail.

Congrats on the great workout! You are such an inspiration.

Alisa said...

Wow! That was so cool to see you Sunday.

Congrats on your run. I need to work on my "race pace"...I wish it was as fast at yours.

Your ring is beautiful.

jen said...

Wow, great run! You totally nailed your pace. You are going to do great in the half marathon.

Zach said...

You've got that 14 miler in the bag!

Aron said...

way to nail that run!!

sooo fun to run into all the bloggers :)

RunToTheFinish said...

Great workout as always! Do you use your HR to monitor your pace in anyway or just as info?

Did Shawn happen to know anyone out here?

And seriously...congrats again the whole planning and congratulations period is just a ton of fun as long as you don't get all stressed out about the little stuff.

Sarah said...

Stopping was SOOOO worth it!! And I didn't run nearly as much as you and Alisa, but I couldn't warm up the rest of the day! Even after my shower - I had to lie in bed with the heat blanket on. I'm such a wimpy girl.