Heat Wave!!

Whew! I found out that the Boston-bound 20-miler is March 2nd this year- that's coming up QUICK. I was building up my long runs one week at a time, but given these new circumstances, I've increased it to +2 miles per week...thus the 15miler that I ran today. It was finally nice today- 40 degrees felt AMAZING compared to the -18wind chill I found myself running in last week...

Distance: 15.7mi

Pace: 8:45 min/mi

Avg. HR: 160

I'm happy with that! Courtney ran with me for the middle 6 miles, it was nice to have her help me break it up! Sloshy out there, all the snow is melting. I picked up to a HR of 170 for the last 2 miles and felt awesome. Some lingering pains from my left achilles, I should probably start doing some more stability/strength stuff for my ankles again...

I've been running slooooow outside in the cold, no desire to run faster- it's hard enough to get out the door, so running at a comfortable, conversational pace is fantastic with me. I'm pretty proud of myself for doing so! There are some people that are motivated and run QUICK in the cold...I'm envious, but I'm not gonna do it =) My MAIN race is in November, so I think it's important to take it easy and get an awesome aerobic base going- I don't plan on doing anything spectacular at Boston (just something RESPECTABLE, like under 4) we'll see about CDA, but Arizona is where it's at. I'll pick it up once May hits.

HOWEVER...with the possibility of an open track meet at the end of February...I may decide to enter the 3200...so I'm going to put in 2 speed workouts at Horton per week until then! I haven't raced like that...EVER....so I'm pretty nervous and excited about it!

I'm struggling to get the swim and bikes in...when I actually get on the saddle or in the pool, I love it, since I'm taking it easy, but I'm having trouble finding the motivation to do so! One swim, one bike last week...I'm aiming for 2, preferably 3 of each this week. It will happen.

6 Girls in my age group in November. Make it happen.

slackin'

Alright, I'm bored after the turkey dinner =) So I did my 2nd race of the training season...Palatine Turkey Trot 5mile. Since the Jingle Bell 5K, I haven't done any speedwork. I was also planning on upp-ing my run mileage to just 30 miles a week, and even THAT didn't happen. slacker. well, race was cold, windy, but no excuse- ended up with a 38:35 (7:44 min/mi pace...) eh. Not great, especially since my first mile was 7:18...whoops. And I was trying hard too! I know my shamrock shuffle time in 06 was under 36:00, so....slacker.

Here's the info for y'all...(not so proud of it, but it is what it is...)

Mile 1: 7:18 min/mi pace HR 182
Mile 2: 7:43 min/mi pace HR 184
Mile 3: 8:05 min/mi pace HR 183 (slacker.)
Mile 4: 8:03 min/mi pace HR 184 (struggling a bit Laura?)
Mile 5: 7:24 min/mi pace HR 184 nice finish...

Believe it or not, it was good for 10th woman overall, 3rd in my age group..got a medal and a gift certificate...I'll take that! At least I got out there this morning and did it right?

Ya know, it's so hard to get out the door for a run when it's cold and cloudy, but if you're dressed warmly enough, it feels good once you get going! Gotta remember that this winter! I have some early season races, so I can't slack!

Tough right now though, lots of school stuff to do before the end of the semester. Gotta stay on top of grading, gotta get the syllabi done for my classes before the end of next week, I have big assignment due this week, two next week, and I haven't even considered final exams yet...yikes. This is real life, I can handle it =)