Fun Run

3 miles / 34:16

Just a fun, no GPS feedback, no music, run to start the day. I have, apparently, spoiled my feet in to thinking that they don't really need running shoes. I spent the first mile of the run trying to convince them that we HAD to wear shoes today. It was incredibly hard to practice my forward foot strike with THESE giant clod hoppers on. My feet also felt very hot, no bueno.

It's hard, for me, to do things moderately. I operate with the needle buried most of the time. Attempting to retrain my running stride has built more than my calf and foot muscles! I'm building my patience muscle as well.

Who knew?

Yoga

P90X - Yoga X 1:00

This routine is 1:34 long, but I barely made it through an hour of it today. I would normally do my workout in the evening, but we have baseball practice tonight, so I won't be home until later.

As if dragging 3 kids around the grocery store/park/where ever to kill time isn't grand enough, this is the 2nd day in a row that someone has skipped their nap. Today it was Susan. She screamed for 40 minutes while I tried to ignore her and find my "center" - HA. That died down, and while in Twisting Triangle Pose, I simultaneously felt something NOT COOL in my lower back and heard my youngest son cry.

Neat.

Well, at least I got the stretch.

Tempo Run

3 miles in 35:18

Mile 1 warm up - 12:43
Mile 2 threshold - 10:15
Mile 3 cool down - 12:08

I wore my Vibrams AND my calf sleeves. During training for our 5/1/11 Half Marathon, I incorporated speed work in to my training with awesome results. I read that Tempo Runs are used to build speed when training for longer distances. My plan is to add distance to the threshold portion of the run, working my way on up.

Quads are still sore. Stupid hills. Fortunately, my calves aren't whining to terribly loud. I think they are submitting to my Vibram Break In Torture.

Cycling Day

Sunday morning cycling = 7.3mi / 39:47

I don't get to technical about my cycling. Yet. I mostly use it for recovery, and my bike is one that I wouldn't really want to get too serious on, anyhow. Since I only ride once a week, I convince myself that I don't need a new one until I get more serious about "Tri-ing" next year.

Great ride, nice to keep it slow and easy. Beautiful cool morning with the bunnies and the birdies.

Havelock Charity Run

10k - 1:05:33 (6.23 miles @ 10:31/mi)

Well...I guess I made my goal. Hmphf. My initial goal was to come in under 1:06 and I did that...but my super secret goal was a flat 1:00:00 10k. My strategy was to warm up slowly in that first mile, then tackle the hill in mile 2, recover in mile 3 and then bust rear in the final three to come in at or under 1 hour.

I shot out of the gate and covered that first mile in 9:54. This is such a rookie mistake, arg! By that time I was facing the Big Hill and I was so happy with a sub 10 mile that I refused to slow down. Near the top of the hill I found a woman that had a 1 hour time goal as well, and kept pace with her until right after the 3rd mile.

Hey - fastest 5K of my LIFE.

Anyway, I decided to slow down and settle in to a nice even pace to finish strong. I did my very best and since I shaved :30/mi off my 10K race time of just 8 weeks ago, I'm happy with progress.

Now it's time to buckle down, tighten the belt, suck it up, put the nose to the grindstone, and all the other cliches you can think of.

It's Half Marathon Training Time, baby!

Pain is Essential

Training for this week has been light. I have a 10k race tomorrow that I am hoping for a big fat PR on (despite a rather daunting hill) - so it's been easy does-it.

Yesterday I ran a couple of road miles in the VFF's. I've had them now for nearly a month and have worked diligently to break them in...slowly. I began by wearing them around the house, to the store, walking to the park, etc. Then doing my INSANITY workouts in them made my calves pretty sore - unfortunately, I stayed at a hotel with lots of stairs and was in a wedding wearing *gasp* high HEELS directly after. But my baby sis is worth it!

Anyway - the calves are extra special sore today, but fortunately I received my Super Sexy Calf Sleeves in the mail...those helped. And hey, most of the children refused to be seen with me while wearing them, win/win.

Back to the training.

I have my Friday Fitness class at church tonight. We've been doing Walk Away the Pounds, but every few weeks I bring something a little different and a bit more challenging. Tonight we are going to do Kenpo X. That will save my legs for tomorrow and still give me a great workout. I'll need all the help I can get - nice climb between miles 1 and 3.

Switching Gears - Again

Gee - I would love to do another month of INSANITY, but I have to stop to train for the Bill Seymour Half Marathon on September 3rd. I had delusions that I may be able to do both for a month - but I crashed real hard last week and had to take a few days of complete rest to get over it.

My brain is much more ambitious than my body.

So, I redesigned the blog, renamed it and will continue to use this as my detailed training log. Don't forget to visit my "real life" blog over at Life Is Beautiful.

Keep setting goals and moving forward!