Back on Track

Well these past two weeks have been fun...

Fourth of July weekend I went up to Steamboat, CO with some friends, which was awesome, but not so awesome for my workouts.  I did get in my Saturday long run in before we left (see last post), but the rest of the week was basically shot to shit, missing 3 of my 5 weekly runs (+ missing Body Pump--my favorite workout of the week)...I did however end on a good note with my SECOND 10K last weekend!  It was super-hot and my first experience running with my hydration belt--which was different.  My pace was a lot higher than I would have liked (12:35/mile), but I finished and that's all that matters!  My lack of running basically all week + running in the heat + running on the road (rather than trails, which are softer) all probably had some contribution to the higher pace...at least that's what I'm hoping...

Anyway, this past week was pretty fabulous!  I did four workouts with a weekly mileage of 18mi!  I experimented with a few different and new trails...James A. Bible park (which I have run a short loop on only once before), a bigger loop around my apartment, a portion of the Cherry Creek trail, and then the south portion of the Highland Canal trail (I love this trail).

I experienced running in a monsoon for the first time...and it was as you might expect...wet with squishy shoes.  We have been having unusual amounts of rain for Colorado the past couple of weeks (unusual so I am told).  On Wednesday at about 2:30, I decided I would go for a run and try out a new trail--Cherry Creek.  When I arrived at the trailhead it was bright and sunny outside...and it remained that way until about 1.5 miles into my run, at which point the sky decided to fall out and I was caught in a torrential downpour.  There was no shelter to take cover under. anywhere.  There was thunder, there was lightening, and there was RAIN...lots and lots and lots of rain.  I was soaking wet, my shoes were soaking wet, and I was not a happy camper.  By the time I got back to my car, I looked like a wet rat...so that was that...I guess I should check the rain before every run from now on...

Saturday I ran 8.04 miles!  The FARTHEST and LONGEST I have ever run in my life!  I felt pretty accomplished!  It took me 1:34hr with a pace of 11:49/mile...I was okay with that because I just ran 8 miles...and I remembered the following little ounce of inspiration:

This coming week will be a good one!  I have Body Pump in the AM with Lauren (an instructor I particularly like)...and then on Thursday AM I am going to try and go to our team Red Rocks workout with Coach Rick...it's @5:45am, which means I need to leave my casa at 5:10, which means I need to be up at 4:40 to eat some breakfast and get awake...it may be a stretch but I am going to try and make it!

Getting back on track this week with eating healthy + completing ALL 5 workouts!

I survived my first 10K today!

So getting up for team runs has been really hard for my lately...don't know why...I always really enjoy them once I'm there, and sometimes I even run my best pace of the week during our Saturday runs!  Well, I missed our team run for the second week in a row today :[ but it's definitely not because I'm a slacker!

I have come to find I CANNOT run during the heat of the day.  I will die [or at least it feels like it], so after it cooled off a bit, I decided to go run--around 6PM.  Saturday's are LONG RUN days, so I wanted to go somewhere with some nice scenery, not too hard of a surface (like concrete or asphalt), etc.  I decided to run the Highland canal trail.  To be honest I don't know how long the whole trail is...I know it's at least 10 miles because it has these cute little mile markers along the way and the 10 mile one is about half way through my run...anyway, it's a long trail, good for long runs!

I have been using the Galloway method for the most part.  Sometimes I run the first mile then start my 3:1 ratio, but Coach Mike says on long runs you need to start out slow so you can finish strong, so I started my 3:1 ratio from the beginning.  It was a pretty good run, but my pace was a little higher (11:09/mile) than I would like it to be, but that's okay because...I COMPLETED MY VERY FIRST 10K (like in my whole life)!  I did an "out-and-back" run, so when I was feeling a little tired toward the end, I realized there wasn't much I could do being 2 miles away from my car...I had to finish.

One thing I definitely should have done this week before today was get a hydration belt!  Coach Mike has told us that once our runs get longer (over an hour) we need to be using a hydration belt, and start experimenting with different nutrition supplements like gels so that we know what works for us by the big day!  I definitely could have used a little hydration along my run, so to say the least I will be getting my belt this week and be ready for next Saturday's long run!

My motivation for this run was this little picture that I found that has really stuck in my mind!

"Unless you Puke, Faint, or Die...Keep Going!"

Love It!

Training Tools
Anyone who knows me well, knows that EVERYTHING I do that can go into an excel spreadsheet, will!  So...since I started training in May, I have been tracking everything--workouts, miles, time, calories, strength training workouts, etc.  Well gotta love technology, but somehow my training file got corrupted! Nooooooo!  Well luckily I also track everything on Runner's World Training Log, and calorie count.  I decided that my excel spreadsheet, while I LOVED it, was redundant of my other tools, so I didn't attempt to rebuild it, I will just use these other tools.

Recap of May & June Runs/Workouts
(I know they are small, but still...)

Chalk it up to another week on the trails!