BOO-YAH!!

It's been a few days since my last post but luckily I've had a pretty mundane few days...  Wednesday was my last post so you know that was a Gym Day, but all running, no strength training.  Thursday was supposed to be another gym workout - all weight training - but it turns out that was also a holiday of some sort... what's it called?  Oh yeah, Valentine's Day.  So here's the thing... I came home to change clothes and got... um...  distracted by a nice dinner & movie night with my dear husband.  No Thursday night workout for me!  oops.

Friday was another rest day (this one planned - I really hate working out Fridays after work and then having to take another shower & get dressed to go out),  

So back to the routine on Saturday:  here's a hint:  my Facebook / LoseIt! updates yesterday afternoon looked like this:  

"AWESOME RUN TODAY! Walked 1/2 mi, ran 1.5 mile, then felt so good I decided to reset my timer and run a 5k to see what kind of time I might get - so another 3.1 miles followed by a 1-mile walk (the rest of the way home) - THAT'S RIGHT I set a NEW Personal Record for 5K today, just screwing around on my dog-walk!! And total mileage for the day 6.2.

BOO-YAH!! :-)"

Here's how it happened: (gotta share because it just felt kind of magical)

I headed out with a loosely-defined plan of running & walking 5-6 miles, heading to Constitution Trail from the house and going south.  I walked the first 1/2-mile, then combination walk / run (mostly run) another 1/2-mile to warm up.  Then I really felt ready to get going and ran a full mile. During that mile, I kept noticing my mind wandering and I would think - "Oh crap, I've slowed down!" and check my watch... only to find it was solidly between 11:00 and 11:30 each time, which is a fine pace for me.  "Easy run" for me is in the neighborhood of 12:00 - 12:30 and I wasn't looking to push for speed, just a basic endurance run.  But MAN, it felt so good and I felt really comfortable (Note to self:  this is what it feels like to have two days off before a long run.)  Then my mind got to wandering again and I started thinking about the upcoming race schedule.  I'm excited for this year's races, feel like it's going to be a very successful year for running.  Now I'm getting off on a tangent, but that's exactly what it was like.  The first 5k of the year is just two weeks away, and you know how goal-oriented I am... I began thinking What should I have as my goal pace for the MPZ Stampede?  My stated goal for the year is to run a 5k under 35 minutes... but man if I'm feeling comfortable right now at 11:20... what does that work out to?

Yes, I'm an accountant; I could totally do that math in my head, but who cares about the MATH??  I decided I wanted to know what I could do, like NOW.  So when I hit the 2-mile mark, I decided to walk a few minutes, reset my Garmin, and start the clock over.  I'll run a 5k today, in the middle of this long run, and see just how fast I can do it.  Simple plan, plus it had the added benefit of Immediate Gratification.  

I filled Coty in on the plan; she seemed to be on board, and off we went!  No walking, and I tried not to check the watch too often, just run as fast as I felt comfortable doing, and with the exception of a couple of emergency pee-breaks requested by the dog, kept moving as fast as possible until the 3.1-mile marker.  At the end of the run, the watch said 36:15!  My previous 5k record was 37:18 last October at the CISAR 5k Leg Lifter, so I shaved MORE THAN a FULL MINUTE off my previous PR!  And check out those stats!  I managed a negative split on mile three but that first mile (which was Mile 3 if you're keeping track from the start of the day's workout) was a SOLID 11:25.  Sweet!

That.  Was.  Awesome.  

Here's a photo of my tired, happy dog after what turned out to be a practice 10K run on Saturday.

Man, it's hard to capture her eyes - her face always comes out as a black blob.  Oh, and yeah, it's winter.  The yard looks like crap.

Today was a lazy day.  (As most Sundays are around here.)  It was also weigh-in day - I came in at exactly the same weight as last week (believe me, I stepped on the scale 5 times, damn thing never budged!) - so zero gain / loss this week.  I did head out for a 3-mile run / walk with Coty and attempted a Test Mile.  That was a bust, but only because Coty decided to be a jerk and behave in a menacing manner toward another runner on the track, interrupting BOTH our workouts.  I had to stop the watch, put her on her back and scold her, and keep her on a short leash for the rest of the run, including the second half of the Test Mile, as consequences (aka punishment) for her growling and barking at a stranger who was completely within his rights. Bad dog.  

Anyway, the test mile came in a 10:05 - still pretty great for me, but not a new record.  I can feel great about that time, but I'm disappointed in Coty's behavior.  

Well, I'm off to bed, gearing up for another great week at work! Oh and Ride the Wave starts this Wednesday so I'll have a new, structured training plan readying me for the Lake Run 12K the first weekend in May (and in the process, also for my 10K at the end of April!!)

Caution: Bragging Ahead

Well I'd say I've had a pretty decent week since my last post.

Quick layout of the week's activities:  Wednesday night was belatedly declared a Rest Day (remember how I've said it was dangerous for me to go home to change my clothes for a workout?).  Thursday I had a right-proper training session at the gym and I tried something new.  All the bikes were taken when I arrived so I hopped on the Stair-Climber thingy.  I would call it a StairMaster but I'm pretty sure that's a brand-name and I don't know that's which brand it was but I digress...) AAAAnyway, it's not the old-style pedal type of stair-climber but more like a mini-escalator.  I've never used one before but I've seen them on The Biggest Loser.  I took it easy, slow, level 2 I think.  Though my hip started telling me to get the hell off at the 12-minute mark, I pushed on for another 3 minutes. Then I did a pretty standard full-body strength training session, about 45 minutes.

Friday really was a rest day - it was freezing out but I took the dog for a quick walk before heading out for a few Friday-night adult beverages with my man.

I had a group-run planned for Saturday morning, 9am sharp.  Managed to get there on time (wonders never cease!) and had a pretty decent but not outstanding run / walk of around 5 miles.  I made a couple of classic mistakes:  1) I did not have a specific plan of how long I was going to run, either distance-wise or time-wise.  2) I hadn't planned a route (partly a result of not having a specific distance or time goal for the day.  and 3) I forgot to turn my watch off when we got back to the car, so the Garmin seems to think I did the last 1.5 miles in 8 minutes!!  Too funny.  I think it ended up finishing 5.2 miles in about 70 minutes or so.  It wasn't awesome, but it cured my mild hangover within 10 minutes of the start and was a GREAT start for my day.  Headed home, laundry, etc... and to Peoria in the evening to see a friend's band play!  Stayed up WAY too late but had an absolute blast listening to Draft Culture original songs!!

A couple of pics from the Saturday night show:

Thanks to Jim Gardner for the photos!  

Thanks to Jim Gardner for the photos!  

Thanks to Jim Gardner for the photos!  

But the REAL action was on Sunday:  my weekly weigh-in put me 1.8 pounds down!  Yay, me!  The weather was uncooperative and we had freezing rain all day, wind, cold, blah-blah-blah and let's face it I was feeling a bit lazy... did not get any exercise.  I just enjoyed my rainy day at home.

Today headed back to work until 3pm, then the dentist for a cleaning, got a couple of errands done, and home by 4:30 for a run with Coty.  Lesson from Saturday learned:  I made a plan.  I decided to do a Test Mile tonight, which means brisk walk / jog a little to warm up about a mile to the track, run a mile on the track, easy walk / run home.  The weather was BEAUTIFUL!! 54 degrees!  (Yes, it's Illinois, we go from 1 degrees last Tuesday to freezing rain on Sunday to 54 degrees on Monday.  It's insanity here.)  I wore my short-pants and a light shirt!  NO windbreaker and only one pair of socks!

I was feeling pretty fleet-footed tonight.   It was foggy and misty, a little wind but not raining, and like I said - it was warm.  My last Test Mile was 10:22 and you remember how happy I was about that. The track was a wee-bit creepy in the fog but also sort of cool.  I was once again kicking myself for not bringing my camera.  I would love to have taken a pic of the creepy-track at dusk with this fog!

OK so I'm dying to tell you:  my Test Mile was 9:50!!!  This is HUGE for me.  I never thought I'd get there so quickly.  A Test Mile under 10:00 was a long-term goal for 2013 - something I thought would take MONTHs to get to!  I am definitely going to have to come up with a replacement goal for 2013 on that one.  Clearly, I underestimated myself... 3 weeks ago.