Ease on down, ease on down the road

HM Training Recap - Week 2
Monday: Off (planned)
Tuesday: 6.6 easy (7:35 pace)
Wednesday: 8 easy (7:05 pace)
Thursday: 6.2 easy (7:19 pace)
Friday: 8.4 easy (7:47 pace)
Saturday: 4.3 easy (7:46 pace)
Sunday: 9.4 easy/last 10 minutes moderate (7:26 pace)
Total miles: 42.8
Days off: 1
Crap-fests: 0! :)

R-O-C-K in the USA. That's how I feel about this week. It was such a strange and ridiculous turnaround from how I felt last week because seriously, every run, I felt fantastic. Wednesday's 8 miler was definitely a highlight, I found this new route that I am completely in love with. Basically, its a loop (bonus points right off the bat) that combines bits and pieces of all my favorite routes, plus it can be lengthened really easily to be a longer run. Because I love pain, there's a big hill at ~mile 7 no matter what you do, but the rest of it is relatively flat. Sweeeet deal. So I knew I was cruising, but it felt so easy that I really wasn't quite aware of how fast I was running. 7:05? That might be a little excessive. The next day's 7:19 pace was also a little ridiculous, and I paid for it on Friday when my legs decided they weren't interested in continuing with this whole "running" business around mile 7 of my 8.5 mile run. Saturday was pretty rough as well, I ran a mile with a dog at work (we take them on walks which are a mile long...this little lab puppy wanted to run, so I said OK! My co-workers were like wow, I never would have done that hehe) and then only 3.3 miles later, during which I felt pretty crappy, but that's what happens when my legs are beat up from running fast earlier in the week. My long run was great, it was my longest since, well, the half marathon, which was over a month ago...and I felt really good and relaxed throughout, and was obviously running at a decent clip, which was once again surprising. Hello, if I could do THAT in an actual HM race...but anyway. So, a very good week, and I managed to work it all around my 40 hours of work - planning is the name of the game.

Another thing I think was a big contributor to my success was my amazing discovery of something that has been sitting right under my nose for the past 6 months...GELS! Seriously, how did I never try this before? I consistently have problems with nutrition before runs...I either seem to a) eat too close to when I go running, so I'm full but have stomach problems or b) don't eat enough, am starving, and feel like crap (lately, the latter has been occuring much more frequently, no thanks to my idiotic job schedule). I have a hard time eating much within about an hour of running, so if I need to get off work and get my butt on the roads ASAP, there really isn't time to eat. Enter: gels. I have a whole box of PowerGels that I got after volunteering at the Ironman in September (working the 7-11 shift definitely had its perks). I tried one, didn't really like how it tasted, and figured I had basically no use for them, but kept the box anyway. On Wednesday it occurred to me that I needed to go running, I was sort of hungry but didn't want to eat anything...and then as I was hunting for my shoes, I happened to glance at the box of gels sitting under my desk. I figured it couldn't hurt to try one, so I washed down a Double Latte one with some water, and off I went. Now, maybe it's just a placebo effect of me just thinking that trying something different was going to make my run better - but it was GREAT! I didn't feel hungry, but my stomach wasn't rebelling as it would have if I'd eaten something solid. I've been taking them before my longer runs this past week and I seriously am a believer. I think when I get up to 13-14 milers I might bring one along, just because I'm so confident in the boost that it gives me. So yeah, gels...win!

Lately I've taken to running with my Ipod...so maybe I'm not a purist, but sometimes I need a little extra something to get me out the door and music is it. During my long run yesterday, I seriously think it somehow knew I was running, as I heard "Marathon" and "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" back to back, a live version of "Born To Run", and of course, finishing off the run with "Ease on Down The Road" - classic. Much as I love running with tunes, I'm excited to run with some WTC girls this week...and also this week is the inagural WTC Beer Mile! My first race of the summmer (hah ;)) Actually, I am finally starting to get my racing schedule figured out, assuming it all works out with work. I'm racing the Capitol Mile on the 26th, a 5K on August 6, and then a half marathon at the end of August (I'm not technically racing that one, but its a training run for the real deal in October - which I need to sign up for this week..eek!) I've downgraded my expectations for the BF to run a 5K since I'm having a hard time getting him to stick to a training plan (not that I blame him haha), and since I actually LOVED the triathlon I figure I won't torture him too much, so he's going to do the Capitol Mile...since we know he can run a mile. :)

Today was my day off, which was nice since my legs are definitely feeling the somewhat sudden jump in mileage/intensity. But I'm looking forward to getting back at it tomorrow, and that makes me happy - that I'm looking forward to running. It feels like since the end of track season that's been a hard feeling to find, but I think I'm finally starting to get it back. So yay for that! :)