Half Way There

Yep, that's right. Week number 9 is now firmly in the books. Here is how the week shook out:

M: rest

T: 6 easy (9:24) - dreadfully boring!

W: 14 (9:06)

R: 6 recovery (9:29)

F: 5 (8:46)

Sa: 6.53 (8:57). Scheduled for 15 with 12 at MP. Couldn't do it today (more below).

Su: 15 (8:37) - nothing short of amazing (see below).

Total: 52.5

I have discovered it is almost impossible for me to run all week on the treadmill and then attempt a long run on Saturday outside "cold turkey." Things just don't feel quite right and I am usually still just a little too tired from the work week. I was scheduled for 12 at MP this weekend. I started my warm-up and my HR was through the roof. Not good. I started the workout and my HR was in the 170s while my pace was between 8:05 and 8:15. Not good (goal MP is 7:45). To make matters worse, my knee just didn't feel right. So I packed it up and ran in after 6.5 miles.

Saturday night I went out to hear my husband's band play. Some very fun friends joined me and we laughed, danced our tailfeathers off and imbided in a few too many beers. It was loads of fun, but I did not hit the sack until well after 2:00 am. 9:00 am came all too quickly and I had a wicked headache thanks to said beers and the fact that the bar allowed smoking (second hand smoke always gives me a wicked headache). What in the world was I thinking leaving my long run for today? Not good. Finally around 12:45 I hit the road after reluctantly popping some ibuprofen. Surprisingly, everything felt great and my HR was really low. I hung on and ended up having the best longish run I have had in well over a year. NICE! Here are the numbers:

8:46 / 149
8:52 / 147
8:48 / 152
8:46 / 155
8:58 / 153
8:57 / 157
8:38 / 155
8:33 / 152
8:40 / 159
8:34 / 156
8:30 / 160
8:24 / 162
8:22 / 163
8:30 / 165
7:55 / 170

I told my husband I need to start drinking a lot more beer and staying up a lot later. He told me, "imagine how well your run would have been if you got a good night's sleep and drank nothing?" I told him that was just a bad attitude. ;)

Oh yeah, and I lost another .5 lbs. If I can get 5 more off in the next 9 weeks, I will be in great racing shape!

And for final ramblings, I have decided that despite how much I despise my treadmill, I think it has really helped me this season. Because I get so bored on it, I tend to run a lot of my runs progressively and that has followed me outside. No more hum drum 9:35 runs like I had last training season. Heh. With that said, however, we are finally getting something of a thaw and the roads may be clear this week in the mornings (depending on how low the temps drop as all the snow is melting and may just create more ice...). I may actually start getting outside a lot more really soon. Take that ground hog.