For some reason my days of the week are all messed up this week. On Wednesday I kept thinking it was Friday. I just noticed that I incorrectly titled my post “Wordy Friday”, when it was actually written on Thursday! To clarify, TODAY is actually Friday. Thus, Fridays are my long run day. Today’s run is a 16 miler, with 10 miles at marathon pace. Since I’m not actually shooting for a goal pace, other than hopefully get a sub 4 hr Boston Marathon, I decided that I should just use the pace from all of my other training cycles which is 8:50. The kids are out of school today for the end of the quarter, so I decided I would just run on the treadmill and get it done.
It started out well. I watched a few shows. One of which was the Bachelor. Although it’s pretty funny and interesting, it does tend to drag on a little. And what’s up with Chris picking spaced out Ashley?? I’m thinking she is only there to keep the show interesting, but I think she is off her meds. But when I searched on the topic, I found this revealing story… hmmm!
But, I digress. Just wanted to show you my “survival kit” in the treadmill room. It’s full of everything you could need on a run – a towel, Nutragrain bar, PowerGel and Shot Bloks, and my favs Body Glide and lip balm. It’s right next to a box of tissues, and I think the tissues are the most used product in the group. My nose seems to drip like crazy when I run on the treadmill.
On my run today I had some of the Shot Bloks. I just don’t get those things. I can’t seem to figure out how to eat them and run at the same time. I’ll stick with the GU instead. The run was going along well, but when I got down to 5 miles left, I was getting really bored of watching TV and decided to run outside. So I switched into my outdoor gear and hit the mean streets of my ‘hood for the remainder of my run.
For the first mile, I was under pace at 8:30 and thinking it was going to be an easy run. Mile two came in a little slower at 8:53, and then I pretty much just checked out of my run mentally and didn’t have much interest in finishing it. But I did. I can’t say it there was anything wrong (weather, knee, stomach all ok), but I just lost interest in it. It seemed to go on forever when I ran around my neighborhood. Then I saw my running friends (“Yo Christy and Tiffany!!”). After that I spent my time thinking about how I need to find a running partner again because it makes the miles go by so fast and it gives me something to look forward to. I will try to talk someone into joining me next week!!
In the end, the overall pace for my outdoor portion was 9:02. On a normal day I’d be thrilled with that, but today it didn’t quite meet the goal, so that was a bit of a bummer. Oh well, nothing terrible. And hey, I sprinted when I saw my house at the end, so that last .01 of a mile was pretty awesome at 8:19! 🙂
After a quick shower I took the kids shopping, to a playdate, and I hung posters for the yearbook sale at the school. Tonight we head out for a ski trip. Looking forward to some cross training on the slopes!!
Q: Are you a solo runner or do you like to run with a friend or two?
I do enjoy running by myself sometimes (listening to some new music or a podcast), but I enjoy running with someone the best. Good motivation!
I miss running with someone, too! 🙁 Heck, I miss running at all! Maybe I’ll try out my new shoes tomorrow and hit the pavement.
Do it!! I just bought a pair of “winter” Newtons (Boco AT). Alan highly recommended them. I’m trying to motivate myself to get outdoors!!
I didn’t know you had run so many miles on the treadmill before we saw you. Impressive! I would love to run with you, but you’re too speedy for slow ol’ me.
Aw, not true! We have run together before… and you survived 😉 I’m always willing to have someone join me, if only for a few miles, on my long runs. The pace usually doesn’t matter (except on some runs like this one). So I might just be pestering you in the future knowing that you’re in training too!!