notable runs
Our babysitter needed to take the day off today (her son + daughter-in-law are having a baby!), so guess who gets to stay home with the baby?! This girl! I’m enjoying an extra day with my little girl since my weekend was busy and I didn’t get to spend as much time with her as I normally do.
Luckily, even with a busy weekend I was able to fit in some great runs! I’m so excited with how my training is going so far. Running is starting to feel natural again and my speed is starting to get back to even pre-marathon pace! But, it definitely hasn’t been without some hard work.
Saturday morning, I got to try out our new-to-us treadmill! My parents bought a new treadmill and gave us their old one (emphasis on the old). While I don’t plan on running on it regularly, it will definitely come in handy when I can’t make it to the gym due to weather, time conflicts (my gym doesn’t open until 7 AM on the weekends), or baby stuff.
Saturday was the perfect opportunity to use it – I had a floor hockey tournament to coach and needed to be in the shower before the gym opened. Plus, it was too dark + icy for me to run outside. The built-in incline definitely challenged me, making it difficult to run faster than a 9-minute mile, but I think a slower easy run was just what my body needed.
My Sunday long run was one of my best runs ever! One of my goals with long runs this training cycle is to run the last third of the run at or faster than my half marathon pace (8:00/mile) and run the first mile the slowest since I tend to start out too fast.
It was cold and windy and definitely not an easy run. My lungs were burning toward the end and my legs were screaming for me to stop, but I didn’t have to stop once and achieved both of my goals.
Mile 1 = 8:56
Mile 2 = 8:15
Mile 3 = 7:58
Mile 4 = 7:57
Mile 5 = 8:00
Mile 6 = 7:30
Mile 7 = 7:22
Total time = 55:51 (average pace 8:00/mile)
I definitely think my training is right on track to run a 1:45 half marathon in April. That’s a tentative goal – something to push me to get my speed back but not something that will kill me (my PR is 1:37 – I definitely can’t run that yet).
I took advantage of the beautiful weather we’re having today and my day off to take MacKenna out in the jogging stroller for an easy run. Well, “easy” as in not speedwork. Pushing a stroller is far from easy. My triceps kill when I’m finish and I definitely feel it in my abs the next day. Talk about a full body workout! MacKenna took advantage of being in the stroller by taking a nap.
With the highs in the upper 60s today (!), I’m hoping we get another chance to take a walk with the stroller this afternoon.
How has your training/working out been going so far this year? Anyone have a race coming up soon?