I guess it has been a while since I updated you all on my progress.
Lets see: Oct. 3 was another 5 mile run. I had another run that felt much harder than the numbers appeared. I'm getting faster and faster on "short" (snort) runs. That weekend we went to an indoor water park with the kiddos and their cousin in Lake George, so no cross train on Sat. We got back at around 3 on Sunday and decided to postpone our 9-mile runs for Monday (Tom took a long weekend).
Monday the 7th I set out to run my 9 right after Tom. It was sunny and beautiful in the morning and almost right as I was about to go out the door a cold front and rain moved in. I sat for 5 minutes completely ready to go looking out the window trying to decide what to do. I ended up just going out into the rain. I did a large 9 mile loop that took me out into the country before looping back into town. This run was miserable. I was exhausted after 4.5 miles. I was soaked to the bone and jogging into driven cold rain. I completely misjudged what I should wear. I should also mention there were wind gusts up to 30mph and the general wind was at least 15mph. I ran into the wind for 5 miles straight and up what felt like endless hills. I was exhausted from trying to avoid puddles and eventually just slopped through them, my feet were soaked anyway. I was barely jogging the last 1.5 miles back through town. I didn't breath correctly and could barely open my lungs and abdomen to breath -maybe because I was so cold. I had pain radiating down my left hip, buttock, and leg. I can think of few times previously in my life I have been so thankful for a hot shower. Despite all of this I made it! I am satisfied.
I shifted my mid-week 5 mile runs to Weds. and Fri. I killed my run on Wed. with a 10:03 min/mile average. Friday I thought I was going to die but still pulled in a 10:16 min/mile average. These numbers are amazing to me.
Saturday I finally got back to Zumba. I can honestly feel my irritation creeping up when I have not gone to this class in a while. There is something freeing about dancing that brings happiness to my soul.
Back to another grueling long run on Sunday. 10 miles. The longest training run in my program for a half marathon. I decided to switch it up and take salted pretzels out for fuel. I carried Nuun in my water bottles on my belt. I really liked the pretzels. I ran the loop I ran for my 9 mile run in reverse and it wasn't as bad to run not in the rain. I had to add an extra loop at the end to get 10 miles. I was barely moving at the end. This was the first run where I seriously doubted my ability to run the actual race. I felt sad. That's not fun. Once it was done I was ok. I was pretty stiff for the rest of the day and I ate lots of food and drank tons of water.
Since my run on Sunday I've been eating more than I usually do and drinking as much water as I can stand. It's taper week and the race is Sunday in Syracuse. I think I'm just hungry and have a hard time running that way. I've been trying to lose baby weight and at least for this week I'm just going to eat :) I tested my theory this morning with my first taper run of 4 miles. After eating a lot and drinking lots of water I was SO fast! I think my body and mind also exulted at the idea of not running 10 miles -and loved the extra carbs and hydration. HA! I finished in 35:26 with an average pace of 8:51!!! That's AMAZING!!! I can say one thing for sure about the LONG slow runs: they sure have made my short runs FAST.
Next up on the agenda is a 2 miler on Thursday.
Thanks for reading!!!!! Have a great week!
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