I'm Running My Life…

When I say I turned it around…man I turned it around.  This week I was determined to make it do what it do and have an AWESOME week of sticking to the plan.  Even though I didn’t get up to run in the wee hours of the morning, I did manage to get my workout in for that given day….

Monday, the rain forced me to get my run in after work (and you know how I feel about that).  To ensure I got my run in, I decided to meet up with the  Hand Middle School crew at Riverfront Park.

The wind was blowing so hard that day, that I almost fell twice.  Oh well no pain no gain, RIGHT!!!   My training plan called for a five mile run at my CP (8’45).  Since I have that pace pretty much down packed, I wanted to just let my legs do the running and not focus on the pace.  Well, I ended this run with an average pace of 8’31…not bad.

Since BGR! Columbia Team5aNE didn’t put out a run for Tuesday morning, I decided to run after work.  Yeah, I’m pretty sure you know how that went.  It didn’t.  Okay, but it’s not what you’re thinking.  I almost gave in and said ‘forget it, I’ll just use the day as a rest day’, but my son called me out.  When I got home, I told him I was just going to go run or ride the bike around 8 pm.  He was like yeah right, you’re not going to go.  So, I headed to the gym and hit the bike for thirty minutes (my bike days are usually on Friday’s but since it was late I figured I would trade it out for Tuesday’s run) for 11.5 miles (somehow I ended my bike ride after the first 2 miles and had to restart).  I just had to prove his little butt wrong…..and let him know he wasn’t going to call me out like that.  NO SIR!!!

Lately, I haven’t felt like running in the wee hours of the morning by myself.  So on Wednesday, I decided to run with another BGR! Columbia crew.  Team SE-Caughman met for a 6:00 pm run on my favorite road (joke…I hate that road).

I guess I didn’t think this run out because running any part of Trenholm meant hills.  Now I don’t mind hills (really I don’t) but I mind hills when doing speed work or running in a race and they are positioned within the last two miles of the race (YES I’m venting about the MGC Long Run 15K).  Anyoo, the goal for this run was to warm-up with one mile at my CP followed by eight repeats of three minutes at an 8’15 pace and one minute at 8’45.  I felt really good during the whole run…the hills just made it a little tough, especially starting out.  The first two repeats were done uphill, needless to say that 8’15 was out the window.  But looking at the rest of my splits, it appears that I got back on track with staying between 8-8’15.  I followed this run up with a one mile cool down at 8’45.  I was happy to be done with this run because the traffic was not runner friendly.  There I was running in the bike lane and I know I had to jump out the way SEVERAL times because cars were not staying in there lane.  I mean come on people…share the road.

On Thursday I was able to get in a quick easy run at my CP before heading to Augusta, GA (son had a follow-up appointment).  I think my CP may need to be updated 😉 .  I really miss my early morning runs but I just don’t like the feeling I get when running out there alone.  I need to find me a dedicated run partner in the area…your race your pace (you game?).

Friday, I decided to rest my legs since I signed up for the MGC Long Run 15K on Saturday.  Running on fresh legs was a must.

Saturday was my long run day.  My goal for this run was to run 8 miles: one mile warm-up followed by 6 miles at my half marathon pace…again not quite sure what that is yet but I know I wanted to keep it under 8’30, followed by a one mile cool down.  Since the MGC Long Run 15K was on Saturday, I decided to just use this race as my long run day (hence the name 🙂 ).  You can read about the MGC Long Run 15K recap here.

This week was really great, no excuses, just movement. I have two more mesocyles to go before the Rock and Roll Raleigh Half marathon in April.  I think I will be ready (hills included).  In fact I think I’m going to hit that last hill of the MGC Long Run Race at least once a week for hill repeats if anyone wants to join me.

How is your training going?