Another Week Completed

What a week. It has been such nice weather compared to what is the norm here in Tulsa. Saturday I again met the TNT group to run with at 6am in the morning. Although cooler temps the humidity was high. We ran 10.5 miles around 9:30-10M/M. It was a very nice run- this morning there were friends there who were on the same pace so we competed the run together, always nice to have someone on pace with you for the distance. We also managed some hills as well, something I do not usually do on long run days. The new experience on this run was trying some sports goo, as I forgot my running beans. Lets just say it was sooo sweet I had a hard time swallowing it-there would have been no way I could have kept it down with out water!
Ron also got in his run, after I completed mine. Ron ran the Hunter loop as we call it-it is about an 8mile loop from our house. He was shooting for fast times today since the mileage was low. He finished with about 8M/M for the entire distance-great run. We all completed the morning with the three mile loop from our house. I pulled the girls on bike and Brayden rode with own bike while Ron jogged along side. A stop at quick-trip for a slushie and everyone was happy. Another week completed!

MI ???

I am beginning to think that I am training in MI. The last three runs I have done I have gotten rained on. Not a big deal as it was just a light mist and felt great as the humidity was high. Kind of felt like training for soccer season minus the cold!
With that said, this has actually been a hard week so far. You would think that with the cooler temps it would be great. Unfortunately this week we are trying to increase our speed a little over some longer distance. It is a struggle as my body likes the comfortable pace of 9:30. We are trying for 9M/M and they have been a stretch-at least for me. Thankfully Ron ran with me tonight, along with some friends who kept me going. It is always hard to complain when Ron is running right along side me pushing all three kids. So we gave up the track tonight and ran a straight 7miles trying for 9m/m. I ended up taking a little bit longer and more frequent water breaks but did finish-a little under the goal, but the way things were going I was glad to be done.
The kids did great even if they did get a little wet-we had the rain shield but I think it would have been a sauna with it on!

Off Day

Thankfully today was a day of rest. Actually it is supposed to be a cross-train day but we tend to take it easy after our long runs. Today we managed a slow bike ride, but a big one for Brayden who road the entire 6 miles on his bike.
Anyway, we have been watching the Olympics and this weekend has been a lot of fun seeing some of the incredible times the Olympics Runners are putting out. The Women's Marathon pace was a crazy 5:30-I can't imagine keeping that pace for 26 miles. Just for fun we might have to run one lap-400m, this Wednesday at that pace, it would be about 1:25. Ron might be able to do it but not me!
We also watched the 1500m, just a little shy of 1mile. The runners in this race could run an 800 (2 laps) in 2 minute-resulting in a 4M/M. At my best it takes me 2 minutes to run a 400 (1lap)-resulting in a 8M/M which I think is pretty fast. Their times are truly unbelievable.

This morning was out longest run to date. Both Ron and I managed to complete a 15 mile run, it took all morning as we alternated but it is done. Actually you couldn't have asked for better conditions. I ran around 6:30, cools temp and overcast-never even saw the sun, in fact it spitted just a little rain. Ron ran after myself and thankfully the sky's stayed overcast as he didn't finish till noon. It took both of us about 2.5hours. I ran a nice 10m/m, Ron held around a 9:15 for his run. We both felt pretty good, except for some major aches later this afternoon, a great feeling of accomplishment. Both of us experimented with eating some sport beans through-out the run and I think it helped us keep going.

I also met my TNT running group this morning as my usual running partners were out of town. A small group but very friendly.

This is Ron after his run, he enjoys sitting with the hose, I ended up sitting in a tub of ice which felt great, just a tad cold but good.

Training Continues

This week it is Ron having to run in some different conditions. He is discovering the difficulty of running in a different altitude-although he still managed 8 miles at a pretty fast pace. I on the other hand have been left to run with three kids. Some how running and pushing the jogger just couldn't get me motivated to get out today so I ended up on the treadmill. Not the best but not the worst. It was speed workout so it was pretty nice to just set the speed and run. The downside was I ran out of time as I just had an hour with childcare. Guess I should have run faster-yeah right! I am wondering how some people train who are able to keep a consistent schedule as ours is constantly changing week to week, I think that is why we tend to shy away from running groups.
Thankfully another Speed Wed is concluded-total 6.5 miles 4 miles around 7:40 pace, with .12 mile cool down inbetween each mile.

NO HUMIDITY

I am discovering that traveling is a good thing this time of year. Running in any other place other than Tulsa has been a very refreshing break. This morning I was able to run in CA while visiting my sister and her family. It is very hot here but with out the humidity it feels like a huge weight had been lifted while I was out.
The only issue I had was finding a route. Sharon's husband does a little running and thought he might be up in the morning to show me a 5mile route that I could just run twice but he didn't quite make it out of bed. Thanks to the Nike plus Ron got me a year ago I managed to get the distance down, although I didn't really know where I was running. I have visited before and so I was able to recognize some of the major streets, I managed a nice 10miles. The only issue was running on sidewalks which I almost bit the dust twice with all the uneven cracks, learning I need to pick up my feet a little! Anyway it went wonderful and Sharon survived watching Andrea along with her new little baby with the help of her husband. I missed my running partners but nice to have some solitude as well.

MAXED OUT KIDS

Tonight was speed work-out, once again something I was not looking forward to. The plan was to start around 7:30pm as to miss the heat of the sun. Unfortunately the track we normally run at was being locked up as we arrived so we ended up at a different track. This made for a later start than normal. Ron and I actually felt pretty good, I think the longer break-not running for two days helped a little. It was the same work-out as last week

One Mile warm up-8:45

One 400

Two 800's

Three 1600's

One 800

One 400

We were supposed to have a mile cool down for a total of 7 miles but it was totally dark and we had three crying kids spread out around the track. Brayden had managed to step in some very sharp prickers, Becca was crying for Brayden's sake and was just tired. Andrea was flipping out because she was left on the opposite side of the tract and thought she was left all alone. We decided to call it a night.

It was a great run except for the last 2 laps., mainly due to crying kids. Ron ran about 7 M/M and I managed about 7:45 M/M. A little faster than normal, nice to accomplish and feel like we are making some headway with all this training. I am hoping for some cooler temps in the following days, our options with the kids are few with such high temps and as evident tonight they were stretched a little too far!

LONG RUN

Okay, so you might have thought we were wimping out this week as we didn't do our long run Sat morning. As I have said training with family and events keeps us very flexible and so because of a busy Sat we decided to hit the pavement this morning. What a beautiful run. We ran along a road that had some beautiful homes right on a lake and with the morning sun it was inspiring to run next to. Ron and I had our longest run to date-14 miles. I can hardly believe it but it went fairly well. It took us over 2 hours and I found that I am needed a longer running play list. With the cooler weather we both felt good and not too worn out, although Ron is already zonked out on the couch. Our lesson today was watch what you eat the day before you run...which is something I know but find hard to follow, as you never know when nature calls!

COOLER TEMPS!

How wonderful to be in an area where the weather is not so BLAZON HOT!! We made it to Holland MI and were greeted by much cooler temps than Tulsa Ok. We have to switch up our training routine with traveling and events but the training continues. Yesterday was a day off, not so much relaxing as we were in the car the entire day but a day of rest none the less. Today we did our four miles. Not having to run in 90 plus heat Ron and I both put in much faster times than we are used to. I managed about 8/8:30 and Ron was about 1 min faster. It felt great, a nice change after such a hard week. We will see how I feel after our long run. Our plan is to run longer while we are home as to make the most of the cooler temps. Check back to see how our long run goes!