Despite being dumped on the ENTIRE TIME, I had a fantastic run!! Maritza and I decided to run together since it's been a while and we wanted to go somewhere fun and new. It worked out perfectly because she had a 12 miles Goal Pace run to do, and I was determined to run strong and comfortable since last weekend's suck-a-palooza. Maritza's Goal Pace was 10:00 ish, and I wanted to run no faster than about 9:30 for majority of the run, so we were a perfect match.
We drove to the Coyote Hills Regional Park, which is right along the shore of the Bay, and is a very cool place to run. We saw tons of sea birds (egrets, pelicans, etc) as well as bunnies and a skunk! The rain was pretty light for the first hour or so, but then it picked up. I asked Maritza at one point "Do you think the rain is getting worse?" and she just said "It's not getting better!" haha. We were chatting and cruising along with a pace between 9:30-9:59 (never a mile over 10:00!) and the miles were flying by! I didn't know if we would need to go our separate ways at some point, but Maritza was running very strong and easy (at least it looked easy, I'll have to read what she says about it) and we finished the 12 miles together. In fact, mile 12 was our fastest! I'm so proud of Maritza, she is a great runner and is setting up to have a super run in New York. She is also great to run with- we really settled into a groove together pace-wise and with the mental distraction of talking it was very comfortable and fun. :) I have 1:57:37 for the 12 miles, an average pace of 9:49.
We hit the 12 mile mark and refilled our water bottles, then we did split up. At this point it was absolutely pouring, and the trail had become more puddles than not. Maritza had 3 more miles to run at an easy pace, and I wanted to pick it up for the last few miles. I ended up doing 4 miles and we met back at the car, soaked to the bone. I did the last 4 miles in 34:10, 8:32 average pace. It felt so great, and I definitely could have kept going. What a great feeling!
We rang out our clothes (that was as close to "drying off" as we were going to get) and drove back home for a bagel breakfast and some hot coffee. After she dropped me off I got cleaned up and into some dry clothes, and relaxed a bit. I feel so good about this run- definitely made up for the bad run last week. The biggest thing is I kept the pace easy for several miles, then sped up at the end. Going out too fast is never a good strategy, and I am just going to have to get that tattooed on my face or something. Seriously, why is that so hard to learn??Saturday night we went to a street fair in Pleasanton (the rain had stopped) and then met my brother and sister-in-law for dinner. I feel asleep really early (8 something). Yesterday I was feeling VERY motivated and attacked a project I've been dreaming of for a long time: organizing my recipes! I went from a sloppy pile of little pieces of greasy paper to a beautiful sleek cookbook with a complete index. I rule!!
I did take a break about 5:00 pm to go for a bike ride, since my arm was sore from writing and my back from sitting. I did 8.5 miles in 34:09 (14.9 MPH). It felt good to get outside and clear my mind from recipes. :) I have to thank Zach, he did all the chores and grocery shopping while I worked on the cookbook. What a sweetie! I didn't finish the project until after 9:00 pm, but it was worth it.
SO....
TOTAL miles for the week: 40.25 (YAY!)
PLUS 14.75 miles bike and 2250 m swim
4 comments:
Nice job with the wet, long run. Sounds like you have a lot more fun in the rain on your run than I did on mine.
One strategy I used to make sure I started my races without going too fast was to set a split time for the first mile slower than my goal pace and if I finished that first mile any faster than that, I would walk for 30 seconds as punishment and to slow me down. Since I didn't want to be walking, I would really focus on keeping that first mile slow and it worked like a charm letting me build to race pace over the first couple of miles.
Yupper been getting some of those showers here also...does feel good!
SOunds like you had a great weekend, well done on Saturdays run!!
and so since ur recipes are all organized now u have to cook up something special to show blogland & also a nice meal for Zach for doing the choirs & Shopping :-) yw Bro!
Having someone to run with makes running so much easier.
great job to both of you.
I love running in the rain! That's a gorgeous picture. Great job on the run--sounds like you've made a full recovery from the "suck-a-palooza." :) Keep on rollin'!
Post a Comment