August 15, 2013

Poolside

The boys spent the night at my parents' house last night, and I was tossing and turning all night. Early this morning, I was half-asleep when I heard my phone vibrate. When I looked at the phone, though, there was no text, so I was confused why it vibrated. I was SURE that I heard it. Regardless, after that, I decided just to get up and head out for my run.

As I was getting dressed, I started to fasten my Garmin around my wrist when I noticed that the battery was nearly dead. It was the watch that vibrated earlier, letting me know that there was low battery. Apparently, after I charged it, I left it turned on all night long, draining the battery. Thankfully, it charges really fast, so I plugged it in while I finished getting dressed, and cleaned up the house a little.

When the charge was at about 50%, I figured it was good enough to last for my run. Today, I had an eight-mile marathon pace/tempo run scheduled. Another thing I discovered from the Hansons' book is that I'm supposed to tack on an extra 1-2 miles as a warm-up and as a cool down. That's a pretty long run for a Thursday morning! I decided to add the mile for a warm-up, but I've never done a cool down before, so I didn't worry about that.

It was pretty cold out this morning! I'm not at all complaining; I love this fall-like weather. I ran a mile at an easy pace to warm up, and then aimed to hit my target pace of 8:58/mi. At first, I started going way too fast, in the low 8:00's. Then I overcompensated, and slowed the pace to mid 9:00's. It was really hard to hit that 8:58 and maintain it!

The whole goal of this type of run is to learn what that particular pace feels like, and be able to run it without even looking at my watch. I quickly learned that I'm not very good at picking a pace and maintaining it. The first couple of miles, I started too fast, so I slowed down, then had to speed up again. Not at all consistent.

Mile three at tempo pace was really difficult to pay attention to pacing, because I was running on the gravel shoulder of a super busy road, cars flying past me at 60 mph. I was just trying not to get run over. I ended up running that mile too fast. The fourth mile at tempo pace was going really well, right on pace, until about a tenth of a mile left to go.

A dog ran up to me, scaring me to death at first, and then I saw the owner of the dog was Eli's friend's mom. I stopped and chatted with her for a couple of minutes (stopping my Garmin). Then when I started running again, my pace was way too fast. For some reason, when I run past people, my pace always picks up (I don't do it consciously, but I think I tend to focus more on my form or something, which makes me go faster). So that mile was too fast as well.

The rest of the run went pretty well, and I was able to stay close to my target pace. It was really hard to resist the urge to pick up speed as I got close to home (my last mile is almost always my fastest).




Over all, I'm pretty happy with the consistency of my splits! I was very close to hitting my target, but I have to work on maintaining the pace the whole time, rather than the ups and downs in each mile, trying to stay on target. I have to say, it feels weird running a nine-miler and NOT calling it a long run!


After I showered and had breakfast, my mom asked me if I wanted to go with her to take the boys to the wave pool at the Metropark. I really didn't want to swim (the temp was still in the 60's), but I thought it would be fun to go watch them play. The pool is at the park where my dad works during the summer, so he was able to get us free passes for the pool, as well as a huge inflatable water slide. When I saw the slide, I kind of wished I'd brought my bathing suit--it looked fun!

Instead, I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt--in AUGUST. This has been a very odd summer. I could count on one hand the number of people at the pool today; the kids practically had the whole thing to themselves.

Poolside in a sweatshirt and jeans
This was the kids' first time at the wave pool, so they didn't really know what to expect. They ended up loving it, so I think when Jerry has a day off, we'll go back (and I'll swim, regardless of how cold it is). After they were done swimming, they went down the slide a few dozen times each.


Doesn't it look fun? My mom was in her bathing suit, and I told her she should go on it. It took a little convincing, but she did it! I took a video, but I won't embarrass her by posting it. She was laughing all the way down, so I think she had fun ;)

By the time I got home, I was starving for lunch. I threw together what ended up being a very yummy wrap. Remember how I posted about those chicken sausages I found at Sam's Club? Lots of people suggested I try the fajita flavored ones, so I bought some a few days ago. Holy smokes, those are GOOD. I made scrambled eggs with the (sliced) chicken sausage mixed in, and then wrapped it in a tortilla. I inhaled it before I could take a photo, unfortunately!

7 comments:

  1. I'm envious of your weather! I just moved from Texas to Mississippi, and while the weather is about 20 degrees cooler, I now get the lovely bonus of humidity. I think fall will be nice, though. And I'd rather hang in jeans and a sweatshirt while others play in water any day! I'm not much of a water hole type of gal :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm hating this weather! I want my summer! I'm freezing!
    Anyway, what I wanted to ask you is when did you get the new Garmin? Is that the 910XT? My 205 battery life is getting shorter and shorter so I'm going to have to replace it before the Chicago Marathon. So far, it hasn't died on a run.
    A Garmin rep was at Running Fit for our group run last week and had all the newest models with her. We got to try them on, push all the buttons, run around the building and see how they work. I am going back and forth between the one you have on and the 210. I wore the pink 10 for our run but it doesn't have one feature that I use so that one is out.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Funny ... my blog post today is called "Batteries" ... I hate when they run out. At least you noticed in time.

    I stumbled upon your blog yesterday (I've just started looking at all the weight loss/fitness blogs) ... and then flipping through my Fitness magazine (ok, I'm WAY behind, it's July/August of 2012) and saw your blog featured there. So it seems I'm supposed to be checking out your blog as I was lead to it twice in two days. *Ü*

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good you noticed the battery in Garmin.
    I have a Q.
    Will you be getting Readers Q.A back soon?
    #So I have started to get back on track but I feel like I starving.
    Did you have two snaacks while you shed the weight?

    I realzed that my todays total was1376 cals...after I ate extra.
    And I feel if I eat so less I never feel FULL.
    What Iam meaning to ask is
    How dis you bulk up your meals.What desserts did you have.

    I know Its a lot to ask But will appreciate if you could please give a sample menu of two days when you lost weight.

    Happy Anniversary to you and yours.
    Much love
    Your biggest fan in India
    z

    ReplyDelete
  5. sorry for the typos.
    Posting from my cell.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Haha, I love how you were "struggling" to hit your pace and how it was bouncing up and down... then I scroll down to your splits and they are SUPER consistant. I guess you were slowing down/speeding up to get close when the mile would beep, but still, great job!

    I took some of your advice the other day and did my normal run WAY slower than I usually would. Averaged 9:52/mile. It felt GREAT! While I don't think I can do that more than once a week, it was great to get the miles in and still feel super fresh afterward! I could see how taking it easier would lead to much more effective and targeted speed/long runs.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good for your mom! The video is probably shaky from you laughing as well!

    ReplyDelete

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