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.
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!
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 |
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!
