Monday, May 28, 2012

Run 1.8/1.9 - Eye of the Tiger

Lady - just because!
My 8th run was pretty good. Short, fast, easy, sweet. It was just 3 miles on Saturday, so not a whole lot to talk about. I did notice that it was warmer out and so sweat happened a bit more than before, but since it was only three miles it wasn't anything unbearable. Part of my path is now blocked off for a big construction project which actually then opened the door for me to explore new paths. I ended up sort of making one big circle, ran into my friend twice and ...ran the whole thing, no problem! That hill that used to plague me when I started running is now nothing to me. I freaking love it!!

The 9th run was my long run for the week on Sunday, giving me 20 miles for the week. On tap was 6 miles. Going into it I felt pretty excited and confident. At this point I hadn't walked a single step during the week's training. My goals for this run were a) get up early and be out the door running by 9 a.m. b) eat something simple like I would before a race and c) run 5 miles without any walking.

For Rose!
I was up before my alarm went off, put on running clothes, had a Power Crunch bar - seriously these are freaking DELICIOUS! I bought two boxes of them at the last expo and it was my best purchase ever at an expo!!, and was out the door at 9am on the dot! And I was off. Deliberately trying to run slower, I felt pretty good. I haven't run 5 days in a week in .... ever. But my body was handling it just fine. I'm pretty happy with the marathon training plan I settled on!  I kept it "slower" and just trying to steadily plug along. I'd weave around and do whatever I needed to do to avoid having to stop at any traffic signals, thus ruining my goal of no stopping. Sure enough I hit 5 miles and never walked ... and I just kept going!  At 5.44 in I was at my water fountain. I was pretty dehydrated since I was distracted and forgot to keep drinking water this week, so I had to stop. Physically I could have kept going, but really the water was screaming at me. So I did pause for a very short break at the fountain - then continued running. I finished out those 6 miles, never once walking!  And I wanted to note (to myself mainly) that this is a PR for the longest distance I've ever run without any pause or walking. Next weekend I want to beat that 5.44 with maybe 6! Maybe more!

I declare this my best running performance so far! Steady, no walking, not too strenuous, but also not like it was so easy that I wasn't working. What did help was when I was getting my sip of water and a song came on ... THE song. The song that brings images of mile 12 in the Disneyland Half Marathon. I'll set the scene -- Hot. Hours of silliness. Nearing the end of my favorite race experience .... the experience of Team Jam. Rose and I screaming Eye of the Tiger at the top of our lungs all the way through the finish line. Giraffy looking at us like we are idiots. It was awesome! And it was all of these memories flooding my head that helped me finish out a great 6th mile! And then in honor of Rose I was pretty proud of myself when I got home and saw what had happened to my shirt. So proud - I had to take a photo!


5 comments:

  1. You are KILLING this training! I am so happy for you. And damn, girl, that pit stain is impressive.

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    1. Thanks -- and I thought you'd be proud of that pit! My hat was completely soaked through, too. I swear that pit stain made this entire run worthwhile!!

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  2. Just please remember to listen to your body, if it tells you that you need some rest, please take it. I would rather you took a couple of days off, than you hurting yourself.

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  3. I absolutely love Eye of the Tiger! It has got to be on a Top 10 list of most motivational songs. Very nice run!!!

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  4. Only you can make a pit stain looks fabulous!

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