Heading For The Hills

This was a great training week for me. Mostly easy runs but they were really enjoyable and I felt relaxed after each one. I also took it easy on the bike this week so it was a pretty good week for me. And it was warmer! Woo!

Only one week until the Buffalo Run next Saturday. Am I ready? I guess as ready as I'll ever be. I've been with my coach for a month now and I think the strength, mobility, and hill sprints have made me stronger. I can really feel the changes in my body and my running and it's very, very cool. I also reviewed and adjusted my calorie intake this week and I think that helped too. I'm trying to eat more veggies and fruit. I'm doing okay on the fruit but not so much on the veggies. I'm trying though.

This week, I ran a 7 miler with 3 miles at tempo and they were 8:44, 8:46, and 8:46! The previous week they were 9:00ish and these felt even slightly easier than last week's. I did a little jig afterwards. Yes, I'm easily pleased. I run tempos by "feel". Actually, more like by how hard I'm breathing so it's based on perception not a heart rate monitor or my garmin (though I wear one) but it works for me.

Today's long run was only 10 miles. I didn't decide until this morning what route I was going to do. Should I do flat & road, flat & dirt, or hills & dirt. I ended up choosing hills & dirt and I think it was a great choice. Nice and warm this morning and for the past few days so the trails were mostly dry. I split the route up so the first half was climbing and technical and the second half was easy on smoother, rolling trails. I am not as good on the technical descents as I would like so my time was slower than I'd hoped - 1:53:38. There was 751 ft of climbing and most of that was in the 1st half.

I have to do twice that next week. The most I've ever done was 1000ft. Should be interesting! But I'm excited.

A few more things about today's run - I didn't eat any waffles or drink any Gu Brew during, just water. I had about 400 calories a couple hours before the run. I felt fine so that went okay. I also didn't push the hills (up or down). I was probably a little slower on the downhills than I needed to be but I was trying to be careful and not trip or fall. That's the last thing I need with the Buffalo Run next week! I wore my Kinvaras and they did great. They even got soaked twice because the stream had a good amount of water flowing and the crossing I picked was over my ankles. Forgot to bring extra shoes though for the drive home. Ugh.

I get a massage tomorrow. 90 minutes with Carlos. He's probably going to make me hurt. Hopefully, not to bad!