Week 8

Last week's long run didn't go as planned. First I set my alarm but forgot to actually turn it on. So I woke up to two little monkeys jumping on my bed telling me it was time to "wakie-wakie!" And missed the first group run I was planning on doing. I was determined to make it happen anyway, so I got on my computer to map a route. City Creek sounded like a good idea. New scenery, gradual elevation. Going up= fun coming down in my book. So I maped my 11 mile run and zoomed in on google maps to find my marker, a water reservoir right at mile 5.5, perfect!  or so I thought. So I ran, no running buddy, Mrs. B. has had a situation come up and unfortunately she is postponing her Marathon training to give priority to other things going on in her life right now.  Someone in my ward told me about a running group she is actually part of and I will start training with her and the group on the weekends, support van and all, YAY!

It was so nice to be able to go on a run by myself. It is true you shouldn't always run alone, but also that you should not always run with company. Being aware of yourself, listening your own thoughts and breathing as your feet pound the road, it's kind of spiritual. A very powerful thing. Add being wrapped by falling snow as you cruise down the Canyon and it can not get any better than that. I needed this run. Now for the bad news. What I thought would be 11 miles, turned out to be 11 km= 9 miles. Duh! I didn't change the little option to read distance in km to ml! I was so surprised with my time, I knew there had to be something off. I had to recheck my map when I got home and sure enough. I'm not as fast as I thought that day. Such a dummy! Anyway, this will not happen again, I hope.

The plan for this weekend will be to turn my alarm on to wake up on time to go on a 14 mile run with the group.

On another note. I was able to read about the Yasso speed training technique and tried it out for the first time today. I am a little challenged when it comes to all the gibberish often used when talking about running and found that this actually made sense. It was simple and easy to remember, so I tried it and loved it. I specially like the part where it says that my projected time for the marathon can be foretold with this simple technique. So I will be making it part of my training once a week until tapering week.  Thanks for the plug Jen!

Week 8 training schedule.

Monday: 4 miles easy recovery run
Tuesday:  Crosstrain. 1 hr Zumba aerobics.
Wednesday: 6 mile pace run
Thursday:  2 mile warm up. 4 x Yasso 800s
Friday:  Stretch, abs and upper body.
Saturday: 14 miles long run.

Hope you are having a great time running too!