Monday was Memorial Day, and a very welcome extra day of the weekend. Mr. R&R and I got a few things done around the house and then I took to the kitchen to stock the freezer with healthy heat and eat foods. We've been so crazy trying to fit in training, working, etc., that we found ourselves going out for dinner far too much, so we decided to give this a try. In the course of the afternoon, I managed to make and freeze 8 black bean burgers, 32 baked falafel patties, 3 meals worth of snobby joes, and 52 individually frozen balls of chocolate chip cookie dough. Somewhere in middle of all of this, Little Brother stopped by to drop off a whole bunch of old albums for us to peruse. Recently, my mom gave me her old record collection and Mr. R&R and I purchased a record player online and have become totally enamored with vinyl. Favorites so far include The Beatles Sargent Pepper and Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. He hung around for about an hour and a half, eyeing the things being loaded into the freezer with suspicion (if it's not processed to death, he won't eat it), before heading off to a Memorial Day barbecue.
I should have run 5 miles on Tuesday, but I'd slept like crap on Monday night and couldn't keep my eyes open when I got home. I wasn't happy about it, but I took another rest day.
On Wednesday night, Mr. R&R and I went for a speedy 3 miles together. I guess the extra rest day was worth it because those 3 miles freakin' flew by. The pace was tough, but I had control of my breathing the whole time and I never had an "I can't do this" moment. It was glorious - and really couldn't have come at a better time since I've been a little down on myself about my inability to run fast lately.
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| 5 seconds/mile FASTER than my 5k PR pace! |
When we got home, I threw a couple of those baked falafel patties in the oven and within 20 minutes we were chowing down on delicious salads and watching Deadliest Catch. That's my kind of fast food!
Thursday night was another ride on the Rail Trail. I think the traffic gods were in a good mood or something because we barely had to wait at any of the road crossings! I also started feeling comfortable on my bike again - and my speed showed it. I'm slowly, but surely getting my bike speed back with every ride and rides like this one make me want to do nothing more than ride my bike for hours!
Friday night was another Swim Night. I was in no mood to swim whatsoever, but I bribed myself with the promise of only swimming for 30 minutes and dinner out when I got home. I was 5 kinds of train wreck in the pool - at one point I stopped my watch instead of hitting the lap button, so it never recorded the most comfortable 100 yards I've ever swam! I dragged myself through the rest of the time and was more than happy to head home and de-chlorinate.
And as promised, I was rewarded with dinner at Habanero's - and 2 sangrias that immediately transported me back to Puerto Rico when I tasted them.
Friday night was also D-Day for me - Decision Day. I'd emailed the race director of the Hartfest Half Marathon prior to Memorial Day inquiring about a course map, race day details, etc. - basically the standard stuff that's usually available on the race website, but wasn't in this case. I'd heard nothing for over a week and was becoming quite concerned that a) the race was going to be cancelled altogether since I hadn't heard a peep from them since I'd registered months ago and/or b) that this race was going to be a total cluster$%&#. The way I was seeing it was that it was either going to be a complete waste of some very hard training or possibly dangerous. I wasn't pleased, but for a $28 registration fee, maybe I was expecting too much. Earlier in the week I'd received an email about another half marathon happening in the area on the same day - with a 7am start time! However, the fees for this race are much more expensive. At this stage of the game, the price tag was $85 and would be going up to $95 the next day. After much discussion with Mr. R&R, I decided that $28 was my Stupid Tax for not pursuing answers a lot sooner and we both registered for the 4th Annual Rock 'n Sole half marathon - thus the change to RNSHM!
For my $85 I get a tech tshirt, finisher's medal, a free Summerfest ticket (which is worth $20 anyway), free admission to Polish Fest after the race, and something even more valuable in my opinion - a chance to run over the Hoan Bridge. This bridge is normally part of a freeway, and thus closed to pedestrians, but they're shutting down one side for the race and they're doing it again in August for the USAT Sprint Nationals. Essentially, this is my one and only chance to preview this part of the USAT bike course without zipping over it in a car. Two birds. One stone. Awesome.
Saturday was "get stuff done" day at Casa R&R. We started out a day that was mostly full of unpleasant tasks, like running errands and shopping for tile, with a little trip to the Zoo. Since we're annual members, it was no big deal to wander around for an hour and a half before getting on with our day. The animals, especially the ones from Africa, were quite active!
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| Pretty Birdie |
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| Mr. R&R making new friends |
And on a totally random note, the flowers we planted are not only not dead - they're actually blooming!
Sunday was long run day and we had 11 miles on tap. We were out the door by 10:30 and that wasn't a moment too soon since it got really hot and then poured later in the day. The first half was great! We hit 5.5 miles and I felt like I'd only been running for 3 or 4. Inevitably, we did slow down and have some rough miles toward the end, but all in all, it was a good run day - even if we did cut it a little short since it was getting so hot. Oh, and after last week's near religious slurpee experience, I had taken to Facebook to proclaim that all long runs will now be followed by a ginormous slurpee. I made good on that proclamation on the cool down walk home.
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| Mmmm....Slurpee |
I closed out Week 10 with:
Swim: 800 yards (34 minutes)
Bike: 14 miles (51 minutes)
Run: 13.61 miles (2 hours, 23 minutes)
Strength: 0
Total: 28.11 miles (2 hours, 48 minutes)
My May Totals Were:
Swim: 1.66 miles (1 hour, 38 minutes)
Bike: 42.08 miles (2 hours, 39 minutes)
Run: 57.49 miles (9 hours, 41 minutes)
Strength: 0
Total: 101.23 miles (13 hours, 58 minutes)
Less than 2 full weeks to go!
What was the highlight of your Memorial Day weekend?
1 comment:
You know that 2 favorite things are peacocks and giraffes!
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