Where The Wild Things Are

I promised you that things were about to get a whole lot sweatier around here - and I didn't lie.


Monday, May 11:
When I woke up this morning, it was gray, foggy, and chilly - and I was irritated.  It was only 6:45am, but the bull$#!t voice was already hard at work making up reasons why running just wasn't going to happen tonight.  As the day wore on, the fog turned to pouring rain and the bull$#!t voice went into overdrive.  The voice did a whole lot of work for nothing, because by 6:30pm, it was overcast and windy, but there was no rain.  I got home, put on my running shoes and headed out for four miles.  The first mile was pretty uneventful, other than seeing a great blue heron taking flight over a retention pond.

I had just made it into the parkway when I spotted a wild turkey!.  I remember hearing somewhere that those things are mean, so I moved to the other side of the road and watched as he strutted along.  Somewhere between the turkey and Mile 2 I saw my first bunny of the run (I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but I tend to keep a 'bun count' on my runs as a means of occupying my mind.)  I hit the bottom of my least favorite hill in the world, turned around, and headed back up.  Just before Mile 3, I spotted a little deer peeking out of the woods.  It wasn't a fawn, but it definitely wasn't full grown either.  A little later I spotted 4 more bunnies, bringing the total up to a 5 Bun Run.

Around Mile 3.5, things got super interesting.  I was running up a path through an office park when I spotted a mama deer with her little fawn grazing on the other side of a little drainage creek.  We stared at each other for a moment before they went back to eating and I kept running.  Less than a quarter mile later, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a HUGE coyote standing right in the middle of the path!  I stopped my watch long enough to make an unexpected climb up a muddy hill followed by a cross country run (watch running again at this point) until I was well past the coyote and then scrambled back down to the path.  The remaining bit of my run was, fortunately, free of wild life.

Tuesday, May 12:
My bike has been doing nothing but collecting dust for months but that changed on Tuesday night.  After doing a little rearranging in The Cave, pumping my tires, and remembering how to clip-in/clip-out, I hopped on for a nice, easy 45 minute spin.  My speed was better than I expected and I passed the time watching the beginning of a movie, and I was nice and sweaty (and starving!) when I was done.

Wednesday, May 13:
Groundhog workout time! I needed to run 8x400 and since the track was likely occupied by high school track teams, I decided to do my intervals on the road.  I programmed the desired workout into my 910xt (the VivoActive doesn't have the capacity for these kinds of workouts - yet) and set off in the general direction of my mom's house.  After a brief warmup, it was Groundhog Time and I was really pleased with my split paces!  I ran .25 miles for each one with a minute and a half of rest in between.

Final Verdict:
Split 1: 8:45/mile
Split 2: 8:37/mile
Split 3: 8:26/mile
Split 4: 8:36/mile
Split 5: 8:24/mile
Split 6: 8:34/mile
Split 7: 8:47/mile
Split 8: 8:21/mile

After all the intervals were done, I jogged the remaining quarter mile or so to my mom's house as a cool down and hitched a ride back home along with a healthy does of doggy kisses from Puppy Girl - who really loves sweaty runners!

Thursday, May 14:
I wanted to run.  I really wanted to run, but Mother Nature (and my hatred of sopping wet shoes) had other plans.  I'd just finished changing into running clothes when the sky opened up and showed no signs of stopping any time soon.  Grrrr.  I hauled myself back upstairs and switched to bike clothes.  I got myself situated to ride, flipped my movie from Tuesday on, and hopped on the bike.  OW!!!!!  My booty is not used to the abuse of riding yet and putting any weight on it hurt like a beast.  Fortunately after about 10 minutes, my bum went numb and I was able to get a decent 45 minute ride in - and faster than the one from Tuesday.

Friday, May 15:
I really wanted a beer by the time I left work on Friday, but instead I got a 3.5m pace run.  Pace runs are just what they sound like - every mile run at or near goal race pace.  At this point in the season, I'm not sure exactly what my goal race pace is going to be, so I decided to shoot for 'somewhere around  9:30/mile'.  That pace would be more than enough to beat my half marathon PR, so it seemed like a reasonable goal.  NAILED IT!!!!!

Saturday, May 16:
The original plan called for today to be a rest day, but the forecast called for severe thunderstorms on Sunday.  Looks like my 8 miler was happening today.  I was a little sore and wiped out from the last few days and it was pretty hot and steamy out by the time Mr. R&R and I left the house, so there were no real pace goals - just to run 8 miles.  We ended up running 9.5 miles at about an 11:00/mile pace.  Normally, I'd be absolutely furious at that pace, but I've been doing some research and it's actually recommended to do long runs at a pace 60-90 seconds slower than what you're hoping to do on race day.  For my first 1/2 of the season, I'd be more than happy to run a 9:30-10:00 pace, so it worked.  I chased the run with a less than healthy snack of gummy bears on the walk home - and sugar never tasted so good.

Sunday, May 17:
Rest Day and not a bad choice because those thunderstorms came true!

Weekly Totals:
Bike:   25.49 miles (1 hour, 30 minutes)
Run:    20.22 miles (3 hours, 28 minutes)
Total:   45.71 miles (4 hours, 58 minutes)

How was your week?  What did you do that made you proud of yourself?