Saturday, November 27, 2010

A Great 11.5K - I Really Enjoyed It! :) :)

Day #5, Week #3 Road Work training
11.5K @ 1:23:31
Avg. Pace 7:15 min/km
2 degrees C

I checked my time/post from last Saturday and I am slower this week by less than a minute - LOL!

This week's post may turn into a bit of a repeat of last Saturday's post. I am sitting down now with a celebratory red glass of wine, and I am still a "happy camper" about my distance and time. I was a little surprised to learn that my time was slower (not a big deal at all, really!), but only because my run felt so much better today than last week. If anything, I was more into my run, paying attention to my breathing and how I was feeling throughout the run itself, rather than zoning out into my own thoughts, as I have written about before. Maybe I should point out that I ran the other way around Storybook Gardens, as in running up the long hill behind the park today rather than down it, like I did last week, which might account for a slower time - LOL! But really, who cares, right? What matters is that I was able to get out there, and do my thing, as scheduled, and I now have 3 weeks out of 14 officially behind me. 11 more to go !!!?!! :)

I was pleased with what I wore today, too. My apologies to anyone who finds this boring, but I am using this blog as a running diary, and tracking my clothing choices during certain temperatures demonstrates my learning curve as I try to better understand what will work best for me. This will be my first winter for running. As I noted in a previous post, I stopped running regularly last year as of December 23rd, just before the first big snow fell. I only ran once in January and once in February because I was too paranoid about running in the snow. This coming winter is when I am trying to put that behind me and embrace the snow season as my new running environment ... today I wore a blue windbreaker over a l/s winter running shirt (both were given to me by my MIL), and opted to start with a headband and thin gloves. I ended up eventually taking the mitts and headband off, but the rest was perfect.

Angus and Wallace ran with me. I always feel guilty about leaving the third one (this time, Kim) at home, but I only have two hands/arms in case anything happens out on the public trail. I am not willing to try taking all three at this time, even though I do it when I go for a short run at the cemetery and they are great. We'll see.

No camera today - Benny used it for his hobby so I have no pics. Maybe this is just as well since I was doing my long run today? Now that "10Ks" are becoming my "average" run, :) :) :) perhaps I will take the camera with me Monday. I honestly do want to make my blog appear less "wordy" with some pics ... :), but I digress ...

Another thing I did today was to ingest a Vega Sport packet as pre-run drink. I found it on sale for less than $2 at Loblaws in the organic section/protein powders. I am not sure if I should attribute my energy level during my run to it, but I think I will head back to Loblaws, scoop up a few more packets, and try them out on various runs to measure my results. I may try this in my water bottles for my 13K later this week, too.

Another item I want to record ... I am feeling so good these days!! The day I started the training program, I also started paying much closer attention to what I was eating. I am conscious of everything I am putting in my mouth. It has not been perfect, per se, but it has been 80% of the time (guess-timate). After three weeks, I see and feel a physical difference. I have a runner's high every day after my run (whereas I did not necessarily before), I am sleeping more deeply and better, and I am not having cravings for certain foods. I think I might be addicted to my after run shake (I am substituting kale for spinach these days), and whenever we have gone out for dinner, I am ordering a salad (and thankfully, enjoying it, too!). I am very jazzed by this and hope to continue with it as a lifestyle change ...

One last thing ... I posted this on my dailymile.com. i.d. to solicit advice so why not here ...? I have a fun 5K run this Saturday - the Salvation Army Santa Shuffle. Week #4 of my training schedule for next week is as follows:

Today (Sat) 11.5K
SUN rest
MON 10K
TU 8K + 4 striders
W 10K
TH 5K or OFF
F 8K + 4 striders
SAT 13K
SUN rest
Repeat Week #5

What would you change/switch if you were me? Keep in mind that this will be my first week for striders and my first week for a long run 13K. If you have an opinion, please advise via comments and thank you! :)

1 comment:

  1. I would adjust your schedule so that you are running less towards the run and do not run the LSD after the run. I would rest Today (Sun) and Monday, 10 K Wednesday, off Thursday and small run 2 K on Friday, race Saturday and rest Sunday then back to normal. Start striders next week.

    I used to use Vega Sport, but have switched to Edisks, electrolyte replacement and little water required. 2 disks, which dissolve inyour mouth, are equalivent to 2 bottles of gatorade. The nice part is they are way cheaper.

    Good luck on the run. Run strong injury free and fast.

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