My Life According to Google

I was going to go running early this morning, but Pete ended up wanting to ride up to Bountiful and back down with some friends before work so he got the early workout slot. That's ok. I just went in and did my swim first. Here's what my plan said to do:

S:
6 x 400 even split for each at RPE 2-3

But I forgot to bring it with me, and didn't even check it before I left so I had to go off of memory. It wasn't a very good memory. I was actually thinking of Monday's swim I guess because this is what I did:

Warmup: 500

Main: 1500

Cool Down: 100 easy, 50 back

I decided to shoot for 31:00 on the 1500, and I did it in 30:40! I was pretty happy with that. I just kept imagining St. George, and how cool it would be to be among the first out of the water, instead of the very last. Ok, I just looked at swim times from 2007 and it looks like most people were under 30:00. More like 23:00. I guess I won't be among the first. But, still, 31:00 is good.

After the kids got out of school, I headed up to Sugarhouse to drop the kids off at my friend, Ann's house. They were all so excited to go play over there so that was nice not to have to pry any crying children off me when I left on my run:

R: 130 minute long run. 100 minutes at RPE 3, 30 minutes finish at RPE 5-7.

If you haven't experimented with gels and drinks, start here. Take a bottle to sip from every 20mins. Or so. Consume 1 gel at the 50 minute point. Try using sports drink for hydration and note any stomach problems after the gel. If so, switch to water in future runs.

I put on a lot of sunscreen, filled my fuel belt with power-aid, water, 2 servings of Hammer Gel, and my phone. Then I just set out for Liberty Park which is about 3 miles from Ann's house. I got there in half an hour, then I got onto the trail that goes around the park. It's a nice wood chip trail, and I thought again of St. George and how this would be good practice for it since it's a trail run. Since I don't have any trails around here with thick, burning, red sand, this will have to do. 

I felt really good the whole time. No stomach problems using the Gel and the Power-aid, though I did drink water right after the Gel since that's what I'm used to. It just seems like overkill to chase a sugary goo down with some sugary liquid when the flavors don't exactly go together. Apple Cinnamon followed by lemon anyone?

I ran around the park 3 times, then I had half an hour left so I ran back and tried to push it harder. It was hard to tell exactly how much harder I pushed it because I didn't have my heart-rate monitor on, but I didn't feel as footloose and fancy-free as I did for the beginning of my run. Not that I had been feeling totally free at the beginning because of that stupid fuel belt. It's actually Pete's so it doesn't fit me right and it was bouncing around on my waist for the first little while. This was not comfortable with the sunburn. Then I pushed it really low on my hips where it wasn't so bad, but I still didn't really like having it on. It's nice to have all that stuff with me, though. Just in case.

Anyway, the last little bit was hard, especially because Ann lives at the top of a little hill (couldn't you have bought a house a little lower down in the valley, Ann?). My knee started hurting a little at the very end, so I cut it a little short. I stopped running at 2:05 then walked a little before turning into her house to get the kids. Overall it was a really good run. I felt really good for most of it, and don't feel too beat-up now. I am icing my knees tonight just as a precaution. They don't hurt, but my training plan says "Ice your knees after every long or hard run—whether you’re injured or not." so that's what I'm doing. My ankles actually hurt more than my knees. Probably not used to running on uneven ground.

According to Google, I did exactly 11 miles. That's not really as many as I would have liked, but oh well. Let's see 11 miles in 125 minutes is slower than 11 minute miles. I need Heather to make me go faster!