Hills Are My Friend

Hey everybody! Thanks to everyone who came over and gave me encouragement on my last post! Sometimes I guess I just get a bit needy. :)

Thursday night Pete thought he had a early meeting in the morning, so I just planned on not going swimming. Then, after I'd already stayed up late writing in my blog and watching The Duchess, he found out he didn't have to go. Well, since it was already late, I just decided to stick with the plan of sleeping in (until 7, yeah!).

Amazingly, I wasn't really sore from that speed workout the day before when I woke up in the morning! I dropped the kids off at school then went to the store to get a balloon and some candy to give Ethan at the Student of the Month assembly at 9:00. Yep, Ethan was student of the month for his class! I'm so proud of him!

I was a little worried that the assembly would go long and I wouldn't have time to get to the gym and do my workout before the childcare closed, but I ended up being able to get out pretty quick!

I headed over to the gym for a treadmill run. It was supposed to be 5 miles total with 2 miles being at goal 10k pace which is 8:30 min/mile.

Well, I did the first 2 miles with the speed on 6, then as I got closer to the end of the second mile, I started to increase the speed. I had to put it up to 6.8 (I think) to get a 8:34 min/mile pace. I barely managed to finish the mile, and I had to stop for a minute, get off and get a drink when it was over. Then I ran slow, speed on 5, for half a mile before attempting the second mile. I didn't quite get the whole mile at 6.8, I had to slow down just a few clicks because I was afraid I'd fall off the back of the treadmill! Then I ran slow for the last half mile to finish the distance, and make sure I wasn't going to pass out when I got off the machine.

Total Distance: 5 miles

Total Time: 49:21

Last night, Pete's work had a recognition dinner for his team, and it was really fun. He works with some really cool people so it's always fun to get together with them and their wives (who are also really cool of course!). Here I am with two of my friends/other wives.

My sister, Katie, also slept over last night so we planned to do a run together this morning. She's just getting back into running, and we're planning on doing the Utah Valley Marathon together with our sister-in-law in June. She agreed to the run, but with the disclaimer, "I'm really slow." I told her that was ok, that this was my long run so I could go as slow as I wanted!

Today was a long run day for both of us - 3 for her and 7 for me, and I took her up to where I ran last week because it was so much fun! The road we ran on (Bonneville Blvd.) goes around a little canyon and is exactly 3 miles around and back so that's what she was going to do, and I was just going to add a mile before turning around, then run home from where we parked by the Capitol. I started out running with Katie, and it was really fun to have someone to talk to and run with, but I did start itching to run faster. After the first mile, I told her I'd meet her at the car to get a drink and she was fine with running by herself so we parted ways.

I got out of the canyon, ran a mile, then started back down the canyon, and I saw her running up the other side! I just felt so proud of her seeing her run up that road so I had to stop and take a picture!

If you can see her running up that higher road in the picture, then you're really good because I don't think I actually got her in the frame! Sorry Katie! My phone was just too fogged up to even tell what I was looking at, and you can see the lens was fogged up as well. It wasn't really that foggy out there. At least, I don't think it was. It was just really cold, like 23 degrees, but I felt really good the whole time - even when big puffs of white were coming out when I exhaled.

She waited for me at her car so I could get a drink, then she headed back to my house to shower while I ran home. I think she had a good run, and I hope it helped make her excited to run more in the next few weeks while she works her schedule out.

I had a great run, it was just so much fun, and I got going really fast coming down the steep hill from the Capitol. When the road flattened out, I felt really slow so I pushed it really hard for my last few miles! I'm really happy with my speed, and that I pretty much got faster as I went the whole time! Negative splits are the BEST! :)

1. 13:41
2. 10:23
3. 9:22
4. 8:54
5. 8:29
6. 8:14
7. 8:58

Total Distance: 7 Miles

Total Time: 1:08

Average Pace: 9:43 min/mile

Best Pace: 6:22 min/mile (I can't image doing that for more than a few seconds, and on a flat surface!!)

Katie and I talked about how we're both able to go faster running outside than running on a treadmill, and that it's hard to get that good feeling you get at the end of a run when you run on a treadmill. I love running outside, and I'm going to try and do it at least once every week or 2 so I can remember how much fun it is! The air didn't seem as bad today so I hope it wasn't harmful for us to run in it. Being so high up above the valley probably helped too.

I told Katie not to avoid hills when doing her long runs. That's what I did when training for St. George, and I think that was my main downfall. I did all my long runs on hills when I trained for the Ironman and it was just so much better! So I will keep running up and down hills as much as I can. Hills are my friend.