I really didn't want to get up and run this morning. Mondays are so hard! I thought about all the other times I could run or what else I could do, and just how nice it would be to go back to bed. But going back to bed is over-rated! (at least most of the time, sometimes it truly is needed)
I got up 15 minutes after my alarm went off and got myself going.
I started out on my run, then remembered I was supposed to turn on the sprinkler before I left! So I turned around and ran home to do that. Of course, this was the first time turning on this sprinkler for the year so I had to dig the dirt out from around the valve before I could start it. Then I noticed it was spraying Pete's car, and knew he wouldn't be happy about that so I ran inside to wash my hands and grab his keys so I could move his car.
Whew!
Then I got going again. The good thing about all that commotion was that it warmed me up and I was able to just leave my jacket at home. I still had long sleeves and gloves on because it was quite a chilly morning.
I wanted to do a 60 minute tempo run, with the middle 30 minutes as close to 9 min/mile pace as I could get them.
Well, the Garmin was going crazy and telling me my easy warm-up pace was like 6 min/mile! So, I turned it off and turned it back on, hoping to fix the problem. Then for some reason it wasn't picking up my heart rate monitor! Arg! So, I just went with it like that and tried to keep my pace. I did pretty good, I think. I ran for 10 minutes, then stopped at the bathroom, the did 10 more minutes fast and turned around. I stopped and walked for a few minutes while I turned the Garmin off and on again to see if I could get it to pick up my heart rate. It worked!
Unfortunately, I discovered that I'm in zone 3 (the no-no zone) when I'm hitting my tempo pace. I can almost stay at the very top of zone 2 at a 10 min/mile pace. Hmmm, I'm not sure what to do. Is it ok to be in zone 3 for tempo runs? I don't know enough about heart rate training! Should I be taking it easier and keeping it in zone 2, or should I be pushing harder and getting it up to zone 4? I don't know if I could keep my heart rate up in zone 4 for 10 minutes...
So, my last 10 minutes weren't quite as fast because I was doubting myself, and not sure what I should even be doing. I tried to finish out the run in zone 2 as close to 10 min/mile as I could.
If you know anything about heart rate training, would you please tell me what you think I should do?? I've tried looking it up, but didn't really find a clear answer about what heart rate zone you should be in for a tempo run.
Anyway, it was a great run, and I'm so glad I went! I managed to do about 6.3 miles in 63 minutes (I think, all the stopping and starting I had to do messed things up so I had to use math!) so I was happy!
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I got home, stretched, made breakfast and got the kids to school just in the nick of time. As usual.
Then George and I went strait over to the Rec Center so I could do my swim. I took him into the daycare and he was happy and excited to play with the toys until I stood up to leave. :( Then he started screaming. The poor lady who was working in there just took him, and I ran out. I hate having to do that! But I would really like to get him used to going there. It's just so hard!
I cut my swim short because I wanted pick up George after an hour, and that would include locker room time so I only swam for 45 minutes. Here's what I did:
300 warm up
200 drills (50 of each: finger drag, one arm, catch-up, 6x6)
16 x 25 on :30 (basically :10 rest)
1:00 rest
400 (I did it in 7:20)
1:00 rest
16 x 25 on :30 (again!)
150 cool down
Now that's a solid workout! Doing 16 of anything (twice!) is just hard! But I also really liked it and was able to keep my 25s at around :20 most of the time!
George was crying when I picked him up, but at least she said that he only cried off and on, not constantly. He'd play, then remember I was gone and get upset again. On my way out, the guy at the front desk was even like, "Oh is this the little guy? He's got a good pair of lungs!" I'll keep trying and see if it gets better or worse. It's just so hard, and he was sad for the next 10-15 minutes after we left too. I hate to traumatize the poor little guy! He's napping now so that's a relief.
Overall, good morning of workouts, and I'm so glad Pete did the dishes last night so I can just sit during nap time instead of having a bunch of housework to do.
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