Double Digits

First 10-miler today! The weather was great, around 70 and partly cloudy. Hubby has been having a problem with his hip so he ran the first 2/3rds of it with me and I ran the rest solo. I walked for 1/4 mile during mile 9 but other than that I ran the rest. I was sooo tempted to walk a second time but I knew I would regret not giving it my all. We beat our previous 8k and 10k times (56:44 and 1:11.25, previously 57:57 and 1:15.01) and my total time was 1:59.04/11:54 min pace. Not bad! Much better than my 8-mile and 9-mile runs. Next weekend is only 8 miles so that should go fine.

Afterwards I kind of felt like I was going to pass out. I made it through the door and had to sit down right away, I had no energy left at all. Hubby made me get up and walk around to cool down and let my heart rate slow down gradually. I started guzzling water and powerade and hubby cut me up an apple. After a few minutes I felt better but I was still pretty drained for awhile. I should probably start eating breakfast before my long runs, I am just used to getting up during the week and going straight out for my short runs. I had two Gu's during the run but it wasn't quite enough to balance out the 1,100 calories I burned :)

I also technically hit my 3rd goal weight after the run, but of course I am not counting this as my real weight. It's still fun to see the number on the scale though :) I keep lowering my final goal weight, when I started I wasn't sure how low I could go since I haven't been this low since I was in elementary school. So far I've been hitting all my goals luckily. We are going on vacation in 3 weeks so hopefully I'll be close to my (new) final goal by then so I don't have to diet during vacation.

Running is so much more fun when its not 85 degrees out!

This morning I got up to do my usual 4-mile run and when I checked my phone it was only 70 degrees out! I decided I could do a slow 4-miler any time, so I should take advantage of the weather and do a fast 5K.

Mile 1: 10:02
Mile 2: 9:58
Mile 3: 10:28
.01: 0:48.
Total time 31:16, average pace 10:06. Beat my old 5K time (33:42) by almost 2 1/2 minutes!

It felt good to actually feel like I was running and not just jogging/running in slow-motion. It was so much cooler too, I didn't feel like I was in a sauna the whole time. I am definitely looking forward to the fall and cooler running temps. I told hubby, next summer I am not training for a half-marathon, long runs in the heat take all the fun out of running. I can do a spring/late spring race, and a late fall race, but nothing from June-September. At least not while we are living in the south. I'm jealous of all my friends that get to run in Oregon, it was perfect running weather last time I was there. That is one advantage of the climate that everyone seems to complain about!

It ain't pretty

Today hubby and I had what I call an "ugly" run. A 9-miler was on deck, and despite the current heat wave we set out at 6am, both dreading it. It was already about 83 and fairly muggy when we started. We went to the golf course since it has a 3-mile loop and we could stop back at the car between loops to refuel and rehydrate. Even hubby, who never sweats when we go at my pace, was sweating. I hate walking before I really need to, but we knew with the heat and humidity we would have to be careful. After about 5 miles I got really mad at the weather and just wanted to be done. There were bugs flying everywhere (tons of gnats, dragonflies and giant moths in this region) and they kept hitting us in the face and buzzing by our ears. I was completely soaked in sweat, luckily I brought a towel so I could dry off before getting in the car. We were SO GLAD to be done and not have it hanging over our head all weekend. Next week will be 10 miles but I don't even want to think about that right now!

Have you seen my running mojo?

I don't know where it went. My two 4-mile runs this week were awful. My pace wasn't horrible but it wasn't great - 11:38 on Tuesday and 11:29 today - but I just felt terrible. I had no energy, my legs were fatigued (which never happens), I felt nauseas, I started to get stomach cramps (which also never happens). It was a struggle just to finish. It's frustrating because I've had three great running weeks with no problems, not even on my long runs. It doesn't give me a lot of confidence going into my 9-miler this weekend. Hubby says not to worry and everyone has bad days, but I haven't had a bad run in almost a month. It was 78* and pretty humid both mornings, but that's how its been for the last 2 months and I've been fine. Hopefully I find my mojo again cause I don't know how many more runs like this I can take!

Good running week

I'm very pleased with the 3 solid runs I got in this week:

Sunday - 8 miles, 12:30ish pace (didnt bring Garmin, just a normal watch)

Tuesday - 4 miles, 11:51 pace (still recovering from long run)

Thursday - 4 miles, 11:02 pace (love my splits! 11:18, 11:00, 10:56, 10:54)

The average temp at 6am is around 77, and humidity so high the windows are completely steamed up when I wake up. I wonder how much faster I could go if it was just 10 degrees cooler. Right now I'm just trying to make the best of the weather. Only about 2 months of summer left!

Coming up I have 6 miles on Saturday (my bday!) then two more 4-milers next week. Maybe I'll work in a speed workout too. I'd like to work up to doing 3-4 miles at 10:30/mile so I can improve my 5k time. Can't wait till fall weather comes!

8 miles and 20 pounds

Our heat wave finally broke this weekend and it was a surprisingly cool 73 at 6 this morning. Made for perfect long-run weather! Hubby had to leave at 6am for a (military) PT test so it helped having someone else get up early with me. I set out to do 8 miles, fully aware I would probably have to take walk breaks. I didn't have the Garmin since hub was using it for his test, but I had measured a loop around our apartment that was 1 1/3 miles so I ran that 6 times. Surprisingly I was able to run the whole 8 miles! I felt pretty good till the last mile when I started to lose steam. I had a Powerade gel after 4 miles, it probably would have helped if I had another later on but I was stopping at 8 so I didn't.

Immediately after my run my stomach started freaking out. It couldn't decide if it was hungry, nauseaus, or crampy. It's been about 2 hours and I still feel pretty crappy. This is the only bad thing about running, the post-long-run stomach issues. It is the only thing that may keep me from doing long-runs in the long-term. I'm hoping my body will adjust as I do more long runs but so far I have problems if I go more than 3 1/2 miles, with rare exceptions.

For the rest of the day I'm just going to relax, maybe ice my aching ankle and knee. Eat some ice cream and cookies, it is my cheat day after all and I burned about 1000 cals this morning. Oh! Which reminds me, after my run I weighed and I was at a new lowest weight ever, again! Down exactly 20 lbs from March. Some of it was from sweating, but I did drink 20 oz of water during my run so it's not too much lower than my "real" weight. Whoo-hoo!

Weekend Update

Had a great holiday weekend in Alexandria. Spent some time in DC and Baltimore, did a lot of walking, ate some delicious but guilt-inducing food. I tried to be good because I always gain weight on vacation, but I wanted to enjoy myself a little bit. I decided to be good for breakfast and lunch, and then be "bad" for dinner and dessert. Nothing like some Pops ice cream and Lavendar Moon cupcakes! Got two good workouts in, one 3 1/2 mile tempo run and one 2 mile speed workout. Plus several hours of walking each day. So overall I think I did pretty good.

This morning I went out for a tempo run and ended up doing 6 1/2 miles. I was pretty happy with my splits, usually I slow down after the first 2 miles but today I kept pace pretty well till the last mile: 11:33, 11:40, 11:33, 11:33, 11:43, 11:57. I know I've said it a million times on here but HM goal pace is 11:27. Weather was pretty good this morning, around 75 with a light breeze and low humidity. About as good as it gets here in the summer. I wish every morning was like that! Much better than 85 and humid.

We went to a Pacers running store in Alexandria, they had an awesome selection of gels (25-30 options if not more) so I got a few that I haven't seen around here. I tried one out today - Chocolate Mint - amazing! It tastes like a york peppermint patty. I'm going to order some on Amazon I think. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for 8 miles next week and hopefully having some tasty Gu to look forward to will help!