Miscellaneous Ramblings

.....and a bit of a catch up.

Well well well -- I've now read quite a few RNRLV recaps and that is one race I'm not sorry I missed.  I had a bib and everything and was bummed that it wasn't going to work out for me but now I'm just thankful.  I miss that I didn't get to meet a bunch of fun nice people but I honestly would have absolutely fallen apart at the end. I guess you just handle it but not fun.

This morning's run was fantastic!  Cold (legit cold - 37F when I got home) but fantastic none the less.  I was FINALLY able to get sub 9min/miles in the dark.  Whoo hoo!  I was just not able to do it before now -- flat out couldn't bring my pace down no matter how much I tried.  I think I was adjusting to the miles build up because I've gone from 24 miles per week to 34 in 10 weeks which I think is very conservative, but still required adjustment.  Last week was my slowest week ever -- I just couldn't move on those early mornings.

Anyway, It was kind of fun running faster in the dark -- the sidewalks suddenly become like a technical trail with things to leap over and dodge -- I live in an older part of town and the sidewalks are a mess.  I run in the street where safe but there are parts that require sidewalks.  So I just focused like I do on the more technical trails I do and went for it.

I think it also helped I was freezing!  I spent 6 miles trying to warm up.

We'll see if I can do a repeat performance tomorrow morning.

The other thing I'm loving is this Yoga for Runners I'm doing through Sportskool on my Roku box.  Sportskool has a bunch of different yoga videos and many for crosstraining.  I found the one for runners and love love love it.  It really stretches every muscle used in running and I feel so much better when done.  They also have one that is ab specific that I want to try and one for golfers I'd like to check out.  I've been having a bit of lower back pain and the write up for the yoga for golfers says is works the lower back to improve swing.  I'm thinking anything that helps my lower back at this point is good.

Anyway -- a quickie recap of last week.

Monday (a week ago - 29th) -- Yoga day

Tuesday - 6.3 miles at 9.30 avg pace (the fastest pace of the week) maybe the fog slowed me down

Wednesday -- 6.3 miles at 9.58 avg pace (getting slower) a bit foggy but not as bad as Tuesday

Thursday -- yoga -- was supposed to be running day but it was so WINDY so I just went back to sleep.  I managed fog, wasn't going to manage wind apparently.  Tried to go out again in the afternoon but when I walked outside I was blown over by a gust and just bagged it.

Friday -- 6.3 miles at 10.04 avg pace (over 10?  really?) the weirdest thing -- I felt fine all week, slept better than I had in ages and yet my legs would not move.  Oh well.

Saturday -- 7 hilly miles at Rancho.  Well hilly isn't right.  More like one big hill up and one big hill down.  I got so chilled during the first mile that I was in tears at the potty stop my hands hurt so bad. I've got this stupid Raynaud's Phenomenon and it hurts beyond description when I let my hands get too cold.  My own fault -- I have big thick gloves but wore my thinner ones because I thought it was warmer than it was.  Lesson learned -- error on the side of warmer gloves given the chance.

Sunday -- 8 neighborhood miles at a 9.01 avg pace. Thank god for sunshine.

And that is a grand total of 34 miles!!  Most ever for me in a week.  Very exciting and my body and I are still friends.