....But I WILL do 35-45 mph wind GUSTS.

That's right, after being too big of a wussy to run an easy run in 25 mph winds, I sacked up last night and did my tough tempo run in a wind advisory. I had a 30 minute tempo run to do, and figured I'd do a nice easy 1 mile warm up, do two miles at tempo pace, and cool down until I hit 30 minutes.

I also did some research on tempo runs to see exactly how fast my paces should be for these puppies. Since FAST is the only pace I have stuck in my head for speed workouts, I figured I should learn exactly what FAST equated to. Apparently these are supposed to be done 30-40 seconds slower than your race pace. My most recent 5k was 7:50 pace, so voila I'm shooting for 8:20-8:30. I knew the wind was going to effect things pretty significantly, especially that second tempo mile since it would be all into the wind, so I was shooting for 8:25-8:40.

1. 9:40 Nice leisurely warm up (with the wind at my back, so this pace literally felt effortless).

2. 8:24 The first .75 of this was with the wind so it was a pretty easy pace, I turned around at .75 and tried to haul @$$ into the wind.

3. 8:34 This one SUCKED. There were parts that I felt like I was running my hardest and not moving. Yikes. I determined that this run would also count as a strength workout because of the intense resistance the wind provided. I just tried to run strong, especially during the points where the wind wasn't bowling me over (unfortunately these points were very VERY brief and not very often). I was still super impressed with myself in coming in *close* to my pace even against the wind, and actually coming in under my wind-restricted self prescribed pace.

.5 4:42 (9:24 pace) My time was actually up prior to .5 mile but I wasn't back to my apartment yet, and kind of hating ending on a random .456092, so I kept going. Look at me going above and beyond! :)

3.5 miles in 31:21 for a pace of 8:58. Warm up/cool down pace: 9:34, tempo pace: 8:29. BOOM! Successful tempo run. *patting myself on the back*

After the run it was off to Taylor's softball games. Surely it would be easier to watch a softball game in this wind than it would be to run in it, right? WRONG. I missed his first game, and had to sit and wait through a middle game before his next one started. His whole team and I were huddled up next to the concession stand trying to keep warm and out of the wind. I thought about leaving 1000 times, but was mad at myself for missing the first game, and thought it would be a waste of gas to have come all the way to the other side of town for his games, not to see him play. I managed to last 2 innings of spectating before I had to go home. Yikes. They were down (by quite a bit) when I left. Of course they managed to win 25-24 with a HUGE come back. Oh well, I was warm in my bed. :)

I also had a protein smoothie after my run, which was...different. I've been reading about everyone's delish breakfast smoothies, and thought I would give one a try for a post-run meal (part of meal). I made a strawberry one, with frozen strawberries, vanilla yogurt, ice, and vanilla protein powder (since I don't get nearly enough protein in my diet). It was ok. Not great. I think the vanilla yogurt is way to sweet, so my next one I'll try with soy milk instead. I'd also like to be brave and throw some spinach in there, but after my all-spinach lunch yesterday, I was feeling a lil green in the gills. Bahahaha. :p