Long Run Fail

Since I'm heading home this weekend for a wedding and other shenanigans that means long run shuffle-a-roo.  I had originally planned on running it this morning at 4:45am but then I realized that the sun doesn't show it's face until 6:30 and running on the trails for 9 miles in the dark is a bit frightening.  Then I decided I could just handle them after work.  No problem, right?  Tuesday night was beautiful, surely Thursday would be as well, right?  Wrong.

It was in the high 80's with high humidity, causing the heat index to be ~92.  Aaron agreed to run the first 3 with me and then be bike/pit crew for my last 10.  Yay for running buddies!  I slowed my pace down to accommodate for the heat, but didn't take any fluid until 4.5 miles in when I stopped to Gu and drink.  When I got going, I immediately felt light headed/pukey/ready to faint.  I decided just to walk the 1.5 miles home.  Long run fail.  :(

I ended up with 4.7 miles in 46:01.

I still have a 7 mile tempo run scheduled for Sunday night (hopefully post-hangover....yes it'll be one of *those* weekends.  Your good friends only get married once...hopefully.) and debated about doing the 13 instead of that.  I think at this point in my training, I'm confident in my endurance and would benefit more from the tempo work.  Plus I still have a 14 miler and 12 miler left before the Sioux Falls half.

Once we got back to the apartment, I wasn't ready to call it quits completely, so we grabbed Princess Leia and hit the trail for almost 14 miles.  I was out of g-a-s for the last 3-4 miles.  Holy cow.  But biking in the heat is not nearly as brutal as running in it is.  Ick.

And in other obsessive Dear-God-I-Love-my-car-news, I've been marking off "firsts" like most new mothers do with their newborns.  On Tuesday I had my "first" sweaty car ride after my speed work session at the track.  Incidentally, this was also the "first" time I sufficiently stunk up my car (won't be the last.... I'm a stinky/sweaty runner...).  Wednesday marked my "first" time getting and enjoying a starbucks.  This weekend will mark my "first" road trip in my baby.  If I purchase a baby book and try to convert it to a car book, someone please step in.......

Ladies Night Love + Yasso 800s

Alright just wanted to clarify a few things about my previous car post:

1)  I don't have a personal "banker."  Apparently my wording was incorrect.  Yes, Kovas, I have a driver, but he was off for the day, so he didn't have to take me to the bank. :p  But honestly, if I did have a driver I'd be the happiest chica in the world.  I loathe driving.  (But I do like it more and more in my sweet new car....obvs.)

2)  No my banker didn't come car shopping with me.  Hah.  And no my dad isn't my banker (although I sure wish he was!)  Why oh why couldn't I have been a trust fund baby?  Some people have all the luck. :)

Moving right along.  Tuesday I had a date with the track.  I <3 track.  Aaron offered to meet me at the track to gawk at me while I was running keep me company.  And it's a good thing that he did.  I had to work late, and ended up running 3/4 of the workout in the dark-dark.  It would've been super scary to do solo.  When I got to the track there were little munchkins having football practice.  Now I tend to make fun of soccer moms (in a good hearted sort of way, of course) but I will totally be *that* mom at my kid's football practices.  Almost makes me want to reproduce.  No wait.  It doesn't.  

There were also a couple of semi-attractive guys on the track when I got there.  All of my friends have been pushing me to date a runner for.ev.er. so I'm constantly on the look out just to see if there are any cute ones out there (not that I'm in the market, just for research sake, mind you).  For some reason, I'm just usually not attracted to skinny runner boys.  Maybe it's just because I don't want to date a boy who could beat me in a foot race... that's probably it.  :)  Speaking of, there was one cute one on the trails on Monday, so I suppose now I can take my eyes off of high alert for the next 6 months. ;)

I had 6 x 800 in 3:28-3:38 on the schedule.  For some reason I had 800 m. cool down jogs in between each 800, but I like to do closer to a 1/4 of a mile, so I changed that up real quick. :)  I did my warm up mile and I was off.

3:34 (7:08 pace)

3:41 (7:22 pace)

3:37 (7:14 pace)

3:31 (7:02 pace)

3:34 (7:08 pace)

3:31 (7:02 pace)

(I did my recovery laps slightly faster than the 800 pace, so I suppose we could technically call these Yassos).

It was so nice having Aaron along for the ride (literally he was biking laps with me at times) not only to make it a much safer run, but it was nice to have someone to babble to during my recovery laps.  I was pretty stoked with my times as well.  They were hard, but not impossible.  I definitely think I'll continue with Yassos for my MARATHON schedule.  After doing the last one in 3:31 (which felt really freaking HARD at that point) I pondered how I ever ran an 800 in 2:39.  Seriously, that seems barfiliciously fast.  Oh... it probably was... which is why I quit racing 800's in 8th grade. :p

And now to leave you with some adorable pictures of me and one of my favorite people slash life partner :p Jenn.

Drink in a pineapple?  Why not.

We tend to look even cuter when together. Yeah, I didn't realize it was possible either. :p

Jenn, me, and Jeff.  Runners represent!

I tend to enjoy embracing people in photos.  

Especially after a drink or two out of a pineapple.

And if your drink doesn't come in a pineapple, it's best to at least give it a pineapple topper.  

New Wheels

Saturday I had to hustle through my run because I had to go meet with my banker and do some car shopping.  I had been eyeing a car for a little while and my car has been on its last leg for a couple of months now.  (please see reasons I hate my car which hasn't been amended for awhile, mind you....)  After a full morning and afternoon of car shopping/test driving/mondo shmoozing I am now the proud owner of a 2006 Scion tC.  And yes...it is love....

So as to ease the jealousy that Princess Leia was throwing down, I decided to go on my longest bike ride to date.  I wanted to go between 20-30 miles, and wasn't sure how far I could get on the bike trails.  I tried to keep my speed up for the majority of the ride, but the first chunk of miles to the north, I was into an intense wind (according to weatherbug up to 25 mph wind gusts).  No biggie, since I would have those at my back on the way home (I was doing an out and back) right?  Wrong.  By the time I started heading in the direction of home, the winds had changed to the north west.  Sunnava.......  There were also some areas of the trail with BMX looking ramps for bikers to take to go over pipes/etc. that were leading to the river (I assume from the flooding).  You'd better believe I slowed waaaaay down for those puppies too. 

I did 23.65 miles in 1:41:02 for 14.2 mph.

Monday I hit the trails for an easy 6 miles.  I was shocked to see that the pace actually felt easy for once.  I feel like my legs have been dead tired lately.  Apparently they really needed the rest/easy runs from last week.  Also, the weather was GORG.  Mid to upper 70s with a breeze.  Low humidity.  Perhaps I've actually died and am now running in heaven.  Excellent.  I started out the run with 4 super consisted mid-9:20s miles.  Then when some dude thought he could pass me, I of course picked up the pace just a smidge.  I chased him down for the next 1.75 miles until he turned around, and I finished the miles right at 9:00.

I did the 6 miles in 55:39 for a pace of 9:18.

**Oh and for the record, I've still biked + ran more miles than I've driven in my new car.  And I'll probably keep it that way. ;)