March in Review

March in Review

Total Miles: 140.6 up from 82.5 up from last month. (151.1 miles from March 2010. poop nuggets! stupid st. patty's day causing me to lose 25 miles.... >:o)

Total Time: 22:32:35 up from 13:28:10 (23:35:49 last March.)

Total Runs: 21 for average of 6.7/run (including the St. Patty's Day races of 5m/5k/1m individually)

Highest weekly mileage:

3/21/2011 — 3/27/2011:

39.0 Mi

6:11:30

(although this current week should be higher, but it's only halfsies march and halfsies april.  Sad.)

Favorite run: Hilly 16 miler.  I feel like this run helped me to mentally get back in to training.  It was tough, but felt great.

Most hardcore run: 18 miler on ice and snow where I almost broke my hip or the tempo run that reminded me I'm not as much of a turtle runner as I had been thinking.
Favorite Race: Probably the 5k of the Irishman Challenge.  It's hard to not enjoy a beer after downing a Guinness.
Bike Miles: 0 which is exactly the same as last month's 0. Number of miles I wanted to cycle:  eleventy billion.  I don't think a nice day has gone by that i haven't wished I was riding Princess Leia.  hey-o!

Favorite Jams:  I'm back in love with Foo Fighter's Everlong.  Otherwise nothing I'm obsessing over too much.
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I'm not sure why, but I've been getting really psyched up for my tempo runs lately.  Yes, the training runs that I deem just below mile repeats on the scale of "workouts delivered directly from Satan."  After last week's (was it last week?  I'm too lazy to look) knock out tempo run that felt easy, I've been excited to see how longer ones feel (clearly twss).

I had 7 miles with 5 at tempo pace on deck.  Luckily for me the all day rain had let up for me to run along.  Wind, not so much.  Oh well, Fargooooooooo has a tendency (almost 100% likelihood) of heavy winds, so might as well practice my B.A.-ness in trianing. ;)

I took the 2 warm up miles very easy, and then ran the first tempo mile at the slow end of the tempo range (8:09-8:31 goal tempo pace).  I always feel like I'm going to keel over during that first mile and then the legs are ready to go.  Totally the case. 

Partially through the 3rd tempo mile a car ran a stop sign and almost hit me.  Luckily I noticed they weren't going to stop, and slowed down myself, simultaneously hitting the stop timer on my Garmin (no attempted homicide is going to mess up my splits yo!).  However, when I started the timer seconds later, it wouldn't start.  I had my Garmin unlocked (which I NEVER do because my sweat causes it to FREAK THE EFF OFF) so I could hit the light to check my pace as I was running in the dark.  My Garmin continued to freak freak freak out for a few minutes.  I tried to reset it, lock it, unlock it, and it just kept toggling through random displays and functions on the watch.  I was soooooooo frustrated I almost started crying (I'm so emotional lately, you'd think I was tapering... sweet Jesus....).  Luckily I got it back to the timer page AND could get the timer to start, and I was off, after locking the bezel.

Because of this, I wasn't able to check the pace at my leisure, and could only randomly check it under street lights.  Sub 8..... uh... ok.  I expected my legs to start objecting, but they didn't.  The last few miles actually felt easier than the first tempo mile had. 

Tempo miles:  8:32, 8:23, 7:59, 7:55, 7:45.  Avg. pace:  8:06.

So I realize that I essentially had a "break" (aka temper tantrum) in the midst of my tempo run, but it got me all jazzed to see what I could do in a shorter race.  On my cooldown walk, I started thinking.. 10k.  Clearly I needed approval from the masses, and sent out a tweet to my "coaches" Jason and Angry Runner to see their thoughts.  They, along with many others, thought it was great idea to have a tune up race two weeks out from the marathon, and many training programs also suggest the same thing.  Heck ya!  Plus, I know Jenn did the same 10k last year before the same marathon, and posted an insanely fast 10k time, and since we're basically the same runner, maybe I can too.  :)

Starting the end of this month I'll be racing every other weekend for a month and a half.  And I couldn't be happier. #yayzies

Weekly Wist List + Runner's High

Weekly Wishlist for your (but not your wallet's) enjoyment!

Buy it here.

This would either look super fab with my skintone, or terrible.  Luckily it's too expensive for me to even try on, but I'm just beyond obsessed with yellows right now.

Buy it here.

If I could, I wear wear sweatpants 9/10 days.  The other day I would wear a long flowy hippie skirt.  Correction:  I would actually be ok wearing a long flowy hippie skirt the other 9 days as well.  Soooooooooo comfy.  And I love all the random stripes.

Buy it here.

I am bummed at how expensive this is.  It's...awesome...clearly.  I even have the perfect wall above my bookshelf that I think it would like to live on.  All hail Barney Stinson....

Buy it here.

I have this little nook area in my living room that I designation as the "future study corner" and am on the hunt to find the perfect desk for that area.  Clearly I need to decorate said corner as well.  No worries, I already have some sweet Nan Lawson prints that I bought myself for Birthmas... these will only compliment them!  (I do wish it was in a color other than pink, however....)

Buy it here.

I've been a bit dress obsessed lately.  I think it's the spring weather (bahahahah funny joke I just made, no?).  I always seem to scramble the weekend before I have a wedding to attend, so call it being proactive I guess.  Again the yellow.  It's a sickness.

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Tuesday night I set out for a 7 mile run.  My legs were still a little sore/tired from my hilly long run, but they warmed up really fast.  I have been obsessively "rolling pinning" my IT bands, so I'm sure that's helping.  It was ~29 degrees when I took off, so I bundled up like normal.  Um...wrong-o bongo..... I was sweating my tushy off.  Apparently 29 degrees with little to no wind is a whole different ballgame then 29 with 15-30mph winds (which is the winter standard).  I was peeling off gloves, unzipping jackets, and sweating bullets.

At one point of the run, I was going through a residential area and a guy was outside blowing bubbles for his little 3-4 year old girl to pop.  It was quite possibly the cutest thing ever.  In terms of online shopping, I would like to "add you both to my cart."  Luckily within a few minutes I was reminded that I'm barely capable of taking care of myself, and that forever is a long time.  Phew.  Crisis (and potential future-husband/kidnapping) averted.

During the 7 miler I had 4x100m strides at (roughly) mile pace.  I'm really loving these strides because they give you something to look forward to during an otherwise monotomous run (6:48, 7:01, 6:39, 7:01).  When I got done I was rocking the most intense runner's high.  Oh hai runner's high!  Long time no see.  I was so jazzed I wanted to go for another run (don't worry I didn't).

I did 7 miles in 1:06 for a pace of 9:28.

I opted to take a rest day on Wednesday after calculating that I had run 4 consecutive days with 33 miles.  Which is more than I've ran in some weeks of this round of training.  No one needs an injury here!  (Then go figure I slept in this morning instead of tackling my tempo run........ come back runner's high!  Come back!)

I'm all googly-eyed for running lately.

Friday at work, I couldn't wait for the clock to hit 5 so I could skidaddle out of there and go for a run.  That's been my attitude lately:  when's work going to be over, I wanna run!  It's insane and I'm loving it.  On my rest days, I'm itching for a run.  Usually after a run, I'm itching for another run.  I have a fevah!  And the other prescription is more running!  Luckily for my body, I don't actually listen to my brain, but I think the new training program I semi-concocted is really helping to shake things up and get me excited about my training.

Anywho, Friday I had a 5 mile pace run to do.  I thought this would be my redemption run from my similar run from Wednesday.  After consulting my training program, I realized I actually did do Wednesday's run correctly, as it was supposed to be a tempo paced run (7:54-8:15) vs. a straight 8:15 pace like I had thought.  This run was an 8:15 paced run.  It was hot.  And humid.  And I don't usually hack hot.  Or humid.  But I'm on this crazy runner high insanity so I trotted out the door grinning regardless.

After my initial warm up mile, I kicked up the pace a bit and tried to settle in to the magical goal pace.  My Garmin was no help as it was showing 12:00 minute miles.  Thanks G!  Despite the heat, this run felt 1000x easier than Wednesday's.  And my splits were so much more consistent.  And surprisingly, my average pace was lower as well.  Figure that one out, won't you?

I did 5 miles in 41:51 for a pace of 8:23.  Race pace miles avg. = 8:02.
1. 9:37
2. 8:09
3. 7:58
4. 8:08
5. 7:56

Saturday morning I had a 12 mile long run planned.  The forecast showed thunderstorms for the morning, so I slept in.  And it was good.  Of course when I finally rolled out of bed, I realized it hadn't been storming, and that I probably should've been done with my run, because it looked like it was going to storm any minute. Oopsies!

After reading some SoDak peeps' daily mile entries from their AM runs, I gathered that it was swimming weather outside (aka 90+% humidity), so I dug out the handheld water bottle.  Waaaah.  I hate running with that stupid thing.  My arms get so tired.  (Please don't mention that running with a 12oz. water bottle shouldn't make my arms tired, and that I should implement weight training, because lifting is lame. :p)  It really didn't take much convincing since I could recall last weekend's horrific 10 mile where I thought I was going to die I was so thirsty.

I was smart, and only filled up the water bottle half way, since I knew there were water fountains every 2 - 3 1/2 miles on the trail, and I could easily refill when necessary.  Less ounces = less tired arms = happy Jeri. :)  It was definitely muggy out.  I started off the run at what felt like an easy pace.  I assumed that my legs would be tired from Friday's speed workout, and would chill because of it.  Yeah, I guess not.

I was totally doing that goofy runner grin on my run, because I forgot how much I love just running.  Yes, I adore speedwork, because I love to run fast and push myself, but there's something to be said for a long run where you can just zone out and let your legs do the work, and you don't have to focus on your pace (also you don't have to go back and edit your extreme run on sentences, because this is long run la-la land, ya know?).

There was some walk going on so the trails were packed, and it was so great to see so many families out walking together.  A couple of the middle miles were a little windy and my pace slowed down a little bit, but other than that, my pace was very consistent throughout.  The last 4 miles, the rain started to come down.  Which was awesome.  No more mugginess.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love running in the rain?  Because I do.  :)  Especially when I'm already completely soaked from sweat.  I stopped twice to refill my handheld and to take some GUs, but otherwise just trucked along loving life.  The final mile I realized I had a lot in the tank, and just decided to run hard.

I did 12 miles in 1:50:50 for a pace of 9:15.

1. 9:09
2. 9:18
3. 9:17
4. 9:18
5. 9:18
6. 9:33
7. 9:28
8. 9:14
9. 9:16
10. 9:15
11. 9:07
12. 8:37

I know this post is already monstrously long, so here are some pictures with very few words from our local celebration:  RibFest.

RibFest 2010:  Too much meat.

Love this shot of ze boys.