Transportation on Foot + Weekly Wishlist

Tuesday night I had a bit of a conundrum to attend to. After work I needed to run 6-7 miles and I wanted to hang out with Kyle, and also see his softball game.  I thought about running right after work but the heat was in the 90s, and then I wouldn't get to hang out with Kyle.  I thought about skipping the softball game to run during his game, but if they lost they wouldn't make it in to the tourney, and I wouldn't want to miss his final game of the season.

Lightbulb!

I could run to his game!

I ran near the fields this winter/spring on an 18 and 20 miler and realized that it would easily be a bikeable distance (if the g.d. bike trails ever got fixed) and was even a runnable distance.  Since they usually have 2 games an hour apart, I haven't felt the need to sit around in my sweat for 3+ hours.  However, they only had 1 game tonight.  A quick mapquest revealed I was correct, and it was 7.1 miles from my doorstep.  YAYZIES!

Kyle came over after work and I unloaded a bag of stuff for him to schlep to the field for me, including my keys, phone, and a change of clothes.  I set out for my run about 80 minutes before their game was to start, and it was a much cooler 80 degrees with a side breeze.  Heaven.  And I could BREATHE so I knew the humidity had dropped.

The route is extremely hilly so I just tried to focus on my form on both the uphill and downhills since Mankato will have its fair share of rollers.  I got to enjoy several sets of sprinklers along the way, and probably grinned for the entire run. IT'S SO NICE TO RUN WHEN IT'S NOT A SAUNA OUTSIDE, FYI.

During the last mile I did my 4x100 m. strides on a slight incline, but still managed a pretty okay pace 7:24, 7:11, 7:09, 7:42.

I ended up with 7.28 miles in 1:09:20 for a pace of 9:32.  And the boys won!

And I forgot to show this, but this was during the game last Monday when I thought the end of the world was on the horizon and the boys continued to play softball.  This was taken from the truck because I haz a scurred.

And now for some fun online shopping!

Buy it here.

(found via outblush)

I'm not a huge jewelery girl, so I like pieces that make a bit of a statement.  And I'm obsessed with this gem.

Buy it here.

Love this simple long sleeve top.  Actually even like it with the colored pants. That's almost fashion forward of me.  YIKES!

Buy it here.

This is a shirt that I need, along with Susan, Sam, and Sam (although it might look weird on a dude).

Buy it here.

I almost pulled the trigger on this adorable bag.  I contacted the website to request the dimensions of the bag, because I want to use it for a school bag, meaning it needs to fit my books+laptop.  They never got back to me.  Sad day.

Buy it here.

I need this. Not want, need.  If Kyle doesn't buy it for me, I'm getting it myself.  I'm obsessed with the infinity sign.  And I feel like a girl needs something from Tiffany's, right?

New Running Buddy? I wish. :)

I forgot to mention two things that should've been highlights to my previous post.


Highlight 1: When I got home from running Thursday night, I walked in on a shirtless Taylor doing push ups. AGAIN. Yay me. But that's not the highlight (ok, partial highlight for sure). I decided I would do some push ups also. I did 10 in a row without a break. Whoo! After I got done, he said that they looked so strong that I could do more. So when he started his next set, I did 15 without stopping. I've NEVER done 15 push ups in a row, especially after 10. I was super proud of me.


Highlight 2: I had asked Taylor to join me for a couple of miles on my 8 mile run on Monday, but he didn't want to. When I got home he was mowing and called me as soon as he was done. He was bummed that I was done running. He was planning on surprising me on the bike trail to run the last bit of my run with me. Unfortunately he underestimated my speediness. Hopefully the mood strikes him again in the near future, because a cute running buddy is just what I need. :)


On to the current. Yesterday I had an easy 3 mile run to do. Usually I have a rest/yoga/abs/push ups day after my long runs, but because I didn't get my lazy butt to run until Monday, I already expended my rest day. My legs were tired, to say the least. I just took the run slow, my hamstrings were REALLY tight after the first mile, so I slowed up a lot and just enjoyed the run. Total time 28:47 for a pace of 9:36. For the first time, ever, I think. I posted all positive splits. Go me. :)


1. 9:28
2. 9:33
3. 9:45




Tonight I had a 35 minute tempo run to do. Since I now know what paces I should be shooting for to do my tempo runs in, I was kind of excited for this one. Plus I had the extra incentive to run fast so I could get to Tay's softball games. I had planned to do 1 mile warm up 9:30-10 mm and then 3 tempo miles from 8:20-8:30.


1. 9:51 warm-up
2. 8:45 whoops. I wasn't dying after this, and it actually felt like a pretty comfortable pace. Double whoops.
3. 8:22 Ran a lot harder on this one. 4. 8:14 Felt like I was flying on this one, especially the last 1/2 mile.



What I learned from this run: I really suck at consistent pacing. That will be my goal as I move in to half marathon training.


The softball games were fun, they won their first one just minutes after I arrived, and the second one they lost.

The T-Bagz star pitcher.

....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