I'm Back

So, what has happened with my training in the three weeks that have passed since my last post?   Thankfully, I am happy to report that I'm still on track and feeling strong for my first of three 20 milers this week.  

I just returned from a two and a half week visit to Georgia and Tennessee.   I didn't post from there because I don't like advertising on the internet that we have an empty house waiting to be burglarized.   But now we are home and Meadow is posted at the door, so I figure it is time to play some catch up.  
I'm not going to document every single run from the trip, but would like to highlight a few points.   First of all, I discovered that I miss hills.   After living in two flat cities, I had convinced myself that hills were the enemy, so I was sort of dreading my runs during our trip.....especially the fast runs.   But I was pleasantly surprised.  My first run in LaGrange was a tempo run and I was so happy when I remembered that, while the uphills are tough, the downhills provide a full rest period or a great time to make up for any speed that was lost on the uphill.   Luckily I had lots of grandparents willing to keep Susannah so I didn't have to tackle the hills with the extra 30 lbs.   I managed to hit all my target paces for my runs while I was home.  
My two long run days while I was away were great.   The first was a 17 miler that I did in Callaway Gardens.   It was so beautiful.....all the spring flowers were in bloom and the azaleas were so vibrant and bright.   I kept a sub 10 minute pace the entire first 13 miles and felt really good.   Listened to two good sermons and enjoyed the scenery and the rolling hills.   This week was a 3/1 run so I knew I needed to pick it up to race pace for the last 4 miles.   Considering the hills, I had decided to give myself a break if I was feeling tired, but luckily, I still had lots of gas so I reset my GPS, turned up some music and took off.   I was super happy with the results......an average of 8:22 pace for the last 4 miles with the last mile being a 7:45 pace.   Yay!

The next week's long run was a half marathon. This was the most perfect timing ever because that weekend happened to be the Knoxville Marathon weekend. Over Christmas vacation I had convinced my cousin Caleb to run his first half marathon and I was so excited to run with him. It was a great course and such a fun morning......I was so proud of Caleb for pushing through the pain of the last few miles and we were rewarded with cheers of friends and family at the finish and a delicious lunch prepared by Grandmama! I think cornbread is definitely my favorite post race recovery meal.

Caleb and me pre-race

Celebrating afterward with my best friend from childhood, Lyndsey and her precious daughter Ellie.

I also did one speed workout while I was home.....6 800's.   I was pretty pleased with the results, but also a little wary because I was depending on my GPS for distance.   According to Nike Plus though, I did all 6 under my training goal......I'm supposed to do my 800's between 3:30 and 3:40.   Here are my splits:

3:35

3:19

3:18

3:10

3:19

3:29

Last week we arrived home on Wednesday, got organized on Thursday and then Friday I did my longest run yet....19 miles.   My friend Brittany was awesome enough to come along on the bike to keep me company.   I was so thankful.   We chatted the entire way and it was such a successful strategy because I didn't even start to feel tired until Mile 14 or so.  And even then I felt relatively good.   It was a beautiful sunny day so that probably helped too.   My legs were super tired after I finished though and stayed pretty achy throughout the rest of the day.    Didn't have any soreness Saturday though and managed to push my legs (and Susannah) on a 7 mile tempo run.  I was expecting to feel super heavy and was considering changing from a tempo run to a recovery run, but I ended up feeling okay so I went ahead with the tempo.     

9:42

9:12

8:17

7:48

8;44

9:23

8:58

Tomorrow is 6 hill repeats and Wednesday is that first 20 miler.   It is supposed to rain and I don't have a partner for that one.   Going to need to use Saucony's slogan and "FIND MY STRONG."  I'm a total fan of their new ad campaign.  Happy running everybody!

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