After kind of being a slacker last weekend (even though I did get my 8 miles in on Monday), I was ready to rock my 9 miler this weekend. But I was in VT again this weekend. And last time I was in VT I needed to run 5 miles, which I did, but my mom took me on a loop through the woods. Although I enjoy runs in the woods, it's not working so great for my training, and I knew I needed to find some open road. Luckily, my mom has started running (more on that later) and she knew of a bike path we could hit on Saturday morning.
We were expecting rain and a cloudy day, so we set out around 11am to run...4 miles for my mom, 9 for me. Well the clouds lasted about 15 minutes, and instead of rain we got bright, hot, sunshine. My mom and I went 2 miles together, then she turned around to head back to the car and I kept going. It was a great run...not too flat, but not terribly hilly, but HOLY HECK it got so damn hot.
Luckily my mom found me just after mile 5 to give me some water and a bandaid (my new sneakers keep giving me a nasty blister on the arch of my right foot). I made it those first 5 miles at a pretty good clip, but miles 6-9 were kind of ugly. The scenery was gorgeous, but I was just overheated.
Had I known it wasn't going to be cloudy, I wouldn't have chosen to run right in the middle of the day. Or I would have worn some sunscreen...I did lose my t-shirt when I met my mom, but that mean I was running in a black tank top and black capris, so I was most definitely still TOO hot. My mom ended up meeting me three times...around mile 5, 6.5, and 8.5. It worked out really well, but I should have brought some fuel...I think that would have helped kick me through the last three miles. Even though I slowed down/had to walk at the end, I'm really proud of that run. I made it through 9 miles! NINE! :)
After my run, all I wanted to do was jump in a giant pool of water. Unfortunately, I didn't have one available. So I flopped myself down on the couch and let me mom make me lunch (don't worry...she didn't mind...and my gram helped her). I refueled with an appropriate amount of protein.
I was pretty much worthless the rest of the day, but it was nice to just chill with my mom and my gram (I was up there to see my brother in a play on Friday night...he was SO great and the play was hilarious). We ran some errands (I bought some sports beans and some more shot blocs and contemplated a running fanny pack, but the bff advised me against it...I still might end up getting one though), and went out to dinner. I had two glasses of wine and was pretty much fast asleep on the couch by 10pm. A wild Saturday night for sure.
Today I lazed around and played Draw Something on my gram's iPad (after I moved myself from the couch to the bed last night I didn't sleep well, so I was pretty slow moving this morning). I did, however, do something very exciting...I signed up for another triathlon! It's actually the same tri I did last year, but this year is more exciting because my mom signed up too!! That's why she's started running (she's already an avid biker and swimmer) and I'm so proud of her. After my tri last summer, she started thinking about doing one herself. I finally convinced her to sign up with me, and we're on the books for September 9th! I'm hoping to crush my time from last year (I have a much better attitude about training this year, I think), especially because now I know JUST how much hill work I need to get in to rock that course. Tri training won't start until post-half marathon, but it's fun to know it's on the schedule for the fall.
This week has been a good one. I've done really well with my workouts, and I've tracked my meals everyday. I'm not using a scale these days (that's a whole other post in and of itself) but I feel well and I am feeling great about my runs, so I think something is working, even if it's just mental! This week is rainy and busy, so it will take a little more work to fit all my workouts in (I have 10 miles on the plan for this weekend, but I'm going to NY for work, so I'm not sure how it's going to work out), but I'll make it work. The reality of running 13.1 miles in just 5 weeks (from today to be exact) has made me realize just how serious I have to be.
And just because it's fun to say Quechee (pronounced quwee-chee), here's a picture of the Quechee gorge. My gram and I stopped to have lunch (she's not so keen on the whole eating salad while driving thing, even though I've mastered it just fine) and decided we might as well see what the gorge actually looked like since we drive by it every time we go to my mom's.
It was gorgeous! hahahahaha pun totally intended. Don't worry, I know I'm hilarious.
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