I'm in love!

Monday was my two year anniversary and although I love my husband more than ever, I am in love with something else. Bryan surprised me with a Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch and I love it!! I wasn't planning to run on Monday, but I had to try it out so we went out for an easy 3.91 miles (and I know that exactly!) I am loving the auto lap function.....basically it tells you what each of your mile splits are. I had no problems picking up the satellites at my house or around the river. The only time I lost it was for a second when I went under a bridge.

I took it out for a tempo run on Tuesday and wow....it was so much easier to keep track of my pace and distance. I did a 2 mile warm up at 9:23 pace followed by 4 miles (8:25, 8:14, 8:06, 8:16) and a mile cool down at 9:42 - 7 miles total. It even showed me a little map of my route!

I have a feeling this will make a huge difference in my training, especially since I am training with a specific pace in mind. Now I can't wait to get out there and do intervals, tempo runs, and long runs.....without having to do the math in my head!

Its getting hot out!

The past few days its been 85+ degrees here....way too hot for running. Thursday I waited until about 6:00pm to go for my 7 mile run around the river. Managed to average a 9:14 min/mile pace without too much extra effort from the heat.

I took Friday off as a rest day because it was 92 degrees out....a new record high in Boston for May 25th. Instead I relaxed with Bryan and grilled turkey burgers and corn on the cob (and some icecream for dessert). YUM!

Today we went to the beach for a few hours during the day. It was nice to be out there for the first time this summer. I again waited until about 6:30pm to head out for my run so it could cool off a bit and the sun would be lower in the sky. I had 24oz. of water with me in my fuel belt and ran 12 miles on the Newton hills with an average pace of 9:12 min/mile. I don't know if it was the heat, the hills or my legs, but it felt harder than Thursday's run.

I was surprised when I got home to weigh myself and see that I still lost 1.5 lbs even with all that water. I guess I need to make sure I drink even more when I run in the heat. Bryan has volunteered to man some water stops for me this summer on my really long training runs.....how sweet :)

Track workout

I am loving the weather we are having so far this week!! Especially after all the rain over the weekend....I actually didn't get my long run in on Sunday because of it (and a slight hang over from the Red Sox game the night before). Monday after work I did 10 miles around the Charles at an average pace of 9:14 min/mile.

Yesterday I did my first track workout since.....well since track in high school! I was working in Cambridge so I ran over to the MIT track as a warm up and did four 800m repeats with a 400m recovery jog between each then ran back to work (total miles =4.7) . I wanted to do more, but my body was tired. Here's my splits:

1st - 3:30 (7:02 min/mile)
2nd - 3:35 (7:13 min/mile)
3rd - 3:40 (7:23 min/mile)
4th - 3:25 (6:54 min/mile)

Knowing it was my last one I tried to pick it up some for the 4th. It will be interesting to see how my times improve over the summer as I continue to push my speed and hopefully get more comfortable running faster.

Today I am hoping to get some cross training and weights in at the gym......after I take my cat to the vet for her check-up!

Come on Ladies......Running Skirts??

I am a girly girl....I'll be the first to admit it and I am not ashamed of it. I would never be seen in public in sweatpants unless going to or from the gym, I never leave my house without at least a little makeup on, and I blow dry my hair even if I am going to put it in a ponytail....yes, I am a girly girl.

What I don't get is the running skirt that I see women wearing. How long have women been fighting to be equals in the sport of running and in sports in general? I heard Joan Benoit-Samuelson, one of the pioneers of women's running (who also just turned 50), speak and she was telling a story about when she first started running. She said that she would stop running when cars would come by and pretend to be picking flowers because she didn't want to be known as a tomboy.

So come on ladies....we have fought for ages to gain equal rights. I vote to keep the skirts off the track and wear my shorts proudly. Now I have to run and fix my makeup :)

Is McDonalds after a 7 mile run counterproductive?

Yesterday I headed out for a nice 7 mile run. Bryan had to work late so I knew I was on my own for dinner. Knowing that I wasn't going to finish my run until after 7pm, I decided I would just grab something on my way home. Well during my run I passed a McDonalds and those fries started calling my name....I haven't eaten McDonalds in months! I could smell it from across the street as I ran past! I told myself that if I still wanted it after my run, I would get it.

7 miles later, I was pulling up to the drive-up window! I was good and ordered a grilled chicken sandwich (no mayo) and a small fries (although I was temped to go with medium). I must have looked pretty funny since I was all sweaty and still in my running clothes yet buying quite possibly the most unhealthy food in the world!

Whatever....today is a new day and I made sure to load up on whole grains, lean protein, veggies, and fruit. It was a moment of weakness......at least I ran the 7 miles first rather than just eating the fries!

5k First Place!!!

At the last minute I decided to run in a local 5k on Sunday. Bryan was out of town and it was nice outside! It was really small with only about 150 runners. I have actually never run a 5k before (shortest race before this was 4.2 miles) and I have been focusing so much on distance that I had no idea what to expect or how to pace myself. I loosely decided to shoot for a 7:30 min/mile.

The miles weren't marked so I relied on my Nike + iPod thing. A couple minutes into the race, I looked at my Nike + and it was saying that I was running 8:00min/mile. I felt like I was running faster than that and this got me discouraged so I didn't push as hard as I could have. To my surprise, I turned the corner and the finish line was about 1/4 mile away...that's when I realized my Nike + thing was way off (it said I only ran at total of 2.8 miles). I finished in 23:15 (7:30 min/mile)....not too bad considering I ran my first "long" run after the Boston Marathon of 10 miles on Saturday.

I looked up the scoring and realized that I won 1st place in my age group!! Granted there were only 9 other women in my group, but its still first place!!! I won a gift certificate for a free pair of Saucony sneakers.....unfortunately I wear Asisics :( There is something so fun about racing - pinning that number to your shirt changes the run......can't wait to race again!