Go slow to go fast.

I felt like I had bumped up to a new level of fitness today...it felt pretty good. All of a sudden today at an avg 150 heart rate I was able to hold a much stronger pace than before.  My legs and feet feel stronger than they have in a while and after a super hilly 10 mile run I feel great.   My heart rate for that pace on that hilly of a run a few weeks ago would have probably been 10-15 bpm higher I'm betting.  FEELING GREAT! I'm really grateful to be able to run!  Its such a blessing.  Running, and exercising in general, improves my mood and my life a lot.  I notice a drastic difference in the way I feel (for the worse) on days I don't exercise my body.  And I really enjoy doing it.  I vaguely remember back to the time when exercising was a burden, and it just seems odd to me now how I could have felt that way.  Running and biking these days are one of my favorite parts of the day. Here are my stats for today: 10 Miles - Time: 1:22:07 - Pace: 8:12/mile - HR: 151 avg - Ascent/Descent: 1065 Ft I'm pretty pleased with the direction my fitness level is heading.  Its nice to see progress in my pace vs. heart rate sometimes.  That's one reason I like tracking all the data on my runs, its nice to have data to show me how my body performs, rather than just guessing based on how I felt.  I used to get discouraged sometimes on slower days by seeing the data.  But now I just appreciate knowing it, because I realize on days I feel like going slower that is just what my body needs that day.

Ran 7 miles Time: 59:37  - 8:31/mile - HR avg 143 -  650 Ft Elevation gain/loss

1 Degree F + 3 inches of fresh powder + Vibram Five Fingers + Bright sun = One beautiful and enjoyable run!!

OK, I'll admit, when I looked at the temperature outside on the computer I immediately thought "Gym".  But then the morning gym plan got de-railed by my 1.5 year old Ali being really fussy and sick so I couldn't take her to the gym day care.  But it turns out I'm really glad, because that was a really sweet run.

I think it must have been warming up quick because the sun was out in full force, and I never got cold once.  I was wearing tights and leg warmers, 2 long sleeves and a jacket, and 2 pairs of gloves, plus injinji socks in my FiveFingers though.  I ended up taking one pair of gloves off half a couple miles in because I was too hot.

IT WAS SO GORGEOUS OUT THERE! 

And it was super duper (and I mean duper) fun getting fresh powder tracks on a nice smooth trail for an hour.  (OK, not quite as fun as fresh tracks bombing down a steep, deep, 35-40 degree mile long bowl full of powder on a snowboard, but pretty fun in a different way)

I have been telling myself lately I wish it were warmer so I could go run easier in the mountains, but today made me really grateful for seasons, because that was really fun.  Seriously...how often do you get to prance around for an hour on a sunny morning in 3 inches of soft fresh snow?  It was not too deep to be annoying at all, but deep enough to make every step feel extra soft and smooth.  And with the layers, if anything I was too warm.  A lot of things have to fall together just right to make conditions like that, and while it is not rare to be able to run in the snow in colorado, running in that type of light fluff on a sunny morning without other crud on the trail isn't that common.

That's weird.  It seems like I'm destined to only go 13.1 miles on my longer runs for some reason.  Today I planned to run for about two and half hours, but I started heading for home a little sooner than planned.  It was getting colder outside and I was just wearing shorts and a tank top, and my left leg started to feel very slightly tightness at about 1:20 in.  I stopped and stretched a little.  Then headed toward home.  I decided to add more on closer to home if I felt good still.

 Anyway, I decided to go home once I got closer and as I hit my door step the mileage hit 13.1.  Just as it has on numerous other occasions without me planning and on various different routes.  Weird.

That was a great run though.  Just took it really easy and enjoyed every minute.  I started listening to the Dan Brown book "The Lost Symbol" and I was kind of caught up in it the whole time.  His books tend to suck me in pretty easily.  I wore my nathan waste strap with 2 bottles and drank water consistently throughout and ate a gel pack every 30 minutes.  Nan got me the waist strap for Christmas and I really like having it for hour long runs or more (which seems to be almost all my runs these days).  I never took water on my runs in the past.  But I also rarely ever ran longer than an hour.  I like to have consistent water flow when I run now though.

13.1 Miles - Time: 1:55:02 - 8:46/mile - HR: 139 bpm - Elevation gain: 1200 ft.