Running in the Rockies

I took the run I usually went with Lynn on, but took it nice and easy and then did a tempo speed on mile 3. It was so much better than when I ran with my fast friends. It is so important for my system to start out slow, apparently. I really felt like I had reserves to pull from instead of dying the whole time. So, here are my splits (for my records - these are still painfully slow to so many runners on this blog!):

mile 1 - 11.15

mile 2 - 11.32

mile 3 - 9:50 (and mostly uphill, too, so I'm pretty happy with that pace)

mile 4 - 11:16

last .27 - 9:04 (coming down the huge hill by my house)

I've also decided to run a 10K before my half marathon. The 10K is a week from this Saturday, while the Half marathon is on Labor Day. I'm getting kind of excited about them both!! ; )

I ran with Dawn and her friend, Laura, in our wilderness park again. We took a different route yet again; this one was longer and a really good workout. The uphill seemed to go on forever. We eventually had to walk some of it because we were all struggling to breath. ; ) So, that'll be a great challenge for us to get better and better on that route. It's funny to run with Laura and Dawn; they both have personal trainers who work them really hard on Tues and Thurs, plus they have really strict diets. So, our conversation this morning was on what and when they eat everyday. Dawn is allergic to gluten, eggs, soy, and dairy ... plus she's trying to loose more weight, so she's cutting (or reducing) other things too!! Tough diet!!

I actually went swimming today and did laps for half an hour. I'm not sure I've ever really done laps before -- and now that I've done them, I know WHY!! They were HARD!! I thought that my running would help transfer over to better strength and aerobic ability with swimming. Oh no. I died. It was a great workout, though, and I want to do it more often and see if I can improve my swimming ability. I'd like to some day compete in a triathlon, so swimming must be conquered! ; ) Maybe I should do an adult class and touch up on my technique. Hmmm...

Five miles on the trail with Dawn. We got progressively faster with each mile, which was great! Our last mile was 10:05 pace. That's always a good thing when you're not even trying! ha! There was a lady that we were just a following the last mile or so and I think I was subconsciously trying to pass her. Luckily for me, she didn't want to be passed easily, so I just kept speeding up without thinking about it.

Dawn and I had to change our initial plans this morning because I had a commitment at 8:30 this morning. So, we just ran a route around her house. The nice thing about where we live is .. you ALWAYS get a hill workout at some point. It just depends on where in your run it ends up. ha!

Monday is our 10 miler! Whoosh! That'll be the longest run I've ever done.