A.M. Coach called me at 7:30 a.m. to change the workout spot from Fairview track (which is covered in snow) to the treadmills at FAC. I was happy to oblige since going out to the track all alone in a 19 degree snowstorm sounded much less enticing than meeting Darren, Colleen, and Simon at FAC for a 68 degree shorts run. As it turns out, the "dreadmill" is much less dreadfull when you have a.) friends to run with, b.) interval work to break up the mundane pace, and c.) an upbeat song on your iPod to push you through challenging moments. Luckily for me, I had all three of these things this morning and my workout (which could have been very challenging on my own), went quite well. I finally got dressed and running by 8:20 a.m. and saw Kristen Fryburg-Zaits so I jumped on the mill next to her. We had a nice chat through my warm up as she finished up her run. She is getting back into base training again after PRing in the Houston Marathon and taking two weeks off. I stretched and did my strides as Kristen finished up her run and Colleen jumped on her mill, with Simon next to her. As I started my first set of intervals, Coach D came up to say Hi, watch my foot strike (since I just got new orthotics), and give me some "coaching." Simon gave me some of his usual trash talk, something about how he's so easily keeping up with me yet his heart rate is SO much lower, lol. 11 mph vs. 8 mph does usually induce a difference in heart rate, Simon. The workout went well. Challenging at times, but I got through it. 3 X (800M, 1600M, 800M) 90 seconds easy after the first 800, 2 minutes easy after the mile, 3 minutes easy between sets. First 800 M of each set was at 5:33 pace, mile was at 5:33-5:36 pace, and second 800 M was at 5:18 pace. Essentially, 6 miles of 5:18-5:36 paced running. The final 800 M may have been slightly faster as I bumped up the pace for the final couple of minutes. 10 minute cool down chat with Colleen, dynamic stretching, cold bottle of Ultragen, and a Luna Bar. Drove home to relieve our sitter, load the kids in the van, and take Ali to Gymnastics class. Got lunch with Abe and Bre at Big Daddy's Bagel and ate it while we watched Ali. P.M. 3 miles EASY and weights
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