Back in the saddle?

Today I did 5 miles on the treadmill in 45:45, a 9:05 pace.  I felt really good throughout the run, until the end when I started cramping a bit.  I attribute that to the giant salad I ate for lunch too soon before the run!  I powered through and did fine, though.  I finished off with a few squats, lunges, pushups, etc.

I got the new Garmin 305 for my birthday, and I can't wait to use it!

We ran on the canal this morning.  It was very nice outside, surprisingly.  Unfortunately, my performance was terrible.  It was all I could do to keep a 10-minute mile.  I did 4 pick-ups for a minute each.  The first two were at 8:45-8:50 pace, the third was 8:20-8:30, and the fourth was barely below 9:00.  I think some of the reasons for the poor performance were: restless sleep last night, running yesterday afternoon at 3:00 (not enough rest/recovery), followed by one set each of squats and lunges (I'm sore!), and no food before I ran this morning.  Total running time was 59:50, which was an average pace of 9:52.  It was really discouraging, and I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.

I ran with my new Garmin, but the heart rate monitor didn't work!  I'll have to play with it tonight and see if I can figure it out.

Now I know why I don't strength train!  I did one set each of squats and lunges with no weight on Monday afternoon, and I can barely walk today, much less run!  I went to bed at 9:45 last night with the intention of running at 5:45 this morning.  When 5:45 rolled around, I couldn't get out of bed!  So annoying!

Maybe I'll try to walk around my neighborhood tonight after dinner and see if I can shake some of this soreness

Ran this morning, and, once again, it did not go well.  I was supposed to go 45 minutes and could barely eke out 38, with lots of breaks!  When I got back home, crying, my husband suggested that maybe I put too much pressure on myself regarding my running performance to the point that I don't enjoy running.  I think he definitely has a point.  When a run goes badly, it affects my whole day, especially when I run in the morning.  If an evening run goes badly, I'm annoyed only until I go to bed!

I realized this morning that running in the morning makes me dread running.  I don't like feeling that way, so I'm going back to nights (except for long runs)!  I really think that my body just doesn't function as well in the mornings!

I did my group long run this morning at 5:30.  It's funny that I can't seem to drag myself out of bed on weekday mornings, but I'm fine with it on Saturdays.  It helps that I can take a nap today and that my husband is on the way to get breakfast burritos as we speak!

I felt pretty good today.  Total time was 1:24, a 9:19 pace.  My goal is to increase my long run pace to 9:00, except when I'm running at goal race pace (8:24).  I probably went too fast today-I was trying to keep up with the group.  My heart rate was way up at the end, but I attribute some of that to cardiac creep.  Miles 4-7 were done much faster, for some reason.  I took a Gu at mile 5, which helped, and helped myself to some Gatorade at a random cooler later on.  It was a good run, overall-I feel like I am improving.

For all of you Valley of the Sun people, I have helped organize a race that is next Sunday, September 16 at 7:00 am in Tempe.  It's called Race Judicata, and we have a 5K, 1 mile, and kid's dash.  The proceeds go to the various community projects that the Maricopa County Bar Association Young Lawyers Division participates in.  You can register on active.com.  By the way, the t-shirts are awesome!