TexasLindsey

12 miles this morning with The Woodlands Running Club.  I ran with a large group of people who claimed to be the 8 min pace group, however, the only mile they ran at 8:00 was the first... all the rest were in the 7's.  IT was challenging and fun.   A man and his teenage son were part of the group... The son was second place in the state of Texas High School CC championship.  I was able to find out that most of the people running in this group were 3:00-3:10 marathoners.  This was like a tempo for me... but for some of them, it was just a jog.

Splits

8:03

7:53

7:44

7:25 (H.S. kid took the lead)

7:41

7:34

7:41

7:17 (I don't know how but I got in kind of a race with another guy prior to a water stop.)

7:46

7:46

7:45

7:52  (Had to stop to wait for traffic on busy street)

6 miles at 5:45 pm.  Very cold, windy and dark.  The plan was to do an easy run today but I started out too fast because I was so cold.  I finally started warming up halfway and I decided to relax and slow down.  So normally I do negative spilts, but today I did positive. 

8:18, 8:09, 8:11, 8:27, 8:39, 9:00

Splits (8:46, 8:44, 8:41, 8:36 pace for last .5 mile)

Three miles was all I could manage today.  My 9 month old is teething and went all day crying without a nap.  Then I had an epic battle of wills with my 3 year old.  He was on a rampage making mess after mess and totally ignoring me.  I tried bribes and threats.  Nothing worked.  It was like he was determined to get in trouble. 

After he got into the diapers and spread them all over the house, I told him he had to clean them up or I'd start taking toys away.  He told me it was too hard to clean up-- that Mommy should do it.  Ha, ha!  Spiderman was mine!  This did nothing to inspire him to pick up.  Nope, the little sh#$T is just as stubborn as Mommy.  I tried to get him to sit in time out but he kept running off.  Finally, I had to strap him a stroller for time out until my husband got home a little while later.  I know it sounds awful, but Super Nanny wasn't around and it was the only way I could finish cooking dinner and tend to a crying 9 month old.  Whew!  

When my husband got home, we discovered that while in the middle of the temper tantrum, Jake had locked our bedroom door and we didn't have the key to get in.  My husband had to remove the door knob for me to get my running clothes.   

So by the time I started running, it was dark and cold.  I only managed 3.5 miles because I was cold.  I just cannot figure what to wear in this weather!  Either I overdress and am annoyed to have to carry around extra clothing or I underdress and I'm freezing.  When I got home, Jake had picked up all the diapers with Daddy's help and he said, "I'm sorry, Mommy".   I gave him back his beloved spiderman and it was like it never happened.

6.5 miles at 6:30 pm.  Easy.  Didn't look at my watch until I finished.  Funny how easy running in the 8's is to me now.  Could be the cooler weather... could be that I'm more fit. 

Splits (8:32, 8:25, 8:38, 8:35, 8:32, 8:22, 7:53 pace for last .5 mile)

The last several days I have hated running in the dark and cold.  Today I decided to get over it and stop complaining.  I decided to tell myself that I like it this way.  Maybe I can brainwash myself?   It seemed to work somewhat.  I think there's something to this positive thinking thing.

The thing is... there's always some reason NOT to run... If I didn't run every time my mind came up with a "reason", I would never run.  They aren't really reasons, actually, they're just excuses.  It's always better to run.  I have never finished a run and wished that I hadn't run.  OTOH when I have skipped a run, I have wished I hadn't skipped.  I like Nike's slogan, "Just Do It."  I say that to myself all the time.  That, and "Don't be a wimp!"  

So in tonight's run, I got to put some of that to use.  I had stomach cramps that started at the end of mile 5.  I could have taken the short cut home and finish in 1/2 mile but I decided to not wimp out and go the long way home.  I think the stomach cramp was because I cooked dinner before I left and I was sampling while I was cooking.  Usually, I do better in the evenings if I don't eat right before I run.  Anyways... Since the positive thinking thing was working for the dark and cold, I just decided to tell myself the cramping was not a big deal.  I decided to speed up and see if that helped... worth a try.  In the marathon, I was surprised that speeding up helped a leg cramp!   Speeding up is not the most intuitive thing to do when you have some kind of cramping pain... but I'm finding out that sometimes it works.  Tonight I found that it at least lessened the pain.  I'm thinking speeding up helps me to relax, focus, restore my breathing and form, and increases my oxygen intake.

4 miles at 5 pm.  Splits (8:22, 8:18, 8:37, 8:27)  Windy today but I ran before sunset so it wasn't dark and cold.  First two miles were with the wind at my back and mostly downhill.  Second two miles were the against the wind uphill.   Running 11 miles with my running group tomorrow.

Funny story:  I bought some new running shoes today from my running store.  Mizuno Wave Rider 13.  I'm going to try them out tomorrow.  Afterwards, I took Jake and Ryan to the park to feed the ducks.  As we pulled up, the ducks were coming out of the pond in droves.  They swarmed us.  There was another man and his son there who warned us that this one goose attacked them.  Just then, the goose they were warning us about started running towards us.  He was the fastest and the fattest goose I'd ever seen.  I guess being a bully pays off. 

He saw we had bread and he was very aggressive about getting it.  It wasn't long before he bit Jake on the knee and Jake started screaming.  While holding Ryan, I threw my bread at him but there were so many other ducks and geese around, the bread kept getting gobbled up by others.  I kept throwing bread at him and he kept chasing me... all while Jake is screaming.  Finally, I chucked the whole bag at him as hard as I could and I screamed. 

Well, that man standing there must have had some kind of male "protector" thing kick in because all of a sudden, he got visciously mad at the goose and charged it, grabbed it by the neck and raised it up off the ground...  feathers flying everywhere.  It was quite shocking to witness!  Jake's mouth dropped to the ground!   I thought he was going to ring it's neck right in front of us!  I said, "TIME TO GO!!!"  and we loaded up in the car as fast as we could.  The other ducks were chasing us to the car... but they weren't trying to bite at least...  My Gosh, those ducks were hungry.  I have never seen anything like this. 

When I drove by, I saw that the man let the goose free and it was waddling Super Super FAST away.  I rolled down my window and thanked him... he said that the goose will think twice before it attacks another human.  I would think so!!  Ha, ha! 

I called my mom and sister and told them that we need to send word out that the Trinity River ducks and geese were starving so much that they are swarming and attacking people... people need to get out there fast and feed them... BUT might want to take protection.

11 miles with my running group this morning. 

Mile 1- 8:50

Mile 2- 8:27

Mile 3- 8:16

Mile 4- 8:14

Mile 5- 8:01

Mile 6- 8:02

Mile 7- 7:56

Mile 8- 7:40

Mile 9- 7:36

Mile 10- 7:06

Mile 11- 7:11

Alot of people weren't there this morning because they are running Dallas White Rock Lake Marathon tomorrow.  I got asked to pace the 9 minute group at the last minute.  There are 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 minute pace groups.  There isn't an official "pace" group for the people I run with... we range between 7:30 and 8:30 usually.  I use Saturdays as a combo tempo/long run... I look forward to it all week.  I was kinda disappointed to do the 9 minute group.  I couldn't say no because I was asked in front of the pre-run meeting with everyone there... I could just imagine everyone's reaction if I had said, "No, I want to run an 8 minute pace, thanks"   

But it turned out ok... It ended up being Brenda and I and then two other guys who I've never met named Brooks and Miquel.  They told me that they actually ran right behind me at the 15K when I was a 7:39 pace.  So I asked them if they wanted to do a progressive run today and they said they'd be ok with that. 

A couple miles into it, James started running with us.  He and his father own the running store.  I don't know his PR but I looked him up on Athlinks.com (which only has race results since 2000) and his best marathon on that was 2:40.  His best 5k was 16:09.  He's in his mid-forties and been running his whole life so I bet he had some faster times prior to 2000.   It was kinda interesting that he ran with us the rest of the way.  I don't think any of his normal sub-7 minute runners were there. 

Everyone ran together the first 9 miles.  The last couple miles, I sped way up... James kept up with me and everyone else fell behind.  It was super challenging for me... a mere jog for him.  It was polite of him to not leave me.  Only real problem I had was that with 1/2 mile to go, my ipod started playing slow songs...  I started feeling like I couldn't hold the pace and I realized that the beat was not fast enough.  I had to fiddle with that stupid thing for 1 minute before I found Lady GaGa.  After that I finished strong but with nothing left.  James looked like he just finished running 1 mile.  Miquel caught up to us at the end in a sprint.  I'm impressed with Miquel... he had a big kick! 

I've been thinking that I am going to do this progressive run thing on Saturdays and keep driving my pace down.  A few weeks ago, if I really pushed myself, I could get down to a 7:30 pace at the end.  Today, I'm getting down to 7:06 and 7:11.  I'm getting faster and faster!   I think progressive runs really help.