Week 5

After dropping Cooper off at preschool at 9 o'clock on Tuesday morning, I jumped on the treadmill just long enough to realize that something is wrong with my treadmill (oh no!) and I then hopped off as quickly as I got on, grabbed my Garmin and headed outside for my tempo run.  I love to run outside so this was no problem. I've only been running on the treadmill a little more lately to stave off any more IT band issues. So far, it's working. The tempo run was challenging, by design, but fairly quick so I was able to squeeze it in and get a shower before having to be at Coleman's school to volunteer at 10. I definitely didn't properly warm up, cool down or stretch, though. That's how it goes some days.

On Thursday, Will had the day off, Cooper still had preschool and Coleman was invited to a friend's to play so Will and I decided to do our 10 mile run together. It was really nice to run with him but I realized during this run how obsessed I am with my Garmin. I am a true running gadget geek! You see, Will wore it on this run because I was wearing this cute, new pullover with longer sleeves and little thumb holes in the cuffs. It's designed to keep your hands warmer while you run. Anyway, the Garmin would look weird over my sleeve so I asked Will to wear it.  But I realized really quickly how much I rely on that little piece of equipment. Every couple minutes, I was asking Will what our pace was or how many miles we had gone.  I just had to know!  After the first 3-4 miles, I calmed down and trusted him to keep us on pace and that he did!  He even pushed us to beat our sought after pace by an average of 5 seconds/mile.  Maybe running with a partner ain't so bad. :) Oh, and I also learned on this run that although these Sport Beans are really tasty it is NOT fun trying to chew and run and breathe all at the same time. I'm going back to Hammer Gels.

Today, I had 50 minutes to run at a moderate pace. I'm already noticing that my moderate pace keeps getting faster and faster each week. That makes me really excited because that just means I'm getting in better shape which is exactly what I want right now.  Today's run pace was helped out by fellow trail runner. I don't know her name. I actually don't know her at all.  I just saw a girl running up ahead of me, maybe about a half of a mile or so.  And I thought, "I can catch up with her."  So, I started running at a pretty good pace, pushing myself a little faster than normal to catch up to her.  She was pretty fast so she stayed ahead of me for a while but about 23 minutes into my run a caught up to her and passed her just before I had to turn around and head back. Ahhh! Sweet victory!  Am I the only one who competes with other runners to push myself?! Something tells me no.  In fact, I've had other runners pass me and I'm sure they felt the same way.  Bottom line- I ran today at a pace that was 22 seconds faster per mile than last week's moderate run. That's something!

So, another good week of training. Luckily, the IT band held up all week with not even a twinge. (Yay!) And I'm feeling ready to start another week!

I leave you with a pick of the new run cap I bought this week. Love it!