Perfect Weather, Fabulous Runs

I’ve been a bit delinquent in my blog writing – I blame the unseasonably good weather. Let’s catch up on the important stuff that’s been happening.

Running:

I’m currently in the middle of Week 3 of half-marathon training. I started out Week 1 really strong – I did all my training runs, and maintained a sub-9:00 pace on my long runs on Saturday and Sunday. While the one-two punch combo is probably good for training, my body hated me for running both weekend days. I woke up on Monday morning with an all-too-familiar pain on the outside of my right knee. I freaked out stayed calm, and decided to take off running for a few days.

I was jubilant when I was able to do a (really) slow 3.5 miles last Thursday, and stretched and iced in preparation for the weekend. Keith and I were scheduled to go to my house for a boisterous Wyman-Magrath family St. Patty’s Day party, and I knew that my favorite cousins would be amped up for a long run on Saturday morning.

Jacob, our little leprechaun!

My cousins Sean and Pat, and Keith and I hit the road for a comfortable 6-7 miler, and I took them through the scenic community park behind my house. We took turns at the lead, all the while catching up and commenting on the strange people that often linger in community parks. Since Pat and Keith are into these things called “pull-ups,” we stopped at a playground to have a serious monkey bar competition. Aside from getting shifty looks from parents for monopolizing their kids’ playground, the boys went head-to-head on extreme bicep-strengthening moves. I did a single pull-up and went across the monkey bars once. I think we take our upper-body strength for granted as children.

Keith hasn't run in six months. And he ran 7 miles with us.
Show-off.

The run felt awesome, and though I was a bit sore at the end, it didn’t stop me from running both Monday and Tuesday night. I did a comfortable 3.5 miler on Monday, and ran to the track for 6 x 400s last night. The weather was absolutely perfect. I wore a tank top for the first time this year, and fought my way around the dozens of other people at the track who had the same idea as me. I did my speedy laps at a 7:20 pace and my recovery laps at an 8:30-9:00 pace. My knee felt great, and I basically skipped home.

I decided to modify the Hal Higdon Training Program I’m doing to prevent injury. Instead of running both Saturday and Sunday, I’m going to take the mileage from one of the runs and spread it throughout the week. Better for injury-prevention, better for Saturday night gallivanting. Win-Win.

Other stuff:

As I said, this good weather has been having a really dizzying effect on me. I found an awesome new soundtrack to listen to while running (The Men – Open Your Heart – Thanks Keith!!!), began re-watching the last season of Mad Men in preparation for next Sunday’s premiere, and I ate almost an entire box of Girl Scout cookies myself (Samoas, the best). I also met Keith after work for a celebratory-good-weather-beer at Berry Park’s roof deck. Hello summer!

Isn't he dapper?