Let it never end!

There's some pretty exciting stuff going on around here....sunshine! Not only sunshine but warm temperatures hovering around 70 degrees. Both Saturday and Sunday were amazing day's considering it's been darn cold and pretty rainy around here. Everyone is out including me! Since I live in the PNW I have a serious appreciation for the sun. I thinks that's a good thing but in the depths of cloud cover and rain for four months in the late winter I need to be reminded of that.:)

This weekend was the end of my first Build 1 week. I feel like I have come back strong from C2M. Though I am still on the short side of time on my feet I had a lot of quality in my schedule with 2 M-Pace runs (my M-Pace right now is 7:30 pace), one T-Pace run (my T-Pace right now is 7:02) and one longish run. Tuesday was the first M-Pace run and it was tough to hit my marks. Tight hips and sluggish muscles made the first couple of miles a mental challenge. Once things got loosened up and in gear it went well. For my T-Pace run Scott had me do cruise intervals. I always look forward to this kind of workout. It's designed to build up lactic in the muscles then give you a small amount of time time clear it but not completely then hit it again. The purpose of the workout is to train your body to deal with the lactic build up more efficiently. My workout went like this: Total of 90 minutes with 30 minute warm-up then 3X15 minutes at 7:02 pace, with a 2 minute jog down in between. That's a total of 45 minutes at 7:02 pace then the cool down of 5-10 minutes. When my T-Pace workouts go well on Thursday's it's a really good sign for the weekend.

Saturday I had another scheduled M-Pace run. This was longer than Tuesday's 75 minutes. I needed to do 2 hours with 5-7 miles at M-Pace. It was really nice to have company on this run. Micheal joined me and of he is easily able to run 7:30's. When I have someone along who is faster it seems to free me up from the mental part of the workout and all I have to focus on is the run. Training partners are the best because just when I think I might not be able to achieve my goal they motivate me to go for it! We easily knocked out the run and had to throttle back on the pace, nice! After the run it was off the the baseball field for opening day. I LOVE watching the baseball games. They are long but I really enjoy watching Alex participate. The basketball games are fun to watch as well but since I know nothing about basketball it's hard for my brain to keep up. I get baseball! At This age they are getting super competitive. It's seems like a big switch very fast but I guess that's how it goes when high school is just around the corner, yikes! Time flies! I love watching Alex grow up but I am not sure how I am going to handle his Independence. I think that's a mommy thing....you want them to grow up and become young men but not really. :)

The sun was incredibly energizing and made for a great run in the gorge on Sunday. Only 2.5 hours for me which was the perfect amount for my quads. I can still feel them from Coyote....all good stuff but it's taking a bit for them to come back full strength. Darin, Susan, Micheal and I soaked up the dry trails and the gorge made me super anxious for the those long running days. I am very motivated right now which is always a welcoming emotion but if I dont' keep it in check I can get myself in trouble fast.

Lonn, you inquired about running time split between flat and hills. I would say around 50/50. Most of my recovery runs are done on the trail but sometimes I use a treadmill on the random setting around 7. If I do hit the trail for those runs I choose a relatively flat to mild rolling section. All my M-Pace runs and T-Pace runs are done on Lief Erickson which is a rolling gravel road but I do all the pace portion of those runs on the flat section to get accurate paces. The weekends are usually all hills but on recovery weeks or lighter weeks I might do some faster road stuff or gently rolling trail. I think doing the flat stuff definitely helps my speed. I have to do all I can to maintain my tiny bit of trail speed and the road stuff helps with running economy and is a reminder for my body.