Excellent Easter

The three day weekend was amazing and much needed,  I have to admit it was pretty tough coming back to work Monday morning!

Saturday night, Jordan and I enjoyed a delicious dinner at Bravo.  I had a cup of lobster bisque and their chopped salad, two of my favorite things.  My other favorite things are their bread and a glass of Merlot.  YUM!

Easter Sunday started with an egg hunt at our house.  Jordan, Penny, and I each received a basket.  My basket was perfect for a marathon runner.  Good job, husband!

 

 

 

 

Penny found her basket first: Spring Treats, a Spring scarf, and a silly carrot toy.

Scarf model

It all starts with an egg

Normal 24-year-olds wake up at 7am to hunt eggs

Very excited

Intense

He finally found his

My basket - running visor, gels, electrolyte brew.  I LOVE YOU!

We went to church at 8:30 and I came home to make the ham and asparagus.  While everything was cooking, I decided to get a workout in.  I thought it would be a good idea to do a 5k tempo on hills so that I would be ready for Pittsburgh.  I did a warm up, and started the hilly 5k.  What I did was go up and down a hill 5 times, turning right around at the top.  So the entire run was either uphill, or downhill.  A family of mostly elderly men was sitting outside drinking coffee in their church clothes, I knew they thought I was really weird.  It felt good to do a hard run before I ate my big Easter dinner.  I did the 5k in 20:21 (6:34 pace) for a total of 7 miles plus an ab workout.

Easter dinner was delicious at my in-laws.  They have high food standards, and every dinner I have ever eaten with them has been excellent.  I was thrilled that my big old ham was met with approval.  My favorite was the stuffed artichoke :).  Always a veggie fan!  The almond torte cake was a close second.

Last stop, visiting with my family at my grandma's.  It was so nice that both festivities were only 5 minutes from each other.  We were too full to eat anything here, but had a nice time just hanging out....then we left to spend our last night with Lola.....

Bye, Lola!

But don't worry....we will soon have another visitor....

Monday morning turned out to be super sunny and HOT when I left work.  I had an easy 5 miles planned - less than three weeks until the marathon so it is time to start backing off!  However, the sunshine made me run faster than I should have, averaging 7:31 pace - not my easy pace.

Tuesday after school I lifted weights then headed off to Hounds practice.  I had a hard workout, trying to stick with the fast girls.  I did a 4k in 16:00, then took a 20 minute 'break' on the trails - I call this a 'break' because the hills made it feel pretty hard.  Coming back up to the track, I did a 2k in 8:17 - definitely fell off pace.  I totaled 11 miles.

Today I did an easy 5 in the middle of a storm (8:15 pace - much more reasonable than Monday).  Tomorrow, I am hoping to do some 800s at the park to compare them with how I ran them before my last marathon.  Hopefully, my legs will be ready!

Past Week and Bad Race - Boohooing.

This rainy weather has been dragging me down lately.

This past Tuesday, I went to hounds practice in the POURING rain.  It was incredibly rainy and windy and I was very proud of myself for just showing up.  It was a great change of pace to have teammates to run with.  I love Tuesday practices!  (I lifted that AM at the gym in case you were worried)
Anyways, I did 1,000 meter repeats on the track (the oval was completely submerged in water in some parts.)  They were not pretty.  I had in mind to do at least four, so I guess I can feel some satisfaction that I did seven of them!  The results: 3:55, 3:57, 3:58, 4:01, 4:01, 3:59, 4:03,  a total of 11.5 miles.  Not very fast repeats, but I have to keep reminding myself of the rain and wind.....I was thrilled to be done and head home to a crockpot filled with warm turkey chili, and my husband and dog.

Wednesday:   Ran a good paced 10.5 mile run at North Park, felt really good doing it, didn't feel long at all.  Total pace was 8:06 pace.  My 'easy' pace is supposed to be 8:27.  Maybe I need to listen better next time.

Thursday: Did an early 6 mile run around home, was very slow and tired.  Wednesday should have been done easier, I think.  Did not get home until 9 that night because I had a work training until 8pm, then had to drive home.  Not much time to recover/relax!

Friday:  Did an easy four mile shakeout later on in the day with some striders.  Did not feel particularly good or happy to be running.  I think the less time i have to rest/more I work the worse I feel.

Saturday I had signed up for the Genesis 10k race.  It was an awesome course along the rivers in Pittsburgh, and it was very easy to get to on a Saturday morning.  On a nice day when my legs were feeling good, I think I would have loved it.  However, warming up I noticed that the wind was very strong, but the rain was holding off.  Sadly, I am a bad runner in the wind.  Maybe it's because I am short, I don't really know.
The race got off to a decent start, I stayed in third, and actually ended up finishing third as well.  The course was basically and out and back loop, and the wind hit us worse the first three miles.  Here are my splits, you can see that I fell apart.  I think I tired myself out fighting against the wind...
6:21, 6:10, 7:16, 7:07, 6:52, 6: 46, last .2 at 6:46 pace,  I do think some of these mile markers were off a little!
I was discouraged after this race, because up until this point, everything has been going awesome with racing and training.  After one crummy race, I'm starting to second guess all the work I have done and wonder if I can really break 3:10 on a tough course?  To top it off, i feel abnormally tired and my feet feel achy from this race.  I did an easy 5 the next day (Sunday) but still feel yucky today, so I am taking a rest day...which of course is making me very grumpy.

Although this was a bad race for me, I did get 3rd and won money racing for the first time ever!

Laura-First!
I think I look about 11 in this picture?

Sigh.  Hopefully, I get over my running funk soon.  I know I will want to get back into training hardcore tomorrow, but I have to remember that my peak mileage is done, and my training plan is starting to back off since it is less than four weeks away...

Anyone want to do a long run Friday?  I have off!

Onto a more fun topic...we have a special canine friend staying with us.  We are dog sitting my father-in-law's dog Lola, who is 14 years old.  Penny and Lola have completely different activity levels - but I love having her here with us.  She is so sweet!!!

Two Friends!

Lola is usually laying/cuddling, Penny is usually running from room to room like a maniac.  We are a lot alike!