Well, I did end up dragging my confused booty outta bed and got to the gym for the 5:30am Spinning class. I decided to forgo my usual quick treadmill run for the day in favor of giving my legs a day off running. At lunch yesterday I did 45 minutes on the elliptical while reading my latest obsession.
Today I got to the gym ready for the 5:30am Signature Strength class, but sadly it was cancelled. My gym's kinda a hot mess right now... there was an ownership change and a lot of the instructors apparently hate the gym and a bunch are quitting like crazy. My favorite spinning instructor had her last class Monday and the Signature Strength instructor just quit, too. UGH! Hopefully they find someone good to replace them soon.
Anyway-- since Signature Strength was a no-go, I jumped on a treadmill while watching Felicity on Netflix Instant and easily knocked out 7 miles in 1:04:37 for a 9:13 pace! It actually felt pretty easy, which was surprising. Apparently me and the ol' mill are in a love phase of our love/hate relationship. I'll take it! I ended my morning workout with 10 minutes on the elliptical before a quick shower and a mad dash to work.
I'm hoping to get some more miles in at lunch today too. 5ish is the goal, to make it an easy double digit mid-week run day.
Backing up to the weekend, I did my LONGEST RUN TO DATE! 18.15 crazy miles. Just reading that kinda boggles my mind. 18 miles?!?!? That's SO far. I can't believe I ran it. Seriously.
So, I started my Saturday morning after a less than sound sleep with a 5:45am alarm. I had to carefully plan my run, since I was finish the run at a local 10K race, which started at 8:30am. I was doing the race with some work people, so I had to be there by 8:10am. Luckily the race is in running distance from my house, so the plan was to get up and get out the door by 6am, get 10 miles in, stop back at my house to grab my bib, then head over to the start line while adding another 1.8 miles, then do the 6.2 race to total 18 for the run. Yeaaaah, didn't happen quite so smoothly.
My alarm went off at 5:45 and it was still crazy dark out. Didn't help that I checked out the weather on my phone to see this forecast pre-6AM.
75* before 6am?!?!? TOO HOT. I know it wasn't even that hot. I get it. But, with a high of 90+ and that kinda heat before the sun was even up, I wasn't too optimistic about it not quickly turning into a sauna-esque run. (Spoiler: I wasn't wrong.)
I did drag myself outta bed, kicking and screaming. I slowly got ready, ate an english muffin with PB, and grabbed my gear.
I got out the door by about 6:15am, a solid 15 minutes later than my carefully constructed schedule allowed. Normally, 15 minutes isn't that big of a deal, but with running, it's a bigger deal. 15 minutes is over a mile! And, when there's a race start line to get to, there's a much stricter schedule. Ugh.
So, the entire first 10 miles I was stressing about if I was going to be late. Must have worked a bit because despite the temps steadily rising to 80*, I managed to hold a solid 9:45 aveage pace the entire first 10 miles. Solid. I'll take it.
I got to my house at 8am 10.5 miles in (I also managed to over estimate distance... crap!) feeling fatigued and hot, but not too shabby. I grabbed some Gu Chomps, my bib, and chugged half a diet pepsi (weird and NOT a good workout beverage, I know) and was back out the door in under 2 minutes.
Even with the lighting fast transition time, I was still behind and late. Luckily, I go to the race with like 2 minutes to spare. Just enough time to steal a race bottle of water and snap a pic with my co-workers before taking off.
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| (I cropped the co-workers out of this pic for their privacy) |
Side note: When other co-workers saw this pic Monday morning, they thought it was a post-race pic, based solely on my sweatiness level. Classic, Meagan. Gotta say... I was proud.
So, after 12 miles, I crossed the start line for another 6.2. They honestly weren't that bad. Kinda un-noteworthy, as a matter of fact. Nothing special. I plowed through them. I was tired and it was HOT. Like, 85* hot. But, I felt strong. I managed to hold onto a 9:40ish pace the whole race.
18.15 miles (the course was short! That almost never happens!) in 2:56:16 for a 9:40 average pace. My paces stayed pretty consistent. My slowest mile was a 9:50 and my fastest was a 9:32.
It was nice to have the race at the end of such a long run. It made it mentally more bareable because I really just broke it down and thought "OK, I have a 10 mile run" then "Just to the start line" then "OK-- just finish up this race. That's all you have to do." Plus, it really helped to have water stations and people cheering and all the fun stuff that goes along with a race.
And, just like that- I was done with my longest run. Evvvver. 18.15 miles. DONE!
The Hubs picked me up at the finish line so I wouldn't have to walk home.
An ice bath, chocolate milk, and a shower later and we were on the road to my in-laws for a day at the beach with some extended family in town.
At that leads us to run #2 for the day. Yes, you read right. Another run. See, the Hubs cousin is a HUGE workout fanatic. Like, way more than me. Anwyay, he wanted to get a little cardio in, so he asked if I wanted to go for a run on the beach. I'm never one to turn down a run (I don't think I know how), so I was in. 3 miles on the beach. Barefoot. On sand. Dodging little kids and beer bottles and rocks. I was OK til about mile 2 and then I was SPENT. My legs started screaming and I slowed waaaay down. My legs were beyond done and angry with me by mile 3, so we stopped there. It was fun to run together, but man-- the barefoot beach thing was brutal. Not to mention the whole tired post-long-run legs thing.
So, after we left the beach, I wrapped up the day in compression socks eating my weight in homemade cookies. Excellent. After 21.15 miles, I feel like that was the only way the day could end really. I mean, come on.
Sadly, it didn't QUITE end there. See, the Hubs and I drove allllll the way home (about 45 minutes) and right when we were pulling off the highway I remembered I forgot my purse at the in-laws. DOH! So, we had to turn around and go back. We didn't end up getting back home for good til after 10. With a 5am Sunday wake up call and another 2-hour drive on the horizon for Sunday, that wasn't such a great thing. I crashed immediately upon walking in the door.
Recap on Sunday's 5K Color Run coming soon! :)
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