Cool Runnings!

Ran 1 mile with the boys earlier in the evening, then ran my standard 4.1 mile route.  Did not wear the HR monitor tonight.  The run felt very good.  Started off nice and slow, then slowly picked up the pace as the run progressed.  Total time for the run was 35:53, average pace of 8:39/mile.  I will plan on adding a couple of 5 mile runs this week to increase my weekly mileage above 30.  Everything is still feeling good, I feel like my cardiovascular fitness is continuing to improve.  At this point, I am still planning on running a couple of 5K's this summer, and will probably also run the White Mountain 1/2 marathon, which is on September 17, although I am still undecided about it.

Ran 1.5 miles with the boys, and discovered a new way to motivate Sam to run - talk to him throughout the entire run and distract him from the actual running.  If he is just thinking about running, he tends to think about how hard it is and get discouraged.  However, today when talking to him, he forgot all about how hard it was to run and just ran and we had a delightful time talking about all kinds of things.  Ran my standard 4.1 mile course later in the evening.  Wore the HR monitor again, and was extremely encouraged about my HR throughout the run.  I never broke 160 until the third mile, and then I was hovering between 158-161.  Picked it up the last segment for a total time of 35:27.  HR hit 173 at the end.  Should have my Garmin on Thursday and will be looking forward to testing it out.  Woohoo!

Switching up the color here . . . how daring!  Ran about 0.5 miles with the boys this evening (Sam went with Lybi to a Primary Presidency meeting and did not run with me).  Joseph did a great job running.  Then I ran a slightly different route today to make up for the difference.  Ran a 5.6 mile route.  Was very encouraged by my HR during the run.  For the first 4 miles, my HR stayed at or below 160.  Average for the first segment was 150, for the second segment, 156, same for the third segment.  HR went up slightly for the 4th segment - 158 average.  Final segment (about 1.5 miles) had an average HR of 162, but I picked it up for about the last mile and maxed out at 175, then cooled back down for the final 1/4 mile.  Average HR for the entire run was 157.  Woohoo!  I felt great.  About the only thing I noticed was a bit of achiness in my lower legs.  I am going to attribute this to my shoes wearing out.  the outsole is really worn down pretty bad.  I have a pair of Grid Hurricanes I haven't worn too much that I am going to start running in again until I can get a new pair of shoes.  I think these ones have had it.  That was part of what caused my injury last time - first of all, running too fast and too infrequently, and second running in shoes that were totally worn down and provided no shock absorption.  Will probably go through Road Runner Sports, since I am a VIP member and they have their 60 day perfect fit guarantee or they will exchange them for another pair. There are probably some people who take advantage of that.  in any case, gotta come up with the 85 or so bucks to get a pair of Adrenaline GTS 7's.  I loved the GTS 5's, hated the GTS 6's, and have read good reviews about the GTS 7.  Update on the Garmin - it won't be here until Friday now.  Also, I will need to run in the morning on Friday, as I will be taking Sam (and maybe Joseph if I am up to it) to the Aaronic Priesthood commemoration/Fathers-Sons campout this Friday.

Ran my new 5.6 mile route again this evening.  Did not get a chance to run with the boys, as I had den meeting with the Webelos scouts.  Did not wear the HR monitor today, but ran in my other shoes (Saucony Grid Hurricanes).  Ooh, what a difference.  I can tell these shoes still have some miles left in them, whereas the others (Grid Trigon Guide) are completely shot and utterly useless.  Legs felt better during today's run - felt less pounding.  Ran pretty even miles until the last mile.  Picked it up the last mile (I am so looking forward to getting my Garmin tomorrow so that I will know more approximately how fast I am running!) - total time was 48:16, average pace was 8:34/mile.  I need to get more sleep.  On a side note, I realized today that I will not be able to go to the Aaronic Priesthood commemoration campout with my boys, as I am on call all weekend, and the campsite is a good hour from civilization.  Does not bode well if I get paged in the middle of the night or on the weekend when I am all set up.  I feel bad about this, but to be honest, I was a bit apprehensive about bringing both boys - Samuel would have been fine, but the combination of both Samuel and Joseph together in the wilderness would have been too much for me to handle, I think.  Next year, Joey will be almost 6, and Samuel will be almost 8.  I think this will be a lot better situation for me and them.  I don't want it to be a majorly frustrating experience for me or them - I want them to enjoy the experience.

Before I begin my workout report, I just have to say that I was so excited today - MY GARMIN FINALLY ARRIVED!  I was so geeked out about it.  I absolutely love it.  No problems at all acquiring satellite, already have it cradled and connected to my PC and have already uploaded my two runs today (1 with boys, plus my regular run).  This thing is totally awesome.  OK, enough about my new toy, on to my workout.

I am excluding some frantic sprinting I did prior to my run with the boys, when Sam and Joseph took off, and we couldn't find Sam for about 5 minutes.  I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, until I finally said a prayer, and started back home.  About a minute later, as I was on my way home, a car stopped to tell me that Sam was home.  Feelings of relief and gratitude flooded through me, first that he was home safe and second that someone hadn't seen him alone and tried to abduct him (yes, that thought had crossed my mind . . .).  All that aside, I had a marvelous run.

Started out by running 1.2 miles with the boys (I love the Garmin!), and finally knew exactly how far we had run.  It was great.  Sam did a great job.  Then I ran a 5 mile workout on the Garmin.  I set the workout for 5 miles with an average pace of 8:40/mile.  For the first 2 miles, I averaged about 8:37/mile - not too bad.  Next 2 miles were at 8:32/mile - just a little faster.  Picked up the pace for the last mile, had to stop at the stoplight for a few seconds (I love the autopause feature), and finished with a 7:39 mile.  Total time was 41:59, average pace was 8:23/mile.  I am so excited about this.  Today I was thinking about running St. George, and also was thinking about running the White Mountain 1/2 marathon, and think that the White Mountain will be a good indicator for me of my fitness for St. George.  As my mileage goes up, I think I will have a better idea of my predicted times for each of these races.

Ran my 5.0 mile route from yesterday, used the Garmin (of course!) again.  To keep this short, set a workout plan of 8:30/mile today.  Ran the course in 42:00, average pace of 8:24/mile.  The difference between yesterday's time and today's was that I managed to keep more or less an even pace, and not speed up at the end.  Legs feel great, body feels great.  I am even more motivated about running than I previously was, especially after having several weeks in a row of good results.  Hooray!

Note:  I have been doing one additional thing this week that I haven't previously been doing - I have started eating a banana after every run.  I feel like this is helping my electrolytes (especially my potassium) to stay balanced, which in turn is helping to keep my muscles from cramping up.