I had a really great run yesterday, too. It's been SO hard for me to get back in the habit of having a running schedule. It's kind of odd--for six years, since I started running, I NEVER had a problem with getting in my runs. But the past couple of months have been so difficult getting back in the groove. I've been lacking in discipline and motivation.
Anyway, I was dreading doing any sort of speed work, so I found myself procrastinating again. Yesterday, I promised myself I would do it... and I did. On the schedule was a 10-minute warm-up, 4 x 5:00 with 2:00 recovery walks, and 10-minute cool down. Translation:
Jog 10 minutes.
Run 5 minutes fast then walk 2 minutes (repeat for a total of four times)
Jog 10 minutes.
After my humbling race pace run last week, I wasn't expecting this to feel "easy". I should have checked what pace to aim for, but I guessed it would be right around 9:00/mile. So, I wasn't even going to try to go much faster.
After the warm-up jog, I started the first interval. I was right--it felt tough! I used to do those at a 7:30 pace, and now I'm having a hard time with 8:45. I even started to doubt my ability to pace Stephanie to a sub-60 10K next month; but, when I first started 10K training for my sub-50, my pace was nowhere near where it "should have" been, because I just wasn't able to do it. As I continued to try, though, eventually I was able to hit the pace. Hopefully, that will be the case here! Of course speed work is going to feel hard when I haven't been training much all summer ;)
I had to bribe myself a little throughout the run, but I did end up getting in all four intervals at my target pace. And I felt WONDERFUL. Truly, I need to remember that feeling for the next time I'm having zero motivation to run. I love love love the feeling after nailing a hard run!
I had to stop and take a picture of the lake. The clouds over the lake looked so cool! The picture doesn't do it justice (they never do).
At cross country practice yesterday, I made a new game for the kids to do after their running workout. I set up an obstacle course for them, and after the last obstacle, I had a bucket of the tokens for Connect 4. They would grab a token and run it back to the starting line, where the Connect 4 game was set up. Then they would drop in their token for their team to try and Connect 4. Repeat until one of the teams wins.
It worked out really well, and I think the kids had fun with the obstacle course! We played a couple of games of that and then headed home. It was actually 41 degrees when we left practice! It's been pretty cold for a few days, considering it was 80 degrees last week. Michigan weather is crazy.
Today, I met up with an old friend from high school. Andy and I were pretty close friends back in the day, but I hadn't seen him since we graduated, so it'd been 16 years. (I can't believe I graduated 16 years ago--wow.) He's been living in San Diego, and he just came home for the weekend. It was really great to catch up with him! We took a journalism class in school, where we worked on the school newspaper together (coincidentally, when I was writing a story for the paper one day my junior year, I went to another school to interview some students, which is how I met Jerry).
That journalism class was my favorite class I've ever taken (high school or college), and I was telling Andy today how it is one of the only things I learned in school that I put into use in real life. When writing my blog, I think of so many things that we learned in that class--even when I named my blog, I thought of the "headlines rules" for journalism. We had a really awesome teacher in that class, and sometimes I can still hear his voice in my head when I'm writing. I never would have guessed how useful that class would be in my future! ;)
The Detroit Marathon is this Sunday. I just decided (yesterday) that I'm going to go spectate this year. The only person I know that is running is Nathan (my brother), and he's doing the International Half. I really love that race, though, so I'm going to go to Mile 8 (just after the tunnel coming back into the U.S.) and cheer people on. I think Becky (my sister-in-law) is going to come with me.
And then on Monday (super early!) I'm heading to New York City for a short overnight trip. Purina invited me to their annual Better With Pets Summit again, and I'm super excited for it. I've gone the last two years, and I've learned so many awesome things about pets and people. It was even what inspired us to adopt a dog last year! Jerry is going to come with me to NYC, which will be fun. He'll probably hang out with our friend Mike while I'm doing the Summit. Then we fly back home on Tuesday night. So, it'll be a short trip, but I'm looking forward to it!
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