Running in the Moment

Ironman St. George 70.3 Pre-Race

The first thought that crossed my mind when entering the water was that it was pretty darn cold!  The announcer had said it was 64, which isn’t terrible, but still not close to warm. Leading up to the race I had a little fear of how I would react in a wetsuit since I wasn’t able to do a pre-race warm up and the last time I swam in one (IMWI) I had a full on panic attack.  I did make sure when I put it on that it was pulled up high in the legs/arms so it wasn’t tugging on my neck and shoulders, which I think helped.  Off I went, getting used to putting my face in the very cold water, and eventually getting into a rhythm.  The seeded swim start was awesome as I had very little body contact throughout the whole swim, and it wasn’t nearly as crowded as the wave start/mass start swims I have in the past which was really refreshing.  I did have a few moments of panic but was able to talk myself out of them and got back to focusing on pushing the pace.  Soon I could see the final turn and I just tried to keep having strong, even strokes and picked up the cadence a bit more to pick up the speed.  Once I got out of the water and wobbled to the wetsuit strippers, I checked my time and was happy to see it was right at 37 minutes (really, it was 37:00 on the nose), hooray!

I ran to my bike, put on my aero top (which I practiced several times since I knew putting it on while wet might be hard), helmet, glasses, socks, shoes and then a spray of sunscreen on my neck (ouch, wetsuit definitely rubbed), arms and legs and I was off!

Leaving T1

I quickly settled into the bike and was greeted with a hill not too far out of T1 which helped get me into a groove and pace myself a bit rather than hammering the first few miles which I sometimes do on a flatter course.  I don’t have much to report on the bike leg, other than the pretty views and the hills (Snow Canyon did NOT disappoint), the bike was fairly uneventful.  Even a little lonely at times.  I was surprised at how spread out everyone was on the course, but I guess hills really do lead to a more honest course.  The entire ride I was on top of my nutrition and salt tabs (actually I think I could have had an additional huma gel for a few more calories), and after the 8 mile Snow Canyon climb – which was in no way easy, but definitely manageable if you pace yourself, I let it loose and flew down the final 8ish miles back into transition.

My bike time of 3:10:12 was a little disappointing as the past few 70.3’s I have been right around 3 hours or a bit under, however given the challenging course as well as the fact that I had only ridden outside once this year, I wasn’t shocked at the time either.  Plus I stayed within the planned watts range, so that reassured me I did the best I could do.

I ran into T2 and spent too much time there, but with the logistics of not being able to set up T2 and having everything in a bag, along with having to put your bike stuff back in the bag, just made it challenging to be speedy.  Once I exited T2 (and took what felt like forever for a pee stop) my legs felt pretty flat, but they usually do the first couple of miles after the bike, so I decided to ignore them see how they felt after mile 2.  However after mile 2 they still hadn’t seemed to come around and I had another huuuge climb before mile 3, which I ended up doing a little bit of walking up as I didn’t want to kill my legs for the remaining 10+ miles left.  I had thought based on the elevation chart that the hills on the course ‘kind of’ calmed down after mile 3 until the last three miles, however I WAS WRONG…. there were many more hills like that on this course.

Leaving T2 and happy to be on the run!  Ignorant of all of the hills I would encounter on the run.

I saw JMR at mile 4.5, which was a surprise, and gave me a little boost….however it didn’t last long.  My body just felt tired, and on top of that I kept having waves of nausea.  I was on top of my nutrition on the bike, didn’t push the watts beyond the planned number, so I wasn’t sure what the deal was with how I was feeling on the run, other than the fact that I hadn’t ridden outside more than two hours and maybe at this point my body wasn’t sure what to think.  I’m sure the hills on the bike and high 80 degree temps when I started the run didn’t help either, although I was secretly hoping my 2x a week of hot yoga would have helped with heat acclimation a little!  Every .5 miles or so I tried to push the pace a bit, but my legs weren’t a fan and it brought back stronger waves of nausea, so I just tried to keep moving forward, even if it was not exactly a fast pace but at least something other than walking.  When I saw the turn-around I was so relieved… halfway done!

The next three miles were just a sufferfest of moving forward, refueling at aid-stations, and more moving forward.  I was able to somewhat pick up the pace a little in the last 3ish miles (there was another pretty big hill in there that I did a tiny bit of walking up), and as I was rounding the turn for the finish line, I started to get a little choked up.  2017 was filled with a lot of ups and downs, lots of disappointment and lots frustration, however this year things have been moving in a much better direction, far from perfect (life isn’t perfect), but I’m just in a much better place physically and mentally which has made a world of a difference. Even though the finish time I saw on my watch while crossing the line wasn’t the time I had hoped for going into this race, just crossing the finish line was a pretty big deal to me given where I was last year at this time, and I was extremely proud of that.  There will be other races for PRs, but this one was definitely more about the journey than the race itself.

Sprinting to the finish

Once I collected myself and stopped secretly ugly crying behind my sunglasses, I found JMR and rehashed the race while he filled me in on his own mini adventures (being a sherpa/race spectator is hard and has its own challenges!).  Then after a little sitting around, we got my bike and gear, dropped the bike off at the shop to get boxed up for her trip home and headed to Zion!  I’ll write a separate post on that part of the tip.

Finished!

Run time: 2:17 (ouch), Total race time: 6:13:17.

Hooray, this week is race week!  In two days I’ll be in St. George, UT!  However in the meantime, I’m a little behind on my training updates, so here’s a quick update on training weeks 16 and 17:

Week 16: 4/16-4/22

Monday – 2900y swim in the am, yoga in the pm

Tuesday – Speedwork in the am: 800 w/u, 6×800, 800 c/d, followed by an hour easy ride after work

Wednesday – 2350y swim in the am, followed by probably the hardest weekday trainer ride so far this year after work.  Ouch.  I survived though.

Thursday – Hill repeats on the treadmill

Friday – 2100y swim in the am

Saturday – 10 mile run with 8 @ sub 8 pace.  Sadly only two miles were actually at sub 8…just couldn’t get the head and legs to get with the program.  Later in the afternoon I did an hour of hot yoga.

Despite only 2 sub 8’s, still a speedier 10 mile long run for me!

Sunday – This weather.  Sigh.  3 hours on the trainer, with 6×15 min at race pace, followed by a 20 min run.  I realllly hope that’s the longest ride I have to do on the trainer this season.

Total Training Hours: 12:33

Week 17: 4/23-4/29

Monday – 2900y swim in the am.  Later that afternoon I felt like I was coming down with a sore throat/cold so I skipped yoga.

Tuesday – Track workout in the am, 1 hr ride in pm  woke up feeling worse, so I waited until noon to decide if I should attempt my run or not… after texting with my coach, it was decided to take today off and get my immune system back to its healthy state.

Wednesday – woke up feeling a bit better so I swam 2350y in the am and rode the trainer for an hour after work.

Thursday – I was dreading this run once I saw it on my schedule… 1 mile warmup, 3×1 @ 7:30 with 2 min RI and then 2 miles at 1/2 IM RP (8:15-20).  It looked tough.  Plus, it was all on the treadmill, and I couldn’t decide if mentally mile repeats were easier on the track with things to stare at, or easier to just put my head down and run on the treadmill.  Regardless, I got it done and hit all of the paces, so hoooray!

I don’t even know what this means, but I’ll take it 🙂

Friday – 2125y swim at lunch

Saturday – 7 mile run with 5@ sub 8, and hit all 5 at a sub 8 pace. 🙂  Later that afternoon I did an hour of yoga.

Sunday – I RODE OUTSIDE!!  2 hours, with 1 hour at RP effort.  Overall it felt good, I rode one of my usual go-to semi hilly routes and felt like I was in pretty good shape compared to how I usually feel on the hills.  Granted it was nowhere as hilly as St. George, but 1. riding outside + 2. Riding a few hills to make sure I remember how to change gears (ha) was a pretty good confidence booster for me.  After the ride I ran 20 minutes at RP.  Later in the afternoon I snuck in another hour of yoga.

Total Training Hours: 9:36

This week is REALLY light since I’m in full taper mode, in fact I think I’m spending more time packing/organizing things for the trip than doing any swimming, biking or running.  Happy Tuesday!

Another week closer to St. George, less than three weeks in fact, and in just about two weeks I’ll be in a plane headed there!  The last week of training was more of a recovery week since I had just raced the Go! Half that previous Sunday and also I was traveling for work, so it was a pretty light training week.  I’ll keep this post brief just like my training week 🙂

Training Week 15: 3/9-3/15

Monday – 30 min recovery swim in the am

Tuesday – 1 hr easy trainer ride in the am before heading to Fort Smith, AR for work.  Was not looking forward to the 7 hour car ride!

Wednesday – Quick 30 min run on the treadmill in the hotel gym before heading into the clinics for go-live support

Thursday – 30 min run outside since the one and only treadmill in the gym was already taken.  The first 15 minutes or so were in the dark, but the lights on the sidewalk were bright so I felt pretty safe running outside.  Good to know in case the treadmill is taken Friday am!

Friday – 15 min run on the treadmill… I didn’t time this right at all, as soon as I got on the treadmill and did the math I realized I would have been way late to the clinic because I hadn’t accounted for packing and checking out of the hotel first.  Oh well, at least I got in a teeny tiny run!

Saturday – Easy 6 mile run outside, followed by an hour of yoga in the afternoon.  I reallllly needed that yoga class from sitting in the car most of Tuesday, being on my feet for 10+ hours Wednesday/Thursday, on them again for 5 hours on Friday and then in the car for 7 hours that afternoon.  Boy was I tight and stiff!

Sunday – Mother nature just doesn’t believe in spring this year.  So…. I rode 3 hours on the trainer (boo!!) followed by a 20 minute run on the treadmill.  I’m not sure what the deal was, but my legs were pretty dead at 2.5 hours into the 3 hour ride… I could barely push easy watts those last 30 minutes.  I’m hoping it was a combination of the long car rides plus being on my feet much longer than I’m used to.

Total Training Hours: 8:04

For missing so many workouts during the week I’m surprised I even got in 8 hours.  Ok, back to work, Happy Tuesday!

A quick recap of the past two training weeks and I’ll save my Go! Half Marathon race recap for its own little post 🙂

Week 13 2/26-3/1:

Monday – 3000y swim in the am which included 20×100, followed by yoga after work

Tuesday – Speedwork: 800 w/u, 12×400 (at around a 7:20ish pace), 800 cooldown.  Easy 1 hour spin after work

Wednesday – 2150y swim in the am, trainer ride after work with a little 10 min run after.

Thursday – 6 mile run in the am with 4 @ an easy 8:45 tempo

Friday – Since we get Good Friday off at work, this was an extra easy day 🙂  I woke up and got in a 2675y swim (with 30 minutes timed which is why the weird distance), after a small breakfast and a little relaxing I went and did hot yoga a little later that morning.  Then I ran several errands, also dropped off Easter baskets for my three nieces (I was a ‘fun’ aunt this year and gave them quite a bit of candy).  Then I watched ‘I, Tonya’, which I really liked (I went into it not really sure what to expect) and when JMR got home from work we went out to dinner.

Saturday – 8 mile run in the am with 6 @ race pace.  Eek…. As I’ve gained some speed since January that number is kind of a question mark for me.  I have a general idea, but I think (hope?) the original 8:30 pace might be a bit slower than what I can do.  However, I also don’t want to blow up mid-race so I don’t want to be too risky with my pace either.  8:20 was the race pace I settled for during the run and it felt good and manageable, however it was only 6 miles… I’ll have 7.1 more to do during the race, so it might feel quite a bit different during the later miles.  Regardless I have put in the work, not just getting in the ‘long’ runs, but the work every single day (only one missed workout since 1/1 due to being sick and it was a ride), so hopefully if the race doesn’t turn out how I hope, it also won’t go too far south either!  I have a super secret goal (goal: 8:30 pace, secret goal: Faster than 8:30, super secret goal: ?) which I’ll share on Sunday because I don’t want to jinx myself!

After the run, I showered and packed and we headed to Quincy for Easter.

Sunday: After having brunch with JMR’s family, we headed back home around 3p, which was later than we should have since Quincy had already started getting snow around noon.  I really didn’t think it would do much since it had been fairly warm over the past few days, however the snow still stuck to the ground and by the time we left, they had already accumulated at least an inch of snow.

Which made for a very SLOW drive home.  In fact one hour into the two-hour drive home, the car in front of us did a 360 on the highway after somehow fishtailing (I still can’t figure out what exactly happened).  It was pretty darn scary.  When we finally got home (and picked up Patrick along the way at my parents), I hopped on the trainer at 6 for a 2.5 hour ride, followed by a 20 minute run.  It was rough.  I just hate doing workouts that long that late in the day, but I didn’t have a choice.  I finished up right around 9, after a late dinner (protein shake and Kind bar) and headed to bed.

Total Training Hours: 12:12

Week 14 3/2-3/8:

Monday – 1700y easy swim, followed by yoga after work

Tuesday – Speedwork: 800 w/u, 6×400 (at around a 7:20ish pace), 800 cooldown.  Easy 1 hour spin after work

Wednesday – Easy 30 min spin followed by an easy 30 min run.

Thursday – 5 mile run with 3 @ planned race pace.

Friday – Easy 200y swim.

Saturday – 30 minute shakeout run followed by yoga.  I decided to take the free yoga class at my gym (doing hot yoga 2x a week is pretty expensive!) called ‘yoga for everybody’, and they weren’t kidding!  I wouldn’t really call it a yoga class as it was more of a stretching in the dark on a yoga mat class. However, it was relaxing and just what I needed the day before a race.

Sunday: Go! Half Marathon!  I had good feelings about the race all week since I hadn’t missed one run training session (in fact so far this year I’ve only missed one training session and it was a ride due to a sore throat/body aches), and my paces have been improving, so I felt that even if I didn’t have a great race, it would still be better that my past few half-marathons (spoiler-it was!).

After the race I celebrated with way too many carbs at brunch, lounged on the couch, a epsom salt bath that night and an early bedtime!

Total Training Hours: 7:57

I’m headed to Fort Smith, AR tomorrow for work and won’t be back until late Friday night, so I won’t be getting in too many workouts, good thing it’s a ‘down’ week!

Happy Monday!

The alarm went off too soon this morning at 5:05a… I laid in bed for 5 minutes debating sleeping in and swimming at lunch or after work.  However after thinking about it, I remembered I have meetings all day so I can’t swim at lunch, and on Monday evenings the lap lanes don’t start until 7:30p, and since I have yoga at 7p, I would have to move yoga to Tuesday night….and well, I just got up and got my butt to the pool 🙂

On a non-training update our mattress arrived on Saturday, and boy were we excited.  That is until it was installed and we realized how HIGH it was with the extra padding in the mattress and pillow top.  It was almost 2x the size of my previous mattress!  After doing some research and then going back to the store, they suggested a lower option from the standard 9 inch box spring, called a bunkie board, which was only 2 inches high.  Now THAT would work!  They also could do a swap so it won’t cost any extra money (in fact we would get a little bit back), so hooray!  It arrives on Thursday and hopefully then we can actually enjoy the new mattress as we are currently afraid to move too much in fear of falling off and breaking a limb.

JMR put a stepstool next to the bed that night 🙂 Also it looks so small but it is in fact a Queen.

Ok, on to last weeks training!

Week 12: 3/19-3/25

Monday – 3100y swim in the am, followed by yoga after work

Tuesday – Speedwork in the am: 800 warmup, 10×400, 800 cooldown. Easy 1hr spin after work

Wednesday – 1hr trainer ride/15 min run in the am (was dropping my bike off to get a tune up at lunch so had to swap swim/ride times), 2100y swim after work

Thursday –  Hill repeats…upped the usual pace of 7:54 to 7:47, I was able to hold all 8 at that pace but it was definitely a challenge!

Friday – 2625y swim, which included 30 minutes of nonstop swimming (hence the weird 25 in there, during my ‘rest’ I breastroked back to my usual end of the pool)

Saturday – 10 mile run with 1mi warmup, 6 @ sub 8:45, 2 @ 7:30, 1 mi cooldown.  What really happened…6 @ 8:20-8:30 and then the 2 were 7:45 and 8:15… those two miles were mostly uphill and my legs just weren’t having it.  I probably went a little too hard on the first six, but those also included more hills than my route I usually do long runs on.  Fortunately the Go! Half course isn’t all hilly as this route, so my legs should do better!

After the run I headed over for what I thought would be an easy hour of yoga, as I really needed lots of deep stretching, but I had picked the wrong class.  I left with my limbs not feeling very stretched out and more like noodles.  Oh and I was SORE.

Sunday – 2hr trainer ride with intervals followed by a 2 mile run.  After the hills and intense yoga class the day before, I already started this workout a bit fatigued and by the time I was done, I was spent.  It took all of my energy to get to the store for our weekly groceries.  Phew.

Total Training Hours: 12:22

Ok, back to work!  Happy Monday!

Another week (well actually 2) done and training is feeling really good.   🙂  This past weekend I had my first race of the season and it went way better than expected, which is just what I needed to keep me motivated to keep putting in the work day in and day out.

On a non-training update, JMR and I bought a new mattress!  We’ve been talking about getting a new one for well over a year, but lately JMR has been having back issues and we are overdue for a new mattress, so we pulled the trigger yesterday.  I did some online research before we headed to the store so I at least had an idea of what we were looking for and in what price range.  After trying a few different styles, we settled on a standard mattress with a foam pillow top.  I had thought I would like a memory foam mattress, since those seem to be the most popular, but I HATED them… the odd slowly sinking feeling for several minutes after you laid down felt strange and getting up was a bit tough too.  I envisioned trying to get out of bed in the middle of the night to pee after having run a long run that day and then having issues getting out, the horror! 🙂  JMR was indifferent so it was an easy decision to go with the standard mattress.  We ended up getting the floor model, which at first I was 100% ‘no way’ before we tried it out, but after seeing the huge price savings and how much more we liked it over beds in the similar price range, I caved and gave JMR the thumbs up.  At least no one has slept on it, right? They also threw in a waterproof mattress protector, so that added a little more reassurance.  Fingers crossed we like it, it arrives Saturday!  Ok, on to the past two weeks training:

Week 10: 3/5-3/11

Monday – 2300y with timed 2100y swim test.   The 2100y was a tad slower than I had hoped, but still decent time (for me).  Yoga after work

Tuesday – Speedwork-800 warmup, 10×400, 800 cooldown

Wednesday – 2050y swim in the am, 1 hr trainer ride after work

Thursday – 5.5 miles in the am which included 8 hill repeats, weights/core after work

Friday – 2600y swim in the am

Saturday – 10 mile run- 1 mi warmup, 2 miles at marathon pace (around 9:30ish for me), 6 at half marathon pace (sub 8:30) and 1 mile cooldown.  Overall it felt pretty good, and I’m getting excited to race and see what I’ve got!

Sunday – 1:30 trainer ride followed by 1 mile run

Total Training Hours: 9:15

Week 10: 3/12-3/18

Monday – 3000y swim in the am, yoga after work

Tuesday – Speedwork-800 warmup, 6×400, 800 cooldown

Wednesday – 1500y swim in the am, 1 hr trainer ride/2mi run after work

Thursday – Easy 5 mi run in the am, weights/core after work

Friday – 1800y swim in the am

Saturday – Saint Patrick’s Day 5 Mile Race, aka, RACE DAY!!  My pre-race routine went smoothly, I got up early, ate, we were parked in plenty of time, 1.5mi warmup, took my gel and lined up.

Once the gun went off I tried to settle into a not super crazy fast pace, which is tough since the first .5 miles are downhill.  I was able to reign in the pace and hit mile one at 7:24 (compared to last year which was a 7:05, waaaay too fast), the second mile was 7:25 and I was still feeling good, but also a little worried that maybe I was going a little too fast, the third mile consists of a huuuge uphill (almost .5 miles) and that split was 7:49 (the year before it was in the 8’s). I was starting to feel fatigued but kept on trucking knowing that the last two miles were mostly downhill or flat. Mile 4 was 7:23 and then I pushed it the best I could until the finish, ending around a 7:23 pace for the last mile.  My final time was 37:39 with an avg pace of 7:32 (I ran an extra .05 so my mile splits were a little off), which I was THRILLED about.  I couldn’t believe it actually… my best time for this race was 38:27 in 2012 and I was just hoping to dip into the 38’s this year, with around a 7:40/50 average pace. So to go sub 38 made me very very happy!

Now I’m REALLY excited for the Go! Half since I now know I really have gotten speedier  after consistently putting in the work (and I’m sure the 8lbs I have lost since the beginning of the year has helped also) 🙂

Sunday – 1:30 recovery trainer ride followed by a very easy 3 mile run

Total Training Hours: 9:00

So that’s a wrap!  Happy Monday 🙂

This past week was a recovery week and on top of that I came down with a cold/sore throat on Friday, so this past weekend was REALLY full of recovery and not doing very much of anything.  Well, except for watching a ton (probably way too many) movies.  Saturday was the day it was the worst so I skipped my workout that day and took the first rest day since 12/29/17.  It hurt my soul a little to break my workout streak but it had to come some day, and Saturday was it.  Sunday I wasn’t feeling back to 100% but was feeling a bit better, so I hopped on the treadmill to get in a least part of my missed run on Saturday.  To my surprise my body was ok with it, and I ended up doing the whole 8 miles and close to the planned paces, so hooray for that!  This week it’s back to the grind and thank goodness I woke up Monday morning feeling much better, and today I think I’m feeling 98% better 🙂 Ok, on to last week’s workouts!

Week 9: 2/26-3/4

Monday – 2350y swim in the am

Tuesday – Easy 30 min run in the am, followed by yoga after work

Wednesday – 2550y swim in the am, followed by a 1 hr trainer ride after work

Thursday – 6 mile run with 4 @ 8:45 pace

Friday – 2100y swim at lunch… this is when I started to not feel so great.  I was hoping a swim and sauna after would help me sweat whatever it was out, but it did not.

Saturday – 8 mile run Rest Day.

Sunday – 1:30 trainer ride, followed by 10 min run.  Saturday’s 8 mile run.

Total Training Hours: 6:49

Along with bringing the volume back up this week, I am making it a goal to start getting my strength workouts in on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  That’s the first thing on my training schedule to get skipped when my schedule is tight for time.  However to build up strength and to help avoid injuries I have to get it in, even it’s it’s just 30 minutes.

Ok, back to work, Happy Tuesday!

These past 8 weeks of 2018 have flown by and I can’t believe today is March 1st.  During those weeks I just kept my head down and kept focusing on getting the work done, and as a result, I was consistent and I got it done!  I’m getting pretty excited to see where I am fitness-wise in my first race of the season in a little over two weeks, the St. Patrick’s Day 5 Mile Race.  I also love this race because I’ve run it for so many years and it has a great, fun atmosphere and is followed by the downtown St. Patrick’s Day parade.

On a different note, logistics for St. George/Zion are starting to get finalized!  I have my bike logistics figured out (flying with a bike is kind of a pain, especially when you aren’t savvy with bike breakdown/assembly), dinner reservations are made for the night before the 70.3 in St. George, and on Monday we will find out if we got a slot in the lottery for one of the day hikes in Zion.  More on that next week though!

Ok on to last week’s training:

Week 8: 2/10-2/25

Monday- 2150y swim in the am which included a 2x 400 swim test.  I’m getting a tiiiiny (like 1 second, lol) bit faster from the previous test

Tuesday- Speedwork: 1 mi warmup, 4×800, 4×400, 4×200, 1 mi cooldown.  Yoga after work

Wednesday- 2550y swim in the am, followed by a 75 min trainer ride after work

Thursday- Hill workout: 1 mi warmup, 8x hill repeats (on the treadmill), 1 mi cooldown

Friday- 2700y swim at lunch

Saturday- 12 mi run – longest run this year so far, followed by NO swim, hooray! (probably because my coach feared I’d drown after that ‘high’ mileage)

Sunday- 90 min trainer ride followed by a 10 min run

Total Training Hours: 10:10

This week is a down week, which I am enjoying, but I think by this weekend I will be ready to turn the volume up again. 🙂  P.S.  I can’t believe St. George is in a little over 8 weeks.  Eek!!  I think today might be the day to cut out the sugary stuff I’ve been eating after dinner so my tri kit fits!

Time really got away from me!  I know things have been busy with work, training, and other things in life, but I didn’t realize I was already two weeks behind posts.  Training has been going well- I’m slowly but surely building up a good engine for the 2018 race season, my weight is slowly going down and the speed is going up, all good things!  Ok, a brief summary of the past 2 weeks of training:

Week 6: 2/5 – 2/11 – Total Training Hours: 8:25  This was a step-back/easy week after three weeks of higher intensity and also to ‘save’ my legs for my big final Frostbite race.  It worked, I won my age group with a 7:29 pace for the 3 mile race.  It also earned me 2nd in my Age Group for the race series. 🙂

Week 7: 2/12 – 2/18 – Total Training Hours: 10:35  Back to the grind, the focus is still on building up my run mileage so my coach added on some more miles for a long run of 10 miles with 8 @ 8:49 tempo….which was ALL done on the treadmill thanks to some unexpected snow.  I think the last time I ran that long on the treadmill was before I even did triathlons… maybe 2010?  Regardless, it wasn’t as bad as I remembered.  Now a 20 miler on the treadmill?  No. Thank. You.

Well that’s about it, Happy Monday!