Thanks, Operation Beautiful!

This morning was the Terrier run and I actually managed to get up and out of bed on time in order to get to the meeting point by 6:00. I did snooze for as long as possible before committing to getting out of bed, however. I also tried the new Iced Gingerbread Clif bar for the first time. Yum! It definitely tastes like the real deal, except that it's got lots of protein included.

My telephone's weather said that it was 47 degrees, which didn't sound too cold. As a result, I wore shorts, a short-sleeved shirt and a long-sleeved shirt. I looked for my gloves, but couldn't find them and figured I could just tough it out. When I went outside, I was definitely chilly. I actually started running after two blocks (I normally walk all the way to the park and then start running) in order to warm up a little bit. Once I started running, I didn't really notice the cold. I did notice the wind gusts, though!

I got to the meeting point with a minute to spare, so I guess it's good that I started running sooner rather than later. Shortly after I got there, we started our normal stride drills. I finally remembered to time these today. Of course, I forgot to count exactly how many we did, but I think it was in the neighborhood of 0.85 miles worth, if I'm remembering all the drills we did correctly. Also, I'm a little surprised by that number as I thought it was more in the 0.50 mile range, but I have just been going off an old posting that I did and since then Gmap Pedometer seems to have updated their maps, so that is most likely why. The one thing about the timing that I did today is that I just let it run for the entire time. I didn't stop and start for each stride, so I think it's throwing my pacing off for the rest of the day, but only slightly and I'm not too concerned.

Our main workout today was a Fartlek run. We would run for 10 minutes as a warm-up and then do a 1-2-3-2-1 pattern Fartlek for a total of 44 minutes, including the warm-up. Even now at my desk with my super fancy adding machine (see below) I can't get that to add up quite right, so I guess that explains why I couldn't get it to add up while I was running either.

The first ten minutes I just let everyone run ahead of me. I was really trying to keep that portion as a warm-up and save myself for the pick-ups during the Fartlek. The pattern was supposed to be one minute on, one minute off, two minutes on, two minutes off, three minutes on, etc. After running for the first minute on, I realized that it was too hard to have my watch on my wrist and I took it off and held it in my hand so that I could make sure to keep going for each of the "on segments" and also to make sure that I didn't stay too long on an "off segment."

We were supposed to run around the Lower Loop of the Park. I noticed that someone had written the following in sidewalk chalk along the running path. It was actually really cool because each phrase was separated by 100 yards or so, so you had to keep looking for the next one. It said, "Wow! You're Hot! No, Really! Keep it up!". On my second loop around, I noticed that it was an OperationBeautiful.com note! I'd just like to say that it was really inspiring and definitely made me push a little bit harder on my "on segments" thinking about the fact that someone out there wrote that special little note. I wish I'd had my camera (or phone) with me to take a photo, but I try to go with the bare minimum when running, so I didn't have any way to take a photo.

After completing my second loop, I still had some time to kill, so I went and ran around the Cherry Hill Fountain and then also up Dead Road (a.k.a. Central Park Driveway, according to Gmaps). Most people were already done and waiting back at the starting point, but I wanted to get the most out of my run and it hadn't been 44 minutes yet. I actually finished in 42:26, which was as close as I could get to 44 and I was also the last person to finish. But, obviously, we all started our watches at the same time, so those people didn't run for quite as long as I did (although, let's face it, they all ran further!).

Once we all met back up at the starting point, we did some more drills and strength exercises. We would do one strength exercise and then run a stride drill. We did 2 sets of 15 squats, 15 lunges on each leg, 15 step ups (onto a park bench) on each leg, 3 sets of 15 push-ups (I managed to do 10, 5 & 5), and 2 sets of holding plank position (on our forearms) for 1:00. Seriously? Can I not get away from the ab workouts? I would really like just one day of rest! I think that I might have to declare one day soon a completely off day and do nothing with my stomach other than eat!

I didn't time the last set of strides, so the stats below are from the run to the park, the warm-up strides, the main set Fartlek and the run out of the park (but not all the way home). Not a bad day, especially in the calorie burning department. I also feel a lot more confident about this 10K that I have coming up. I now think that I can easily finish, especially since I'm sure that my total mileage for the day was over 7 considering the fact that I didn't add in the last set of strides. I'm sure I'll be a little tired at the end, but it's a race, right? Aren't you supposed to get tired?

Time: 1:11:10
Distance: 6.92 miles
Pace: 10:17/mile
Calories: 950
Maximum HR: 187
Average HR: 172