Maxi Dress???

This is sort of off topic for this blog, but now that Spring is here I've been seeing more and more of these "maxi" dresses. First of all, why do they call them "maxi" dresses? Couldn't they just call them for what they are, long dresses? The word "maxi" reminds me of something else. The first time I saw these dresses on someone was after our run at Peete's. It actually looked quite good on this girl, but she was a "girl" in the sense that she was very young (early 20's), tall, and slender none of which fit my physical description. I'm not sure if it would work on the average woman of our age who is about 5'3" to 5'4". As it is, I'm not really a dressy type of person. I'm more of a t-shirt and shorts type. Who knows, maybe I'll be tempted to try one on for the summer if I see someone of my age and height wearing one and it still looks good.

Runner's World is Reading My Mind!

Is it a coincidence that following our run on Sat. and the aforementioned "cherry tart" I ate, I came home to an article in my inbox about "post-run eating? " Well maybe, but yesterday after our hill run, I came home to check my e-mail, and what was in it but an article on"conquering hills." Kind of spooky don't you think? I am a long time reader of "Runner's World" magazine, and when I ordered the magazine for my daughter-in-law for Christmas, I entered my e-mail address to receive little tips and race notices. Well little did I know how helpful they would be as this week has shown. My husband unbeknownst to me, has let my subscription lapse and I will have to re-subscribe, because I realize that I miss sitting down and getting inspired by their articles, and the endless information they give on running faster and better. Here is the link for the article on hills, at first I didn't think I needed it because I don't choose to run races that are hilly, but then I remembered the dreaded "killer" hill on the COC course that I have yet to run all the way up during one of the summer races. Maybe this will help!


http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263-264-1877-0,00.html?cm_mmc=training-_-2009_03_31-_-training-_-TRAINING%3a%20Hill%20Specific%20Strength

4.25 miles of Hills

It was just Patty and me on our run today. I had a route mapped out beforehand in my mind and I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I figured we would get through it one way or another. We started at our usual Cheese Park and headed into the bike path towards Decoro. This was the only flat or downgrade part of the run. Once we reached Decoro, we left the bike path and headed up the paseos toward Helmers. Mind you, this is all up hill towards Helmers. Once we got to Helmers, I was feeling pretty lousy. My legs were tired from the beginning and I was hot because I made the unwise decision to wear long sleeves. I was cold all day and thought it would continue that way. I should know better. Patty seemed up to the challenge of climbing that *#%! water tower hill and I didn't want to disappoint her so I climbed it with her. I say "climb" because running doesn't quite describe the way we're moving on the way up. This was Patty's first time making it to the top without stopping! Once we walked down, we still had the switchbacks to run up. I think I wanted to stop more than I care to admit during this run. I really felt lousy the whole way, but I didn't whine and complain about it until the very end. I was shocked to see that our overall pace was 9.34, even with the water tower because I felt like I was crawling today.


Lately we've been working on bringing our overall pace down. There is a study that suggests that there is an optimal pace for each person. On average for men it's 7.13 min/mi. and for woman 9.08 min./mi. The study is quite interesting. Here's the link.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/perfectrunningpacerevealed

Cherry Tart, Not So Smart!

Everyone, who knows me, knows that I loved my baked goodies, I love to bake them and I love to eat them. It should come as no surprise that one of the things I look forward to the most when we run is the coffee and pastries after our run! Now I am no dummy, I realize that the baked goods are not calorie free, and my ever expanding muffin top is there to prove it, but I read this article about post-run fuel that drove home the fact that what we eat, especially after the longer runs will really make a difference in our next run. I even read something earlier this week on how important it is to eat something in the fifteen minutes after a run, they were appalled with the people who would wait to eat until after they showered (I am guilty). Here is the link to the article, maybe you will find it useful in making better choices than I do. I will miss my Cherry Tarts! http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-301--13072-0,00..html?cm_mmc=nutrition-_-2009_03_26-_-nutrition-_-DIET%3a%20Recovery%20Meal

Hangover Run?

We missed the real Hangover Run on New Year's Day at Vasquez Rocks so the ladies and I decided to have our own version of it today. And to make it truly a hangover run, we made sure there was alcohol involved the night before. Six of us gathered at Wine 661 last night and enjoyed sharing a glass or two or three of wine, some appetizers, and good conversation together for a ladies night out. We really had a fantastic time and vow to do it again. Hopefully our friends that missed this round (k.o.) can make it next time. Unfortunately we had such a good time, that C, Patty, and I arrived for our run this morning with a slight headache. We actually modified our original plan to try to get 7 miles in and instead ran just over 5 miles from Peete's Coffee. We even managed to push the pace a little for the last 2 miles giving me, Patty, and C an overall pace of 9.14; 9.26; and 9.48 respectively. Our headaches never really got worse with the running, but mine never really went away. That's when the coffee afterwards is really good!

MORE Volunteers

You can say that when we're not out running, we're out watching our kids running. Today was our kids' first league track meet and it was very exciting to be at the finish line helping out and cheering for all the kids. As runners, we appreciate how hard all of these kids work. We take nothing for granted. No matter where they finished today, we are very proud of our kids and the fact that they go out there day in and day out and push their own personal limits. I was able to take a few photos of the meet before my MORE friends discovered me on the other side of the fence dodging my duties. You can view the photos by clicking on the link to my photo gallery on the right side of the page.

Blazing Speed?

The "blazing" refers to the weather, it seems we always pick the hottest day of the week to do our "speed" workout. It was warm today, but that wasn't the worst part, it was the headwind that was blowing on our second mile which of course was slightly uphill and more than a minute slower than our first mile. We sent my son on ahead because he was going to run the longer route, and he doesn't want to wait around for us to discuss our days, go to the bathroom, etc. etc. It does take us a while to get going! We decided to do the first mile at a controlled 8:30 minute mile and try to maintain that the whole time, instead of going out as fast as possible to start and dying out at about the half way point. This worked really well on the first mile and we maintained a comfortable 8:30 minute pace the whole mile (I started to fade just in the last few feet). Once we turned around however and started back it was a different story, we were running into a very strong wind, and literally felt like a wind tunnel going under the Decoro bridge! "Marathon Mom maintained a good 20 to 30 second lead on us the whole time, so I was truly hoping that she had just decided to speed the pace up a bit on the second mile. No such luck! She informed us that we were having a hard time keeping a 9:40 pace for that mile, but that our average for the 2 miles was around 8:45 which is really, all things considered, very respectable and makes me feel pretty good. I was dreading having to post something after our speed workout because I know it is always negative, but I have to say that today was a "good" run day, and with a little less wind resistance, maybe next time will be even better! My son may want to wait a bit before he runs off next time, because he was already finishing up as we were just getting started, he did get plenty of time for a cool down though.

Time for Tempo?

I think we're due for some speed again. Need I say more?

Feelin' Good

Patty, C and I had a nice run today. I'm not saying it was easy considering that we did hills and the water tower, but we all felt good afterwards. I was actually surprised that my legs weren't sore since all I heard from my husband today was how sore he was after running with me yesterday. Running the paseos kept us shielded from the wind. Too bad Patty's son didn't join us and decided to run the bike trail, but I couldn't blame him. I'm not so sure I would want to run with a bunch of moms either if I was a college kid; however, I think our way was much better! Unfortunately, he probably had to wait around in the wind until we returned. The price one has to pay for being young and fast.

Uncomfortable Run

I knew it wasn't going to be good, but I managed to get myself and my husband out of the house for a run. We ran 5 miles at Central Park at what seemed like a snail's pace into the wind. Running into the wind, our average pace was over 10 min., which explains our overall pace of 9.43. It literally felt like I was running in place when trying to run uphill into the wind. On top of the wind, everything felt uncomfortable on me. I kept having to readjust my Garmin and my water belt constantly! And my clothes felt like they were pinching me everywhere. My husband was very thrilled with himself at the 5 miles since he normally only runs between 2.5-3.0 miles at a time.

I was really looking forward to sipping coffee with my friends and getting things off my chest that have been keeping me up at night, but the rain had other ideas. I guess I'll have to save it up for our wine night.