PR's & Pumpkin Coffee

What a lovely little day today has been! After finishing out the week with one crazy Friday night; i.e. grocery shopping after work (I went in for salad and left $77 poorer. how?!), prepping food and being in bed at 8:45pm - I was ready to kick some ass today!

It must have been fate. My training program conveniently called for a "3 mile pace run" today and there just so happened to be a NYRR 4 miler today so I mean, I HAD to do it right? And it was a glorious morning for running. Perfection. 60's and clear. Oh fall is in the air. Racing kicks up a notch from here on out!



Woo! although not amused that my pace hasn't been updated for corrals. Get it together NYRR.

 

My plan was to use the first 1/2 mile as a warm-up, hit pace, and finish with a 1/2 mile cool down. I'm so smart right??!! Right. That little plan went out the window. I got my mile split and was at 8:59 (umm PERFECT pace for the half insert pat on back) however, I felt SLOW and got the itch to race so turned it up. Hit my next mile split at aroud 8:20 and finally settled in around 8:40 for the remainder. Should note I didn't eat prior minus a gu since it was only 4 miles - and was definitely dehydrated - I got a BAD side stitch with about a half mile to go and seriously contemplated stretching it out. But, I knew I was about to PR in an awesome way so stubborness prevailed and I concentrated on breathing with foot strike (it actually works - whatever side is cramping aligning your breathing with the opposite foot) and about a 1/4 mile later it went away, and THIS HAPPENED:


Yeahhhh buddy!

Considering my last 4 miler was 3 weeks ago and I paced 9:02 - I'd say I kicked some ass today; 19 seconds faster per mile. Combination of learning how to "race" shorter distances and my training. And I was actually slightly disappointed on the other hand because I had a lot left in me. I still do run to conserve. But you know, I have 12 miles to run tomorrow morning so I'm pretty darn content with this performance.




Sigh, 400 calories is not worthy of any crazy post race meal.





For the record, I took a day "off" from running yesterday but still worked out...and I decided to ignore one of the rules I imposed - which was no lower body workouts so I could preserve my legs in my PR attempt next weekend and also not be sore. Let's just say I think I did 300 or so kettle bell swings with 30lbs as well as using that for single leg dead lifts among other fun stuff. My ass is SORE today. It hurts to sit down. I'm smart with training, I've mentioned that before right??!? Clearly though it didn't effect my running and it actually felt nice to be moving.

Post race ran a little more in the park and then headed back home. A great race and this weather called for nothing other than pumpkin spice coffee!!! It's the little things in life people. I'm easy to please.

PR AND Pumpkin Coffee = can't ask for much else on a Saturday morning.


Made myself a little post race breakfast, egg whites and canadian bacon and then met one of my favorite racing buddies (and partner in crime to running a bazillion races this fall; minus she is a rock star and doing the NYC Marathon) and headed on over to one of my favorite places: Fleet Feet. Somehow, this followed suit:



New shorts, spibelt to try on my long run tomorrow, Gu and Nuun (fact: one can never have too much of either. you're welcome.)

I also went back to Aspen Market for a couple things - I spend entirely too much on food and running gear. But I suppose there are worse vices. There also may have been another pumpkin coffee in the mix. Addictive what can I say. So now just enjoying the rest of my Saturday. For me that means spending some quality time with my book, while in bed. Perhaps a movie; also while in bed. I'm wild and crazy over here. I should however mention that it could be because this is happening tomorrow:

YUP. Those are free tickets for the game tomorrow. Thank you very much work.

So I do not have the "leisure" of just waking whenever for my long run, I have 12 miles to get done. And, kind of need to get them done before 9:00. So that means waking around 6 to get myself together before heading out the door. I can't believe that will be my final long training run. I am doing 5 or 6 halfs so, long runs will not be happening as I will be racing so many in the next couple of months. Yay? Smart? Time shall tell as the fall unfolds.

Happy Saturday! And hope everyone is out and about enjoying the day. Couldn't ask for a more perfect September Saturday.