Baby Steps

I think it is really important to have goals and to break those goals up into little tiny goals and steps. Today I enjoyed what looks to be the last 70 degree day for us for at least a week. (I know you Wisconsinites and Minnesotans feel awful for me.) My schedule called for a 30 minute run. I was determined to do this as a full 30 minutes of running, and to increase the challenge, I chose the hillier of the two routes on the Greenbelt. It is not terribly hilly, but there were some tough moments. I had Parker along in the double jogger (it is just that much better than the single we have) and took off. I started off way too fast and had to use my Garmin a lot to pull back and find a pace I could maintain. The first 5 minutes were a little bit rough, so I broke my 30 minute goal down a bit-if I could run for 15 minutes, I could stop and take a 1 minute water/stretch break, but I HAD to make it 15 minutes. Well, by 15 minutes I was feeling pretty good, and I was at 1.42 miles (I did mention I am not fast right?). I figured I should at least go until I hit 1.5 miles, so that was the next step.

At 1.5 miles I was smack dab in the middle of the big hill on the route. A golden rule I have is I never stop running on a hill. I can stop once I have crested it, but I don't walk a hill. This has helped me in many triathlons to beat my competition. (I once had a girl that placed second to me in my division tell me that after I passed her on the hill (she was walking), she knew she would never catch me.) I crested the hill and told myself if I could run up the hill, I could definitely run on the flat section too. Next thing I knew, I was at the turn around point and still running (no walking at all or stopping). The nice thing about the hilly route is the way back is at a slight downgrade, so you feel fantastic which I absolutely did. When I hit the 30 minute mark, I still felt great; Parker was asleep; and I was at 2.91 miles.

I decided I should at least finish out the 3. At that point, I was still .6 miles from my car and had planned for this to be a nice walk to cool down. I decided I should just slow my run down and jog the cool down. I felt so great when I came to my car that I just kept on going a tad bit further and finished out the run at 4 miles with .5 mile walk to cool down after that. To be honest, if time was on my side and I did not have a zillion errands to run today, I would have went for at least 5 miles.

It feels so good to be back working out hard and not having any pain in my back or hamstrings. I am really looking forward to the run on Saturday. I think a 10K will be a great distance at this point and give me ample time to catch up with my good friend Jennifer who is also running it with her sister and brother-in-law.

Tomorrow's workout calls for 45 minutes on the bike. I will be doing this at the gym since both kids will be with me tomorrow (no preschool for Andrew) and it is supposed to rain. In case anyone is wondering, no I have not been out on my road bike this year. I sort of fear my bike. I fell on it quite a bit-once in dog poo- when I first started clipping in, and I know that there will most likely be some spills as I get used to it again. So for now, I am once again delaying the inevitable.

(For my northern friends, as I write this at 8:20 PM, I am sitting out on my deck in 73 degree weather. Miss you all. :))