Saturday, January 16, 2010

One Foot After The Other

Ahhhh to be a teen again.  My son will have cereal 2-3 bowls at a time.  The other day all the bowls were in the dishwasher so I pulled out a salad bowl and told him to just use that and get it over with.



We were both laughing so hard taking these.
he's showing me the love here



Last night was a fail on the clean eating diet.  I kind of felt it coming on in the afternoon, I got the munchies.  Plus I was organizing the office (which I really didn't want to do), so was easily allowing myself to be distracted from the job.  It started with one Nilla Cookie, then a little package of Quaker Crispy Delights, then a half shot of Hazelnut Kahlua (barely a taste) ... up to that point it wasn't too bad.  But then we had friends over and while playing cards the snacks came out and I had about 10 nacho chips (ok still not so bad), but WAYYY too much Spinach Dip on them.  I was kind of disappointed that I let myself stray so easily, but maybe it wasn't that bad.

I even convinced myself that I was "carbo-loading" for the long run I had planned for today.  Yeah ... NOT!


This morning I let myself have a lazy, lazy morning and I layed in bed until almost 9:00.  Then had some breakfast and puttered around on the computer for a bit and headed out for my long run around 10:30.  It was a gorgeous sunny day out today and no way was I wasting that.

I headed out on this run with just the simple goal of running the whole thing at a nice, steady, easy pace.  I'm too competitive with myself and always clock watching.  I did bring a watch, but only for general interest.  I wanted to see how long it would take me to run the distance at a casual pace, without pushing.

At 5K I was about 28 minutes - which was about where I expected to be.  At 10Km I was at 59 minutes (there were two long, steep hills in this section) and again, this is where I expected to be.  I was actually feeling really good that my easy, casual pace had me finishing 10K (with hills) in 59 minutes when just a year ago that was my race pace for that distance. 

At this point I was SO tempted to pick it up a bit and see if I could finish the last section at a faster pace and pick up a few minutes.  But I held myself back because I wanted this whole thing to not be about time.


At 15K I looked at my watch and it said 1:25.  I was like ... WHAT THE _____???  I was expecting to be at about 1:30 or more at this point.  How on earth did I pick up time?  I was trying not to.

In the end, today I ran 16.33 Km (aka 10.15 miles) in 1:32 and 10 seconds.  And it was EASY!  I could have sang the whole way.

Afterwards I felt completely pain free and not winded at all.  I believe at that pace I could easily have continued on to finish a half marathon distance.  And if I did, my finish time would be under 2 hours - without any extra effort.  WHAT?  My goal is to be around 2 hrs, but really I was expecting 2:05 - 2:10.  And the route I took had 4 good hills on it.

After that I had a quick shower and took my son out to his soccer game, where I sat and watched for a good two hours.  And now ... my legs don't hurt at all.  I'm sure I'll feel it a bit by tomorrow morning, but I don't think it will be all that bad.

The only thing I did notice was about 3/4 through this run I was HUNGRY!  I had had a slightly lighter breakfast before, but I had no hunger this morning.  I don't remember ever feeling hungry during a run.  When I came home I right away made myself a protein shake with 3 scoops of protein powder.  Not really per the clean eating diet, but I knew it was what my body needed - plus I didn't have alot of time to cook anything.  I really need to do some experimenting with on the run supplements.  I've tried the Gu/Gel type thing once - though not on a run - and I didn't care for it.

Any suggestions??
.

7 comments:

Marcelle said...

Boys...they eat you out of house and home, and I never knew you had a teenage son, look way too young for that!!!! I had my kids young..very young!

Your times are so so so so fast...I have no idea how you doing that, before I got sick I struggled to get 5kl in 31/31 mins, felt like I was running away from a burglar and not running for enjoyment...Now I can do that as no longer do I worry about time, I'm just so grateful to be able to run. This experience has changed my whole life and mindset on things.

I have no suggestions as not a runner of marathons, but am sure with all your running friends I see on your blogroll someone will have some good advice for you.

Thanks for always coming over to my blog and leaving me a comment..its means so much to me hearing from you. I said it many times...I WANT TO RUN LIKE HEIDI!!!

ajh said...

I like the cliff shots on a long run. I don't care for the gels either. I got some sharkies for Christmas but haven't tried them yet. Good luck!

Becca said...

When you're running anything over one hour, I've been taught it is absolutely necessary to bring nutrition with you. For my 10 mile run I ate a gel at :15, :30, 1:15. I never felt hungry and had the energy I needed. I would give it a shot :)

Fran said...

I'm impressed with your time! You're running times I'm aiming for but ain't there yet. Must have been a great run!

I have no suggestions for you as I don't use supllements.

OldGoogleAccount said...

Ummm, I don't think you have to worry about those 10 tortillas chips after that run! I ran 4.5 yesterday and was totally winded. How did you increase your cardiovascular capabilities. It just never seems to get a whole lot easier for me even when I'm running really regularly.

Syl said...

I'd like to know too Heidi, I have read that people bring something on longer runs. I haven't run anything over 12k so I can't help you :-)

Sounds like a great weekend, and how cute is your son!

Missy said...

You are my hero - I want to be like you. Can I come run with you and you can teach me what I'm doing wrong?!?!?

I've seen Caitlyn (Healthy Tipping Point) eat suped up fruit snacks during her runs...those might help!