Keep 'er steady

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm finally learning how to use some of the features on my Garmin.  As this is the first time I've really followed a training plan, there are certain workouts I'm following where I need to pay attention to pace, distance, intervals, etc.  The Garmin is REALLY coming in handy for that.

Tuesday I was scheduled to do a tempo run of 3 miles at 8:20/mi.  I had planned to do it in the morning, before it got hot, while still on vacation.  But I slept horribly that night and when I finally woke up I knew it would be way too hot for me.  So after driving home, I emptied the car as fast as possible, threw on my running gear and was out the door.  I knew I had to boogie to finish before it got dark. 
I've never really understood pacing too much.  You hear people say you shouldn't go out too fast.  When I go for speed I often go out fast in hopes of creating a "buffer" for later on in the distance.  This is exactly what happened on this run.  I flew out and the first mile went by in just under 8 minutes.  I manage to do the next 1/2 mile at almost the same pace.  I knew though that I couldn't, and shouldn't, maintain that pace.  My goal was 8:20 and I was going too fast and would have needed a rest if I kept at that.  I need to learn to trust the training program!

Then ..... I remembered the special features on the Garmin.  I set the alerts on it to let me know when I was going too fast (over 8:10) or too slow (under 8:25).  I wanted to stay around my goal pace.  This worked wonders!  And I found it so much easier to maintain a steady pace rather than going all out then having to slow down and recover.  I will definitely use this feature more often.

Last night I had a moderate run and due to tummy issues I opted to run on the treadmill ... and of course I was fine.  Just wasn't a risk I was willing to take, but I definitely missed doing an outdoor run.  I did learn however that I made some mistakes in setting up my training plan.  I adapted it off a plan I found and just realized yesterday that it was set-up to achieve a 45 min 10K.  That's a bit beyond my reach right now.  So I'll be doing a little more adapting.  No wonder I was finding the moderate runs a bit hard for being labelled "moderate".  I was starting to wonder how I'd ever reach the faster paces as the program went on.

Finally got a few pics loaded from the wedding we went to.  Here's my hubby & I.

(ain't we cute????)

The bride & groom

The groom's parents are our next door neighbours, and the groom & his new bride live in the small town that we will eventually be moving to.  This was just the wedding reception ... the actually wedding was in Ontario the weekend before.  860 people were at the reception (1000 were invited & paid for).  Isn't that crazy???  We only had about 60 people at our wedding.  Of those 860, the bride didn't know at least 700 of them.    We briefly met the bride at the reception and she seemed very overwhelmed when we spoke to her.  However, last weekend the newleyweds came to visit us on our new property and we got a chance to speak with her.  Nice girl, VERY pretty!  He's pretty cool too, funny guy.  The family is pretty steeped in tradition, but him not so much.  He told us it is custom for the new couple to go to dinner at each member of the family who attended the wedding as soon as possible after the wedding.  He estimates they need to go to approx. 100 dinners! Given that most of the "family" lives 3-4 hours away from the couple, that's a lot to cram in whenever they come down to visit.   How's that for a social schedule.

These lovely ladies let us take their picture (no idea who they are).  So many BEAUTIFUL Saris.  Bright colors, lots of beading.  So pretty!  Our neighbours tell us that they usually attend at least 1 function per weekend, often up to 3 or 4 throughout the summer months when there are lots of weddings.  Honestly I don't know how they do it.  This wedding alone lasted 3-4 weeks with all the parties.  I think they said it was about 10 parties in all.  The final party, after the reception night, the groom's parents invited 100 people to their house.  70 showed up and their caterer made a mistake and provided food for 150 instead of 100.  They had ALOT of leftovers, which I found massive containers of in my fridge the next day.  The kids & I don't eat much in the way of Indian food, so my husband and FIL ate it for almost a week straight and we still threw out at least half of what they gave us.

Tonight I have an easy run on my schedule.  I'm very much looking forward to that. 

Keep Active!

Heidi

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