A Pretty Much Perfect Weekend!

I haven't posted a blog in 2 weeks.  Work and training is keeping me super busy.  My half ironman training kicked off 2 weeks ago, just in time for my busiest period at work too.  I am seriously having trouble juggling it all right now and trying to have some kind of life on top of it.  Unfortunately blogging is one of those things that gets pushed to the bottom of the list when things get crazy.  Sorry guys, I'll try to do better.

Anyway, training is off to a great start.  So far my shoulder is holding up well during my swims - which are pretty short right now, only about 1000-1250 yards per workout.  I want to do more, but that's all the training plan calls for, so I am sticking with the lower mileage to hopefully keep my shoulder injury at bay.  So far, so good.

Saturday was an absolutely GORGEOUS day in Kansas City.  I met up with a group on Saturday morning for my first outdoor ride of the season.  We met at 8am so it was a bit cool, around 50, but the sun was shining and it was simply beautiful.  It was a bit windy with winds about 12-15 mph, but it wasn't too bad.  Most of the people that were riding are all training for the same Half Ironman so that was good too. I did 30 miles and felt great.  I was pretty ready to be done with the ride after 30, but I was surprised with how good my legs felt. I remember my first outdoor ride last year, and it was tough, alot tougher than this one.  It made me feel great about my off-season training and conditioning.  I was obviously doing something right.

After my ride Sat, I got in a quick 1250 at the pool and then headed home.  Jim and I had plans to see the Hunger Games. I had read the book, so the movie was of course not as good, but overall I enjoyed it. 

Sunday, was pretty much just like Saturday, except the weather even a little nicer.  Temps around 50 in the am, reaching low 80s in the pm with absolutely no winds.  Jim and I headed over to a group run Sunday morning at 7am.  It is a huge group run (as you can see from the pic).  They map out an out and back course of 8 miles so you can pretty much do any mileage you want from like 2 miles to 16 miles, which is great.  I was planning to do 12 miles.  I met up with a girlfriend to run.  I was kind of excited about this because I usually never run with anyone.  It was so nice to have someone to run with.

A few of the people at the group run.  Almost looks like a race.

I discovered something on Saturday.  I am a little faster than I let myself be.  My friend is a faster runner than me.  She generally averages around 10:30-11:00 min miles.  When she asked me to run with her, I said well I would love to, but I’m slower than you.  She said no problem.  It was going to be hard for her to do 12 miles – it would be her longest run in probably a year – and it had been 3 weeks since she had done 10 miles.  We started out and of course were talking and when we reached 1 mile I was right at an 11 minute pace (my warm up mile is usually 12:30).  I said, oh we are going to fast.  Next thing I know mile 2 is in the 10s – I say again oh we are going to fast.  She said – you seem like you are just fine.  I thought, well I do feel fine, but can I last for 12 miles if I go out this fast.  Next thing I know we’ve knocked out 8 miles and I’m averaging a 10:45 pace.  What the heck??  And, I’m feeling great!!  About mile 8.5,I could tell my friend was starting to get a little tired and she stopped to walk a minute.  She laughed and said well “I lit a fire under your _ss, and now I’m the one who can’t keep up”.  So we slowed our pace for those last 3 miles and stopped to take a few walk breaks.  And I still ended up averaging 10:55 overall for 12 miles!!!  That’s 20 seconds per mile faster than my half marathon PR a few weeks ago.  I learned something – I can push myself a bit harder.  And I know I could have finished that run a little faster……hmmm…..maybe another PR in a few weeks??? 

Look at all those 10s!!  I've never done that before.

After my great Sunday run, Jim and I had dinner with my sister and a couple of her friends.  It was a great way to finish off the evening!  It was simply a wonderful, just about perfect weekend.

Hope everyone else had a GREAT weekend too.  What did you do?