Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! What a gorgeous day for a holiday today! The sun was shining and warm, we got to have an outdoor easter egg hunt, played at the park for an hour, I finally believe that perhaps we have a summer ahead of us!

Its been a great running week too! The weather has been so much nicer, and what a difference its made. Wednesday we did the same run as the bad snow morning, and it was so much better. I don't have a time difference (because the snow day was the day I forgot to turn my app on), but it felt fantastic. Also, for the first time, I pushed myself a little harder and ran at the back of the front pack. It was tough, and I really had to push myself, but my legs felt way better at that pace, and I was running with one of the ladies from our Ladies Only group, so the chatting helped pass the time quickly. I felt fantastic at the finish!!

Friday was a holiday, and the Running Room was closed, so no clinic. But a couple of the ladies from the Ladies Only wanted to meet up anyways which was great. Turns out it was just me and one other lady, but off we went. We started 5:1's for the first time! This lady was great to chat with, it makes such a difference. She had a timer on her phone, and I had my RunKeeper app to track our distance so it worked out well. She has a slower pace then me, but it was fine, it was just nice to get out! Turns out we did just over 3.5km! We were very proud of ourselves! And I know physically its tougher for her, so it was great to see how proud she was of herself too. Just a few short weeks ago we were worried about having to run two minutes straight, and that night we pushed through five!

Today bright and early I was at the Running Room yet again. I'm really enjoying the schedule of the runs. And I'm really enjoying the Sunday morning runs. There was still a chill in the air though. I wore my long sleeve tshirt and my running jacket. I got way to hot though and ended up with my jacket around my waist and my sleeves pushed up. It was about 3c, but very windy (wind had a bite too). The big LTR group drove off to meet at the river for a long run. Our first "off campus" run. But several of us moms didn't have the extra time for that, there were Easter Egg Hunts and brunches to get back to. So we decided to split off and we did the same run that I did on Friday. There were five of us (including the lady I ran with on Friday night) so it was a nice small group. This time though, I ran ahead with our 'fast' lady (she's always with the front pack). It feels great to push myself. I worry a bit that I'm slowing her down as we chat, but that might just be in my head.

So one thing I have learned is that I'm loving the RunKeeper app! At first I didn't think it would do all I wanted, which really are just basic things. I want to know distance, time and speed. But the timing options didn't seem that adjustable. Turns out I just wasn't looking hard enough. I discovered this week that I get all my main info, plus it tracks my route on a map (that I can see on my Iphone, not just the website like I first thought), and I can customize the 'coaching' so I can set up something like a warm up, 5:1's cool down or whatever. Its doing everything, I just needed to play with it more! The only thing I'm a wee bit concerned about is I'm using it for 35min-ish three times a week with the GPS. I have a smaller data plan on my phone. I'm hoping its not using it all up!

I am enjoying the nicer weather, and this week I'm going to take the kids and hit up MEC. They have a running water belt that I think might just suit my needs now that I'll be losing my pockets soon (when I'm just running in a tshirt and capris). It will carry a drink (great for those long hot runs), plus room for my Iphone and my inhaler (which I've only used once in the second week, but I always bring with my just in case). And I like to have my giant Palmers chapstick and a handful of kleenex.

So with Wed, Fri and today, I clocked in at 11km. Great week and as we run longer stretches, I'm sure that weekly number will just be increasing!

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