Weekend Workouts

Monday already? Even though it went by way too fast, I had a great weekend and managed to fit in lots of fun stuff and all of my training workouts.

Friday was a rest/cross-train day. After work Pat and I went to the gym and did a warm-up on the treadmill, then did chest, triceps and some abs. While we were at the gym we called ahead to our favorite pizza place ... a little counter productive, no? 

We were going to go out for sushi, but instead opted to get take-out and watch a few episodes of Mad Men. Since there's no meat on Fridays during Lent we ordered a pepper, onion and mushroom pizza. Delicious!

I added some pieces of avocado to my slices and heated it up more in the oven - you must try this, its absolutely mouth watering.

I also got a seaweed salad to have on the side from a Japanese restaurant (I was still in the mood for some Asian food even if we weren't getting sushi).

I didn't have any sweets on Friday night - so I successfully made it through my first week of no sweets!

On Saturday morning I woke up a little early to do my run - 10 miles at a 9:18 pace was on the schedule. I had some whole wheat toast with peanut butter and banana slices and also had an energy drink that I bought at the Hyannis race expo. It was peach tea flavored and really good.

I didn't really plan a route for my run, so I just turned on my Garmin watch and took off. I headed out in the opposite direction I normally do for a change of scenery. My goal was to do the 10 miles at a 9:00 pace (so to finish in 1:30) - which I do in races, but I don't know that I've ever maintained on a training run before. I had a lot of energy and felt great - perhaps because I didn't load up on sugar the night before, or because drinking caffeine an hour before a long workout is proven to help endurance, but something was certainly on my side. I kept looking at my watch to check my pace and saw a lot of numbers in the 7:30s-8:30s range. Whenever I saw a pace above 9:00, I just picked it up a bit, and I tried to push harder on the hills and recover from them more quickly.

During my run I ate a couple of these to maintain my energy stores:

I always try to speed up at the end of every run, whether its a 2 mile jog or a long training run. I think this is good practice for race day when you'll want to use your last bit of energy to rush the finish line. Whether you sprint for the last block or last couple miles, I've found this to be helpful.  For this run I picked up my pace for the last 1/3 mile - running about 6:30/mile.

And I ended up finishing the 10 miles in 1:25:40!

More than four minutes faster than my goal! My average pace was 8:33, which I know I've never done on a training run before. I was so happy when I finished - I felt great throughout my whole run and was really pleased with my time. I realized that of all the training plans I've followed over the past few years, I've always focused on mileage, never on time (aside from some speed workouts). I don't know how I expected to improve my time without focusing on it. This schedule tells you how fast you should be running each mile, which is really helpful for me. I have more confidence in my running after these past few days than I've had in a while.

As soon as I got home I made a protein smoothie to drink while stretching and foam rolling. I used the same ingredients as the smoothie I made last Wednesday after my tempo run, but this time doubled the spinach. I still didn't taste the spinach, but it certainly looked a little green!

Green smoothie matches the green walls in my kitchen!

After a much-needed shower I headed out to do some shopping, and then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing with Pat before we went our separate ways for the evening (we may or may not have opened a couple boxes of the Girl Scout cookies he brought home from work on Friday).

On Saturday night I went down to Steph's apartment to celebrate her birthday with some friends. We went to Cobblestones for dinner, which was great (I'd been before with Chrissy and Callie). I got the tenderloin tip and wild mushroom risotto which was delicious - Steph and Allison got the same and agreed!

On Sunday morning we lost an hour from turning the clocks forward. It was another rest/cross-train day on my schedule, and I had just enough time for a 20 minute bike ride at the gym and to fit in biceps strength training. Pat and I then went to church, did all of the grocery shopping, and put together some lunches for the week. On Sunday afternoon we headed down to Boston to meet his mom and brother for an early dinner and the Celtics game!

Jack, Anne and Pat

Me and Pat

The Celtics crushed the Bucks, setting a franchise record for fewest points allowed in the shot clock era! The final score was 87-56. We had an awesome time and its always great to be there for a big W!