Thursday Run in the Books

I slept in a bit this morning, but my husband was kind enough to give me extra time to fit my run in before he went to work. My kids have been going to bed later, then sleeping later in the morning. When they wake up, they bee-line to my room to snuggle with me. All three of us were tucked in my bed this morning while hubby was in the shower. I love that!

Bonus - it wasn't so cold when I finally headed out for my run at 8:30ish. I usually go at 7:20, right after the school bus picks up my kids. I did one of my usual five mile loops through my neighborhood in 43:29 (8:42 minutes/mile). I've been faster, but I've certainly been much slower too. My goal for the Monument Ave 10k at the end of March in 52 minutes. Projecting my time today, assuming the same pace for the last 1.2 miles, would result in 53:55 so I have some speed work to do. I think I can, I think I can...

Normally, I have running partners. My friend and neighbor Corinne actually got me into running three years ago, and we trained together for my first race ever - the Monument 10k in the spring of 2004. She has run for years and somehow managed to make it sound and look fun! It is fun, when I run with her. We generally chat the entire way and run 10 - 10:30 minute miles. Normally, we run four to five miles together on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Right now, she is having problems with her knee and just had to get a cortisone shot so she hasn't been able to run for a few weeks.

My Sunday running partner is named Masha. We have more time so we tend to do more distance (6 - 10 miles) then if we can, we finish up at Starbucks. We generally run in the 9:30 minutes/mile range. We ran an 8k together in November. I'll post a picture when and if I figure out how to do so!

Masha and I were supposed to run the Army 10 miler together in October, but she couldn't do it. Another friend from Philadelphia was going to meet us in DC to run as well, but she couldn't do it either. I ended up running it anyway. A lady from my TriGirl training team, Kate, graciously allowed me to run with her group. She and her friend Holly ran about the same pace as me and are both very nice. After the race, Kate basically told me that I should shut up and run! (In a much nicer way!) Yes, I chatted throughout the race. Train chatting, race chatting I guess!

Anyway, the point is that since I have been forced to run on my own for the last few weeks, I've discovered that when I don't talk the whole time, I can actually achieve much better speed. Go figure! It really isn't as much fun though. And there have been many Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday mornings that I woud have crawled back in bed (or just stayed there) without my running partners. Masha actually teases me that I sweat Chardonnay on our Sunday morning runs. And she's right! I need to work out a schedule where I do long slow distance with my running partners, then speed work either on my own or with them but running at our own paces.

This Sunday will be Christmas Eve, and Masha and I are planning to run then have Peppermint Latte at Starbucks to celebrate the holiday.

I am pretty much finished with my Christmas shopping. The only thing I have left to do is take my kids shopping individually so they can pick out gifts for each other. My brother and I used to trade gifts with each other on Christmas Eve, so I implemented the same tradition with my kids last year. They love picking out gifts for each other - it's so cute! I try not to impose any guidelines other than a spending limit. For my daughter's birthday, my son picked out a Doodle Bear for her and she absolutely loved it. I'm not sure what they have in mind this year, if anything. I suspect that they simply view the available items at whichever store I take them to and pick the best. Not a bad way to shop, actually. I could save myself a lot of time and energy with that strategy!

I'm embarrased to post my off-season weekly fitness objectives because they look so tiny, but nonetheless, here they are:

Swim 1600m per week (Wed mornings, Sunday nights starting in January)
Bike 15 miles per week or 1 hour on the trainer (Monday nights)
Run 16 miles per week (Tues/Thurs/Sunday mornings)
Strength 2 hours per week (Mon/Fri at lunch)
Yoga 45 min per week (Wed at lunch)

My off-season goal of getting stronger on the bike doesn't seem achievable at this level of effort (one day per week) but I can't figure out how to add in another bike workout without sacrificing strength training or yoga, which are my favorites. Or taking more time away from my kids at night which I don't want to do - nor would I feel comfortable leaving my husband with child care duty even more. I already suck at getting my swim in each week. What's a girl to do? Any advice?