12 Hard Miles

I've been sick all this past week. With a week left before the DC National Half Marathon, I needed to get a long run in.

I tried to rest up this weekend and feel better, but I still felt sick come Saturday morning. Instead of tackling the 12 miles on my training plan, I got outside for a quick run in the sun to break in a new pair of shoes (review coming soon!).

After spending the day with my mom, I crawled into bed at 9pm and went to bed. I'm getting so sick of being sick and I needed to be ready for today. I slept for 10 hours, and this morning woke up and met my running partner for 12 miles. Ariell and I are both running the DC National Half this Saturday so she needed a long run too.

I fueled up this morning with a chocolate Odwalla bar and a banana. After an hour of digestion, it was time to hit the road.

The first few miles were rough. Ariell is faster than I am and being sick, I couldn't keep up with her pace. We parted after 4 miles and she continued on the loop while I slowed down. With the race so close, I knew I could take these miles at a slow pace and be rested for Saturday.

Splits:

Mile 1: 9:41

Mile 2: 10:10

Mile 3: 9:46

Mile 4: 9:39

Mile 5: 10:22 <--first shotblok

Mile 6: 10:15

Mile 7: 10:30

Mile 8: 9:55 <--second shotblok

Mile 9: 10:08

Mile 10: 10:01

Mile 11: 10:08

Mile 12: 10:21

Total: 12.0 miles in 2:00:55

At Mile 5 and Mile 8 I ate a Shot Blok. I love these as my mid-distance fuel. Sugary and chewy, and they taste so good. Washed down with 2 bottles of water throughout the run.

All in all it was a hard run. I still felt pretty sick and stopped every few miles to drink and blow my nose. I'm glad it's over though and glad that I got it in. Post-run I went to Chipotle with a friend and came home to Bigcat. Perfect.

Now it's just time to rest and take a little taper before 13.1 on Saturday. Can't wait to see my best girl friends and run in the city! Just a rainy week in Michigan to get through first :)

How was your workout this weekend?

Bigcat's Wild Weekend

This weekend it was finally sunny and warm in Michigan! Sam was in town and Bigcat was in full lounging form.

Friday night Sam came into town and while Bigcat looked like this:

we went out to dinner at Red Hawk, a pub in downtown Ann Arbor.

Saturday morning I got up and made scones, but only after cuddling in bed.

Then at 11 I met my BFF and running buddy for our long run of the week! It was sunny and about 40 outside, so we tackled the North Campus area. It was a great run, up until we hit some hills with unplowed (snowy) sidewalks!

Splits:

Mile 1: 9:40

Mile 2: 9:33

Mile 3: 9:45

Mile 4: 10:14

Mile 5: 10:20

Mile 6: 9:54

Mile 7: 9:51

We also got up to a 7:49 min/mile sprint for the last quarter mile! A great run to fill in my training plan for the weekend.

I came home to these two lazy-butts:

and made another Green Monster smoothie.

Into the blender went:

1 cup vanilla rice milk

handful of spinach

5 frozen strawberries

1 banana

2 scoops pumpkin

peanut flour

chocolate protein powder

Yum!

Bigcat felt like modeling some more:

while Sam and I tried a yummy stout from a winter sampler pack his dad gave us for Christmas.

We went out to a lab party Saturday night and had tons of fun!

Sunday we woke up to this:

And then it was time to take Sam to the airport. After dropping him off I hit up TJ's for groceries, and picked up some dark chocolate V-day truffles! So good.

I ended the weekend with another cuddle session from my valentine:

How was your weekend? Happy Valentine's day!