Hit The Ground Running

Um, yeah. About that.....

I was treadmill bound during the week, which is my normal routine. I've always done my long runs outdoors, though, come rain or shine. Last weekend's unusually cold, icy and snowy weather caused me to choose a long treadmill run last Saturday, which went surprisingly well. I vowed, though, that this would not become my new norm. I really do enjoy that outdoor time, even if it's a little cold or a little hot, and I have some great outdoor running options here in western Colorado when my husband is not working, and home to care for the little monkeys.

I was all set for a long run outdoors today...really, I was. In all my (*cough* stupidity *cough* failure to plan *cough* ) running around and taking care of various errands and chores around the house late in the week, I forgot that a)we had some friends bringing their daughters over to spend the night as part of a child care/date nights tradeoff Friday night, and that b)my entire family was scheduled for haircuts at 1pm Saturday. This left exactly enough time to get out for a long run in the morning.

Um....make that-if I'd gotten out there after our friends' children went home. Or, truth be told, I could've gone out earlier. My husband can hold his own any day of the year with the kids, and in a world of kids acting up and misbehaving, our friends' children are some of the most pleasant and polite kids I've ever met. So-yeah. I don't think he needed me to save him from any children laying out a path of destruction in our home. I didn't make it out in the morning, though, and realized once it was too late that I hadn't given myself enough daylight for an afternoon run by the time haircuts were done. So, I sucked it up, had our hair lady cut my youngest daughter's and my hair first, and hightailed it home with her to get her down for a nap and then begin my (ultimate human hamster wheel experience) high quality long run.

The first three or four miles of this run were just plain tiring. I passed my time listening to the latest Fdip podcast, then moved on to Phish, A Live One, Disc One. If you are a runner who likes dirty hippie jam band music, it's a great album to play all the way through on a hard or long run. By this time, the rest of the family was home and the Tired Daddy came in to chat with me for a bit, and asked what I wanted to nibble on right after the run. Did I mention that my husband is awesome? We were talking lately about stuff I'd read and heard about taking in nutrients within the hour following a long run, and how it aids recovery, and he was taking the time to get something set out for me so I could just shower and sit down to eat. I've said it before but there's no way I could go after this BQ goal without his full and enthusiastic support.

I was officially scheduled for seventeen miles on the Pfitz 18/55. I've been running my own "SuperPfitz" remix of the Pfitz 18/55 plan, though, (essentially splitting the difference between 55 and 70 mile per week plans) and really wanted to hit 18 for the day. I did not think this would happen after the sluggish start, but am pleased to say that I did in fact feel stronger in the final miles than anywhere else in the run, got in the full 18 and hit a Sunday-through-Saturday weekly mileage PR of 56 miles! Part of this was from the MRT mileage challenge, running 12/24-12/31, but it was a good week for me nonetheless.