Day 138, 227 To Go

May 18, 2013

It was a bit of a long day.  Just me and three babies, wiling away the day, full of poop, screaming, and yes, many cute hugs, kisses and laughter.  I was exhausted by the time the day ended, and it ended early for me at about 10:00pm.  I normally hit the hay sometime between 12 and 1, so I was truly beat.

Honey will be home soon, thank Zeus, because if I have to do this for too many more days, I won't make it.  I'll be crawling through the house, dragging my limp, wasted body, towards the door in the hopes of escaping into the night. 
I was able to get my run in during their second nap.  It was quite hot, but I love it.  I love coming in from a run all dripping with sweat.  I feel like I worked hard, even if I didn't.  The only problem when it is that hot is that even after I take a shower, I continue to sweat.  I haven't quite figured out how to stop that other then waiting like an hour before I take a shower.  Honey loves it when I do that.  I leave wet spots wherever I sit and I make the air smell so fresh!

Once again, I was able to run fairly fast (compared to normal) and I'm not sure what the deal is.  I'm curious to know how my long run is going to go tomorrow.  If I can keep up this pace for a long run, then I know something is going on.  I really just hope that I have turned a corner.  I know that often when we train, we get into a rut and we can't seem to make progress.  I have felt like that for, well, years.  I haven't gotten any faster and running hasn't gotten any easier.  In fact, it has gotten harder.  Sure, my training was inconsistent (uh, babies) and it was very unstructured (uh, lazy) and I could never make any real progress.  I would build up some mileage or some speed and then life would interfere and I would go back to where I was...sometimes I would fall further behind. Add to that injuries, and I never got anywhere.

I do credit some of my progress with the change in footwear.  I know these minimalist shoes are not for everyone, and I have had my doubts and difficulties with them too, but I will never go back to regular shoes.  Never.

Here are my numbers:

Time: 20:00

Distance: 2.30 miles

Pace: 8:43/m

Max Pace: 7:25/m

Calories: 291
Avg HR: 139

Max HR: 156

I always consider it a good day if my pace is under 9:00/m.  If I can keep this up, and I intend on trying, I can finally say I have taken a step forward.  I have noticed that even when my heart rate gets close to Zone 4 which is my anaerobic zone, I am not struggling like I used to.  I almost feel like my max heart rate has gone up, if that is even possible.  I may have to test myself in the near future.  It is not a fun thing to do, that I can tell you (basically, you run as fast as you can until you are about to vomit...pretty much), so I may procrastinate a bit with that one!  I'll start looking into that...right away...yup.

Run for Life!!