After countless weekends of snowy, icy, cold-ass, or a combination of any of those, this past Saturday when I woke up and immediately checked my phone, I saw that it was 31deg outside with a wind chill of about 28, and very little wind!!
Woohoo!
We get to do the longest run of this training cycle before NYC Half OUT.SIDE!
The night before I went back and forth on what I should wear but settled on a long sleeve Lulu and capris. Turned out it was perfect.
Since I live at the top of a hill it was my plan (and will be going forward in training for Colfax and Chicago) to drive the mile down to the little convenience store and do 2 mile loops from there; having water it the back of my car so that I could get fluids every loop. This way the run would be flat and I wouldnt have to continually run up that long ass, long incline of a hill every single time!
Worked out great!
I started shortly before 7 at the temps above and when I was done it had only reached 40. So, so, so perfect!
I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive running that long outside since I had been doing all my long runs on the treadmill, but honestly I felt like maybe, just maybe, it helped in some weird way. I felt so free and strong.
And because I was apprehensive, I set my Garmin for 4/1's just to be on the safe side so as not to burn out and feel defeated. Even with the 4/1's I averaged about 10:30 a mile. That's how great I was feeling!
After doing 5 loops, I decided to do the last of it out past the Community Center on the bike/running path just for a few hills and to just get a different scenery. After running those loops I was starting to get a bit loopy myself!
I don't have a lot of expectations from the half there in NYC given that I really didn't have the time to train, only finding out at the end of December, but at least I feel confident that I won't entirely embarrass my inner runner-self.
Of course I am already stalking the weather and while I am hoping for cool temperatures, I would really like it to be just that temperature where I can get away with shorts and a short sleeve, with arm warmers if need be.
I got the cutest green plain Lulu shorts and the green Run Swiftly short sleeve since the race IS on St. Patricks Day after all!!!
So that 12 miler is behind me now. This coming Saturday I'll do 8 miles for the weekend before the race. The weather for next weekend doesn't look good here for an outdoor run, but I am hoping that it changes between now and then.
Planning on doing a bit more mileage during this week (weather looks good except for tomorrow), with my usual Thurs night Step class.
I even still went to the gym today; did a couple miles, about 1700m on the rower, some CF, some weights, ab's, and even some yoga stretches. Felt great to get a workout in on this lazy Sunday.
2 weeks to race day!
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