Made it to the gym a little late but still managed to get in a decent upper weight session. During core class, we used our new weighted balls that Jon was far too happy about. They seemed harmless enough in the beginning -- little, blue and cute...but her excitement should have been a clue...

The "fun" lasted through the first set and they went from being fun little smurf toys to the weighted balls of misery. OUCH.

Upper Weights @ 00:25:00
Core Class @ 00:30:00

On my way to work, I was having the same conversation I have been having with myself about my 10 mile tempo training run on my schedule -- discussing how hard and long it would be and would I be able to do it. This time though, I asked myself to re-frame it and think how very cool is it that I have a job (and a great boss) where I CAN get in a long training run during my day and have a great convenient gym just downstairs and have a beautiful path by the water to do it on -- not to mention fit enough to be able to do it during a work day.

I have been whining about how damn cold it has been for running and how tired I was of the wind hurting my ears so I dressed the way I should have for the last 17 runs but not for the way the actual weather was for this day. But off I went in my baseball cap, wool ear warmer band, long sleeve shirt and wool gloves. And regretted it in 3 minutes but it was too late to turn back and my watch was already running.

I did this run by time and figured that I would take the 10 mile tempo portion at an 8:45 pace and that would then be 01:27:30 minutes. I set my watch to give me a 5 minute WU, Main set @ 87:30 minutes and then 5 minute CD. The run was hard and I know I must have taken the pace faster than my last tempo run because I ran more than 1/2 a mile beyond my turn around point (of my last run) before hitting the halfway point and then had to run past my starting point to finish out my time. I was really feeling it when I had 26 minutes left to go and had to start to dig deep.

Then at the end, when I had a little over two miles to go, I heard the sound of feet behind me and figured it was some dude passing me. It wasn't. It was a chick with a ponytail that barely looked sweaty running in CAPRI's (and not the running kind...) who then passed me and managed to keep a few yards ahead of me until she turned off. Of course I chased her pretending that I wasn't. And I certainly wasn't just some old lady with an enormous ego who can't be passed by a 20 something... I kept telling myself that this was good practice for my race and this pacing was good for me. As she slowly pulled away, I told myself this is good practice for my race to help me keep focused on my race and not get caught up in everyone else. HA.

11 Mile Run @ 01:35:27

10+ Miles Tempo Pace @ 01:27:30
166a