Wacky Weather

Colorado has crazy weather, always has, always will. Yesterday was a beautiful day with record breaking temps in the 80's. A beautiful day and a fabulous 20 mile bike ride outside! It was a little windy but nothing was going to get me down. I was in short sleeves and really warm, wishing that I had warn a lighter jersey....can I say it again BEAUTIFUL!

This morning I get up and decide to do a pre long run run to see how things are feeling. I went out the night before and had entirely to much Mexican food, a couple of beers and enjoyed some lacrosse (side note: this was a first for me...how fun are lacrosse games!?!?) and had to little sleep. But it was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining the sky was blue and it was about 50 degrees. So I did an easy 2 miles and came home dropped the dog off and got ready to meet Kathleen out at Chatfield for a long run. As I'm getting ready to head out there some dark clouds drifting in.

But we decided to be tough and headed out to do around 10 miles. The wind was blowing but we hoped to be able to get it done before any other weather rolled in. It was nice to be out there running with someone and being able to chat. The first 8ish miles went pretty good. At around that point it was starting to cool off. I had to make a port-a-potty stop and Kathleen went on. I barley started to run again when the wind really kicked up and I looked down at my jacket and couldn't figure out what the white stuff on it was. Then I realized it was snowing!!!

And then it got bad. The rain/snow/sleet was coming down pretty hard and it hurt when it hit. The temperature was dropping rapidly and I wasn't dressed for this! Those last 2 miles were brutal! It was cold, my legs were freezing Me right after getting into the car. You can see how wet I am, and that's not sweat! Even my glasses have water all over them.

Me and Kathleen

Poor Kathleen doesn't have the extra insulation that I have and she was so cold she couldn't get her fingers to work.

Here's a shot out the window in the parking lot.

And this was on my way home. The weather got so bad on the drive home the visibility was about 100 yards and there was standing water all over the highway.

Ahhh I love Colorado. Fingers crossed for good weather for the 1/2 marathon next weekend.

Long run by the numbers...

1 Cliff Shot Turbo Double Expresso ...my new favorite...oh my this sucker is good...really good...
2 bottles of water from my fuel belt drank(drunk? drinked?)
3 Cliff Shot blocks...love these too.
4 Pieces of pizza I ate the night before to work off.
5(9) degrees when I finished. A beautiful day for a run although it was a bit windy with some strong gusts once in a while.
6 More weeks until my 1/2 marathon.
7th mile mostly downhill and where left foot and toes were a little bit angry at me and reminding me that I really do need to get new shoes.
8th mile Feeling really good and thrilled when I looked at my splits to find mile 8 and 9 were my fastest and both just under 12mm
9 Miles done 1:54 minutes 12:42 average pace 597' of climbing according to Beginner Triathlete

Big girls don't cry...

Even if they get in their car and drive to the path to run because of all the snow on the roads and then realize they forgot their Garmin and heart rate strap and have to turn around and go back and get it.

Even if they just posted that they we were feeling stronger on the run and this run was oh so hard.

Even if because of the the late start it's now 10:30 and they are hungry before they start running.

Even if they keep thinking they really would rather be riding their bike.

Even if two young boys (6 and 8ish) running with their dad showed her up.

Even if her back is bothering in the last few miles.

Big girls don't cry...

Because the snow on the mountains looks so beautiful as they run towards them and it's February and almost 60 degrees.

Because she saw a lady walking a lama in the first mile.

Because they have Kenny Chesney taking them to the beach when the sun goes down and Kid Rock taking them to Sweet Home Alabama.

Because she watched a brave soul ride his road bike down a snow packed icy hill and make it!

Because she got showed up by two young boys having a ball out there running.

Because even though the run felt really hard and the heart rate was much higher then it should have been she still had a decent average pace.

Because even if he was probably a creeper I'm pretty sure in my last mile when I was feeling anything but, some guys said "good morning beautiful"

Because she made herself run the last half mile with out walking.

Because at the end was a Starbucks Grande skinny Cinnamon Dolce latte with an extra shot.

And mostly because hey... this big girl just ran 8 miles so what's to cry about!

What didn't you cry about this week and why?

Your speeding!

So first off lets address the obvious...I've had a few changes around here. Came home from my long run today and threw everything on the counter from my run and then looked down and just decided it was going to be my new blog header. And since I had been doing much thinking about spring as I ran (and the fact that it is suppose to be in the low teens for the high temps in a day or so) I decided spring colors was the way to go. So here's the new look...what do you think?

Training this week was actually pretty good. I got in two each of swim, bike and run as well as a couple of strength training workouts. I also dropped my bike off at the shop for it's spring tune up and set up an appointment for a bike fitting which I've never actually had done.

Long run today while a little cool was really pretty nice. I went over to Standley lake to run so I could get off of the concrete and asphalt. In my first mile I passed a gentleman who called to me "Your speeding!" and made me laugh. While I was anything but speeding it was nice to hear and made me remember that it is all relative. One persons slow is another's speedy.

Here is the gorgeous view I was running toward. That's the dam in front of the mountains I ran to the right of it first then back down and over to left.

This is just before mile 3 running through the empty campground with the spot marker.

Look how beautiful the mountains with the snow are. But as you can see the foothills have none. We've seen very little snow here in the metro area.

This shot is from the other side of the lake and you can see the wind turbines in front of the mountains.

And that's it 7.25 miles done. While it was any thing but speedy, I felt pretty good about it especially considering I stopped numerous times for photos, a potty break, a phone call and it was pretty hilly too. Training for spring 1/2 mary is coming along just fine!

One bad apple...

This week did not go quite as planned as far as getting my runs in so ended up a few miles short. Today's long run, well what can I say it kind of sucked. I didn't get started til about 9:30 and it was still pretty cool but warmed up way to quickly. I was suppose to be doing 10 miles but when at 9 I was almost home I could not take the idea of running around the neighborhood to get the extra mile. I was just kind of hurting all over. As you can see from the profile here it was a bit of a hilly run.

A couple of those hills really sucked the first one of course but at least I was fresh and new it was coming, but that one at 4.5 that went straight up for 100' yea not really fun, and as I was just kind of wandering around not really expected. I was starting to hurt about that time and put on my music which I rarely take with me, it was great to have the distraction until mile 5.5 when it stopped working. Ear phones seem to have a short or something. So then the thoughts start creeping in...you know the ones....this is no fun...there is no way I'm going to be able to do that 1/2...what was I thinking...wow my knee is not feeling to good...I don't like this....and on and on. Why is it when you have one bad run you start to doubt everything, even if all your runs in the recent past have felt pretty good. I'm not going to let this get me down...I'm not. This week will be better. Next weekend I will pick a flat route for my long run.

Kicked back in the glider to tired to get up and go stretch and shower.

8.6 miles of running Bliss!

Ok maybe only 6.5 of running bliss and 1.6 of this is not bad at all. It was the most perfect day for running! The temps were just above 60 when I headed out and a nice breeze! Perfect I say! I took a bit of a different route today and did a few trails. Not a lot of elevation change around 400' or so overall but I just enjoyed it. And I was beginning to think that I would never say I enjoyed running again! I feel so happy about the whole thing. Not sure what happened to my garmin though. It seems to have known that I Was only suppose to do 8 miles because for some reason that's all that showed even though I actually did 8.6 (I'm sure that's what it said when I thought I stopped it) and the map shows 8.4. Who knows.

I can't believe it's been a week since my last tri. For some reason it feels like it's been forever. I'm getting really excited for the Iron Girl coming up!

Attitude adjustment day

I've been having a pretty bad attitude of late. I'm not sure why. I do think part of it is work, but I think a large part is I keep thinking winter is coming soon. I have had such a great summer running and riding with friends that I don't want it to end! So I decided I needed an attitude adjustment day and took Friday off from work. I made my plans. I did a long run. A very, very, very slow long run. I kept putting it off, but finally went out and did it. Cut it short at just over 6 miles instead of the full 7 but I had already run past my car once and just couldn't do it again. Besides the dog was pretty much done. Yea that's right...I'm blaming the dog. It was a pretty good run though a path that I had never run. Lots of places to potty and drink which is great! I was hoping to get closer to 55 miles this month but looks like I will just get a little over 50. I'm ok with that.

And then it was off to the spa where I spent 3 1/2 hours being scrubbed, rubbed, extracted, waxed, and polished...ahhhhh what a day. Met a friend for a little shopping and some dinner....Nice, very nice, in fact doesn't get to much better then that.