Triathlon Training: Week 8 - Saturday Long Run

Going into this weekend I had two workouts remaining. One was a sprint workout and the other is a brick workout. I had already planned to do the brick workout Sunday so that left me with today to get in my sprint workout. I don't think I could properly get my sprint workout in the way I wanted outdoors due to ice and snow and cold, but I also knew I would not get myself to the Y for the treadmill as we have an entire house to clean before having the birthday parties for the kids today.

So what did I do? I made the obvious choice to run with an amazing group of runners early this morning. I woke up at 4 am, had a cup of coffee, one pancake(we were out of waffles), dressed for the negative temperatures and met up with Uhde, Gaffney, Byrne, and Fountain at 4:30. I was tired this morning. Ava woke up a few times last night and I was quite comfortable in bed. However, staying in your comfort zones does not help you achieve your goals.

It was cold out this morning. I put on two pair of gloves and had a hand warmer. I also put on a face mask along with another running hat and few layers on my body. Once we started and my body warmed up it was not bad at all. We started off with a 90 minute loop. This was a good easy paced run. We walk anywhere from 10-20 steps on the larger hills to help John and Rick train for Leadville. We have also found(or I should say they have found) that these little breaks actually allow us to run faster. We made back to the meeting point at 6:00 to see if others were joining. As we refueled by body started to lock up. My lower back became super tight and my quads and hips were tight.

Uhde and I went out for a little while longer running until 6:45 as we both had to get back to things done. Also, I did not want to push too much this weekend with another workout tomorrow and this week being a recovery week.

In the end I completed 13 miles in 2 hours 5 minutes for 9:37 pace. I am interested to see how my body responds when it actually becomes warm outside because I sure do find the frigid temps, snow, wind, and ice to be so much harder to run in.

Major props to John and Rick who continued on running to get in a marathon this morning. They are two of the most strong willed people I know. They are trying to get in two marathons this weekend and due to conflicts of schedule they might run their second marathon tonight. Talk about dedication.

My quads and hip joints were wiped out after this run. This was a good run for me. I am glad I did this run because I don't think I would have completed a workout without this awesome support group of runners.

Here is a breakdown of the run for me. It sure is nice to be done with this workout before 7 am.

It is time for some coffee and stretching and then off to prepare for the party. Have a great weekend everyone!