A windy 17 miles

Today was my scheduled LR of 17 miles. I wanted to be on the trail before 9 am but that didn't happen since I woke up at 8:35am. I didn't actually get out there till 10 am which meant I was going to have to run fast, (well faster than I wanted to do my long run) cause I had to get home before my love went to work.

Temps were not bad at about 52-55 degrees but the winds were in the 22-29 mph range!! I started walking towards the trail and wanted to turn around and get back in my car. But then I saw another runner and figured if she was out here then I should be too, no excuses!

Once I started running and warmed up a bit I felt great. My legs felt surpisingly good and ready to run. I changed up the days I run, now running Monday thru Thursday with Friday and Saturday off (those are my loves days off from work so I want to spend that time with him) and long runs on Sunday. Which means I run 5 days in a row (Sun-Thur) but I use Monday as recovery runs.

The wind was pretty strong and it was very hard to run against. I was glad when I would be in a pocket where it wasn't so bad but once I hit mile 4 there was a wide open space with nothing to block the wind. It literally felt like I was barely moving or like someone had their hand on my head and I was trying so hard to run foward but couldn't. I decided to turn around sooner so I headed back at mile 6 and I could feel the wind pushing me this time which was much better than running against. Except for at one point when the wind hit me from the side and it literally pushed me sideways I felt like my feet lifted off the ground I was going to fall!

Miles 7-13 were the fastest miles at under 9 minutes - (around 8:35 the fastest and 8:49 the slowest). I actually ran my fastest 13.1 miles ever in just under two hours and had to take a picture of it...

And this was a training run! Makes me want to register for a half marathon to see how much I can PR by. 2:03 is my fast time, which was my first half marathon in June last year.

I had to turn back towards the wind again so miles 14-16 were as follows: 9:16, 9:17, 9:01 (wind was at my back this time) and I finished off with mile 17 at 9:33 to cool down.

A little stats on my run:

Time 2:35:42

9:09 pace (about 40 seconds faster than my normal long run pace)

Night before meal:

A little bit of peppered steak and veggies with A LOT of couscous

-I'd like to thank my love for making such a fabulous dinner and always keeping my long runs in mind when he cooks!

Pre-run

A slice of whole wheat hunny toast with peanut butter. My new fav breakfast!

During run-

Stawberry clif shot at mile 5 and a jet blackberry gu at mile 10. I was planning on taking another gel at around mile 14 but the jet blackberry gu was gross. I didn't like it at all and it actually upset my stomach.

Post run-

Chocolate milk!

And lots of foam rolling and wearing my compression socks!

Here's a cute sign I saw at around mile 3.5 and again after I turned around.

I also took a pic of the huge mansion on the hill!

I wanted to take a picture of the giraffes I see around mile 1 as I run by the zoo but I didn't see them over the fence. But I did see a racoon. I didn't take a picture of him cause I was afraid he would attack me. He stopped to look at me as I ran by and I just kept saying don't look at him in the eyes (as if this would make him not attack me or something) I turned to look at him after I passed him and he was still staring at me so I ran a little faster haha.

My legs feel good after running a total of 41 miles this week putting me at 96 miles for March so far, surpassing Tall Mom's 93 Miles in March Challenge...yuppie!! 

I leave you with a candid shot from my St. Patty's Day 5k