NH, GoG, and Weekly Recap (x2)

It has been a busy two weeks! But luckily, I feel like the training is going well and my spirits are still high. I know things can change week to week, and day to day, but overall I am feeling good! My overall goal is to get in 3 runs, 2 swims, and 2-3 bikes. For some reason I haven’t had any desire to go to yoga the last two weeks, but I started up Jillian so hopefully that will be good for the next month
 
Garden of the Gods!

I don’t even know if I had mentioned I was racing this! I had my eye on it for a while, since we ran it last year. AA is away on a 24 hour mission for Alpine so I knew I needed to keep my mind off that and keep me busy so I signed up recently. I didn’t have any big expectations. I haven’t been feeling tiptop after the ½ and giving blood (even though I did great at the ½). So I was using it more for a training run, and especially for training hills! 

The race was 5 miles (with a 5K option) at Garden of the Gods in CO Springs. The scenery could not be prettier and its challenging with the hills (over 500ft of gain). The race started at 8 AM and I left the house at 6:30 and arrived to the lot at 7:30. This year you didn’t have to take school buses but there was a long line of cars entering the park. I got my # and tshirt, brought them back to the car, waited in line for the porta potties, and had about 10 minutes to spare! The race started 10 minutes late due to the traffic I think. I had on running Capri tights, a tank, and a long sleeve over it and the weather was high 30s to low 40s but the sun was shining bright. 

prerace pic!

At 8:10 we were off! As you can see the first mile is ALL uphill, I was winded of course but was feeling pretty good and took advantage of the downhill in mile 2. This is the first race I actually took pictures while running! I will say it did distract me a little bit, but it is nice to have some pictures! It seemed like there were a lot of photographers out on the course so hopefully they got some good ones too :-)

 

527' gain

 

wish it wasn't blurry!

The split for the 5K/5 miler was a little before mile 2 and I was coasting downhill. Unfortunately, at this point the leaders were coming back towards us which meant I got to run back up it all! The first turnaround was at about 2.2 miles and I had water there. Then the climbing started again until mile 3.2 where the split originally was. Of the 10 or 12 people around me, only one other person ran up this whole section with me – it was really tough. It looks about 200 feet of gain in a mile after the turnaround. Luckily there was water again. 

At mile 2, hello downhill!

Pikes Peak in the background! Well you can't see the peak, that would be in snow still

 
For the remaining 1.8 miles it was more rolling with no huge hills and some downhill that helped. The hills I did not feel as strong as last year, but I felt like my endurance was a little better – I felt really strong miles 4 and 5 even with a tough first and third mile! I did end up beating my time by 24 seconds! I'll take it :-) I ended the race strong, chomped down a bagel and banana and off I went! It is so nice when you have already run a race by 9 AM! It was a great feeling to be running, I love races, especially on bright sunny days!

My pace was 10:02 - I swear this is my bodys favorite...Bolder Boulder 2012 was 10:02, and so was the Moab 1/2 Marathon!

Times: This year versus last year

 

All done!

Next I headed to Cherry Creek to get in a bike – ended up going 10 miles, nothing crazy but I was happy to get it done with! Now its time for Jillian and then bringing my cousin and his friend to a soccer game! Glad I have lots to do so I can't think about AA right now....

Bike around Cherry Creek Reservoir

Quick Workout Recap

Week of 4/22

• Run – 3x – 12.5 miles (3.5/3.5/4.5)  
• Memorable: 4.5 mile run at The Dam in NH with Aaron and his Dad :-) I LOVE running at sea level

• Swim – 2x – 2500m (1,500m & 1,000m) 
• Memorable: Tried speed work 1000m day....conclusion: sprinting in swimming is HARD I could only do 1 lap

• Bike – 2x – 13 miles (10m/3m) 
• Memorable: Wednesday was a good spin day on the bike, but Friday I was tired and none ride while away

Week of 4/29

• Run – 3x – 12 miles (4/3/5) 
• Memorable: Garden of the Gods race today! See above!

• Swim – 1x – 1600m (Swam at new place) 
• Memorable: Only once, boo! I blame traveling and the fact I had to scout out a new place to swim since Wash Park is under construction for the next month. I ended going to another Denver Rec Center and it worked out. I lowered the average age by 40 years, and there was only 4 lanes but we’ll see how it does. The pool is 25 yards versus 25 meters so need to learn new calcs.

• Bike – 2x – 18 miles (8m/10m) – so far! 
• Memorable: After my race today I stopped by Cherry Creek Reservoir for a loop ~ 10 miles. Was windy at beginning, but felt to get out on the road. Possibly could get out tomorrow.

• JM30 – started Jillian Michaels 30 day shred again on Wednesday! Today will be day 4 and so far so good. I felt like I needed to add in some strength training, and its hard to beat her 25 minute workout including warm up/down.

NH!!
Aaron and I went back to NH last weekend to see his family. It was an awesome trip, but way too short. We got in around midnight on Friday and had a 6 AM flight on Monday morning. It was the perfect weekend, but like I said – too short!

Saturday - Run in AM with AA and AA’s dad the AA’s mom made us all a great waffle breakfast! In the afternoon we had a BBQ at the house with friends and family.

Sunday – The four of us headed to Franconia Notch in the White Mts. We checked out The Pool and hiked around. Then we went to Artists Bluff and I rock climbed for the first time! Mr. Dover is a pro, and AA is learning more with alpine so they were great teachers! In the evening we went to dinner on Lake Winnipesauke and then up and early to head back home :-(