3 Runs and 2 Flats

A recap of my recent runs...

Sunday: 5 mile pace run + warm up and cool down.  No music.  The weather was perfect, it was 60 and sunny!  Goal half marathon pace for those five miles was 10:19-10:23 (for a hopeful 2:15-2:16 half marathon)

Monday: Long Run - 9.56 miles.  No music.  It was 70 and sunny at 5:30 pm.  I wanted to make that long run longer, but I did it after work and it was getting late (also: dark and buggy).  Since the length was not as long as I wanted, I thought I'd try to make the most of it by running it 3/1 as per some long runs on Hal Higdon's advanced half marathon plan (first 3/4 easy...last 1/4 at half marathon pace).

I had a Clif Shot Energy Gel (Mocha) at mile 4.6ish.  It was my first time trying the flavor and my second Clif energy gel.  I really enjoyed the coffee/chocolate flavor!  I would buy this flavor again.  I'm not sure that I need the 50mg of caffeine, but I knew it was caffeinated, and held off from any caffeinated beverages aside from my regular morning cup of coffee.

(sorry, it's kinda blurry)

Wednesday: 45 minute-turned 50 minute-tempo run.  It poured all day, but luckily it stopped by the time I got around to running at 5:45ish.  It was 50ish and overcast.  I listened to music for this run.  Hal Higdon says a 45 minute tempo run should consist of 15 minutes of easy running, 20 minutes of near 10k pace, and 10 minutes of easy running at the end. Mine ended up a couple minutes longer.

I also ran a little faster than I intended to toward the end of those middle miles...10k pace for my goal half marathon time would be 9:45-9:49ish...clearly the last .4 miles was faster than that.  I can't even blame it on a downhill or something because that stretch was flat or slightly uphill.

After my run I did some core work in my living room:

-50 regular crunches
-30 sec plank on forearms
-15 "double crunches"? (start with knees bent, back on floor- like a regular crunch.  Bring knees in toward chest and lift head toward abs at the same time...then extend legs out straight (in air, not back on ground) and straighten out your top half. Repeat)  These are tough and I think I need too strengthen my lower back more for them.
-45 sec plank on forearms
-25 crunches with knees bent to the left; 25 crunches with knees bent to the right
-2x 10 sec side plank on on right fore arm, 2x 10 sec side plank on left forearm
-60 second plank on forearms

My spring semester gym membership ended...and the summer group classes don't start up until the week of the 16th.  And the spinning I'm interested in will be moving from 5:30 to a 5:00 start time, which will make it harder to get to in time from work.  I don't know if I will bother renewing my membership until after my May 22 half marathon.  Also, unfortunately the summer schedule does not include boot camp :(  I'll have to try to remember as many exercises as I can from that class and do them on my living room floor.

Oh, one more thing...I would have also said "who cares about spinning, I've got my bike!"  Except after Monday's long run, I came home to find my bike tire flat.  Wah, wah....

I'm no genius, but I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be able to stick my finger between the tire and the rim.

Tuesday, hubs rode his bike to work only to find a flat tire on his bike at the end of the day.  So now we're both down by one tire.  Not bad considering we bought our bikes nearly 6 years ago!  This is the first time either of these tires has gotten a flat and needed a new tube.  We ordered the tubes/tools online to fix it ourselves (well, he probably will be the one to fix it, and I will watch).

Anyway, this will mean a couple-day delay in my biking.  As I am not currently a member of a gym and my bike has one functional tire, it means my cross-training will have to consist of walking the dog...or learning to ride a unicycle.