Cow Appreciation Day

I started out the morning well—5 on, 5 off thru 40 isos at home before work:

• Wall squat
• Standing ham
• Scap pull up
• Curl
• Crate crunch

Then it was off to work before riding (if the rain holds off) and swimming (if it's not lightening and thundering). And the best part of the day: Chick-fil-A with Anna for Cow Appreciation Day. Dress like a cow, and they'll give you a free entree or a free meal. Can't beat free, and I like Chick-fil-A and appreciate their business model.

Brick

Well. I ended up not doing my brick and getting totally drenched on my bike. However, all was not lost—I tend to ride well in the rain and today was no different. Maybe not the fastest average, but considering the pouring rain, the fact that I kept getting stuff (I'm sure it was salt and rainwater mix) in my eyes, and my continually slowing down because I couldn't see out my glasses lenses, I'm pretty happy with how the ride went.

• 1:21:04, 24.94 miles, 18.5 avg (35.6 max), 1484 cal, 148 HR

The run didn't happen. By the time I got off my bike, all I wanted was to be dry. Thankfully it wasn't cold and by that time it had stopped raining, but I didn't even have a towel to dry even my hands and didn't like the gritty rainwater all over me. So inside for a shower I went, and then I got to cleaning my nasty-looking bike.

Tempo Run Part II

Because of my walk with Valerie at lunch, I skipped today's swim. Hopefully it won't affect my race this weekend.

My tempo runs have been less than stellar lately. I can do the warmup OK, and the cooldown is usually a little better, but when I get into the meat of the run I struggle. I try to run at a faster pace than the warmup and either can't run as fast as I'd like to or can't run as long as I need to at the pace I'm at. So today I warmed up, ran some sprints, and cooled down.

• 50 min, 5 mi, 10:00 pace (yes, I really went that slow) (5:05 best), 561 cal, 159 HR (193 max)
  
• 21:11, 2.14 mi, 164 HR
• 58 sec, 0.17 mi, 5:49 pace (5:16 best), 165 HR
• 1:06, 0.19 mi, 5:50 pace (5:05 best), 156 HR
• 1:02, 0.18 mi, 5:49 pace (5:12 best), 151 HR
• 34 sec, 0.10 mi, 5:34 pace (5:12 best), 167 HR
• 10:20, 1.14mi, 9:15 pace (5:37 best), 158 HR

(I didn't include all the walking time between the 4+ intervals (I did more, but they weren't all up to 1 minute so I didn't include those either). I really felt like if I kept going any longer, I'd trip over my feet!

If Will is game, I'll be doing a little experiment for the next two weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to run as fast as some of these sprints for longer than 0.20 miles after it!

25 Meters vs. 25 Yards

At lunch, I headed to DHY for a swim. Another pull, 1,000 meters. I finally called to find out the length of the outdoor pool because I'm slower out there than inside: 25 meters. That would explain it!

Before the ride, I did a few isos. Not the entire 5 on, 5 off thru 60, but between yesterday and today I probably got the full 5 minutes in.

Today's ride with the Harpeth Bike Club (and a few strong women from Team Belladium) was fast and windy. I did again what I've been doing the last couple weeks—started out with the fast, long group, then split off at the turn for the short ride and went that on my own.

Last week, the week before, the week before that.

• 1:04:46, 20.86 miles, 19.3 avg (34.4 max), 1318 cal, 166 HR (192 max);
  1:35:50, 28.26 miles, 17.7 avg (35.5 max), 1763 cal, 150 HR (189 max);
  1:02:01, 20.01 miles, 19.4 avg (34.9 max), 1249 cal, 172 HR (191 max);
  1:05:37, 20.69 miles, 18.9 avg (34.4 max), 1291 cal, 164 HR (190 max)
• From house to CS: 22:27, 5.53 mi, 14.8 avg, 129 HR)
  16:09, 3.68 mi, 13.7 avg, 117 HR (I had to stop, twice, to fix my seat)
• 25:04, 8.87 mi, 21.2 avg, 161 HR;
  24:06, 8.91 mi, 22.2 avg, 145 HR;
  21:45, 8.01 mi, 22.1 avg, 171 HR;
  27:43, 8.81 mi, 19.1 avg, 160 HR
• 39:41, 12.0 mi, 18.1 avg, 170 HR;
  39:34, 12.0 mi, 18.2 avg, 172 HR;
  40:16, 12.0 mi, 17.9 avg, 174 HR;
  37:54, 11.88 mi, 18.8 avg, 168 HR
• From CS to house: 20:10, 3.93 mi, 11.7 avg, 129 HR
  16:00, 3.68 mi, 13.8 avg, 140 HR

I Run for the Party 5K

Bek and Lauren with their patriotically decorated cake

Today's July 4^th edition of the I Run for the Party race started out rough for the organizers because half their volunteers didn't show up. But they somehow got it together and we started only 15 minutes late. This was 15 minutes too late (yesterday's race started right on time, and I loved that!), but it was well-enough supported and I was happy with my results (even though again, I wasn't even close to my goal time of 21:xx; in fact, I was farther away today than yesterday):

• 24:39, 7:50 pace
• 5^th female of 215, 38^th overall of 364
• 2^nd in age of 57

Then I headed out to do the course again. There was a 10K race that started just behind us, and I felt great so I continued (after about a 10-minute break and a little Gatorade Recover (which I hate, but it didn't bother my stomach at all even though I drank it at the wrong time).

The rest of the day will mean heading to Farkas' to celebrate our country's independence. Thank you, God, for sending Jesus so that I can be completely free from my sins because He died on the cross for them!

Maryland Farms Firecracker 5K

Today I rode 1:20 before racing the Maryland Farms Firecracker 5K, one of my favorite races. I enjoy it so much because the course is pretty much my home course--I run in Maryland Farms more than any other place but from my apt, probably. I was aiming for 21:xx and didn't make it, but I did my best.

• 23:42, 7:39 pace
• 40^th female of 498, 186^th overall of 990
• 6^th in age of 60! This is a huge age group, tho females 35–39 was even larger with 81 women.

The rest of the day was pretty much relax, but I'm going to try to hit my goal again tomorrow in the I Run for the Party 5K in downtown Nashville.

Beautiful Riding Weather

Today's workouts were a run at lunch (about 5 miles, 1-minute sprints) and a ride after work (1 hour). Again, another rough day at my second office. I'm hoping it gets better by tomorrow. On the plus side, I ran to Publix and found some good sales, spending $18.17 for $40.69 worth of groceries. And it wasn't just groceries, it was actually food: veggies, eggs, meat, pasta, ice cream sandwiches, and salad dressing. The two things not on sale, the veggies and eggs, cost $9.74, and minus those my sale items look even better! (It would have been $6.55 + $1.88 tax = $8.43 for $30.95 worth of groceries; my total savings, with coupons and sales, was $22.52). I like the couponing game a lot—it's all numbers game!