Great Weekend

Well I had the a less than stellar eating weekend (think onion rings, chinese food, chicken wings)…okay it was bad but really thinking back it wasn’t as bad as it could have been because I could have drank last night and I passed (and I was so happy with that decision this morning). However, this weekend was great for working out.

Yesterday, I ran the 4th Annual Bret Neylon’s Race to Recovery. Bret Neylon was my 8th grade history teacher as well as a cross-country and track coach when I was in school. 4 years ago he was in a biking accident and is now paralyzed from the neck down. The race is to benefit research for spinal cord injuries. On a personal level, the race is very interesting for me because I know so many people in it. It’s a bit of a high school reunion (the woman that placed 2nd in the females graduated with me — and was equally fast in high school but suffered from some severe asthma that sadly prevented her from ever reaching her true potential). Anyway, the weather was PERFECT for running a 5k. This was my second time running the race, which is always in July, and the last time I ran it, it was super super hot. I did it in 34:39 that year (2007) and remember walking a lot. This year was very very different. The temperature was not even 70 and I finished in 27:49!!!!! A new PR and a sub-9 minute mile pace!!! I was/am thrilled. I am getting more and more confident that I can run a sub-2 hour half marathon in October. I was also pretty happy because near the end I realized I was about 20 seconds behind a girl a few years younger than me who was one of the best runners in the school. I couldn’t believe I was keeping up with her.

This race also made me realize that I love racing and need to sign up for more 5 and 10ks. I am going to start looking into area races. I’m thinking a race once a month would be good. Not going to do anything between now and the triathlons (August 16 and 29) but will be looking for one or two after that before the half (mid-October).

Despite my great race yesterday, I also had a big exercise day scheduled today. I wanted to do a long bike ride (last weeks weekend bike ride was a short one). My last one if you recall was a 30 miler with a pace of 17.1 mph. Today I had mapped out a 40 miler. Frankly I wasn’t sure I could do it. I was really concerned about being able to get enough full during the ride. I carried a Luna bar and ate it (while riding!) at about mile 20. I also had one of my water bottles filled with powerade (I have equipped my bike to hold 3 bottles — I will hopefully be posting a full update this week of all my biking accessories. It’s quite an operation.). Here was the course I had planned:

I felt fairly fine for the first 25 miles. I had a pretty bad head wind at miles 31 – 34. My pace dropped to below 16 mph. In the end, most importantly, I did it (with no stops, except for red lights and stop signs, obviously)! Better news though is that I did it in a faster pace than all of my last long rides. I rode 40 miles in 2:17:46 for a pace of 17.4 mph.

So overall, despite some less than stellar eating, which vastly improved today, I had a great exercising weekend. Hoping to get more creative with food and take more pictures this week (I know I said that last week ). Also, I probably should swim this week since I neglected to this past week! Ooops.

Also, don’t think I lost any weight this week. Wasn’t at home this morning (I visited my friend in Terre Haute last night and stayed the night there) so I didn’t have the opportunity to weigh myself. I will likely be moving my weigh-in day to something mid-to-late week. Stay tuned.