Too much pie! Perfect training!

HAPPY EASTER and...

OMG... put me on a scale now!  The Easter bunny arrived and dropped homemade apple pie on my doorstep.  I am so stuffed that I can't even sleep!  Sugar high at its finest!  I'm detoxing with salad tomorrow.

TRAINING
I had a great week of training, putting in about 12 hours, 20 minutes total.  I got in three solid bike rides, 3 good swims, a good fast finish long run and 3 additional shorter runs.  Beginning tomorrow I'll be adding another hour and half onto my training time and by golly, I believe I can handle it.  Late last year I remember saying that there was NO WAY that I was going to train over 10 hours at any point this year.  I was just so sick of training and my body was breaking down.  I wasn't 'feeling' triathlon,  I kept getting sick... it was just icky.  This winter/spring has been different.  The base that I built up last summer/fall has carried over nicely and my body is readily handling the small volume increases each week.

What this essentially does is continue to help me to understand just how much of a process endurance training is.  There is no overnight magic pill.  It's just patience and persistence.  I'll always be a bit impatient... I'm just the kind of girl who wants it 'now', however, I am definitely learning to appreciate all of the little improvements that I see.  Sometimes I have to look hard for them, but they are there.

LONG RUN
Saturday's long run was awesome.  I personally like keeping my standard LSD base run at 10 miles.  I find that getting in a weekly "10" miler sort of makes it mentally easier to go "up" when required... like now.  "Ten" is also a nice endurance base for shorter road races too, at least in my opinion.  I like knowing that I am capable of running a comfy 10 miler before taking on a fast 10k.  Of course, long runs can be utterly boring, so to make things interesting, I have been trying to add in some variety.

My most favorite 'topping' is the fast finish.   I just love throwing in a fast finish.  I am slowly ramping my mileage up for Florida right now, so Saturday's run was right around 10.75 miles.  I did the last 2 miles as a fast finish and nailed it (I actually negative split the last 4 miles of the run, but I worked just a wee bit more during the final 2).  I also like to include the Peace River Bridge into my long runs.  Running the bridge is my only real opportunity for hill work and it gives me something to look forward to in the middle of a long run.  I keep my HR nice and comfy during the bridgework and just let me legs absorb the demand.

I knew from day 1 that I would always enjoy running more than cycling or swimming, but I never thought that I would enjoy distance running as much as I do.  Don't get me wrong, I still like the fast stuff... but there is really something about holding a comfortable, quick cadence and really getting in that 'zone' for an extended period of time.  I'm eager to see where all of this will take me over the next few years.

RACING
I have a local race on tap in two weeks.  It's a charity 5k road race and 5k trail run that my husband's fire department puts on each year in conjunction with the local University.  My heart isn't 100% in it b/c I am totally NOT in 5K shape nor do I have the desire to haphazardly throw in track-esque work this next week.  However, I can't not run... and it's for a good cause.  So, on April 17th I'll be running the 5K road race at 7:30AM followed by the 5K trail run at 8:30AM.  No big hopes here... just want to leave the venue injury free and hopefully under an 8:30 pace for both races.  That's a looong way off from my PR, but I haven't run a stand-alone 5K in a very long time and I'm just not sure if my bod can still move that fast.  So, I'm going to try to go out there and have fun (going to be tough to not worry about those splits, but that's just me).  Maybe I'll just wear a running skirt and call it a day. :o)

REMINISCING
Since the apple pie is keeping me awake this evening (er, this morning... as it is 2AM) I decided to read over all of my race reports starting from my very first entry.  So exciting!  They got me totally psyched up about Florida!  Even rereading about the terrible pain my quads were in during the run at Augusta 70.3 got me psyched up. Masochistic much?  Geesh!