Remember when I used to talk about running, workouts, and food? I know, it’s been a while. Let’s talk about running then!
So, I officially registered for the Bear Water Run on September 10th. It’s a 10 mile race around White Bear Lake. I have no idea if it’s hilly or not. See, if you live in the Twin Cities, you spend the majority of your time on one side or the other – East or West, St. Paul or Minneapolis. I almost never make it East of the Mississippi and therefore have only been to White Bear Lake proper maybe twice in my life.
I have been trying to follow a 15k training plan for this race, but haven’t been doing very well with the speed workouts. With last weeks nasty heat, just running at all at any pace was a victory. In fact, this week isn’t going to be much better.
On Saturday I managed a lovely 9 miler though. It wasn’t quite as hot as it had been and I averaged 8:40 miles. It felt great to run at what is a decent pace for me again. Last night I had another mini-victory of a race pace run. For training purposes in this heat, I am aiming for a 8:00 minute mile goal race pace for speed work. Last night’s 4 miles was pretty close. The first mile wasn’t anything great, I started out too slow. The second mile was exactly 8:00 and the next two were 8:10. Even though I was watching my pace on the Garmin, I was trying to focus on the feel of the run and make sure I was at comfortably uncomfortable. You runners know what I mean. My ultimate goal for the 10 miler is to beat last year’s time from the Twin Cities 10 mile, which I consider my first official race. Should be simple enough, right?
I’m also trying to get in as much as I can this week before the month of August starts. It’s going to be a crazy month with a trip to Chicago, a wedding in North Dakota, and someone’s (ahem, not me) big 30th birthday. That will mean a few weekday long runs, which I don’t mind, but don’t always feel as productive. There is something to be said about a Saturday morning long run. I guess I never expected to enjoy them as much as I do.
My goal is to still hit 100 miles for July. With about 5 days to go, I should make it.
