Training updates, Running with a friend makes the miles go by faster, and Weight loss.

I really like my Where's Waldo
striped running top.

I have about 10 days worth of workouts to post.  Most of the miles were on the road, but I did get some  trail miles in as well. I had a killer run this past Tuesday.

I went exploring in the Clark County Wetlands Park . More on that later.

Training Updates

Monday 1/11  3.3 Miles, Two a day- In the morning I did a very short strength training workout... At this point in my life I'm not lifting weights to body build.  I'm lifting weights to keep my mobility, to stay strong for speed workouts, and to keep my upper body conditioned.  I don't lift super heavy or try to max out for my lifts.  Here's the short weight workout that I did.
Flat bench press with dumb bells 
One Arm Rows 
Hamstring Dead Lifts 
Bicep Curls 
Lat pull downs

At lunchtime, I went and returned my broken Garmin Forerunner 25,

Bummer because I really liked the black and purple watch.

and I picked up a replacement Forerunner 25.

Pink and white was all that was left

I tried out my new watch, and ran 3.3 miles at recovery pace. About halfway through my run, my mom called me and I talked to her the rest of the way.  It was nice to catch up with her.

Tuesday 1/12 5.5 Miles. Track work.  I was able to get my kids up and out to school (daycare) a little earlier than usual.  On my training calendar I had 4 x 800's.  I jogged from my workplace to the park that has a dirt track as my warm up , and then I did a quick stretch, and some form drills.  I wasn't expecting much from this workout, because I had raced a 10k over the weekend, and I was still feeling a little tired. In between 800's I jogged about 150 meters for recovery and then got the workout started again.

Here's the data: 3:40, 3:38, 3:29, 3:27
I ran the first two repeats in one direction, and then I changed directions for the third repeat.  I was short on time so I started to head back to work, and my last repeat was on a downhill grade.
That night I foam rolled and stretched.

Wednesday  1/13 7.1 Miles of mixed surfaces.  I had to run about two miles of roads, and then I decided to run up part of the Amargosa trail.  This is a really steep, rocky, and technical trail.

I love to climb, but I am so scared that I will do a face plant into the rocks on the way down. So I take my sweet ass time getting down the hill.

I climbed about a mile, and then came back down, and then I had to hurry back to work, and I ran tempo pace on the way back. Here's the data.

Thursday 1/14 6.2 Miles.  I had a hectic day at work, and I was really looking forward to running at lunchtime.  This really is the best time of year for running in Las Vegas.  At lunchtime the temps are in the 50's and its' perfect running weather. I am going to miss this in July....

I wasn't sure how my lunchtime workout was going to shake out. But, during the first mile of my run I recieved a phone call that I had been expecting, so I was able to extend my run.  I warmed up during the first mile, and then I started picking up the pace.  The first half was uphill, and the second half was downhill. I really tried to crank up the pace during miles 4-5, Mile 6 was supposed to be a cool down mile, but I started picking up the pace again.

 Here's the data.

I had to stop for a few red lights.

After this workout I stopped the Garmin, and ran a very short untimed cool down jog.

Friday 1/15  2.9 Miles Two a day... In the morning, I headed over to the Whitney Mesa Recreation Area.  This place is fantastic for getting a short run in without being bothered by traffic.  I didn't have a whole lot of time, so I just ran up onto the mesa, to one of the turn around points, and then I headed, back down.

There was a little more cloud coverage last Friday.

At lunchtime, I headed into the gym to lift....I'm kicking myself for not writing down my workout, after I finished it.  I do remember that I used a 25lb EZ curl bar for circuit training, I did the following exercises:

Bicep Curls

Upright Shoulder Rows

Shoulder Presses

Good Mornings

Squats

Single Leg Lunges.

I also did some side step downs (single leg squats body weight only)

and I think some cable flys....

Saturday 1/16 Rest, My son's birthday was over the weekend, and we threw a party at Chuck E Cheese.  That day I also received my first piece of equipment to review.  SLS3 sent me a new run belt to try out.

empty

fully loaded.

I will be posting a review and giveaway later on this week.

Sunday 1/17 10 Miles, I took my new waist pack out for a test drive.  This ended up being a tempo progression run I also had the crap scared out of me by three different German Shepards. These dogs leap high enough for their heads to clear the brick wall, but not quite high enough to leap over...


First two miles were easy, and then I just tried to gradually increase the pace. The last mile was a cool down mile. Here's the data:

Monday 1/18-5.3 Miles  I had planned on taking a rest day, because I thought my husband had to leave early for work, but he was nice enough to watch the kids, so I could get a run in...I ended up doing another progression run, and I ended up running a really fast downhill mile unintentionally....

Strava is addicting when you are given praise for imaginary PR's

I was running one of my normal routes...And I was up by the mountains(I don't want to give away to many identifying details of my neighborhood).. I was running by an area that wasn't super isolated, however I saw a man coming back down the hill with buckets, and bags. 

Maybe he had been camping behind the Jr. High..... But, it didn't look like camping supplies, and he didn't look homeless either.  He saw me, and put down his gear, and turned away from me. I didn't want to get any closer to him, so I began to haul my ass down the hill as fast as I could.... Maybe I'm super paranoid, but I will never ever take my safety for granted...

Here's the data.

That night I stretched and foam rolled extra.

Tuesday 1/19-13.1 Miles at the Clark County Wetlands Park...I had the day off from work because my parents and brother came into town for a visit. I wasn't linking up with them until 10:30am, so I had time for a two hour run.  I met up with my friend Ana. She lives on the other side of the valley, but she is such a nice person, and friend that she is willing to drive over to my side of the valley to train when our schedules are compatible.  She's a really strong runner too, but mostly she cycles...  I had run through the Wetlands once before.  I was worried about getting lost, so we agreed to run 5-6 miles in one direction and then flip a u-turn.  There was a mixture of paved roads, and trails.  We also hammed it up with the camera. On the way back,  when we got close to our cars we  were close to 12.75 miles, and we decided to round it up to 13.1ish miles... Here's the data:

And the photos.

This is not the Usain Bolt pose,
This will always remind me of
 Hulk Hogan

The Captain Morgan

Weight Loss

I don't really like discussing weight too much on this blog (Hello this is a running blog)... And when I see photos of myself like the ones posted above, I'm okay with how I look and feel.  But, over the last year I have lost about 10lbs.  The first 5-7lbs loss I was pretty happy with it.  But, recently coworkers and friends have been commenting on my appearance. and when I saw this photo from my son's party over the weekend I was a little surprised.

This photo makes my normally
round face look awfully pointy.

I'm not doing anything extra special to lose the weight, and I feel like I"m still eating plenty of treats...If I continue to lose weight without trying (who knew this was possible?)  I think I will have some blood work done to ensure that there is nothing amiss.

Well I guess that's all I have for now.  I didn't intend for this post to be so long... Be on the lookout for a SLS3 runbelt review and giveaway tomorrow.

And Thank You for reading!