It's gettin' hot in here...

I think it was around 86 degrees when I started my run today. Luckily for me, I started an hour before sunset so it was getting cooler at least. Spring is almost over here in Houston, and it's time to start getting used to the heat again. I went out to run a few hills over the Shepard bridge and a couple of miles around the neighborhood. I still had a little left in the tank towards the end so I decided to add in a few sprints since I missed my interval training this week. I sprinted the last 3/4 of a mile home - sprint one block, jog the next. It worked really well! My last sprint was 7:30min/mile!

Gotta love this heat! I started dripping sweat right after this picture was taken!

Happy Running!

New Bridge!

Today I snuck out of work in the afternoon for a run. They've finally opened the new pedestrian bridge over Buffalo Bayou and I was dying to run across it!

Isn't it pretty?

I wish I could run in the afternoon everyday!

See our silver people statues? At night they light them up and they look pretty cool!

I managed a 3.3 mile run in 33 minutes with 3 hill repeats thrown in there. Yay for Fridays!

Good luck to everyone running Boston on Monday!

Yasso 800s

I've been doing pretty good over the past week at getting in my running and still getting in some other workouts. I tackled a 7 mile long run on Saturday that went fairly well. It was definitely a struggle, but I expected it and managed to finish. I even joined Hubby on a bike ride later that day. He stopped at the park to do some exercises, but I played on the monkey bars and swing set instead. (I fit in great with all the kids!)

Since my next half marathon is in less than 3 weeks, I feel like I really need to step up my running. So I'm going back to the days of marathon training and thinking of sprints and hills. Yesterday, I attempted my first set of Yasso 800s. I was at the gym with Hubby and we started with an elliptical warmup and then leg weights. He moved onto arms, but I decided to hit the treadmill.

Warmup: 800 meters x 10:00min/mile pace
1: 800m x 8:00m/m, 400m x 10:54m/m
2: 800m x 8:06m/m, 400m x 10:54m/m

3: 800m x 8:06m/m, 400m x 10:54m/m

4: 800m x 8:00m/m, 400m x 10:54m/m

5: 800m x 7:46m/m, 400m x 10:54m/m

Cool down: 800 meters x 10:00min/mile

Not bad for my first stab at it! I really impressed myself. At first, I thought I would just do as many as I could, but after the first one I realized I needed a real goal so I didn't talk myself out of quitting too early. I set my mind on 5 and just kept going until I got there. My stomach wasn't quite in it, otherwise I might have made it one more. Maybe next week, we'll see. I definitely really enjoyed it!

Yay for Running!

Hi again! After my last craptastic race, I decided to take a little time off from running. Don't worry, I've been spinning, weight-lifting and yoga-ing in the place of running. As much as I love other activities, nothing really fills the void that running leaves. So last night since Hubby ditched me for our gym date, I laced up my running shoes.

They had been so unloved! It was a nice 78 degrees and sunny out, I just couldn't resist. I figured a nice stroll around my 4 mile loop would be a perfect starting point. I'll be honest - I was hoping that since I had been doing other activities, my body would just jump at the opportunity to be running and go really fast. That didn't happen. My whole body felt heavy and I had to concentrate on my form so my feet wouldn't keep kicking my ankles. Other than that, it was actually a great run. I powered through it even when I wanted to walk.

Can you tell I'm excited to have just finished 4.25 miles?

I guess I'm officially back in training for my next half marathon - Providence here I come!

By the way, all these talks in bloggyworld about fall races is really giving me an itchy finger! I want to sign up for so many!