3 1/2 Weeks to go!

I can't believe I have less than a month to go before race day!

I hit a major milestone on Sunday--10 miles! This 10 mile run was a different one, in many ways. First of all, I was not well-rested the night before. Usually I sleep in on the weekends but this weekend, I was up late (til 3am) and then up again at 9. The second difference was that I had a running partner! Up until Sunday, I haven't had anyone to run with since two summers ago when I first started running. Hubby decided he would do the 10 with me and go my pace. I've never done a run where I had a conversation the whole time. I did pretty well--I thought I would get winded easily, but I didn't.

I had some nutrition at 4.5 miles, right after the first major hill. I should have taken a second one with me because around mile 7.5 I started losing it. Our conversation hit a lull and my mind started wandering and I wasn't sure I could do it anymore. I asked Hubby to start talking to me again to get my mind off of it.

At mile 9.5, I started to have some breathing issues. I knew the last 1/2 mile was going to be uphill. Right when we were at the bottom of the hill, I started a heavy wheezing/gasping breathing. It's hard to explain, but it scared me. I have asthma but have never had an attack. That's all I could think, was that I was going to have one so I started to cry. I had to tell myself to stop that because it was making it worse. I finally worked through the breathing and started up the hill (the breathing and conversation with myself lasted less than a minute, but felt like a lifetime). Once that episode was over, we went up the hill and got back to the car. It was amazing! I didn't think I could do it but I did.

Today's workout called for 5.5 miles but the weather didn't cooperate. It was not raining when I got to the gym, but it had been on and off all day. I decided to make an attempt on the treadmill, since it had been a while since I ran inside. I had an interval plan worked out and was determined to push myself. Here's what I did:

10 minute warm up at 4.7
2 minutes at 5.0
2 minutes at 5.2
3 minutes at 5.4
2 minutes at 5.2

2 minutes at 5.4
2 minutes at 5.5
2 minutes at 5.6
2 minutes at 5.7
2 minutes at 5.6

2 minutes at 5.8
2 minutes at 5.9
2 minutes at 6.0

I ended up doing 4.5 miles and walked .5, instead of the 5.5 but I was going a lot faster than I usually do at some points. I ran for 50 minutes and walked another 7 minutes. I feel pretty good. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for an outdoor Thursday run.