Was up early late Saturday, and hit the track for my long-awaited track work. I managed 4 800 metre intervals, with a generous 90 seconds between, before deciding that I was done. I wasn't as fast as I'd hoped I'd be, 3:00 to 3:10 per 800, but I didn't feel too destroyed by it.
Saturday evening, I ended up playing keep-away with a 6 and a 4 year old. We played in the front yard and a narrow stretch between houses, which meant I had to use acceleration and direction change to avoid them. After 15-20 minutes of this, my legs were starting to ache.
Sunday we were scheduled to do 16km. Some people were doing a 10km race, but I pretty much had to be done running by 10:00am (my youngest had a birthday party to go to), which made the race impossible, and the 16km a challenge. I set out with the 1:40 group, but by the time we made it downtown I had moved off on my own. It was interesting to be running on my own and pushing myself. I hit the turnaround in about 41:30, which I figured would get me back in time, but was a bit off from the 5:00/km pace that I'd like to be sustaining at this point.
The return trip was fairly tough, as I struggled to keep my pace up. I kept a very close eye on the time, trying to motivate myself to keep the pace up. I ended up finishing the loop in 1:22:44, just under 5 minutes faster than last week, so I was pretty pleased. Plus, I stopped at 9:59:50, so I declared it a total victory.
I signed up for a 10k race next weekend. It will be interesting to see what kind of a pace I'll be able to hold for that distance.
You know...they (whoever they is) say if we'd keep up with a child and imitate them for a mere hour of their physical activity, we'd be exhausted by the end. Sometimes I take my kids to the park and run with them (play tag, hide and seek,etc.) and that is some good exercise. Good luck on your 10k by the way! kirsten
Very nice - perfect timing.