confidence

i'm hesitant to post this... I question if I should just leave well enough alone, keep my mouth shut, and not jinx myself.  But, as you all know, I can't keep quiet for too long. :)

This weekend was cold, but thankfully we escaped the latest dumping of the white stuff that is battering the east coast, all the way down in the Carolinas! The sun was bright, making it look a lot warmer than it was... deception. Saturday's 6k run was done on the treadmill, then a friends' wedding in the evening.  The food at the wedding was scarce, and certainly not adequate for pre-long-run fuel.  I was a little worried, and contemplated stopping on the way home to grab a bite to eat, but by the time we left, I had a vicious headache and wanted to sleep and get out of my heels -- running shoes are just so much more comfortable! LOL

My alarm clock went off at 6:20am, I thought it was a dream.  Got out of bed, forced down breakfast with eyes half open, and drove to meet with my group.

I was dressed warm enough, except that my neck was a little exposed since I opted to wear a hat.

After a few steps, I sped away from the group to run back to the car to get my balaclava. Yes, it was that cold, and the wind was biting.  I'm so glad I did. Our route took us straight north for about the first 7k, directly into the wind. Pace was slow to keep my HR down heading into the wind and a few rolling hills, but I was able to pick up the pace a bit with a tailwind. We stopping in a gas station to refill our frozen water bottles and a quick washroom break.  I don't think the employees there took their eyes off me with the balaclava on. Quite certain I don't fit the profile of a robber going in there with 3 other girls, all with fuel belts and mostly frozen water bottles, sucking back a GU. LOL So much for the sweet innocence of being Canadian, eh Glaven?

I think I'm starting to get a pretty good idea of nutrition, and how much I need during my long runs. I had a gel about every hour, which helped immensely.  The other two girls that I was running with seemed to be bonking pretty hard near the end, and both gave me the evil eye when I asked if we were adding a loop at the end.  Yes, I wanted to continue running, I had it in me! 

While I thought yesterday may have been my longest run ever, I went back into my running log, and realized it wasn't. Yesterday's run was 26k/almost 16 miles, but in the summer before the fractures, I managed just over 27k... so pretty close. Average HR was 159 (zone 2), max 176 when sprinting back to the car.  However, I think I hit my highest month of mileage in Feb with 135.1k!!  :D

I felt great during my run, despite my cold, red and numb skin under the layers, and feel great today! This is important to me because in less than 30 days is that 30K race I wanted to run last year, but couldn't because of yet another injury. So with that, I will enjoy a rest day today and maybe head over to the gym for an H2O massage later this evening.

Hope you all have a wonderful week.