We got a kitten and he is the cutest! We took almost a week to settle on his name: Nugget Theo Ibbetson. "Nugget" from gold nugget (my husband and daughter love the show Gold Rush), and also because it sounds good with our other cat's name, Bandit. Theo because he was named Theodore at the shelter we adopted him from. Scroll down through excessive kitten photos for the running update I'm excited about.
I had a monster workout this morning, and it was a success! When I saw it on paper, I wasn't sure I'd be able to hit it, but I knew that if I did it would be a huge confidence boost before Grandma's Marathon. It was also essentially my last chance for a huge confidence boost, and my last chance to make big fitness gains, being 2 weeks out from my race. No pressure!
The goal was 6 miles at 6:15 pace, 1 mile at sub-6:00, 5 miles at 6:15, 1 mile at sub-6:00 (with 2 warm up and 3 cool down miles). I have never run a workout like this before, and mainly I was worried about the sub-6:00 mile in the middle. I knew I'd be able to run it because I've regularly been running 6 miles of tempo work at sub-6:00, but I did not know if I'd be able to come back from it and continue at 6:15 for so many more miles. But you never know until you try, so I tried!
My splits are below. I ran to 13.11 to see what my half time would be, since I knew it would be faster than my bronchitis half 2 weeks ago. I was right where I wanted or a shade under for most of the workout, but I couldn't quite get down to sub-6:00 on the final mile...darn those 5 seconds! I was still quite happy with this, because I ran my second fastest half marathon ever in a workout, by myself, in 95% humidity, with no aid stations, and certainly with different pacing than I'd have used in an actual race. It was a good reminder not to drop too fast of a mile too early in a race! It was 65 degrees, so about as good as you're going to get in Missouri in June, but the humidity was pretty brutal at 95% and I could squeeze sweat out of my hair and clothing afterward.
My friend Rebecca ran a shorter faster workout on the same course I was on, so at some points I got to chase after her, which was helpful. I wore the outfit I plan to wear for Grandma's, although I think will wear my Nike Vaporfly shoes for the race and did this workout in New Balance Zantes.
This is the one and only run this year that made me think perhaps my Big Dream Goal is possible at Grandma's, but one is better than none, right?! 2 weeks to go!
Our favorite post-long run pose
Better together
Fast braid for Rebecca, sweat soaked bun for me
No stops, because race clocks don't stop!
