Holy Hills! (and a contest reminder)

Yesterday I had an awesome 12 miler.  I ran right from school and knew that I wanted to get in the 12 but also get in some speedwork. 

I've been playing with my own patern for speedwork.  Each week I try to include an interval workout and a tempo workout.  Yesterday was interval. My pattern has been Week 1 800s, Week 2 1200s, Week 3 Mile Repeats.  Then I start the cycle again.  It keeps things interesting, gets me to see what I can do, etc.  Yesterday I was at 1200s.  I don't do anything fancy with Garmin like set it to "workouts" yet, so I just change pace when I look at it and it's at the right spot.  (I know it would be worth the time to looking into my Garmin features).  I like the 1200s because, when I'm running hard for the 1200 and backing off for 400, I know my pace for that interval every time since the new mile starts with my next repeat.  I can't record this since the 400 easy throws it off in my final summary, but I have a pretty good idea of where I am at for each mile. 

That being said, most of my repeats were on pace of 8:05-8:25ish.  I think I could go faster and maybe should go faster, but 12 miles is long for me to do this type of workout and my elevation gain for this workout was 750, so it was quite hilly.  I was pretty pleased with how I did, and I'm feeling good today.  I ended up doing 8 repeats and an overall pace of 9:04.  My last 2 miles were super slow, but it felt like the right thing to do. 

I finished my run and went to Trader Joes and bought a Pure Protein drink.  I was dreading this puppy, but I knew I needed something for my 1+ hour drive home.  I didn't want all the calories in the protein bars and the less caloric bars had no protein.  So I went for it, and you know what, not too bad.  I'm hoping doing things like this helps my recovery through this cycle. 

People are still frustraing me by lying on their horn when they have to slow down, since I'm running in the road.  I don't remember people being so rude any other cycle.  I'm thinking of designing a t-shirt that says: Honk at me if you like cancer, Share the road if you want to help me fight it.  However, my bright reflector vest that I wear every day would cover it anyway. 

Well, that's enough for today.  Sorry for the lack of posts; I'm trying to find the time again and get back in the routine.  Reminder about the guess my mileage contest. A $2 guess that goest toward the Leukeimia and Lymphoma Society could win you a $50 gift card to a restaruant in your area.   Just read this post for more details: http://tinypurplerunner.blogspot.com/2011/02/bloggy-fundraising-contest.html