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Speed Work and Wind Don't Go Together

Spring Roll Sunday
Last night we ended up making spring rolls and baking some tofu for dinner. It was simple, light, just what we needed after a late, heavy lunch of pizza.

I filled the spring rolls with zucchini, squash, and carrots that I had tossed with some Chinese Five Spice and red wine vinegar. For the tofu, I used a package that had been frozen then thawed. I made a simple marinade that I also used as the dipping sauce: soy sauce, PB2 (or peanut butter), hoisin, and sriracha.
 

I baked the tofu until crisp and served the spring rolls and tofu with the dipping sauce.


Speed Work + Wind = Sucky
We had a front move through that brought in crazy high winds and crazy low temps. It was only about 65 degrees at 9:30 when I left for my run. After lows being in the upper 70's you can imagine how cold this felt.

Today my half marathon training plan had me doing an easy 3-mile run. My longer, speed workout run was supposed to be Wednesday. But, since I had more time and it was cooler, I thought I would switch it up and do the 6-mile speed workout today.

This was partially a good idea. The downfall? The 20 mph gusting winds. Let's just say speed work and gusting winds isn't pretty at all. The plan called for a warm up (I did 1 mile at a 9:30 min/mile pace) then 3 x 1600 meters (1 mile) at an 8 min/mile pace with 800 meter (1/2 mile) recovery jogs between then finishing up with a cool down that equaled 6 miles.

I was really nervous to be quite honest. An 8 min/mile pace for a full mile? I really questioned that I could do this, especially not knowing my speed until I hit mile mile marker points. I did myself a favor and started slow with my warm up then dug in and managed to pull out a sub 8 min/mile for my first interval. Not going to lie, I wanted to puke.

I jogged for half a mile trying to get my heart rate down and recover. It's really really hard to gauge your speed in gusting winds, however. I felt like I was going so slow, but my heart rate wasn't coming down much at all. At this point, I was without my mile markers so the plan was to run hard for 8 mins. I made it 7 and was just done. So that one was a fail.

I'll admit that I was a little frustrated with myself, with not making it 8 mins, meaning I definitely didn't make it a mile. I tried to recover better before my last interval. Again, fail. I managed about an 8:40 min/mile. That was just all I had in me. I jogged for a few minutes to recover then picked up the pace a little bit, determined to at least finish with a decent time. I felt like I was just dragging ass.

Despite not making all 3 intervals at the pace I was supposed to do, I managed to average an 8:52 min/mile for 6.2 miles. Not too bad after all. But also shows that I didn't recover the way I should have. Next week my speed work is 4 straight miles at an 8:31 pace.

Errands, Chores & Home Decor
After my run, I got home, stretched, and rolled out the muscles. I grabbed something to eat, more water, then got into my bikini. I lounged and read for a little bit. I mean, I needed to rest my legs right? But, I didn't stay out too long as I needed to get off my rear and get to the store.

I should have gone to Target and the grocery store. But I just didn't have it in me to do both. Luckily the Target I go to does have a small produce section, so I was able to pick up a few things to get me by until I go to the grocery store tomorrow or Wednesday.

After Target, I started to tackle the mounds of laundry that have accumulated. It's really sad that the majority of the laundry is our workout clothing, then towels (many from our workouts). We got the spare bathroom cleared out so we can start painting. But, there are a few places that needs some patching. So, Jason is taking care of that while I am working on making up some lentil veggie burgers to stick in the freezer.

I have no idea what we might do for dinner. I think a lot of it will depend on how involved we end up being with the bathroom painting project. Somehow those types of projects always seem to grow far beyond what you were planning.

Daily To-Enjoy List:
Cooler weather run (semi-enjoyed?)
Some lounge time



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