Speed Demons

This post was supposed to go up last night, but my internet went out. So just pretend like it’s still Sunday. That’d be nice, right?

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I had a running buddy this morning! Margaret, a friend from high school, is an insanely talented athlete (I think she played varsity in every single sport our high school offered) and asked if I wanted to run with her. Ummm YES! I haven’t had a friend to run with in months!
Despite the rainy weather, we met in Forest Park and set out to complete the 5.5 mile loop. I ate a banana with almond butter and a mug of hot lemon water before I left.

 We’d never run together before so I didn’t now how our pacing would work, but somewhere around mile 3 we looked at our Garmins and noticed we had run a 7:45 minute mile. WHOOAAA! I knew it felt hard but I thought it was because we were talking and the course is hilly. Neither of us usually run that quickly. That’s the benefit of running with someone else — you push each other!

We kept up our pace until we hit five miles and then slowed down a bit to finish the last .5. We finished the 5.5 miles in 44:58:21 with an average pace of 8:09. Here are our splits:

• Mile 1: 8:28
• Mile 2: 8:28
• Mile 3: 7:45
• Mile 4: 7:52
• Mile 5: 7:58
• .5: 8:40

I hope we run together more often because it will be great speed work. Plus Margaret is awesome and I love hanging out with her.

After the run I hit the gym for some strength training. I warmed myself back up with an easy 20 minutes on the elliptical and then completed two circuits of arm and leg exercises. I would have done more but I got hungry –time to head home for a post-work out Green Monster.

I made my favorite Chocolate Vanilla Green Monster and roasted a package of pre-cut veggies from Trader Joe’s to have on the side. Those pre-packaged vegetable mixes are my favorite. I know they are more expensive, but the variety and convenience is worth it to me!

After lunch I spent some time at Barnes n Noble getting blog work done. I snacked on some TJ’s Seaweed Snacks (not completely in love) and an apple while there. I wasn’t super hungry when it came time for dinner, so I just popped a Whole Food’s 360 Brand Vegan Pizza in the oven, topped it with a blob of hummus, and had it with some salad that my parents ordered from Dewey’s.

 

Dessert was a grapefruit and some wheat thins.

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Keep the entries coming for the Nuts About Granola giveaway! (Also, I’ve been told that STARTING a tweet with @fittingitallin limits those that can read it, so try to keep that to the middle or end of the tweet if you can!)

Monday Man-Day is next!