Week 11

Day 1- Nov 11

Monday I ran outside by myself. I felt so good on this run and ended up running way faster than I had planned. I figured it will help my endurance in the long run. The weather was gorgeous with temps in the low 60's. I wore a t-shirt and running pants and could have easily been comfortable in shorts. After my run I went to the gym to do some weight training and stretching. It felt good to get back into the swing of things after having 3 days off. 

Total: 4.51 miles in 50 min

30 min: 3.15 miles

Day 2- Nov 13

I ran on the treadmill for this run. I don't remember anything about it, but I logged it as felt great on dailymile.

Total: 4 miles in 50 minutes

Day 2- Nov 16

We completed this training run in my hometown because I was home visiting for the weekend. We ran through farmland on country roads that gave us some pretty views along the way. I had created this route and because of that this run seemed to take forever. I knew the distances and landmarks so it felt as if we were never going to finish. I tired to keep a positive attitude about it though.

Mile 6 I took a couple shot blocks and drank some water. I immediately regretted this. My stomach hated what I had just eaten. It began to cramp and I felt as if I could be sick. Eventually that feeling went away and I didn't use any other fuel the rest of this run. I've decided the GU works better for me and seems to be easier on my stomach.

Around mile 7-ish we almost got mauled by a German shepherd. I have never been so close to getting bit by an animal in my life. Thankfully we were on our walking interval when we walked by the yard. The dog came running up to the guardrail and ended up coming underneath of it onto the road near us. It was fiercely  barking and growling and just kept getting closer and closer to us. We just tried to slowly back away from it. Finally, the owner came out and called for the dog and it went back to the house. We were terrified! I'm pretty sure that if we had been running it would have chased us down.

We stopped for a pee break/water refill at a local ice cream shop at mile 8 and we were on the home stretch after that. Sadly, the last few miles felt awful! My legs started going numb and I was starting to get hungry. Em and I both said that our form felt horrendous and we would probably be embarrassed to see what we looked like.  Once we got to our cool down walking was difficult, but we did it because we knew our muscles needed it.  After we got back we stretched really well. Amazingly, I wasn't sore the next day which made me really happy. 

11 miles: 2 hours 12 minutes
Total: 12.27 in 2 hours 50 minutes

Here are some pictures from our run:

That tiny dot by my neck is a ladybug :)

Farmland on rolling hills 

I found this retro iPod a few weeks ago and have been listening to it at the gym haha

That's all for now!