I took off early Saturday morning to meet up with a group to run.  I also had a friend that needed to get a few easy slow miles (perfect for me) before she ran her first 1/2 marathon the next day.  One part of the group set off to do 7 miles at just under 11 min/mile.  Me and two ladies stayed with them until I needed my first walk break.  We were maintaining just under 13 min/mile pace.  We went a different route that was a 3 mile loop back over to the lake and then we did a short out to the boat docks and back to the library (starting point).  So it’s kind of  a good thing for me to not really know where we are going.  I can’t over think it  and worry about running the whole thing or not.  There were several good hills, I ran some of them and a few I walked.  Overall I felt good and we did the entire route in about an hour.
I then headed home to pick up, shower and pack to head up to my parents house.  I was a crazy chicken with my head cut off until I got everything and everyone in the car.

After church, I took off back to my parents house to change and get my bike ready to ride.  Simple things like pump up the tires and lube the chain.  I met up with the two ladies I was riding with and we took off.  The weather was beautiful, just a little windy (so we thought).  Turns out there was a wicked head wind.  After about 2/3rds of our 23 mile route I was still feeling good and then went up a long incline and it kicked my butt.  I had a hard time keeping up with the ladies.  I finally caught up with them at a stop sign and told them I needed to rest for a bit.  We have some usual places that we stop for a breather and a bunch of those we just rode right by them.  So factor in the wind and fewer rest breaks, I was beat.  We still decided to do the two extra hills and I went as far as I could before I had to stop and walk up part of it.  It may not have been my best ride but I did the best I could with my worn out legs.  We finished in about 2 hours.  I had already decided that I was going to take an ice bath when I got back to my parents house.   So I got these instructions from my running group – MRTT

I’m going to write a full blog post on my “system” but here are the basics:
1. grab 2 small bags of ice from the gas station on the way home (or line creek liquor and grab some wine while you are there)
2. go home and put your iphone in a ziplock – you will need to play with it for distraction… it works through the ziplock and if you drop it you wont ruin it 😉
3. run the cold water and start filling up the tub – DO NOT put ice in yet… just fill with cold water from the tap.
4. keep undies on to keep from freezing your girl bits, keep your clothes on from your waist up and ADD A SWEATSHIRT or fleecy top – this is key – you only need to ice your hips down so don’t freeze your top!!
5. climb in the tap water up to your hips and bring in both bags of ice… open bags in the tub
6. set your phone timer for 10 minutes – start checking facebook, email or playing with your phone for distraction
7. occasionally swish your legs around to mix up the cold water.
8. after 10min climb out and hop right into a nice warm shower
9. put on your most favorite frumpy yoga pants, recovery compression socks (you have these right????) and old oversized race tshirt
10. relax knowing you just did your body a HUGE service 😉

Oh – and DON’T just veg on the sofa – as much as you don’t want to – try to keep moving. The times I’ve been most sore have been my “lazy sofa vegging” days – the days I’m chasing after my 3 year old right after my ‘ritual’ I find I’m in better shape!!

So guess what, this is exactly what I did.  I didn’t stop and get ice (next time I will) but made due with what my parents had.

You can still see a few ice cubes floating around at this point.  I hopped in wearing my cycling clothes and added a jacket.  I also made me a cup of coffee to keep me warm.  It wasn’t as bad as I thought (I know I didn’t have enough ice so the next one will be colder) and I think it really helped for me to be able to move the next day.  Here is an article from runner’s world on the benefits of ice baths

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-241-285–12810-0,00.html

Finally, went on a 3.6 mile run today at lunch with several ladies in my MRTT group.  The first mile was 11:33, then we walked a bunch b/c one lady was having a major side cramp and we weren’t leaving her behind, then the last mile was 12:44.  total time was 45 mins.  I’m pleased to see the lower first mile and I didn’t feel like I went out too hard.  I’ve got a 4-4.5 mile run planned for Friday morning after my chiropractor appointment so that will be fun.  Then we are off to the lake for a birthday weekend for a friend.  Good stuff coming up 🙂

Not getting to zumba right now because of my schedule.  I’ve had to move my work from home day because of training, field trips and what not.  I really miss it but I will get back in another week or so.