August 08, 2013

Race pace run

I woke up way too early this morning, and couldn't go back to sleep, so I just went out in the living room and read my book for a while before the kids woke up. I've been taking them to Vacation Bible School every day this week (at Renee's church in the morning, then our church in the evening, so it's been busy).

This morning, I decided to wear my running clothes to drop them off at VBS, and then just head out from the church for my six-mile "marathon pace" run. I still have no idea what pace to run these on Thursdays. The Hansons' method calls it a tempo run, but they also say it's a marathon pace run--those are completely different (a marathon pace run is slower than a tempo run--the tempo run is closer to 10K race pace). So I've just been running faster than comfortable, but not as fast as a tempo.

Anyway, I had to choose whether to turn right or left out of the church; going right, there would be three traffic lights, and going left, there would only be one, so I chose left (in the end, I managed to time it so I could run through the traffic light both ways, so it worked out well--I hate getting stopped at lights!)

All morning long, I felt so tired, and was expecting to have a sluggish run. But I actually felt pretty good! I ran three miles out, and then turned around to run back. All the way out, I was irritated by my sweaty hair slapping the back of my neck, and finally, when I turned around at the three mile mark, I decided to just stop and fix it rather than dealing with it the whole way back. I felt much better after pulling it in a really tight bun.

I kept my heart rate in high Zone 2/low Zone 3, and it was tough, but not miserably so. When I got back to the car, I stopped my Garmin, and then accidentally bumped it so it turned again, then I stopped it again. That's why there's an extra split with zero distance.

For the rest of the day, my lungs were feeling like they'd gotten a workout. I love that feeling when I take a deep breath and can tell that I ran hard earlier that day. Tomorrow is another six-miler, but I'm going to run at recovery heart rate, so probably 9:30-10:00/mi. I look forward to my recovery pace runs the most, because there is no pressure to try and meet a certain goal!

This afternoon, Jerry, the kids, and I took apart the trampoline. Noah got it about 4-5 years ago for his birthday, but they just haven't been playing with it much, and I don't think they've used it at all this summer. I asked on Facebook if anyone wanted it, they could come take it apart and have it. The person who was supposed to come get it today changed her mind, so we ended up just taking the thing apart anyway. I think someone else is going to come pick it up tonight.

While we were doing that, I noticed a bunch of bees swarming around the house, and there was a tiny little hole they were going in and out of. I'd been finding dead bees in the house the past couple of days, and wondering where the heck they were coming from. Jerry got some spray, and we sprayed around the hole, and then plugged it up. The kids thought that was quite the adventure.

They have also been playing nice with a cat that keeps coming around. There is NO way in hell I'm taking in another stray cat, so I've been shooing it away with a water bottle. While we were taking down the trampoline, the cat was just chilling out at our feet (its personality reminds me of Estelle). I'm sure someone owns it, thankfully, because it's not a skinny cat and it loves to be around people. I just really don't want it around here--it was sitting at our door, trying to get in the house!

For dinner tonight, I used these chicken sausages to make a pasta dish.

They were an impulse buy at Sam's Club (which is always risky, because everything is in bulk!) and thankfully, we like them. We cooked them on the grill last week, and then today, I was really craving pasta, so I made a quick dinner. I sliced the sausages and sauteed them in some olive oil, then tossed them with pasta and parmesan cheese. It took no time at all, and turned out really good!

I took the pic after I'd already eaten some, per usual ;)  The sausages are really garlicky, which I love. I think I'm going to try another flavor of the sausages next time I go back to Sam's.

Well, I've got to take the kids to VBS, and somehow kill two hours before bringing them home. I'm thinking I'll go to Kohl's and spend a gift card I've had for a long time!


  1. Did I tell you about the time Jeff brought a stray cat into our house? Not because he was feeling welcoming, but BECAUSE HE THOUGHT IT WAS OUR CAT. Lol. It wasn't.

  2. Next time add a little sauteed broccoli in there to get some vegetables in that dish for some added color. Or even some cannellini beans too.

  3. I'm not sure if your Sam's has them, but the fajita seasoned (or fajita something!) chicken sausages are good as well.

  4. I love the Spinach and Asiago Chicken sausage at Sam's.. My boyfriend likes the Italian Chicken sausage. I've never been too into Italian sausage myself, but they were decent for Italian sausage :) I recently got the Mozzarella and Garlic sausage to try but they're still in the freezer. Maybe tomorrow night's dinner :) Great impulse buy, I say!

  5. We have tried the Fajita flavored Chicken Sausage from Sam's, very good. I really enjoy reading your blog.

  6. Your pasta looks delicious! That is hilarious about the stray cat. It must sense you have a soft spot in your heart for cats, even though it already has a home. I use a spray bottle of water to try to get my 1-year old Bull Dog to behave. She is a handful, pretty calm all day long, but in the evening, she thinks it's time to play and she goes a little nuts, especially if son is home from work. so I get out the spray bottle and threaten at first, to try to get her to calm down but sometimes I actually have to spray her. She tries to catch the spray of water in her mouth. Goofy dog.

  7. I wish my recovery rate was 10:00 .... but that's my NORMAL pace .... ugh !!!!

    Sounds like the kitty really likes you guys ....come one, what's 1 more !? BTW, we have 7 !

    Pasta looks I'm off to find something like that for lunch : )

  8. i love those chicken sausages from sams!!!

  9. If you don't want to take it in can you find a shelter? I hate that she's out there on her own ...

  10. Nooooo, please do not take it to a shelter!!! Just don't feed it and it will eventually head back to its home. Unfortunately, we all know what happens when a cat is dropped of at a shelter....

  11. You are not supposed to plug a bee hole. Bees can eat theri way out making more damage. A bee will not sting you unless threatened and bees are getting scarce so people shouldprotect them and I am sorry but kiloing animals should never be "an adventure". :-(



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