Pondering a Goal Pace

The big month of December keeps rolling on forward.  The parties, the food, the alcohol...and the exercise.  I both exercise restraint and exercise my body.  Both are going well.  Not perfect, but good enough to maintain.  Tuesday I did my 4 mile training run partially on the road and partially on a trail that leads to a small waterfall.  I ran the 4 miles in 37:59 for an average pace of  9.29 minute miles.  I am still evaluating my goal pace for Kaiser but I'm considering shooting for an average of 9:30 minute miles, for an overall finish of 2 hours, 4 minutes, 27 seconds.  I'm waiting a bit longer before I commit to that goal because I want to see how my pace holds up over longer distances.  The run felt great and I was hyped about my pace when I finished.  My bottom line goal is set, under 10:00 minute miles for a finish time of 2 hours, 11 minutes.  Either way I plan to shave at least 30 minutes off last year's time of 2:45.  Here are the Garmin stats on my run.



I've had these chocolate mint squares in the house.  I made them to give to neighbors but I haven't given them out and I've been eating them almost every night.  Anyway, Wednesday was a day off from exercise and normally I'd be home with the kids but I had to work.  Thursday was another run.  I had a super busy day booked so I got up at the 0'dark hundred to go to the gym before work.  It's always so hard for me to exercise first thing in the morning but I knew that was my only option.  I did my 3 miles on the treadmill and then legs/shoulders/core and incorporated that dumbbell hamstring curl I posted about last time.  It felt too easy though, not sure I'm going to keep doing it.  Might have to break down and use the machine where I can add more weight.

Friday morning I hopped on the scale, 141.6 pounds.  Not bad considering I started my period the next day.  That's 5 weeks of maintenance!!  I hit the gym after work, started with 20 minutes on the upright bike (I was pressed for time so I had to shave off 5 minutes) and then did chest/triceps/core.  I had to drop two sets of triceps cables because of lack of time but I got everything else done.  I was in and out in 46 minutes and burned 340 calories during that time.  That evening we went to the kids' preschool holiday party sing-along potluck.  I ate lots of yummy stuff, including some cookies and other treats.  I started to eat this one cookie and didn't really like it so I tried to be stealth in throwing it in the garbage.  It was a really big cookie so I felt a bit bad but life is too short for so-so cookies, right?

Miguel had to work on Saturday and I took the kids to playgroup in the morning.  More snacks.  I had a cookie, some of a yummy muffin and a couple mimosas.  I have the best mom friends!  I blame my food choices, at least in part, on knowing I was doing a long run the next day.  Carb loading is always a good reason to indulge!  My mom came over in the afternoon and watched the kids while I went out shopping.  I was out for a long time but got almost everything done, which felt good.  I ate light the rest of the day trying to balance out the morning treats.

Miguel and I went out in the evening with a plan to go shopping and see a movie.  After a couple hours walking around the mall he mentioned he'd been invited to a party and I could tell he wanted to go.  So off we went.  By the time we got there it was 10:30 and I'd had a light dinner at 6:15.  I had one beer and immediately felt it.  I went on to have two more and in the end I had a great time dancing and being social.  Fortunately they had food so I was able to have a second dinner.  And desert.  They had maybe 5 different types of cakes and of course I had to have a bit of each one.  Chocolate, dulce de leche, cheesecake...no shortage of sweet choices!  We left after the police came for the second time asking for the music to be turned down.  It's been forever since I've been at a party that the police had to quiet down.  I think we got home around 2am.  On the drive home one of Miguel's friends teased me that there's no way I was going to run the next morning.  "Mark my words," I said.

I asked Miguel to kindly let me sleep in in the morning and he obliged.  I woke up at 5am, 7am, and a bit before 8 when I heard the kids get up.  No sign of a hangover, thank goodness, just tired.  He got up with them and I wondered if I would be able to fall back to sleep.  Next thing I know it's 10:30am and the house is quiet.  He'd taken the kids to the soccer field to watch a game.  Ahhh, nice.  Before they got home I had my coffee and breakfast and arranged my plans to run with my friend Catherine.  She and her daughter came over at noon and we were on the road by 12:30.  Not a morning run as planned but a run none the less.

I really wasn't sure how it would go, considering the late night and possible dehydration - though I'd only had three beers, I danced a lot and didn't drink a ton of water.  Add to that I am on my period, my legs were a bit sore and stiff and well, I just wasn't feeling very optimistic.  But in the end the run was great!  Chatting with Catherine made the time go by fast.  It's such a luxury to run with someone else.  I was totally happy to average 9:32 with a hill thrown in but of course thought, "If only I'd run two seconds faster per mile!"



Anyway, after the run I wrapped up some donation gifts and took my son out to drop them off.  Then we hit up another friend's house to drop off some clothes that don't fit me anymore.  I also gave out the chocolate mints, those really need to be gone.  And finally the grocery store.  Back home and I find out we're having some friends over for dinner.  I made chili and cornbread (and broccoli - must have a veggie) and generally enjoyed a warm house on a cold winter evening.  There's one bag of chocolate mint squares left and I ate four of them after dinner.  And my stomach hurt most of the afternoon and evening.  Long runs do weird things to my system.  Now that I think about it, I was probably dehydrated.  I'll try to focus on drinking lots of water today to get my body back to a happy place of being well hydrated.  And I hope I can pull off a week of semi-clean eating.  I feel like I've been indulging a lot.  But tonight I'm hitting up Chevy's with some moms for margaritas.  Oops!  I'll just have to avoid the chips and go for a "skinny" margarita.  Balance, balance, balance.