Wednesday, June 24, 2015

WWU - 5.8 For 58!

June is birthday month around here, and Jeff's birthday was on Sunday, so he decided to be a copycat continue our family tradition and run 5.8 miles.  I told him he didn't have to do it, but noooo, he wanted to.  I also told him I really didn't want to run that far, and he was OK with that.  So on Saturday, our little group met up and set off running - Jeff and Brian veered off one direction to add on extra miles, while Cary, Andi, Julia and I more sensibly went the other direction for a nice three mile run.

But wait!  I have to tell you about the creepy moment that turned out to not be creepy:  We'd just gotten started when an approaching car slowed down, waaay down, and then stopped near us.  Stranger danger!  All senses went on high alert!  Then the passenger window was rolled down and we saw a teenage boy smiling at us...and we all realized it was the son of the owner of our running store, who happened to be at the wheel.  Whew!  No need to begin our self-defense ninja skills!

Back to the running:  We ran.  Yep.  It was our standard June run - hot, humid, no wind.  Not a lot to say about the quality of running, but as always, the quality of running friends was perfect.  We ladies ran three miles, and then walked back to the corner where Jeff would be turning in to run the last half mile or so with him.  In the meantime, I downed a bottle of water, and turns out, having a belly full of water doesn't make for a good run, so I only ran a little bit before walking - but hey, my intentions were good, right?
Breakfast for the pre-birthday boy.  

We all went to Blue Baker afterward.  Can't beat good food and our random conversation topics to top off a Saturday run.

Speaking of Jeff's birthday, on Sunday we went to a 1541 Pastries and Coffee for lunch - he wanted cheesecake, and when I searched online for restaurants who served cheesecake, this place came up.  I'd been there several years ago, but it's not located where I usually roam, so I kind of forgot about it.  Oh my, it was good, and we will be back!  We had a breakfast croissant sandwich, lattes (with cute art!), and Jeff got his cheesecake:
Happy birthday boy with his homemade cheesecake.
I got the koala bear while Jeff got the lion - rawr!

I gave Jeff a running outfit for his birthday - matching shirt, shorts and socks, plus an Orange Mud handheld water bottle.  I like my Hydraquiver from Orange Mud, but Jeff is a handheld guy, and his current bottle/holder is pretty worn, so I thought he should have a new one.  He's all set for our next training season now!

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I've been running 2:1 intervals for quite a while now (run for 2 minutes, walk for 1 minute), and I recently read a tip from Jeff Galloway, King of Interval Running (my title, but he was the one who made it so popular), where he mentioned that you pretty much do all of your recovering in the first 30 seconds of your walking break, and the second 30 seconds is where you tend to lose time, especially when you run longer distances, because you really slow down.  So I changed up my interval timer on my Garmin to reflect that - and felt OK with my Saturday run.  Different story with my run yesterday - it was rough, but I think the 100% humidity plus 75 degree temperature had a lot to do with that.  I'm not running longer distances yet, but even changing this during my 2.5 and 3 mile runs has made a bit of a difference in overall finish time.  Of course, running is so much more challenging right now with the hot weather that it's difficult to compare...but it's interesting to switch things up a bit.

10 comments:

  1. Happy belated birthday to Jeff! I love your family tradition (and Lori's biking tradition) on your birthday for an age run. And what better way to do that with your running friends!

    And those coffee's: really art work, love it.

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  2. Happy birthday to Jeff. That is a great tradition. Speaking of Stranger danger, there is often a spooky van that sits at the park I walk out. no one should have a van like that unless they are in an after school special about stranger danger. It just weirds me out!

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  3. Thought of you at my lunch today. You love yourself some watermelon right? I had the most delicious lunch: watermelon, cucumber, feta cheese, a little bit of mint, few black olives and a white vinegar/olive oil dressing. If you like the ingredients, I think you will like this lunch salad too.

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  4. I have had variations of that watermelon salad, and Fran's right--its delicious!

    Happy birthday, Jeff! I thoroughly approve of your birthday meal choices :)

    That's very interesting about the first 30 seconds being the recovery time. But the second thirty seconds--did he mention that that is very pleasurable? Its always interesting to change our exercise routines. I resist it, but then I'm glad I tried.

    And how awesome is it that both you and Jeff, in your fifties, have entire birthday celebrations centered on healthy living!

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  5. Happy birthday to Jeff! I love that latte art :D

    I hear you on the water baby when exercising. I try to ration water so that doesn't happen, but sometimes I gulp it down and then regret it.

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  6. I'm with Jeff - give me the cheesecake!

    A lot of folks have found themselves running because of Galloway so if that's his explanation, he's probably correct. But I think of it more like the fact that you push yourself to run a little more which would seemingly give you faster overall times.

    Hey, whatever works!

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  7. I always request cheesecake instead of traditional cake on my birthday-nothing better :)

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  8. Happy Birthday Jeff! I just love those pictures in the latte! So cool!!

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  9. Awesome! Happy Birthday and thanks for getting him one of our Handhelds!

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