Wednesday Workout Update - 10 Miles

Remember when I wrote that you'll never come here and see me write "I had an easy XX mile run today"?  Yeah.  Running long distances is just not easy for me.  Case in point, the 10 miler we had on Saturday.  We ran a different route, and while it started off pretty well - in fact, good enough that I began thinking "OK, I'm about ready for that half marathon in three weeks" - it ended up being pretty dang hard.  It was a very hilly route and the backs of my legs were aching while I was running...never a good sign to have sore muscles during the run.  At one point, just past mile 6 or 7, had there been an errant foam roller just laying on the side of the road, I swear I would have stopped to work on my achy body.  This was definitely a run where I had to grit it out to the end - I am discovering some inner strength that is helping to propel me along when my physical energy feels like it's not there anymore.  Any case, I finished...10 running miles (as opposed to 10 run/walking miles the previous week) is in the books:

Ten plus hills equals one tough run.

Notice anything different in that picture?  Besides the flip flops - no, I didn't run in them (although one man recently ran a marathon in flip flops, how crazy).  Capris!  It was cool enough that I got to wear capris under my running skirt!  Perfect temperature to start - about 54 degrees.  Ahhh...now THAT is the weather we've been waiting for!

I spent the rest of the day lazing around, watching some football (the Aggies ended their game with a last play of hot potato...watch this video - it was hilarious), and stretching, taking Motrin, icing my foot and rubbing my arsenal of topical creams on my sore foot and ankle.  Yes, I am a hot mess on Saturdays!

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Here's something that I've been struggling with:  for whatever reason, when I run with Erica on Thursdays, we do our 2 mile route without stopping - we run slow, sure - but we get it done without fail.  But lately, when Jenny and I run, we have more stops than either of us would really like, and except for a great 3 miler a few weeks ago, I wouldn't say our Tuesday runs have been all that wonderful.  Don't get me wrong - the company is excellent, but we can't seem to find the groove we once had.  So yesterday, we decided to do a hill workout along with some running. 

We did a half mile walking warmup, and then four hill repeats on the same hill that I did them on with the running club over the summer.  Holy crap, was that difficult...I felt like I'd never done them, and I was doing twice as many just a few months ago.  Amazing how fast I lost my hill stamina, even though I've been running longer and longer distances.  We definitely need to be doing these more often.  Anyway, after we finished them, we ran on a flat straight road for a while; then took a walking break.  I was out of breath - we probably should have left the hill repeats for the end of the run.  We ran some more, walked some more, and ended up covering about 3.5 miles, but again, it wasn't quite what either of us were happy with.  I'm at a loss - we keep trying to get a good solid run in, but it's just not happening.  Any suggestions from my running readers?