Good Deed gone BAD

Saturday morning I was just not feeling "it." Wanted to stay home. Be lazy. Decided I had better get out and get some mileage in, as Canyonlands Half Marathon was sneaking up on me faster than I anticipated. (March 17th) It has been really hard training for this half.  I have narrowed it down to a few things.

1. The weather....do not like running in the cold; it was too dark for early morning runs, and got dark too soon for evening runs.
2. The Race RX  Cardio training program.  I got so focused on getting my heart rate up to zone 4 (177 bpm) that I lost sight of why I decided to run in the first place. Don't get me wrong, the Cardio is an awesome program. I can definitely see my endurance has improved. I just became to anal about the heart rate thing.
3. Mind GAMES. Yes, my mind has really been playing a tricks on my running.  Telling me that I am not strong enough, that's too far of a distance, you are slow, your form is not correct, you are not going long enough, drink more water, your eating WHAT??, etc.....

These are even brighter in person!

So with all this going on, I DID put on my running gear and headed out the door to meet with the Runners North Running Club. Wore my new shoes today! We met at the store at 9:00 am.  There were two groups that would be running today. Six miles with Don. Four miles with JoAnna.  I chose the 6 mile route.  The 6 mile people took off running immediately. I decided to walk for 5 minutes with JoAnna's group to get warmed up.  I also chose to run 4 minutes and walk 1 minute. I knew I was the caboose of the pack, and I was OK with that. Just doing my own thing, thinking my own thoughts. To my surprise, I caught up with the group, and even passed 2 people.  When I caught Lisa, I chose to run with her, so my 4/1 ratio did not go as planned for the last 4 miles.

After running with this group, I headed over to Lisa and Chris's  house to run with our Northern Exposure Running Group.  Lisa had made these really yummy protein ball treats! You would never know that they were healthy. She also made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, bananas, little cuties, and chocolate milk.  She had put alot of effort into being the hostess of this group run, but sadly only Jill and I showed up.

I felt kind of bad that most of our group was a no show.   

After our run, Lisa  gave Jill and I the cutest blinking heart bracelets as our "award."  We ran 3 miles. I did the 4/1 ratio for these 3 miles.

Jill brought her dog, Daisy. Daisy is so CUTE!!!  I just wanted to squeeze her!  She is a basset hound.  Funny story... Daisy and her other dog had somehow managed to open their freezer and helped themselves to some raw frozen chicken.  About 5 POUNDS! Daisy was not smelling like a daisy, but the complete opposite!

 Jennilynn came at noon and ran with Chris.  They did a 6 miler.

So after my 9 miles, I came home and decided that I needed to clear the snow from the shop driveway. My good deed went bad. I ran over an extension cord, and it got tangled up in the snow blower. AARRGGH. I used the safety stick to get this untangled. OK, regroup. Started it right back up again, everything looked OK, went to engage the snow blower turny part and it dies! What the CRAP? I look at the snow blower, and the center bar is not where it should be. I tried using the safety stick to shove it back in the hole with no luck. I put the snow blower back in the shop. My only other choice, pure Lori power! No need for Race RX Strength training today.

Between the 9 miles and 1 hour plus of snow shoveling I was exhausted, and my legs hurt. I had a swimming banquet that started at 5. I look at the time, and it is 4:00! I had been shoveling for about 1 hour 40 minutes. Yes, we have a stinking long driveway.  After getting cleaned up, I opted to wear my purple compression socks. GOOD CHOICE. My legs felt better by about 8:00.

Still feeling discouraged about my running. When I got home from the dinner, looked at my GARMIN and did some calculating. 6  miles this morning at 1.03; 3 miles at 33 min. So if this would have been a continuous run, it probably would have been something like 9 miles in 1 hour 36-38 minutes. Feeling that I will be OK for Canyonlands. May not be my best time, but I will finish within a time frame that I can be OK with.