Colorado already seems like a million years ago. In three days back, I’ve done two sims, one rather crappy bike ride, gone to class, done some homework, and had my first shuttle mission delayed because of afore-mentioned freak hail storm. The delay doesn’t truly affect my schedule that much, but it means that the next two weeks at work are suddenly much more open, especially for me. There’s a lot of work that my position does in the couple weeks before launch and suddenly — poof! — I have been released from that obligation until April.
I ran last night for the first time in…10?…days. I ran the Friday before leaving for Colorado. And I ran last night. Yep, that’s 10 days in between. It turns out that skiing wasn’t a bad way to shake things up while maintaining my fitness. I could tell that I’d had a break, and through the first mile my legs felt pretty dead, but I attribute half of the dead-ness to Sunday’s bike ride.
I did 5 miles in 52:20 — not too shabby, right? I was pretty happy with it. I don’t have the exact numbers handy, but the splits were something like 10:20, 10:35, 10:15, 10:35, 10:15. My heart rate averaged 182, which is probably more indicative that the temperature is rising than anything else. It wasn’t hot, but it was warmer than anything I’ve run in for a while. I worked up a good sweat before I even hit the first mile.
Though my mid-distance running is still looking good, I’m a little concerned about getting in a couple longer distances. I did 10 miles four weeks ago, but haven’t done anything farther than 5 since, after having to pull out of Surfside due to that nasty bug I caught. I was already signed up for the Seabrook Half Marathon on the 18th, but now that the shuttle’s been delayed, I decided to sign up for the Half on the 17th as well. I know — crazy. Two half marathons in two days. But JD‘s doing it, and Christy‘s doing it, and I must admit that it will be cool to get that third medal for running both days! So I’m in. Both runs will be treated as training runs through and through, and as such, I fully expect to turn in my two worst half marathon times ever.
Anyway, last night I wore the second of my three new running skirts (since they were 45% off with the “Convert to Skirt” program, I took full advantage). It did ok. I mentioned it before, but if you’ve forgotten: I bought three. They are all the same size, but one fits just right while two are what I call “comfortably tight,” meaning that they’re totally comfortable to wear, but look a little tight across my booty. I wore the pink one, the one that fits just right, for a 5-miler on the treadmill before I left for Colorado. It felt great for the first 4 miles, but I had some minor chafing on my thigh in the last mile.
Last night I wore the brown one, one of the comfortably tight skirts. The first couple miles were disappointing — the slightly tighter fit meant that the undershorts rode up like crazy. Not cool. But once I started to sweat, things improved. I had no chafing issues this time, which I think may be due to the fact that the slightly tighter shorts just sit higher on my legs.
Worst case is just that I have to use Bodyglide with the skirts — not a big deal, since I do that with most shorts already. I’m not sure if I’d wear one for a full half marathon yet, since they don’t seem to work quite as well for me and my body type as they do for June, but I do like the feeling of running in a cute little colorful skirt.