Mental Toughness...

So I had a crap workout tonight on the track and am processing it here and now......

I have not been to Tuesday track workouts for 3 weeks since I was on vacation. I did do a track workout with the high school group when I got back, which was 8 X 200 last Thursday and then ran a 4 mile race Saturday and then a 7 mile run Sunday. I took Monday off.  However, the workout was 6 X 800's in my mind I was only going to do 4 or 5 anyway.

It was 90 degrees out and we met at 6:45pm. It was soooooo  fricking HOT!!!!!!!! So the coach and I do the first one in 3:15 and I am like holy crap that is pretty good and it didn't hurt toooo much. 2nd one I ran in 3:16 still not too bad. We are supposed to do a 400 recovery jog in between but I couldn't do it...was I overheating what? I ran the 3rd in 3:18 so I knew I was slowing down. My legs were also cramping like how I felt at Saturday's race...just didn't feel strong. So I QUIT the workout. Coach said it was Ok. I think they think I am prego and don't want me to overheat (which I am pretty sure I am not). I really needed someone to say Denae do another one!!!!!!

So I did 3 fast 800's....afterwards could I have done 1-3 more? I need to get mentally tough! This would have been a great mental tough assignment for me to have just done one more.

However where is the line between quality and quantity?

So I will run with the high school girls Friday and we will do 5 X 400 and I will do all.

Actually since I have been out 3 weeks it's probably good to start with only 1.5 miles of speed and build it up!

UGH......

Slacker Relay

Today was the Slacker relay. This is half marathon race and has a relay component. The legs were 5.4 miles, 3.7 miles and 4 miles. The race starts at Loveland Ski resort and DOWNHILL to the city of Georgetown. The Arvada Running Club sent 18 people up there today! We had 5 relay teams, one running the half and 2 running the 4 mile race.

Having recently returning from vaca I wanted the easiest leg. I was going to run the 2nd leg which was the 3.7 but after doing some strategy we decided to have me anchor....I was fine with this since it was 4 miles. I felt that I could do that and wanted 30:00 which would be 7:30's.

We got to the shuttle area around 7:00 and caught the shuttle to the starting area. Since there were 5 teams I had 4 other people to talk to while I waited 2 hours before I ran! That was boring so next time maybe I will do the first leg. The transition went smoothly and I was off.

This was a great race for me! I ran a 7:14, 6:55, 6:49 and wait for it....8:40 Since the first 3 miles were mostly downhill my legs started cramping Big Time! They just didn't feel strong. I tried to be mentally tough but it was so hard and by now it was getting hot. So I did finish with a 29:39 which was faster than my goal time yeah!!! Our relay team was 4th overall and 2nd all female. Our half time was 1:38. In the future I think this should be my "spring" half. I think I could do pretty well if I trained correctly.



My Relay Team!




Most of the Running Club that was there today.



Mexico 2011

I am back from 2 weeks in Cancun! I will keep this brief however I also am using this as my journal so we'll see how it goes.

The resort was all inclusive, which we love. We stayed at the resort for a few days to get in relaxation mode then we would take a trip pretty much every other day. We also went to Senor Frogs a few times which was fun. Mostly we hung out at the bar and chatted with others

Cancun has way better weather than playa del Carmen in my opinion. It was hot but not miserable hot.
I LOVED our resort. We met the nicest people and in this day and age how nice to have something like facebook to keep in touch.

On that note how nice to not be on a computer for 2 weeks!! I was worried because I am addicted to FB, blogger and dailymile but I am so proud of myself. Not going to lie I did get on but not crazy. When I have the ocean in front of me and great PEOPLE LIVE to talk with why do I need to be on a computer??!!

View from our room. 

New Friends from Rhode Island and Idaho

Great family from Illinois. 

Read the Hunger games and OMG I need to read the last 2 in the series. I am so mad I didn't buy them. The rest of the books I read were not as good.

Stayed up one night until after 3AM no not at the discoteca actually seeing the coolest thing EVER!
We watched sea turtles come up to the beach and lay their eggs, bury them and then go back to the ocean.

Celebrated 3rd year anniversary. I am so lucky I have a great husband and marriage.

Concepcion....we'll see

Rented a car in Mexico!! It wasn't that bad. Went to Tulum, Coba and Valladolid. What an adventure!

Did an excursion to Chitzen Itza and swam in a cenote.

Isla Mujeres

This is the most eastern point in Mexico, 

Mercado 23

The Mexican market. We were the only Americans there. We were so sick of getting harassed at the other stores. 

Running

I am pretty happy on working out. We ran either on the beach or streets or treadmill, which looked over the ocean. Running on the sand really hurt my plantar facitis so I usually did TM and then my husband and I lifted. We didn't do this everyday but the days we stayed at the resort. We also swam and walked a ton.

MORE LATER!

Getting there....

Oh Yeah..I ran a fun 5k yesterday! I ran it in 22:21. 2 weeks ago I ran a 5k in 23:33. My secret goal was to take a minute off my time and I did better than that!!! It was hard, I am not going to lie, but a great feeling at the end and I still felt like I could have gone faster....lesson learned on going to First Friday art walk and drinking some wine the night before the race. However, I do like balance and we went with some really good friends so why should I ditch out on that just for a race the next day? I just need to only have 1 glass next time (even though it was FREE!!) Ha. So next race is a 4 mile which is part of a relay and then a 4k on the 4th of July. I have never raced a 4k that should be fun and FAST :)

First Friday Art Walk Gang

My blog models....

ART

Getting ready for 5k on Saturday!