What a difference a week makes.  A little bit of warmer weather (followed by some snow), a free evening, and a “sick” day meant 2 weekday runs!

Tuesday was in the mid-60’s and sunny.  I had to run! It was a nice easy heart rate run on the Metrodome loop (clock-wise) with nothing exciting to report, except some chickens.  I wore my Kinvaras and did the 3.2 miles in 28:27 which is probably my fastest heart rate run under 160!  I wear the Kinvaras maybe once every week or two, just to mix things up a bit and help make my feet stronger.  I only wear them for these shorter runs for now.  I might inch my way up in them.  They’d be a good show for the triathlon I think.

Wednesday night after work I had a meeting at Chatterbox in Highland Park  and immediately after a going away party for a YNPN colleague in Nordeast.  That made for a lot of bike riding, 19 miles to be exact.  Fortunately it was all pretty broken up and the weather was great.

Friday I was home with Nadia.  Daycare sent her home on Thursday with the suspicion of pink eye. The doctor wasn’t sure, but since another kid had it recently gave us drops and a note saying she could go back on Monday.  Nevertheless we had a great day at home that included her second ever stroller run.  Sadly, the weather had started turning colder and so she wore her snow suit and I had to wear pants again.  We ran the Metrodome loop counter-clockwise and the wind and stroller made it quite difficult.  The same distance took almost 4 minutes longer.

Saturday morning was another stroller run. I  had hoped to join up with the Team World Vision crew, but it was quite cold and a little bit of snow on the ground.  Christy was at work, so we waited until it got warmer and did an almost 6 miler on the Greenway.  If you haven’t noticed, the Greenway can be quite the wind tunnel.  I chose to head into the wind to start (good decision) and pushed the quasi-aerodynamic jogging wind catcher for 3 miles into the wind.  That was brutal, especially with the heart rate monitor beeping at me every time my pulse went over 160. Ugh.  Fortunately, the run back was much nicer and the stroller helped propel me along!

Sunday morning was kind of a last minute decision to do the FREE MDRA Mudball Classic 4 mile race at the Quaking Bog.  I had no real expectations going into this race, I figured if nothing else it would be a nice (aka tough and muddy) 4 mile run.  I was quite pleased with my time and exertion level. A 34:54 over some brutal hills on nothing but base training… I’ll take it!  I was disappointed that there wasn’t more mud though!

Afterwards I went to a tri clinic at the YWCA.  It was very basic information and it went long and was mostly female focused. They had lots of great information and a great list of resources.   BTW, the YWCA is really stepping up their endurance sports focus.

Mike and I had scheduled a ride for the afternoon.  He was recovering from a bug and I obviously was a little tired, but we ended up riding 25 miles.  I suggested what I thought was a 4 mile add-on but turned out to be quite a bit more and added a big hill. We went down the Greenway to West River Road, crossed the Mendota Bridge and went through Lilydale and back up East River Road to Franklin. It was a very relaxed pace and ride though.  It was great to get out there for a real training ride on my nicer bike (they handle quite differently!)

Your Training for 04/11/2011 – 04/17/2011