Running Buddies!

What a week! This weekend was my YTT teaching practicum so all week I kept tweaking my class and teaching it to whoever I could! :) I got all my runs in and then basically spent the weekend doing yoga! Yesterday I was at the studio for about 10 hours! And while it has been such an amazing experience, I'm so glad that it is (almost) done!

White Pine Loop after fresh snow! 

This week, I did something that I've never done before and totally pushed myself outside of my comfort zone. I ran with someone. EEK! You are probably rolling your eyes at this one, but seriously I was super nervous. I'm a social person but the idea of running with someone was super intimidating and honestly, when we were planning our run I kept giving her opportunities to decide she actually didn't want to run with me. haha BUT she did and so we went, first on Wednesday and then again on Saturday. Karen has some tendinitis in her foot so she needs to slow down a bit to help her foot heal. Running with someone has been great and once I got over my fear of being too slow, it has been a lot of fun! Here is my advice, run with someone or a group sooner rather than later! Put yourself out there and recognize that no one cares how fast or slow you are they just like your company. :) Running with someone who is generally faster than you is ok as long as you are clear about what pace you are planing and they are fine with going a bit slower. It helps tremendously to maintain a more consistent pace when you have someone there to keep moving forward. :)

Now that things are calming down a bit with YTT and I'm getting a handle on packing, I feel like I will be able to be more consistent with my XT and strengthening exercises I'm supposed to be doing! I have an hour endurance spin class tomorrow for my XT for this week. Stretching is another area that I need to dedicate more time to!!! So that is also on my list for this week. The weather has been super snowy and great! It has made for some incredible snowy runs and I love it!!! We should be getting a bit more snow over the next two days or so which thrills me! OH! I also finally got a new heart strap so I can start paying attention to that too. :)

Here's the rundown for last week:

1/28 - 3.55mi; total time: 47:19 pace: 13:20/mi - ECP pavement Avg HR: 148
1/29 - strengthening exercises
1/30 - 6.36mi; total time: 1:27:20 pace: 13:44/mi - NCR mix of trail and pavement Avg HR: 161
2/1 - 3.34mi; total time: 46:20 pace: 13:52/mi - NCR pavement
2/2 - 2.91mi; total time 45:31 pace: 15:38/mi - NCR trail Avg HR: 155

total time: 3:46:33
total miles: 16.16