planetdanika

I hate to gloat, but I really think I have the world’s best husband. This week he bought me this awesome new gadget to help me prepare for the ultra marathon. It’s a GPS/heart rate monitor that provides a dizzying amount of statistics. He knows me too well. I used it today for the first time and just uploaded the data. It was just a quick spin around Ballard. I was tired and slow, but it was better than no run at all. I’ll post a link to a run at some point that doesn’t have my house in it! For now, let’s just say this tool rocks.

I just came across this study, which says that babies are happier if their mother’s ate a lot of chocolate during their pregnancies (or something like that). No wonder Lucy’s so happy! All that chocolate I knocked back during those 9 months directly accounts for her good nature, right?

These legs are tired. 2 10-mile runs in the past 3 days. This is my toughest week of training for the half-marathon. It peaks on Saturday with a 12-mile run. From then on, I will taper and ease way back on the running. The race itself is 2 1/2 weeks away. I’m feeling good, although my legs are a bit heavy these last few days. I’m hoping the taper rectifies that problem.

After the half-marathon I’ll be able to fully focus on the ultra-marathon training. Last week I attended the first group training session. It was a fairly easy, weeknight run of speedwork along Seattle’s waterfront. I was one of only 2 women and about 8 men present, though there are supposedly over 20 signed up for the training program. I felt really good about the first run as 1) I was by no means the slowest person there (probably slightly above the middle of the pack) and 2) I realized the race is definitely doable and thus I am not completely crazy. This weekend I hope to make the group’s trail run in the mountains. That will be a much bigger test of my fitness level. Wish me luck!