My first attempts at heart rate training. . .

Hey all . . .  I hope you had a great weekend!  I think some of those very few of you that read this blog found me from Katie.  If you follow Katie you know she's been doing 80/20 training and the 80% is following heart rate training.  I also follow Stephanie and she's getting her feet wet with HR training too. 

The idea here is to keep your HR at or below you MAF (maximum aerobic function).   This stops your body from going into anaerobic function.   Take what I say with a grain of salt because I'm not totally sure I understand, nor have I read very much in detail about this.  However, I look at this at training your heart.  :)   The idea is that over time you will be able to run faster within you MAF heart rate.  My heart rate is 148.  

180 (base number)
- 37 (my age)
+5 (I have been training for 2+ years with improvement and without injury)
_____
148

I will admit that I have to run really really slowly . . . kind of a wog if you will (walk/jog ha ha ).   And I read this is normal.  The first mile will be the fastest cause once your HR is up, it's up!  Some people struggle with how slow you have to go.  The first time I tried this, I wanted to see just how low I could keep my HR and still kind of run . . . I was at 160.  I thought "holy cow, 148 is going to be impossible!"  I was sure 148 was my number.  I double checked and yup, that's my number. 

So. . . here's my first HR run where I walked or sloooooooowed way the heck down when I went over 148. 

My avg pace for 4 miles was 13:20!   In general my avg pace is 11:00 - 11:20!   I did this in the town where  I work, so that meant lots of little hills.  Hills really pop up your heart rate!  I also learned that breathing deep, slow and long really helps the heart rate.  The time went by so fast because I was doing something different and challenging. 

The next day I did the exact same thing.  I also got smart and set my Garmin to beep when I went over 148.  But I had to watch it drop cause it did not alert me when I was back in range. 

So this time I had an avg of 147 bpm.  I had the same overall pace.  I think I got smarter about when I had to walk.  I learned what I had to do to get my rate to drop.  Sometimes my heart rate didn't want to drop very easily and I flat out had to walk really slow.  So I learned a few things about controlling it, but gosh it's hard.  It's almost impossible to find that steady pace / rhythm that keeps the heart rate steady.  I wondered if that was because of the hills? 

So the next day was Saturday and I woke up with some horrible sinus/allergy headache.  Not sure which but if I moved my head too fast I felt whatever was inside move.  Yikes!   That slowly went away and I decided I could do a 3 mile HR run.  My hubby came along and I warned him that it might be tedious.  I also tried not to talk to him too much.  It was tempting cause the run was *so* easy, but talking does inhibit my breathing and therefore the HR goes up!

So just a hair faster with 13:10 pace. . . on flat ground.  I really thought the pace would be a bit more different.   However, I did keep my HR at 146, so maybe if I had pushed it to have an avg of 148 I'd have had a faster pace.  But it's so up and down. . . and beep beep beep goes the Garmin!  Plus I'd rather not have too much time over the MAF range.  So I was happy with this.  

Where is this all going?  I have no idea.  I don't even know if I will keep doing this.  It's fun right now, but every run takes more time.  I'd like to try it for a month to see if I get a pace improvement withing my MAF.  But I don't know if I have the patience.   I haven't made any decisions.  

I was thinking of doing the 80/20 running that Katie is doing as I mentioned above.  You are suppose to have 80% of the *time* you run at as an easy run.  The other 20 can be speedwork.  Not sure I really want to sit down and figure out the time math.  But I thought if all my solo runs were HR runs, and my weekend run with my husband was "normal" then maybe that would be close enough to an 80/20 ratio? 

On Sunday I did run with my husband.  This was my 5th day in a row of running. And even though the previous 4 were "easy" (the first was that attempt at how slow can I go which didn't keep me in my MAF range so I didn't post it here). . . . that's still miles on the legs.  So I was a bit done for on Sunday.  I had that head issue again in the morning, but didn't really realize it till we started running.  Every step I took made my head pound.  Thankfully that went away in the first mile.  I had to take a brief walk break in the last mile. . . 

Those are my splits and my avg HR was 167. .  which is way out of my MAF range.   But again 80/20 right?  We'll see!

I just thought I'd share my experience here.  Keeping your HR withing aerobic function is suppose to be good for the body.  It's also suppose to encourage more fat loss I think.  I'm all for that!   I have read that there's a "junk" heart rate that doesn't do your body any good.  So at the very least this is shaking up my HR.  It's also easier on my body since the pace is slower.   But ultimately I'm not sure where this I'm going to go with all of this yet.  Does anyone else have experience with heart rate training? 

KY Derby Half Marathon

Let me start by saying that this was the hardest and most rewarding thing I've done.   The experience was like none other.  I get teary eyed just thinking about it. 

Friday morning I drove to the airport in St Louis to pick up my friend Mary Kate.  She had to get up at like 2am in Colorado to catch her flight.  We headed straight to Louisville from the airport - about a 5 hour drive.  We arrived at a good time (4pm) at our hotel.  One of the reasons she flew in so early is so that we weren't arriving so late and feeling so tired and rushed getting to the expo. The line for check in was long.  We were staying at the official race hotel, so that may have been why.  The hotel was crowded, the elevators were hot and crowded and took a lot of time.  

This is the view from our room.  Too bad I didn't see much of it!

We went to the Expo and it was kind of smaller than I expected.   Of course my shirt was too small and they didn't have a bigger size to swap.  But I went back after we ate dinner and managed to get one. :)  I do think the shirts are kind of strange, in color and design, but at least it fits.  The *one* thing I wanted at the Expo was a 13.1 sticker for my car.  There wasn't a single sticker to be found. :( 

I bought some headbands at the Expo.  There was this one booth - Ponya Bands that had these bamboo lined headbands.  They were on sale for $18, but they were handing out coupons for online use that made the price cheaper.  I was going to wait to order one online, but the lady gave me the coupon price.  This band is suppose to really absorb the sweat so I'm excited to try it this summer.  I didn't wear it during the race cause I didn't want to lose it.  I like to wear a band that I know will be secure for events. 

The Ponya band in on the left.  If you feel like ordering, use coupon code DERBY419 through the end of May for 25% off ;)  I wore the new band on the right since it's the same style/cut I normally wear and I knew it would stay.  Gotta love some bling!

The morning of the race we woke up shortly after 5 to eat breakfast.  I don't normally eat much before runs, but I also couldn't just walk out the door and start on my run. My friend talked me into breakfast.  We left the hotel at 6:45 (7:30 race start) and the elevators were soooo slow and crowded we walked down 14 flights of stairs.  Nice warm up huh?!  The start was just a few blocks away.  It was already crowded and so were the porta-potties.  But we heard about a set in the reunite area that wasn't crowded so we walked there. As we were walking we heard the bugle player at the start line playing the "Call to the Post" that they play for the riders up call at races.  YAY!  Starting this race KY style.  It sent shivers down my spine. :)  Getting to our corral was so crowded we got there with a minute to spare.  In hindsight we should have just waited for the people from our corral to get up to us, closer to the start.  They didn't stagger the starts - just let us go like a herd of cattle and that was disappointing.  It took us several mins to get to the start, but the race route was crowded the whole time.  Too crowded for my comfort, but what can you do?  This was our quick selfie before the the race started. 

I was very energetic at the start of the race. I was waving to spectators and cheering at them to get them to hoot and holler for us. Mary Kate said "how are you so energetic?!".  Ha. We weren't sure if we were going to stay together or not.  We have the same pace, but I had trained a bit more as she had been sick quite a bit in the past month.  Her parents happened to be in Louisville last week and stayed an extra week to see us.  So they were hanging out near Churchill Downs which was at mile 8.  We hoped to be together at that point.  I felt like I could have went a bit faster at the beginning but I knew not to.  The first 5 miles flew by.  My knee was bugging me at 2.5 miles and worse at 6.  The water stations started to suck and be unorganized.  The last station before we went into Churchill Downs just didn't have enough cups full.  We didn't get any water.  :(  We saw her parents just before we entered the track.  That was motivating.  I took a photo while running:

 Once we got inside we stopped for some photos.   Here's my selfie with the famous twin spires in the background. 

We probably shouldn't have stopped.  It felt so good cause of the lack of water. . . we continued walking.  There were horses being exercised.  We both own horses and so we were distracted. lol.   We walked more than we should have.  We started running once we got out of the tunnel that takes you under the track (the tunnels in and out were probably the most hills of the race. They seemed steep and certainly our knees felt it.  

Coming out of the track, we finally found a water station.  We literally stopped to drink.  I drank a water and a powerade.  Mary Kate drank 2 of each. We felt better.  I don't remember much about miles 9-11.  But 11-13 sucked.  We were slower.  I was anyways.  Mary Kate seemed to get her energy then.  She was like "2 more miles! Let's go!"  My calves were on fire.  It's funny cause in my long training runs I had knee and glute issues.  At this point in the race neither of those hurt but my calves felt like they were going to explode!  I wanted to walk soooo bad.  I really was thinking at this point "I'm never ever doing this again!"   We walked through the remaining water stops and at one point when they gave us oranges.  We had run past so many oranges on the ground, but we didn't get any till much later.  Mary Kate kept pulling me along even though I told her she could go ahead.  Again the course was just too crowded for me.  We had only half the road once the marathoners joined back up with us.  It squished us together.  The crowds got more and more as we got closer to the finish and that helped.  Yet so many people were walking. I had the energy to run a straight line, not to weave in and out of people!  We finally made it and it was a tad slower over all than I would have liked. I wanted a sub-12:00 pace and closer to 2:30 as the finish time. 

Here is the offical race result:

We found water. . . bananas. . . chocolate milk (fantastic!). . . I felt like my stomach was going to explode. lol   We met up with Mary Kate's parents.  We did see them just before we crossed the finish.   We took our medals to be engraved.  It was $10, but it was so worth it.   We got our free beer.  That was the best beer I'd ever had.  Thank you Michelob Ultra!  At this point the endorphins were high and I thought "I could totally do this again!".  Ha!  I'm whacked.  It's ok.  You can say it. '

When I saw this photo of myself I got tears in my eyes.  I thought I might cry when I crossed the finish line, but it was seeing this photo. . . realizing that was me and I did this. . . I held back the tears though. 

I love the medal.  This is my first medal of any race I've done.  I didn't get one at my 15K which was really kind of a let down.  I didn't think it mattered before hand, but it totally does. 

We hung out for just a bit but then had to get back to our hotel cause we had a noon check out.  That was after asking for a late checkout.   We wanted to shower and change before we hit the road.  The 4 hour drive home was tiring.  We stopped a lot to move about.  Last night once I finally laid down my body started screaming.  I will say I took Aleve and Tylenol the night before and the morning of the run to try to help in advance.  I took some last night before bed as well.  I tossed and turned. . . I was so uncomfortably sore . . . I didn't fall asleep till 1 am or after.  I stopped looking at the clock.  I was so mad I couldn't sleep.  I felt like a zombie today.  I'm not sore, but I'm soo tired. 

Overall I'm really happy with the run.  I'm so thankful Mary Kate was there to run it with me.  I'm thrilled her parents were there to cheer us on!  That was so helpful and motivating.  I kind of wish we hadn't walked through Churchill Downs, but we picked this race for the feature of running there.  And honestly I don't think I would have absorbed it as much if I was running. . . and thirsty as heck at that point!  I'm really not sure if I will do this again. Part of me wants to and part of me doesn't.  Mary Kate and I talked about looking for a race in Kansas City MO as it would be kind of in the middle.   I need to have a break and figure out how to lose more weight, cause running does not do that for me.  

Here are the official splits from my Garmin.  You can see where Churchill was. . . I estimate we walked maybe about 1/2 a mile, but it impacted the time and we were slower after. Though if we hadn't walked, we can't assume we would have been any faster.  

My brother in law makes stickers.  What a convenience!  So I looked online at designs and kind of meshed some things together and I ended up with this sticker today.  Totally made my day!  

I leave Wednesday morning to head back to KY.  Lexington this time.   It's a crazy week and I hope I can keep up!  

Wednesday Run

My training schedule has runs Tues-Thurs-Sunday.  But it seems like M-W-Sat work the best for me.  This week is a step back week, thank goodness!   I love step back weeks.  I feel like I keep my legs going, but I don't wear out and I look forward to my next run.  So this Sat I will only be running a 5K.  

On Monday I ran at the gym on the treadmill.  It was really cold (the high was 18) and the roads were still too icy/snowy to make it safe.  I don't mind the cold so much at all.  I'm a much happier winter runner than summer runner.  But I am scared to death of falling while running and breaking something.  I've never broke a bone and it freaks me out.   

I struggled on the treadmill.  I walked. . . I can't remember how much but after 2 miles of running I did some intervals, walking  no more than a half mile.  It seems that intervals can do good things for calorie burn so I don't mind it too much.  Even though the perfectionist side of me gets highly annoyed when I don't run the whole distance. 

Yesterday was a gorgeous day.  It was around 40 degrees when I got to the park after work.  I couldn't wait to run outside.  Who am I?  Lol.   I love running on days that are slightly cool.  It works well for my body and I wanted to soak up some vitamin D, even though I didn't have much skin exposed.  It felt great!  Shortly into my run I ran past a house with a dog loose in the yard.  There was no fence, but I suppose there could have been a invisible one.  The dog stood near the house, so no where near any fence that I was unable to see.  He/she just looked at me.  Didn't bark.  Didn't move.  Just watched me.  I really wanted to say "Good Doggie!"   But I knew better.  I am not a dog person.  There are some dogs that I get to know that I like. But I don't know that I will ever own a dog (we have a dog that my husband had before I met him and he lives outside and I hate that - a whole other story).  But I do like well behaved dogs.  The animal lover in me respects and admires animals with good manners.  Dogs that bark and chase me, not so much! :) 

I tried hard to keep a pace around 11:30.  It wasn't as easy as my 6 mile run, but I fully believe that this is a pace that in general my body likes and does well with right now.  So I'd like to keep most of my runs (or the beginnings of long runs) near that pace.  It was a bit hard as not all sidewalks were clean and sometimes I didn't have a place to get off the sidewalk, so I had to slow way down and pick my way through.  It was worth it to be outside. 

Having an 11:10 second mile is strange, but I'll take it! :)  I think that's when I really decided to push for my pace.  My first mile is often faster than I think/plan/expect, but I have to focus to not slow down after.  When I first started running I had natural negative splits, but I think I was really focused on running. . . I would work on my breathing and such. Now I will think about things in life and that causes me to slow down a bit.  

Saturday my husband and I are going to take a little road trip.  So I'm glad to have only 3 miles on the schedule this weekend.  I will run on Sat to get the calorie burn in before we leave.  I definitely have plans to eat out that day. :)

Awesome 6!

I had 6 miles on the schedule this weekend.  I admit I was dreading it.  We had dinner plans on Sunday so I wanted to run then (burn the calories then stuff my face!).   But the forecast on Sunday was for ice and sleet (which ultimately changed our plans on Sunday).  I was *not* doing 6 miles on the treadmill.  Nope.  No way, no how.   So Saturday it was. My husband made plans for his sister and brother in law to come over and help us put away summer sausage.   I wasn't aware of that.  I did managed to get up in time to make the house look a bit better and fit my run in before they arrived.    I rocked this run!

I forgot to ice my knee and take any meds like I did for the 5 miles last weekend.   I worried about that when I started. (it did get tight, but not as painful as in the past)   It was chilly but not super cold - perfect weather.  I don't really set goals other than to run the entire time and finish the distance.  However, I found my groove and wanted to keep a pace of under 12 min/mile.   Finding the groove for me is hit or miss.  The "groove" in my world is when I find that good pace and become almost "mechanical".  By that I mean I keep a good tempo, a steady pace and a rhythmic breathing pattern.  I feel like a machine - very repetitive.  All of those things happened on Saturday and I didn't ever fall out of it.  I almost did when 2 dogs chased me.  They actually belong to our nephew, but we don't spend much time with him, so I don't know their names.  But I've had a neighbor's dog run with me before and he ran "with" me.  Happy - tail wagging - running *with* me.  These dogs chased me.  Barking and yapping and on my heels.  One of the tripped me and I freaked.  I turned around and screamed at the top of my lungs at them.  One went home.  The other proceeded to chase me until I yelled again.  All of this happened as I was going up the first of 2 "hills" on my run.  They aren't terribly steep, but in my flatland area of IL they are hill enough to get my hear rate up.  So I'm turning around, screaming and running up a hill at the same time.  My heart rate spiked.  I can see exactly where all of this happened in all the stats on my run.   It's kind of funny that there are peaks and drops (pace dropped) right at that point.   I wasn't sure I would recover cause my heart rate felt so high and that causes me to slow down. Plus I was out of breath!  I got to the top of the hill and focused on breathing and found that groove again.  All went well till about mile 5.5 when my sock started rubbing the back of one of my feet.  I knew when I left the house that those socks wouldn't stay up and out of my shoe.  Sure enough one slipped inside my shoe and rubbed the back of my foot raw.  It still hurts!  I am SO proud of this pace.  I even posted the Garmin photo on FB.  I tend to think that people that post about every workout are kind of tacky.  I have one FB friend that posts a photo of her heart rate watch after every workout.  I *has* to be every workout.  It's almost daily.  Really - does it not count if you don't post it to FB? lol   Anyways, look how even my splits are!!!!!

I love how my splits are so close together.  The longest split of 11:40 includes the miles where the dogs were after me.  My average pace was basically the same as when I ran my 15K in December.  I did notice how my watch and the screenshot from Garmin Connect aren't the exact same in avg pace.  Lame!   When I find my groove in running I don't hate it so much.   I just wish I could find it more often.  Or figure out what triggers it.  I often think the meal I ate for supper the night before impacts my run the next morning.  I'm embarrassed to admit I had a fish filet meal from McD's the night before!

---

So the rest of the weekend was spent making cookies!  I had no idea they would take so long.  Whew.   I found this idea online and have been wanting to try it for weeks.  I've had all the supplies for weeks.  The blog said that these come together really easily.  I guess they do when you aren't learning as you go.  I don't use the holy grail royal icing.  I knew that the icing I used would make details hard. But it made the stems of the strawberries impossible.  So I had to make royal icing for the first time.  Blah!  I used it on the stems and the seeds since I had some left.  I was going to use it on the white drizzle, but the instructions said to make the icing ivory.  I tried that and it came out way way way wrong.  So that got trashed and I had to make more icing yet again.  If I hadn't made the green and the white drizzle twice I'd have finished sooner I think.  Nonetheless I love them.  I brought them to work today and a coworker told me they look like something you'd see in a magazine!  YAY!  This photo shows a bit more shine than they ended up with after drying over night.  But it's the most accurate in color. 

I walked

This morning I decided to go for a run.  I wanted to do 4 miles, but it just wasn't working.  I have no idea what the problem was.  Today is suppose to be pretty warm with temps in the 50's.  But there was frost on my car and it was in the 30's when I left to drive to the park.  

I wore my old navy tights (unlined), and unlined long sleeve shirt from Target and this jacket (you can't hardly tell that's a link!) from old navy.  I love this jacket!  It is SO comfortable.  I got it Thanksgiving night when the whole store was 50% off.  Total impulse purchase.  I got an xl which is a size larger than almost everything I currently wear on top.  But trying it on in the store, that's the size that felt and looked the best.  I love how it's cut a bit longer in the front and back. It's just super flattering.  But apparently it was just not quite right for today's run.  I have no idea what went wrong.  I was just kind of sticky.  I wasn't even hot.  I did take the jacket off somewhere around mile 2.5.  I only did 3.5 miles total. And I walked several times.  Something about walking just doesn't work in my head.  Then it doesn't count as a "run".  I also haven't walked during an outside run in a long time.  But it is what it is.  And I am still having knee issues.  So what could I do?   

When I got back to my car I had to head to the ATM and then Dollar General.  Our milk and bread were both expired.  I had drank some chocolate milk anyways before my run, but I wanted more with breakfast.  I normally have a shakeology smoothie but I wanted a hole in one egg.  So I made that and had more milk.  Yum! 

Even with all that walking my pace was only 1 min/mile less than it has been. 

Today we have Christmas with my immediate family.  I saw on FB that my brother's whole family is sick.   He sent out a text asking if everyone was ok with them coming as they have colds.  What are you suppose to say?  That would be half the family missing!  Plus Christmas is for kids and they have 2.  So they need to be there.  I enjoy giving gifts (more than receiving) and I like to see the kids open the gifts.    I already know what my parents got me.  So other than the stocking stuffers, nothing will be a surprise.  Oh those stocking stuffers!  What a stressful thing that is.  I have such a hard time getting a stuffer for everyone.  I find that crazy difficult.   So I'm off to wrap a few more gifts cause I'm a slacker!

Working on speed and pace

Last week I was doing a treadmill run at my gym. My trainer came up to me and started chatting. I was running at a speed of 5.0 or a 12 min mile. I realize that's slow given my times outside, but it's where I start on the treadmill. He is encouraging me to go faster. And he looked at my display and said "humor me since I'm here and bumped me up to 5.4". He said I can start faster than I do. So I've been thinking about that. . .

Friday as I was leaving work dressed in my gym clothes I realized I didn't want to run on the treadmill. I wanted to run outside. I was only doing 3 miles, but I just wanted to go home. I rarely get to go straight home from work. I'm either going to the gym, the barn or even once a month or so getting a massage. The problem with going home on Friday night? A storm was coming and it was coming fast. I decided I would run at home anyways and if I got wet or had to run less then oh well. For my mental health I just wanted to go home.

So I get home and immediately strap on all my running crap and off I go. There are black clouds in the distance. There is lightening not too far away. I decide that I'm staying on my side of the block in case I need to get home quickly. We live basically smack dab in the middle of the block. Each side is a mile long so we are at the .5 mile mark. So I turn left and go to the end, turn around and go to the other end, then turn around and go back to the first end and then turn around and go back to my drive. Make sense?! LOL. I was running FAST! My GPS had trouble working on a good day so it did not work at all under the storm clouds. My heart rate watch has a stop watch on it. It seems my first mile was 10:15. It's possible my 2nd was 10:55. The third was PAINFUL. I got a side stitch. The wind picked up and it was colder and it started spitting rain. I pushed through and got back to my drive at 29:45. That means my avg pace was UNDER 10 min. I have dreamed of a 10 min mile. But I never imagined going faster than that. I truly wish my GPS had worked.

On Sunday I ran around the block and this was only my second time running 5 miles. The last time my GPS didn't start when I did, so once it did I started over, but my stats aren't even worth talking about since they don't cover the full 5 miles. I do know I ran slow. This time I did 5.15 miles in 56 mins. Runkeeper logged 5.14 but when I hit stop on my phone it said 5.15. *shrug*My avg pace was 10:54 Here are my splits:

My GPS talks to me every 1/4 mile and tells me my total time and avg pace. I knew I was going faster as I ran. I purposely slowed down the last mile. That portion has a hill on it that, while not huge, certainly does challenge my heart rate. But my last mile was a full min faster than my first. I'd like to be more consistent.

So yesterday I killed my legs. I had a lunge lesson on a horse at my barn. My horse is off at my trainer's remember. And he is NOT a good lunge lesson horse. My trainer comes for clinics on certain mondays. So I borrowed a horse and had a lunge lesson. For those that don't know basically you start with no reins. . . then after a few mins of warm up for you and the horse and stretches for you, you take away the stirrups. The horse is attached to my trainer and works in a circle around him. I have to do crazy stuff like ride all three gaits with my arms straight up over my head. Or maybe with arms doing backwards windmills with the arms opposite each other. Last night I had to do those windmills and also alternate my feet between pointing and flexing. And then I had to do the downward transitions from canter - trot and trot - walk while maintaining the windmills and feet flexing. What I mean is I had to tell the horse to change gaits. In general during a lunge lesson the person in the middle tells the horse what to do. It's really hard to tell the horse to change gaits while maintaining windmills and feet flexing! Wow. I'm not all that coordinated. This lesson challenges your abs as those muscles keep you on the horse. Your legs do too, but not to the extent you may think. For example I had to ride all three gaits with my legs pulled out and away from the horse. So my butt was touching the horse. :) What happens to my legs is they stretch out. They get longer. They don't get to grip like I might when I'm really riding with stirrups. They start to burn :)

Then I drove straight home and I ran 3 miles. I believe in always running the day after my long run. Fatigue the legs is what I've read. Today should be my day off and it is from running but I have a training session at the gym. So my mom was coming over after my run and so mentally I knew I'd run fast. My GPS managed to start when I did (I love that!) I did 3.0 miles exactly. Total time was 32:07 and my avg pace was 10:43. A sub-11 pace! I like that. I'd like that to be my new permanent pace. Normally I'm well in the 11's. But this is 2 runs with a sub-11. I like that. Here are the splits:

Now that is consistent! I'm happy with that!!!! Once I got in my groove I tried to keep the GPS around 10:48 as the avg. I would "think" I was slowing down and so that's how I actually ended up with a lower avg. But I'm really happy with those times! That's a consistent run. Now if I can commit that feeling to memory.

I slept like a freaking baby with the exception of like 5 trips to the bathroom. I didn't drink enough water Sunday after my run. I committed a sin and had soda that day. So I made up for it yesterday. My legs felts like jello all night. This morning it took great effort to move them. They were and still are very very tired. But it's a good feeling! No pain no gain!