On Sunday the weather was a bit dicey. It was 48F (about 9C) and very windy and overcast, with a rain shower here and there. I went for a short walk anyway, and though I was chilled a bit at the start and my baseball cap almost blew off my head, I warmed up quickly and it felt pretty invigorating. Except for the wind, which I just had to put up with.
I've been enjoying NOT walking in Liberty Park. My local flat routes have gotten a bit stale, and the hills suit me right now, so I did a loop of SugarHouse Park instead. I felt quite good and fast, and finished the route in 35:58 for 6:16/km (just over a 10-min mile) with ave HR of 140. I focused a lot on standing tall, using my core to tuck my rear end under, and using my left glutes. My diagnostic tool? If I see my hands in front too much as Becky admonished about "piano playing" hands at the 15K, then I know that I'm not tucking my rear end under and remaining upright and using my left glutes as Jim has pointed out that I need to do. That's a lot to think about, but I'm motivated. I want to fix those technique problems and be faster.
Garmin data here.
***
Today is a holiday, thankfully. I needed another day off work to really rest and recuperate a bit. I've been driving myself pretty hard between work, training, and spending time with the kids doing fun things as well as homework, sports, etc.
I allowed myself to sleep a bit later than usual, not getting out of bed until 7 AM. I was all ready to leave the house for a nice 10-12 km walk (whatever I felt like), when my coach called. Jim just wanted to tell me that he had my new schedule for me (thanks, Jim!) and chat a bit about random stuff. I enjoy talking with Jim, so we chatted for 10-15 min and then I really had to get going on my walk so that I could be back by 9:30, as my friend Ye was bringing her son Adam over to play with my kids today.
The weather was glorious this morning. It was 45F (~7C) when I left the house, but the sun was out and there was only a slight breeze, so it felt pretty comfortable in shorts and a T-shirt. I walked uphill again to start and did a SugarHouse Park loop, then headed over to 20th East and walked around that neighborhood a bit before walking back. It ended up being almost exactly 12km of rolling hills, and it was a great workout. I worked a lot on my technique again, concentrating really hard on it, and I was faster than yesterday on the same hills. It felt great. I did 1:14:00 for 12km, for an average pace of 6:10/km with average heart rate of 144.
Garmin data here.
***
After that, I took the kids figure skating (and we took along Adam as well!) and then swimming. The Salt Lake City sports complex is close to our house and has 2 ice rinks and 2 pools, indoor and outdoor. It was nice today, with a high around 70F (21C), so the kids spent a couple hours swimming in the outdoor pool, while I lounged around reading a book and the newspaper. Ahhhhh...relaxation.
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