We put it in the water at his parents' house at the beach, and were soon zooming westward. I'll admit I'm something of a wimp, and was a little nervous about anything approaching speed (Rod assures me we were not going fast, ha!), and quite nervous when the bow would raise up when we slowed down. Despite my edginess, the boat really rode like a dream.
We went as far as Warm Beach, but turned back then because the water was quite choppy, due to the tides and some wind. Back by his folks' it was like glass.
While the boat was great, unfortunately the Mercury motor was being a bit cranky, though not till after we stopped at Tulare, thankfully. His dad got it going long enough to tie up to the buoy (and row back in a skiff). Now, later in the afternoon, they are down tinkering--er, working--with the motor and hopefully all will be solved.
Lesson learned by me: put on a sweatshirt before the life vest. It will be cold and windy but it is impossible to maneuver once we are going! And similar to driving, once he gets going Rod rarely stops till the journey's done. (Which was for the best today, because it would have been awful to lose power very far from our destination.)
Today is a semi-rest day between my successful but wearing pace run yesterday and a planned long run tomorrow. I wouldn't have run at all today, but wanted a medium workout, the Y didn't open till 8, and our boating plans began at 10. (Turned out to be 10-ish.)
So I went out around 7 for an easy recovery run, 5K or so (I did 3.5 miles). I rarely run such a short distance. I can see the appeal, in one way--it finishes fast! Less than 40 minutes for my sluggish jog, quicker for others, of course. The downside is that you only get to experience the bad parts of a run! The warm-up (slowER). The achy legs which just start to lighten up near the end. Probably no endorphins, not enough time to cook any up! Of course, I also didn't get very sweaty, so there's that.
After I finished I drove to the Y (to save time on my return) and got there when they opened at 8. I had enough time for 55 minutes on the elliptical (but not an hour), then zipped home. Rod had loosened the time schedule a bit (he still had last-minute stuff with the boat) so I took time to stop at Starbucks on the way.
I showered and had my second mini-breakfast (a 200 calorie PR Bar I got at Seattle R 'n' R, I like them a lot!). My first mini-breakfast, around 6:15, was a sandwich thin with scrapings of PB and AB, some superfruit spread, and a bit of sliced banana. I had already got stuff together pretty much (lunch, weekend clothes, running gear) and by 10:20 I was out the door. Go me!
Yesterday morning I had a surprisingly successful pace run. I always doubt myself and often surprise myself with success! The plan was three miles at goal marathon pace (~9:00) and three miles at goal half pace (~8:30) sandwiched between some warm-up and cool down.
First, two miles warm-up. I did those a little slower than 10- minute miles, so I was a little nervous about jumping right up to 9-minute pace! In order to do that, I had to put out more effort than one would hope for that pace, but I got it done in about 9:03. The next two were a little faster, I don't have my splits handy but I think about 8:57 then 8:50-ish.
Then it was time to pick up the pace, presumably. I wasn't sure that this was going to work, though, because the way I'd configured my route I was going to do this next mile over quite a bit of moderate uphill. Speeding up and going uphill? It was also through downtown where, for whatever reason, my pace often turns out slower than I expect.
If it didn't work, my back-up plan was to change to four miles at MP, since I was pretty sure I could keep up the 9-minute miles. In the meantime, I would charge forward and see what happened.
It may have helped that the last quarter mile in this segment was starting back down the hill I came up...but I managed 8:34 for the mile and I figured that was close enough to count. (As long as there's a 30 in in, right?)
The next two miles were both easily under 8:30 (one may have been around 8:15), and as I finished mile 3 of the set I had the opposite dilemma as before. The next mile in my route had a lot of downhill slope in it. It would be a shame to waste! So I decided to do a fourth HMP mile.
That one also squeaked under 8:30 and finished just in time, right before I got to a short but hellish one-block hill on 23rd. As I was now in recovery/cool-down, I staggered up it at barely more than a shuffle, then picked up the pace to a jog for the remainder of 1.5 miles to Starbucks.
Total distance: 10.5 miles. Average overall pace: 9:09. (Funny!)
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