TNT Runs

So already I am slacking because I missed my first long run with TNT to go to the beach for my friend Donna's 30th birthday :) But I think it was worth it...come on...the beach!

I guess I paid for it the following Tuesday though when we had our first speedwork practice. Speedwork...haha, I haven't done that since October of 2009. And it was rough. Mostly (I think) this was due to the weather, which was extremely muggy and somewhat hot.

The workout was a nice little 1 mile warmup and then 2:00 intervals for the upper 5 mile loop. Yuck. It started out okay, but by the time I reached Harlem Meer at the top of the park I felt like I was swimming through Jello. Hot Jello. And I was running with one of the mentors and I couldn't figure out if she was staying with me because she didn't want me to be left behind (I was at the back of the Advanced pack) or if she was struggling too. So I told her she could go ahead. But I did this as she simultaneously told me I could go ahead. After completing Harlem Hill (stopping for water in the middle) I realized that we both thought this run sucked, so I didn't feel so bad about her running with me.

Side note: I absolutely HATE it when I feel like I am holding someone back from their workout. Which is funny because sometimes I will run with someone a little bit easier so that they have someone to run with, and that doesn't bother me.

When I hit 102nd on the west side (we had like 30 blocks to go at this point) I was getting annoyed at the incessant beeping of my watch indicating new intervals. I said "Look, I think I'm going to scrap the intervals at this point." She was like "OK, me too." And I could kind of tell that she was relieved. And then when we finished the little hills on the west side we noticed the group in front of us was walking their slow interval. So she was like "Hey, they're walking!" and I said "I'm okay with that." So we walked the uphill and then ran the rest of the way.

Somewhere along the way MY mentor passed us, along with some other people, which made me feel even better that we weren't the last ones. This is not schadenfreude, it's just that I was feeling that my workout was going so badly because I was severely out of shape, not because it was a hard workout.

And then after a short cool down I was feeling better again. And that I actually did well. I mean 5 miles of intervals in hot muggy weather is hard, no matter how you slice it.

Saturday was a long slow distance run. I stuck with the 10 minute mile group and did a nice, extremely enjoyable 9 miles along the Hudson. And when we ran past my apartment building I had the cutest little boy waiting in the park to give me a kiss :) Liam is definitely a good running cheerleader. Maybe that's why the remaining 8 miles at that point didn't seem so bad ;)