Let Her Run: Track Workout and Running With Partners.

Post Pelaton weekend, things are settling back down over here. I'm shocked to say that I experienced no soreness from all of that riding - even (shockingly) when back in the bike saddle. I did have some pain in my quads immediately after the ride, but after a good night's sleep on Saturday night I woke up good as new. I consider this a major success :)

I had my usual Monday rest day yesterday, and today I got Alex to do a track workout with me. Yep, he's back!!! I did a 2-mile warm up and then we both did 16x400m and a 1-mile cool down. It made track work a lot more exciting just for the fact I wasn't there alone. He only lapped me twice while doing his workout ;) For those of you who are newer readers, Alex is a speed-demon runner and recently qualified for the Boston Marathon with a 3:00 marathon PR. He's definitely a huge running role model for me, and I do have lots of experienced marathoners in my life but he is one of my ultimate marathon advice gurus these days, especially since he will be running at the Chicago Marathon with me, which is extra super exciting!

Today while the track was kicking my butt I thought of something that might be interesting to talk about on the blog : running with partners! Alex is obviously a much faster runner than me (and most other runners out there), but we still like to find ways to make running something we can do together. Maybe you have a partner/boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse you want to run with, but you guys are at different speeds. Or maybe you just want to run with a friend who paces differently than you do. If you ask me, running is something that EVERYONE can enjoy together - regardless of their pace or distance abilities.

Personally, I don't have many girlfriends who are training for marathons right now. It's not too surprising - not many 20-year olds run marathons. I do have friends who run occasionally/recreationally, and it's fun if they want to finish the last 3-4 miles of my long run with me, or if they get me through those middle miles. Doing easy runs together is also a lot of fun. One of my favorite things is hanging out with and talking to a close friend while being active at the same time.

In those situations with friends, I don't typically worry about pace at all. However, pace might be more of a concern if Alex and I run together, since we are both in training. To be frank, it isn't practical for him to run with me everyday. It would be a waste for him; he would never get close to his full potential/threshold, which just isn't a good way for him to train. But if you're running with a partner that's much faster than you, then perhaps you can do your tempo-paced runs with them, while for them that run is an easy run. Maybe they can keep you on pace for that run, or during some tough miles in the middle of a long run. Or, you can do what we did and run together on a track for your speed workouts. In the end, some workouts have to be done on our own. It's important to remember that running is something that can be social and fun, and that can be shared no matter what!

After our track workout today, we each headed to our homes and got ready for the day. Then Alex picked me up and we hit up one of favorite hangouts... the grocery store! We got ingredients to cook brunch... and I got this giant cream puff on an impulse buy. (Now it's sitting at home in our fridge...still not sure what to do with it. Let people rip pieces off? Use spoons? Try to slice it up and let the cream puff out the sides? Anyone???)