Pushing up the pace

There was nothing special about today's workout - in fact, it was exactly the same workout I've been doing every Tuesday. 6 mile run, followed by strength training.

But today, a friend of Nancy's came with us, and from the moment she started running, I knew we were in for it.

It wasn't a much faster pace - but it was faster. And none of us wanted to say "slow down" - nobody wants to be the one holding the group back.

Kathy and Sarah had both raced on Sunday - both getting personal records! - so they weren't fully recovered. Nancy - who knows about her, I think she's transformed herself into such a strong runner she probably didn't even notice the faster pace. And I felt like I could sustain the new person's pace, but I didn't really want to.

Which, of course, is exactly the reason I should - and for the most part, did.

I'm so happy to be training!

So, some other random thoughts:
-- My bike shoes were absolutely saturated from Sunday's ride - so I brought them to work and put them right up next to one of my computers that happens to run really hot. That worked really well. But isn't that ridiculous?

-- The latest porn mag I subscribe to - otherwise known as Triathlete magazine - arrived yesterday. It features my bike on a page full of pink gear for the female triathlete. There are also pink speedplay pedals that are pretty enough to make me want to switch. Look, which I use, has girly pedals, but they're baby blue.

-- Last night at my son's baseball practice, Camille, my 3-year-old princess, saw the boys running the bases and asked me if we could run together. So I'm in cute black flats (at least they weren't heels, right), but how can I possibly say no? She was wearing a pink dress and tights, as usual, but I insist that every day she wear solid play shoes, so she also had on Disney Princess sneakers. We did short intervals on the long-jump track, and she was running a 10 or 11 minute mile! For just these little distances, though - but it gave me some ideas about track workouts I could do with short sprinty intervals with the kids. And I just loved seeing her flushed little cheeks.

-- There are boys on my son's baseball team who weigh as much as I do. SERIOUSLY - one of the boy's mom told me. My boy is almost 7; the team goes from age 7 to 9 (because of his upcoming birthday, he is in the "correct" league, but still! Obese 9-year-olds are huge!). And of course, my boy's huge attitude and massive amount of confidence served him just fine with the bigger boys and he had a great time. Plus he can run faster than most of them.

-- Yesterday's "Eat to Compete" mentality served me well. I ended the day around 1360 calories - a little low, but I wasn't hungry, and I did have more than 40% of my calories from carbs, so I'm not depriving myself of carbs at a time my body needs them most. I know it's early, but I'm feeling good about the diet.