Training in Montana

Nice & easy 2.9 miles today. A bit windy but nice enough for shorts, which is awesome. I need some new black tights - my royal blue 10 yr old tights are ugly as crap but I can't see spending $ when what I have works fine. But I'm sure my kids wouldn't claim me if I wore them with them around. AP 9:30, Avg HR 145, Max HR 164, Elevation up 335, down 365.

1:30 plank, 1:00 side planks, 1:00 bicycles, 15 pushups (+ 20 this morning). Squats, shoulder raises, and curls also.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/77262019

4 mile tempo run. I wanted to keep an 8:30 average to see if I can hold that in my upcoming 18.6 mile race. I'm doubtful, but I'll try. It's easy for me to keep a 9:30 pace on my long runs, so knocking a minute off that easy pace might be possible.

The high school track is on my typical route so I headed inside after a brief warmup to see if I could train my legs what an 8:30 pace was. I'm glad I have a GPS watch for that as it was tough to keep it to 8:30. I'd either go faster or slower, but it worked out. Ran 1 mile on the track, then headed back to the roads for a bit. The watch says I only gained 94 feet but it looked like a lot! Glad my race is mostly all downhill. Up the hill I kept it mostly at 8:30ish but after turning around it picked up to a 7:30 or so mile. I can't sustain that for long but feels good to run "fast", which in the 7's is fast for me.

AP: 8:22, Avg HR 155.

2.75 easy miles today. Squats, shoulders, curls X 3. 2:00 plank, 1:00 side planks, 1:00 bicycles, 20 pushups.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/77607048

4.55 mile tempo run with a .4 warmup first. Tried to make my average pace 8:30 but I'm having a hard time doing that. Ended up faster than that. I tried to do my uphill part at 8:45 then planned 8:15 for the downhill. I think my uphill was a bit shorter than down as I made it quicker than planned. 36 degrees out with a light drizzle that faded.

AP 8:13, Avg HR 154, Max HR 171.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/77778763

5.3 by myself this morning, AP 8:44, then hurried home and the whole crew (minus oldest sleeping over son) went to a 5K run/walk. We started with the walkers 30 minutes early and walked the first bit then my wife and 5 year old daughter stayed behind while I gently jogged with the 9 and 7 year old boys. We ran most of the rest of the way, taking 30 second walk breaks only a few times. AP 13:03, total 5K time 40:19. And the best part is the boys had a blast and thought running was fun! Wahoo - I hope my kids like to run and start to join me on my shorter runs. I have to figure that one out. How do you all get your kids involved in your runs? Have them meet you somewhere on your run for a little bit? Run with them afterwards? Haven't done much to figure that out but I'd love to make it a family affair.