BoyToy may have lost his mind.

The strangest thing happened this morning...BoyToy asked if I wanted to go for a run with him! WTF?!?!?!?!

This is strange for a few reasons:
1. BoyToy barely runs. Maybe a mile or two on the treadmill at the gym before he lifts things.
2. The last time we ran together (July of 2009) he told me very specifically that we were "never doing this ever again!" Granted, that was after a 4 mile race in which he ran 7:40 miles and I signed him up for without telling him, but he was very adamant. Not taking the hint, I still ask him at least twice a week if he wants to go on my run with me and he always politely declines.
3. He always tells me how much I smell after I run so I never thought he'd want to experience it in real time.

But he asked, so I wasn't going to pass it up (even today is my scheduled rest day). We ran 2.5 miles at a 9:46 pace. It was very relaxing, just being outside with him and talking about the neighborhood. We were like 2 explorers trying to find the Dairy Queen (even if it was 8:30am and DQ is not whole grain - we didn't stop).

That's it. Not much else to report, but in case BoyToy starts exhibiting more signs of having lost his mind, I felt I needed to put this on the record.

Next Topic: Friday I did tempo and didn't think I was going to die (unlike 2 weeks ago when I ran in the inferno).

I had an 11 mile workout on Friday with 5 miles at tempo (7:40 pace). In addition to being bad at math, I also struggle to figure out my Garmin. I have it set on autolap, so I can't read my splits. I didn't think of this until I was running my first tempo mile and by then it was too late. I ran them blind. 5 hard miles. I figured I would look when I got home and either be surprised or disappointed.

It was a workout, that's for sure. I ran hard, but tried not to go all out. It was hot, but not humid. I felt like I slowed down each mile, except for the last one where I hauled ass the last .25 mile to make up for the lost time. I needn't have worked so hard. I was shocked when I read my data and my miles were: 7:27; 7:25; 7:13; 7:19; 7:08. Once again, I had done it wrong (much too fast!). But I was shocked to find out that I could have held back and still done the workout successfully.

I called Coach Cope to grovel and ask for forgiveness. He told me not to worry. It was ok to do the workout too hard, but if I did that all the time, my other workouts could suffer. As usual, he was right. My Sunday 19 miler was tough. I had nothing in the tank. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

This could also be attributed to the fact that I forgot to eat before I ran. Normally I never, ever forget to eat. I eat too much. But I woke up late and in my haste to leave I forgot to grab something. I did manage to grab 2 Gu and 2 bottles of G2, so I knew I would survive the workout. And I did. Survive, that is. But it was tough. I made Linda stop twice so I could catch my breath and drink and pretend I was in shape. The last 3 miles were horrible. I should have just called it good at 16 (when Linda left after running 10 with me), but I’m too Type A to do that. So I HTFU (barely) and chugged through the miles. I won’t mention the MAJOR chaffing that also added to the misery of this run. Suffice it to say I’m surprised my thighs weren’t bleeding.

Final Topic: The new diet.

I am done with my first full week. I must say, I was rather successful (minus the whole forgetting to eat thing on Sunday and a pita attack on Saturday). It was easier that I originally thought. I’m still eating all the same foods, just in different ratios and proportions and forms. I went to Trader Joes to ease my shopping. I still bought the same things: bread, tortillas, pitas, cereal – but all in whole grain. I added the morning snack at 10am (usually 2 sting cheese and a piece of fruit) and its really helped me make good choices since I’m not starving at lunch time.

I thought dinner would be tough because I eat it with BoyToy, but he’s been amazingly supportive and my new diet hasn’t affected his normal diet. For example, one night we had burgers, but I didn’t have whole grain buns. He had a normal burger with chips, and I had my burger with sides of wild rice and green beans. Not bad.

I only had one moment of food envy. They had pizza for lunch at work one day. I love work pizza – its doughy and saucy and yummy. But not whole grainy. Boo.