To The Lake, the Beach!

Do you see the lake in the picture? All the way at the top left corner of the image?

Yeah, that was my destination for my run last night.

I actually split this run into 2 parts. I ran out the lake, stopped there where there are some picnic tables under a pavilion so I could do some core work, and then I ran back home. I guess you could say that's 3 parts, but the "core work" part was really minimal, so I basically considered this to be 2 small runs. 

And let me say right now, this was a workout that I was not looking forward to. I'd had a long day; really, a long week overall, and several recent events had left me in a bad mood. Now I know just as well as the net exercise monkey that "exercise helps a bad mood," "exercise gives you endorphins," blah, blah, blah. If someone had told me that at the time I probably would have slapped them. And then I would have curled up on the couch with a jar of Nutella and slothed the evening away. 

Good thing no one told me those things. I put on workout clothes and somehow willed myself to get outdoors. I just had to keep reminding myself that this was a good thing, and it wouldn't even take that long. And also, my husband and I will be squeezing the last little bit of summer out of this year on a nice little resort-style vacation on a sunny Florida beach next week. No time for Nutella and couches and slothing...gotta get into beach bod mode!

Let's get to the workout breakdown:

Run 1:

2.2 miles, 18 minutes and 10 seconds for an overall 8:15 pace.

Not bad, and I wasn't totally exhausted. Excellent time for some crunches!

Core work:

10 push-ups

12 oblique v-crunches

30 second speed skater drill

10 push-ups

12 center v-crunches

30 second speed skater drill

10 push-ups 

12 oblique v-crunches

All that "core work" probably took about 5 minutes. Yes, I did consider doing one more round of speed skater drills, but I wanted to try my hardest to get a negative split on the run back home, so I decided not to do another round of glute-shredding exercises.

Run 2:

2.2 miles, 18 minutes and 34 seconds for an overall 8:26 pace.

Darn it. Those splits were very positive. But this was one of those times when I decided it would be better to not beat myself up over it. I ran hard, it was hot, and I came back sweaty and dirty. I always love a workout where I feel like I have truly earned my shower, and this was one of them. When it was all said and done, I was really very glad that I did this whole workout. My mood was better, I was more relaxed, I felt more excited about the upcoming vacation, and I even slept better than I had all week. Now someone get this girl to a beach!!