Could it be? Maybe? No, don't say it...PROGRESS?

Running has never come naturally to me. I'm not built for it.

I have a friend who is also a triathlete and she's built like a gizelle. I saw her recently and she suggested going for a bonding run together and I danced around the idea because her legs come up to my navel. I said, "nah, I'm a really slow runner -- I wouldn't want to ruin your run." She countered with,"don't worry, I recently broke my foot...I'm running slower than I ever have. I'm sure we're well matched." Upon which time it was determined that her running pace with a broken appendage was still two minutes/mile faster than my tempo runs. That was a fun exercise in abject embarassment.

So, I'm just not built for speed.

Just by way of example, I am 5'4" tall (which is mighty short when the peanut butter is on the top shelf) and manage to pack 170 pounds into that frame. But even at that weight, I'm still a size 10/12. My point? I'm built more like a lumberjack than a lady. Maybe a lady lumberjack.

So running is that necessary evil tacked onto the end of a triathlon that I try not to suck so horribly at that I lose any momentum gained in the water and on the bike. Operable word: "try."

But I may have had a little encouraging news this weekend. I did my long run (turned out to be 1:24) on Sunday and stayed in my proscribed heart rate zones. Me and 155 were close friends for the entire Struble trail and then some. And since my Garmin will soon be going back to Garmin for a little tune up (it's a wee bit broken), I was relying on my new Nike HRM. Point? No pacing information...just ticker info.

I got home, showered, and got ready for Super Bowl festivities. But before heading out, I checked my distance on gmap and LO' AND BEHOLD my pace was considerably different this week.

Compared to my prior long runs in low Zone 2, I was running 0:45 seconds/mile faster.

Um...

YEAH!

For the first time in forever, my long run was out of the 12:00/mile range and solidly in the 11:00/mile neighborhood!

And...AND...so far the Elf and I have been focusing on developing my swim and bike base, more so than my run base. (Not that the running shoes are ignored, don't you worry!) So this is progress (I'm assuming) through the accumulated benefits of building muscle through lifting, building an aerobic base with lots of cycling, newly developed core strength, and keeping on top of my running, too.

Whhhheeeeee!