We've Got Our Work Cut Out for Us

by Jodi

Carissa and I shared a hilarious conversation via text yesterday.  I found myself thinking, "Our readers need to see how we interact.  We all need a Sole Sister like this."

Carissa is an over-achiever.  She sets huge goals and usually comes pretty close to reaching them.  I am a running under-achiever.  I set baby goals and am surprised when I actually accomplish them.  Our friendship is good for us.  Carissa teaches me to dream big and then chase the dream down.  I teach her the beauty of winging it and being a training schedule rebel every once in a while.

It all started with me running a speed workout yesterday.  Technically (according the schedule we're both following), we were supposed to be resting yesterday.  But lately my life has been one continuous Winging It moment after another and I never got a chance to run on Thursday.  So I counted that as my rest day and did speed work on Friday.

I texted Carissa, "Girl, we've lost speed.  I just ran five on the Fanno Creek Trail as fast as I could and it paced out at 7:30's!  AGH!"

C:  What training schedule are you following?!?  We're supposed to be doing a 3:1 run tomorrow!

J:  The "What works with Jodi's Life" schedule.  Couldn't run yesterday so I ran today.

C:  What about the speed though?  You going to be okay for tomorrow's run?  We're not even supposed to do pace runs the day before a 3:1 run.  Good thing you're super woman.  :)  I'm very motivated to keep easy days easy because I don't want to be sidelined with an overuse injury again.

J:  I should be fine.  You know me - I don't pay much attention to pace.  That's why I have you.  :).  See you in the morning.  By the way, what are you considering as a pace run?

C:  Right now I'd like to focus my training at a 7:15 or 7:10 pace.  That would be a 1:35/1:34 half.  It may be too aggressive but you know me.  I like to aim high!  :)  I'd be interested to see how the 3:1 run goes.  It usually is tough to hit pace for the last 25% of the run.

J:  You do realize my fastest pace for five miles is a 7:20 right?  Or that my mile speed work is around 6:40's?  I don't know if I'm physically capable of running that fast.  But I'll try to keep up with you.  At least you have a nice butt...

C:  A few weeks ago I was running pace runs around that speed and faster (you were with me for one of them).  The question is can that be done toward the end of a long run.  Thanks for humoring me.  :)

J:  My guess is that we will have a hard time being successful and that I will probably complain a lot to make you feel bad for torturing me.

C:  Yep and then I'll remind you that you shouldn't have done a speed workout the day before a pace run.  We make a good team.  :)

We did our first long run of this training schedule this morning.  It was what we both expected.  Long, slow, and painful.  I always want to run slow and talk.  Carissa wants to run fast and talk.  I always want to ditch the pace part of pace runs because it's too hard.  Carissa would never consider it.  I complained and whined about how I was pretty sure my body would not let me run fast the last 25% of the run.  Carissa ignored me.  I threatened to stay behind and let her run ahead without me.  Carissa ignored me.

In the end, we went from lollygagging along side-by-side for the first nine miles to sprinting the last few miles.  Me chasing Carissa's cute butt like I always do and yelling at her, "You're going too fast.  This is not the pace we agreed to."  Carissa ignoring me and running faster because she knows I'll chase her.

During our cool down we laughed at the way we banter back and forth and lamented about how much speed and endurance we've lost.  We definitely have our work cut out for us.  But we know we can do it because, we have each other.  And that, my friends, is what it's like to have a Sole Sister.

Carissa and I finishing the Heartbreaker Half Marathon together in February 2012
(to get the whole story, click here)

Now that we've laid out such a compelling case, don't you want to join us?  Carissa and I are training for the 2012 Girlfriends Half Marathon on October 14th in Vancouver.  This race is extra special to me because I lost a friend who loved life to cancer in October.  A bunch of the girls from our neighborhood are training for this race and running it to celebrate the beautiful life Krista lived.  Why don't you register and come join the fun too?

Need a training program?  Hal Higdon has free online training programs for every level of runner.  We've trained using all of the levels and have been pleased with the results.  We'd love to hear if you're planning on running this race too.  Will you leave us a comment so we can look for you on race day?