Now it's time to relax a little...

Yes, still beautiful weather here! I biked to the gym this morning and did upper body weights and then the Body Balance class, then I biked home. The funny thing is, it was so chilly when I biked there at 9:30 I had to wear a fleece and a jacket, but when I came home at 11:30, I was only in a tank top! It cools way down at night.

Not much else to report except that I am going to take it easy the rest of today and tomorrow. And drink a lot of water. And catch up on some of the episodes of In Treatment I've been recording while my kids are at sports tomorrow afternoon...how lazy is that?!

Fran, I will see you at de infobalie in het Stadskantoor, naast de startlokatie, around 11!

Remember?

Remember this outfit, last worn in April this year? Well, I was able to wear it again today...

Remember those 4 easy kilometers I was supposed to do on Tuesday? Well, I decided to do them this afternoon, so that I could...

remember what it feels like to run when it's 79 F/26 C!

I went out after lunch and took it slow and easy. It felt good to be in the sun but it was definitely hot. I went over to the Finse Piste where there was a lot of shade. I even stopped to talk to a school teacher I knew who was there with her class, so I got a chance to rest a bit halfway.

I did two loops on the Finnish track and then headed home again, for 28 minutes total. I'm glad I went as it reminded me how it feels to run in the heat and made me think about how I am going to make sure I hydrate very well in the next three days. And rethink my choice of race outfit - I might just have to take my running shorts with me instead of capris on Sunday!

I will be going to Breda by train. I'll have to switch trains in Mechelen (B) and Roosendaal (NL). I'm looking forward to it (going to bring a good book to read) but I don't really want to sit in my running shorts for 2 hours in the train, and I don't want to wear my stinky running clothes home in the train, so that means I'll need to change - and think carefully about what to bring.

I Love Frank!

Frank is our weatherman and this week I have been loving him!

It's another gorgeous day today! I told my kids we have been having our summer in April and September this year, for a change.

And it's supposed to be beautiful through the weekend, but a bit cooler and cloudier on Sunday (when I have the 15K with Fran). So, perfect! I am really looking forward to this.

In spite of the good weather, I still went to the gym today. I had some weights to get in and 20 minutes on the elliptical. But I did bike there and back. I haven't driven my car since last Saturday when we had to go to visit the in-laws.

And you can bet I will be out running tomorrow - in shorts and a tank top!

Easy Run

My workout plan said "4 km easy". But how could I have known back when I wrote it that it was going to be such perfect gorgeous weather at the end of September?

So I just got back and my Garmin says: "7.40 km, 50:21, 583 calories and 6:48 pace". I just couldn't resist going all the way to the lake and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. It will be fall soon enough and then I will be dreading the wind and rain...and I can make up my "4 km easy" on one of those days.

Dress Rehearsal

Today is my last long slow run before the 15 K race with Fran next week in Breda. So I really wanted to try out all my gear and make sure there were no unexpected spots that chafed or hurt. I also remembered to take a gel with me for halfway through!

It has been gorgeous Indian summer weather for running and I was looking forward to this. I had to do it on my own, since my husband got back from Vienna last night and is leaving for Warsaw this evening, he preferred to get a session in at the gym. I didn't mind, though, I loaded my Ipod with some podcasts I wanted to listen to and I was off!

I was shooting for 13 km but it ended up being 12.7 in 90 minutes. Pace was right about 7 minutes per kilometer, which is just perfect for what we will be running next week.

Everything worked out well - from socks to hat! And I don't think I really needed the gel but I took it halfway through anyway... It was a vanilla one. I had forgotten how salty and weird those things taste!

Now I am just keeping my fingers crossed that the weather stays nice and sunny (for me) but not too hot (for Fran) next week!

Just for Fun!

I am stuck at home this morning because our plumbers are installing two new radiators...so I have been fooling around with things on-line that I normally never have time for...like this:

If you want to make your own, here is the link!

Have a great Friday!

Finnish Track

We are so lucky in my town, Leuven. We have so many sports facilities and most of them are really close to my house. One of the neat things we have, just 1 km away, is a Finnish track, in a wooded park. A Finnish track (finse piste) is a path made specially for runners. It has a spongy bottom layer covered in wood chips which makes it nice and springy to run on.

I probably use the Finnish track about three times a month. It's a 1 km loop so it's great for tempo runs. And it is surprisingly challenging to run on - while it gives your joints a nice break from asphalt, the bounciness means that you really have to work your core a lot more than you normally would.

So today I headed over to the Finnish track, did two loops in one direction, turned and did two in the other direction, and then headed home for a nice 6.3 km and 42 minutes of fresh air.