This week's tempo run + soup review

Before I get into last night's run, I wanted to "review" the soup I had for lunch yesterday. A few weeks ago I was browsing the soup aisle and noticed that this brand was on sale. It usually takes me forever to pick out soups because I am analyzing the sodium content vs. the caloric content vs. if there are any natural ingredients at all.

Health Valley soups are not only Organic, but they also have a line that is "No Salt Added." This is completely healthier than "Lower Sodium" as there are hardly any mg of salt in the former. I have looked at many "healthy" soups that may be low in calories, but are loaded with salt. I try to avoid these, so it's been very hard for me to keep soups stocked in my cabinets. Previously I have tried Health Valley's Potato Leek No Salt Added soup and it was fantastic! So I picked up some Minestrone at Whole Foods the other day and tried it for lunch yesterday.

It was very good! Although I did add some salt to it, at least I can control how much salt there actually is in the soup! (At work we have some Morton's Light Salt, which is half the sodium of table salt! Who knew?) So I enjoyed this version, and will definitely continue buying this brand. It is the ONLY brand I have found that has No Salt Added....please comment if you know of any other brands that offer this.

I also did pack a spinach salad with feta, green olives and almonds that I enjoyed with my soup. I had some of that Wishbone Spritzer dressing in Caesar that I used. That stuff is great! I usually use that at work, while at home I always go with olive oil and either apple cider vinegar or balsamic, depending on the salad. Now onto the running!

I set out last night for my tempo run, not really wanting to run, and not really feeling all that great. But I am leaving to go out of town Thursday evening so I knew I couldn't skimp on my Tuesday and Wednesday runs.

It was scheduled to be 2 mi marathon goal pace (which I have determined for this marathon is going to be between 10:00 and 10:30, if I do better than that, well hell yeah!) then 2x2 miles Tempo and then 3 more miles MGP.

I was going to make two loops around the Peninsula, one loop is about 4.5, but only made it around once with some walking at the end...Here are the sad split times:

1	00:10:54	1.00 mi	10:54 min/mi	--	--	111 C
2	00:10:12	1.00 mi	10:12 min/mi	--	--	114 C
3	00:09:10	1.00 mi	09:10 min/mi	--	--	112 C
4	00:10:18	1.00 mi	10:18 min/mi	--	--	114 C
5	00:01:11	0.12 mi	09:46 min/mi	--	--	12 C

Total Time: 00:41:46

Distance: 4.12 mi

Elevation Gain/Loss: 580 ft / 645 ft

Calories: 463 C
Avg Pace: 10:08 min/mi

Max Pace: 04:10 min/mi

The entire run felt like I was running uphill, even though it was flat. My legs were tight and my right arch has been bothering me with my new shoes...I might have to go back to the 'ole Asics. But at least I managed something, see my "sprint" during mile 3?? That was the 'Tempo" portion of last evening's run, please hold your applause.

Tonight I will be running over the bridge for a total of an 80 minute run. Then out of town tomorrow afternoon!