Andrea's Running Page

Great casual run with the group in preparation for the Moab Half.  Out-and-back from the Capitol to the post office on Sunnyside. 

Fun workout on the elliptical machine -- and some added weight training (upper body).  I officially have another cold now.  I'm hopeful that it will leave me along in time for Moab. 

Gearing up for the Moab half, a few of us met at Murray Park to run a couple miles.  Nice evening; finally, no snow/ice on the sidewalks and road.  It seems that most of the residents around Murray Park are unfamiliar with this invention we call a snow shovel. Getting really excited for Moab this weekend.  :o)

Ok, Craig, this race report is for you.  I, too, was one of the lucky suckers who had the privilege of riding in the Ragnar Chariot of Sweetness -- we arrived in style with Craig heckling anyone he could with the loud speaker.  Honestly, I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard or had so much fun. 

On the morning of the race, I felt good and well-rested (and I NEVER sleep the night before a race).  I had a cold that I was still battling from earlier in the week -- I wonder if that was why I just felt gassed out and lead-legged through the majority of the race.  I feel like I trained successfully during the winter and I'm disappointed that my finish time didn't reflect that -- that just means I gotta work harder now. 

The weather conditions at the start of the race were perfect.  Something I'll keep in mind for the next race with a later start time: eat a big enough breakfast.  I started to get hungry around the start time of the race.  Clif Blocks just don't satisfy. 

I can't give a mile by mile run down like Craig did (just 'cause I don't have the time right now -- maybe later).  Ultimately, I realized that the course is as tough as the others had told me.  I felt like my left leg was about two inches longer than my right.  This as a result of my chiropractor appointment/back adjustment a few days prior to the race.  But on a good note, I finally feel like my right hip is on the mend.  I just have to learn how to run with a normal spine again.  Props to Dominique to finishing the race on a broken foot!  I promise I tried to convince her to stop.

Some of the highlights of the race: a smooth, controlled start with Coach and ma girls, running with Dominique most of the course, the massive drums that echoed for miles, running into Lander around mile 12, running into Maggie's husband, Scott, at about mile 12.5, of course the reunion at the finish line.  I'm super-proud of my husband for completing his first half-marathon without me by his side! 

Now, I just can't wait for another chance to show 'em what I've got!! 

Hmmm, I wrote a great big long race report yesterday and it seems to have disappeared.  Oh well!  When I have more time, I'll write it again.  But for the meantime, I'll just say that I'm content with the 20:58 finish time.  Last year I finished this same course in 20:13 -- gotta beat both of those times next year! 

I'm proud of my whole team -- everyone showed a great effort.  And the results prove it!  Congrats to Craig for taking first place OVERALL!  

More later...

Although my quads were still a little tender from the 5k on Saturday, I was anxious to get back out on the track for some speed work.  I met up with Natalie at little after 5:30 and we started with a 1 mile warmup.  While we were warming up, we chatted about what distances we wanted to do; we decided on 4x200s, 2x400s, 1x800, and another 4x200s.  Natalie is a great athlete so it's nice to have her there to make me push myself (too bad Dominique is out for a while -- she's another speed demon).

We started our 200s with a medium effort just to ease into it.  It had been 2 weeks since we did speed work (Moab taper the first week and recovery the second).  We finished our 200s in around 32-37 seconds.  On our last 200, I seemed to have done something to my left hamstring.  Whoa!  What was that pain all about?!  We stopped to stretch for a bit in hopes that the pain would subside -- never fully went away.  Walter showed up about that time so we ran another few laps at a casual pace with him while he was warming up.  The hamstring started to feel a tiny bit better.  Uh-oh, I hope this is something that will heal overnight -- I hate not being invincible!   

We ran a 400 (1:--), then an 800 (3:15), followed by another 400 (1:--).  I don't remember what the times were.  Natalie was in charge of the stopwatch and I was in charge of the total distance.  At that point, we decided to call it a night so we ran 1 mile to cool down and stretched for about 15 minutes.  We wanted to ease back into things after taking a couple weeks off from speed work. 

When I got home, I iced my left ham and put some topical Sore No More on it.  Seems that I had a bad reaction to something because I have a big ol' rash on my leg this morning.  That'll look really nice at the gym tonight -- maybe I'll wear capris.  My ham didn't heal overnight but it's not as sore as I thought it would be either. 

I ALWAYS have a great time at Wednesday night Hill Kills!  Tonight, we had a good turn out: Coach Bill, Tracy1, Natalie, Walter, Traci H., Esther, Murphy, and me.  A few miles in, we did 6 short sprints to really get the blood flowing.  We took on 6 hills for a total mileage of about 5.75 (all of our GPSs had a different distance).  Overall, it was a great quality workout.

It was good to catch up with Coach about the race last Saturday and the passing of Jude's father.  I chatted with Walter and some of the fast girls about the WBR female speed time; I'm interested to see how that pans out.  Unfortunately, the pain in my right hamstring hasn't subsided yet.  But it isn't debilitating either -- I can just feel it gently nagging in there, especially when I try to attack a hill.  Fortunately, Murphy was right by my side the whole way keeping the pace.  I gotta say that he's the best running companion -- never has any complaints.  Cardio-wise, I feel the best I've felt in a long time.  Maybe I'm finally kicking this cold!

What a great day for a run!  I ran with the group today in Bountiful -- we had a small turnout (likely due to Easter weekend).  All 9 of us took the big Bountiful/North Salt Lake hill by storm -- our progress and improvement on that hill are already evident!  I ran all 1.8 of it without stopping.  I felt great cardio-wise today; my body still feels a little beat up from a hard training week (left hamstring is still a little tight).

We met at Coach's house and warmed-up for a few miles along Davis Blvd.  Then we stopped in the school parking lot for 6 quick sprints to really get the blood flowing.  Then, on to Orchard Ave. for the stretch out to the refineries.  Of course, Coach wasn't going to let us off easy with the small hill.  No, we had the big hill on tap for the day.  We missed Craig who usually passes the rest of us up like we're standing still!! 

We made it up to Bountiful Blvd. and ran back to Coach's house with a hurry-up pace.  I always love the Bountiful run, such a nice view of the valley!  It was great to see Dominique who was sagging for us.  Overall, this was a great workout! 

I met up on Easter morning with Amie, Christin, Carol, John, Shari, and Ryan -- a little different crew than I'm used to.  They all run with headphones/music so it was a really quiet run.  We met at Draper Park for an out-and-back to Cabella's on the Frontage Road.  I was only expecting to go about 4.5 miles out (9 miles round-trip) at a nice, leisurely pace.  Carol has been nursing a knee injury so I was expecting to hang out with her and take it a little easy. 

Fortunately, Carol was feeling well enough to go out 5.5 and then turn around to head back.  We really picked up the pace on the way back because Carol and John had family plans at 11:00.   I was pretty tapped after the full-out effort on the way back.  Next time, I'll be sure to back it off a little more on my recovery day.  Still can't beat this weather!  :o) 

It's such a beautiful day that it's a shame we're running inside!  Fortunately, there was hardly anyone at the Oval.  It was nice to have the place pretty much to ourselves. 

Natalie, Amie, and I met up at 5:30 for some good quality speedwork.  During our 1-mile warm-up, we decided to do another pyramid this week (4x200s, 4x400s, then 4 more 200s).  After chatting with Coach Bill on Saturday and finding out that he hasn't increased to 800s yet, we're going to hold off until he does. 

We started chatting with another girl who showed up for some track work.  She was super-fast.  Her name is Amy.  I think we'll try to see if she's interested in running the WBR.  We also saw Tracy C., Tracy A., and Walter a little later.  It was great to see everyone! 

Overall, I was very pleased with our performance today.  We finished our 200s between :33 and :39 seconds.  We finished our 400s between 1:21 and 1:28.  Speedwork with Natalie always keeps me on my A-game.  And I was proud of Amie, coming out for speedwork for the very first time.  She was able to hang with Natalie and me, for the most part.  Next week, I'm going to take a notepad so I can accurately record the time for each lap.