Going With The Flow

AM - WINDY!! I'm writing in Italic because that's how the JAJAs looked running this morning! 8.3 miles. James was the tailwind expert, Allie lost two hats, Jake tackled Sunnyside and lost to the sand and dirt, and I got leaf scratches on my face. Quite the fiasco/entertainment. 

 Jake casually informed me that if I average 8.5 miles for December then I will hit 3000 for the year...it would really be a shame to be so close to 3000 and miss it by a few miles...ughhh why did he have to tell me that?! I wouldn't even have known/cared otherwise! :)

So tentative plan for Saturday - meet at Jordan River Parkway at 3300S. Place is flexible if another location is more convenient. Just let me know. 8am, 10-12 miles ~8 min pace.

AM - 4.5 miles, up towards Sugarhouse and back. I woke up with a bit of a sore throat this morning, feeling more tired as well...hopefully I can prevent getting sick with lots of Vitamin C and taking it easy today.

AM - 11 miles with Allie, James, Rob M, Emily J, Jake, and Bryan. We had a very nice run with a little snow and sunshine. We ended up running about 7:30 pace, my first miles under 8 min for two weeks! I'm still feeling general fatigue; it might take me another week to recover from the marathon and feel good again. On another note, I think I am starting to develop my first black toe nail - I'm actually pretty impressed that I have made it so long! 

AM - 5.5 miles around Millcreek, still in post-marathon funk.

Great day for the blog today!! Obsessively checked Fritz and Emily updates all morning from CIM, so proud of both of them! Both with new PRs - Fritz 2:23:30, Emily Bates 2:47:07. Also saw that Bonnie ran a new PR on the Fiesta Half this morning! Congrats :)

AM - 30 minutes on the exercise bike. Taking another day off running today. 

About 25 women ran under the Olympic Trials standard yesterday at CIM...it's hard not to wish we had gone to CIM instead of Philly for the marathon. Jake and I planned Philly way before we even thought we had a chance at making the Trials and decided to not to change that. CIM is said to be about 3 minutes faster than Philly and with the perfect weather they had...I really believe I could've done it there. And the cooler temperatures definitely could've changed Jake's electrolyte problems...I know that I'm dwelling and shouldn't look back anymore, but it's a challenge. I have a feeling they are going to going to lower the standard for the next trials, so I'll just have to get faster. It needs to snow so I can go skiing and get my mind off running for a while!

AM - 5 miles up towards Sugarhouse with Jake and back. Had to bring out the neck gaiter and long socks for the first time today. Hopefully I can put them away before May this year!

PM - Step Aerobics Class. It was fun to do a little something different. 

This is a great resource for strengthening the hip-girdle area. Lots of injuries stem from hip weaknesses and imbalances, so I thought I would share. I'm going to try to do this routine a few times a week and hopefully it'll help my piriformis/back isssues when I get back into hard training.

Because I've been obsessing over a puppy for the past 2 weeks, Jake and I spent about an hour trying to think of the perfect name for a dog. #1 is definitely Tempo (mostly because I can say I went for a Tempo run every morning when I run around the block with the pup!).

AM - Met up with Devra this morning and ran 8 miles around Sandy, 7:30 pace. I think we are going to try to run together 1-2 times during the week. I felt better today than I have since the marathon.

Lauren Fleshman's twitter status last night - "Inspired by biggest loser 2nite. Prize money for 4th at their season finale marathon is same as 7th at the World Champs! Word?"

AM - JAJA run! A little warmer out today and felt pretty good. 

 Thought this was interesting - women vs. men runners

Saturday - 8am - Jordan River Parkway @ 3300S. We'll probably do a 10 mile out-and-back and then add on after that. I'm planning on 13 miles. Easy run (7:30-8 min)... then breakfast afterwards if anyone wants to join us.

AM - 4.5 miles up to Sugarhouse with Jake and back. I could actually feel a difference in pace between running uphill and downhill - been a while. I'm looking forward to a couple months of easy running and feeling good.

AM - 13 miles on what has become the typical Saturday Jordan River Parkway run. We had a great crew today - Kam, Kelli, Adam, James, Allie, Chad, Scott, Jake, Rob M, and myself. 10 total! Average pace was right at 7:30, we started slower and then picked it up the last few miles. With such a crew I didn't get a chance to talk to everyone, but hopefully everyone had a nice run :) I got so excited about playing with the geese that I forgot to pay Allie AGAIN for breaking into my place 3 weeks ago (I promise I will!!!!).

Jake, Kam, Rob and I met up with Emily Bates for breakfast at Over the Counter. Rob was right - it is pretty good! We talked obsessively about running for two hours - marathoning, OTQ , upcoming schedules, etc. Good times.

No running. Jake and I decided to hike up Mt. Olympus, which turned out to be much harder and longer than running. 4200 ft of vertical over 3.5 miles - that's pretty steep! I'm definitely out of hiking shape, especially the downhill pounding. We were proud to hit an 18:30 mile...kinda funny when you're used to running wayyy faster. The scrambling at the top of the mountain was my favorite part, the ice not so much! We had a good time, but it doesn't even come close to hiking up and being able to SKI down.

AM - Met Devra for a run in her neck of the woods. She lives in the Sandy area, and it is hilly! We ran a loop to the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon and back to her place. I have no idea of the pace but I doubt it was very fast. I am pathetically sore from yesterday's hiking adventure + wearing high heels at Jake's work Christmas party on Saturday night. I haven't worn heels in about three years and remembered why! I felt like I was going to tear a tendon at any point, not to mention my shins hurt. So just wondering, does anyone wear heels often? It seems like it would be a difficult thing to do when training hard...

This is Jake and I all dressed up at the party - I wore my homecoming dress from sophomore year of high school!

AM - Needed an easy day so ran horsepark loop 4.4 miles. Quads and shins are still very sore!

Jake gave me an early Christmas present last night :o)

AM - 9.2 miles with Devra in the Sandy area 7:35 pace. Moderately hilly run and slippery! Felt better today so I'm glad I took it easy yesterday. 

Jake and I wrote a book review of Which Comes First - Cardio or Weights? I think that most people on the blog would really like the book; it has great information and I learned a lot.

AM - JAJA run. Foggy and spooky!

PM - 30 minutes of Step class, 10 min abs, 25 pushups, myrtl, a few weights, etc.

We're going to continue with the Saturday morning run at 8am, meet at Jordan River Parkway 3300S. 15 miles, but I think a couple are only going 8-10 so we'll do an out-and-back for that distance. Pace around 7:15-7:45. Breakfast was fun last time; we'll do it again if people are interested.

AM - 4.5 miles up towards Sugarhouse with Jake and back. Glad it's Friday...

AM - Met up with Emily Bates, Fritz, Rob Murphy, and Jake at JRP. It was very cold this morning! I didn't warm up my back and hamstring properly for the cold temperatures (thought I had beaten this injury!) so when the pace crept down into the low 6:40s I could feel my hamstring pulling. Bummer. So I had to be the weakest link and ask to go slower :o(. I made it to 11 miles then decided to call it a day. Anyway, still a fun run with the group! Average 7:10 with a slow first mile. 

Hamstring ached all day yesterday. I was hoping it would be okay today, but that was not the case. Ran about 5 steps and knew it was not a good idea to run. Took me about 0.9 miles to give in, then got depressed. Looks like I'll be weight training today. Maybe I should just take the whole week off...I hate feeling like I'm losing fitness, especially after how hard I have worked the last year. I'm not sure what it's going to take to get rid of this back/hamstring issue that's been lingering since March. Ughhhhhh.

PM - 10/10/10/10 min on the elliptical/bike/stairmaster/ellipti-climber(?). Weird being in a real gym!

AM - 25 min on the bike, 15 min on the elliptical. 

PM - 15 min on the bike with a few pick-ups, strength training, and 10 min on the elliptical. Totally boring.

AM - Spin class for an hour - a pretty good replacement for running. I had a good competition with a girl beside me that's on the U of U cycling team...pretty sure she won but I was working a lot harder. The whole time I was thinking "I would crush you if we were running right now." Haha - the gym is so competitive.

PM - 20 min elliptical, 8 x 30 seconds on, 1 min off. My mileage this week is depressing! 

AM - mini-Fritz workout. 30 minutes on the stairmaster and 10 minutes on the rowing machine. Of course the cardio that feels the best on my hamstring is also the one I dislike the most and is the most boring - rowing machine! 

PM - Strength training class 35 minutes. 

PM2- 30 min split between exercise bike, elliptical, and treadmill. Running felt so great, except the hamstring issue. It was so much easier running that doing anything else! Going to cross train one more day then hopefully can run while I'm in TN.

10 Best Moments in US Distance Running in 2011

AM - 60 min spin class followed by one mile of running. My back seems to tighten up within 5 minutes of starting to run, even after the spinning. 

I'm starting to get frustrated about continually gaining weight...I know I'm not running right now, but I'm still exercising for at least 90 min every day and feel like I'm working harder than just running. Not a big deal - ups and downs are normal anyways. I was just so consistent during the marathon training that I'm used to being the same every day. As long as I can run while I'm in Tennessee (because no cross training there)...

PM - 50 min total cardio: 20 min upright bike, 10 min stairmaster, 10 min elliptical, 10 min recumbent bike.  Obviously I get bored really quickly in the gym.

Great article about GPS watches and their accuracy.

AM - Ran 5 miles on the treadmill at 7:25 pace. Felt pretty good, but didn't seem like a good idea to run more than that. 

Flying out to TN this afternoon - hoping for an easy day of travel! 

AM - 10 miles in Knoxille...miss the rolling hills! It was super nice - 40 degrees and sunny in the morning. I held up pretty good, hamstring didn't hurt. 7:40 pace.

AM - 10 miles in a bunch of neighborhoods, very easy and relaxed. 8 min pace, maybe a little slower.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Hope everyone has a wonderful day with family and friends :o)

AM - 10.1 miles loop around Farragut, lots of short steep hills today. 7:50 pace or so. Feeling pretty good but my back still gets tight after a few miles. I have worn the Kinvaras three days in a row, and the balls of my feet are a little sore. I usually rotate my shoes every day, so I don't think my feet are quite able to handle the minimalist shoe all the time. Nice run, though, except that I ate too much again yesterday and could definitely tell :o). Totally worth it for some southern food!  

AM - 4th 10 miler in a row...that's about all I can handle without my back hurting too much but enough that I still feel good about it. Ran in my cushiony shoes, and they were a relief to my feet today. Jake and I thought we had caught a window in the rain storm, then the downpour started at about 6.5 miles until the end. 40 degrees and raining isn't ideal but it wasn't too bad, entertaining at least!

Thought this was good, from Vernon Gambetta of Functional Path Training.

Lesson Five -10,000 hours is only part of a much bigger picture. Just punching a clock accumulating hours, starting to specialize early and put in your time each day is no guarantee for excellence. You do need some talent, a lot of direction, laser focus and a will to succeed in order to make the practice meaningful. Excellence requires a growth mindset a willingness to risk and make mistakes and the ability to learn from those mistakes. It is a journey where many are called and not as many chose to complete the journey.

AM - 10 miles, lots of sunshine. Much nicer than yesterday! The run didn't feel too great, all the mileage and hills are catching up to me. I'll probably take it easier tomorrow. 

AM - McFee Rd out-and-back. Easy run, I feel like I'm barely moving when I run!

Anyone want to get together for a New Years Eve run on Saturday?

AM - 5.6 miles around neighborhoods in TN. Sometimes felt good and other times felt bad throughout the run. Long travel day...will get in late tonight :o(

Meeting at James Madison Park (the usual) 3300S Jordan River Parkway if anyone wants to join at 8am!

AM - Group run on JRP with Adam, Emily J, Devra, Allie, James, Rob, and Jake. Hard to get up this morning from the traveling yesterday, but it was a really nice morning. Still feeling sluggish...must be on the Allie & Erik (Hamdog) post-marathon plan.

 Happy New Years Eve! Don't party too hard :o)

My Year In Review blog...I'd say it was pretty successful year.