Going With The Flow

AM - Hilly run this morning. It's been two days since my last hard workout so I naturally was able to run faster (altitude change helps a lot too). 7:07 pace average, the last 5 all around 6:50 pace. Definitely could've done a workout today but didn't want to push it on a travel day back to SLC. My shins are really sore from wearing heels for hours yesterday.

AM - 6 miles easy with Jake. With the long day of travel yesterday and only 4 hours of sleep, I was not moving very fast today. On a positive note, I got $400 Delta voucher for giving up my seat on one of the flights :) Totally worth the extra two hours of being in the airport. As much as I loved being home for a week, I'm glad to be back in SLC. I missed my routine.

Jake's quote of the day - "man I just cant decide whether I want to be a miler or marathoner!!!"

PM - 4.6 miles around Sugarhouse with Jake. Legs are heavy but I think they just need a good night of sleep. 

AM - 4 miles easy. Track workout this afternoon - 5K efforts. Going to try out wearing spikes for the first time in 8 years and hoping that my hamstring will be good to go for Friday's race.

PM - 2 mile warm-up. Still jogging around the track and my hamstring twinged. Ughhhhhhhhhh. So no workout and today was the 10-days-out hard workout before the half marathon :o( It was cold this afternoon...that's the only thing I can thing for the problem before even starting to run fast. Not sure what to do about the 5K on Friday now....I'm afraid I'll completely pull my hamstring. Sad times.

AM - Showed up for JAJA run but only made it a quarter mile before I realized I was just causing more damage to my hamstring and turned around. It feels a lot worse than it has in the past after a twinge (and I've had quite a few). Usually I'm okay to run easy the next day with only a little discomfort, but that wasn't happening today. I'm sad because I wanted to catch up with the crew this morning....and discouraged because I know it's a terrible idea to race on Friday and try to hit sub-17. Bigger picture - the Half Champs are still my main goal so I have 9 days to heal up. 

After the running disaster I headed to the gym and did a workout on the recumbent bike. 22 x 45s on/45s off in an attempt to mimic something like 200s on the track. It was a hard effort but not nearly as hard as running the same workout. 38 minutes total. Then yoga for 20 minutes.

PM - 40 minutes on the elliptical. It seemed to loosen up my hamstring a bit. Hoping for the best.

AM - Recumbent bike for 30 minutes, then elliptical for 25 minutes. Yoga for 20 minutes. Hamstring feels better today - icing, heating, and Jake's massage yesterday helped. Will try to run this afternoon. 

PM - Ran 4.6 miles, loops around the block. Felt tingly at first but loosened up on the run. Still very sensitive but better!

Some pics from the wedding, just for fun! Location was beautiful (yes that's a cow in the background), service was short and sweet, and dresses were a little too shiny :)

AM - Two laps around the block for 6.2 miles. Hamstring felt pretty solid today - not nearly as weak as the past couple days. 

PM - 6 mile out-and-back on the Waterfront Bike Trail. Really feel like I got the Portland vibe... running along the river, it started raining, dodging bike commuters, hippies everywhere, Subarus. Just a typical day in Portland :)

Wishing everyone the best of luck at Utah Valley tomorrow!! It's going to be a great day for racing. 

AM - 12.2 miles on the dirt road of Leif Erickson. It was so lush and beautiful...really enjoyed it, although just a little too rocky for me.

 PM - 2.5 miles on the beach in Seaside, OR. The beach is COLD!