THOU SHALT BE A COMEBACK

8:13 AP.  I got my treadmill today, finally, and....since they didn't have the one I ordered in stock, they gave me the upgraded version with the bigger motor!  SWEET!  So, I got the treadmill I couldn't afford haha!  I forgot how hard treadmill running was.  I broke it in using various paces to see how they felt.  8:30 pace was alright but felt faster, 7:30 pace felt harder than it should, 6:40 pace was downright exruciating, 6:00 pace felt like a dead sprint.  Doing speedwork on it will definitely challenge me but I am up for the challenge!  If it will make me fitter and faster than so be it!

8:25 AP.  Decided to try out some heat running tips I read about online.  I wore: loose orange shorts, long-sleeved loose white technical t-shirt(the long sleeves seem very counter-intuitive). pink hat, sunglasses, and red bandanna with ice cubes in it tied around my neck.  Off into the heat of the day at 1:00 I went at 88 degrees and  49% humidity.  I am sure my get-up turned some heads. Ran 5.42 at 8:26 AP.  While I would not call this run comfortable, I was surprisingly not as miserable as I have been in the heat.  I ran straight into the house, stripping down to top and shorts as I went, and stopped to chug some water before hopping onto the treadmill in my cool basement for 4.4 at 8:24 AP.  Geez treadmill running is mentally taxing.  Sprinted the last bit at 6:00 pace imagining myself crossing the finish line of a marathon in 2:59.  I am a total dork.

8:16 AP.  Only 72 degrees this am, but a stifling 80% humidity.  I decided to do a little tempo and speed anyway, since it is still better than 88 degrees at noon. I went based off effort and tried to be concerned about the less-than-optimal pace results. Within 10 minutes of starting the sweat was pouring off of me and it felt like there was a layer of syrup on my skin. I will probably whimper and whine in my blog all summer long about heat and humidity.

2 miles warm-up 9:19, 8:49 nope it's not going to be a fast day

2 miles fantasy Houston marathon pace effort 6:59, 7:01

2 miles easy 8:45, 9:03

.26 at 6:01 pace

.23 recovery 9:43 pace

.29 at 6:00 pace

Alright had enough need water bad

1.22 cool down sloooow

I am thinking of structuring my weeks something like this for a while:

MWF easy miles, more or less 10 a day; Tuesdays hills or speed, speed is my week point, time to smell the roses and make myself do it, Thursdays FHP(fantasy houston pace) or some other form of tempo or steady state running, Saturday is long run day.  I figure as time goes on and I at some point get close to January I will start a more focused and rigorous marathon training plan

pm--5 miles easy on the treadmill at 8:44 pace.  I just had to know if speedwork would throw me off the back though.  I did a few .1 to .2 sprints at 6:00 pace, then got brave and did a brief run at 5:27 pace and stayed on, so then, I finally cranked it up all the way to 5:00 pace and did not get thrown.  Good to know.

8:56 AP on the treadmill.  Nice and easy shake out jog before the trail race tomorrow while I watched my husband and a few kids do a military workout video.  It looked pretty tough.  The course tomorrow has supposedly gotten really muddy and buggy and it is supposed to reach 96 degrees, although it should only hit about 80 during the race, but the humidity will be thick all morning.  Glad it is only 13.1 miles--thinking of Julie doing 50 tomorrow!

Yowza!  A tough course but I knew it would be, so planned accordingly to just have fun with it and enjoy nature.  In the spirit of it all I ran without watch or mp3 player.  I started way in the back of the pack.  It started right on the trail so I had to run slowly for about a quarter mile before we hit the dam, and stormed it--right up the side, steep!  After  what felt like a near-vertical climb we hit the top of the dam and I was able to reach comfortable cruising speed and pass some folks.  This didn't last long.  We hit the horse trail--just a swathe through the praire out in the baking heat and humidity and the holes, oh the holes.  A girl biffed right in front of me.  I stopped and made sure she was okay and got up before moving on.  Not too much later somebody fell and was crying pretty far behind me--rumor has it she broke her ankle but I don't know.  Anyways we all struggled in the holes; whenever I passed someone I wished them happy ankles--we were all in the same boat here.  There where places where the trail would smooth out a bit and I would try to make up some time.  At each aid station I stopped, dumped water over my head, drank a cup of gatorade, thanked the volunteers, and then moved on.  It was super hot but I didn't get crampy or nauseous so I was happy.  Finally, toward the end, we hit concrete for a while.  I saw it and thought it would feel good to get on the smoothness, but oh no!  It hurt.  My legs and feet were pulverized and the concrete was too hard.  Finally we turned into the last wooded portion with shade(ahhh) and soft trail, real trail, not horse trail.  Now this I liked!  It was very narrow and it ricocheted up and down but no horse holes and I got to jump over some logs.  Then we came out of the woods, ran through a campsite, and then down a track of grass to the finish.  Good workout!  Ran a personal worse as far as a half-marathon time but totally acceptable with the nature of the course.  I will be sore from this one!  I'm totally glad I ran it without pressure or need to race or place and just enjoyed it!  I am thinking about a 50k, a real trail run, pycho wycho, in July--this is kinda fun!

7:25 AP.  Cloudy, raining, and only 69 glorious, cool, breezy, degrees.  It felt wonderful.  Last 2.08 at 6:56 pace--cruising nicely, felt easy.  Still sore from the trail race in a weird place--on the outsides of my calves down by my ankles.  I used some kind of muscle down there during that race that I don't normally use--clearly I wasn't using them today because it didnt hurt to run.  I am thinking some kind of stabilizer muscles on those ankle-twisting holes.

pm.  45 minute military workout video with my husband.  good for my lunchlady arms and jelly belly

Hills with the tribe!  We ran 1.38 warm up to "The Hill".  I don't know the grade, but my Garmin shows it .2 to .21 miles long and anywhere from 65 feet up to 99 feet up so who knows.  It doesn't seem bad at first but the top is where it gets steep.  Did 8 charges up the hill trying to keep the splits consistent with jog down for recovery. We jogged slooow to maximize this recovery.  Splits 1:24, 1:27, 1:25, 1:25, 1:25, 1:22, 1:23, 1:24.  1.36 recovery jog back.  Drove home and ran 2 at 8:37 pace on the treadmill.  The Hill was tough--my legs felt a little rubbery at the end.

5.28 on the treadmill at 8:30 AP while my husband did the military workout video.  Then we dashed up the stairs and out the door and I ran 3 more at 8:17, 7:37, 7:05 while he rode his bike.  My butt and abs are still sore from the workout video Monday and the hills yesterday.

about 8:27 pace on the treadmill while the kids watched a movie--I hung out at 7.1mph most of the time but started out slower and finished faster.  Anyways plan on doing more later today.

Later:  4.59 on the treadmill at 8:34 AP while my  husband did a workout video.  I was then going to do some barefoot running on the treadmill but as soon as I started it was making my left achilles hurt so I stopped.  No barefoot running for me--don't want an injury! I have always run in shoes and fear I always will, no Kenyan here.

8:07 AP.  Chisholm creek nature trails.  Mostly a bike path but little short trails branched off.  I kept veering off onto these on gravel, some grass, and lots of mud.  Did a few creek crossings and had to pull myself up the slippery enbankments with tree branches.  The little trails were short(less than a quarter mile I would guess) and then I would end up on bike path again but it was still fun.  About 7 miles in the heat, but especially the humidity took its tole and I just stayed on the bike path and struggled a bit to finish.  Oh will I ever acclimate to this?

8:46 AP.  Tribal run!  It was 79 degrees, 76% humidity.  Could be worse!  Ran the last .31 at 6:11 pace.  Now I'm going to go eat that delicious breakfast my husband is cooking.

7:44 AP.  Up at 4:45, half a cup of coffee, and on the road by 5am.  

Long warm-up as I slowly gained consciousness 8:28, 8:31, 8:21, .5 at 8:35 pace

3 miles at FHP 6:50, 6:46, 6:51.  Got nice and wet in here because it had rained all night and Ididn't realize the pond had flooded my route in the dark until I was shin deep running through it.

Recovery mile and then brisk cool down 8:09, 7:39, 7:39, .51 at 7:25 pace.

Our 15 year old got arrested friday for shoplifting.  We are worried, disappointed, and stressed.

7:34 AP.  Up at 5, out the door with coffee 5 minutes later, in Derby running by 5:30.  Derby has lots of rolling hills and is well-lit; it is a good place for early morning running.  I saw 6 or 7 other runners out, which was pretty cool.  

evening: 5 easy on the treadmill while the kids exercised. 8:32 AP.  After a while my legs felt surprisingly refreshed. I am wondering if there is something to be said about a second daily run in terms of recovery.

Rough day followed by a rough workout.  I couldn't get a sitter so missed the tribal hill run.  I decided to to hill repeats on the treadmill at home.  My randomly chosen interval was 6x.2 mile repeats on a 6% grade at 6:40 pace.  I warmed up 1.5 and started. After the first one my thought was "what am I trying to do here?"  It was pretty intense.  It was so intense that I took long .3 recoveries at 10:00 pace.  The second one I was near death.  After the third one my daughter had to go potty YEAH jumped off the treadmill and got my spleen out of my throat while I helped her.  Number 4 and I am done with a capital D.  Number 5 is scary, I may get thrown off this treadmill.  Number 6 I survived only because I knew it was the last one but I don't know if I could've taken .0001 mile more of it.  I may be imagining things but I think the treadmill starts to go faster on the incline.  Maybe it's psychological, but wow, that was HARD, way harder than any hill I have ever run on outside.  I have a lot of respect for people that train a lot on the treadmill because I am whimp.Cooled down enough sloooow miles to get me to 8.  8:39 AP.

5:30am--met Tonya and Tex in Derby and did a very relaxed 9:12 pace.  Tonya hasn't gone 8 in  a while, coming back from a knee injury, but she did really well and didn't seem strained.  Tex is fast--his last marathon was 3:02 and he is looking to break 3 this fall.  We talked about him pacing me through some tempo runs since 6:45 is a fairly comfy pace for him.  I look forward to putting myself through some tough workouts with a pacer---perhaps when I really start serious marathon training and am out of the base phase.

pm: 5 at 8:25 pace on the treadmill--gently inching my mileage up.  I do well at 60-70mpw as long as I don't get too crazy about pace and make sure I have lots of easy days.   I want to start training for my next marathon with a solid 60-70mpw base that I have been maintaining for a while.

8:29 AP 5am.  I don't seem to have much energy today and had a hard time getting going--and I even drank some coffee first or I wouldn't have gone at all.  My legs are tired.  I will probably skip the evening run and go long tomorrow.

8:16 AP.  Great run with the tribe this morning!  We started at 5:45 to beat the heat--it is supposed to get to 99 degrees today!  Ran easy most of the time but stepped it up a little at the end because I really needed to get home--slipped in one mile under 7 minutes.  It was hot and humid but with company I seem to tolerate it better.  We took advantage of every sprinkler we came across!

7:50 AP treadmill.  I was supposed to run this morning at dark thirty.  I had a vivid nightmare about coyotes attacking me during my run and starting to rip me apart and kill me on the dirt road by my house and woke up in a cold sweat with my heart pounding to my morning alarm--to go run on the dirt road by my house.  So, I didn't; all because of a bad dream.  I am being silly I know but it was a pretty awful dream.  Anyways I ran on the treadmill this evening while David did his military workout video.  Tribal hill workout tomorrow!

94 degrees.  6 pm.  Tribal hill workout.  1.36 warm-up slow.  Steady up and down the hill at good aerobic effort--came out to 5.74 miles at 7:52 pace and I was hurting pretty good at the end.   I lost count but I believe we went up that hill 12 times, give or take one.  I stayed with Eddy until the last trip up the hill when he charged and dropped me like a hot potato.  When we were coming back down I kicked and came back up on him so he had to kick it into gear fast and finished about a second ahead of me.  Good times and a good sprint at the end.  1.36 mile cool down, by now it had cooled to 89 refreshing degrees.  We paused 3 times during the hill repeats to quickly swig some water, and stopped at the water fountain while cooling down on the way back.   I did something I have never in all my 31.5 years have ever ever done, and ditched my shirt, running in a sportsbra and shorts.  Desperate times call for desperate measures and I needed some breeze on my torso to help cool off.  Good thing my fellow tribe member Wendy also ditched the shirt for the first time, so we broke it in together.  Turns out it was no big deal.  I'm over it now and will probably run shirtless more often.

6 treadmill at 8:22 AP before I picked up the kids

6 treadmill at 8:29 AP after dinner while my husband did his workout

My legs aren't sore from the hill workout but they are definitely tired.  I could have run outside for the first set of miles today but it was 97 degrees at the time and my dirt roads have zero shade, so I opted out and tolerated the boredom of the treadmill instead.

7:34 AP.  Treadmill.  Started at 8:34 pace and gradually picked up speed. Last 4 miles at 7:19 pace.  On the treadmill I found this rather grueling but it is better than no run at all.

8:33 AP.  95 degrees, heat index 100, humidity 44%.  No shade.  Dirt roads. But, I just couldn't bear another day on the treadmill.  I opted for the long sleeve approach today to save my white tender skin.  I plodded along slowly and listened to my tunes.  Really, all in all, it wasn't as terrible as I imagined it might be.

7:33 AP.  It was pretty humid but we started at 5:45 am so temps were in the seventies for the run.  Yes!  I started off the first 10.24 with Eddy before he split off and had to go.  I then took a gu and ran to the fire station and back and kept the momentum.  I felt strong the whole time.  I'm pretty surprised that I ran 17 miles at slightly faster than my PR marathon pace.  This makes me feel pretty good about a big PR at my next marathon.  I have concluded that 60-70mpw really is my optimal training range.

5 a.m. 6.2 at 8:00 AP.  Then off to a rather bad day at work.

p.m. 5.2 at 7:16 AP.  I meant to take this one easier but that is hard to do when I am chasing my kids on bikes or they are chasing me.  Happily, I had enough wind at this pace to yell at my kids throughout to  keep them in line.  I should use them as pacers for a tempo run.

Tribal hill workout.  1.37 mile warm up slow to the hill.  Started at halfway up the hill and did 8 hill sprints up the steep part, jogging down for recovery.  My average was 5:47 to 6:03 pace going up, maxing at 4:46 pace.  It was short and sweet.  Jogged  a few miles with Eddy to cool down.  I can tell these hill workouts are making a difference in leg strength--something I really need!

8:13 AP on the treadmill.  Nice and easy.  I am doing the prescribed tribal speed workout tomorrow on the track by myself at 5am since I can't go in the evening.  "Coach Jeff" is going to ease us into it.  Tomorrow's prescription is 10x400 with 400 recovery.  I like the large amount of recovery--hopefully I can deliver some quality speed.