THOU SHALT BE A COMEBACK

Speedwork success!  "Coach Jeff" is easing the tribe into the concept of speedwork.  This morning's assignment: 10x400 meters with 400 meter recovery.  Up at 4:15 am, had a bagel and a cup of coffee and drove to the track.  I wore a headlamp and listened to the owl hooting.  The long recovery made me feel in control of the workout and I was able to crank out the 400's faster than I ever imagined.  The more I did the faster they got. Pace was between 5:32 and 5:52 per mile for the 400s.  

Two mile warm up

1:28, 1:28, 1:25, 1:25, 1:25, 1:24, 1:23, 1:23, 1:23, 1:23

Two mile cool down

Yeah I spent 2.5 miles today under 6:00 pace!  I feel awesome right now and not tired or worn out at all.  I wasn't completely spent after the workout at all.  I feel like I could go do it again.  I imagine as we start cutting the recoveries it won't always feel like that but this way is nice, I don't feel quite as intimidated by the track.

7:34 AP.  In Derby on the hills pushing Vanessa in the stroller while chasing the boys and my husband on their bikes.  It was nice going downhill but I really had to dig in getting that stroller up the hills without losing sight of the boys.  It was 82 degrees but overcast so it didn't seem too hot.

7:54 AP. Treadmill.  I really had to squeeze this one in between work and family fireworks festivities. 

5:30 am.  7:51 AP.  It was very rainy and sloshy, but the birds were singing and it was pretty pleasant.   My hamstrings are a bit tight and my legs seem heavy.  Hopefully I can get them all stretched out and feeling better today.  I signed up for the Psycho Wyco run Toto run 15 mile trail run on Saturday!  I am pretty excited.  It is supposed to be single track trail with lots of water crossings and 6,000 feet of elevation change.  Me and my husband are leaving at 4am Saturday to get there and then afterward are going to go on an anniversary date in Kansas City.  Can't wait!

pm:  treadmill, 5 easy 8:32 AP.  Hamstrings feel a little looser

mid-morning: 6 at 8:01 AP with the stroller.  I decided to go to Sedgwick County Park and let the boys ride their bikes while I pushed Vanessa in the stroller.  Problem is, David was at work and I didn't know how to put the bike rack on my car.  I puzzled over it for a while, even tried looking on the internet, and finally wrestled it on.  It didn't look right--there was this big middle piece with grooves and notches and padding that looked important, but it just hung loose.  Hmmm.  Feeling brave, I loaded the two bikes on the contraption and we were off.  Whatever I did, it held!  Phew!  I'm sure my husband will get a good laugh out of it when he gets home.  We ran/rode 5 and then stopped at this huge playground with sandboxes and water and all kinds of cool stuff and the kids played there for a quite a while, then we ran/rode the mile back to the car. I'll do a few more this evening on the treadmill while David does the yoga video I rented him.  His back has been hurting so he wants to try some yoga.

pm: 6 on the treadmill at 8:28 AP.  Then I did yoga with my husband and it felt really good.  Hopefully I am all loosened up and ready to charge at the tribal speed workout tomorrow.

Speedwork with the tribe.  It was tough today; I struggled.  It was 80-something degrees and humidity was 70%.  The humidity was the kicker.  Today's assignment:  6x800's with 400 recovery.  Warmed up with the tribe, and then the fun started.  Splits were 2:58, 3:05, 3:06, 3:07, 3:02, 3:03--so pace as 5:56 to 6:14 per mile.  All over the place! I wish I would have clamped down in those middle ones and not let myself slip off pace so much.  I had a hard time relaxing today and my legs were tired.  Still, I am glad that it is done and determined to run them all at 6:00 pace or better next time.  

7:55 AP on the dreadmill in my basement during naptime.  Started at 7mph, worked into 7.6mph, and then drifted up to 7.8 in the last two miles, and then finished at a 10mph charge.  My power music CD ended at 9.5 miles so I had to hurry up and get it over with because I was quite bored with staring at the brick in my dark basement.  I didn't bother turning the lights on so it would stay cooler and I wouldn't waste electricity.  I probably won't do much tomorrow so I can rest up for Psycho Wyco Saturday.

http://www.psychowyco.com/id75.html

That was HARD!  A total full-body workout and thrashing.  The race was out at Lake Wyandotte, with relentless 300-400 foot steep hills one after another, and the mud, oh the MUD!  One hill was so steep they kindly strung a rope down to pull ourselves up or it would have been very difficult to get up it.  There were two races--if you were in the 50k you could run the loop twice.  I can't really give a precise mile by mile account because there were no markers but I can sorta remember things.  I have never been more proud of 11 minute miles in my life!  My legs, arms, abs, it all hurts today!  I had been warned that this was a very difficult trail race and a bit of a doozy by  my experienced trail-runner friend Tex.

Morning:  Up at 3:39, at the quik trip by 4:00am to meet Eddy, and then he followed us for the three hour drive.  We arrived over and hour early, and watched the 50Kers take off(and chew the trail up for us).  Warm up was some light jogging with Tex and Eddy and getting used to the handheld water bottle, which was a requirement or you got disqualified.  It was a hot and muggy day, but with much of the trail being shaded I was never aware of being terrible hot during the race.  Finally, 30 minutes after the 50Ker, us one-loopers lined up at the starting line and then we were off.  A pack of 10 guys sprang to the lead up the single-track trail and into the woods and I took off after them.  The hills and climbs started immediately, followed by treacherous rocky descents where even with the brakes fully engaged it was hard to move at a speed in which you did not roll down head first and break your limbs.  I fell twice in the first two miles before I got a little better at this.  The hills were incredibly steep and I quickly adopted the power-hike.   I would lower my head, swing my arms like crazy for momentum and sweep my legs up the slope as hard as I could.  I grabbed onto any tree branch that looked like it would hold me to help pull me up the slopes.  At the top I told myself to keep moving and would shuffle slowly for a minute to catch my wind and then would open up my stride as soon as the burning in my legs would let me, but then of course I would be back to another crazy descent or punishing hill.  It was beautiful and a I saw deer and birds but it was intensely exhausting.  I knew I was the leading lady and didn't want to lose my lead.  After 5 or 6 miles or so the trail flattened out a little for a few miles and just gently rolled up and down and around through the woods.  I was able to get the pace going again and get a little leg recovery here before getting back to business.  Somewhere in here the mud started.  It was shin deep and there was no going around it.  I adopted the mud power-shuffle using a lot of forward motion rather than up and down as up and down got your shoe sucked off.  Twice I stood in shin-deep mud trying to shove my foot back into my mud-filled shoe; afraid to move for fear I would never find the shoe again.  The last two miles were the muddiest.  Whenever the trail went up a bit and I could get out of the mud I would shuffle-run up as best I could.  Sometimes power hiking was faster when going up, but if it wasn't too steep my uphill shuffle run was quicker.  I never looked back, especially at the end when I envisioned a female on my shoulder poised to take the lead.  My motto was "keep moving as fast as possible".  I passed a lot of people who were very polite and would step off to the side and let me through.  I'm sure I sounded like a freight train as I spent much of this race panting like a dog.  Then there was grass, and I could hear the cheers at the finish line, and then I could see it.  I came over the bridge and sprinted and it was done.  I felt great!  Turns out the second place female was 15 minutes behind me--we were the only two to break 3 hours on the loop.  The first 50k lady ran it in 6:27 which is awesome--two 3:13's on that loop would be tough!  Next year I want to run the 50k--two loops--although I would have to run at much lower intensity to do it twice.  There were a lot of DNF's--191 out of 214 finished in the 15 mile(25k) and only 66 out of 112 finished the 50k!  Wow!  I'm sure the second round in the 50k was tough with the trail even muddier and the sun even hotter. 

As intensely fatigued as I was I never hit a wall so I was glad about that.  I am also impressed at how well my stomach held up.  Whenever I hit an aid station I just grabbed a handful of the first thing I touched and shoved it in my mouth while the totally awesome volunteers filled my water bottle.  I had an interesting mix of bananas, watermelon, and chocolate gu.  I was in and out of the stations in about 10-20 seconds I would guess.  This was a fun experience and I will definitely be back!  Oh, and trail runners are incredible athletes--I have a lot of respect for them!

8:59 AP--treadmill while the kids danced to the power pump CD.  I am very very sore.  I am just as sore as I am after a marathon.  I hobbled around all day and groaned on stairs and wasn't planning to run but decided a slow trot to warm things up might help.  It did.  After I got past the initial jarring sensations to my quads I began to feel better.  Started at 10:00 pace and slowly sped up, eventually booking it at the end to get under a 9:00 average because I am a dork like that.  Tribal hill workout is out tomorrow, I am too sore and do not want to flirt with injury.  I  wasn't planning on being this thrashed after the race but it is what it is so I am going to have to run easy and recover this week so I don't get hurt.  Hopefully I have my legs back by next week and can get back to hard training.

naptime:  dreadmill in the basement, 6 at 8:33 pace.  Still sore but moving and feeling better.  I just need to get these stones out of my quads!  Will jog some more easy this evening with the family while they ride bikes.  I got new shoes--same nike avants, different color.  My husband bought them for me since I won the race and the mileage is racking up on my other avants.  I pretty much don't want to wear anything else now because my asics feel like heavy bricks so they are just back-up shoes.  I am retiring the pink pegs, now saturated in mud.  They were a good pair of shoes and carried me to two wins.

evening:  4.09 at 7:54 AP while the family rode their bikes.  It is stinkin' hot.  Then I got on my bike and rode 3.3 miles with the family.  Legs are sore but runnable.

At 7:30 pm it is still 93 degrees and 61% humidity.  Geeeeez!  5 at 8:20 pace on the treadmill while my husband worked out then dashed up the stairs and outside for 3 more at 8:03, 8:07, 7:53.  I have a cold and while my legs aren't really sore anymore, they are heavy.  Felt terrible the whole time.  I seem to always get sick after cashing in my chips on a long, hard race.

4:30 pm.  6.34 in Derby in the hot miserable heat while Jesse was at his appointment.  Yuck.  Drove Jesse home and David was at the bank with the kids so I hopped on the treadmill and did 3 more at 7:30 pace.  My Garmin died so don't know the pace for the 6.34 but am guessing in the low 8's.

7:47 AP.  Treadmill.  Started at 7.6mph, then started outrunning the treadmill and bumped it up to 7.7mph, then 10mph for the last quarter mile.  I think I'm starting to get my legs back.

8:11 AP.  Showed up early and ran 8.56 by myself at 7:50 pace.  Then I hooked in with the tribe and ran 10 more.  It was good to see everybody.  The heat and humidity are not as oppressive with company!  Legs felt pretty good.  

7:47 AP.  Dreadmill.  I had a brief opportunity to run between visits today so drove home, threw on my running clothes and hopped on.  David's zune wasn't charged so I was stuck with the powerpump CD. Again.  It ran out at 9.5 miles.  Started at 7.6mph but kept upping it bit by bit to get it over with--I was feeling super bored today.  Now I better get back to work.

Tribal hill!  According to weather.com it was 97 degrees at 6pm when we started. Mercifully, some clouds crept in during the workout and offered some relief from the sun, although the temps stayed in the 90s.  It didn't seem terribly brutal, so maybe I am getting somewhat used to the heat.  The workout was a warm up, up and down the hill steady pace until 7pm, and then cool down.  It was a good workout but I don't feel wasted or beat up.

warm up 1.36 8:54 pace

steady hills(12 times up and down) 5.35 miles 7:51 pace

cool down 1.36 8:17 pace

I'll probably do easy doubles tomorrow so legs are fairly fresh for speedwork Thursday

8:34 AP.  Nice and easy on the treadmill, offering moral support as David did Yoga X.  Hopefully I have fresh legs so I can really throw down on speedwork bright and early in the morningl.

Speedwork day!  Up at 4am, coffee, generic nutri-grain bar, in the car and off to the high school track.  My owl did not show up today.  There was a pretty stout south wind--I tried not to let it get to me too much on the backstretch.  

2 mile warm up slow on the track. 

400--1:31  400 recovery

800--3:06  400 recovery

1200--4:35 400 recovery and a drink of water

1200--4:32 400 recovery

800--3:00 400 recovery

400--1:22  400 recovery

Then jogged through town 3.5 miles at 7:57 AP

pm: one measly mile at 8:34 pace on the treadmill to warm up before doing the p90x fit test with David, Brandon, and Jesse.  They took "before" pictures.  I will probably have sore quads and biceps tomorrow from doing the wall sit and the curls and the pushups to failure but it was something cool and different to do.

pullups: Ahem, 1, and I struggled mightily for it

girly push-ups:  52

in and outs: 55

curls: 40

wall sit:  4 minutes 15 seconds

2 minutes of jumping jacks to measure maximum heart rate--didn't even get to marathon pace heart rate I don't think

vertical jump: 14 inches--I'm thinking we didn't do this right with the step forward--it gave to much helpful momentum

touched my toes, but nothing further

8:12 AP treadmill while I watched David and Brandon do ab ripper x.  They did a lot of grunting. I did 8 at 7.3mph and the last one at 7.4mph.  Keeping it easy since I am getting up at 4am to do my long run.  Ab ripper x was only 16 minutes long so then I was on my own with the brick but the zune was charged so I listened to some tunes.

7:39 AP.  UP at 4, on the road in Derby at 4:30.  I don't have many nice things to say about this run.  My legs were tired and started to hurt early in the run.  My mental stamina was non-existent and I almost quit and walked on the last uphill mile to finish.  I'll just call this run a character-builder.  I was going to go 16 but was running 7 mile loops and when I got back to my car at 14 decided it was time to throw in the towel.

Hills and heat!  Ran at 6pm with the tribe.  10 hard repeats up the hill, jogging down for recovery.  My splits were better than the last time we did this workout, and last time we only did 8 repeats so maybe I am getting stronger.

1.39 warm up slow

1:13, 1:19, 1:21, 1:19, 1:20, 1:21, 1:18, 1:19, 1:19, 1:19

2.47 cool down, including two more jogs up the hill.

7:46 AP.  Impromptu threshold workout.  First, eat a heavy lunch at Red Robin with my mom.  Next, put the kids down for a nap. Then, search wildly for any music besides the Powerpump CD again and find....Totally Hits 2002.  I leap on the treadmill.

2 mile warm up at 8:34 pace

2 miles FHP at 6:49 pace

1 mile recovery 8:34 pace

2 miles FHP at 6:49 pace

2 mile cool down starting at 8:34 pace and eventually speeding up to get it over with.

Done.  6:49 pace was a little hard because my legs were tired from last night's hill workout but aerobically it was very manageable.  I think I could do a tempo run at this pace on fresh legs without totally dying.

Will do a few more easy this pm while watching David do Plyometrics X(evil laugh)

pm:  6 ez at 8:34 pace.  watched David and Brandon have a near death experience with Ploymetrics

8:13 AP.  Dreadmill while Brandon and David did p90x.  I'm really proud of them!  David is so sore but he is keeping at it and is determined.  I kept it easy but was pretty much sick of the treadmill.  Hoping to have a good speed workout tomorrow.

Speedwork with the tribe.  I struggled a bit in the humidity and legs were a little tired.  I was glad I was there with the group so I didn't give in to any temptation to throw in the towel.  Warm up, 12x400 with 400 recovery, cool down in sock feet on the fake grass.  Splits were similar to last time I did 400's so I guess I can't complain.  Averaged 5:37 pace for the 400s.

1:22, 1:26, 1:24, 1:26, 1:25, 1:26, 1:26, 1:23, 1:22, 1:25, 1:25, 1:22

8:34 AP nice and easy on the treadmill. I am getting serious about my recovery days now.  Only had time to run for an hour and now I have things to do.  Long run tomorrow, early in the morning.  Me and my sister are officially in the Houston lotto!

7:32 AP.  Started at 5:30 am with Eddy.  He was on a mission, and I hung on for 11.5 miles, at which time I had to back off the pace a little and let him go.  Still a good run, although I was worn out and kinda death marched the last two miles.  I definitely do better starting out conservative and speeding up at the end, rather than killing myself in the first half of the run!  Still, managed an overall average pace for 19 that is a slightly faster than my PR marathon pace.  I find this slightly encouraging.  Splits so you can see my rough finish: 7:50, 7:50, 7:50, 7:23, 7:17, 7:09, 7:10, 7:07, 7:08, 7:19, 7:20, 7:25, 7:38, 7:37, 7:42, 7:38, 7:53, 8:00(ouch), 7:37, last 75 feet at 5:28 pace!