glidergirl

• 5 miles with the baby jogger on Bountiful Blvd, AP 10:21 

I worked hard for that AP with the hills and it felt gooood...opened my lungs way up. It felt really hot, like 80's or 90's but turns out it was only 71.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/195346614

• 4 miles on the TM, AP 9:43
• abs and 2 x 1 min planks

This ended up being an unplanned progressive run, mostly because it kept getting easier, so I kept upping the pace. ;)

Here is a great treadmill pace conversion website. I need to remember to put the incline at 1% so my pace can be more true to outdoor running.

Wake up (again) to feed the baby, drive to the race, get a 42 sec/mile PR despite having to lug my 154 pound/6.5 week post baby self around for 3 miles... NBD....I got this! 

Today's 5K went a lot smoother than 1.5 weeks ago. I remembered to start out slower and get into a good oxygen consumption zone, which made it easier to sustain a faster pace through the whole race.  I had a fun time! :)  HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

AP 8:59  

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/195641684

Rest day

• Easy 4 miles, 10:35 AP
• abs with 3x1 min planks and foam rolled the legs

Changed my blog name to Brooke...just to thoroughly confuse everyone!

• ~about 6.5 miles on the Boulevard, AP around 10:10 (according to cell phone and odometer)
• abs with 2x1 min planks

I hate it when I forget my Garmin!!  Now this run- and any effort I made to run fast- is lost to the running gods F O R E V E R ! !

Still feeling really good! :)

• 4.5 easy miles

• 40 minutes strength training DVD
• 4 easy TM miles, 1% incline @ 9:50 AP
• abs with 3x1 min planks

The DVD goes through various strengthening exercises using a medicine ball.  Well, they're more like dynamic stretching than static movements and it was just what I needed! I had weird aches in my back and right quad/hamstring and they were all gone by time the video was over.  The run felt great.  I continued with my Once Upon A Time series while running on the TM.  I only let myself watch it if I'm on the TM to make it more more appealing...it works!

• 5.5 miles, 5th south Bntfl loop @ 9:49 AP

Everything felt very smooth and strong on this run!  Extra runner's high for sure. ;)

• 1 hour recorded spin session in the spinning room
• abs with 2 x 1 min plank
• foam rolling, concentrating on keeping the calves loose (no more achilles injuries here EVER)

I prefer the live classes, but it's so nice to have this option!  The best part is I don't have to fight for the huge ceiling fan in the corner.

I want to try for 25 miles this week, so if my legs will allow it, I'll shoot for a 2-3 mile TM run later today.

• 4 miles, 1400 south and back, AP 9:58
• abs with 2x1 min planks
• foam rolling 

This run has a steady incline for 1 mile and then a decline for 1 mile and then I turn around and do the exact route back. I try to keep the ups and downs the same pace or better on the way back.  The last time I did this run, my AP was 10:10 so I was glad to end with a sub 10 AP today, although I did not like the effort it took!  Feels like it should have been a lot lower.  My legs are either still tired from the week or I'm still really out of shape...probably both!  But, dang it, I'm going to keep putting these slow AP's on this blog even if it kills me so I can see how far I've come! ;)  8 weeks postpartum today.  But really, I haven't been in good running shape since Dec 2010 because of an achilles injury and then nursing school got intense there at the end with full-time work at the same time and then I got pregnant....(yada yada yada)...it's nice to be getting somewhere now!  As of today I'm 4 lbs away from pre-pregnancy weight (145) and 24 lbs from what has been my best racing weight so far (125).  So I basically gained 20 pounds in a matter of months, I'm not even joking.  The last 2 semesters of nursing school while not being able to run to keep sane was a personal you know what that pretty much did me in!  I need my running!

Oh, I decided to not do the 2-3 miles yesterday so I could try doing an almost long run tomorrow (8 miles).  I'll cut it to 6 if it's not working.  Excited for my Saturday "long" run on the boulevard!

3 miles on pure fumes.  I've bonked before, but this was a BONK!  About 0.2 miles into the run (that ended in a walk) I started mentally scanning our entire fridge and pantry. After I came to the conclusion that nothing would satiate, I spent the remaining crawl to the car daydreaming about which restaurant we would go to for breakfast after I got home to drag James out of bed. CLEARLY I was hungry. I should have known better...we had a fun BBQ with friends last night and although the food was delicious (juicy cobobs, fresh fruit, crisp cabbage salad...yummy!!) this lactating runner needs more than a couple flecks of meat.  Great, now no one on this blog is going to invite us to dinner for fear of dissapointing, but if you do... I beg of you, give me a huge slab of chicken breast or something!!

Ran the 2 miles to 1400 south, but had to stop after that.  Because of a blister.  A blister!  It's one I got on Saturday's run on a toe that was next to another toe with a bandaid.  I've had blisters before, but they haven't made me stop running like this one...owie!

• 1 hour cardio and strength training DVD
• abs w/ 2x1min planks

My foot still hurt with any type of closed-toed shoe, so I didn't even attempt running.  I did the DVD barefoot and the rest of the day I either walked around barefoot or wore flip flops, carefully maintaining the 3 bandaids protecting my poor pinkie toe.

• 5 easy TM miles, 10:10 AP

Blister felt much better.  It was nice to run again! 

No wonder I've been so hungry and need to eat so much...I found out yesterday my baby has gained over 5.5 pounds in 8 weeks!  She is 13 lbs 2 oz and 23.5 inches tall, in the >95% category!  She eats about 5 oz every 4 hours during the day and so far I've been able to keep up with her!   

• 5 miles on the TM @ 1% incline, 9:20 AP
• abs with 2x1min planks

TM details:

• 1 mile @ 6.0 
• alternating 800m @ 7.0-7.5 then 800m @ 6.0 till 5 miles
• walked for cooldown

• 5 easy miles on Bountiful Blvd

• 2 easy TM miles

This is one of my favorite races.  My goal going into this race was to run smart: start out at a good pace while still using the downhill in my favor and then step up the effort when my lungs and body were ready to run closer to VO2 Max.  It took longer than I expected and what I used to be able to do (around mile 3.5).  But I was able to hold a nice steady pace and keep it under 9:00 AP without falling apart, so it was enjoyably uncomfortable if that makes sense.  The flat 5K that I ran on July 4th was 8:59 AP, so with this race being aided, my goal was to get 9:00 AP.  I ended up doing 8:53 AP and felt really good about it.   

I went away from this race feeling ready to do more tempo runs so I can keep getting that AP down.  My running appetite wants to do 1 a week, but I just have to base it off what my body can do (this lactation thing really takes a lot of resources, doesn't it?!...wow).  We'll see what happens and take it as it comes. :)

I stayed after the race and had a fun time chatting with Catherine and her hubby Facelessghost (and their cute baby) while we waited to watch Fritz and Allie finish the marathon.  They are amazing runners!! 

• splits: 8:30, 8:54, 9:12, 9:04, 8:48, 9:10, .2 @ 7:23
• For reference, in 2010 my AP was 7:10 for a time of 44:29

• Nice and easy 3.3 miles on the boulevard with the jogger

• 4 TM miles @ 1% incline and ~9:40 AP

Followed it with a green smoothie: kale, collard, spinach, 1 apple, blueberries, marion berries, 1 peach yogurt and some vanilla soy milk...yummy!  I have a lot more energy and I'm recovering quicker this week compared to last, so it must have just been a fluke...I was really dragging from 2 Saturdays ago up until this Monday.  I almost didn't run today because I assumed it was the same, but today's run felt great and it worked out any remaining soreness from the race.  Hoping to try again for 25 miles this week. :)  If not, then at least 20!  Surely I can do at least 20!

• 5.5 miles, 5th south loop, AP 10:29
• abs, foam rolling

I'm working hard to break through some mental barriers after 1.5 years of sub-par running and I think I conquered a couple of them today!  (i.e. It's too hard to get back to where I was before, I don't have enough time/energy now with a baby, I'm going to get injured again, I'm too tired and sore-I'll try again next week....)  I started the run feeling sluggish and tired and ended it feeling empowered and energized. :)  Trying to make it normal again in my brain to run 35-45 miles per week with a tempo run.  

Progressive run as I got more warmed up and confident (I haven't ran 5 days in row in a very long time).  The route is front-loaded with a hill and then an incline, the remaining has either slight declines, flat or a couple inclines:

11:47, 10:42, 10:18, 10:16, 10:14, last 0.5 @ 8:40

• 5 miles on the Blvd, 10:31 AP
• Abs w/ 2x 1min planks, foam rolling

Legs felt surprisingly good today. 26 miles this week!

• 3 easy TM miles

• 5.5 miles 5th south loop with tempo run as follows:
  • 1.5 mile warm up
  • 2.5 mile tempo @ 8:34 AP!
  • 1.5 mile cool down
• abs w/ 3 x 1 min planks

I wanted to do a tempo run today and try to maintain my 5K and 10K AP's that I got on the 4th and 24th of this month (8:59 and 8:53). I was able to maintain 8:30's and it felt so good!  So this tells me (1) I should have warmed up more for the races (2) my lungs are getting more conditioned each week and (3) I had a little too much kick in me at the end and could have gone a bit faster during the races.  I was too nervous, though, because it's hard to know what you really can do when you first come back and I didn't want to fall apart during the race.  Now I know I need to push it harder and need to shoot for at least 8:30's AP during my tempo runs for the upcoming weeks.  I want to work up to 10K tempos as well.  I was planning to do a 5K today, but my Garmin totally froze right at 2.5 miles into it, so I decided to just stop the tempo pace and cool down.  The watch eventually came back to life 1.5 hours after the run, but it's still finicky and has been for about a month now.  I need it to last a little longer, though...we can't buy anything extra right now until I start work again. =0)  Stay with me Garmin, stay with me!!