cheryl

Today was not a great day.  I met with our Bingham group at 5:30 and we started by running a 25 minute warm-up that felt too hard the entire way.  The pace was probably about 9:30.  Then Peggy had us do some speed where we ran half mile repeats.  I just didn't have it today, I really struggled.   Makes me wonder whether I ran too fast yesterday and was feeling it today, because I did push the pace a little yesterday, averaging 9 minute miles when Steve told me I should be closer to 10 minute miles on my easy days.   Or was it a recovery issue, maybe I didn't recover fully yesterday.  I want to be able to run well on most days, I don't want to feel trashed, so maybe I need to make my easy days even easier.

Today was my treadmill day.  I first did about a 10 minute warm-up of walking/slow running.  Then I did about 15 fast one minute sprints and one minute recoveries.   The "sprints" weren't overly fast, but faster than I usually run.  Then I ran a 5K on the treadmill in about 22 minutes, with the treadmill set on a decline, so I did get some help with running slightly downhill.  I used to do these 5K runs a lot when I set my St. George PR last year, then I struggled with some injuries early this year and seemed to really slow down, so with my advancing age, entering that time of life (you know what I mean), I almost believed I would never run a 5K on the treadmill that fast again.  So needless to say I was quite happy with the effort today.  Isn't running great, you can feel great all day after a good run (of course, if it's a bad run you try not to have it ruin your day.)

We met at the River Front park by the East pavilion.   The plan was to take it easy because of races tomorrow.  Once again, I struggled.  I'm thinking now my main problem  is I'm too tight in the hamstrings, hips, glutes and back area, and that makes it hard for my legs to stride out well.  I'm spending too much energy fighting the tightness. So once again, I will make stretching a HIGH priority.  Check back to see if this works.

This year started out promising, I hit PR's at all the Salt Lake Track Club Winter Series races in January and February, and then for some reason I got lax on the stretching and by late March I got hit by some serious sciatica/piriformis issues that really slowed me down.  Since then I have consistently hit PW's, the slowest 5K and half marathons since 2003.  So I knew today would be a PW in the 10K and seriously debated whether I even wanted to run it and have to see the awful truth.  But I decided why not, a race would probably be good for me.

So yesterday I stretched and stretched A LOT, trying to get things to loosen up.  I had been really tight in my run yesterday and wondered if I could possibly get things better for today.  I think I figured out I need to do more hip exercises for flexibility so that's what I concentrated on.  Josse told me the pigeon was a good yoga stretch, so I've incorporated that into my routine.  Last night I went out with my dog to see how I felt and ran a little and felt pretty good, so I was more confident for today.

So I definitely felt quite a bit looser during the race, which was a good sign.  My time was a PW (in the last five or six years) but just the fact that I felt better left me somewhat encouraged.

Our Bingham running group did well, several placed high in the race.  Peggy won for the women, Lynette was 3rd, Jessie 4th, Michelle, Julie and Cheris did great, Debbie won her age group, I think Nancy M. did also.  Hope I didn't forget any of the women.  The men I won't mention, too many to mention.  Now our coach STEVE ASHBAKER won the race overall.  Yea Steve!!  So I'm glad I did it, it was fun.  I warmed up before hand and then cooled down, so that's where the extra mileage came from.

We (speaking of  me, Debbie, Cheris, and Michelle) met with Steve today at the Jr. Parkway Trail at 126th So.  The idea was to run a recovery run after yesterday's race.  Right when we started running I felt like the pace was too fast and it wasn't true recovery, but hey, we were in a group and I wasn't going to be the one to tell them to slow down, so I just plugged away, trying to keep up.  Eventually things got easier as I warmed up into the run.  Steve talked to me about why I'm struggling with running right now, he thinks my hips are weak and I spend too much contact time on the ground, my cadence isn't fast enough, I don't pick up my knees enough, I shuffle too much, I look tight, I look weak, I slouch too much... but besides that my form is ok.  So I guess I have a lot to work on.  He suggested doing fast uphill sprints to help with strength and knee lift.  He also suggested doing squats and other strengthening exercises.   So all that was very informative.  Right when we had about done 10 miles, we passed Julie and a different Michelle and they said they were going 13 miles, so I was afraid everyone would want to go 13 also, but we stopped at 10.  That was just enough for me.  We talked for a while as we stretched, and of course the conversation was interesting as always. 

Met with some of the group at the church at 9700 So. & 2200 W. and we ran our 8 mile Glenmoor Route, which is 4 miles up a steady incline and then obviously 4 miles back down.  I once again probably ran a little too fast, but wanted to keep up.  It took 1:13:26 for the run.  I felt a little less tight today, although there is still something going on in my glutes.  Will it ever end?  I'm going to really work on strengthening and stretching that area.

I met with the group at Bingham High at 5:30 and we ran easy for about 25 minutes.  Then we regrouped and did a neighborhood run of about 6.5 miles.  I  started out with a new woman and was talking to her and the main group took off.  I tried to catch them after a few minutes and spent the entire workout trying to catch them but never did.  It took me about 57 minutes to run the distance.  The good news is I did not feel as tight as I was feeling last week.  I keep thinking I've figured out what my main problem is.  Now I think it's weak glutes and that's why my piriformis is bothering me.   I've been stretching but not really working on strengthening.  Now I'm going to add strengthening into my repetoire and see if that's the magic key.  I did go to yoga class after and that felt pretty good.

I ran about 3 miles on the canal road working on faster leg turnover; then later I got on the treadmill and put in some more miles.

I met with the BBK group and we ran the Riverton 10K route again.  Along the way a little black lab puppy started following us and it ran with us for probably at least a mile before it got distracted by another dog and ran after it.  Where it started running with us there weren't many houses around, where it stopped following us was in a neighborhood.   I hope somebody sees it and takes care of it.  I felt a little bad about abandoning it, but what can you do?  We put in about 9 miles.  Later on, after stretching, I just felt like running again, so I put in a little over 3 miles on the treadmill.  Today was one of those days where I just had a lot of energy so I decided to take advantage of it and get in some more miles.  Probably tomorrow I'll pay for it and be really tired, but tomorrow is supposed to be an easy day, so I'll take it real easy.

I ran for 60 minutes on and around the canal roads, working on leg turnover.  It was an enjoyable run.

PM--took Schneider the schnauzer this evening and ran an easy 30 minutes on the canal road.  I'll say that was 2.5 miles

I just read Michelle L.'s blog where she said she did 80 miles this week for the first time.  This must be a week for firsts because I hit 50 miles for the first time, and Michelle Margetts from my running group also hit 50 for the first time.  So hurray for all of us!!  Though as Sasha says, mileage isn't what really matters, what matters is how you perform in a race, but hopefully this mileage will translate into better racing.

I met at the Riverton track at 6:00am with Cheris, Michelle and Debbie.  Steve had a baby-sitting issue and couldn't be with us, but he told me the workout he wanted us to run.  We warmed up for two miles on 2700 West, and then did about 3 laps of speed changes before we hit the meat of  the workout.  We ran 6 800's, with the idea to get progressively faster.  My times were:  ?, I had a watch problem; 4:06; 4:03; 3:54; 3:44; and 3:26.  At least I think those are the times.  I'm going from memory because I stupidly deleted things before writing them down.  I know the last one is correct and the others I'm pretty sure are accurate.  I was happy to hit a 3:26.  We then finished up with 6 100 meter sprints.  I felt aerobically ok during the workout, my limiting factor is still the tightness in my hamstrings and glutes.  I just feel like I cannot stride out all the way.  I will keep working on that

When I got home I felt like I had extra energy, so I ran for an easy 30 minutes on the canal road with Schneider.  I guess my energy wasn't as great as I thought it was because I struggled a little on this run.  But overall it was a good running day.  I'm working on faster leg turnover and I think that is helping a little.

Have a great weekend all you bloggers!!

A few of us--Cheris, Michelle, Nancy and Eric--met at 5:30am and drove up to Popperton Park and ran down 11th Avenue, then around into City Creek Canyon for a little ways up, then back down thur Memory Grove, then up the stairs and back to B Street..  Then we did one of my favorite runs, where you go up an avenue, then over, then up, then over, and repeat that pattern until we got back to 11th Avenue.  The hills were tough, but they didn't seem as hard as when I've run them in the past.  Maybe my bigger mileage base is helping there.  We then ran back to our cars at Popperton and had a fun ride home.  We did see Chad during the run, he came zipping by us.  We also saw my friend Ann Cannon.  Memory Grove is very pretty and was probably my favorite part of the run--except for those hills!!

 P M--took Schneider and ran easy on the canal  road for 30 minutes.  I'll count that as 2.5 miles

I missed my group today because I had a doctor's appt. for a physical this morning.  I was supposed to fast for it, so I didn't think it was wise to run hills for 10 miles and then not be able to eat for maybe two or three hours after.  It turned out that I chewed one measly little piece of gum and they said that would alter the results, so I couldn't do my blood test today.  All because of one little piece of gum!

Anyway, my workout today consisted of 20 minutes on the Stair Master at the SJ Rec Ctr, and then 30 minutes of pool running at Marv Jenson's.  I will count that as 3 miles.  I also lifted weights, mainly for my legs to strengthen hamstrings, glutes and quads.

I wanted to meet with some in the group to run this morning, but I was fasting again for my blood test, so decided to run after the test.  So I ended up running around noon, the heat of the day, but it wasn't too bad because of the cloud cover.  I ran for 60 minutes straight, stopped to drink and rest a few minutes, then ran for 30 minutes.  I will count that as 9 miles.  I ran mainly on the canal roads.

I met with the group at the Jr. River parkway trail at Gardner Village to run 10 miles.  I started out running with Cheris, Julie, and Lynette, then they wanted to pick up the pace and I didn't, so after about mile 2 I was on my own.  I started taking 1 minute walking breaks at mile 3 just to see how that would go.  I guess it went ok.  My splits:

1- 9:20

2-9:07

3-8:34

4-9:11

5-9:15

6-9:06

7-9:06

8-9:10

9-9:07

10-8:32

What can I say, the total time was 1:30:33, so my aveage was about 9:03.  It would have been nice to have been faster, but it is what it is.  That trail has always been kind of tough for me.  Nice to get in the mileage.

Different kind of work out day.  I first went to the SJ Rec pool and did some pool running there and other exercises.  Then I got on my treadmill and ran some hill sprints, something Steve told me to do to help my form--getting more of a knee lift.  I enjoyed it so much that I did some more in the evening--quick 30 seconds sprints, not too bad.  I think for all I did, wirh warm-ups and cool downs, that I got in at least 4 miles.

We met with Steve today at Alta High at 6am.  Those there were Cheris, Michelle, Debbie and Alan.  We ran south and saw everyone preparing for the Draper 5K.  We stopped for a couple of minutes for Steve to talk with Sasha, then we were off.  We went to the road that leads up to Suncrest and ran up it for quite a ways.  Have you guys ever been on it, it is a pretty steep and steady uphill.  Steve says we'll run all the way up one of these days, I can't wait for that.  Maybe we'll bring our BBK group here someday.  After running that a few times, Veyo will seem like a piece of cake.  Then we had the screaming downhill which probably beat up my legs, and I'll feel it tomorrow.  Then it was pretty steady back to Alta, except for a stop at the park again to see how Sasha did.  Steve's prediction of 16:26 was off by 2 seconds.  Pretty good time prediction!  The others in the group wanted to go 16 miles, I was happy with 14, and my legs were saying, "Time to stop" so I hung out at the high school until they finished.   I felt pretty wasted when I got home, but nothing a little nap couldn't remedy.

I met with Peggy at 5:30am and we ran from her house down to the trail, up in Parkway Palisades and back.  The distance was 8 miles and the time was about 1:12 on the dot.  We discussed, as she said in her blog, all the issues of the world today.  I don't think we solved any of them though. The pace was brisk for me, I never felt totally comfortable but not too uncomfortable either.  What is that pace called, between comfortable and uncomfortable?   Comfortably hard?  Was I running tempo pace?  I think it wasn't quite as fast as tempo pace.  Hopefully 9 minute miles will start feeling totally comfortable soon.  Overall it was an enjoyable run.

I was up at 4:45 so theoretically I had plenty of time to get ready and meet my group at 5:30.  But in reality I was so tired that I just couldn't get going.  After dragging around, I got on the treadmill and did a short warm-up.  I started to feel better, so I headed off to meet the group at 6:00.  We met at the trailhead at 123rd So. and the Jr. River Parkway trail.  There was a pretty large group today--and even an ex-BYU quarterback joined us, Paul Shoemaker, who played in the early 1990's.  I knew my 17 year old BYU fanatic son would be interested in me meeting him--even my 51 year old BYU fanatic husband would be interested in that too. 

Anyway, we ran down the trail and then back, supposedly alternating between 8 minutes easy, 8 minutes hard.  I think Brett Jenkins summed it up when we were halfway done, and he asked, "When does the easy part begin?"  I was amused by that.  It does seem like the pace doesn't really alternate between easy-hard, but more like hard-harder.  I wonder if it would be better to make the easy part easier and the fast part faster.  I guess I could just do that myself, but it's hard to really slow down when you are with a group. We all want to push the pace a little, I think.  Anyway, it was a fun run overall.

We were in Las Vegas today on vacation.  I thought about getting up and running down the strip, but unfortunately it remained just a thought.  I did run the stairs that were by our room.  We then drove to San Clemente in CA and went immediately to the beach.  So I did what any runner would do and ran barefoot on the beach for 30 minutes.  That was a lot of fun.

We were still by the beach in San Clemente.  I got up early and went out running. There was a great path that paralled the beach, lots of runners and walkers using it.   It was very pretty and relaxing to hear the ocean as I ran.  I went by time, 1:05, so I will count that as 7 miles.

Still by the beach.  This time I concentrated on hills, lots of hills to run, so that's what I did.  I went for 1:05, so once again I'll count it as 7 miles.

Later we went to Sea World.  We were all amazed by how they're able to train those sea creatures to do all those tricks.  I'm almost as amazed that they're able to train cats to do tricks. Being a cat owner my entire life, I always thought cats were untrainable, but I guess I was wrong.

Last day at the beach.  Once again I concentrated on hills during the first half of the run, then I went to the beach and ran on it for about 20 minutes.  The total time was 1:25, so I'll count that as 9 miles.   I had three very enjoyable days running at the beach.  I think running at sea level is easier than here in Utah, at least I wasn't breathing as hard as I usually do.  Maybe I wasn't running as hard, I'm not sure what the explanation is.  All I know is I had fun running in San Clemente!

Some of us met to run the Glenmoor route, starting at the church at 9700 So. and 2200 W.  I took off feeling stronger than I have in a while.  Maybe those runs in California helped?  Anyway, I ran with Julie, Cheris and Peggy the entire way.  They were talking comfortably, I was happy to mainly listen.  The total time for the distance was 1:11:12, which I think is the fastest I've run it lately, so I was pleased about that.  My glutes were sore when I got home, I need to keep working on that.

I met with our group at Bingham High at 5:30 and we ran for a little over 2 miles, mainly on the canal road.  Then to our regular workout at 6:00.  We had around 10 people there.  We ran a workout I found in Running Times where we did fast two minutes, then recovery, a fast 5 minute, 10 minute, 5 minute, with recovery after each, and we ended with some hill sprints on Rustic Roads.  We then ran 30-30 back to the high school.  Everyone seemed to like the workout.  I felt pretty good, my legs were just slightly rubbery, probably recovering from yesterday.

I was planning to meet with Peggy and Debbie at 6:30am to run for about an hour, but this morning the mattress won the battle.  So thank goodness for treadmills, because I don't think I would have run outside later when it was hot.  I ended up doing two 5-K's on the treadmill, on a decline, and my times were 21:40 and 21:45.  Don't be fooled by those times, I think running is easier on a treadmill, especially when there's a decline.  Probably on the road the best I could do on a 5K right now is around 24 minutes.  But I enjoyed the workout because I worked up a really good sweat.  Is that bad to enjoy sweating?  Only in the privacy of my own home.   I once read to be healthy you should sweat every day, so today I'm feeling pretty healthy.  I think those downhill runs will be good for St. George because that is such a downhill course.  You don't feel that way at Veyo, but everyone says it's downhill, so I have to go along with that.

PM--I did some hill sprints that Steve wants me to do. Don't know exactly how much mileage I did, but with warm-up and cool-down it had to be at least 1 mile.

Met with the group at 5:30am at the church on 9800 So. I had planned a tempo run where we changed the pace throughout--20 minutes slow, 20 moderate, 20 pushing it. So of course all the speedsters in the group took off; they did not match my definition of "slow." Then during the moderate 20 minutes, everyone got spread out even more, and I pretty much lost the group except for Eric, Nancy and Kris. So I just completed the workout on my own. We added 30 minutes on after, which was supposed to be run 10 slow, 10 moderate, 10 pushing it. Who knows how everyone ran, I just know I ran for 90 minutes total. I think the distance was around 9.7 miles. I came home and rode my stationary bike for 30 minutes, then I took my 9 year old to the Rec pool and did some pool running. All that I'll count as a little over 1 mile. Now I'm tired.