Christi

Got up and did a fartlek run outside today. 1.25 warm up then 2x3 miles with .5 recovery n between. Of course the wind was blowing like a mad man-reminded me of Moab all over again. Anyhoo-splits for first ones were 6:25 (uphill), 6:16 (downhill), 6:30 (flat-slight uphill) .5 rest in 4:17, then 6:08 (downhill), 6:17 (downhill), 7:01-(slight uphill and right into the blazing headwind) I went completely by feel on these miles. (Wore my watch but didn't look at it) I kind of liked the freedom of not feeling tied down to my watch all the time. I think I will "go by feel" more in this training cycle. Times weren't extremely fast today-but I was fine about it considering the crazy wind.

5 super ez on the mill today...

Got up this morning and did 5,4,3,2,1,1 hard with 2 minute jog in between each. (jog in between was around 8:00-8:10 pace) hard segment paces were 5:00 at 5:34 pace(this one was downhill) 4:00 at 6:10 pace-(oops-I don't know why I ran this one so slow) 3:00 at 5:54 pace, 2:00 at 5:58 pace and 1:00 at 5:18 pace, last 1:00 at 6:30 pace (uphill) Besides the first one being downhill-the rest were rolling hills. I kind of liked this workout for something different. I feel like I was lacking on speed (leg turnover) going into the Moab half-so I plan on incorporating more speed this training cycle.   

did a moderate workout on the mill today. 6x400 hills at 7:00 pace on an incline of 5 for the first 3 and 6 for the last 3. rest was .25 jog in between at 7:30 pace on incline of 1.5. Felt alright today.

15 mile long run outside today. Added a different loop that was extremely hilly. It was nice to do a little different route today. Focused on running slow and relaxed today, and tried to not pay attention to my watch. avg 7:33 pace. 

Did 3 outside at about 7:20 pace, then 3 on the treadmill around 7:30-8:00.

Got up and did 5x1 minute fast with 1 minute jog in between. Fast bits were anywhere between 5:02 pace-5:45 pace.  Then I did 5x.20 meter hills. (about 1:35 uphill) Chose a pretty steep hill-with the peak being very steep (about an 85 ft climb in .20 meters) These were all done between 7:22-7:45 pace. (sounds slow-but it was a steep hill!)

Felt pretty good today...I am going to work on strength and speed a little bit before I get into the meat and potatoes of my workout training for this marathon.

I went to get my iron checked a couple days ago-and instead of being low on iron I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. The thyroid regulates metabolism and apparently I have an underactive thyroid. My tsh number is 7 and should be at 2-3. So the Dr prescribed 50mcg of synthroid for me...Then he is going to test my levels again in 2 months and make any adjustments. My mom and grandma both have the same thing....I am thinking that this is the reason I have been feeling so tired the past 2-3 months, since tiredness is a major symptom. I am kind of bummed bc I have never been on a medication and I may have to be on this one for the rest of my life....If this helps to bring my energy levels up though I am willing to try anything. I think if anything it can only help me right?? If anyone has any insight or knows anything about this-please share:) 

6 ez on the treadmill...Watched biggest Loser.

Got up during the wee hours of the morning to do my long progression run of 16 before hubby left for work. (I won't be able to do it on Saturday) Anyway-It was still dark. I have never trained in the dark very much-but it was actually kind of nice-(peaceful and relaxing) and the weather was a perfect 41 degrees with no wind....(I get super hot when I run and I'm sure people thought I was a maniac running in a tank and shorts lol)

Anyway-plan was to go out easy for the first 9 and pick it up on the last 7. Did a loop and the first 9 were 7:24 pace. (Did take one very short potty/gu stop 7 miles in) Splits for the last 7 were 6:33, 6:34, 6:41, 6:34, 6:15, 6:54, 7:30, 6:58. (Last 2 miles uphill) Avg pace for last 7 was 6:45, and avg pace over the whole run was 7:08..Wooohoo! Today was the first day I have felt really good in a long time...Not sure if its the 7 days of my new thyroid medication or I just had a good day-but I felt much stronger today than usual, and I will not complain!:)    

Time to update my blog...Ran on my aunt's treadmill today in the Philippines..(My husband served his mission in the Phillippines 12 yrs ago and has always wanted to take me back-and ironically my aunt and uncle got called as mission president's over his exact mission so we decided now was the perfect time to go) Anyway-I alternated 5x400s and 5xhills with .25 jog in between. The 400s were each at 6:00 pace and the hills were at 6.0 incline and 7:00 pace. This was a good workout-and I was hot and overheated by the end....

From Manilla we took a small flight to Palowan and stayed on an island just off of Palowan...It was so beautiful. Anyway at the resort there was no where to run-but I just made do the best I could. It was only 200 meters around the whole resort and it was thick white sand-so I ran around the resort a couple hundred times to make 5 miles. It was really tough running in the thick sand and the hot humidity!! I wasn't used to it at all and was sweating out of every pore by the end!! My avg pace was only 8:55! Lol!

Ran around the resort in the thick sand again and hot humidity. This time I attempted some speed-lol! After a short warm up I did 8x400s with .15 jog in between. Fast bits were around 7:00 pace...I know...not so fast-but I felt like it was still a good workout in the thick sand....People had to think I was crazy-dripping from sweat attempting to do speed in the sand...Lol-

I was planning on getting a good run in today-we flew back to Manilla and I was going to run on the treadmill-but woke up this morning with a temperature and terrible head/throat cold-so I passed on running.

Back in the states today...Still trying to adjust from the jet lag and this terrible cold/flu.  4 ez miles on the mill today.....Coughed like a mad man after the first mile-then it subsided a little. Body feels terrible right now so I did not push it.

Did 5 outside at 7:22 pace..Felt a little better than yesterday-but lungs and throat still burned pretty badly..Body felt tired today. Sickness-please leave me now so I can do some serious training...Also did 5 strides.

Took the kids to the park today and attempted a little bit of speed. I didn't know how it would go considering how terrible I have felt this week. I did 1 mile at 5:52, 400 jog- then an 800 at  2:56... That is all my body would allow me to do..I was happy with my splits-but this workout was really hard mentally and physically for me..The first half of each interval I felt fine-but then the fatigue started setting in and it was hard to finish...After I could not stop coughing. I am really getting sick of this thing!!! It has been a long time since I have been this sick. I have a 10k on Saturday-I really want to race it-but I may have to do it for fun if this keeps up...booo

Haha...As you can see from the crazy distance-the dreaded nightmare happened and I got lost on the course today..Details below...

Plan today was to not worry about time and just run however my body was feeling..(I have been sick all week with a terrible cough/cold/flu so I didn't have big expectations). I also knew going in that my time would be slow considering 80% of this course is in the dirt and hills. There was also 750 ft feet of elevation change-although the start and finish are at the same spot. (Picture the desert-brown dirt and pinon trees-that is where this course was-lol) Got to the starting line and it was  a super small race-maybe 100 people-split between a 5k and 10k.. Gun went off and my first split was 6:35...I was ahead at the mile but 2 guys followed closely behind. 2 mile split was 6:56, at this point the guy behind me threw in a surge to run side by side with me and he stayed that way for a minute and then completely died off. On the course there are signs with arrows saying where to go and around the 2.5 mile mark there was a sign saying to turn right and I did-but I turned right onto the road-not the dirt trail... There was a lady directing there-and she didn't even say anything to me!... Boo...Anyway-I ran on my merry way and after going about .4 on the road I looked back to see where the guy was and he was no where in sight. Crap! He must have really died or I must have missed a turn-I decided on the latter and turned around and ran .4 back and realized I was supposed to go on the trail instead of the road. I was bummed-but oh well what could I do?...Maybe I can start picking people off I thought...This part of the course was a trail going up and down hills and making quite a few turns. Slowly but surely I started picking people off. 1 girl, then two, then 3, then about a half mile before the finish I passsed the 4th or 5th girl. I had no clue if there were any other girls ahead of me...Anyway, I kicked it in a little for the last .92 which was downhill-but my splits for miles 3-7 were pathetic...7:37, 7:04, 7:58, 7:02 and 5:49 for .92. lol..At least I was still the first girl..(not much competition in Farmington as you can see) Anyway-they gave me a 50 visa gift card and I won a great harvest bread basket...Not too shabby...My body did feel extremely tired today-but at least the coughing waited until after the race to start..I'm hoping next week I can have more "quality miles" and get down to business.. Fingers crossed it will be a much better week...

Here's to no more getting lost...lol

5 miles outside at 7:12 pace....Hubby had today off-so I ran later and it was too hot! already 70 degrees.