Christi

On vacation in st lucia this week. It's so hard for me to feel like running while on vacation but uvm is coming up so I better get a couple good workouts in even though I'm tapering. Ran on the treadmill and even though it was air conditioned I was sweating like a pig after the first mile. Humidity is terrible! Anyway. Didn't have a lot of time but I did did alternating 400s at 6:30 pace, then 6:00 pace then 8:00 pace. Did 2 miles worth of fast ones. Then I did 1 mile at 6:27 pace. My right lower leg was bothering me again on this workout. Getting a little frustrated. (Looked like I jumped in the pool after this workout)

Treadmill workout in st lucia again. Did 2.5 warm up then did 3 straight at 6:22,6:22, 6:15. (Leg was bothering me slightly) did another mile easy then did 4x400s at 6:00 pace with 400 jog at 8:00 pace in between.

4 ez on tm

4 ez on tm.

Ran on tm again. Was dreading it bc I get soooo hot! Did 4.5 then had to pack my clothes real quick so they could pick up my suitcase- then did another 4.5. Anyway I did 3x1 miles at 6:27 pace in this run. The last one was 1.5 instead of 1. Foot felt a little better today.

Back in the states! (Got home yesterday at 9:30 pm so I was a little tired this morning from traveling) did a track workout. 3x1000s with 600m jog in between in 3 minutes. Splits were 3:26, 3:25, 3:25. Then. I did 2x200s with 200 jog in between. 200s were 34, 34. Got home and did 4 strides... Felt pretty good today. I wore new shoes today and my leg didn't bother me.. (Maybe it's my shoes that's causing the irritation)

4 miles ez

Warm up followed by 3 marathon paced miles at 6:34,6:17,6:22. (these were slightly faster)

Easy run of two miles today to loosen the legs. Did .25 at marathon pace followed by a couple strides. UVM tomorrow!

Ran UVM today! Overall pretty happy with this race.. Here is my report.

Got up to the start with an hour and 45 minutes to spare! Sheesh! Sat around by the fire pits-which we needed because it was pretty cold. Also waited in line for the bathrooms 3 times! Luckily the lines weren't long. Before I knew it we were off. Goal was to  run even paced and if all went well shoot for 2:55.

First 7 miles were extremely easy. I love this portion of the course because it is slight downhill almost the whole time. Had to really hold myself back the first mile. (Is it just me or does the first mile seem like you are running ridiculously slow-I always have too much adrenalin! Anyway first split was 6:28) Around 2 miles in I was the 5th girl. I told myself to not worry about the others ahead and run my own race and hope they would come back to me later. Passed one girl around mile 3 and then another around mile 5 or 6.  Miles 2-7 felt really relaxed. Splits were 6:25,6:28,6:28,6:35,6:28,6:26.

Next part of the course is the hills by deer creek. Next 2 were uphill. During this part of the course I started noticing the wind... Of course it had to be a head wind..(why can't we ever have a tail wind??) During this section I passed another girl. Splits were 6:52,7:10.. (I like taking it really easy up my hills.) Started noticing some blisters at this point. I got excited at the top of the hill because I know that is the worst of it and the rest is mostly down with some rollers. Splits for miles 10-13 were 6:01, 6:34,6:49,6:23. (Talk about all over the place!) Ran the half in 1:26:15 and it felt fantastic.

AFter the half I really started noticing the wind... Dang wind! so I tried drafting off of a tall guy.. (Hopefully he wasn't mad! Him and I kept going back and forth) The wind was annoying but I was running pretty well and felt good so I tried not to let it bug me and decided I would finish strong even if 2:55 wasn't feesible anymore. I couldn't see the first girl so I just worked on trying to pass anyone ahead of me. Splits for the next 7 were 6:30,6:30,7:08 (hill/wind) 7:19 (wind/hill) 6:41,6:23,6:51. (around miles 18-19 I felt both quads tighten) HAng on! I kept thinking. Now I was out of the canyon and I was actually starting to feel kind of hot-even though the temps weren't very hot. (I get so overheated! Why cant it be 45 degrees the whole time?) Anyway at this point my legs didn't seem to want to turnover any more. It also makes it hard that there is no more steep downhill. Splits for the last 6 were 6:55,6:49,6:55,7:08,6:55,7:08 and last .20 in 6 minute pace. (The last 6 were pretty hard- and my blisters were killing-two black toenails and 3 huge blisters... waa waa) ANyway-I sprinted as hard as I could the last bit to get under 2:57. Finished 2nd girl overall and I was happy with it. (Wish I could have finished the last 6 miles stronger- and a 2:55 would have been nice-but I will take a 2:56:57.) The wind was annoying but could have been alot worse like 2012! It was nice to have cooler temperatures today. Ran with my kids in the kids 1k. So fun! Love that they do this! Anyway-good race.. Well organized... Love the course..        

*Did take gu prior to racing and at miles 13 and 19.         

5 miles ez on the treadmill. Legs aren't really sore, they just feel heavy still from the marathon.

5 ez miles on the treadmill

Ran 3 miles outside. Came in and ran 2 more. Included 2x.25 pickups at 6:00 pace. These were hard and my legs didn't want to go fast. (Marathons really take it out of my legs and it takes me a long time to recover) did 4 strides.

Ran Ragnar this weekend! First Ragnar ever and it was a blast! Did it with Perry's family and we were doing it for fun. I am going to just do a quick review of my races. First leg was 3.1 miles and I finished in a 6:19 pace. (Pretty flat course) after this it was van 1 turn and we had dinner and tried to sleep before our night legs. Yeah right! Who sleeps? 2nd leg was at 2:30 in the morning. 11.75 miles with my headlamp in the pitch black dark with no van support. About 6 miles of this was on a trail. It was cold! It was also spread out between runners so when I was by myself I tried not to think of a bear attacking me or someone grabbing me! I focused on the trail and trying not to trip. I've never ran in the dark before and it was definitely different. Pace for this run was about 7:18. I was actually able to sleep for an hour on the grass at the school before my last leg. Last leg was at 3 in the afternoon and it was hot and it was also straight up the mountain. 1600 ft climb in 4.5 miles, (first 1.5 flat then straight up the mountain) watch stopped working on this one so I have no clue as to splits but I do know it was slow! Team kept dumping water on my head it was hot! Glad when this leg was over. Our team finished in park city in 32 hours for the 198 miles. (About where we predicted) it was fun, but glad to be done. Lots of laughs.it was quite the experience.