I can do it!

I ran around four miles this morning, followed by eight miles on the bike.  This evening I swam 50 lengths at the pool.  If I could just increase those distances and squish them all together, I could try a tri!

Today was not a running day...obviously.  I just couldn't resist doing a little at the track when I went to pick up my husband.  I did 20 min. HIIT on the eliptical at the gym, and was planning to do yoga this evening, but had an AWESOME massage instead.  What a great day!

I woke up this morning to do my run, but had a terrible case of sciatica, so, to be safe, I skipped my morning regime and went to the chiropractor instead.  He said I had muscle spasms in my back, probably due to some minor injury in one of the disks, so he treated me, prescribed me some stretches, and gave me the OK to continue running, biking, and swimming...as long as I listen to my body and stop if it doesn't feel right.  So this evening, I hurried to the gym to run two miles on the treadmill (yuck!) and then rushed to the pool to get 50 lengths in before my rehearsal started.  It's not as much as I hoped to do, but at least it was something.  :D

This morning I ran 5 miles easy...just to see how my sciatic felt.  It was a little uncomfortable at first, but once I got going, I felt pretty good.  Tonight I'm going to TRY Zumba at the gym, and maybe a little yoga.  I don't want to make it worse.....

This morning I biked 12.5 miles.  Then I finished off my day at the pool, swimming 72 lengths.  Today was not a running day!  :D 

I ran with Elijah 8.5 miles this morning.  I did some light hill training and added a few fartleks on the downhill sides.  I felt great afterwards!

Ben and I did a 22+ mile bike ride this evening.  I love the benefits of cross-training to improve my running!

I woke up early this moring, had a fabulous 5 mile run, incorporating some speedwork, then finished off the morning with an eight mile bike ride.  I rode in high gear all the way home, to see if I could get a little burn in the quads.  I felt incredible afterwards!  This evening I swam 72 lengths at the pool, again feeling great - I didn't even need to stop for a breather!  What an awesome day! 

Easy day.  I did a 20 minute HIIT on the elliptical, did a few crunches, stretched, and then ran a mile on the track.  I was tempted to do more, but I probably need a little recovery after yesterday.  I'm looking forward to building enough of a base that I don't have to worry so much about over-doing after a day like yesterday!  I still feel great.  But I'm trying to be careful.  :-)

I thought I ran super easy this morning - I think I was feeling the after shocks of Monday's workout.  I even took a few walk breaks.  But when I finished my run, I realized that my pace was still pretty good - under 49 minutes - which is actually clipping along for me.  (yes, I AM slow!)   I decided to go ahead and ride the bike, and by the time I was done, I felt great!  I love being able to finish my workouts exhilerated instead of exhausted.  It's also fun to find that a "bad day" this week is better than a "bad day" was last week.  Oh, the joy of getting stronger!  Maybe someday I will get to call myself a REAL athelete!  :D  If all goes as planned, I'll do some swimming this evening to wrap up my day...

Later...I went to the pool to swim 40 lengths, but felt so good I decided to do ten more.  Too bad I can't figure out how to be a swimmer and not stink of chlorine and look bug-eyed from the goggles!  :*)

Ahhh....I slept in this morning until 6:45!  It felt REALLY good.  :D  I started my day with 20 minutes of HIIT on the elliptical, then hit the treadmill for a couple of miles.  I started out at a 10:54 pace, and gradually increased my tempo to 8:34.  Then I did a cool down on the stationary recumbant bike, stretched, and headed home for cheesy scrambled eggs and grapefruit.  I feel great!  This evening I plan to ZUMBA before my dance rehearsal.

So...tonight I decided to ride my bike to the gym for Zumba.  I stayed for 45 minutes, then had to leave early to make it to my rehearsal on time.  Then, of course, I had to bike home.  So that added about another 14+ miles to my tally!  Great day!  I'm ready for bed.  :-)

I didn't sleep well last night.  So it was with great weariness that I pulled myself out of bed and hopped on my bike to do my 8 miles.  To be honest, I had planned to do 12, but since I had an unscheduled biking day yesterday, I decided to take it easy.  Immediately after my ride, I ran two miles.  It was really hard - I can tell I'm going to have to practice going straight from biking to running more often.  But, as per Sasha's instructions, I'm going to take my training up a notch, and try running six days a week, instead of only three.  My legs were really tired, but I feel good about what I accomplished.  I'll try swimming tonight.  I love having this blog to be accountable to.  Otherwise, it would be WAY too easy to talk myself out of a workout!  :-)

As a side note...I actually got emotional this morning reading on the home page about calling myself a "fast" runner.  I have often felt that kind of emotion when I think about being a wife, a mother, and about my music and performing.  It is as if deep down inside I KNOW that those are things I was BORN to do.  Could it possibly be that I was born to be a "runner" as well?  I have felt it occasionally on my runs - the feeling that I am reaching up and discovering that I have unlimited potential, and I was born to be really GOOD...not just average.  I love that feeling.  I'm going to chase that feeling.  Who knows what wonderful things I will accomplish?  I'm excited to find out!

Well, I didn't make it swimming last night. I don't know why, but I was really tired all day, and my muscles felt...tired. So I decided to take the evening off. I woke up at 4:30 this morning to send my husband off for the summer games triathlon, then Elijah and I did our ten miles of running. We took it really easy (as always) doing four minutes of running and one minute walk breaks. We finished all ten in 1:42. I felt great until the last mile, when I started to get a little head-achy, but I drank some electrolye-supplemented water and then I felt fine. Then it was off to rehearsal for me. Ben ended up taking the GOLD medal in the tri, and coming in tenth overall! I was so proud - wish I could have been there to watch...except if I HAD been there, I would have been racing. :D

This afternoon Ben and I went to an all-you-can-eat Sushi place.  Oh, boy!  We ate a lot.  Afterwards, I thought "I just can't go to bed with all this food sitting in my belly," so Ben went running and I jumped on my bike, towing my two youngest children in the trailer.  The first four miles were sluggish, but then I started feeling pretty spry, and I picked up the pace.  Then the kids started fighting, so after about eight miles I dropped them off at home, and went out to find Ben and play water-boy.  I found him about two miles from home, after biking up this massive hill, and then rode home with him at a very slow pace (for the bike).  It was all downhill on the way home, and I rode my brakes most of the way, but I'm still going to count the miles!  :-)

Day of REST!  And I DID rest, most of the day, 'til I couldn't take it anymore.  So Ben and I took the kids for a very small, very relaxing bike ride.  It was actually still hard - my muscles must be really tired!  But NOT sore, so that's good....

Elijah and I ran early this morning...and I felt GREAT!  We did our five mile loop in about 46 minutes...slowly getting back my speed.  My legs felt good and tired afterwards, but not fatigued.  I think I'll see if Ben wants to bike to the pool tonight to do our laps....

Great bike ride!  It was at least 8 miles each way, and I swam 80 lengths at the pools.  I've felt great all day!  I'm going to sleep well now.  :-)

I started out today with 20 minutes of HIIT on the elliptical, followed by crunches and stretching.  Then it was over to the track for a very slow run.  I had to keep reminding myself, "It's a RECOVERY RUN!" every time someone would pass me on the track.  My legs are tired!  But I'm feeling good.  Tonight I'll be able to make it to 45 minutes of yoga before my rehearsal.  It will be the first time in weeks that I'll be able to attend, and I'm excited and looking forward to a really good and much needed stretch!

I got up extra early today to squeeze in a quick 3-mile SLOW run, so that I could go biking with my friends through Snow Canyon at 6:00 am. It was a beautiful way to start the day! There was a lot of fast downhill racing, but a good stretch of uphill WORK!  I did it on my mountain bike....one of these days I'm going to get a REAL road bike.  There's nothing like a little exertion to kick start your day...I feel fabulous!  :D

I have rehearsal from 6-10 tonight, so I'm not going to make it to the pool.  :-(

This morning my legs wouldn't work.  Maybe it was the long bike ride yesterday...  :)  So I TRIED to do 5 miles, but it was more of a run/walk.  This evening I planned to ride my bike to the rec center for Zumba and Yoga, but once I arrived, there was a substitute teacher for Zumba, and I discovered that although I am not a "real" dancer, I must be some kind of a dance snob.  I had to leave.  Instead I did 40 minutes on the elliptical, just to kill time before yoga. 

But the BEST part of my day was lunchtime, when my hubby took me to look at a used road bike, and it ended up being a really nice road bike in beautiful condition...an '05 Allez Comp Specialized road bike with an aluminum frame, carbon forks, stays, and seat post, brand new tires, serviced regularly and recently, ultegra and dur-ace components, etc.  For cheap!   And the other amazing thing is that the gal who owned it was exactly the same height as me, with the same length legs as me!  She won several races on that bike, and treated it like a baby.  Suffice it to say I brought home a "new" bike today!  And I'm giddy with excitement to get to try it out (need pedals and shoes first).  No more riding up the steep canyons on my $35.00 clearance mountain bike from Wally-world!  What a happy day.

Ahhh...Ben didn't have to be at work until 8:00, so I got to sleep in until 6:40!  It was sooo nice.  I started out the morning with a short tempo run, and then was able to try out my new bike!  What fun!  I'm pretty sure riding the old mountain bike is going to be totally unsatisfactory from now on.  But I'm going to have to re-learn how to ride.  :-)  We finished out the evening with a trip to the pool, and 60 lengths back and forth.  Now to bed...tomorrow's a long day.

It was a beautiful morning for a long run!  I met some friends to do 12 miles on the Saint George Marathon route - some pretty steep downhill grades.  I was really worried after having been so tired all week, but after the first couple of miles, something kicked in, and I felt FABULOUS!  The scenery was breathtaking.  I felt a continual flow of happiness as I ran, especially as I neared the end of my run, and realized how fantastic I was feeling and how un-tired I was.  I'm sure that I have never smiled so much before on any run.  I was thoroughly enjoying myself!  It still surprises me when I feel that way running, after having done it for so many months with just the opposite feeling.  But the more I learn about running (and other recreation) the more I realize that I don't ever have to hate it again!  So I'm going to love it, from now on!

For Father's Day, we loaded up all the kids right after church and drove to the Grand Canyon for "free national park day."  It was AWESOME!  The kids loved the day trip.  We didn't do a LOT of walking, but it was enough for me to feel the soreness in my quads.  It's not too bad, but I could tell that I definately did some downhill running yesterday.  We'll see how it goes tomorrow....

After all the exercising that I've become accustomed to doing these last few weeks, today felt a bit like a cop-out!  I slept in late (7:45!) then attempted to run a couple of miles on my slightly sore legs.  It felt good to get going again after the first half mile, and I would have done more if I wasn't with my daughter and if it wasn't so late.  I think these next few days are going to have to be mostly recovery, since my legs haven't adapted to serious downhill running yet.  I'm glad I'm starting now, so that I can be totally used to it by the time the marathon gets here!  :D

I woke up at 3:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep, so about 4:15 I got Elijah out of bed, had a power shake, and we went running.  4:45 am is actually a wonderful time to be running in Saint George, especially as summer wears on!  I felt fabulous!  I picked up a book at the library last weekend called "Chi Running," have read the first few pages, and I feel like it has already made a big difference in my runs...at least in how I perceive them.  I feel fully energized and am thoroughly enjoying my time on my legs.  Today as I rounded the corner to my house, I felt as if I could keep going forever...and probably would have continued running if my partner wasn't done, and if I hadn't already decided that I needed to try out my new shoes and pedals on my bike.  So I had a drink of water, switched shoes, and spent about 15 minutes practicing getting in and out of the clips.  I decided that getting out is no problem, as long as I remember to do it!  But getting my shoes IN the clips was a little more challenging.  Elijah wanted to come along for the ride, so I let him use my old mountain bike, and now I know what it must have felt like for Ben to have to wait for ME all these months!  I hardly had to pedal to keep at Elijah's pace.  A few times I opened up and let my bike fly, and just left Elijah in the dust!  What fun!  But then I would have to slow down and wait for him to catch up.  I'm excited to really get to try it out on my long ride tomorrow!  We'll see how good tomorrow's riding partner will be at keeping up with me....   ;-)

This morning began at 4:00 am. I woke up early so I could squeeze a run in with Ben before getting him off to work. We did a 5K run together, which I'm sure was painfully slow for him, but a nice recovery run for me. He had his Garmin on, so I actually have an accurate time - 30:45. He went on to do a little more running, and I went inside to make breakfast. After that, I met up with a friend to try out a longer ride on my road bike. We did 24 miles together at a very relaxed pace. I found myself easily conversing with her the whole time, and never really broke a good sweat. However, I think it was good for me to spend the time on the bike, as I'm still learning how to properly position my upper body. I finished with just a little tightness in my shoulders, so I probably need to adjust a bit. I have a shorter rehearsal schedule tonight, so I'm going to talk Ben into coming with me on the bicycle. That will add another 16 miles or so, but it will miles I'll have to work harder at, just to try to make Ben break a sweat!

Later.....I was able to cycle to my rehearsal, but we ended up running late, and I didn't get out of there until 9:20 pm.  So I had to get a ride home with someone - it was too late to cycle.  Bummer.  I was hoping to get a few more miles in with Ben, since he's so much more challenging to ride with.  AND riding to my rehearsal was uphill the whole way, and I was looking forward to the ride home!  :D  From now until the play is over, most of my evenings are going to be tied up.  But by the time we're finished, the weather will start to cool down again, so I'll be hitting the road on the bike more often!  Yay!

It was an easy day.  I did five slow miles.  I think the cycling last night gave me a better workout than I had thought, since my legs were tired this morning.  My knees also felt a little sore.  So I ran slow and easy, and felt good afterwards.  :-)

Friday!  Sleep in day!  I got up at 6:15 for my nice and short three mile run, then hopped on the bike to ride to work with Ben.  I had intended to swim this evening, but it didn't work out....I've felt like a slacker all week...but will make up for it next week, hopefully.  :-)

Today was a short long run day!  I ran with a big group of friends.  Everyone in the group was doing 12 miles, but I did twelve last weekend and am planning to do 14 next Friday, so I forced myself to quit at 6.  It was great running with friends!

This morning Elijah and I ran with Ben at 4:15 am.  We did five miles at a good pace for me.  We used his garmin and found out I've been short-changing myself on my five mile runs...oops!  So today I KNOW we did exactly 5 miles in 48:05.  I felt very comfortable and relaxed the entire run.  Afterwards, I biked with Ben to work, then did a few extra miles by myself before heading home.  I felt great all day until I ate dinner, then I REALLY wanted to go to bed, but I went to the pool instead and did 60 lengths.  It was a good day!  And now....goodnight!  :-)

Today is an EASY day!  Three miles early this morning...and then I went back to bed!  YAY!  I actually have a short rehearsal tonight, so I MAY be able to squeeze something else in this evening...but I probably won't.  I'm saving up for my 5 mile run/30 mile bike ride tomorrow morning. 

So I decided to squeeze something in after all...I convinced Ben that we should ride bikes to my rehearsal.  It ended up being really windy on the way home, so it was "fun" getting to pedal against the wind.  Even so, I really enjoy riding, and love my new bike!  I felt bad because Ben forgot he was supposed to have boy scouts at our house this evening....so they all showed up and he wasn't there!  Ooooopppps!  :-)

Ben and I got up at 4:00 and ran a very slow 5 miles....sometimes you got it, and sometimes you don't!  :-)  Poor Ben was very patient with my sluggishness, but I let him go the last half mile so he could get in a bit of a real run.  Then I downed a power shake, loaded up my bike, and drove to Ivins so that the girls and I could do our ride out to Gunlock Reservoir.  Even though we all ride at different speeds, it was fun because I could go my pace and then wait for the others to catch up at certain points along the route.  I will now consider myself as a "real" cyclist, since I had my first "forgot to clip out in time" accident, and took a small spill on the side of the road.  Luckily for me, I was ahead of everyone, so no one was there to witness my foolishness - hahahaha!  :-D  And since I also had my first "need a bathroom but will have to be content with behind a tree" experience a couple of weeks ago, I also now consider myself a "real" runner!  We finished off our workout with a nice restaurant for breakfast....since any workout with food at the end is always more fun.  It was a great morning!

I had a doctor's appointment at 10:30 am, and had to go in fasting, so it was an EASY morning.  :-D  Two miles at 4:30 in the morning...and back to bed.  Yay!

We decided to do our long run on Friday instead of Saturday, since we have fourth of July celebrations tomorrow morning.  So we drove up near the start of the Saint George Marathon route, and ran the first half.  We did the 14 miles in 2:26, which, considering my usual time and the fact that we had at least a good 10 minutes worth of bathroom breaks, was not bad at all for a long slow run!  I'm pretty happy with it.  We mostly ran five minutes with one minute walk breaks, although in the beginning we had longer runs and less walk breaks.  After the drive home, my knees felt pretty sore getting out of the car.  I jumped in the pool for awhile, then slathered wintercrest all over my legs and rested for about half an hour.  Since then, my legs have felt perfectly fine!  It will interesting to see how I do when I try to run tomorrow...

We finished off the morning's workout with a trip to Mesquite for all-you-can-eat sushi....the perfect pre- or post-race/run meal!  Ahhhh....Heaven!  :-D

Happy Independence Day!  To kick off the holiday, I dragged myself out of bed at 6:15, ran a very slow but attentive three mile recovery run, showered, and had a great dutch oven breakfast with all of my neighbors!  For the rest of the day, I'm going to lounge around the pool with my family, and maybe go have a massage.  Yes!

Later....no massage today, so Ben and I decided we needed Dairy Queen Blizzards!  We hopped on our bikes and rode the 4+ miles to Dairy Queen, then decided to make an evening of it.  We did approximately 20 miles at an average speed of 15+ miles per hour.  Now my quads really feel spent.  I'll try the wintercrest again, and see how that affects them.  :-)

Elijah and I ran a nice easy 5 mile loop this morning.  My legs are still a little tired from last weekend - hence the easy run.  We encountered a skunk in the dark...he scared us, and we scared him!  We were feeling pretty lucky to have been within a few feet of him without getting sprayed!  Aren't skunks supposed to be stinky, so you know when you're getting close?!?

Afterwards, we went over to the pool to do some laps.  I was planning to stop at 40 lengths, but then I thought I'd make it an even 1500, and then I thought "Why not do a mile?"  So I did.  I'm feeling good, with the exeption of a very sore shoulder and back on my right side.  It occured to me this morning that it's probably due to my fall on Saturday's bike ride.  Ouch!

Today is Ben and my 19th anniversary!  To celebrate, he will be working all day and I will be rehearsing all night.  Good thing for us that we celebrate EVERY day.  That's why our marriage is so AWESOME!  ♥  Love you, Ben!  ♥

Easy run....great way to start the day!!!

Even though late night rehearsals have me tempted to stay in bed and sleep all day long, I managed to drag myself out of bed at 4:00 AM to run with my husband.  We did a pretty easy 4 miles.  The first mile just about killed me, but I felt good after that.  I think it's mostly mental.  I had intended to do five, but four seemed like a good idea at the time...

I feel like a big slacker with my cross-training.  Tech week has taken up every evening, and I will continue to have no freedom at night until this play is over.  Sooo...should I audition for another one?!?  I CAN'T believe I'm actually hesitating to be on stage in favor of training!!!!  What happened to the couch potato that I used to be?  Ben has killed it in me.  Thanks a LOT, honey.  :-D

I had intended to do a nice slow run with walk breaks this morning, but I felt so good, that Elijah and I did the run in 48 minutes anyway, even WITH the walks!  We ran 5 minutes and walked 1 minute - the way I'm planning to run the marathon.  At the pace I was going today, I would be able to do the marathon in about 4:12.  Wow.  My first marathon was 4:48, but I will be a lot better prepared for the Saint George Marathon.  I'd like to do 4:45 or better, but will be happy with anything less than five, and ECSTATIC with a 4:30!  Anything less than that, and I will have to be resuscitated from the shock!

I received my Garmin 305 in the mail today, and am excited about learning to use it to assist in my training.  I'm interested to see if it helps or hinders my progress.  :D

Elijah and I did our "long" run today instead of Saturday.  It was a short week for us, so we were supposed to do 7 miles, but we did eight instead.  I tried out my new Garmin - it was fun!  I set it up so that we got a walk break every half mile, but I think we will switch back to walking by time instead of distance, since on the hills we didn't get to walk as often, and on the downhill grades we walked more often.  We did a nice, slow pace, finishing the 8 miles in 1:22.  Our last mile we ran under an eight minute mile.  I felt great the whole run, and will be ready to do a 16 mile run next weekend!

Good morning!  :-)

Last night was a late-night rehearsal.  It was our first rehearsal in full costume, and my feet were SO sore afterwards!  I took off my shoes and put on flip-flops and hobbled out to my car, wondering how I was going to get a run in this morning.  So I decided to ask my 16-year-old daughter to accompany me.  We did 2.88 miles in 36:03, alternating 2 minutes of walking with 2 minutes of running.  Then I went by myself and did a tempo run of 1.12 miles in 9:24, afterwhich I picked up my 9-year-old daughter (who's been begging to get to run) for 1.2 miles in 14:56, again alternating walking/running.  The whole walk/run took exactly one hour, for an average pace of about 11.5 minutes a mile.  It's so funny - I remember when that pace was my RUNNING tempo!  It's nice to see how I've progressed so much in the last year!

Later today I'm planning to attend an audition for Tuachan, then if it's not TOO hot, I'm going to try to get on my bike - it's been a WHOLE WEEK!

.......Well, the audition went pretty well - they liked me enough to call me back for a dance audition!  To bad I'm not a dancer - HA!  Anyway, I ended up missing all my meals because of my schedule, so when I got back from the audition, Ben and I went to an all-you-can-eat chinese buffet.  Afterwards, we decided to go cycling and did 20 miles in 1:09.  It was a nice ride along flat terrain - perfect for riding on a very full belly!  I think I'll sleep well tonight....

I woke up to run at 3:45 this morning, but I couldn't get Elijah out of bed. It's probably a bad idea for a woman to be out at 4:00 in the morning running, so I read for awhile, and at 6:00 woke him up again, and off we went.  He was clearly not in the mood to run, so we only did 3 miles at about a ten minute per mile pace, taking walk breaks after every five minutes of running.  We finished in about 34 minutes - I'm still trying to figure out my Garmin, and had it set on "biking" for the first 3/4 mile, so it was reading our pace funny.  After I dropped him off, I did another two miles at a 5K pace, and finished in 16:48.  :-D

Somehow I never heard Ben leave for work, and I ended up sleeping in until 6:40!  The bad thing about that is having to run after the sun comes up - it gets hot fast here in Saint George!  Britnee ran at the beginning with me - again doing 2 minutes of running with 2 minutes of walking.  She was feeling sick after the first two miles, so we stopped at 2.25 miles (28 minutes) and walked 0.75 (13:03 minutes).  Then I ran 1 mile by myself in 7:52, and picked up Haylee and Elijah for another 1.15 miles of walking/running in 2 minute increments.  That took us 11:10 minutes.  Elijah and I finished up with a 0.75 mile run in 6:43.  I logged 6 miles total on my Garmin, but I didn't count the 0.75 mile walk.  :-D

This afternoon Ben and I went to the pool and I swam 72 lengths - which is just over one mile.  I miss getting to swim and bike more regularly.  One more month and I will be finished with the latest production and I will have my evenings back!  Yay!

I was supposed to get up early this morning to run, then go cycling with a friend after that, but I slept in LATE, and my friend didn't show up - so I was able to get my run in!  I ended up running a 5K length in 26:09 - a really good pace for me!  The first mile I ran in 8:51, and then the second mile I did an 8:24.  The last mile was more uphill, but I still finished in 8:13!  Then the last 0.1 was 0:41.  Great run!  What a perfect way to start the day!  Too bad I missed my bike ride.  :-(

In anticipation of a long run tomorrow, I took it really easy today - two miles with four kids in tow.  Yay!

Elijah and I got up at 3:45 AM for this run.  He was having a tough time, so we actually did our "long slow distance" LONG and SLOW!  We finished our 16 mile loop in 2:55.  The second eight miles went by much faster than the first, since the first half was all uphill and the second half was all downhill.  I felt really good the whole time, with the exception of a strange pain in my left knee.  It still feels a little sore this afternoon - I'm not sure what's pulling.  Tomorrow I get to have a massage!  Whoopee!!!  And now....it's nap time.

Today was a recovery run from yesterday's long run.  I did two miles.  The first mile I took a few short walk breaks - my left knee was still bothering me.  Then I started really focusing on my technique, and the discomfort was greatly alleviated.  Still, I didn't want to do too much, especially when my week's total mileage was already pretty high for me.  Toady was also the preview of the play I'm in (we open on Monday night) so I had to hurry to get to the show on time.  It went GREAT!  Ben and I celebrated with an hour-long massage.  :D  Then this evening we went cycling, and did 18 1/2 miles in 1 hour 8 minutes.  We would have gone further, but it got dark too fast.  It was probably just as well, since my muscles were all jello after the massage, and I was shaking like a leaf through most of the ride!  Now I'm feeling great, and am totally ready to sleep well tonight.  Ahhhhh.......

My friend Melanie is here from out of town, and so is my sister and her family, so I got to run with buddies today - Melanie and my brother-in-law, Joseph. We did 5K starting out a little faster than I usually do, but we made the loop in 27:48. My knees didn't bother me at all, but I felt it a little in the shins. When we got back, I did some lower body weights - 4 sets of 10 reps with leg extensions @30 lbs.(on my old rickety machine), lying leg curls @ 25 lbs., calf raises (4 sets of 12 on each leg), and some crunches. It was a good morning. :D

Well, my back is in spasms again, which is sooo sad because I can't run when it does this.  This is the third time in the last four months or so that it has happened - and it hasn't ever happened before!  At least, not since high school.  It's very frustrating.  I started to feel it last night, just before my performance started, but other than during a few high kicks, it didn't bother me too much.  I went to the gym this morning and did 20 minutes of HIIT on the recumbant bike, then tried to run a little on the treadmill, but didn't even get five steps in before I knew it wasn't happening.  So I went to the pool and swam a mile - that felt great!  As the day has worn on, it my back has become steadily worse.  It's like a phantom pain shooting down to my tailbone, causing pain when I sit, stand too long, and even when I lie down!  If it lasts much longer, I'm going to be in serious trouble, since I have more performances this week on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, plus I start rehearsing for the next show on Monday in addition to the one that's running now.  Hmmmm.....

I'm out of commission today - sciatica.  Such a bummer.  :-(

I'm feeling much better today - but I dare not chance relapse by doing something physical yet.  After all, I have three more shows this weekend and I start rehearsing for "Aida" on Monday!  So one more day off for me.  I miss running.

After being laid out for several days - it is SO great to be able to run again! I did my 5K in 28:00. I tried out my new shoes today - saucony "fastwich". They are so light and comfortable! And this afternoon I went to the pool - but only did 40 lengths because I was afraid of having "goggle eyes" for my performance this evening. :D I'm really looking forward to my 10 mile run in the morning. Yay for running!

I had such a great run this morning! It just felt incredible to be out running again.  We met up with some friends at 5:00 AM and ran part of the "Trails Half" route.  We took it nice and easy, running a good pace but stopping to walk every mile.  The last two miles I took off by myself and ran between a 9:00 and 8:30 pace, and finishing up the last 3/4 mile at around a 7:30.  I love running.  :D

Elijah and I ran 5 miles together this morning. We ran a mile, then walked a minute.  We averaged around a 10:00 mile, finishing in 50:31. The last mile we really stepped it up. Then I took Britnee, Hyrum, and Haylee out for two miles, alternating walk/run every two minutes.  The last 1/2 mile the arch in my right foot suddenly started to hurt, and I'm sorry to say that it feels almost as badly as it did after my marathon!  I have no idea why.  I sure do hope it feels better soon, even though it has already been several hours and it still hurts to walk on.  Today I start rehearsals for "Aida", and I'll go straight to my performance of "Annie get you gun" afterwards.  It's going to be a BUSY four weeks!!!!

Out of commission AGAIN today...sigh.  I have to get some lab work done tomorrow while fasting, but I'm going to try cycling in the morning.  Then I'm going to make an appointment with a podiatrist.  Yay.

I went cycling with a group  of gals this morning, but it ended up being more of a goof-fest with pictures than any real riding, so I only got in around 9 - 10 miles.  We sure had a blast, though!  So tonight, Ben and I went to the rec center and I did a 20 minute HIIT on the stationary bike, and logged another 7.5 miles.  I tried the elliptical machine, but it made my arch hurt.  I'm seeing a podiatrist in the morning.  I hope that whatever the problem is, he can fix it in time for me to run 18 miles on Friday!  What are the odds?!?  Anyway, after the gym, we went to the pool and I swam 80 lengths.  I feel great, but totally ready for bed!  :-D

I just finished a great bike ride with my friend Dawn!  We rode 27 miles in about 1 1/2 hours.  I'm also excited to get into the podiatrist today, to find out what is going on with my foot.  I REALLY miss my morning runs!

I woke up at 3:20 AM so that I could watch the sun rise while running 18 miles of amazingly beautiful Southern Utah landscape! What a way to start the day! Elijah and I ran 5 minutes and walked one.  We finished in 3:07:48, and that was while running injured at a snail's pace.  At that rate, I will easily finish in the marathon in 4:30 - 20 minutes LESS than my previous time!  Yay!  My visit to the podiatrist was interesting - he said I had a strained tendon, told me my new shoes were probably the cause of the problem, and gave me a brace to wear to support the arch until it healed.  So I got two NEW pairs of shoes, put on the brace and my new asics, and drove out to run the marathon trail.  It was probably a dumb thing to do, having never tried out either the shoes OR the brace, but...   My arch hurt so much the whole time, but I kept telling myself that I wasn't doing any damage, so I would just have to deal with the pain.  By the last four miles, I was mostly numb, but my 1/2 mile walk at the end was pretty painful.  The funny thing is, once I took the brace OFF, my tendon wasn't any more tender than it had been before!  So I guess it worked.  Hooray!  I was just SO glad to be able to run again.  :-)

I tried to sleep in this morning, but I only made it to 6:00 or so.  I stayed in bed until 7:20, then decided to go cycling.  So I dragged my husband out of bed, and we rode 26.5 miles.  I arrived back home just in time to rinse off in the tub and head off to the theater for my matinee performance.  :-)

I ran 5 miles with Ben this morning. We finished in 47:18.  I still wore the brace, and my arch still hurt, but it sort of numbed out by around mile four.  I'm just glad I was able to get a run in.  :-)

I was SOOO tempted to run today, but Ben urged me to take it easy, since I'm technically still "injured."  :-P  So I went for a fast ride instead.  I did 15 miles in about 50 minutes ALL BY MYSELF!  For someone who is a social exerciser, that's pretty good!  I intend to run tomorrow, injured or not!  Just a few miles....

Ben dragged me off to the track this morning.  I didn't want to go, since we stayed up past midnight the night before.  :D  But I know what's good for me - LOL!  I did three miles, with short sprints every time I went down one side of the track.  My Garmin wasn't charged, so I don't know what my time was, but I felt really good about the run.  Afterwards, I did a lot of stretching.  It was a good morning!

I woke up late, so I had to forgo part of my run in order to meet my friend Katie for our bike ride.  I ended up doing 2.75 miles in 24:38.  Not a bad pace for me.  Then we rode 24 miles together - it was an easy pace, but it still was nice to spend time on my bike.  :D

I ran a really slow 10.5 miles with Elijah and some friends this morning.  The arch is still really bothering me, but since I still seem to be able to run on it, I guess I'm not going to get too concerned about it....yet.  We'll see how the next week goes...

Britnee and I went for a short run this morning, doing 3.1 in 37:48 (run/walk alternating every 2 minutes).  Then, for my "workout," I did a 22.08 mile ride in 1 hour 21 minutes.  After that, I got in a 25 minute nap and went off to do two shows.  I'm sooo glad it's bedtime!!!

Elijah wanted to take walk breaks today, so we set the clock up to run five minutes and walk one...what was surprising was that we ran so much faster than we usually do WITHOUT walk breaks!  We finished the five miles in 45:02, which beats our "normal" time by about 2-3 minutes!  AND we both felt invigorated by the time we finished!  I love walk breaks.  :-D

Britnee, Elijah and I ran a 5K this morning in 36:43.  Afterwards, I hopped on my bike and rode for 30 minutes, covering 8.54 miles. 

This is my last week of overlapping rehearsals for "Aida" and performances for "Annie get your gun."  Next week, I will have my evenings back (for a week, anyway!), and then the week after that, we'll be in production with "Aida" and I will only have shows on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights through the middle of October.  I've been missing my evening swims.  I'm hoping to get geared up to try my first triathlon in November.  But first, the Saint George Marathon! 

Elijah and I tried a different route this morning, running 5 miles in 48:16 with walk breaks.  I was more tired today...not sure why, since I had more sleep than I usually get.  Oh well, good days and bad days, right?  I'm saving up my strength for the 15 mile race I'm doing on Saturday anyway.  I've got to run 20 that day...so I'm not sure if I want to do the extra 5 miles before or after the race, or maybe split the difference.  Hmmm....

I did three easy miles today. I was tempted to go cycling, but I think I will save it for tomorrow, since I'm not planning to run at all then. I need to save up for my 20 miles on Saturday. Even as it is, I will have logged 36 miles this week!  That's a bit of an increase for me, and I don't want to overdo.  I will probably only cycle 12 miles or less tomorrow, but I'll see how I feel...

I took the day off running today, since I have the race tomorrow.  I debated over whether to REALLY take the day off or not, and I opted to do a short bike ride.  30 minutes on the bike to get the blood pumping...I love starting my day with a little activity.  It was just enough!  I'll report on the race tomorrow...

Ben, Joshua, Elijah and I ran in the Pine Valley 15 mile race this morning!  Elijah and I were scheduled to run 20 for our training, and we figured this was a good way to get the miles in with built-in support!  So we ran 1.5 miles to warm up, then did the race.  There were aid stations every two miles, and were supposed to have pretzels and animal crackers along the route, with a GU station at mile 7.5.  I guess I wasn't paying attention, because I didn't notice the food, but when I got to the halfway point, there was no GU!  By that time, I had already run 9 miles with no food.  The course was honestly the hardest course I have ever run - steep inclines and declines on gravelly dirt road.  As we climbed up the huge hill after the halfway point, I started to feel pretty spent.  On our way back, I realized that there WAS food at the other aid stations, but I had run 11.5 before I actually got any in me.  I think it cost me a few minutes of time because I was feeling so weak and dizzy.  Anyway, when I finally got some sugar in my system, I felt a little better and was able to complete the race at a semi-decent pace, but my legs were hammered by the constant hills.  Elijah and I did another mile afterwards, and then I decided to call it a day.  I figure that 17.5 miles of steep hills and gravel roads are as good a training run as 20 miles of semi-hilly pavement.  :D  I felt tired, but was able to go straight to my final two performances of "Annie get your gun" and stay up until past midnight to strike the set.  Elijah and I ended up taking first in our divisions, and Ben and Joshua took second in theirs.  I came in fourth overall - I'll post the official times and placements when the website updates them.  I feel pretty good about the race - I know I could have done a little better if I had had food earlier on, but so it goes.  First place!  I never thought I'd see the day....maybe I AM a fast runner, after all...  :D

Elijah and I did a nice recovery run - 3 miles in 29:55.  :-D

I left home for my rehearsal at 9:00 yesterday, then arrived home at 11:30 PM...and it looks like I will be out until between midnight and 2:00 AM every night this week!  So I will proably have a REALLY easy run week.  I forced myself out of bed at 7:15 this morning, then did a short run of 2.55 miles in 24 minutes.  I tried running without my brace, just to see what would happen.  It hurt a little, but I'm thinking I'd better be smart and keep using it for a while longer so that I don't re-injure it.

I got home last night after midnight, so I slept in until almost 8:00!  Even though I'm sure it's all in my head, it feels too hot to run after eight, so I decided to go on a longer bike ride.  I rode up to Ivins and down around through Sata Clara.  I did the 25 mile ride in 1:31:41, including all stops.  The first 15 took me an hour, but I was flying home!  I really took it easy - could have gone faster, but I didn't want to this time.  :D

I "slept in" today...if you can call dozing between children's whines "sleeping."  So I was thinking that I wouldn't get a workout in.  But I ended up having a long break between rehearsals, so I was able to go to the gym this evening.  It was my first time on the treadmill in MONTHS, and I can't believe how much easier it was than before!  I did 3.1 miles in 29 minutes - no land speed record, but I always had to go slower on the treadmill before - it would just kill me to do over a 10 minute mile!  This time, I sarted at an 11:00 minute mile and ended at a 7:30 mile, and felt like I barely worked out afterwards - I love that!  After running, I did an hour of yoga, and went off to a rehearsal until 2:00 AM....whew!

I stayed in bed until 8:00 am after being out until 2:30 this morning.  Then I got up and hopped on my bike - and did 15.5 miles in 53:32 - not a bad start for my very LONG day.  Rehearsal until after midnight tonight...  :D

I was up until 1:00  this morning, but was able to get up at 5:30 am for a nine-mile run anyway.  Elijah and I ran with Katie and Kim, doing 4.5 miles out and back.  Elijah and I stayed with the girls for the first half, finishing it in 49:54, but we left them on the way home and did the second half in 41:53.  I feel pretty good about the run.  I think I'll try to get a nap in now, before I leave for another LONG day of rehearsals.  :D

I had a great run this morning with Ben! We did 5 miles with walk breaks every 6 minutes in 47:32.  I felt incredible and probably should have done more.  What a great way to start the day!

After a late rehearsal last night, I slept in and only ran a two-mile loop with Elijah.  Afterwards, I rode the 8.5 mile loop on my bike.  :-D

I totally slept in after staying up until 2 am after our first preview show of "Aida."  It was sooo fun last night, though!  This evening was the first free night I've had in weeks, so I decided to go out with Ben to meet with the triathlon club.  We went out to the lake, where I attempted my first open-water swim.  Maybe it's because I haven't swum in a few weeks, or maybe it was because there was no blue line to follow, or maybe it was because I don't have a wetsuit and there was no place to rest, but it was SO HARD!  I didn't even make it a half mile!  And everytime I looked up, I was going a different direction!  Also, my goggles kept filling with water.  So I called what I did "good enough," and went off to run a couple of miles while the others finished their swim.  Then we rode our bikes.  I paired up with the only other female there - Brianna - and we did 15 miles.  I think I must have pushed myself too hard trying to keep up with her, but I overheated and ended up with a terrible headache and nausea.  I was so sick I couldn't eat.  Then I started vomiting.  This hasn't happened to me in over a year-and-a-half!  Such a bummer.  I wonder how much of that has to do with the heat exhaustion I had several years ago - I just have to be really careful with my heart rate, or I get sick.

Yesterday's shenanigans have left me pretty weak.  I think I lost four pounds being sick!  So I'm taking today off, trying to get re-hydrated, and conserving my strength for tonight's performance at Tuacahn. 

Last night, about halfway through the first act of the play, I was performing a dance number when suddenly my calve went "POP" and I couldn't walk without pain. It felt like a perpetual charlie horse! I managed to limp unnoticably through the rest of the show, but by the time I arrived at home, I could barely walk! This morning I went in to a sports medicine specialist, and he said I probably tore the deep muscle in my calve...which means I'm out of commission for awhile. I'm soooo discouraged! I was planning to do twenty-two miles next weekend at the Trails race, which would really set me up for the marathon. Doc says if I'm REALLY good for the next few weeks, I MAY still be able to run the marathon in October. The problem is, I have to perform three nights a week through then! So I can't stay off my legs. Doc gave me a wetsuit-like brace to wear all the time, even under my costumes. I hope it helps. I feel really bad about this - just when I thought I was gaining so much momentum! Ah, well. Such is life.

I did an upper body workout with my friend Grace this morning.  We also walked three miles.  The calve felt tight, but not sore.

I went in to the chiropractor today.  He kinesiotaped my calve.  It looks very cool!  :-)  Then I went with Ben to meet the Saint George Tri Club at the lake.  The water was so choppy, I didn't dare try to swim without a wetsuit, considering the experience I had last time I tried an open-water swim.  So I watched and then joined in for the bike ride.  I tried to take it pretty easy, just to see how my leg felt.  It was great!  No pain at all.  Tomorrow I'm going to try running again.  :-D

I ran five miles today!!!  It felt so good to be running, I almost cried.  I took it easy, doing 5 minute runs and 1 minute walks.  By mile three, I had some tightness in my calve, but still no pain.  I'll take tomorrow off, then try again.  Yay!

Ben and I took the kiddos to the lake this evening and I tried an open-water swim again.  This time I had Joshua lead me along with a kayak, so I wouldn't get so lost.  It made a HUGE difference!  I'm going to have to figure this swim thing out if I ever want to do a "real" triathlon.  Anyway, I swam to the rock and back, which I figure is a little less than a half mile.  When I was finished, I was totally disoriented - worst vertigo I've had in a long time.  But I made it without drowning, so I feel pretty good about it.  :D

Ben and I got up early this morning for a long ride.  It started off with a bang, so to speak, when three dogs decided to charge Ben head-on on his bike, causing him to stop abruptly and me to crash into his back wheel.  I bounced off of him, then bounced off the curb, then teeter-tottered until I went down on the sidewalk and slid a few feet.  I was lucky, only losing the top layer of skin on my right shin.  The poor old lady who happened to be with the dogs got a severe tongue-lashing from Ben, afterwhich she denied having any ownership of the dogs.  The poor thing probably went home and had a heart-attack.  Anyway, Ben and I rode 41.5 miles - my longest ride...and I can tell from the soreness in my shoulders and neck that I am going to have to get accustomed to the longer distances little by little.  Crashing at the beginning of the ride probably didn't help with the stiff neck.  I finished off the morning with one of my infamous cluster-headaches, but it wore off a few hours later, in time for all-you-can-eat sushi at Sushimasa in Mesquite!  Yay!

Elijah and I did a very easy, slow five miles this morning.  Fifty-two minutes...we haven't gone that slow in FOREVER!  But I'm still trying to gently break in my injured calve.  It felt totally fine the whole run - I didn't even notice any difference.  It's such a relief!  I feel very hopeful for the marathon now.  It would have been nice to get my 22 miler in, but 18 will have to do.  My goal now is to eat really well for the next three weeks, so I can be at an optimum weight for the marathon.  I figure if I blog it, I'll be better about sticking to my goal.  I'd love to be about five pounds lighter for the race...which shouldn't be a problem for me.  Five pounds less to carry for 26.2 miles!

I had a REALLY late night last night, and had intended to sleep in this morning, but woke up at the usual time with my brain spinning.  So I got out of bed and gave P90X a try - core synergistics.  I liked it!  I guess that will be all for me today...earlier rehearsals and a show tonight is going to finish me off.

I ate really well yesterday - no cheating - and dropped 2.6 pounds.  I knew it was going to be easy!  The hard part is sticking to it once I stop losing weight.  I will usually settle around 120-121 lbs.  But I want to continue eating right until the marathon.  I feel SOOO much better when I'm eating what I'm supposed to.  :D

I tried to run this morning, but I was exhausted! I made it through 3 miles in 31 minutes, then decided to call it good enough.  Maybe it was the P90X yesterday...I am a little bit sore.  So this evening Ben and I went out to the lake to meet the tri-club.  My friend Melanie came along - that was fun!  I swam the usual, and it was SO much easier than last time!  I love that I'm improving.  :D  The ride was good, too.  I started to feel a little bit overheated towards the end of the ride, and was worried about getting a cluster headache, so I slowed down the last mile and immediately drank a muscle milk protein drink when I got off the bike.  That seemed to do the job, because I felt fine afterwards.  I ate good all day, with the possible exception of a steak taco del carbon and half a macho taco at Del Taco after the workout.  Yay!

I did P90X cardioX this morning.  I thought about running, but I was tired, and didn't get up early enough.  The kinesiotape came off today, too.  I was going to eat good all day, but I had to taste test some fudge I needed to buy, and after that the sugar felt funny in my stomach.  So I headed to the nearest fast food place (Carl's Junior) and got a low-carb burger.  Other than that, I ate what I was supposed to eat.

Last night was a show night, so I was up pretty late.  My friend Melanie and I decided to do a bike ride, since I don't have to get up so early for that.  We rode 21.5 miles in about one hour and twenty minutes.  It was a fun ride - I didn't push as hard as I normally would, but I felt like I was bonking.  Funny how I get shaky more easily when my weight is closer to 122.  What is my body trying to tell me?  I was going to eat good today, and did fine, until my Grandmother took me out for dinner at Olive Garden.  I ate a pretty balanced dinner with the exception of the LARGE portions, but then I broke down and had to have a piece of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake - Yummy!!!  So my resolve lasted what?  Five days?  And I have a cast party to go to tonight at 11:00 PM.  Maybe I won't eat anything there.  Or maybe I will.  :D  I'll be good tomorrow, though....

Elijah and I did 10 miles in 1 hour 33 minutes.  Then I got a cluster headache.  Dang!  So my vow to eat healthily went out the window.  I just ate whatever I could that didn't make me nauseous.  I'm tired of the weigh-in.  If I just eat good MOST of the time, I'm going to stop feeling obligated to weigh myself every day.  Since when did I become obseessed with what I ate?  I never have before.  I don't think I want to start now.  We'll see.  :D

P90X core synergistics this morning....

I needed sleep SO BADLY this morning!  I think I've developed a nice sinus infection due to allergies.  So I forced myself to stay in bed, then went to the gym this afternoon and ran 3 miles under 30 minutes on the treadmill.  Good enough!

I got up out of bed earlier today, so I ran 5 miles in 47:24.  Then this evening we went to the lake and I swam a little longer than I usually do, and then did the 15 mile loop.  Ben and I celebrated by going out to Sonic for Hamburgers, chili dogs, omion rings, and a big peanut butter cup shake.  Yummy!

My calve was a little sore today, so I did P90X Cardio X this morning, and tried to do a little running this afternoon on the treadmill.  I eneded up doing a half mile walk, a mile run, and a half mile walk.  I don't want to risk injury with the marathon in only a few days.  :D

This morning I got up and did a quick bike ride and followed it up with P90X ab ripper.  I'm saving my legs for the long-ish run tomorrow.

Ben and I did our long run this morning with some friends.  I took it pretty easy, running with the group most of the way, then breaking off for some speedwork at the end.  I ran the nine miles in one hour, thirty minutes.  This afternoon I did part of the P90X cardio routine before I had to leave for "Aida."  After the show, Ben and I took some cast members on a midnight hike and watched the stars until 3:30 in the morning.  Good times!

Marathon Week!  I am SOOO excited!!!  My plan is to take it fairly easy this week - eat healthily and do some light jogging to stay loose.  So this morning Britnee and I did two miles of running/walking and I followed it up with P90X core synergistics.  I think Ben and I are going to go to the pool this afternoon to do some laps. 

So we DID go to the pool, and I swam the first 20 lengths before my shoulder really started pulling - probably from the P90X this morning.  I did 20 more, but then I figured I'd better not kill myself off, but live to swim another day.  So I swam 6 more lengths with a kickboard, then ran out of time.  Otherwise, it was WAY easier to swim in the pool than the lake!  I felt like I could have gone on forever.  :D

All I did today was 1/2 hour of P90X yoga.  I didn't even finish the routine!  Then I ate like a pig all day.  What a slacker...

I ran three with Elijah this morning.  Then finished up with P90X ab-ripper.  Then ate like a pig all day again.  :D

Elijah and I did two easy miles of light jogging today, just to stay loose.  Then I did 40 minutes of P90X stretching.  I'm trying to eat the RIGHT kinds of carbs for the next two days, instead of being a sugar glutton.  I am SOOOO excited about the race!  The weather has FINALLY cooled down a bit, and it's supposed to be a beautiful fall weekend.  Everytime I think about running the marathon, I want to cry tears of joy!  How crazy is that?!?  I can't wait for tomorrow and the expo!  Still debating over whether or not I want to squeeze one more small run in tomorrow, or if I should just totally rest.  I'm also going to the chiropractor tomorrow to get kinesiotaped up.  :)

Today was a total rest day.  I spent all day at the marathon expo.  Elijah and I won over $270 worth of stuff like running shoes, clothing, and other products.  What a fun day!  I'm soooo excited for the race!

BEST RACE EVER!!!!

After only 2 1/2 hours of sleep, I ran the best race I've ever run!  Elijah and I ran the way we trained, with one minute walk breaks after evvery five minutes of running.  We stopped at every aid station for water, gatorade, and whatever food they were serving (usually bananas, oranges, and clif shots).  I had to stop once at a port-a-potty, but basically I ran the way I felt good running, and tried not to overdo.  The weather was beautiful - absolutely perfect for a race.  My first marathon in January was a 4:48, and I was really hoping for a 4:30 this time, with secret fantasies of doing a 4:20.  I was shocked when I realized I was doing better than I had thought possible!  I finished in 4:10:10 - 38 minutes faster than last time!  I had NO IDEA I could run that fast.  I cried when I crossed the finish line.  I felt incredible the whole time - only a blister on my right foot.  My attitude was the best it has ever been during a race.  I just felt joyful the whole time I ran.  It was, for me, the perfect race.  I can't wait to have that experience again.  :)

I'm taking one more day of rest. I can't get over my runner's high! I think I'll be riding that feeling until the next race!  On a different note, my weight is totally high from all the carbing up I did.  I don't know if it made a difference to eat like that, but since my race went soooo well, I guess I won't discount it.  Today I'm going to do a cleanse to get rid of all the junk I ate.  Tomorrow...I'm going running!

I guess my cleanse helped out a bit...I lost almost 4 pounds from yesterday morning!  I guess it's easy to lose weight when it's just junk food and not fat you're getting rid of.  :D

This morning I went running for three miles.  It was a great recovery run!  I alternated two minutes running/two minutes walking, and finished in 35:36. I can't believe how GREAT I feel!  There is some slight soreness in my hips, but nothing out of the ordinary.  I never had anything that caused me to have to alter my walk.  Wow.  If every marathon could be a great as the one on Saturday, I could run one every month! 

I finished up my workout this morning with P90X CardioX.  I'm going to incorporate more P90X into my regimen.  Also, I'm registered for my first triathlon in November, so I'm going to have to step up my training in the bike and swim.  I'm planning a half marathon also in four weeks.  I really want to do another marathon, and I don't want to wait a year to do it!  I wonder how soon I can attempt it, without compromising my health....

This morning I woke up late, so I only had time to do a half hour of P90X shoulders and arms and then follow it up with ab ripper X....gonna be eating out tonight.  So much for my cleanse.  :)

Elijah and I ran three miles again this morning.  This time we ran five minute runs alternating with one minute walks.  Finish time was 28:49.  I followed up my run with one hour of P90X yoga.

I went out to run this morning, but there is something wrong with my ankle, and I only made it a mile before I stopped due to the pain.  :(

P90X Shoulders and Arms this morning.  Then off to the lake this evening.  The water was so cold, I could hardly breathe!  By the time I was halfway done, I was so dizzy I thought I was going to faint right there in the middle of the lake!  I had to lie on my back for a while, and luckily there is a big rock in the middle of the lake that I was able to stop at to gather my bearings.  After about 15 minutes I was able to see straight enough that I attempted to get back to shore.  I don't know if it was the cold or what, but that was definately the strangest swim experience i have ever had!  Then we started the 15 mile bike ride, but it started to get dark, so we cut it short, and only completed nine miles.

Today was the "Tour de Saint George."  Ben signed up for the century ride, and i considered doing the 65 miler, but felt unsure that I could perform for that long without killing my upper body, having never spent that much time on my bike before.  It seemed like paying someone to let me ride 30 miles was silly, so my friend Katie and I decided we'd just ride the 30 mile route along with the "real" riders, and just not stop at the aid stations.  So Ben and I got up and rode to the starting line, which was about 6 miles.  Then Katie and I rode the 30 mile route, which took us through Washington City almost to Hurricane and back, but by the time we arrived back at the beginning our garmins had only clocked 24.  We decided to have breakfast at a wonderful little cafe on Main Street, then I convinced Katie that we should ride our bikes to her house, wait for our husbands to come through on the century ride, and ride a little further with them.  She was reluctant, since they live up Highway 18 in Winchested Hills, and it would be quite a climb to get there.  But we did it, and logged another 8 miles onto our garmins.  At her house, we made protein shakes, then got bored and rode further up the mountain to Snow Canyon.  By then, we still hadn't heard from our husbands, so we rode down the canyon - which made climbing all those hills totally worth it! - and decided to ride through Ivins and into Santa Clara.  Upon leaving Santa Clara, we stopped at McDonalds and had an ice cream, when we discovered that the men were just behind us.  So we waited for them to catch up to us, and we cheered them on as they passed us.  We took a short-cut to the finish line, but Katie wanted her Garmin to clock 50 miles, so we circled a couple more blocks, and ended up crossing the finish line just after our husbands got there!  Another 6 miles home, and had ridden an easy 62 miles!  My longest ride by 20 miles!  I've decided that for now, if I'm going to do any distance riding, it should definately be with plenty of food stops and lots of great conversation!  What a glorious day!!!

I haven't been blogging because I must have done something to my right ankle, and I haven't been able to run because of a shooting pain up the inside of my leg.  So last week I did P90X all week.  I haven't been weighing in, and have been eating whatever I felt like eating.  We've eaten out a LOT, in addition to all the parties and get-togethers for the closing week at Tuacahn.  I felt like I had gained tons of weight.  So yesterday I did a fasting cleanse, and for the next three days I'm going to eat very carefully to see what my weight decides to do.  I'm also going to call this week my first official P90X week, where I'll be following the program as perfectly as I can.  I plan to implement the P90X nutrition plan on Thursday.

So I started today with an early-morning run with Ben.  We did 3.1 miles in about 32 minutes...a nice, easy, try-out-my-legs runs, since I haven't run in a week-and-a-half.  I wore my compression sock over my right leg, and that seemed to make it fine to run on.  The problem is, I can't wear my arch brace AND the compression sock at the same time, so my arch bothered me a little.  I'm going to have to give that some thought.

I followed up my run with P90X legs and back.  It typically is a Friday routine, but I changed it due to the races that always happen on Saturdays.

This evening we played ultimate frisbee with some friends.  :D

This morning I did P90X Cardio X.  Then this afternoon I went to the gym and ran 3.1 miles on the treadmill and followed it up with an hour of yoga.

Had a horrible night last night!  Yesterday I had to start a new antibiotic for a staph infection.  The label said "may cause dizzyness," so I waited until night-time to take it.  Two hours later, I woke up with the WORST vertigo I have ever experienced!  It kept me up most of the night....I could barely walk when I got up to use the bathroom!  The dizzyness has continued for most of the day.  I HATE taking meds!  I haven't been on anything in more than a decade!  I hope that it's not this bad every night, because I don't think I can handle two weeks of this.

Anyway, I was still too dizzy to run this morning, so I missed getting up to run with Ben.  I did P90X shoulders and arms later this morning, but still felt very unsteady.  I really didn't feel "normal" until around 6:00 this evening, when I went to my first dance class.  I decided I needed to take dance to prepare myself for more auditions, so I'll be taking ballet and tap on Wednesday evenings.

Last night wasn't as bad as the night before, but I was still up for hours in the middle of the night.  I wanted to run today, but my ankle feels very unhappy with me, and I have a race on Saturday, so I'm holding off.  So I did P90X Kempo X this morning, and called it good.  how come when I only do ONE workout a day, I feel like a slacker?  :D

Also, today was my first official P90X nutrition plan day.  The food was delicious, but there was so much of it!  I couldn't finish all the meals, and wasn't hungry at all.  I'm excited to see what kind of results I get.  My weight is not going down as quickly as it usually does...I wonder if it's because of the weight training....

OUCH!  My weight is back up!  Oh, well...I guess I'll trust the process.

My ankle is still really bothering me, so I'm going to go get kinesiotaped today for tomorrow's race.  It's only a 10K, but still...I'll probably try to get in ten miles if I feel good.

This morning...P90X core synegistics!

Ben and I and four of our kids raced today.  Before the race, I did a one mile warm-up in 8:47.  Then Elijah and I raced the 10K together...well, mostly together.  He ditched me at the end and beat me by 22 seconds.  :D  Even though I'm still loopy from the meds, I managed to pull a new PR, with a time of 53:25.  Why is it that I find short races to be harder than long ones?  I think I must be built for distance, not speed.  I tend to run faster the farther I go!  Anyway, it was a good race for me.  The first two miles were uphill, and I think I spent it all faster than I should have, because I had a hard time finishing strong.  I definately felt better and ran faster at the end of the marathon than this race!  But I still placed second and PR'ed, so I can't complain.  Ben and my daughter Britnee took second in their divisions, and my two sons Joshua and Elijah took first in theirs.  Ben, Joshua, and I all finished in the top twenty overall.  After the race and awards ceremony, Ben and I ran home three miles.  Later in the afternoon, Ben and I started to do P90X Yoga, but I only made it 15 minutes and called it quits.  My head was still swirling...probably from the meds and the hard run.  So Ben finished without me.  But we did go out and do 21 miles on the bikes that evening.  :)

Day of rest!  We took the kids out on a family bike ride to the park, so the 10 miles we did were pretty easy, but it was still good for my shoulders to spend some time on the bike.  Later that evening, Ben and I walked 2.5 miles to pick up his truck at work.  My legs are tired!

I got up this morning and Elijah and I ran a 5K with walk breaks in 31:10.  My legs are still tired, and my right ankle/shins are bothering me, so I just took it easy.  Later, I did my P90X legs and back routine, but left out the back exercises, since I have no pull-up bar or any place too hook up the bands.  I finished up with ab-ripper X and was excited to be able to do a couple of the exercises that I've never been able to do before!  Yay for getting stronger!!!

Then, to top it all off, I wrapped up the evening with a trip to the pool, where I swam my first official "workout," not just a bunch of laps.  It was surprisingly fun!  I went with my friend Katie.  I did a 100m swim, then 75m legs only, another 50m swim, followed by a hard 25m swim.  This exercise was repeated four times, first with freestyle, then back stroke, the free again, and finally breast stroke.  Then I followed it all with 1000 meter swim.  It was supposed to be a little different, but I was short on time, so I did the last part straight through, instead of in intervals.  I think the breast stroke kick is going to cause some soreness in my shins later...we shall see.  :)

Ooooo....sore legs today. Still, I was able to do my P90X Cardio X routine, and felt pretty strong the whole time. Other than that, I was a slacker today. :)

We went to the outdoor amphitheater last night, just in time for winter to move into Saint George.  We froze our tails off!  I had the chills all night long.  Then this morning, I woke up with a lovely cough, headache, and fever.  So all nutirtion and exercise plans went out the window, and I loafed around all day, using my witch doctoring skills as best as I could.  By this evening, I thought I might try going out to my ballet and tap classes, which I was able to do fairly well.  So I came home tonight and did ab-ripper X.  That's it for me today.  Still feeling somewhat low, and I sound awful, but I'm hoping for better things tomorrow.  I never stay sick for long....

Ben and I pulled ourselves out of bed at 5:30 this morning to do P90X Plyometrics. It was my first time, and it was HARD! I "cheated" on several of the exercises. I'm sure it will get easier, but I think if I had eaten breakfast first, it may have made a difference. Plus, I'm still feeling somewhat unwell.  Anyway, after going back to bed for a few hours, Elijah and I ran five miles in 48:54.  It was the best I could do today.  Some days are like that, I guess.  :D

Ben and I are leaving town now for a two day road trip.  It will be fun, but nutrition and excerise are not part of the equation.  Ben will find a way to work in a work out, but I'm sure the eating thing will be sketchy...Too bad, since I'm FINALLY starting to lose weight on this diet!  Heeheehee!  Good thing that there's always NEXT week!  :)

We spent the night last night in Primm Nevada at Whiskey Pete's hotel! Ben and I were "sort of" good, and got up early enough to do a little bit of P90X before hitting the road.  I did core synergistics, but feeling pretty poorly, I didn't quite do ALL the moves.  We ate like pigs the night before at "Sweet tomatoes", then continued the pattern for the rest of the day.  I have a feeling I'm going to be starting all over after this weekend....

After a very sick weekend battling strep throat, laryngitis, and a sinus infection, I got up this morning trying to decide whether to spend one more day sleeping it off, or actually get out of bed and do something.  Motivated by the extreme jump in my weight after a weekend of inactivity and stuffing my face with rich delicious foods and candy, I rounded up Elijah and Britnee and set out to do three miles of running.  After the first mile, both kids were feeling sick, so I went on alone.  Wow!  Eating hoardes of halloween candy right before bed must have given me extra energy, because I felt fabulous while running!  I decided to go ahead and make it five miles, which I did in 48:59.  Not a great time - my energy was good but my muscles felt tired and sore.  After my run, I remembered that I was supposed to meet some friends at the dance studio to practice some of our tapping, so I tapped for about 45 minutes.  Then, after some shoe shopping, I headed back home to do my P90X legs workout (minus the back) and ab-ripper.  This evening I finished it all up with some swimming at the pool - I did 100 lengths following the same workout as I did last week.  I ate really good all day, except for a small sliver of pumpkin pie with whipped cream after the swim.  I balanced it out with a raspberry protein shake, though, so I think it's okay.  :)

I started my day with P90X Cardio X.  Then I finished my day with an hour of yoga at the rec center.  That's pretty much it.....

This morning I got up and did a 5K run in 29:06.  I followed that up with P90X Shoulders and Arms, then Ben and I celebrated his birthday with a trip to the sushi buffet!  Yay!  This evening we celebrated by going to spin class at the rec center.  I only made it through a half hour, then my ankle really started to bother me, so I got on the treadmill and ran 2 more miles in 17:16.  After that, we took the kiddies to the pool and swam laps.  I only did 50 lengths, but I figured it was enough to justify a big bowl of ice cream when we got home.  Actually, it was a SMALL bowl of ice cream, but then I had to have another....so tasty!  :D

I felt pretty tired this morning, so I decided to do P90X Cardio X again instead of Kempo.  I figure I need to start resting up for the half marathon this Saturday.  This evening I went to yoga class, but there was a substitute, and it was really more of a stretching class than yoga.  Probably what I needed.  :)

Day before a race....I still haven't decided whether I want to really race it, or just use it as a training run in preparation for the marathon in two weeks. Anyway, today was an easy day. I did P90X Ccre Synergistics this morning, then carbed up all day long - YummY!

Race Day!  I woke up this morning TIRED.  I really thought I didn't have it in me today.  After the marathon, I realized that I was capable of coming in sub-two, but I wasn't sure if today was going to be my day.  And after the first two miles of steep downhill running, I felt like I had spent it all - my head hurt, and I figured it was going to be a bad race.  I ran the first two miles in 14 minutes, and completed the first three in about 22 minutes.  I hadn't been taking my walk breaks, and my heart-rate was WAY too high.  I felt really lousy.  So I forced myself to slow down, take my walk breaks, and forget about trying to PR.  It wasn't until after the seventh mile marker at 1:01 that I realized I just had to keep running, and I would make my two-hour time, but only just barely.  So I kept doing my thing, taking my walk breaks, forgetting my ego, and letting people pass me.  To my surprise, I came in at 1:54:26!  I was quite pleasantly surprised.  Another PR for me!  This was 20 minutes faster than my previous race time, and a good eight minutes faster than my fastest 13.1 miles!  I finished 101st out of 503 overall, and 20th out of 74 in my age division.  The headache lasted most of the day, until I finally realized I probably just needed my minerals replaced.  Then I was able to take care of it in 5 minutes. 

Ben and I finished off the evening with a short 10 mile bike ride on our mountain bikes.  It took about 50 minutes.  I am SO ready to go to sleep!  :-)

Well, I think I know why I had such a headache all day Saturday...it turns out I had developed another sinus infection!  Today I seem to be over the worst of it.  Yay!  The funny thing is, I was WAY more sore this weekend than I was after the marathon!  I think it was because I had to start on such a steep downhill slope.  I went out today to try out my legs, but even after walking a mile, it hurt to run.  So I did two miles of walking, then later in the afternoon I did P90X Cardio X.  I think the Cardio X loosened me up a little more, so tomorrow morning I'm going to try the run again.

I did a short recovery walk/run with my neightbor, Gail, today.  The first two miles we did 4 minutes of running for every 1 minute of walking, but most of the last mile we walked.  We finished in 41:49.  After that, I did an hour of P90X YogaX, then had a wonderful massage!  Tonight Ben and I are taking out kids to Mesquite so that we can run the 9 mile hilly stretch of the Mesquite Marathon route in the morning.

Mesquite was fun!  But I ate really badly.  We had Del Taco last night - we had already eaten dinner, but I was starving when we got there, so we went out.  Someone had also brought us cookies, so we ate those, too.  This morning we got up early, ate some granola bars, and ran 10 miles of the Mesquite Marathon route.  There are some pretty steep inclines!!!  We took it nice and slow, finishing in 1:41:19.  I feel like I need to preserve my legs for this weekend's triathlon and next weekend's marathon - plus, I feel like I'm still in recovery from last weekend's half-marathon!  I'm glad we were able to run the "scary" part of the route, though.  Now we know what to expect.  After the run, we ate cookies and McDonald's for breakfast, then drove back to Saint George to the Pizza Hut buffet!  We took the kids to "Jumpin' Jacks" for a few hours, then Ben and I came home to work out.  I ate a cookie, then did my P90X KempoX routine.  Now I am resting up to finish off the evening with my ballet and tap dance classes.  Do you think all that working out will counter-balance all the cookies and fast food?  :-)

I meant to sleep in this morning, but instead I laid in bed thinking about what I was going to do for my workout today.  I actually had too much to do this morning, so this afternoon I took my daughter Britnee out for a short run.  We ran 2.25 miles in twenty-five minutes, doing 3 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking.  She said she didn't feel very good, so I tried to take it really easy.  From there, I went to a Zumba class and followed it up with an hour of yoga.  No P90X today!  I'm supposed to be having a recovery week....  :-)

Everything felt tired today, so I decided that since I'm SUPPOSED to be in recovery, I'd actually take it easy and recover!  I did XStretch for my workout today...and you can hardly call it a workout, but at least I had a nice hour of stretching.  Tomorrow is my first triathlon.  It's only 400 yards of swimming, 10 miles of biking, and 3 miles of running.  I'm a little nervous about the cold...haven't figured out yet what I'm going to wear.  But I'm excited, too!  I carbed up today a little....

Turkey Triathlon today!  It was my very first triathlon!  I had a good experience, and definately learned a few things.  The swim started out pretty good.  I did it in 8:30.643, including running across the pool room, losing my goggles on the dive in and having to stop to readjust them, and running outside to the transition area.  First transition time was 2:17.728.  I think I could definately knock a bit of time off in transition, now that I know how it goes.  Messing with cycling gloves took a lot of my time.  I also wan't quite sure what to do with the soaking wet hair.  The bike was a double loop out and back.  I did it in 35:43.198, which was the fastest time in my division!  My first loop was okay, but I really picked it up on the second loop, and I passed a lot of people.  Then another slow transition, with a time of 1:38.675.  I ended up taking my cycling shoes off when I got off the bike, because they were too hard to run in.  Then one of my friends asked to borrow my helmet, since he forgot to bring his.  That took a little more time.  And trying to get the gloves off took FOREVER!  Next time I'll just run with them on, or remove them while I'm running and fasten them to my belt.  The run was what really surprised me.  The muscles in the front of my shins were REALLY tight!  I've never had to run that way before, and I felt like I was barely moving.  I would have pushed it a little harder, but I was thinking about the marathon next weekend, and decided it wasn't worth it.  Anyway, with a few walks thrown in, I was a full 30:34.057 on the run - shameful!  But most of the other participants weren't much faster.  I ended up finishing third in my division and 15th overall, with a total time of 1:18:44.30.  I'm happy about the race, and looking forward to the next one!  :-)

This morning I did P90X legs and ab-ripper routine.  I skipped "back" again, since I'm not equipped with a pull-up bar where I work out.  I'm going to have to figure out how to rectify that situation...  Anyway, I followed that up with a 5K run with my daughter Britnee.  I'm really proud of her.  She's decided to train for a half-marathon in January, and has put together a training schedule that she's been really good about following.  We ran slow and easy - 35 minutes total, taking one minute walk breaks after every three minutes of running.  It was enough for me to work up a sweat, even though it was FREEZING cold this morning!!!  But not so much that it will affect my marathon.  This weekend will be interesting.  Since I've been racing every weekend, I haven't really done any training, because every day feels like a recovery!  I have no idea what to expect from my body for the marathon.  It would be fun to set a new PR - I feel pretty confident that I can do a sub-four now.  But I'm not sure that it would be a good idea.  "Patience, grasshopper!"  There is always another race.  I don't want to kill myself off with an injury by doing more than my old bod is capable of yet.  I think I will just run what feels good at the marathon, and maybe I'll get a new PR, and maybe I won't.  Either way, I plan to have an incredible time!!!

This evening Ben and I went to the rec center to do part of a spin class.  I ended up spending 42 minutes on the bike, and logging 10 miles.  I also did a few back exercises to make up for this morning.  After the gym, we went to the pool and I did a modified version of my regular pool workout, adding an additional 500 yards to the swim, for a total of 2500 yards.  I'm feeling my gluts tonight!  I hope I didn't overdo....

Oh! So sore today! I was going to get up and do P90X, but with the marathon on the horizon and every muscle in my body SORE, I decided to skip it and went and got a massage instead. I DID go to yoga tonight, but that's it. I've decided to ground myself for the week. At least....that's the plan! :-D

I took Britnee to the gym this morning so she could run without freezing...so I decided to do a light workout.  First I did a 20 minute HIIT on the elliptical.  It was surprisingly difficult!  I don't know if it is because I haven't done that workout in a long time, or because my muscles are still REALLY tired!  I took it pretty easy, knowing that I've got to give them some rest before the weekend.  After that I hopped on the treadmill, walked a quarter mile, ran a mile, then walked another quarter mile.  I was tempted to do more for my ego's sake, but wisdom ruled out and I quit when Britnee did.  I finished with some light stretching, and went home with the intention of doing P90X ab-ripper.  But when I found it difficult to get through the first three sets, I decided that I'd better not push it, and I quit.  Crazy how you can feel so strong one day, and then feel like you've never worked out in your life the next day!!!

I've started carbing up for the weekend, but my intention is to do it differently than before.  So I threw an extra half banana into my shake for breakfast, had a nice whole wheat sandwich for lunch, and for dinner made fried rice using brown and wild rice instead of white, shrimp instead of ham, and egg whites instead of whole eggs.  It was really good!  Over the next two days, I'll try to include more complex carbohydrates with my regular meals, and will continue to avoid sugar and other simple carbs.  We'll see if I feel better or worse for this race than I did for the Saint George Marathon, where I went on a one-week sugar binge before the race!  :-)

One hour of yoga this evening is all I did today. I'm being good!  :D

Wow.  I did absolutely NOTHING today.  I didn't even stretch.  I guess I'm calling today a rest day.  Tomorrow....MARATHON!!!

Today I discovered that I AM capable of running the last eight miles of a marathon even when my legs have totally cramped up and just walking is painful. It was a good day.  :D

I think that this race was the hardest I've ever run...not necessarily because of the course or the conditions, but because I've never had my legs cramp up like that before - either in training OR in a race.  It was a totally new experience for me.  It was mile 18....and I felt certain that there was NO WAY I could even WALK eight more miles, much less RUN it.

Imagine the thrill I felt in discovering that I DID have the strength to finish a seemingly impossible task! If I could have begged, bribed, or cheated my way to the finish line, I would have. But there was no choice other than to finish or quit. I kept telling myself, "four more minutes of running, and then I can quit if I need to." That four minutes turned into an hour and a half or the hardest running I've ever done. But I did it! And I feel incredible! NOT my best race. But a GREAT experience. I learned a lot about myself today. :D

So here's the breakdown...

I woke up thinking, "I'll bet I can do a sub-four today."  Ben had broken up the race into timed segments, and he was even going to pace us.  Having already run the hilly part of the course, I knew what I was up for.  So when the race began on that nice gentle downhill, I felt great running a nice, "fast" pace.  In fact, I set a new 10K distance PR for myself, clocking 50:25 for the first 6.2 miles.  My average pace here, including walk breaks, was an 8:08.  By the half-way point, I was WAY ahead of schedule!  The hilly section had begun, but still I had left Ben behind, and hit 13.1 miles in 1:53:54, averaging 9:12 for that section.  Then there was the series of steep uphills.  That was when I began to notice that my legs wee cramping up.  I didn't worry about it too much, because I had never had a problem with cramping, and I figured it would stop as soon as I finished climbing.  But it didn't.  It got steadily worse, until just after mile 17, and then I knew I was in trouble.  I was thinking, "all I have to do is a 10 minute pace from here on out, and I'll easily do a sub-four."  But I just couldn't make my legs go.  I tried walking for longer periods of time, but nothing helped.  What I would have given for some icy-hot or something!!!  My cardio felt great, and I didn't physically feel like I had been working too hard, but I was completely cramped from foot to glut.  When I got to the top of the last big hill entering Mesquite, I realized that sub-four was out-of-the-question.  I thought I might have to walk the rest of the way, but honestly walking was just as painful as running, and the thought of being on my feet for another 2 1/2 hours was excrutiating!  When I hit mile 20, I was at 3:09:04, and the last 6.9 miles I had averaged a 10:54 pace.  So I MADE myself run for four minutes.  Then I would walk for two.  Then I would MAKE myself run four more.  I wanted so badly to give up!  It really was the hardest run I have ever done.  I managed to finish the race off that way, averaging a 12:48 pace for the last 6.2 miles.  My finish time was 4:31:32.  I was pretty disappointed at first, hobbling in that way.  But then I remembered how seven weeks ago, I would have been THRILLED with a 4:31 finish!  And I began to think that maybe that time wasn't so bad.  And then, as time went on, I began to realize what I had REALLY accomplished.  And now I'm pretty dang happy about the race!

Because my legs were so cramped up and sore, I had a really hard time walking around the expo afterwards.  But now my legs feel pretty good!  We'll see how I feel tomorrow.  I don't think there's going to be any long-term soreness.  I'm not sure what went wrong today.  Maybe I started out too fast.  Or maybe I was just tired from all the events these last few weeks.  Whatever.  I finished my third marathon.  And every finish is a victory!!!  :D

Oh!  My son Elijah ended up setting a new PR for himself - with a 4:16 finish!  He took second in his age division...against an 18-year-old.  Elijah just turned 12 two weeks ago.  :-)

So last night, after I finished blogging, my right foot suddenly cramped up BIG TIME and I could hardly walk! I woke up this morning and couldn't walk at all, especially when I put on my heeled church shoes.  I put on an ankle brace, and hobbled off to my meetings. Later on when we arrived home, I took off the shoes, and everything seemed to be okay. So this evening, Ben and I went on a short bike ride with our mountain bikes.  That seemed to feel fine.  We'll see how it feels tomorrow...

 Maybe it was stupid, but I decided to try to run this morning.  My legs felt a little more fatigued than yesterday, but I had high hopes when I got out of bed and didn't feel pain in my right foot.  It had bothered me a little bit through the night, but felt fine in the morning.  So I took my daughter to the gym, and warmed up on the elliptical with a 20 minute HIIT session.  That didn't bother it, so I proceeded to the treadmill with the intention of doing 20 minutes of alternating walk/run every two minutes.  The first run went well at 6 miles per hour, so on the second run I bumped it up to 6.5.  Then the foot started to ball up again.  Bummer.  I did one more run at 6 MPR, then decided I'd better be smart and let things heal a little more.  Anyway, I got a mile in, which was something.  I do think that it's just a muscle cramp or something that will go away when my muscles are rested up, and I'll probably be fine in a few days.  Yay!

After the gym, I had a massage....  :D

Then this evening Ben and I headed off to the pool to get a few laps in.  I swam 20 lengths, followed it up with 100 yards freestyle, 75 yards legs only, 50 yards drill and 25 yards sprint, repeated with back, freestyle again, and then breaststroke.  Then I finished it off with 20 more lengths freestyle.  It was just the right amount for a nice marathon recovery.

This morning I did P90X Cardio X...

This morning I went to the gym and did 20 minutes of HIIT on the elliptical.  I wan't going to try to run, because my foot was still bothering me.  So I started on the recumbant stationary bike, but after a few minutes, I got bored and decided to walk on the treadmill.  I made it a quarter of a mile, then just HAD to try running.  I ran at a very slow pace, but I was able to do a mile without much discomfort!  Yay!  I would have gone further if I had more time, but I'm trying to be smart, too.  It just felt really good to run again.  :D

Happy Turkey Day!  To celebrate, I went out to do some running with my daughter.  She wanted to do 30 minutes of two minute walk/run intervals.  We ended up doing 36 minutes, and then I went out to run for 16 more minutes, and followed it up with a couple of minutes of walking.  I didn't bring my garmin, but I'm guessing we did about 3.5 miles...conservatively speaking.  Then we celebrated some more by eating turkey and lard all day long.  :D

Ben and I did P90X Kempo X today.  We followed it up with a 20 minute run...and were able to get in 2.1 miles.  I started out nice and slow, at a 10-minute pace, and picked it up to a 8.5 minute pace.  My foot felt slightly aggravated, but I can tell it's improving.  I just need to give it some time, and watch my speed until then.  I'm just glad to be getting the workouts in, even though we're out of town!  :)

Ben and I ran with Britnee this morning.  It was the perfect recovery run for me!  We ran five, walked one minute for the entire run at about a 10-minute pace, which was pretty tough for her, but really easy for me.  I think I'm ready to get back into training now...  :D

I started the day with a nice run. I ran the first 20 minutes with Britnee, covering 1.8 miles. It was a good warm-up. Then I ditched her and finished the remaining 3.2 miles in 28:57. That's a far cry from the 24 minute 5K that Galloway's race predictor says I need to do to make a sub-four marathon....guess I've got some work to do. So I went home and did the P90X legs routine, and followed it up with Ab-Ripper. This afternoon Ben and I went swimming, and I did a pretty relaxed 44 lengths. I had a protein shake instead of ice cream tonight...ahhhh!

I had to do 30 minutes of running for my training schedule, so I started out at about a 10:30 minute mile pace, and gradually increased my speed.  I felt pretty good, and found myself running at about 8:25 at the end of the run.  I stopped at exactly 30 minutes, and had covered 3.3 miles.  Then, to thaw out after my run, I did P90X Cardio X.  Everything felt really good until the last 10 minutes, when suddenly my back tweaked, and now I'm having that same irritating muscle spasm in my lower back/piriformis.  I tried to do yoga this evening, but gave up after the first 10 minutes, since any kind of bending over sends shooting pains into my tailbone.  I was feeling so GOOD!  It's extremely frustrating.

I took the day off today. But I DID wear my running stability tights all day, because the support felt SO GOOD on my back!  Does that count?  :D  I'm supposed to run 90 minutes tomorrow, so I went to the gym this evening and tried a little running.  Then I rode the stationary bike for awhile.   I walked for 5 minutes on the treadmill, then ran a mile, and walked another 5 minutes.  It felt all right after the first minute or so, so I'm going to go ahead and get up early for my run.  We shall see what happens...

Ben and I ran with a new group of people today, and had so much fun!  We left at 5:00am, and ran a trail by the river, which was icy cold, but I didn't realize I was frozen until I began to thaw out - OUCH!  The sciatic didn't bother me too much on the run, but all day long afterwards it was a little testy.  I think I'm going to have to take tomorrow off from any and all forms of exercise.  I may even break down and go visit a PT.

I did NOTHING all day!  I just can't stand to see that "new" button on my calendar....

Eight miles this morning with my daughter...super slow. It hardly felt like a workout. Then I spent ALL DAY at a call-back rehearsal for "Miss Saigon," only to be sent home....and then called back to sing AGAIN!  I didn't eat a thing all day, except for the protein shake after my run, until 6:00 PM.....

I'M BACK!!!  Maybe.  I spent almost all of last week flat on my back in bed with that horrible lower back pain - YUCK!  By Friday afternoon, it had finally begun to improve, so that Saturday I was able to get up and out of the house for the first time in seven days.  Today, since I could drive again, I went to the gym with the intention of giving the elliptical a try.  I did my 20 minute HIIT, then thought I'd walk on the treadmill a bit.  After a few minutes, I decided to run - but only a mile.  I started out nice and slow, at 5 MPH, and gradually added speed every tenth of a mile.  That mile turned into two, then a final half mile sprint!  It felt SO GOOD to run again - I almost cried!  Now hopefully I haven't jumped the gun.  I have to go see my doctor at 2:00 to get the results of last week's MRI.  I sure hope we can nail down exactly what is happening here - this is the fourth or fifth "episode" in ten months.  I'm beginning to feel a little hypo-chondriacal.  :D

Yesterday I went in to the doctor to get the results of my MRI.  I guess I'm not a hypochondriac after all, since they found a very large disk extrusion in my lumbar spine.  No wonder I've been so "uncomfortable."  I left his office and had a good, hard-but-short cry on the way home.  I thought about all the goals that I had set that may or may not be possible now.    And then I got over it, because I really don't like being sad - happy is so much more fun!  Now that I've had time to do a little more research, I'm thinking that there may be more I can do for myself than I originally thought.  So bring on the spinal decompression!  I'm ready to go!

I began my day by doing an abbreviated version of my P90X back routine, carefully avoiding those exercises that might strain the back.  I was going to do ab-ripperX, but I ran out of time, and figured it might be too soon.  I still am experiencing some pain, but it's not unbearable.  This evening I went to the gym and did more treadmill work.  I walked 2 tenths of a mile, then started running at 5MPH, gradually increasing to 9 MPH.  I finished it off with a 1/10th mile walk, for a total of 3.1 miles.  It felt great!  I may try the street tomorrow.  I just want to be careful not to let this back/nerve thing flare up again.

I ran with my daughter this morning.  We did five miles in 54:55.  I feel frustrated that I can't do more.

This evening I went to the rec center and did a little something.  I tried to warm up on the elliptical (without arms) but it drove me crazy, so I switched to the treadmill and did the same run as I did on Tuesday.  Then I followed it up with a little more elliptical, some stationary biking, an ab workout, and some stretching.  Ben went running with my Physical Therapist this morning, and he told Ben that he should be very concerned about my "condition," and get some treatment going right away before I kill the nerves and cause serious damage or something.  Hmmmm....I wonder where I'm going to get the money and the time to take care of it.  Mostly the money.  Bad timing.  :(

I tried to do P90X Core Synergistics today, but after some alterations, I only got in about 30 minutes. Hmmm....

I went running with some friends and family this morning.  I stayed with Britnee and Elijah, and we did 9.15 miles in 1:35:36.  Nice and easy.  My PT was there, and we discussed options for my treatment.  He told me that if I wanted to continue running for the rest of my life, I needed to deal with this now, and will have to take 6 weeks off from running and most other forms of exercise.  Such a major bummer!  So I will have to cancel my 1/2 marathon next month, and will be WAY behind on my training goals for the Ogden Marathon in May.  Ah, well.  Such is life.  Better to take it easy today and get to play later than to play now and pay for the rest of my life.  I just might sneak another run or two in before I begin my decompression treatment, though!  Shhhh.....  :D

Ben and I went for a six mile walk today to deliver Christmas cookies...I guess that is worth documenting!  :D

I did my abbreviated version of P90X legs today, and even tacked on some ab-ripper.  I was planning to go water-running at the pool this evening, but had unexpected company and ended up at home instead.  Tomorrow I start my decompression treatment.  :S

Well, technically it wasn't a run...I spent 22 minutes on the "elliptical edge" machine at the gym.  It said I went a mile and burned around 60 calories, but I think it LIES!!!  I was totally out of breath and sweating like a race horse!  But absolutely NO impact or twisting, so it's an approved exercise.  Then I spent another 20 minutes on the stationary bike.  I already miss real running. 

Today was the first of my 20 DRX treatments.  They strapped me into a machine that had a harness around my hips and another one around my ribcage, then it pulled my spine apart for 28 minutes with a force of 55 pounds.  It took me a few minutes when I was finished just to be able to stand and walk again!  'Twas an interesting sensation.  Tomorrow I go back for session two.  Eventually they will increase the weight and the time.  Fun, fun!

After voluntarily submitting to another session of torture on "the rack," my PT tells me it's to be 3 months without running...THREE MONTHS!!! I have a marathon in less than FIVE months! Luckily for me, I have discovered the joy of "water running," and so maybe I'll survive after all... :D

So I began today with an early trip to the gym, where I warmed up on that stupidly hard elliptical machine, then did an upper-body workout (chest, shoulders, back, triceps, and biceps) and then spent a few more minutes on the elliptical before I stretched out.  Later on I visited the Pysical Therapists for decompression, had the hard news delivered, and went home to try to figure out what I was going to do about the running.  Then this evening, I tried out a bit of spin class, which I realized after about 20 minutes was going to be a bad idea for my back.  So I switched to the recumbant bike, did another 20 minutes of high intensity spinning, and wrapped it all up with a another mile on the elliptical from hell.  Then Ben and I went to the pool and, for the first time ever, I tried "water running."  Guess what?  It was really FUN!  I sweat like crazy, and felt like just maybe I might be able to continue training for the marathon!  I did 45 minutes of water running, then finished off with a 20 lengths swim.  All in all, I feel much more positive about my workout tonight than I have since the diagnosis.  Yay!

Merry Christmas Eve all you crazy runners!!!  Well, I had to try  to get something done, so I did another 45 minutes of water running today.  Bring on the Christmas candy!

I did a little bit of P90X Core Synergistics this morning.  As usual, I had to modify it so I didn't hurt my back.  It doesn't feel like I get as good a workout that way, but...so it goes.  Then this evening we took the kids to the pool.  We tried out a new location, and they didn't have aqua jogging belts, so I missed out on my 110 minute "run."  :(  At the last minute, I decided to swim a few lengths, but 40 was all I could get in before the pool closed.

After spending Saturday night and Sunday with a nice case of food poisoning, I took the morning off to regain my strength and attempt to rehydrate. Then this evening we took our family back to the Washington Rec Center where I did 30 minutes on the elliptical (NOT as hard as the St. George Rec Center's version) until my feet fell asleep, then I switched to the stationary bike for 30 minutes. After that, I did some leg work...leg presses and hamstring curls, followed up with 3-way calf raises. Then Ben and I drove all the way across town so I could get in my 40 minutes of water running. All in all, not a bad workout for the evening. :D

I got out of bed at 5:00 am so that I could work out before going to the torture chamber.  I did a mile on the elliptical from h**l, then did another 20 minutes on the recumbant bike before I did my ab work and stretched.  I thought about going back to the gym tonight, but decided to stay at home and eat chocolate and cookies all night instead.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  I'll probably regret it later.  Unless I just stay off the scales for a few more days.  :)

Britnee and I did an upper body workout this morning...chest, shoulders, back, triceps, and biceps.  This evening I did 40 minutes on the elliptical machine and then another 30 minutes on the recumbant bike.  I ran out of time to do my water running.  I'm feeling a little discouraged because I feel like I just can't do anything to really get my heart rate pumping.  Or maybe I'm just discouraged because I've been eating so much chocolate.  What are the odds?

I went for a one-hour power walk with my daughter...