Emily's training blog

Easy running today. Still feeling Saturday. Goals for this week: 70 miles, 18 on long run.

I went to the oval this morning for some speedwork. I warmed up about three miles. I jumped in the workout of a group that was training there. They were running 6 x 2 laps, with a half lap recovery. So, 884 meter repeats with 221 meter recovery. My paces were a bit all over the place. I split the occasional 200 or 400 to see how fast I was going, but I was primarily running off of effort. I ran anywhere from 5:25 pace (too fast!) to 5:45 pace. I think my average was around 5:40 pace. The short recovery made for a rough workout. We will just call it a good fartlek workout! I think next week I will run 800 meter repeats to see where I really am.

This group meets every Tuesday morning, so it will be nice to have some training partners.

2.5 mile cooldown.

I felt terrible all day today. I almost gave up on getting a run in. But, I had hired a babysitter, so I told myself to get at least five in. It was nice running in daylight and not in the cold/dark+freezy morning. I fe a little better as I ran, and managed to pull out eight miles. Yay for a mind over body victory. 6:57 average.

11 easy Daybreak miles with Caisa. I was freezing this morning. 7:30 average.

I warmed up three miles, and ran a 45 minute tempo. Since it was shorter, I ran it harder than my long tempos. I started at 6:15 pace and increased .1 every 5 minutes. I felt pretty good. I could have made it to eight, but it would have been pretty tough after that. I hit 7.5 miles in just over 45 minutes, so 6:00-6:01 treadmill average. I cooled down 1.5 miles.

A little farther than I had planned, but what a great confidence booster. The longer tempos are making a difference. I met Jenny and James at Liberty Park. We wanted to run the Salt Lake Half course. We ran up, up, up, to Legacy Bridge, and then ran the half course. Our goal was to get faster through the run, and finish strong. I ran hard through eighteen, since that was the mileage goal, and then ran the last two as cooldown.

7:47, 7:50, 7:57, 7:51, 7:15, 7:02, 6:49, 6:44, 6:28, 6:46,6:55, 6:38, 6:50, 6:49, 6:48, 6:20, 6:33, 6:16, 7:15, 7:18.

I'm happy to hit my mileage goals for this week. 7:01 average.

I got to run a little later in the morning. The weather was gorgeous! I felt so good running. I seem to recover pretty well from the long runs. I'm in a sweet spot right now of balancing mileage and recovery. The test will be the speed workouts.

I ran 4800s up to Murray Park,along Vine to 5300 S , back to 4800 S. I came back along the river trail. My garmin died at 10.4 miles, which luckily was right in front of my house. 6:50 average.

I want to keep the mileage around 70 this week. It will take some planning and focus since Teren is in Boston until Saturday afternoon. Then, I will drop down a bit next week for the 5k.

I had planned on 5 x 2000 on the track, but after I warmed up I realized that the track was locked all the way around. So, I ran a longer fartlek on the River trail. I had planned on doing the 2ks at about 5:52 average. The fartleks were around that range. I warmed up three miles and then ran 10 minutes, 8 minutes, 6 minutes, 4 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute with.5,4,3,2,1 minute recoveries. 10 minute was at 5:56 average, the 8 minute at 6:05 (all headwind) 6 minute at 5:54, 4 minute at 5:50, and I'm not sure about the two and one. I was just trying to stay under six minute pace. 6:22 average for the seven miles of workout. 1.5 mile cooldown.

8.65 easy recovery.

Next week was supposed to be my down week, but with my husband out of town, and my youngest coughing too much to leave with anyone, I could only get so much running in this week. So, forced down week this week, and take it back up next week. It's probably not a bad thing, I was starting to feel dome niggley pains after Tuesday's workout.

Devra came to run with me. At seven miles she caught a metal loop with her foot and crashed hard. A really nice girl stopped and gave her some water and Neosporin. She was pretty ripped up. She made 5.5 more miles, but was hurting too badly, so we looped back to my house and I administered first aid. I could have gone longer, but just felt like adding it to the crappy week of training and called it good. I will be nice and rested for the upcoming week. I will either have to race the 5k on tired legs, or just skip it altogether. It's not an important race, especially since they took it off of the circuit. Oh, life.

12 miles. Two mile warm up and then a tempo workout. I'm working to be able to complete 3x 3k, 2k, 1k, at marathon, half marathon, 10k pace with one minute recovery. I have only completed two sets. Today, I made two sets, and then had a short bathroom break. I got a little more recovery, so I finished with a 2k, and 1k. So, it went 3k, 2k, 1k, 3k, 2k, 1k, 2k, 1k, at 6:15, 6:00, 5:45, 6:15, 6:00, 5:45, 6:00, 5:45 paces. I didn't have time for a cooldown. 15k worth of work, up from 12k.

Just because I like running odd distances! 10.63 miles. 80 minute run. It's so springy! 7:33 average. My legs were tired from yesterday.

My achilles was cranky today.

AM: I got up before five so I could get a longer workout in, but spent 45 minutes cleaning up an overflowing toilet. It's still not unclogged. So, change of plans. I decided to get out for a short run, and try to fit in a double today. I will save my workout for tomorrow. So, six miles this morning. 7:23 average. I feel ready for a harder effort. Now to find a sitter for this afternoon.

I warmed up twenty minutes and ran 4 x 1,2,3,2,1 minute repeats, with 1,1,2,1,1 minute recovery. This is the first time I have run four sets. The last set got tough. I tried out my new DS racers. LOVE! They match Jenny's Punky Brewsters. Twins!

6:47 average for workout. I will hit 70 this week, and then I need to get serious about building the mileage if I'm going to run Grandma's. Only 13 weeks.

Planned 18-20. I didn't want Devra to feel alone after falling this week, so I fell hardat 5.5 miles to keep her company. It hurt so bad! I ripped the tops offmy fingers, and my knee kills. I limped over to the Maverik to use their phone, but my husband didn't answer. I ran the three miles home on adrenaline. My knee is killing, now. Hope it's not serious. 7:06 average. Uggh. My training!!!!!

Stupid, crappy, dumb hurt knee!

My knee is still sore, but runnable.  Downhills made it hurt the most.  I will start taking the mileage back up tomorrow, but may wait until next week for any hard efforts.  I just don't want any permanent damage.  

Grandma's offered me hotel, race entry, elite bottles, and meal money.  Sounds like a good deal.  Is 12 weeks sufficient time to get in marathon shape?  The last two weeks have been a little rough.  I've had good long efforts, but have been inconsistent in volume.  I don't feel that I'm too far out of fitness, though.  As long as my body cooperates.   Thoughts?

I woke up and realized my fridge and freezer had been off all night long. After cleaned melted ice cream out of the freezer, I realized that there was nothing I could do about it at five in the morning, so I went running.

I was so happy to meet Jenny, and have someone to vent all of my stress to. I love my running friends. My knee still hurts!

Early longer run before the baptism craziness ensues. It took a couple miles for my knee to warm up, but it seemed to do a lot better as the run progressed. Though it is still sore, I notice improvement every time. So, no permanent damage. Just bruising. I will continue to ease into full training.

I wanted to test the knee out, and get something faster in, but not a full out workout. So, I ran a progressive run. I started at 8.0 mph, and increased every half mile by .1. My goal was to get to 10.0 mph by the end of the run with no pain. It took about ten minutes to warm up, but it has improved a lot. I didn't even take ibuprofen this morning. I finished at 10.3 mph. Last five miles, 6:13 average. 6:40 average for the entire run. I'm back in commission. I just hope there are no more setbacks.