Emily's training blog

Beautiful recovery run with Becca and Susannah. Murray Park to Wheeler Farmn. I believe in the healing power of running on the dirt at Wheeler Farm. That place is magic and I never get sick of running there! 7:47 average.

65 miles this week! woo hoo!

Easy 45 minutes and strides. Still trying to get my legs back for tomorrow. It's going to be a competitive one!

Three mile warm up and strides. Really hood women's field today. My goal was sub 18, but I really struggled the third mile. I still have work to do. Marathon workouts tend to kill my speed,too. Sub 18 will have to wait for another day.

Nan and I went out together. Hit the mile in 5:48, and then Nan took off. I tried to use the downhill to pick up some time. Hit the second mile in 5:43. My legs felt pretty shot after that. I struggled through mile 3, trying to hold on to second. (6:13. ouch!) It's hard to maintain a fast pace when you're just trying to keep a place. 18:26. Not a bad time for the course, but I have better in me. But, my fitness has really improved over the last couple months. I just need to keep moving in the right direction.

Next year I get to double dip!

3 mile cooldown. I need to get a short run in later if I can muster up yhe energy.

AM: Morning shake out run turned into an hour run. I'm sore in the hips from yesterday. Terrible night's sleep last night. Hopefully, I can take a little nap this afternoon. before I hit that elusive second run. I hate double runs, but it's time to start them.

PM: 4.2 at the gym. Tired legs. I need a good night's sleep tonight.

Mid week mid-long with Becca and Nan. Nan and I discussed our race strategy for TOU. I need a shot of her self confidence. 7:18 average.

Eight hours of sleep makes a big difference. Much better than three. Eight easy miles with 10 x 200 meter hill repeats thrown in. I was going to do a track workout, but Nan talked me into a fast finish long run tomorrow. So, just a little strength work this morning.

There's a reason I start my summer runs at 5. Today I met a group in Draper at 6:30. I needed 18, so I ran three before they got there. We ran twelve, and finished three more at marathon pace. I was running with Nan, so that ended up being 6:05-6:10 miles. On hills. In 85 degree weather. I'm tired. Nan is going to push me to be a lot better. I hope I see the payoff in my next races. One more build week, then taper down for Deseret News.

One more buildup week, and then a nice easy week before Des News. 9 muggy morning miles with Becca. I talked her ear off. Running buddies make me happy. In my perfect world, all of my running friends would live in my neighborhood.

20 minute warm up. 3 x 15 minutes with 3 minute recovery. Cooldown until I hit 12. I felt nice and under control this morning.

You know it's a hot summer when you go run at 7 am and it's 76 degrees out, and you think, "Wow. It's a little chilly this morning!"

Bad driver day. I almost got hit half a block from my house.

Such a fun morning with a big group of running friends. 12 miles flies by when you have people to run with. Ran with Jenny for the first time in forever, and with Allie. I'm pretty sure they need to move back to Utah.

7:33 average

Dragging this morning. I met Becca at Taylorsville High. We ran a 3.5 mile warm up. I'm glad I had someone to meet. Even if it was just for a couple miles. 4 x 200 and then workout. I planned on a 2000,1600,1200,800,400. I started in on the 2000, and after 800 meters decided to switch to an 800 meter workout. 8 x 800 with 400 recovery. So,.the first was 2:55 because I was planning on 2000 meters. I decided to aim for sub 2:50 on the rest, since my goal for TOU is sub 2:50. (Yasso 8's) I ran 2:48, 2:48, 2:48, 2:45,2:47, 2:46, 2:43. I felt really strong,especially considering how I dragged through the warm up. It's the first indication that the marathon training is starting to kick in. I would have been fine for a couple more, but decided to save that for another day. I have my first 20 tomorrow, and I will easily be over 70 miles this week. Cooldown home.

Pretty beat up from yesterday's 8 x 800 workout. I was grateful that Becca was willing to meet me early. It was a grinder, and it helped to have a partner. She only needed fourteen, but that means I only had to do six by myself. My garmin lost the signal at 16.2. It hadn't been measuring for about 11 minutes, so I had to estimate the distance a bit. So, I am not sure what the overall pace was. I'm sure I hit 20. It was long and hard and that's all that matters.

Back off week! Yay! I'm ready for a rest week. I'm fighting a head cold, so it might be lighter than I planned. Rest is the goal.

Today was a little bit of everything. 3 miles solo, 2 with Cole, and finished by myself. 8 x 20 second strides. I'm excited for Deseret News next week.

Met with Becca for a tempo type workout. I warmed up 2.75 and then we ran 2 x 10 minutes with 5 minutes recovery in between. I didn't really have a goal pace. I just wanted to get a little turnover in. Becca insisted that she couldn't go faster than 6:20 pace. She can. The first set was 6:11 average. My body loves 6:10-15. It settles right in to that pace. The second set was 5:55 average. So, about marathon effort and ideal half marathon effort (For a downhill marathon :)) If I can run Deseret News at that pace, I should be pretty close to my time from 2013. Cooled down until I hit nine.

Hot, humid, and windy. Not a very enjoyable run. At least it was short. 5 days to go! 7:23 average.

Murray to Wheeler Farm with Becca. Nice soft surface running!

A short fartlek turnover workout. 20 minute warm up. 3 x 3-2-1 minutes with 2-1-1 minute recovery. 6:32 average. Most intervals in the 5:10-5:20 range. Easy 5-6 tomorrow. Shake out on Sunday. Kill it on Monday. I'm feeling pretty good.

It's weird to run short on a Saturday. I wanted to keep going because I felt like I just got warmed up. Save it for Monday! My hips are sore from doing Pilates yesterday. Gotta roll out and recover. I'm ready for race day to get here.

Standing at the starting line of the Half Marathon this morning, I glanced around at my competitors and thought, "Wow. I'm getting old." But, at 39 years old, I've got nothing to lose, so I embraced my Grandma status and raced as hard as I could. Conservative goal,sub 1:20. Medium goal, sub 1:18. Perfect day goal, faster than 1:16:24 (2013 time).

It was close to perfect. I ran 1:16:53. I had to stop for a bit at mile seven to cough up an inhaled shot block. That threw the race off slightly. But, overall, I am happy with my race. I got spanked by the first place girl, but she was much more fit. I'm glad I held on to second. I'm really close to my fitness level of 2013. TOU should be a good day.

Bonus: No blisters, (though I may lose a toenail.) And, I managed a cooldown this year. I think my recovery will go much better than last time I ran. Still not looking forward to stairs tomorrow.

Tried to run. Only made it around the block. Hurt bad. Gave up.

60 minute cycle. Watched the movie Lion.

Tried running again. First mile was a hobble, but it smoothed out. Felt much better by the end. I have one really sore spot in my right quad. Hope it goes away and doesn't develop into anything serious. Light running through the rest of the week. 7:53 average.

Met Becca at Cottonwood High. We ran to Wheeler Farm and ran a couple of loops. Legs are feeling better every day. I was glad to get some nice soft surfaces in. 7:41 average. Mid-long tomorrow. Hopefully the will be mostly back to normal next week.

Jogged down to the JRT to meet Becca. Got busy talking and didn't pay much attention to mileage. When I got home, I had hit 11 miles. My legs were feeling fatigue, so I might have run a little too long. But, the legs are improving. I will probably feel residual achiness for about another week. 7:26 average.

Early run with Becca. I had to get done before Teren left for scout camp. My legs had some sore spots that didn't feel great today. I thought I was recovering pretty well, but maybe not as quickly as I thought. I will stretch and roll out and hopefully feel better tomorrow. 7:27 average.