Emily's training blog

I ran 4 laps easy around Liberty Park in preparation for my 5k tomorrow.  I was going to do two runs yesterday to make up for missing my run on Tuesday, but I was so sore from drills on Wednesday and longer workouts.  So, depending on how much mileage I get tomorrow, I might be a little short of the fifty that I wanted to hit this week.  But, at least I'll be a little recovered for tomorrow's race.

After my run, Bill made everyone breakfast in his dutch ovens.  The food was great! We had scones and Mountain Man breakfast.  We had so much left over that we were offering it to people in the park.  I got the privilege of hearing a political tirade from a homeless guy.  I just wanted to know if he wanted some eggs!  But, now I don't know who to vote for!!

I ran a 2 mile shake out this morning a couple of hours before the race.  I warmed up 2.5 miles. 

The race went pretty well for my first one back.  It's kind of deceiving how hard the last mile is.  The race started on a slight downhill for the first half mile, and a slight up for the second half mile.  I erased my splits, but I went through the one mile around 5:30.  I was at 11:00 for the two mile, so I stayed very consistent through the slight downhill second mile.  I thought I could run 17:00-17:10, but I struggled through the uphill third mile.  I was 6:05 at mile three and 33 seconds for the last 200.  I was surprised that I dropped off that much.  I definitely need to get in the weight room and on the hills to get stronger.  But, overall, I'm happy with my first race back from my injury.  Plus, I won money, so I definitely can't complain.  I'm a long way from that first marathon, though!

I ran a three mile cool down after the race.

A.M.  Ran easy five miler with the jogging stroller from Sugarhouse Park.  We ran the cemetary loop.  Afterwards, we did two sets of circuits.

P.M.  I warmed up 1.5 miles down to the Jordan River Trail.  I ran 8 sets of 3 minutes hard, two minutes easy, and then cooled down the 1.5 miles home.  Total mileage: 9

My legs are dead today!  I'm sure the fourteen miles yesterday did me in, as well as the lunges, wall sits, and step ups we did this morning.  In addition, I received my copy of Breaking Dawn in the mail, so I really wanted to sit and read instead of running.  But, I got out there and did it! Now I can read with no guilt. 

I ran 2200 W to 3800S, over to 2700W, back up to 5400 S and then home.  Total time: 42:35.

We ran hills at Cottonwood Complex today. We warmed up on the two mile road loop, and then did five strides. We ran 5x a 500 meter hill loop with three minutes recovery in between, and then ran 3x a 300 meter short uphill long downhill to work on turnover. We cooled down running on the Region cross country course.

My legs were so dead today, and I don't think I fueled properly because I felt really dizzy by the end of the workout. I know I'll adjust eventually, but it is difficult getting through the rough days.

I was actually pleasantly surprised with my run this morning. I ventured out into the dark at 5:00 this morning, still sore from the hills yesterday. The first couple of miles I felt like I was shuffling along, and I seriously considered cutting my run short. But, I stuck it out, and began rolling along after about twenty minutes. I ran my 4800 to JRT loop backwards. I think there is more uphill when you run it backwards, but you do avoid the huge hill at mile 6. I ran this loop the other way on July 14 in 59:25. Today I ran it backwards in 59:06. I must be slowly getting in shape.

I ran 2 x 2 mile at Liberty Park today.  First, I warmed up two laps around the park, followed by some strides.  I wanted to hit between 11:30 and 11:40 for my repeats.  The first one was 11:35.  Then, I recovered for six minutes in between.  The second one was 11:38.  I felt okay, I just need to get my wheels back 5:45-5:50 pace should be very easy for me.   I cooled down one lap around the park.

Teren, Cole and I went camping this weekend at Pineview Reservoir.  It was a lot of fun, but it was Cole's first camping trip.  He didn't think much of sleeping in the tent.  He woke up at about 11:00 crying.  Teren took him out of the tent so that I could sleep, but I had my Mommy Radar on, so I couldn't sleep until Cole was asleep. He woke up again at 5:00 in the morning. 

So, this is my long excuse of why I ran pretty slowly this morning.  I ran on the road around the lake, six miles out and back.  It was a beautiful run, but the road didn't have much of a shoulder so traffic made me nervous.  My total time was 1:22.02.  I went out in about 42:30, and came back much quicker.  It took me a while to get into it. 

I ran a three mile warmup on the treadmill and then ran a 5 mile progression tempo run.  I feel really comfortable around 5:45-5:50 pace, but when I try to go under that I start to struggle.  I'm sure the speed will come back, and really how much speed do I need for a marathon? 

Mile 1:  5:57.29

Mile 2: 5:54.83

Mile 3: 5:50.77

Mile 4:  5:45.80

Mile 5:  5:34.80

Total time:  29:03.49

I tried to cool down, but my stomach started to cramp.  My total time for 8 miles: 49:40

A.M.  4 mile easy run this morning.  I felt pretty decent after last night's tempo run.  SLCC loop.  28:26.

P.M. 8.5 mile run.  4800S to JRT, turnaround at Millrace Park.  I didn't even bother timing.  Yesterday finally caught up to me.  How am I ever going to get to 80 miles a week? (not this week. Eventually)

I ran hills with the East High team today.  We warmed up two miles, then did 10 x 300 meter hills (jogged down for rest) and then finished with a two mile jog on the Region course.  I ran all of my hills 56-57 seconds.  It was good to get some turnover going.  Having fast boys to run with helped.  The kids ran really well, today.  I'm proud of the work they have put in this summer, and there has been NO WHINING!!!  Which either means we're not working them hard enough, or they are really tough and committed to being their best.  I'm assuming it's the latter.

We did our bike and run race out at Jeremy Ranch Road today.  It was a fun way to break up the daily mileage. We were in teams of two.  One person ran a mile and one person biked a mile and then we switched.  We did this for 10 miles, so we got five running miles and five biking miles.  The transition from bike to run was pretty hard, but it made me use my muscles in a different way.  I'm not sure how to count it for mileage, so I guess I'll just count the running part.

A.M.  4 miles easy at Liberty Park.

P.M.  1.5 mile warm up down to Jordan River Trail.  Fartlek workout: 5 min 4min 3 min 2 min 1 min, with one to one recovery.  Earlier this week I wanted to go up the ladder and then back down, but I decided to run my tempo run instead.  I have a long run tomorrow on Jeremy Ranch Road, so I cut the fartlek down.  One more run and then I will cut back my mileage (because it's so high,) a little for the half marathon next week.  I'm hoping to run a decent time so I can get some travel and lodging for the TCM 10 miler in October. 

I ran my long run at Jeremy Ranch Road this morning.  I ran six miles out and then turned back.  I'm always a lot faster going out than I am coming back.  It's much hillier on the way back.  But, today I ran 39:22 out. (I think this was actually a bit over six miles.  I don't know where the six mile mark is.) and came back in 40:36 for a total time of 1:19:58.  I still need to work on getting more even, but at least I didn't lose 2-3 minutes like I usually do, so just over a minute difference means my endurance is improving.  My slowest mile was around 7:10, but I was hitting a lot of my miles in about 6:20-6:30.  It was a pretty good run for a hilly dirt road at 7,000 feet.  I must say I was inspired by Shalane Flanagan's bronze medal performance at the Olympics.  I love the Olympics.  They make me want to run faster.

I had very tired legs today.  I ran harder than I thought on Saturday, and wasn't recovered today. I need to try to be recovered by Saturday.  I warmed up with one lap around Sugarhouse Park.  Then, we did a circuit to continue warming up.  We ran 5x 1,000 meters on the State Course (along the river, around the pond, over a little hill, to the finish.)   I thought that 3:30 would be doable, since we were in long grass and I was running in trainers.  It was more difficult than I thought it would be.    I ran  3:35, 3:34, 4:00 (I wiped out going around the pond)  3:33, and 3:33.  I was pretty consistent except for the one that I fell on.  The top 2 guys were right under 3:30, so I need to work a little harder to get a little closer.  Their superior strength shows on runs like this.  It must be nice to have testosterone.  We cooled down with another lap around the park.

AM  I ran 5 miles on 4800 South over to the river trail and back to my house from Millrace Park.  I'm having calf problems again, and though I was able to make it through the run, it got a lot worse as I went.   I ended up cross training yesterday because my calves were sore and I don't seem to be recovering from workouts very well.  I'm supposed to race in the Top of Utah half marathon this weekend.  Hopefully, I can get my calves under control, because as of now there is no way I can run 13.1 miles in racing flats.  I'm frustrated!!!

I tried to stay positive and talk my calves out of hurting, but they're worse.  I ran two laps around Liberty Park with the East High team.  My left calf got tighter and tighter, to the point that I thought it was going to rip if I didn't stop.  I don't think that Saturday is going to be possible unless my brother-in-law (he's an athletic trainer) can work a miracle.