Emily's training blog

I felt much better today than I did on Saturday.  I spent way too long last night talking with Teren, so when the alarm went off at 5, I was very tempted to go back to sleep.  But, I made it out of bed and out the door.  That's my big mental victory of the day!  

I ran a 3 mile warm-up followed by 2 sets of 1-2-3-2-1 minute intervals with 1-1-2-1-1 recovery.  Most of the intervals stayed within 5:45-5:55 pace, with a couple of the 1 minute intervals getting down to 5:25-5:30 pace.  I only cooled down enough to hit 8 miles because I still needed to go to the store to get milk for the kids' breakfast.  Oh, the joys of family life!

Treadmill day today.  I had a difficult time sleeping last night since Lily was up, and Teren was snoring.  I used to be a deep sleeper, until I had kids.  Now, I'm an insomniac, though hard running helps me sleep more deeply. 

So, after dropping Lily off in the daycare, I ran 10 miles, increasing my pace every half mile.  I also threw in 2 minute hills every 10 minutes. 

I'm continuing to experience some tightness in my left hip and back.  Stretching helps, but I need to add in some core and hip strength work.  I picked up a couple of workouts designed by the trainers at my health club.  It will be fun to try them out and see how they work.  It looks like they change the workouts every week.  It's always good to add more weapons to the arsenal!

Some mornings it is difficult to get out the door and get going.  Luckily, this morning I had help from a little girl who wanted a drink 15 minutes before my alarm was set to go off.  I'm glad Lily is so concerned that her mom gets her run in.

I ran the 1300-7th-2700 loop . . . love the mile long hill from 6200S to 7000 S on 2700.  At least when I get to the top it is all downhill the rest of the way home

I dreamed about the Olympic Trials last night.  I was there watching, and Shalane Flanagan won, with Kara Goucher second.  I never did see who came in third.  The funny thing was, they only ran a half-marathon.  They ran 1:12-1:13, which would be a very slow half for them.  Kind of a funny dream.  Oh, and Ryan Hall won the men's race, sporting long hair and a handlebar mustache. 

I missed running yesterday.  I don't really have an excuse except I slept in and thought I would run later in the day.  Later never seems to happen.   I think the rest day did me a bit of good though.  I seemed to be a little bit pounded, and I felt less nagginess in my trouble areas today.

I avoided the super-cold morning (11 degrees windchill . . BRRR!).  But, that meant a workout on the treadmill.  I warmed up 3 miles and then ran 7 sets of 3 minutes on, 2 minutes off.  I started at 10.0mph, and increased .1 every interval.  The last set I started at 10.6 and increased .1 every minute.  I finished at 10.8 mph.  The workout only started to get particularly difficult when I dipped under 5:40 pace.  The recovery pace was 8 mph or 7:30 pace.  When I finished I had about 1.75 miles left to finish 10 for the day.  The total time for my run, including warm up and cool down was 66:30. 

With my 14 mile run tomorrow I will finish out 50 miles this week.  It's probably not the smartest way to go about hitting my mileage.  I need to be more careful about not missing running days.

I couldn't even blog my workout until after I watched the Olympic Trials because I didn't want to accidentally stumble across the results.  So, I just finished  dancing around my living room, trying to will the runners across the line.  It is definitely bittersweet to watch the trials.  My heart broke a little bit again, knowing that I have the ability to be there, but have struggled with injuries.  But, I am definitely inspired by the work ethic and the extreme mental toughness of the runners in the trials.  It put the fire back in my soul, after a few apathetic months of trying to heal up, and contemplating giving up running all together.  I just want "that moment".  The one where all of the hard work and struggles come together, and it is all worth it.  I don't even know right now what "that moment" is.  But, I want it again. 

Today was a good step back on that path.  I made it through a 14 mile run, though I was starting to struggle a bit after 10.  I can tell a huge difference in fitness over the last three weeks, that makes me feel encouraged.  Of course, it helped having some great running partners, so Allie and Andrea, thanks for pulling me along today.

We met a pretty big group at Tanner Park this morning.  I hope it continues to grow.  We ran out 2700 S, onto Murray-Holladay Road, up to Wasatch Blvd, and back to 2700 S and the park.  We managed to run just under 7:10 a mile, which was not a bad pace! 

I'm happy I managed to increase my long run.  I also hit my first 50 mile week.  I didn't meet my goal this week of adding in some cross training and strength training, so I will be keeping that goal for next week.  I would like to go up to 55 miles next week, and probably keep the long run in the 13-15 mile range for a while.