Emily's training blog

After the race and extra mileage on Saturday, Teren and I went up to Deer Valley to go to one of the Deer Valley concerts and spend the night.  It was a lot of fun, and very nice to get away from my kiddos for a couple of days, but I didn't take care of my foot as well as I should have.  It was pretty sore today.

I chose to spend another day on the treadmill.  I ran eight miles, starting at 8.5 mph, and increasing at the end of every song on my i-pod. It was a quick pace, but comfortable.  52:45 for the total time.

Tomorrow I will be running my first speed workout in a couple of weeks.  I'm a little frustrated with trying to find times to run.  My in-laws are out of town for two weeks, my babysitter bailed on me, the young women in the neighborhood are all at girl's camp.  Teren is working tons of overtime, plus he has scout camp this weekend.  Sigh!!!  Sometimes I miss the days when my life was my own.    I'm sure I'll work it out somehow.  Rant over.

I ran on the track for the first time in a long time today.  I wasn't sure how my achilles would handle a workout.  I warmed up two miles, and then ran 4 x 200 to get a little turnover going.  Initially, I was going to run 1000 meter repeats, but decided to ease in a little bit, and ran 800's instead.  I ran 8 x 800 with 1 lap recovery, which turned out to be 1:1.  I will be working on cutting my recovery back as my fitness improves.  My goal pace was 2:45.  I ran

2:44.56

2:43.49

2:42.5

2:42.7 (Started to hit a groove.)

2:42.9

2:43.11

2:39.13 ( I found someone to pace me . . . he paced too fast.)

2:38.15

I probably would have run two more if not for the increased pace on the last two.  Plus, my achilles was beginning to feel it.  I love the track.  I wish all workouts felt this good. 

I cooled down 3 miles.  I'm tired!

Teren had another long work day yesterday, and due to one of my insomnia attacks, I didn't get up at 4:30 to run.  ( I didn't fall asleep until 2, even though I went to bed at 9.)  So, another run missed.    I almost missed this morning's run, too.  Devra was going to come over at 5 so we could go running, but I didn't turn on my 4:30 alarm, and rolled over to look at the clock at 4:59.  Devra is very prompt, so I rushed downstairs just as she was pulling into the driveway.  So, we got out a little later than usual.  But, we made it through our 10 miles.

It was a very nice run.  We kept the pace nice and easy, and ran out the River Trail to Gardner Village and back.  It was pretty dark at first, but I love running as the sun comes up. It took us 73 minutes to run 10 miles . . . definitely nice and easy. 

After my run I went to see Dr. Petron about my achilles.  There are no tears, (thank goodness) but there is some breakdown in the tendon.  Basically, just a nasty case of tendonitis.  We discussed my options.  Taking time off is not one of them, and Dr. Petron assured me that I am not very likely to tear my tendon running.  I could get PRP done, but he said I would be out 2 weeks to a month.  Cortisone is not an option because then I am at a high risk of tearing the tendon.  So, basically I just need to keep up with my ecentric exercises, ice, ibuprofen,  night splint,  all the things I have been doing, and deal with it until I get to the point that I can take a break.  After the marathon, if my achilles is still an issue, I will possibly get PRP done.  It sounds like such a pleasant process, involving injecting needles into my tendon. 

Today was another fun-filled treadmill tempo day.  I warmed up 2 miles, and proceeded to run a 7 mile threshold run.  I decided that since my run was longer than last week's, I would increase my pace every mile, rather than every 5 minutes.  This was not a big change, but kept me under control a little longer.   I felt really good today.  I need to take some tempos to the roads to see where I really am, but regardless, I am seeing progress.  Plus, the treadmill seems to keep my achilles happier.  When I hit 5 miles, I increased every half mile, and finished at 11.0 mph (5:27) pace.  I only ran this pace for a quarter of a mile.

Mile1: 6:06

Mile 2: 5:56.65

Mile 3: 5:52.2

Mile 4: 5:48.3

Mile 5: 5:45.4

Mile 6: 5:41.5

Mile 7: 5:32.6   Miles 2-7: 34:38   Total time: 40:46

I cooled down 2 miles. 

PM:  4 miles easy.  My legs were feeling this morning!

I met Devra at my house to get my long run in.  Devra did 12 with me, and then I ran the last six on my own.  It's so nice to have company on long runs.  I still have a tough time wrapping my mind around long runs, but I know I need to get used to it.  Having a partner makes it go so much faster.

We ran out on the river trail again.  I have avoided the north part of the trail because of all the flooding.  I definitely didn't want to run out there if it was still flooded.  Wading through water that has been stagnating all summer didn't sound pleasant.  We decided to give it a try anyway.  Happily, the flooding is gone.  That is my favorite part of the trail, and it is nice to be able to run on it again. 

The first mile of the run didn't bode well for the rest of the run.  It takes my foot a while to warm up, so we were 7:50 through the first mile.  I thought it was going to be an extremely long run at that rate.  But, then we got rolling.  At 12, we were at 1:23, and I finished the run at 2:04:03.  The pace definitely picked up.  The middle six miles seemed the most difficult.  That must be mental.  The last six, I was just focused on finishing. 

So, I am on my way to 20 milers.  All you marathoners out there,  do you think it is beneficial to go longer, like 22-24 miles, or is 20 sufficient?