Emily's training blog

Here's to a renewed commitment to consistent training.  I decided to spend these next six weeks before Christmas building my mileage back up, and focusing on my overall strength.  Today was my first outside run in a long time.  It was so calm and peaceful outside.  I've definitely been missing my morning runs. As a bonus, the weather cooperated, and actually felt balmy.  My achilles is feeling great, though my left hip is tight. My hip always gives me a few problems as I get back into shape, but with stretching and strength work, it should return to working order shortly.  When I got home, Teren commented on my heavy breathing.    Yes, I am out of shape.  Half an hour of running has me breathing  like I just ran intervals.  But, it will get better.

I spent all day yesterday feeling excited about getting out again on a morning run.  That's not a feeling I've had in quite a while.  It's nice to feel the spark again.  I was a bit underdressed for my run today.  The closet monsters seem to have eaten all of my gloves, and I could have used a jacket.  But, the run was only five miles, so I survived.

I ran down 4800 to the river trail, over to Millrace Park, and up through the neighborhood to my house.  I thought it would be really dark on the trail, but the half-moon provided just enough light to see.  It was actually very pretty with the moonlight reflecting off of the water.

Now, I'm at home drinking peppermint hot chocolate!  Time to warm up. 

I'm looking forward to hearing from Jake and Andrea at tonight's LDR banquet.  Besides the fact that Teren and I get to go out without the kids.  It's time to remember what being an adult feels like!

I figured that I should make the most of the warmer weather before a winter storm makes it difficult to run outside.  It was pretty windy this morning, but the temperature was very comfortable.  I started shedding layers about halfway through the run.  I ran my six mile 4800 S to River Trail loop.  I listened to quite the eclectic mix of music, which included Kelly Clarkson's new album (very run-able!)  Adele, Lady Gaga, and a few Christmas songs for good measure.  How did I ever survive without a soundtrack to my running. 

Tonight we held the East High cross country awards banquet. (It's banquet week!)  Brad Barton was the guest speaker.  He was very entertaining, combining magic with inspiration.  I highly reccommend him to anyone looking for a motivational speaker.  I felt a little stupid when I asked him if he had a running background, and he said "a little bit of one."  Then, I found out he was an All-american at Weber state and made a USA team.  I would say that is more than a "little bit" of a running background!  Next time I'll do my homework so I don't sound so ignorant.

Today was a treadmill morning, partly because of the weather, and partly because I am alone with the kiddos for the weekend.  Scoutmaster Teren is on a campout.  I'm hoping he makes it out of the mountains in one piece! 

I felt great running, today.  I must run a faster pace when I'm running outside, because most of the run felt effortless.  I haven't been timing my runs since I'm just trying to get the mileage going again.  My initial plan wa 45 minutes of running, but I felt great, so I finished out the last half mile.  I've been noticing that I start feeling my achilles after 30-35 minutes of running, so I probably need to back off a bit.   On the up side, the tightness in my hip is dissipating.