j-lyn's corner

Run on Deer Fence trail in Logan, early eve.

10 on Pipeline, only 1 inch of powder. Tried to keep HR down, and under 158bpm.

3 pushing the double jogger and 5 in the eve at a slightly faster pace with the SLC Club

Recovery run in Wellsville.

VERY SLOW miles with friends. Broke trail through calf-deep snow for 2 1/2 hours. It was a blast, and we had a decent sized group. Forgot my camelbak and carried a small water bottle. Went and cold. Shin and achilles were feeling better on the run, probably from the snow icing them.

Late night at Liberty Park. Had to walk a mile to take a phone call, but overall pace was still good, and fast considering the run the day before. Shin/achilles was only tender when cold.

45 min of cross-training, emphasis on core. Difficult to get steady work-out in while tending to sick children.

A slow, cold run. Glad to have company for a run that started at 10pm. Liberty park was empty- strange for it being "early." Felt fine but cold.

1 hr of cross training, shoulders, arms, abs. Very tired, will probably skip the 8 miles planned for tonight since insomnia was bad last night and didn't get much sleep, and husband won't be home to watch sick sleeping kids til after 10pm. Hopefully I'll get a double in tomorrow.

Went for another late night at liberty park, despite how exhausted I felt. I may be getting this sore throat cold that the boys have, mostly due to the fact that I haven't slept more than 6 hours (and none of it consecutively) for a week. Fortunately I don't have a fever still.

 I ran hard. It's been so stressful: unable to afford the major car work that needs to be done, my root canal but can't afford a crown yet, trying to buy a house, sell our trailer, Ben's overtime, sick kids, and Christmas. Add to that my no-grains no-sugar training for the last few weeks, and the fact that a co-worker brought a giant chocolate cake for her last day of work party, and I ate a huge slice.

So maybe it was all a sugar high. I don't know.

I remember one afternoon as I was trying to glean information from a local ultra runner. He was telling me about the time he paced the female winner of the Wasatch 100. He said once she felt like she had a shot to win it, she began training, and training obsessively: "Like a mother with two young children can't train." She didn't have work or kids. I have both. I had to prove to myself that my family, my job, and my other priorities didn't hinder me, they made me stronger. That having to do runs in the cold after the fam was asleep was going to make me tougher. That my insomnia was a strength, not a weakness. I could use it, train with it, so when I hit the night on my first 100 I can come alive again.

I was filled with emotion last night. I had something to prove to myself. I had to prove that although I was physically and mentally exhausted from a long day at work and an even longer commute, that even though I knew little F would be up with me all night, that I could still go out and run. Hard.

With the HR training I've been doing, and all of the tapering/recovering for my first ultras, I've done maybe 1 or 2 hard runs since Ragnar in June. I did 6 miles at a 7:40 pace... It's been so long since I've let myself hit that pace. I thought I didn't want to add too much intensity while I'm getting my mileage up, so after six I figured I'd back off to an 8:30. But I was so worked up that I kept dropping to an 8:00 pace and after trying to make myself slow down, I decided to forget it and just purge all the emotions. I ended up with 10 miles in 1 hr 18 min. No, not that fast, but MAN it felt good to consistently hit those speeds again.

 Came home and F was awake, what a surprise. It took a few hours to get him back to bed, and he only slept a little bit. Perhaps tomorrow night he and I will both take Nyquil, for everyone's sakes. Insomnia + child with insomnia+ it made worse by illness= chronic lack of sleep. 

Long run with JM in the morning, met up with the SLC track club to say hi after. Bummed I missed breakfast with everyone, but I was in a hurry to leave for Christmas trip.

 Went slow, and had a blast. All of the negativity and stress left and I was elated and happy.

I wanted to dislike the La Sportiva GTX on the dirt (it was about alf dirt half snow/ice) but I was impressed, especially on the more aggressive downhills. Those shoes hold amazing to the trail! Steep downhills I require a lot of feedback from the trail, which is why I prefer a minimalist shoe to help me get down swiftly and with confidence. The GTX gave me more feedback and sensitivity than some of my less agressive shoes! So on top of as much feedback as some of my "minimalist style" trail shoes, those lugs grabbed everything. I was thrilled, and had a lot of fun. 

Note to self: JM and JK are easy to get to run earlier in the morning. All I have to do is suggest. This is usual to know. 

Thin ice under an inch of powder, not great traction. My right knee started to hurt on the top of the knee cap, so I turned around once there was pain and cut the run short. I changed my gait and lowered intesnity on the way back and things were feeling better. We'll see how it goes. 

Trying to convince myself that this should be a rest week. Even though my miles are still much lower than what I want, I've been gaining slowly in mailes for about 4 weeks now, so I feel like I should back off and rest for a week before making the jump to 50 miles next week. 

A fun with with my sister, we ran to work, and then I added some on. DEEP powder, it was dark, and took it at a recovery pace. Knee felt fine, shin felt fine. Did physical therapy on both injuries and had them adjusted, so they're feeling fine.

 Gearing up for 2013. Ya know, since the world didn't end.

Trying not to eat too much fudge, cake balls, cookies, and tortillas. I don't want to gain back everything I just lost. We'll see how it goes.

Merry Christmas! 

Hard fast 6. Averaged a 7:30 pace on steep hills. I was angry about being told it was a good time to run, waiting 45min for my husband to run with me (it's been almost a year!) then, when time to go, everyone planning on leaving in an hour, meaning I'd have to cut my run short. Got more bitter when husband bombed out after 2 miles so we could be ready to go on time. Oh well. It worked out, and the anger made me run fast on slippery hills.

Ran a few miles on the deer fence in Logan... but was following fresh moose tracks, and decided to bail off the trail. With deep snow it was really slow moving. Took it to the "road" and ran around the park for a while in a few inches of powder. The teenagers sledding (at 11pm!) were sweet and hollered kind words of encouragement- the first time teens have said nice things to me while running.

My first night run with my new NAO headlamp. Pretty excited for it! 

Ran with JM snd C in BRRRR 10 degree (if that) weather. Trail conditions went from packed snow to unbroken trail to nasty, horse dug-up hard snow. JM surprised me by being there at 5:15am when I sd I'd be there. Swung up and picked up C at 6:15. All of our water bottles and bladders froze. My hands froze and I couldn't even hold things.

 But, all in all, it was great fun. I wouldn't tell it to his face, but JM might be getting faster.... (I couldn't powerwalk as much and keep up with him lol). 

Went for a recovery run, ended up going faster than expected. I worked to keep my HR under 150, it went over a couple of time. Ran on a paved trail, about half was 2-4inches deep snow, the rest was dry.

I find it intriguing that when I am angry I run faster with less effort. Today, just thinking about an old friend who is now longer a friend because his wife is a b**** and hates me, made me get a little upset, and coincedentally whenever I was thinking about this I'd drop my pace to sub 8, then I'd notice after a while, slow myself down, only to get irritated about something else and speed up again.

This could be useful to monitor for race day.