I was going to do a speed work-out today but I knew it wasn't going to happen when I was struggling to go up a hill just to get to where I was going to be doing some hill repeats. I've had sick kids and not much sleep plus last week I went a few more miles than I'm used to. Anyhow - a nice easy 6 miles felt great.
I got the work-out in that I was going to do yesterday. 2 mile warm-up and cool-down, 2x800 with a 400 easy in between, then 4x400 hills, then another 2x800.
3:06, 3:14 on the first 800's - the first being slightly downhill and then I came back up
2:05, 2:03, 2:06, 2:07 on the hills
3:08, 3:15 on the second 800s
Wow. Pretty darned consistent for me. Somehow I was able to get an extra half mile out of all of this. I know my hill isn't a quarter mile perfectly and I tacked on just a smidgen on the last two miles.
The odds were uphill, the evens were downhill as usual. The easiest place to run a mile without worrying about stop-lights is up (and down) the canyon. I really wasn't feeling it on my warm-up today but I'm good with how things turned out in the end. I was really worn out on the last two and just told myself to get under 7 minutes on the uphill and 6:30 on the downhill. I guess if I average it all out I'd be around a 6:35.
It was beautiful and warm this morning (although its snowing hard now) so lots of folks were exercising in the canyon. I got lots of people cheering me on as they saw me with my I'm-hurting-eyes as I went up and down. I love people. They're nice.
So today I made my kids sacrifice for my determination to run. I had my niece babysit them while I did my long run today. My niece doesn't drive yet so I had to drive 20 minutes to pick her up and 20 minutes to get her back to our house. My sister-in-law was having a baby shower at 11:30 this morning and she lives an hour away. That meant I had to be out of the house by 6:45am this morning to get my niece - with three kids in tow - three kids that were really wishing they were still in their warm beds. A part of me felt like - ha! now you know what it feels like to get woken up when you don't want to wake up, welcome to my world!!! - but most of me felt really guilty that they were made uncomfortable because I'm so set on my running schedule - come rain or tears. They ended up having a good time with their cousin - lots of movie watching, painting and eating pancakes so my guilt was assuaged in the end. But hopefully we'll be able to keep it post-7:30am the next time I need a babysitter.
The run felt pretty good. My legs were pretty tired by mile 14 or so, but I think that was a result of the mental game. I usually get tired when I'm getting close but still not quite yet to the point of a run being almost done. Oh the antics of the mind. I ran a 7:52 pace today. I didn't intend to go under 8 minutes but I guess that's what my legs wanted to do today. So there you have it.
Wow. I felt awful today. I was going to do 800s but decided to do it tomorrow. This one is mostly my fault - I stayed up past midnight, accidentally, working on a project I enjoy. Discipline!!!
2x400, 6x800, 2x400 with .15 rest between 400's and .25 rest between 800s
My Garmin said it was all out of power when I put it on this morning. I swear I charged it yesterday. Hopefully nothing is wrong. Anyway, I have no other watch in my life outside of the Garmin so I went by feel today. It felt like I did some good work. I'm doing a 10k this weekend and I'm hoping to figure out what pace I should be doing all of these work-outs at - what a realistic goal marathon time might be. I'm kinda scared. Races really scare me. That's why I usually only do them once every couple of years - well that and because I'm always pregnant.
Just some easy miles again. I haven't done well on sleep lately and I'm really feeling it on my runs. I'm determined to get myself to sleep not long after the kids go to bed tonight and tomorrow night so I can feel alive and energetic for Saturday.
A really easy, pleasant day today. I found out my marathon plans might be foiled, but I think I'll still be able to do a half. I'll keep training like I'm doing the marathon until I know for sure.
So I did a 10K today that was actually 5.7 miles. It's one thing to be .05 off on a course, but .5?????? Holy cow. I was pretty disappointed. And at the end a 5K ended with the 10K and they only had the 5K time showing so I have no idea what I run a 5.7 mile in let alone a 10K. Yeah. I'm frustrated. I'll have to wait until they get the results up on the web site and then I'll just see what my pace was so I can figure out how I want to train for the marathon and what I can expect out of myself. I had my garmin in my car and just forgot to put it on after I dropped my kids off at my sister-in-law's. I sure wish I would have worn it. I found out the course was short from about 5 different upset runners who didn't forget their garmins. For the first half of a mile I think I might have passed or been passed by a runner, but after that things didn't change until the last mile where I passed three or four guys. I saw two girls running in front of me the whole race, but I just didn't have the confidence to go after them. It made me think I should run more races. Maybe after I finish up this whole "having a family" thing I'll do that.
On a positive note, my mother-in-law, who is really going for best mother-in-law of all time, came to my race. She was standing on a corner about 4 1/2 miles in cheering me on. I was touched and motivated to see her there in her big, fluffy coat. She told me that when I ran by she turned to a lady that was close by and said, "That is my daughter-in-law. She has three little kids." She was just bursting with pride. It made me giggle in my heart - there's nothing too special about my running or my situation but its nice to have a Mom's pride in my life (:
I just did some easy miles today. Yesterday and slightly today I could feel a little soreness in my quads in the front. My husband thinks that's from the downhill. Looks like I'll need to add more downhill running into my workouts. In another month or so I'll feel safe running up the canyon by myself - it just needs to get a little bit busier up there - and I'll try to push the pace when I come down.
So I looked at the results from Saturday's 9K and by doing the math I figured if I'd continued on pace I would have run a 39:52. So most likely I would have slowed down a little bit and maybe been just over 40 minutes. Hey - that is pretty darn good for this gal. I've only run one other 10K and I think it was somewhere around 44 minutes.
The next race will be a half-marathon, either at Thanksgiving Point in April or the Provo half-marathon at the beginning of May. It all depends on how things shake out in my life over the next few weeks.
Ok, so I'm still feeling a little tight in the quads and a little worn out from the race. I thought I was fine over the weekend but my running has been really lethargic this week. I noticed especially when I went downhill that my legs didn't feel quite right. Since the Utah Valley marathon will be lots of downhill I think my next hill workout I'll go hard up and down hill and then do a flat quarter mile recovery. Plus - I NEED SLEEP! There is plenty that is keeping me busy, but I'm also just taking a half-hour or hour at night to do nothing. I think it would be better to do nothing with my eyes closed instead of cruising around the internet doing nothing.
Easy miles today that felt very blah. Hopefully I have the oomph for another speed work-out tomorrow. I'm still not positive about what I'll be doing. I'm going back and forth between mile repeats or a tempo/MP run. I'm starting to think it might be good to dial in the MP pace. That means tonight I need to commit to a goal time for this marathon - scary.
My garmin mishaps are starting to get ridiculous. Today I turned my garmin on at my sister's only to see it was out of batteries. So I just ran a course where I knew distances and repeated certain sections because I knew exactly how far they were - and judged my speed by how it felt. I did a 1 mile warm-up, 2 miles MP (supposedly), 1/2 easy, 3 miles tempo (maybe), 1/2 mile easy, and then a final mile at MP (hmmmm...yeah, they all kinda felt the same - not comfortable). I finished with a couple of miles cool-down. As of before I started the run I was going to do 2 more miles at the end, not just 1 mile, but I WAS NOT feeling it today. Maybe this is just the way I feel when I train though and I need to adjust and work through it mentally. Anyway - tomorrow I'm taking a rest day and then I'll do 16 miles on Saturday. The plan is to really take those 16 easy and hopefully feel more fresh next week.
It was nice to take yesterday off. I think my body really appreciated it. I was going to go 16 today, but my babysitter cancelled because she got the stomach flu so I had to call on my sister last minute. I was grateful just to get the 14 in. It was in the evening on a cool but sunny day - life felt awfully good. My pace was 7:54. I'm really hoping to feel better this next week.
1.75 mile warm-up, 1.75 mile cool-down, 6x1 mile with .25 slow between
I'm not sure exactly what my times were as it was another day of pushing the start/stop button instead of the lap button. I don't know why I can't get myself to focus enough to work this extraordinarily simple watch. I am pretty sure that most of my times were between 6:50 and 7:10. wow. slow. Or slower than they have been at least. I felt that in the turn-over in my legs. I was working hard but I wasn't really moving. I don't know if I've worn myself out or if this is just part of progressing. I've got a long time before the marathon so I'll keep working hard and see what happens. Hopefully all this hard work doesn't just make me slower (:
Just another easy day. My MIL has been coming at 8:30 to watch the kids while I run. It makes for a frantic pace of dressing, feeding and making beds and getting myself ready before she appears. I feel like I'm getting two work-outs in one. I love the earlier time - I can't wait to run pre-7 am again when the husband returns.
7:54 pace. I was able to go up the canyon today which was a nice change for me. I was getting pretty done with the routes I've been running lately to get the longer miles. Its funny how when I know I'm running long, all of a sudden at mile 5 or 6 my hips and knees seem achy. I swear if I was only running 7 or 8 miles instead of 18 I wouldn't even notice my hips and knees - but when I go long I start getting myself all concerned. Oh the mind. My legs were pretty tired by the time I was all done. I got in the car right afterward to take my niece home from watching the kids and felt pretty stiff by the time I got back. But a few hours of chasing around with kids and my legs are feeling just fine. Kids are a great way to get over a run.
I went to the gym to get these miles in. I've been avoiding it because I didn't know what my kids would think of me putting them in childcare for an hour. Throughout the run I was looking over my shoulder, sure that one of the girls that was tending the kids would be hunting me down to change a diaper, discipline a child who was hitting or comfort one who was crying. But I was able to do my 7 miles and found the kids as happy as could be afterward. My son couldn't get over how many dinosaurs they had to play with. Its nice to know that when I can't find anybody to watch the kids the gym is a viable option.
2 mile warm-up, 2 mile cool-down, 6x800 with 400 up a steep hill and 400 back down, then 2x800 gently sloping down for the first 800 then back up for the second 800. I only kept my time on the last two 800s. I think it was 3:10, 3:21.
The downhill was a challenge in a different way than I expected. I thought keeping up intensity after going up my quarter mile hill would just wear my lungs out. But my real problem was getting my legs to turn over fast enough so that I could feel like my heart and lungs were still working. On the third or fourth downhill I tried to give myself a rhythm for my legs by saying "turn, turn, turn" at the pace I wanted to plant my feet. I think I'll work on that even harder the next time I do the workout. I'm guessing I should also try to start throwing in some 100 meter pick-ups on easy days to teach my legs how to roll-over too. Things to do, things to do.
The only thing better than running in enormous snowflakes in the spring is hiking in them. But I'll take the easy run I went on today and smile about it. When I stop worrying about whether or not I'm making my running goals I remember that a lot of the reason I run is just to enjoy being outside and moving. I'm so glad I got that today (especially since I'll be on the treadmill again tomorrow.)