Believe to Achieve

Sick on saturday...woke sunday worse with head cold. Sinuses stuffy and sore throat body aches. No fever so a virus. Just a head cold but since lower back also quite ach since saturday along with hamstrings i decided not to run today. Instead pruned bushes and put lights up outside with husband. Finished our Christmas tree decorating yesterday. I think it is hard to be a competiitive runner...so glad my competition days are coming to a close.....it seems i have gained friendships but also lost some because i am either too slow or too old. Some day when my friends are the age i am now they will understand...my mind and spirit are willinv my body is just not so much anymore. I am determined to reach my subthree goal and honestly know i can do it. Let it be this year so i can move on.

zero miles.  day three of cold--stuffy head and body aches.  no reason to go out in this weather. brrr. blowing snow.  read some articles about running with a cold.  MAIN rule-- DON'T.  so I didn't.  wait til you feel 85-90 percent better then go out easy-- 1-2 miles less than a usual easy run.  reevaluate next morning not AFTER run when you have the usual high and mistake it for being able to do the work out.  evaluate the morning you are about to run.  pretty much listening to my body.  on antibiotics for sinus infection.  day two. trying to eat healthy, taking my vitamins.  I would say that I feel 40 percent better then yesterday NOW.  But while trying to sleep (lying down stuffs my sinuses more) I felt only 20 percent better.   

Death by a cold! Seriously this one is a doozy. Nasal congestion and sinus stuffiness galore. Suck o rama. I havenet had this bad of a cold in years. Last april i had just a sore throat fever and vomiting. This is a full blown very bad cold. Watch out all. It is unrunnable. My head feels like it is going to explode and we r supposed to drive to sg tonight and dosneyland tmr. Guess it is my hotel room for me. My kids were sick in sept and oct, except courtney and troy says "I dont get sick" He does he just doesnt complain about it. What a trooper! I feel drugged on dayquil and motrin. It started sat am....so three days coming ...sat, sun, mon, threedays staying at peak...tues wednes and thurs, and three days leaving hasta la vista cold baby! Friday sat and monday. Yay nice and healthy for my shift on tuesday. What a trip for the family with mom sick. Well oddly i got sick from disneyland in april on a saturday after driving home...i have come full circle with illness. I should be good for boston now :-)

Drove to sg last night after brookes choir concer. Just under four hours. I am starting to feel a little btr. Especially today. Coming to the cough stage. But no running here in sg . Off to disneyland. Not well enough to run yet. It is 10 degrees even in sg! I am going through a lot of tissues.

Hotel treadmill. Normaly i run outside at disneyland cause weather is balmy. Not the case this time. Brrrr! Yah it is 34 degrees in morning and with ocean nearby it is what it is. So tm run. First run after five days off including sunday with bad cold. Almost btr. Progressive slow miles all at 1%. Was wondering why after two miles i was sweating. It felt hot but didnt see the air conditioner behind me in the room. It was set to keep at 68 degrees. It didnt go on at all so warmer then that! Heat similation or cold detox run. Whichever. Started at 6.7mph and increased by 0.1mph each mile. Increased a bit more at end to 7.6 to get to 7 miles just befre 60minutes so 8:34 ap. Walked all over disneyland for 10 hours. Troy and courtney stayed til 10. Other two kids tired we we went to hotel to have s'mores by poolside and swim, i did not swim. I almost fell asleep waiting for them to come back from pool at 930.

Too tired to get up and run before disneyland. Opens at 8am and closes at 12am. Yup 16 hours of fun! Didnt make it til 12am last night. But maybe if i cut out the run i can. Chance of rain today. Hopefully that scares the locals!. 15 hour day at disney california from 730am til 1030pm . Cars ride twice, once in am and once at nkght. Too weird how cold it is here! Hats and gloves on many people. They do sell the most adorable hats some quite stylin. Theme park hats but very well done. Ate salad and soup bread bowls. Yum. And big mickey mouse cookies . Double yum. Tower terror three times. Toy story mania twice. All shows. All rides. Great day.

16 hours at disneyland. Left hotel at 815am back to our hotel at 1230 am. Highlight was candlelivht procession. We got seats! Shockingly...i was just at the right place at the right time. We were pretty close to kurt russell the narrator. He has a very nice reading voice. The whole thing was wonderful! Although cold we hung on to the wee hours. Finished our disney trip with ice cream sundaes on main street. Yup cold but we wanted ice cream. In bed by 12:58 am. Zzzzzzz.

Slept from 1am california time til 8:40 am. Legs felt great. Weird so decided to go run while i let my husband and two of my girls sleep. Courtney wanted to eat. I was still stuffed from ice cream at 12am. So she waited. I got on tm just before 9am. Ran 1/2 mile at 8:57 pace (1% incline for all of run in heat simulation hotel rec room). Then every tenth of a mile I increased the pace by 0.1 mph til 7.5 moh -8:00 pace til 5 miles the up to 7.6 moh for 1/2 mile then from 5.5 to 7.5 miles i increased to 6:49 pace for 1.8 miles (8.8mph) and 9mph for 0.2 miles. Total of two fast. First speedwork in 7 or so weeks. Cooled down for half mile at 7.5 to 7.7 mph. Tm does auto cool down at 60 min so had to keep increasing back to the 7:47 to 8 pace for cooldown. Otal time with tbis happening 62:36 for 8 miles. Felt great. Stretched briefly then packed to leave for home. Out of hotel by 11am. Stopped mcdonalds for smothies. On our wah through high wind advisory 40 to 50 mph. Noy looking forward to 5 degree weather running. Hence why i was super more motivated today to run before leaving.

Arrived home from California at 11pm last night.  Unpacked and in bed by 12am.  Awoke to sound of alarm to get Courtney off to school. Drove her cause WE ARE IN shock with the freezing temps we knew was going to be the case but were not quite physically ready for it.  California was cold enough.  St. George had snow when we stopped there and was about 10 degrees!!  AT 0900 am dropped off my littlest Amber (10) at school with her bags packed for Clear Creek.  BRRrr!! This is up by Price.  Okay so Red Flag recess but still an overnight at Clear Creek???  My other two daughters were lucky--Brooke went in September and Courtney in early October (I went with Courtney.  It was therapeutic after SG marathon 2008 when I was out of shape).   I was so frozen dropping her off I was wondering why I had the notion to run OUTSIDE this am.  It read 7 degrees on my Phone.  YIKES.   WELL  I geared up.  LAYER UPON LAYER.  And I was actually warm except my feet for the first two miles.  My left foot (not my usual problem foot) was in a cramp.  It worked its way out by mile four.  The rest of me felt awesome. The sun came up halfway through my run.  I DID NOT LOOK AT MY watch until I got to where I knew it was a mile from my house. I only checked the mileage and covered up the pace. I felt like I was running a 9:00 to 9:15 ap.  When I saw on my garmin that I was already at 7.65 miles  when I didn't even think I was at 7 yet I decided I must be faster.  So I started guessing the last half mile.  My first guess was then 8:30 to 8:40.  But then I was like "that is ridiculous Julie, your legs are stiff and it is icy and snowy all over the roads, lots of maneuvering to avoid ice patches and lots of running in the snow so maybe just maybe 8:45 ap??  Well I got home and reset my garmin and my pace read *8:35!!!  Weird.  Felt so easy.  BASICALLY I am starting to feel like my OLD running self.  So to NOT ruin it I am going to run smart.  Sleep if I need to --instead of run-- , Run recovery A LOT.  And minimal speed for now.  Some medium tempo runs on TM.  Nothing huge.  I am honestly feeling so much better than my DARK abyss I felt the last six months.  AMAZING what ESTROGEN and PROGESTERONE supplementation can do for a WOMAN!! 

12 Layers of Freezing Temp Running

2 cherry cough drops

1 head band

2 ear muffs from the SLC 2002 Olympics under head band

Warm under wear/garments

Running bra

Fleece inside nylon long sleeve shirt

80s Fleece pull over (yup still have it since I was 16 years old!!), SAVES MY LIFE every time. 

Pair of NIKE flyknit, multicolored

Pair of ascis nylon socks

Thick compression socks with feet cut off (from Wallgreens)

Underwear over underwear , ha ha

Grey Fleece inside nylon long running pants from Costco two years ago.  Need another pair to rotate.

Music by iPod. 

Gloves that breath.  Hands were warm. 

Positive ATTITUDE.  Just really enjoyed being out there. Especially shocking every driver that passed by me. 

5 miles at golds gym with pass of all passes. Only been there once before for a spin class with kim a year or so ago. Loved it cause it opens at 430am! But when alarm went off at 443am i just was sooo asleep it took me 10 min to rise. Got to gym two miles or less away at 5:06. Had everything ready to jump in my clothes for work after a quick just body wash in shower. Brrrr outside but made it to work on time. Started at 6.7 mph and increased pace every o.5 miles. Til potty stop needed and didnt know where it was but spotted it when i turned off tm. When i got back..surprise friends there getting on tms...jane and kim. Kim told me about goldsdeal for december. So ran next to them for 2.5 miles . All l i could fit in for running easyy. Ran last 2.5 miles at 7.5 to 8.0 mph increasing as above. Fun while it lasted. Nice to have a gym that opens early enough for me tp get a de ent run on before work. Some time this dec i will get there at 430am :-)

Busy busy day.  Finally sitting down and it is 630pm.  Courtney off to school by 7am.  Amber off at 7:50am.  Carpooled Brooke's crew to junior high. Back at 8:10am.  Cleaned up morning and other odds and ends.  Out the door at 825am for Gold's gym trip number two.  Saved a spin class bike. Took too long here  lowering seat fitting myself to bike. Got over to TM.  Ran 5 miles. Started at 6.8 mph and increassed pace every 0.25 miles by 0.1 mph.  All at 1 percent except for last four ons/offs done at 0.5%. Ran two miles like this and went right into 3 x 1 min on/off at 9.8 mph/7.1mph, then 3 x 1 min on/off at 9.9mph/7.1 mph, then 2 x 1 min on/off at 10 mph/7.1mph  and lastly 1 x 1 min on/off at 10.1 to 10.2 pace/7.1 mph.  Ran til five miles another 0.5 miles or so.  Can't remember.  Went to first spin class with TWO legs since last winter.   Yes last spin class was early August with my cast on.  ha ha.  Did spin for 40 minutes then BACK to TM for three easy miles AP 8:15 at 1%.  Started slow and ended at 7:13 for a wee bit.  Ran by Kim for a mile.  She and Jane joined me in spin.  Saw Chandi too.  18 weeks pregnant.  Party at GOLD's.  Jane's sister was there too.  They go a lot. This is gonna be a fun December at the Gym.  Topped it all off by hanging in the Sauna for 15 minutes, partly with Kim.  Some interesting old men in there :d.  Then headed home to shower and head out for Christmas shopping at Target.  Ran into Jan after we both were there for two hours!! ha ha.  Tomorrow Insanity Class at Gold's.  May not be able to move Saturday.  6am!!

Went to bed after midnight sooo...slept thru insanity workout. Actualy woke up at 553am...thought about it for half a second. Really had plans to go but could not fall asleep. Christmas shopping and organizing keeping me awake. Decided not to over do it just yet. Sorry to disappoint rachelle :-) kim said it was pretty intense, like boot camp and the tv info mercial of insanity wprkouts. Glad i will now be able to move tmr since i work all weekend a.d hitting the gym before work for 8 miles. Started at 8:19 pace ended at 7:00. Mostly increased 0.1 mph every 1.5 miles til mile six then did 7.6 mph for mile 7 and 7.7 to 8.5 til mile 8. 64:36 for 8 miles at 1%. Ap then 8:04. Not bad for easy run. Kind of grossed out by the tv programs running while i run. So many women with no modesty flaunting their bodies in front of the camera in music videos and commercials. Do i need to watch women making love tothe camera? Give me some uplifting heroic stories. People doing hard things.

So last night i called golds gym to make sure they were open at 5am. No! Seriiusly 6??? So i put out warm clothes instead to go out in five degrees and even though i could not sleep i could not drag myself out there before work. So no run and i am just too tired or hungry to run after work plus it is dark again so i feel like it is super late. I did not feel like being over stimulated at the gym. Zero miles.

Holy insomnia! Back on hormone trial and who knows if it was the rise or fall of hormones that created this insomniac. Friday night...four hours, sat night four bours and last night five hours. Man my head feels headachy. So i did what any normal sleepless runner would do on a monday...hit the tm. Yup back to golds after kids off to school. There by 830 after drop off at deseret industries with donations. Had no idea what i was going to run. Been feeling like a long run is in order here soon, nice and easy 20 OUTSIDE. But today is not the days with lack of sleep. So just got on and put pace at 7.5 mph and increased pace wvery mile by 0.1 mph...so miles 2-8 were 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9, 8.1, 8.2 (7:53 to 7:18 pace) then 0.6 miles @ 7:13 pace and then increased pace by 0.1mph every 0.2 miles til 10 miles. Actually sprinted the last 0.2 at 6:15 pace. Cooled down at 8:27 pace for half mile. All felt easy and controlled especially lungs. Just left but sciatica has been a little bit of a problem so stretched good afterwards. 1% incline today. I am counting only last mile as fast as pace was from 6:15 to 6:58...so about at 6:36 pace.. total time 75:07 for 10 miles. 7:30 ap.

Golds gym after kids off to school. Only plan was to run easy maybe pick it up last mile or two if i felt good. Trying hard to not get competitive with myself on the tm and truly run recovery on recovery days. Started at 6.7 mph and increased every mile by 0.1 mph til 8 miles...just before 8 i got antsy and increased my pace every 0.1 miles by 0.1. Then at 8 I put the tm back to 6.7 mph and increased gradually by 0.1 mph every 0.2 miles to keep my mind from numbness. When i got to nine miles i took the incline down from the 2% i was at and ran one mile at 6:35 ap at 1%. Then did my first power pump class as i found chandi and she told me they were all in there- kim, jane, becca, and janes sister. Did 45 minutes of lifting and positioning with weights i never do so who knows of i will be to able to move tmr. :-) feel strong. Fun to see everyone in class including dr mumford who came up to me. I see him at work all the time. So fun to be with everyone. Love that golds gym is just three minutes from my house!

Holy busy-ness! Tm only. Ap 8:00. Started at 8:41. Nothing spectacular except i sweat like no other! Talked a bit with amber s from my ragnar team about hormones. Over forty is tough that way. Troy having surgery on his knee. Still doing car pool and working ull time. Head is spinning. Oh yah quite sore from power pump class especially buttocks and hips. So definitely had to run easy. Plan to run short tmr and swim! There is a pool at golds. Cool. Probably swim a mile.

So sore from class tuesday. But managed to creak my way over to golds and hop on tm. Plan was five milez but ran 7. Started at 8:06 1% grade increased 0.1 mph every mile so 8:00, 7:53, 7:47, 7:41,7:35, 7:30. My heart rate is 140 to 150 yet still my sweat rate is dripping constantly after 1.5 miles. I am soaked by end of run. It is warm in golds and a lot -more runners around but i look around and no one is as sweaty as i. I was going to go swim after calling home and making sure troy was fine less than one day postop from knee surgery . He was. His knee was worse than mri showed. Lateral tear of meniscus. And some acl strain. He has been making christmas candy with the girls while i was at work. He is a trooper. I worked from 12 to 1845. Hip flexors tight from power pump. Oh yah didnt make it swimming cause kim went by me and invited me to spin. I only lasted 30 minutes. Legs were done. Pool would have been relaxing. So tmr no runnng just a nice swim..Timed easy mile. Freestyle. Before work. Ap today 7:48.

72 lengths equals a little over a mile. Golds gym pool. First mile swim since summer 2012 Freestyle with flip turns. Did 24 lengths one min rest 11:23 , one min, then 24 lengths in exact same time 11:23 one min rest then 24 lengths in 11:42. Total time for mile with rests equals 36:31. I think this is close to my time or faster than my first mile 1.5 years ago. Pretty happy. Cooled down by doing some breast, back and side stroke. Revved up with one lap butterfly. Sauna five minutes. Off to work soon. On call for am. Work the afternoon. Felt best on last 24 lengths. Got my panicked breathing under control. Competitive a bit with a womanwho was clearly a swimmer coming to the pool for a while. Able to keep up with her. :-) looked up first time i did mile in 2012....36:10 but i only rested 30 seconds. Will do that again. So that is pretty good for two full minutes of rest factored in.

Wow do i feel out of shape! Should have passed on christmas run today. The mile swim worked me over i guess. My arms and legs felt tight/stiff. And running on freshly fallen snow on more snow. Tm has been babying me. Ran with carina and mckenzie breifly then slowed and stayed with some guys. Finished with bill and kim. 8:20 ap. Felt like 7:30. My footing was slipping entire run. Nike flyknits have zero traction. Zero. Kind of scary at first. Thought i was going to biff hard. Now after going to daughters soccer game at ten i cant warm up. I am frozen. I wasnt cold on the run but right after i chilled really bad. Hope i didnt get the flu again? I feel achy all over. It could be just the swim. I am such a wimp. So good to see hawk and cheryl on the run. Known them for many years. Such good people. Awesome runners.

okay...what happens when you show up later to the gym than your friends?  Yup I got there just as Kim and Jane were leaving after running a killer work out!!    I was only going to do some random speed work today if any.    Jane talked me into being able to run 8 x 800s.  Ummmm...haven't run 800s in possibly a year.  And certainly not 8.  It was determined by Jane that I should start at 9.5mph.  Her and Kim were much faster.  Crazy fast!   After chatting away the first mile with Jane's sister at my lovely easy pace of 6.8 to 7mph I decided instead of a two mile warmup like they did that I would run a 3 mile warmup so my cooldown would be less to get to the 10 miles.  So ran 3 miles from 6.8 to 7.5 mph at 1% and went right into 800s at 0 percent.  Ran 3 @ 9.5 mph (6:18) 2 @ 9.6 mph (6:15) -- got off TM for some water after fifth repeat.  Luckily fountain is right there. I forgot my water.  Then another 1 @ 9.6mph (6:15) , then 1 @ 9.7mph (6:10).  Then out of no where bladder started to spill over (TMI) so B-lined it to the bathroom for just a minute and came back and finished last one at AP of about 6:06.  Began to increase pace to 6:07 then 6:03 then 6:00 for last 0.25 miles just to finish fast and break the monotony.  Did rest paces at 8:12 for first two, then 8:19 for two, then 8:27 for the last four all at 1% incline.  Wanted to quit at six of them.  Mental for me cause I knew I was going to increase the pace.  If I kept the pace the same I would have had an easier time mentally.  Sweated like four pounds worth. Cooled down 1 mile easy.   But still hung out in sauna for about 10 minutes.  Stretched.  WINTER WONDERLAND.  Slip sliding away.  Wasn't jealous of the two runners I saw: one on my way to the gym and one on my way back.  Got that workout Saturday.  Conditions worse enough then. Today outside would have been tough. 

Couod not sleep last night up at 130 to 330. Finally fell asleep cause woke startled at 7:58! Realized i was meeting jane at endurance pump at 815...was gonna go early and run first. No time now. Did class and evidently over did it. Read tmr entry. Ran 8 easy on tm. 8:38 ap 1%. Still sweating like i was in florida in july. Worked 12 to 645 pm. Got sbort end of stick anf only nurse with a chrge nurse who needed to be there. Not too many babies come around christmas. Busy short shift. Ate out with family at olive garden. Only had to wait 15 min but they were busy. Out of lettuce. Lol. They used spinach instead. Ha ha.

Couldnt even move out of bed without significant pain and muscle spasm in my right neck and shoulders. Painful christmas morning but i managed to hide it enough from my kids. No run. Breakfast at grandpas. Eggs bendict. :-) then it was off to work again. Yup short end of stick. Everyone else cut but myself. And the charge and pct for my shift. Busy. Didnt really feel like Christmas. Came home and watched Iron Man 3 with courtney and troy while brooke and amber wat hed a more kid friendly show. It was entertaining. Still in a great deal of pain from muscle knots.

okay my fun running friends are keeping me working out hard-- THURSDAY hill work on the TM at Golds. As usual lately I arrived after everyone else started.  Got the info to start a 2 mile warmup then Jane and her sister let me know the work out.  Warmup-- one mile at 6.7.  Fasted 12 hours then got 10 vials of blood drawn from me to follow up on my lab work.  Feeling pretty light headed and weak.  Shift yesterday busy.  Still in a lot of muscle pain from Tuesday.  In fact we all were hurting on right side cause we didn't realize the instructor switched sides. Ha ha.  Anyway...Second warmup mile at 7.0mph.  1 %.    Started at 7 % and ended at 15%.  One min  on/off. At 15% did 30sec on/off x 3.  Accidentally did the first one at almost a minute.  YIKES.  Death by TM.  offs are rests, no running.  just stand on sides of TM.  up incline by one percent every other minute.  At end run one mile flat (I did 8 mph at 1%). Hills I did fairly slow pace cause I was weak. 7mph.  Still dying at end.  Repeated hills from 7% to 12 percent the same as before.  Felt much easier.  Then did 2.5 miles at 7:30--- felt very easy after the hillwork (1%) and last mile slightly faster-  7:19.  Signed up for a year pass. : D so fun to be with a fun group almost every morning :D

Tm at golds. 1%. 8:34, 8:19, 8:00, 7:47, 7:41,7:35, 7:30, then 0.5 % for one mile 6:38 ap. Kind of upset...bone spur showing its face. Yup when steroid wears off...pain. dhea super low. Vitamin d low. No estrogen or progesterone. Followup labs done yesterday. Cholesterool awesome :-) 155.

Worked all day in nursery. Off slightly early 6:05 so headed to gym. On tm at 620 or so and about five miles into run the employee was turning off all the tvs. I called out what is going on? He said "we close at 7" huh?? Seriously did not know that. Got one more mile in going five past 7. Ap 7:55. 2% incline for first four, 0.5 to 1% for one mile then back to 2 percent for last mile. 8:34, 8:12 , 7:53 , 7:35....then 7:03 ap and ended with 8:00ap for last mile. Kind of bummed. Wanted 8 miles.

Met Jane and Kim at Gold's.  Chandi was there with Delightra.  I was off by myself five tms down.  Told to do 2 mile warmup.  Did this at 1%, 8:30ap.  Started at 8:41.  Jumped off to stretch then did the plan Jane came over to tell me to do.  5-6 x 1200s at whatever pace.  Ha Ha. With recovery to equal a mile.  So 0.25 miles of recovery. Except I started my TM and ran 0.25 miles at warmup pace (well a little faster 8:00) and went right into SW.   I figured since I ran my 800s at 9.5 to 9.7 mph that going faster than that was not wise. So I went slower.  I did 5 x 1200 at 9.4 mph (6:22), 0 % incline, and recovery at 1%, 7.1 mph for four of them and 7.0 for two of them (8:27, 8:34).  Ran last one next to Jane who was finishing up her sixth with Kim (yup they do theirs much faster 10.0 to 10.1).  And their recoveries are at 7:00 pace!!!!!  seriously??????  They keep incline at 0 %.  Still!!!!!!  My last one was at 6:15 ap (9.6mph).  Felt strong and not worn out at all : D.  Ran two recovery miles at 7:30 pace which felt easy after speedwork.  1% incline.  10 miles total.    25 pushups cause Kim was doing them.  NOT IN A ROW.  I am just starting out.  5 x 5 good form pushups.  I am so wimpy!!  Plus gotta baby the heel. 73.5 minutes for 10 miles.

Jen texted me last night so changed plans from another gym day to meeting her at foot of lake mountaon trail. Had never been and she said it was all snow pack so dug out my trail shoes that i remember hating. Nikes would not last...icing in spots and no traction on flyknit lunars. Although i was still slipping i had btr tractiin in the trail shoes but they are super heavy ..over a pound each and they have metal plates built in so they did not give at all. My left arch was aching. Got a massage of foot by a guy named jeff who was with us. That helped but when we reached the top the metal in the shoes must have froze cause abosolutely like running barefoot on ice blocks i had no ankle control when we entered a very small passage through cruncy snow. It wasnt worth the injury . At least i made it to the top. 4000 feet vert gain in four miles is what jen told me. Wowza. Took 1:04 to the top and that is with walking at the top and 37 on the way down. I thought i was going to crash on the way down. Slippery snow pack and very steep. Lots of leaning back saw kelli and rachel on way back down. I had locked my keys in my car and rachel let me use her phone. A miracle her service worked troy had to drive 14 miles to come unlock my car so nice of him. He was there within minutes of me reaching the car.