Believe to Achieve

To the rec center with Troy.  Sadly Troy fell on his knee last Monday Skiing down a black diamond with my highly active 8 year old daughter.  Now 7 days later, no running :((     He rode the bike after trying to run beside me on the mill to no avail.  He says "I'm fine".  But not really.  So today was supposed to be 10 miles with 5 at 1/2 marathon/15k pace.  Well I have to work the next three days (12.5 hours each) so I wanted to shorten those runs before work so I ran 13.1 instead.  Ran 5 mile warm up in 8:20 or less AP.  Started at 8:49 and ended at 8 AP with 2 % incline.  Then had to wait for a little ol' guy to finish up in the bathroom so I stretched a bit and filled my water.  Ran 1/2 mile more of a warmup at 7:53 then got right into seriousness....however with laryngitis/bronchitis this work out got hard.  Even harder when perfume lady was walking on the TM next to me.  So I ran 3 @ 6:40 (1%), 1 mile at 8:00 then 1 @ 6:40, then 1/2 mile at 8:00 then last  mile I ran this for each 1/4 mile laps (6:44, 6:40, 6:40, 6:00- 6:35)  with a long sprint at the finish--- Probably 6:25 or so for this mile.   Could barely talk after this run.  Cough productive but hard to get out.  At least it is this week and NOT this Saturday.  Although I am not liking the weather forecast for this Saturday.  But they have been wrong many a time.  Crossing fingers.  Ran 1.1 mile cooldown at AP 7:53.  

7 easy miles at 440am before work.  Got to work, discharged two of my three patients came home by 2 pm on call in a MASSIVE FATIGUE.  It is indescribably.  Took a short nap but still I feel so completely exhausted.  Hope my anemia isn't coming back.  Pace 8:25.

Got up at 4:25am to run earlier than yesterday because I thought  I was scheduled at UVRMC (12 miles away).  Ran 6 easy, last mile picked it up to 7:07 I think.  AP 8:05.  Turns out staffing made an error and I had to turn around and drive back to AF hospital, one mile from my house.  Bummer, I could have slept longer.  Today at work I was extremely tired once again.  But my patients didn't notice : D.  I try to do my best every day at work, never stopping until my patients are well taken care of.  Love the cute babies. Still a lot of boys and few girl babies.  I think I will knock myself out tonight around 9pm.  The sun is too bright right now.  Kids are all playing soccer and I am cooking dinner after just getting back from work at 6:35pm.

AP 8:41 for 5.5 @ 4:50am.   First mile 9:54   : D.    Last night after work and writing my last entry, I crawled into bed at 7:30pm and couldn't move or even see my kids.  I didn't sleep the whole time, it was broken sleep.  I just lied there in intense tiredness, burning from my shoulders deep into my spine and arms.  My eyes were burning and still are from fatigue.  Worked my last of three shifts in a row today.  Was excited to watch the BYU vs Florida game but that just zapped me from the remainder, if any, adrenaline I had.  Sadly we gave up in overtime.  Major bummer.  Tomorrow a short jaunt once again with some 100 meter pickups.  I am just hoping to not be fatigued like this on Saturday.  I feel like I need toothpicks to hold my eyelids open.  My head is pounding, low sugar in the brain feeling and I have been eating.  Blah.  I must be in that "body pretending its dying before a marathon breakdown".  But there is nothing currently I can do about  it then get my butt back into bed.  Going there soon. 

After a long night of tossing and turning I got up feeling more energized than the last three days---a relief.  I got geared up to run my planned 5.5 miles but accidentally went over. AP for the whole run was 8:15 for 6.6 miles.   Plan was also to do 10 x .08 (more than 100 meters, and .01 more than I ran last time , a big step I know  ; D, but I find it hard to get in a groove in only 25 seconds and even this felt too short, I guess that is the meaning of strides)  Anyway ran 4.45 mile easy  in 8:52 pace run then ran my strides with 0.1 miles in between with the lovely garmin beat reminders.  I accidentally started with my interval so my first one I was not quite ready yet it felt the best and then I ended up running an extra one because I missed counted. I kept waiting for my garmin to beep but it was in the cooldown mode.  Oh well.  They always do.  All the others actually felt very easy.  With the traffic  I slowed on a couple out of anxiety but I ran longer and quicker than my last strides, that's a plus.  I focused on "robot" arms and stretching out my legs.  I still don't know what strides are all about and how fast I should be doing them.  I like that they are over and done with before you know it.  Here are the splits for those and the 0.1 in between, so I can compare them later. ( BTW this was not all out but relaxed).   5:57, 8:03, 6:08, 7:49, 6:08, 7:42, 5:43, 7:23, 5:53, 7:29, 5:49, 7:36, 5:44, 7:42, 5:43, 8:08, 5:55, 8:17, 5:49, 7:58, finally the extra "11th" one where I actually slowed wondering why my watch wasn't beeping, so 0.11 miles @ 6:23, uphill but still felt easy.  Finished with 0.41 miles back to my house.  Driving up solo to Antelope Island in the morning at about 6:15am.  No reason to arrive there super early.  The race starts at 8am.  I am looking forward to a nice LONG run.  Goal would be to beat my time two years ago of 5:23.  Mel and I ran it then without any expectations but to just run it.  I have no idea of my ability now, two years later with more miles but less iron on board.  I also have hard memories of Squaw Peak but luckily that wasn't until mile 41.  This is so much easier than that course but it is has its hard points for sure.  One thing it March and the salt air is not so welcoming. It is numbing and usually bitter.  But hey, that's been the weather all winter.  Nothing new.  I hope to feel good at the end.  Time will tell.  Less than 24 hours and I am out there.  Good luck to everyone that is racing tomorrow!!  : D.

After a week of working, bronchitis/laryngits then other unforseen incidences of massive fatigue etc..., no taper and no sleep....I decided to follow through with my plans to run the 50k with only two (4 miles and 7 miles) trail runs on the canal here in PG.  The first loop I felt so strong and I ended up running 13 minutes faster  then two years ago coming in at 2:21 and leaving the 16.1 mile station at 2:23 something....and then the DREADED second LOOP DISEASE....like were did my stamina go?  Had something to do with lack of quality nourishment at the aide stations....watered down "EXCEED", I think that's what they called it.  It wasn't salty at all so  I grabbed two small handfuls of krinkle cut potato chips and two handfuls of m & ms and a total from all stations of  a 1/2 banana.  I counted my calories after the run to be 700 (including 4 gus).  I brought three and they were out at each of stations but one and it was mocha 2x.  Caffeine and I are not friends.  My heartrate soars for a bit and its hard to breath for a moment if I don't take enough fluid.  Back to the DREADED SECOND LOOP....I was cramped up like the end of an untrained marathon ( I guess you could say  I was an untrained trail runner here).  A nice fellow gave me words of encouragement and eventually after much MENTAL DEBATE about continuing I pulled my head out and pushed my body passed all the intense nerve and muscle pain just past mile 23.  My biggest complaints about the race: NO PORTA POTTIES, sometimes a woman NEEDS a POTTY.  Second, MY SHOES WERE A HUGE JOKE.  They are too big for me or at least today they were, my skinny ankles were moving all around in them and there was absolutely NO support for my ankles that I had to BREAK on EVERY downhill.  Sad but true.  Hence some mighty spasms in my quads at the end of the race.  On the second time up the switchbacks, well just before at mile 23, I realized I had tortured myself long enough with NO music.    I got it out of my fanny pack carefully watching my footing over rocks and put it on.  A HUGE BOOST to my ability.  I was like THANK YOU THANK YOU  I can finish this, just two more hills to walk up and then I am home free for those last 3.5 miles that seem to stretch on and on.  But I sped up and gained on some of the ground I had lost out on.  My second lap was depressingly 24 minutes slower than my first.    I had quit for about 8 miles of the run so I am not too disappointed with my time.  Plus with everything I mentioned above I feel quite happy.  I think  I could definitely go under 5 hours.  But I just have too keen a memory right now so I will probably try hard not to sign up again for this.   I drove up at 6:15 am and got there with 25 minutes to start.  I then drove back at 2:25 pm took some ibuprofen in the car and got home at 4pm showered and drove up to the Conference Center in Salt Lake with my daughter Courtney to watch the Young Women Conference.  It was lovely.  About ibuprofen: My soreness/achiness/cramps were gone with just two tiny little pills.  I could do leg lifts and kicks without a hint of having run 32 miles.  I sat through conference without much pain.  I SHOULD HAVE DOSED up on the run.  All this worry about nsaids during running and they would have saved me from a lot of grief out there in the wild salty air.  Oh well.  Live and learn.  FYI:  THIS course has a net of 3900 FT VERTICAL GAIN!!!  in case you were wondering :  D       A few more notes so  I can remember:  first loop uphill felt AWESOME and EASY.  The shoes were not good as I pointed out.  I was completely unstable on the downhills and in rocky spots.  Mile 6.5 to 7 I was at one point at a 6:38 pace but knew if I kept going like that I would trip on the many rocks and grooves that I had to slow down.  That mile was a 7:05 the first loop.  The second loop I was at 8:15 or so and is where I was about to quit but got out my ipod.  More about the shoes, they were aggravating even though my breathing and tempo felt really good.  I knew the extra work to adapt might proove fatal the second loop.    I finally pulled over and tied the darn shoes real tight so as to stay on my feet so they couldn't wiggle around and that helped but did cause two blisters, one on each ankle.  The second loop I tripped a few times but never fell.  My left ankle got twisted but  I just pushed through it.    Besides the muscle cramps, mostly on my left leg--hamstring and calf I felt like my core was doing quite well.  My shoulders were burning by the end.  The massage at the end helped tons.  The massage lady induced a major muscle cramp but she called for the head lady and she got rid of it pretty quick and got me water to drink and asked how well I nourished myself.  Not enough she told me.  I knew that.  I am pretty stupid about feeding myself in these runs.  700 calories probably is not enough.  I don't know about salt pills.  Have never tried them, even in the Squaw Peak 50 miler.   After the first 10 miles I never felt like I had to pee again.  I never peed the entire race.  Probably a bad sign of hydration status.  I did drink a cup of what  I now know to be heed at every aid station.  I filled my water bottle three times.  I wore a fanny pack that carried my water and three gus.  Next time I am taking some NSAIDS.