Believe to Achieve

Barefoot  front plank 4:05. That which ye persist in doing gets easier and easier,  NOT!!!  Hope I don't injure myself shaking for a minute at the end.   Too much work for a Sunday. 

After my huge PR on the plank yesterday (4:05) my calves were a little stiff at first but I decided if I could make thru that I could toss myself out the door in to the sleet and wind which then turned to huge snowflakes for most of the run especially up above PG High School and in Lindon but as I came down the mountainous terrain sleet again.  My garmin went wacko at 5 miles, I stopped and it was locked up and when I turned it off and back on it was 4.97 miles.  It saved my data, phew.  Ran a very hilly 10.1 miles at 8:03 pace. First mile a slow 9:22, last mile 7:11.  Some reason when resetting my garmin it read that  I ran 11 miles instead.  I knew better and looked at the map mode.  Sure enough miles 5 and 6 were too close to each other yet the garmin read it as one mile.  So wish I went a mile longer than I thought.  I was in a nice snowfall up by the mountainside at that point so I guess it couldn't pick up very well in the bad weather.  Loved this easy run.  Felt great.  Gonna psyche myself up to sometime do a 5 minute plank and that is where I will draw the line.  Done with that already.  INTENSE.

Woke to 9 inches of SNOW.  Even the electricity was out for a few hours last night.  Waited for it to come on which was at 7:15 am.  Troy joined me at the gym.  He wasn't happy I was going early but I reminded him the kids are home so we sort of need to be home more.  Got to the gym by 8am and I decided to do 2 by 3 miles with 1 mile rest in between at FANTASY marathon pace.  Not really.  Realistically not going to happen quite yet.  Let's just get to 7:15 AP. : D.  I really think I can get my marathon time down to a 3:05 now that I am ironized.  Just got my last dose IV today.  Feel tons better.  No injuries now that I have oxygen getting to my tissues!!  Here is what I did:  3 mile WU 8:57, 8:30, 8:00  (2 % grade).  Then 3 @ 6:44 at 1 % grade then 1 mile rest at 8:06 pace, then 2 @ 6:44 and 1 @ 6:35 for a stronger finish. 1 mile cooldown @ 7:30 pace. 11 miles total with 8.5 miles at 7:03 AP.    I felt better on the second set so I think I could have done three sets.  Troy was eagerly waiting to depart.  I had to run with his music as my iPod had some issues.  Total 80s baby!!    What a nice guy!!    Now to think about that 5 minute plank.   But must load up on some salmon first to gear up.   Did a 2 minute one right after my run for a refresher and side ones held only for 30 seconds each.      

NADA (these snow/rain storm mixes don't let me run at the 4am timeslot before work, big bummer) and not good since  I ate WAY too many divinity and other delicious treats yesterday.  PLANK on the back burner....so come catch up all you PLANKSTERS!!!  

This was a brain teaser of a 20 miler.  First of all this run was supposed to be tomorrow but Mel had conflicts so we moved it up but only if it was not pouring on us.  Well my phone wasn't working at 4:45am so Mel called Kim who lives by me and tells Mel that it is pouring out (it wasn't she mistook the water thru the rain gutters as a downpour).  I was already getting ready to run waiting for a call to verify  that we were still on.  Well no call, and no rain so I got ready but intuition got the best of me so I called Melanie.  She had tried calling me.  I told her it wasn't raining. Just foggy, wet roads.  So she decided to come over and run 10 with me.....and you know how 10 can turn into 20 when you are nuts like us.  That's what happened.  Well minus one minor detail.  I still thought we were running 10 and having run with Melanie lately in her speedy self I was not ready to b-line it into pace so I went out for 3.2 easy miles before she got over here (AP 8:33).  Two minutes later she arrived and I was ready to run her pace.  I was in MAJOR DETOX run mode.  WAY TOO MUCH CRAP EATEN the last few days.  CRAP meaning too much SUGAR, processed foods.  My stomach was in knots and I was nauseated from it all.  It wasn't until mile 6 in our run together (after a MAJOR over a mile HILL CLIMB, a doozy I tell ya)  that I started to feel better.  We were toying with the idea of running 20 throughout this 10 mile loop and when we got back to my house and saw we had plenty of time so that Mel could get back to her class she teaches we were off on another 10 mile looper.  A bit of an easier one but still tough.  The air was perfect, the fog was fun to run in with some opeining clouds showing some blue sky, at last.  Still no sun.  I felt strong the last 4 miles.  I really should have added on three more after Melanie left just say I ran another marathon  : D.   Oh well.  Now I am shivering as I write this and my muscles need a warm bath not more miles.    AP for 20 miles with Melanie=  7:42. 

Met up with Kim, Jane and Kerri at Kerri's house (1.14miles easy uphill mile  9:07).  Plan was 10 or whatever I felt like  since Kim and Jane had run 4 already (they were running the 20 I ran yesterday, today as planned)  before meeting up at Kerri's.  I  felt unusually great actually.  We ran the Alpine loop stopped at the Fountain of Youth (the ever-flowing drinking fountain) got chased and barked at by a large chocolate lab until Kim growled at him, and ran until past Highland Elementary at the stop sign south of it.  Kim and Jane headed west towards Highland and Kerri and I headed East thru Highland City Center and thru Lone Peak park and up by Lone Peak High School home.  Ran back home one mile after picking up my layers at Kerri's to get in 16.1 miles total.  Still feel great.  Could actually run longer.  I was parched at the end however.  So Kerri got me a glass of water before taking off on my last mile   :   D.   AP for 16.1 miles =  8:08.    Merry Christmas to all!!!  

Merry Christmas!!  Early am run before the kids could think of getting up for Christmas.  9.7 miles at easy pace mode as  the high mileage the last few days at swifter paces called for taking it down a bit.  Actually was hard to get up and out the door in the dark again.  I work Monday and Tuesday so SW will have to wait until Wednesday and I will have to try and get up early those two days just to get a few miles in.  Not going for high mileage next week. But I wasn't going for that this week either. I do believe I am telling the truth.  70 miles even for the week.  AP this morning 8:28 for 9.7 miles.