Believe to Achieve

Had to be tricky with my miles today-- soccer game at 7:40am and had to leave house by 7:15am.  Ran outside at 6am for 7.5 miles easy-- AP 8:02.  I didn't wear my grey pullover to see if I would sweat less.  No change in sweat production and I came inside with icicles on the front of my shirt by my abdomen!!  So of course my skin was bright red in spots.  Took a two minute shower (didn't wash the hair) and got in cozy clothes to go watch my daughter Brooke play her soccer game.  Then got back home at 8:45am.  Left with husband and two of my girls to go to the rec for the remainder of my miles on the TM.  My daughters went to Kidfit and Troy also ran on the TM.  I felt quite energetic even with downing a piece of toast, cereal (whole wheat), milk and half of left over Kneader's french toast.  I could tell I ate something for the first three miles but my body was very willing.  Plan was to run another 7.5 miles to get in 15 miles for the day.  Not sure if I will get pulled at work the next two days so I don't want to lose miles due to having to get up earlier so I am making them up today.  Felt so good I started out at 8:20 pace (all miles at 1% incline) and quickly moved up over the first two miles to 7:41 pace then got to 7:30 pace before mile three (2.75 miles) when I upped the pace to 9.7- 10 mph for 1/4 of mile then back down to 7:30 pace for 3/4 mile then to 9.8 -10.1 mph for 1//4 mile then 7:24 for 3/4 then 9.9 - 10.2 mph for 1/4 mile then 7:19 pace for 3/4 mile then to 10- 10.3 mph for 1/4 then 7:13 for 1/4, 7:08 1/4, 7:03 1/4 mile, then 10.3 mph for the last 1/4 mile.  Then 7:19 for one lap, 7:13 for last lap (to 6:58 for a bit the last few yards as the kids were right next to me ;D ).  AP for the 7.5 miles = 7:15.  Felt so very nice.  Feeling really strong.  Loving these 70 mile weeks!!  : DDDDDD  If only the neuroma on my left foot was not acting up then things would be perfect!!  Total miles 15.03 miles @ 7:37 AP.  First 7.5 miles outside in freezing temps @ 8:02.  Last 7.5 miles 2.5 hours later on the TM @ 7:15 AP.   It felt quite warm in the rec center. 

19 degrees as I passed the Good Earth thermometer in American Fork around 7:45 am.  Brr...but I had my new gear on and I was cozy.  Wish I had new gear for every day I ran but luckily I run at 430am  often so no one can see my lack of fashion sense.  Ran 12.17 miles running up the back way to Cedar Hills via the Art Dye Park and through there and down to my house.  NEVER looked at my watch.  Could hear the mile beeps but refrained from EVER looking at my pace or splits.  Just was going easy.  Guessed I was going about 8:20 to 8:30 AP but nicely surprised with 8:12 AP for 12.17 miles.  Miles were quite progressive actually-- however with a quicker first mile than usual-- 8:37.   That was my slowest mile.  Last mile was the fastest at 7:42.  Last .17 was 7:34.   Followed later after a little snack with 50 pushups (5 x 10 pushups).   I can only do 10 in a row to avoid excessive pressure to my head.  I have to be careful due to my brain problem (chiari malformation).  I was apparently having a recurrence of my headaches due to the strain I was LITERALLY placing on my brain-- mainly my brainstem blocking my cerebral spinal fluid which led to uneven fluid balance and then headaches.    I had surgery for it in 2004 but the CSF fluid still was not flowing well to the back of my brain stem on followup MRIs.  I was diagnosed with Chiari Malformation FINALLY (after having dizzy spells, headaches, numbness, tingling, heartrate problems) after telling my neurologist about how worse it got with lifting weights in 2003.  A light bulb went on in her head and she had me do an MRI with breath-holding which revealed my malformation even more and my low CSF flow to the brain stem.  When anyone lifts weights,  it exerts a lot of pressure in our head.  Basically I have to use low weights.  Nothing more than 10 to 12 pounds and less for certain exercises.  How is that for an explanation????  Getting closer to 3,000 miles!!  Almost taken out by a car stopped at an intersection that continued to drive thru after it stopped briefly and nearly clipped me.  I had to speed up to avoid him.  Wow, goal among other things would have been completely out of reach if that happened!!! 

8.17 miles at 4:20 am.  Warmer than usual.  About 25 degrees.   New fleece jacket (8 dollars clearance at Target) so very cozy!!  A lot lighter than my 80s pullover.  Was VERY tired starting out as I went to bed late after watching a movie with Courtney and Troy-- Cowboys and Aliens.  Thought the movie was pretty good actually.  Was pulled to Utah Valley Hospital so had to wake earlier this morning to run.  Questioned running but knew it just had to be  done.  Didn't want to have to make up miles in one day.  AP easy 8:27.  First mile 9:24 : D.  

So NOT feeling the love.  Bloated and well bloated.    Okay and slightly stiff in the legs from standing all day yesterday working mom/baby at Utah Valley.  Busy.  Tired.  Watched another movie last night with hubby and Courtney.  Miss Congenialtiy with Sandra Bullock.  Pretty funny.  Hadn't seen it in a while and my daughter had never seen it.  We had a few good laughs.  Went to bed at almost 11pm so didn't feel like running early.  Outdoors was calling my name but I just couldn't get moving.  When Troy came downstairs at 9am ready to go to the gym I decided I would just go with him.  We didn't leave until 9:45am.  As usual to spruce up the monotony of 10 miles on the mill I thought of doing some hills in the same fashion I have been doing SW lately--- .25 miles at a time.   Here is what I came up with:

2%  0.75 miles  8:57 pace

4%  0.25   8:49 pace

2.5% 0.50 8:49

4.5%  0.25   8:41

2.5%    0.50   8:41

5%  0.25   8:34

2.5%  0.5   8:34

5.5%  0.25  8:27

2.5%  0.50  8:27

6%   0.25  8:20

2.5%  0.50  8:20

6.5%  0.25  8:13

2.5%  0.50  8:13

7%  0.25   8:06

2.5%  0.50   8:06

7%   0.25  8:00

2.5%  0.50  8:00

6.5%  0.25   7:53

2.5%  0.50  7:53

6%  0.25  7:47

2.5%  0.50  7:47

5.5%  0.25  7:41

2.5%  0.50  7:41

5%   0.25   7:35

2.5%  0.50  7:35

4.5%  0.25  7:30

2%  0.17   7:00  Troy waiting for me so done.  Went over 10 miles because the mill stopped at 60 minutes (I forgot that it would do that) and I was in the middle of a lap (7.17 miles).  I didn't want to have to think about mileage too hard so ran three more miles to still look at the laps evenly.  This work out was easy pace but sweaty on the uphills for sure!!  I was working hard at times but nothing drastic.  Totally doable!!  AP for 10.17 about 8:09pace. Forgot to look at the time before hitting the stop button twice.   ON a non running note:  TODAY is my BABY'S NINTH BIRTHDAY!!!  Wow they grow up way too fast!!!!  She has a good friend over.  We will take her to Cold Stone and watch a movie she picks out and we got her a car for her littlest Pet Shop Pets to drive.  It is electric.  : D.    Lastly  23+  miles to go until 3,000 miles!!!

Oh boy....a 17 miler (turned 18.24) on my own.  But thankfully Mother Nature was looking out for me this morning.  I left my house grudgingly at 8:10am.  The first mile is always the hardest (mentally) for me.  And it is ALWAYS the slowest.  Started out with my almost traditional over 9 mm--  9:17 to be exact.  Oh yah!!  I wore a short sleeve only under my new 8 dollar black fleece.  Well I warmed up too quickly but kept it on until mile four when I got up into Highland.  My arms were a chillin'.  But I felt extremely good.  Just going easy because the plan was to run the last four of the 17 miles under 7mm.   My garmin was giving me grief about running out of live data due to the history getting full and eventually the warnings came more often not just at mile splits.  So....I stopped around mile 7.5 and deleted history as quick as I could so I could start running again.  Boy was that somewhat of a mistake that I did NOT forsee.  After staring at my garmin and flipping thru past workouts and deleting many ones that did not matter (perhaps about 2 to 3 minutes of time I was stopped), when I went to start running my blood had turned to sludge for some reason and I felt crummy.  I have no idea WHY???? this happened.  I was feeling great when I stopped.   I was mesmorized and QUITE irritated at NOW feeling like a slug and I still had over 9 miles to go.   I decided to take my chocolate gu (yes the one I bit the dust with at SGM that has caffeine.  I am trying to get rid of UNwanted GUs with caffeine.  I have two left now).   About a mile later I started to feel dizzy but my legs (or blood) was reviving.  NO water on this run until Alpine ETERNAL WATER FOUNTAIN (mile 12).  I think if I had some water with this Gu I wouldn't have felt so dizzy.  Around mile 10 I was feeling the LOVE again.  I was in Alpine and just had climbed that big hill there.   My music was helping as well.  And the day was just so beautiful.   Knowing water was coming up was also a sweet reward!!  The water was nice and COLD.  Ahhhhh.  It was flowing slowly so I had to take lots of sips to even amount to anything.  I probably only stopped for 60 seconds or less.  I was not really looking forward to FOUR FAST miles coming up in one mile.  Looking ahead I realized this route would actually be 18 miles or so and not 17 but I still decided to start running fast at mile 13 in case I gave up or something and these miles were more honest and not very downhill as mile 18 would be.   The only problem with starting fast at the point I did was the intersection at 4800 north in Alpine/Cedar Hills (about a  mile north of Lone Peak).   I didn't want to stop and it was busy with cars so I improvised and watched the lights closely as I narrowly made it acrosss before the cars could go, slowing only briefly to be a little safe.   I didn't have my garmin in current pace mode so I was guessing I was on track and thankfully I was.  Splits for miles 14-17--  6:47, 6:44, 6:41, 6:36.   Then I knew I was a bit over a mile from my house.  I just slowed my pace and cruised in.  I was surprised that mile 18 was still 7:05!!  Last 0.24 miles-- 7:00.   I feel great.  Stretched and did 50 pushups before showering.  18.24 miles @ 7:50 pace.  Pretty happy with this run.  So VERY close to 3,000 miles.  What to do after I get there?  Got to have some goals.    I was thinking of waiting to run my last few miles to 3,000 at around 11pm tomorrow night (New Year's Eve) to make it more EXCITING  instead of before work.  Anyone want to join me?    I do have family coming over.  Maybe I can get my little sister who is trying to get back into running to get out with me.  I told her I would train her and get her through her next marathon.  She ran SLC in 2006 (I think in 5.5 hours) and has had three more kids since then.  She has 7 kids total.  A set of twins at the end.  Busy woman!! 

FIRST things FIRST  3,000 +  MILES for 2011.  OH YAH!!!  Baby you are a FIREWORK, up in the the sky, ah, ah ah!!  : D.  Happy NEW year.  Bring it on!!  I am excited for a great 2012 running year!!  ALONG with all my FRB friends!!  

So this run was postponed because I watched Batman The Dark Knight-- about three hours long, which I didn't realize and when it was over it was 1120pm!!  Troy thought he could read in bed after I was overstimulated with that movie by the pychotic performance of Heath Ledger playing the Joker.  I just could not fall asleep.  At midnight Troy turned off the light and five minutes later hurricane-like winds!!!  Or tornado.  Just would not stop....kept up well past 4am!!  So NO way was I going to bring down the 3,000 miler barrier in a shielf of debris and wind resistance training.  I watched the clock turn past every hour and dragged myself to my closet to get dressed for work at 5:45am.  Yup.  15 minutes to get to work.  Clocked in on time.  Worked over 12 hours worried something would happen that would prevent me from reaching my goal but alas I got home and took only a half hour chatting and then promptly taking off into the DARK COLD night.  It was in the low 20s.  Bummer.  But I was so focused on my goal in a half asleep way and with heavy legs I plodded thru the first mile in 9:05.  Wore for the first time my MINIMALIST shoes-- Altras.   They feel like I am wearing slippers, flat slippers.  LIGHT.  VERY light.  My feet felt great in them.  My legs swollen from a long shift and 18 miler yesterday but afer two miles I was in the groove.  Was going to run 8 miles but decided to go for 74 miles total for the week so added 2 plus miles on.  AP easy at 8:21 for 10.23 miles.  It was pretty cold.  I think I mentioned that.  But the night was clear and the stars were bright!!  Even got a great display of some fireworks and Christmas lights were all on (unlike 4am runs).   This run was run a lot on sidewalks.  Pretty much risked my life SEVERAL times in the dark streets wearing black fleece and tights on New Year's Eve with people rushing in their cars here and there.  I just prayed I would make it to 5.22 miles at least.   A police car roared down the street as I neared the 5 mile mark.   He was going pretty fast.  Cars veered off the street as he passed by.  So many times I avoided catastrophe!!   : D.    Just finished playing cards with my mother in law, Troy and Courtney.  I am so very tired.