Chug-along-chica!

IMPORTANT UPDATE:  Guess what, I actually took first place in my age division at my 5K on Friday.  Check it out!  (My real name is Elizabeth and I am 30.)  I can't believe I ran all through high school and never won a single thing other than a 6th place ribbon for the mile (and there were only 8 people running it!)  then I join this blog and 4 months later I win a 1st place prize!!!  My basic strategy for this win was to pick a very small race (13 in my division), but STILL!  I guess everyone else was having a pretty hard time with the heat and the gravel too.  AND I chicked half the guys in James' age division (31-40), too.  He came in 15th out of 27.

http://www.husd.org/NewsArticle.aspx?aid=624&cid=5

So I've been thinking about improving my training.   This is what I've come up with so far:  1)  I must always have a race to train for.  I am much more motivated and consistent once I have chosen a race and set my sights on it.  (Even though I may dislike the feeling of the actual race.)  2) If I am to beat my high school time for the 5K, I have to train at least as hard as I did in high school.  Duh!  You'd think that was obvious, but somehow I missed it. 

In CC in high school, I always started from the couch and started at the beginning of the school year (none of this awesome summer camp stuff you read about on this blog).  Usually, the coach would start us off at arond 3.5 miles a day, then getting up to 5 or 6 by mid-season.  My first race of the season would usually be around 30 min.  Then next race would be 28, followed by 27, etc.  Until my last one would be around 24.   The reason I have to beat this time is that I want to prove to myself that the only thing that stopped me from getting faster was that I stopped running between seasons.  You can't reach your maximum potential in distance running after only 3 months off the couch!  At least that is what I hope.   Anyway,  I must get my weekly mileage up to at least 25, probably 30 miles a week.  So this week, I am shooting for at least 18. 

I ran at 2.36 at 5:50 this morning.  I had to be back by 6:15 so James can get to work in time.  This was a great run for me.  It was sooooo nice and cool!  I didn't really look at the Garmin, but I did push myself a little since I knew that it would have to be a short run.  But I was flabbergasted that my average pace was 9:30.   First mile: 9:45, second mile: 9:19, .36 mile: 9:18 pace.  This is really good for me, and it did NOT feel that hard.  That's almost as fast as my second mile from my 5K on Friday!  It's the cooler temps that did it.  It was probably 20 degrees cooler than my 5K.  All this makes me very excitied for fall and winter.

1.3 miles with the jogging stroller at 8 am (11:10 pace).  Ug!  Well, one day down...

2.19 by myself at 5:50 am, 10:19 pace on average.  It was soooo nice.  Cool and pleasant.  I got to see the moon set and the sun rise.  The moon looked like a big foggy peach this morning.  I've never seen it like that. 

Operation "Get at Least one Stinkin' Mile with the Jogging Stroller" was underway at 8 am.   My boys are always trying to get me to try to pass the cars that are zooming by.  I set a new record in the mile with the stroller--10:50.

I have to say a big group thank you to everyone who responded to my race and entry from yesterday!  I am overwhelmed...and happy.   Can't wait to meet some of you guys in St. George!  Happy running everyone. 

2 with Holly in the evening.   Tomorrow morning I'm gonna do my weekly tempo 2 miler in the AM.  I have high hopes that the cooler temps will yield good results.  This all depends on sleep actually happening tonight.  My 2 year-old has a tiny cold, but it kept him up almost ALL last night because he couldn't breathe and suck his thumb at the same time.  Grrrrr.  I must get more sleep tonight.   I was a GRUMP all day today.  I went to pick up my medal from the 5K this afternoon, and when the ditsy front office lady was completely unhelpful (I never did get the stupid thing) I had the strongest urge to shake her and demand it!  That's it.  I'm going to bed.

5K in 34:59.  Geez!  It felt really hard today.  I don't know why.  I hope I'm not getting sick.  I have just the slightest bit of a sore throat.  I'm sure I'll be fine.  I am struggling big time with everything I really need to do everyday.  I need to refine my schedule.  Might drop a few piano students, and I think I'm going to give up running at night.  If it doesn't happen by 6:15, it's not going to happen.  I'll probably give up my bookclub(s) too.  And I guess I won't volunteer as the block captain for our neighborhood this year. 

Yesterday I got my medal!  Yay!  Remember when Ashman took second in Ogden, and he said something like winning wasn't all it's cracked up to be?  Totally wrong.  It's all about the medals.  (Just kidding.)

Last night I was up way too late with Holly.  We painted our toenails and watched Pirates of the Carribean 2.  Fun fun.  Plus I ate a whole bag of popcorn with minimal help from Holly.  So I wasn't feeling all that peppy this morning, but I cranked out a 5K in 33:03.  Part of it was with my son on his bike, and he had an asthma attack, so that slowed us way down for a while.

My little 2 year-old got his cast off yesterday!!!  Very weird.  His skin under the cast was all flaky and digusting, like he had leprosy or something.  Not to mention that his little arm looked quite crooked to me.  I thought something was seriously wrong, but the doctor was totally non-chalant about it all, in fact, he seemed quite amused by my mild freaking out.  Doctors!