Chug-along-chica!

5 Miles on the treadmill in 51:20.  Incline 1.

Caution:  Gingerbread house construction underway!   Fun times.

 I keep thinking about the Canyonlands half marathon in Moab coming up and I am really concerned (worried) about the hills.  I live in a very flat place.  I don't think that I will be able to spend the extra time to travel to a hilly course often enough to make a difference.  Please help!  Any ideas on how to simulate hill training?  I am thinking of doing hill treadmill workouts.  What incline range should I use?  Also, I can do squats and stuff to make my quads stronger for the uphills, but I am completely at a loss as to how to train downhill without hills.  Stairs maybe?  I would really appreciate feedback from anyone who is familiar with the course.  It's my first half ever, and I don't want to...you know, die, anymore than is absolutely necessary.   I am  hoping that it will go really well, and give me the confidence to shoot for St. George this year.

2.85 miles with Christine early this morning in my neighborhood. Ave. pave 9:11. About 1 min. per mile faster than usual, but it felt easy and good. Christine just got back from New York, after being gone for a week or so. Before the run I decided I would let Christine "have her head", meaning I would not try to slow her down. So I just hung out with her. I was happy that I seemed to take it in stride a little more than she did today. It is a little demoralizing to always feel like the "slow one." I usually run about 8.4 miles with Christine out of my 30. I am thinking of turning these miles into "marathon pace miles" because I just hate cramping Christine's style. Ideally, I would also have 2 tempo miles (around 8 min./mile) per week, leaving about 20 miles (hopefully more) "easy" (10-10:30 pace). Does this sound like a good ratio?

Pi miles on the treadmill tonight to get me to 6 for the day. I had to stop mid-stride to get it just right. SLOW pace. I'm watching "The Ultimate Gift" on my treadmill runs. Sweet flick, so far. Can't wait to see the end.

P.S. If I do not do my 2 mile tempo run tomorrow, you all have my permission to rail on me. Tempo runs often hurt, which is why I frequently "forget" to do them.

Well, I am sure you are all impressed by my 100 yd. tempo run. The truth is, I just really did not feel like doing a tempo run! I'm going to choose to call it "listening to my body" instead of "outright laziness." Bring on the railings if you must--I'm ready for it. Maybe I'll ask Christine to run fast with me tomorrow morning. I do feel good about my 6 miler though. I think I could get used to doing 6 a day.

On a side note, I reached a new level of dignity in the running department: underarm chaffage. (I didn't say it was a higher level, just a new one.) What kind of a sport is this!? I have to type with my elbows sticking out. This is an outrage! Now I am stuck with the bewildering dilemma of configuring band-aids in a very tricky place. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go apply ice. 

Quick 4 on the treadmill during little one's naptime.  I'll get 2 more tonight.  I'm feeling really good on this 6 a day protocol.  But now I'm thinking that my record for longest run ever is miserably short--only 2 more miles.  I really need to break that sometime soon.

 Oooo, and who suggested bodyglide?  JFogg, I think.  That stuff works MIRACLES.
 

I knew today was going to be a zero.  I got up at 5:00 am and worked my rear off all day long and got home at about midnight and went to bed.  Pity,  It's been a long time since I missed a day.  But tomorrow I am going to attempt to run 10 miles, so I'll just think of it as a really condensed taper.  He he.

Never at any time in my little life have I put 10 miles on these legs in one day. Longest ever before was 8 miles. Longest since I started running again was 7. So this is a record for me, but I have to admit it was not continuous. I ran two 5 milers.

First I ran 3 with Christine and finished up with 2 more with my dog. Ave. pace was 10:15 for the whole run. Just as I was bringing in the dog (he doesn't run very far--2 miles is about his limit) a man called from our church, begging for James to come help someone move. So James left and I got the kids ready for the day and did some of my Saturday chores. James got back about an hour and a half later, and I finished up with another 5.

But here's where it gets fun: Ave. pace for the second run was 9:01! That is really good for me. I think it's the fastest 5 miler I've ever done at 45:05. I never thought I'd be able to do that at the same time as breaking my record for most running in a day by a long ways. I think the reason it was faster was that I ran with music. My stupid MP3 player kept shutting off and starting over with the first song--"Eye of the Tiger." I listened to that song about 90% of the time on my run. My splits were: 9:33, 9:40, 9:20, 8:29, 8:02. I never would have believed those last two miles without the Garmin. That is my tempo mile pace! To be fair, it was slightly uphill the first half and very slightly downhill the whole second half. Plus I stopped the watch for traffic lights and to smooch, I mean, say hello to James as I ran by the park. But still!!! I am happy. And right now I'm not dead tired. Isn't that weird? Now I am starting to wonder if I might be a distance runner after all. I mean, maybe a 5K is too short of a race for me to really get into my groove, which thing I had never before supposed.