Marathon Dreamer

UGH. Done. Blah.  Took in 60 oz of sports drink on the run this morning.  Used my water belt which was nice to have on this warm morning.  I had a few stops to drink and stretch.  Saw a desert bunny this morning... he had the hugest ears!!!  My hamstrings were tight of and on... not sure what's up with that!!  Overall pace 9:23 min/mile.  Ran the last 1.5 miles fast in the low 8's (which is fast for me especially when I was spent at this point).  Ran down Val Vista Road past Pecos Road and then decided to scoot in and run around the Auto sales zone loop.  I think I will be making this week a recovery week.  This run today was hard although the humidity was up there this morning which usually makes things tougher for me.  To play it safe... I will not run intervals on Tuesday... I think that I may do some marathon pace running this week instead.  I will see how things go by Thursday.

I was hoping to do a tempo run faster that 8:13 pace and 6-8 miles in length.  I may need to let my body do a bit more recovery.  When I got home this morning, I whipped up my famous meatballs and sausage in sauce... my in-laws are coming for dinner around 3pm and I always enjoy their company.  As soon as I walked through the apartment door, I saw the 18 pack of Miller Lite that I bought for today... gee... kinda wished they were cold!!  I would have drank one for sure!!  LOL!!! 

Much deserved rest... ouch.

WTH!!!  What a morning.... ran the first 3.25 miles at 8:20 min/mile pace.... ouch!!  GEEZ!!  I guess that I am not recovered from sunday's run yet.  I actually felt it even on the first few minutes of running up the road.  Ran with my husband initially.  Of course, the run seemed easy for him as he doesn't run the mileage that I typically do.... I did pass him though at the mile 2 marker and finished a ways ahead of him.  After I rested for a bit, he caught up and I said my goodbyes as I continued on.  It hurt and I was not happy.  I stopped to run through sprinklers and take in drink.  It was warm and it felt humid to me.  I am frustrated with my training and wondering if this program that I am following is really good.  I have been doing lots of slow running.... I am worried that all this slower running may be a bad thing.  UGH. Trying to trust the training and Runner's World..... hmmm......

Met Burt at Pei Wei and off we went for our morning scoot down Baseline Road and up the canal....  Burt and I needed a nice recovery run as he "brought it" last night in his P90X workout and I was still feeling the fatigue from the long run on sunday.  We took a little breather at the 3 mile mark then we turned around to head back down the canal.  Nice morning for a run.  It really helps me clear my head.  Not only that, but I had a lot of bodily function issues this morning.... frequent need to blow snot rockets, burping, and gagging.  Poor Burt.... he has to endure all this and still my rattling trap of a mouth along with my need to insistently make bizarre noises.  The man is a saint.  

Workout #1 - 3 miles this morning down Val Vista Drive.  A little humid, but ok.  I tied my hair back this morning like I usually do....but left it in a pony tail instead of forming a little bun with it.  The bouncing of the pony tail was distracting enough to where I was able to zone out for part of the run.  It's funny how little things like this can help sometimes.  Went out last night with some friends for a few beers.  I took it easy on my intake though.  Still sore and fatigued from sunday.  It's just taking me long to recover and I'm sure it's because of the increasing mileage.  With my last training cycle, I typically would beat myself up when I wasn't performing to my own expectations.  This time around, I am being kinder to myself and to my body.  I am determined to make this next marathon a great experience and I don't want to overtrain like I believe I did last go around.  Average pace 8:42 min/mile for this run.  It felt a little hard, but again... I am just having an off week.

My husband was supposed to join me on this run.  Loser!  He got up... had a drink and went back to bed!!  My further attempts to get his rear up were futile.  I had just as many beers as him and I'm up!!  What a whimp.  The difference is.... I drank lots of fluids last night and ate a full dinner.  Anyway... I am splitting this workout today into 2 separate ones.  I need to do a very fast run on the mill later at my mother-in-laws.

 Workout #2 - 1/4 mile warm up.... 1 mile at 7:41 pace, 1/4 mile recovery jog, 1 mile at 7:41 and 1/2 mile cool down on the treadmill at 2% incline.  Ran on fatigued legs and I was able to get in a little speed work.

6 miler this morning at 9:41 min/mile pace.... kept it as relaxed as I could.  I am sore.  My upper body is feeling the effects of my upper body work yesterday which not only included my usual weight routine, but also 30 push ups and 2 guy pull ups.  Every swing of each arm was an achey one.  It was a gorgeous morning.  Found some sprinklers to keep me cool.  I have been waking up at 3am lately and having a hard time falling back to sleep!!  My alarm went off at 4:50am but I didn't start my run until 6am.  I was feeling a bit pokey this morning.... but I did it!!  Nice run for me... no pressure....

Well how about that!!!  We had a little running group this morning!!  Burt and I were joined by cool running and peds endo doc today!!  Even my husband stepped out to join us this morning for our run!!  We all decided on 5 miles so we left Pei Wei, started down Baseline Road and up the canal... average pace 9:05 min/mile according to my watch.  For the most part we ran together, but each of us picked up the pace the last mile or so.  Great to be meeting some people from this blog.  I am bummed that no sooner I start making running friends here, that I will be leaving Arizona behind for San Diego in about 2 weeks.  I do plan to travel back and forth to AZ since I have family here.  I will be sure to hook up with the running crew when I come back into town.  Felt warm and a bit humid this morning, but the time flew by as we chatted.... love that!!!