Denouement

Ran with almost a full women's posse!  Josse came down from Orem to SF to meet Jamie, Ally and Amber and I came too.  11am start!  Normally starting later causes me energy and or stomach issues but it was fine today.  It was about 16F at the start, nice and warm compared to the single digit temps I would have experienced at the early morning running time.

 We ran up and down canyon road until we found everyone and then did a loop through the river bottoms.  Ally defended us from the vicious fluffy white dog with her pepper spray.  I had one horse neighing part of the time, which felt nice.  I would have done a tempo today if I didn't have this hip groin issue, which Josse says is probably some tendonitis since it isn't painful enough to stop my running (correct me if I am wrong Josse - do you think it is an abductor strain and tendonitis or only the later?).  Anyway, she showed me another stretch and told me how to make a heating pad.  I hope it doesn't flare up enough to affect me more than it has.

It was lovely to run with my friends and in the sunshine. What a nice way to start the new year!

ave pace 8:05

Asics
 

9F, so I basically risked my fingertips toward the end of the run.  

Met with MacK and we ran through Payson.  We kept a decent pace, and my groin felt good almost the whole time.  It was only niggling occasionally.  I think the icing/heating and stretches Amber and Josse have shown me have been helping.  Hopefully I won't undo the improvement in my speed workout tomorrow with Sasha and Ted.  I am looking forward to it, though.

 Ave pace 8:14

Mizuno
 

Awesome run with Sasha and Ted. They always make the long drive totally worth it. I got there a little early and ran around, looking for Josse. Perhaps she called my cell but I haven't found it yet. Then 6am rolled around and Ted didn't show. I knocked lightly and woke Sasha up. He forgot we bumped the run up to 6am. Ran 3.66 on my own before meeting up with Sasha and Ted, then we went on the river trail for a fartlek type workout. In our third mile we did a pick up, then rested until about mile 4, where we picked it up on a drier part, for 2.1 miles (with a 180 in the middle). Sasha wanted me to go 1/2 marathon pace, and I drafted off him after he got used to my pace. 6:17 for mile 1 and 6:07 for mile 2, 13:04 for 2.1 miles. It felt more like a 10K pace than a 1/2 marathon pace, but I guess the two shouldn't be that far apart anyway. That tired me so the next mile was 7:34, then we started to drop to the 7:15ish range. The last mile Sasha challenged me to do a 6:20, so I started to push hard, though I was so tired. The first 1/4 was 1:29 so we started to chase the 6:00 gal, and my last mile was 5:55! Ted kept taunting me by keeping just ahead of me in that mile. These guys are such great pacers. Thank you so much for your help Sasha and Ted!

Ave pace for 11.61 (that was the distance from my garmin, which happened to be also the distance Sasha said the run would be, down to the hundredth!) was 6:56.

Asics

Easy run with MacK this morning.   It was a balmy 35F today!  It felt so nice!  Not too eventful.  I am getting excited for Hawaii, we are leaving tomorrow!

Ave pace 8:25

Mizuno 

Ran with James in Perry and Brigham City in slushy snow, which got us completely wet.  My feet were wet from the slushy puddles on the ground within 1/2 a mile.  Then James took me through the golf course, where I got freshing slushy water in my shoes repeatedly.  It was great fun!  The hardest part was trying to keep up with him AND hold a conversation.  He just patiently pulled me alongl, up hill then down hill, up hill, then down hill.  I said I wanted about 10 so he pulled me through 12, which got me closer to 70 miles so its a good thing.

My hip/groin pain wasn't painful, just some niggling.

After the run I had to go to Wal-mart to pick up some last minute things and I was soaked through so I just got progressively colder and colder.  The only thing that got me out of the hot shower later was knowing that Paul's parents had pancakes on the griddle.  They are such wonderful hosts!  They will be watching our children while we are in Hawaii, which is such a comfort, to know your kids are at the best place they could be with the best caregivers.  The weather today makes me anxious to get to paradise. 

7:53 ave pace

Asics (now in the dryer).

Ran 6.25 with Paul this morning along the shoreline.  It was probably in the low 70's and more humid than Utah, but not uncomfortably humid The first mile was on a trail on lava rock.  The trail was clear of lava rock but had "lava sand" on it, which I discovered was quite rough and painful when I fell one mile into it.  I scraped both palms of my hands, my shoulder, hip, knee and ankle on one side.  Dang!  There is still lava sand in the wounds.  So I got up and we kept going.  We ended up running on about every surface there is: loose sand, compact sand, water, rock, lava rock, road, grass.  Our pace was slow, about 10 minute pace.

We went to the other side of the Big Island and did a couple of hikes, about 6 miles of hiking and walking, 4 of them through and around a volcanic crater, which was awesome.  So I am going to count that as 3 miles.  I am so exhausted!  Vacations aren't supposed to be this much work!

Asics  (count it as 25 miles - lava wears down the shoes) 

Ran at around 8am with Paul for 3 (we ran a 4 mile loop, but I ran one mile alone by going a little longer before turning around then catching him, that mile was 7:58).  The three miles with Paul were about 9:30.  Then I was on my own do do another 6 miles, and the sun was getting higher, the shadows smaller, and I had to hit the highway for a longer stretch.  The highway had a nice shoulder, but it had lava rock and desert wasteland on both sides, so it was just a hot, boring type of run.  My six miles were 7:30 ave pace, and I threw in 4 strides (my first since my groin/hip issues, and it felt fine, though it was hot by the time I did them).

While I was running through the resort to my tower I ran behind and then passed a guy, but not before I ran with him for a minute, discussed running and told him about the blog.  I wish I had pass along cards!

My groin issue was painful for about 1/4 mile at about the one mile mark, but it got better.  At about the same time, my right achilles was tight.  I need to calculate my miles on the shoes I brought.  I think it is getting time for new shoes.

Total ave pace 8:10

Asics

On the treadmill.  I set it at 7:30 pace after warming up a bit.  It was dull, but at least I had a personal tv, though I had no sound. 

Yesterday was a lay around and read day.  Dipped into the pool, laid out in half shade/half sun (full sun could burn me pretty bad), snorkled around the resort, met Paul for lunch and then took a nap, watched daytime tv, all the things I don't do at home.  Today we will go to a couple of the best snorkel spots on the island, so it should be more exciting.

I plan on doing a tempo workout tomorrow - 7 miles at 6:25.  Oh, gosh, it just spins my stomach to write it, but I am writing it to make me accountable. 

Asics

I went snorkling yesterday afternoon and messed up my hip pretty bad, I think it was just exhausted with unfamiliar exercise.  It was really sore when I went to bed, so decided to postpone my long run.  I did run some this morning, but I had to increase my pace very slowly, started at 11 min pace and worked to 8 min pace by the end.  My hip felt ok in the morning but this afternoon it is still aching as I walk around. 

Asics

So last night my hip was still bugging a little, but not nearly as bad as it was the night previous.  I think taking a day with lower mileage really helped.  Also I had Paul give me a massage per the good advice of Josse.  Having your spouse try to give you a sports massage can be either a lesson in long suffering and patience or it can be a riot, and it was the latter.  I eventually grabbed him in the hip with my fingertips to show him what he was doing.  It was good fun.  Although I ran less yesterday, I didn't cut out our boogie boarding, which was SOO SOOO fun.  I think it was funner than the snorkling.   We went to Hapuna Beach, the most violent beach on the big island, with an average of just over 1 spinal injury a year, so our odds were still good.  I rode about 9 waves all the way in.  Some were pretty scary, but it was good fun.  I did have a calf freeze up on me while a wave crashed on me, a regular charlie horse type cramp.  Then it happened again less severely, so I took a rest and went out again after I felt stronger.  I did a corkscrew type flip under water during one wipe out, but that was the most dangerous body contortion that happened.  I know that this ocean stuff isn't the best thing to be doing when I am half injured, but I really did have a great time and I don't think my hip suffered much from it.

So I didn't to my tempo yesterday because of my pain the night before.  I wanted to do it this morning, but knew I had to get my hip's permission.  So I warmed up slowly as I have been doing.   Mile 1 was 9:36, some pain, not worse than prior days while warming up.  Mile 2 8:46, not feeling like I can go faster because I am still warming my hip up, still some pain through 1.5 miles, but slowly feeling normal.  Mile 3 8:03, feeling ok, then take a potty break in the lava rock surrounding the highway.  The lava rock is extremely uneven and will cut you up really easily.  The highway I am running on is a 55 mph road, so people are going even faster when they can.  There are lots of cars on it and there is plenty of wind this morning.  I Start the tempo at almost 3.5, plan to turn around after 2 then keep going.  I am hoping to hit 6:25's, which is goal 1/2 marathon pace, but I am not quite feeling strong at the start.

Mile 1 - 6:47, this first mile is so hard, hard to get in a rhythm, feeling unnaturally difficult for the pace, I am wondering if I should be doing this workout at all, I am adjusting my expectations for the workout, thinking I will just have to make it a marathon pace tempo and just try to negative split

Mile 2 - 6:36, this mile is slightly downhill, feeling stronger but it is still taking all my effort to slip below 6:40 pace, I am thinking to just try to keep in the 6:30's at this point

3 - 6:34, turnaround and slight uphill, was maintaining a faster pace for a while but had to crest a hill and thus didn't negative split too well

4 - 6:12 baby!  I start toying with a faster pace in this mile and it takes a while to realize I can actually maintain it.  It didn't feel that much harder than the first three miles, in fact I would say the effort was pretty similar

5 - 6:13 baby!

6 - 6:08

7 - 6:03, this last mile was tough, I was tired and had to negative split the last half mile to get under 6:10

7 mile tempo - ave pace 6:22 BABY!,  I can't believe I hit my goal with such a slow start.  I guess this means I am a true marathoner if it takes me 6 miles or so to warm up.  Part of that is my injury, I think, but it is still interesting.  If I take off the first 3/4 mile and calculate my 10K in this work out it comes out to a 39:30 according to my calculation, so that is a PR effort for sure.

I finished up with one last jog by the ocean through the resort.  The waves are crashing bigger today and it is so beautiful and the oceanic sounds are musical.

I went to a buffet breakfast and ate good and bad, including and exotic donut with macadamia nuts and chocolate sauce.  Sorry Sasha.

Asics.

After three crummy airline hours of sleep on a red eye flight from Hawaii to Oakland, I had 4.5 hour layover in Oakland.  I lay on the hard ground with industrial carpet in the airport, with constant blaring of important security announcements and boarding calls for about an hour, then put my running clothes on and hit the road for an easy run.  I was pretty delirious from the lack of sleep.  My trouble area was definitely troubling me from .5 miles to 2 miles, then it loosened up.  This is becoming the annoying norm.  I hit a bike trail, but it was only a 1.5 mile stretch so I did it a couple of times and called it good.

Asics.

Ran with Jamie and the Sojourners, though the Sojourners were a quite small group today.  I warmed up alone for a mile so that I didn't have to do my 10:30 first mile in a group.  The warm up was a little better than the last couple of days.  We started at the mouth of the Provo Canyon and went toward the temple.  Jamie and I separated at around 6 miles for me, and I was on my own after that.  I felt pretty good until about mile 9 then I started to suck wind pretty badly.  Can I be unadjusted to altitude after being at sea level for just a week?  I felt like a weakling.  About the same time it got harder for me to breathe it started to snow annoying little snow flakes, and my heavy winter clothes felt claustrophobic and I was sliding on the river trail in places and I thought, geez, I think I prefer Hawaii. . .

Oh well, I will adjust back to reality. 

Ave pace 8:50 

Mizuno 

After some insomniatic hours last night, I took some Benadryl at 1am and reset my clock so now I am rushing to get out the door to work.

This morning I was on my own, and my warm up included the least pain in quite a while, just some niggling and three periods of pain for about 5 sec each.  Much better than for the past 1-2 weeks, and I was able to hit my first mile in 8:24 (have been more like 10:30 or so for first miles recently).

Did reverse Goosenest route.  Hit one mile (over half of it was downhill) in 7:00 and a couple others under 7:30.  Had to remind myself that it was an easy day and to tell my horses to wait for Saturday.

7:45 ave pace.

 Mizuno

123 lbs this morning.  Dang, I wanted to be at 120 by Saturday.  Shall I do a four day fast to make it happen?  j/k
 

Ran with the 5am Scenic Drive group at a VERY easy pace.  I think we were averaging 9:45 or so.  I ran with them for 6 miles then stopped for a potty break at a church, which had lots of women exercising in the dark with very relaxing music on (presumably yoga).  I think I would just fall asleep if trying to exercise to that new agey stuff.  Yoga and running are pretty much opposites in my mind.  I ran on my own for 2.3 after that at about 8:10 pace.

I was going to do a couple of miles at race pace but my groin was feeling worse again this morning, some pain in the first mile or so and then niggling the rest of the time, so I just laid off.  Perhaps I'll do a two mile tempo or strides tomorrow.

Did the grocery shopping thing after running and I was cold and miserable.  SF was about 25F this morning, not that cold, but lots of wind swirling old snow all around.  What a miserable town, why do I run and shop there?
 

 Ave pace 9:15
 

I met MacK at Loafer Elementary.  I was bracing myself for 0-5F, but it was actually 15F which was sooo much more bearable.  There is a huge difference to me. 

So I jumped right into a faster pace instead of doing the slow warm up.  It seems when I warm up slow my groin hurts more and when I jump in the the 8's in the first mile I actually feel a lot better.  I think Ted also had a pain that was worse when he ran slower.  It seems counterintuitive.  But it worked today, my leg felt well except for one 3 second pain section in the first mile.  Yesterday my groin hurt or bugged me the whole time, and it hurt after the run until about 3pm.  So I guess I will stop doing the slow warm up if the faster warm up continues to be successful.

 It was nice to run with MacK and catch up with her.  She isn't doing speed yet so I didn't ask to do a couple tempo miles.  I threw in two strides in the last mile after she peeled off.  Two strides is a wussy attempt at some speed but I guess its better than nothing.

Ave pace 8:03 

Mizuno

I didn't wake up when my alarm went off!  And I had a rendevous with Jamie that I consequently missed.   I am so sorry Jamie!  I got there 20 minutes late, then drove around to see if you were around, and then ran by your home, but there were no lights on.  Perhaps I had the good fortune of you sleeping in too?  

5F made for a cold morning. Tights under windbreaker pants make it hard to move the legs.  My injury felt good again today jumping right into a faster pace (first mile 7:39).

So I didn't have time to do the eight miles I wanted to do.  I threw in four strides.

Ave pace 7:54.

Mizuno 

Met with MacKenzie and did a shorter Payson loop.  My hip/groin pain is still doing well with a faster start.  Feeling good for tomorrow, but I didn't get good sleep (5.5 hours, kept waking up to check watch, afraid I would sleep in like yesterday).  Perhaps will jump in bed after a shower for a little more shut eye. 

I'll see lots of you in St. George!  This will be fun!

Ave pace 8:09

Mizuno 

So, Big PR baby!!!!!!

Chick score - Zero.  # ladies participating, about 500.  My biggest race ever. 

I would guess that the course is off, and about 12.95 from a nontechnical average of all our Garmins, which would make this time a 1:22:36 (1:22:42 per Ted) for a true 13.1. I am eating humble pie about Sasha science. He was off by a measley one second per mile.

That is just over a six minute PR.

I am so grateful to Ted for pacing me. I think having a great pacer is worth one full minute, and most don't have that benefit, so hat's off to Ted. Thank you so much!

I warmed up 1 mile with Josse and Marcie, then another mile with Marcie. Leg felt good. We didn't have time to stretch much and we did just one stride. We found Ted at the starting line, and Ted, Ruth, Marcie and I were going to start off together for a 6:40 first mile, which Ted sensibly turned into a 6:24 mile, so our pack broke down pretty much right from the start.

1 - 6:24, felt good, Ted asked if it felt like a good "jog" I said yes which I think was the wrong answer because he started to lead me to 6:15ish pace instead of the 6:25ish pace we had planned on.

2 - 6:22, still feeling good, but harder to talk

3 - 6:17, starting to feel some stomach sourness, trying to ignore it, swished water through my mouth at the water stop, I think Ted teases a couple of guys that they have just gotten "Chicked"

4 - 6:22

5 - 6:23, steep but not too long hill in this section, stinky but made up pace after it, Water stop with one shot blok, hard to swallow and I do alot of coughing and takes alot of effort to down it.

6 - 6:07 Ted is getting fiesty in his pacing, had some downhill,

7 - 6:15 Ted starts out this mile just under 6 minute pace for the first quarter and I'm like, "Ted we're going 6:00 pace" and he says, "We are?" Nice try Ted! He was trying to test me but I didn't feel like it was sustainable so we pull back. I imagine Sasha saying to Ted, "Now if she is looking strong, try to sneek down to 6 minute pace and see if she cooperates." Perhaps for Hobble Creek in the summer.

8 - 6:17 - Second water station in this mile, same shot blok issue, then we go into a neighborhood where Ted and I debated which direction to go, he voted right and that was correct, I think we lost a second or two there

9 - 6:29 - nasty long uphill into a neighborhood, and I am not feeling so spry

10 - 6:16, not so sure I can drop the pace after the long uphill but so grateful to see another good split, Ted is starting to bark at me to stay on his shoulder

11 - 6:15, this mile is so hard, Ted is coaxing me, coaxing me through it. I am sure this mile would have been 20 seconds slower or more without him, we go through a section where there are racers behind us going the opposite direction than we are through a water stop and they are crossing our path AND walking and I grumble, so Ted yells multiple times, CLEAR THE WAY, MAKE A PATH, or something like that, it was like him saying "Make way for the Queen." If I can't have a clear path, at least I have an ROTC leader to make sure I have a path :)

12 - 6:28, this is where I start falling apart, I am really feeling it, but there are so many people going the other direction on the race path who are cheering me on (oh, did I mention I am in first place for the ladies all through the race?!?), and I am thinking that some of them are new to the sport, so I am thinking, "Make it look like you are having fun, Michelle, you don't want them to think that it's miserable even for the front runners." So I try to smile and make it look bearable, and I think that it helped me not slow down more than I did. And Ted is HARRASSING me at this point, just like I asked him to, and it would work for 10-15 minute segments, and I think having him pace me was worth about 20 seconds on this mile. I was telling myself, you may be hitting a wall, but do not make it as bad as St. George (where slowed down 1-1:30 per mile for the last three miles). I did get passed by a couple of guys in this mile :(

13 - 6:35 pace (I measured 12.88 but everyone else I talked to measured longer). This mile was soooo hard but I tried not to let go too bad, and was able to turn it on a little bit at the end. I was passed by a couple of guys in the last 1/2 mile, though I am sad to say. Had to fake it for the crowds at the end. Some crying and moaning in the last couple of miles (specifically when Ted told me to pick it up once-then he told me no whining) and at the end, all very typical for me.

So, I faded a little but that is because the pace for the first 3/4 of the race was risky and in foreign territory and just plain at my limit. I am grateful for Ted's encouragement, especially in the last couple of miles. I would have hit him on the head if I had had more energy, so I guess that is a lesson for pacers, don't be too easy on your racers or they'll actually have energy to do the violence on you that they want to.

I looked for lady number 2 and was so happy to see the very talented Ruthie come in, looking like the race was a cake walk. She is scary fast!

Jogged 2 with Ted, Logan, Hal and James. It was nice to pick Logan's brain - thanks for humoring me Logan.

Thank you so much to all bloggers who are a part of my successes. I can't believe I have come so far in 6.5 months (remember Sasha and Sarah, meeting a chubby Michelle Lowry on July 4th who said she wanted to run a 3:20 marathon?).

Asics

Nice run by my lonesome, contemplating life and where to go from here in my running.  It was about 28F with light snow falling, so it was just about as warm as the race on Saturday.  My groin pain was still present and not quite as good as the second half of last week so I'll have to watch it.

Ave pace 8:03

Mizuno 

AM: Ran with my new shoes, New Balance 755 Cushion Trainer so I updated my blog format to allow for shoe tracking. And what the heck, I will track my sleep too which will make you all woosy to read really soon once my sleep drops. I worked for about 3/4 an hour then jumped on the tread mill for 7.5, set the pace for 7:30 and cruised. I think that is my fastest easy pace, but if you disagree, please let me know :). I think I will be out this afternoon for a shorter second run. I am grateful I have a treadmill. Today marks 12 weeks until tax season is over. If I run through this week then I will have 11.5 week slow down. If I can run normal miles next week then it will be a 10.5 week slow down. It will be hard to squeeze it in next week though, the crunch is already starting, though in embryo stage as of now.

Weighed 120.5 yesterday, 123 today, though I ate really well yesterday. Take it with a grain of salt. (or a grain of whole wheat would be healthier, eh?!?).

PM: Ran in Mizunos as snow fell in Woodland Hills.  It is so hilly up here it made the first 1.5 miles pretty miserable.  Snow falling, slush on the roads, high altitude, hills everywhere, made for a rather unpleasant afternoon run.  I though my ave pace would be about 9:30 but in fact it was 8:30.  Perhaps this is why I seldom do 2-a-days.   

Ran with MacK.  Weather on the news said it would be about 0F today, so was pleasantly surprised by 17F.  We seem to be dodging the bullet this year.  We had about three weeks of single digit to zero last year, and this year its been single digit about twice.  I'll take it!  Lots of ice and ice skating on the roads.  We are doing a family ski day on Saturday, so I won't be able to do more than 10 on Saturday so I'll going to sneak in extra miles during the week as I am able to try to hit 65 or above.

Ave pace 8:19 

Met with Josse in SF for some tempo intervals.  It was foggy and about 15F.  The fog made the temperature seem colder.  At least there was no wind.  She wanted 2 mile repeats, I wanted one mile repeats, so we met in the middle and did 1.5 mile repeats, which are so hard to do!

We ran 3 miles then started off toward leland in the fog.  Then we started off on our first interval.

1 - 9:14, This is a net downhill with an uphill and downhill over an overpass of I-15.  Mile 1 split 6:08, then 3:06 for the .5,

rest .64 miles, total time 6:37,

2 - 9:16, Did the same strip backwards, net uphill, with the first mile pretty good uphill since the mile hit at the top of the overpass, first mile 6:13, then 3:03 for the .5

 potty break rest plus .19 before and .18 after

3 - 9:01, This was a net downhill, with an uphill then downhill in the first .5 mile then flat after that, 5:55 first mile, then 3:05 for the .5, I was trying to stay at 6:00 pace for the last half of this interval and was disappointed I couldn't do it.  It leaves the accomplishment of going sub 6:00 for more than a mile for another day.

We did a couple of miles at the end for a cool down.  Josse was a real trooper in her workout.  She was able to pull out a 6:36 mile for her last interval and do 4 miles of speed work in the first time since surgery (if you don't count Saturday's race, which you really should 13 miles of speed that day!).  Thanks so much Josse for coming down and working out with me!  It is so much better to do these with someone rather than alone.  I was not feeling like speed was a good idea today in the middle of the first interval, but with Josse's support I got 'er done.

Mizuno

Ave pace 7:42 or so.
 

Icy, warmer at 25F, so wore no coat and it was nice.  Ran 7 with MacKenzie then 5 on my own, to try to get in miles since I won't be able to run long tomorrow.  This counts as my long run for the week.  

Ave pace 8:27 

Met up with MacK at 5:30, but wasn't quite awake and forgot that we were expecting Josse then too.  After MacK and I ran for about 1 mile, I suddenly remembered, JOSSE!!! We turned around and ran fast to our cars (.5 mile marathon pace) but we were too late.  She was parked there but nowhere in sight.  We met up with her at 6am (Alli came out too).  It was nice to meet up with the SF group, there have been so many weather and circumstantial issues that have crept up week after week for the past month.  Carolyn drove up late and I ran with her for a while to catch up a little bit, but then ran to catch up to the fast girls (another .5 marathon tempo).  Finished up alone for about 1.5 miles since I had to run the course slow.

We are taking our two older boys skiing to Brighton.  Brighton has a great kids ski school.  We'll put Benji (almost 8) in morning only and Mickie (first time skiing) in morning and afternoon, and we'll eat lunch as a family and do a little bit of skiing with Mickie after he's done with afternoon school.  Wish me luck (here's to hoping for no leg breaks, I promise to not do jumps like I did last year).

Ave pace 7:59

Mizuno

Skiing was so fun yesterday!  There was about 4" of new powder, making the trails nice and easy.  The good news is my injury doesn't feel bad and I didn't hurt anything else.  The bad news is I didn't fall because I wasn't pushing myself to my breaking point (that doesn't sound like me does it?).  I took it conservative so no black diamonds, no jumps, less super speed just point down the mountain and see how fast I can go.  It was still a great day though.  My seven year old can now do some blues and my five year old had a great time on the bunny slopes on his first day of skiing.  

Woke up early and met MacK, but it was windy!  We ran away from the wind at about 7:30 pace, felt really easy, because the wind was at our backs.  Coming back (turned around at 3 mile because she had to get back home) was a whole different story, we couldn't hardly talk, she had a hard time breathing and got light headed a couple of times and had to walk to get her head back.  At times it felt like we were jogging in place, the whole time it felt like I was running in a swimming pool.  Instead of finishing up my mileage when we got back to our cars, I drove home, changed my clothes and hopped on the treadmill for my last 5.1 miles (@ 7:30 pace).  I am happy I got in 11 miles even though the wind was a serious issue this morning.  I will be trying to cut into my sleep this week without dropping mileage as I ease into working more hours.

15F. Met with Josse this morning for speed. I woke up early and worked for an hour before getting ready to run, so ate two pieces of bread and drank some water. I was happy the roads in my town were plowed so that I could get down the mountain for our meet time. Warmed up 2.51 miles slowly (9:26 ave pace) then did a tempo workout. The plan was to both go 10 minutes then turn around and I would try to catch her and she would try to not get caught. Then we'd turn around again at 20 and then turn around at 30 minutes (she would be done but I would need to go 40 minutes, so I would definitely catch her the last round). The roads were so bad, packed snow in some places, just plain ice in others. The stretch we did was rolling, so some uphill and downhill in each 10 minute no matter which way you ran it. I'll give my mile splits:

1 - 6:33, easing in, not wanting to push to hard at the start

2 - 6:33, this mile included a 180 turn around, which I made by sliding to a stop on ice, not really ideal for a tempo workout

3 - 6:43, not a stellar time, caught Josse right before we got back to the start,

4 - 6:27, Josse yelled at me to turn around right after the start of the 4 mile (20 min mark), I cheated in this mile at about 4.5 and stopped at a port a potty, so Josse passed me)

5 - 6:36, another stinky split time, I caught Josse about 1 minute before the 30 minute turn around point

6 - 6:32, I started this split pretty fast, but it was downhill on ice so I slowed down for control, had a 3:21 .5 split, so tried to negative split to go under 6:30 and just couldn't quite do it

.2 - 6:46 pace

total 6.2 in 40:45, 6:34 ave pace. I think clear roads would have helped me up to 10 seconds a mile, warmer weather would have helped even more.

I tried the recovery drink that Josse and I bought from the SG Running Company. It was pretty good and I am feeling good.

Mizuno

Evening ab work and stretching.

Let the sleep deprivation games begin!

Felt tired when woke up at 3:55am to start the day.  Did 10.5 on the treadmill.  At first set the speed at 7.0 then kept cranking up until what I thought was just slower than 7:30, but it felt hard, it turned out I had it at 8.4 mph instead of 7.9 so I was accidentally going 7:08.  After that 7:30 felt easy.

Off to work!

Woke up at 4am.  Met with MacK and went long on pretty little road and on tree line road.  It got colder as the run progressed, I think there were parts at about 10F.  My fingers got cold.  I didn't feel too sleep deprived.

Have work to do now!

ave pace 8:15