Denouement

Indoor warm up

6.05 running slow (8:40 ave pace) 

Ran watchless - gps had no charge.  This was a problem since I was supposed to do 10 miles, starting at 9:30 pace, and increasing to 7:40-8:00 pace for the last 6, and the last 6 were supposed to be on hills, and I was in unfamiliar territory, kind of (in Payson).  Ended up running it just right.  Focused on high knees, chin up, eyes up, on hilly faster miles.

per course tool, I ran 10.02,  I was out 1:24, but I take of 3 minutes for leisurely bathroom break in Smiths toward the beginning, so 1:21, or 8:05ish ave pace. 

Walked 3 miles, power lunges, long stretching, then 61 minutes on elliptical @ level 5, except jumped to level 8 for one minute, three minutes apart x 4, and going to level 4 between #3 and #4 to get hr down, elliptical says I burned 1001 cals.

Good news about eating is that I am committed to eating right this week.  I want to see 125 before tax season hits.

I, Michelle Lowry, am drinking a breakfast shake I made in my magic bullet which has spinach in it.  Can you believe it?  Total ingredients:  1 strawberry light yogurt, about 1/2 c. frozen blueberries, about 15-20 fresh spinach leaves, 2/3 of a small banana, about 1/2 c. oj, and some ice.  Bon appetite. 

I am dietarily integritous!  (ok so I had one bite from my son's birthday cake he brought home from a bday party, but good diet integrity is intact with 98% compliance in my world).  I am not going low carb like my husband Paul.  On his diet, you have to watch your fruits, any grains at all, his dairy (yes dairy has carbs) etc.  It is way too restrictive.  I am on the eat right so I can run well diet, and I will eat low carb for dinner to support him.  His diagnosis of hoshi moto's thyroid disorder has been revoked for now anyway, so who knows if he should even be on a low carb diet.  They've suspended his thyroid meds due to excessive hyperthyroid, and they'll check his blood in a couple of weeks.  He's like mystery man.  Wow, rambling.  Focus, M.

I slept in, then did a .5 walk and stretching for a warm up, since today is a hard workout.  I met up with Josse at Will's Pit Stop, and we started warming up toward the canyon.  25F.  2 mile warm up (8:43, 8:33).  Plan was 3x2 mile tinman tempo (7:13 prescribed pace for perfect conditions), with 2 min rest in between.  We ran up one mile, 180 turn, then down one mile for each set.  So we went up the canyon for the first mile and down for the second.  There was a headwind going into the canyon, so presumably a tailwind going down, though the tailwind isn't so obvious, of course.  1 - 7:23 up, 6:57 down, 14:20 total, 2:02 rest, 2 - 7:15 up, 6:53 down, 14:08 total (holding back on pace on #2 esp), 2:03 rest, 3 -7:20 up, 6:49 down (14:09 total) Josse tried to make me go fast on the last mile!!!!  We were going way to fast half way through this mile, but managed to slow it down a bit.  Cool down 2.25 (8:27, 7:58, 8:00 for last 1/4).

Total run 10.58 in 7:48 ave pace  feeling good.  Going to do abs tonight. 

Ran 6 with MacK, 8:41 ave pace

Also walked 4, stretching,

some ab work and additional stretching at PT

Summary of issues went over with PT:  having neck pain at night (probably related to insomnia due to hubby out of town), having some niggling on outside of left knee, and SI pain is a bit deeper and closer to tailbone, but not increased in intensity.  He gave me a new stretch to incorporate that stretches the IT band (for knee issue). 

Major insomnia!  Paul is in Hawaii, and that makes it hard to sleep. 

Planned workout:  fartlek, 30 secs @ 3k-5k pace (around 6:00 flat road), 60 sec jog-float (rest becomes faster as you recover), 16 times

Warmed up 2.31 miles. 

 Was having watch troubles as we started the workout.  So the splits are from Tyler's watch.  There's inherent error in splits this short on a Garmin, but here they are:

The 1:00 jog floats in between sets ranged from 6:50 - 8:09 pace.  We went 3.5 miles in the 24 minutes of the workout  

Went to the temple with Marion, then I ran and she joined me on the bike.  It was still way cold, even though it was noonish.  So glad to get some good sleep. 8:55 pace.

I think I might be the best mom for one day.  Rock Band came in the mail, and we have over a handful of neighborhood kids over for pizza, movie and games.  Really I am making up for the fact that I am going skiing tomorrow without the kids, but for today, I rock.

Workout:  3.33 warm up (9:46, 8:36, 9:17, 9:00), then 6x1/2 mile w/ 1:16 slow jog recoveries: 1-3:20, 2-3:11, 3-3:05, 4-3:12, 5-3:11, 6-3:07, then cool done about 2.5.  Was able to run with the SF group for warm up and cool down, but was on my own for the repeats.  Strange, noone wants to do intervals except me at 12F in the depths of January.

Then got ready and went skiing with Luz.  It was perfect weather for skiing, and the conditions were not icy like I thought they'd be.  Luz gently pushed me into moguls, with her kind and persuasive ways.  I think she thought putting me in moguls was the surest way to prevent me from running into a tree at 40 mph.  See, my fav is going down blues as fast as I can, much faster than my skill warrants.  I am a mediocre skier that likes to ski fast.  She is an excellent skier who likes to ski safe (yet with that said, she can still go down a blue the same speed as me, which in itself shows the gap in our skill levels).  I met a nice woman named Ann before Luz got to the resort, and she showed me just one technique change that did make a difference, both in going down the blues and the blacks.  I told her about the blog and wish I had had "pass-along cards", but I don't.

Lovely day of skiing with Luz.  We had a lot of laughs.  I fell twice.  Luz never did.  It's a shame.

Went home, spent some time with the kiddies.

Did 35 min abs.

Put kids to bed.

Marion and David came over for a movie.  And I showed Marion my new stretch, which I also most excellently showcased at the gas station while pumping gas.  There is nothing like public stretching to demonstrate your geekiness. 

Walked .6, then stretched, the met MacK.  Ran 4.3 with her, then the rest on my own.  8:07 ave pace.  Sought out hills, so zigzagged through hilly neighborhoods.  After run, did power lunges and ball grab exercise, and it band stretch, which I forgot to do before the run.

Slept in until 6:40.  Walked 2 on treadmill, stretched while getting kids ready for school, then went to Marions.  I ran with her, pushing little will.  We ran 10:45-12 mm pace for 4.33, way chill. I dropped them off and ran 1.67 on my own.  Total walking 2.4 miles.  Ball grab and power lunges after.  Left knee a tad niggly.

35 min abs 

Ran 1.71 and stretched before meeting up with Josse, and her running buddies Melody and Amanda.  Started really slow, because I didn't do a walking warm up at home, 9:54 pace, then 9:20.  We then ran 1.04 for a warm up (9:27 pace), then started into our workout.

Workout was supposed to be 4x1 mile at 6:51 pace and 1:30 rest.  Well, I think I have improved since my time trial four weeks ago, so I was targeting 6:45ish.  

1 - 6:29, downhill (elevation 4922 at start, 4785 at end, 137 drop), felt easy, 1:32 rest

2 - 6:42, flat, 1:32 rest

3 - 6:36, flat, 1:31 rest

4 - 6:39, flat

Melody pulled away on the last two, but I was already going faster than prescribed so I held back.  I felt like I could have done more.  It was a hard workout, but not puke at the end hard.

I would really like to run my 5k next weekend at 6:00 pace, but I am realizing that it is not possible.  My CV intervals of 1/2 mile each are averaging about 3:10, with short rests, so that is 6:20 pace.  I am where I am.  Bummer.   

Slept in, so ran treadmill, recovery pace, 8:57 pace on treadmill makes for a long boring 5 miles.  Walked 3 miles on top of that.  Also stretching, ball grab and ab workout in the evening.

Walked .5 for warm up and stretching.  

Then met KellieS and ran 7 with her, ave pace 8:45

Walked 1.5 more on tm at home. 

Slept in.  Had alarm set for 8am but woke up earlier.

Walked 2.5 miles on treadmill, stretching.

Met MacK and Aubrey for a 10 mile run (they went longer), 4 miles tempo after five miles easy, sb be 7:00-7:10 if flat:  6:56 (downhill), 6:58 (flat), 6:59 (low grade uphill for full mile), 6:53 (some downhill), felt good, felt faster than marathon pace though, so I will categorize as threshold miles, walked enough to make total distance 13.15 for the day.

.5 mile walking warm up, some stretching, then met MacK.

Plan was 12x1min @ 5k pace, 1 min rest between.  Warmed up 5.68 miles @ 8:33 pace, then started intervals 1-6:49 (8:18), 2 - 6:36 (9:34), 3 - 5:53 (9:02), 4 - 6:05 (9:04), 5 - 5:43 (8:55), 6 - 6:10 (13:14-one minute rest includes potty break-I impress myself ;D), 7 - 5:58 (8:13), 8 - 6:03 (9:53), 9 - 6:14 (8:53), 10 - 6:02 (9:02), 11 - 5:42 (8:56), 12 - 5:41 (9:22),

Total running 9.47  ave for fast 1 mile segments 6:05

Lunges and ball grab exercise 

We shall name todays run slip and slide.  Roads slick.  Not too cold (34F) but windy and ice/snow pellets coming down at times.  9:05 recovery pace ave.

.5 walking, stretching, power lunges, ball grab.  PT later today.  Also will do abs.  Will do abs for chocolate. 

Had to do 6x 1/2 mile repeats with only 60 sec break.  Normally with bad weather I would just delay this workout until another day, but with racing on Saturday, today was the day.  So when I woke up and there's a couple inches of snow on the ground, and I am not meeting anyone, I decide to take it inside.  Here's the problem with this workout and the treadmill--you spend all of your rest time decelerating and accelerating.  Goal pace for these are 3:16, but it's really more like 3:12 since I've been running them that fast or faster on the roads.  

Warm up - walked 1 mile, stretched, 2.5 miles running @ 8:40 pace

1 - 3:14 (taking time to ramp up speed), 60 sec rest

2 - 3:14, 60 sec rest

3 - 3:12

4 - 3:12

5 - 3:11

6 - 3:08

The pseudo rest and the fact that this was on a treadmill made this difficult, but never got in oxygen debt and I got it done.  I just don't like to do hard workouts on the treadmill.

total distance 8 miles running 63:28

More stretching after.  My knee was scraped significantly at the PT yesterday, some nice bruises, so I could feel the knee toward the end of the workout, but nothing strong nor sharp.  It was probably not ideal to go to the PT yesterday, but I couldn't go today due to scheduling conflicts.  I need to ice my knee. 

Walked .5 and stretching for warm up.  

Ran 7 with MacK, 8:42 ave pace.  Roads not too bad driving down, but it snowed during our run so they're bad now.  I was planning on going to Costco today but now I am not sure that's a good idea.  Maybe this afternoon.   

Power lunges and ball grab when I got home.  Will do abs tonight. 

Warmed up walking .5 miles, stretching, then ran 4 on the treadmill.

Race went much better than I thought.  I thought that I would love to keep 6:00 pace, but that I was in shape for 6:15.  Well, either the course was short or I was sub 6:00 for the whole race.  It was probably a true course, it was marked at mile markers, and the race directors corrected the 1/2 to make it true.  

My goals were to go even pace and to vomit or dry heave at the end (then I know I gave it all). 

1 - 6:00 (by marker) Went out with Tyler.  I was the first lady from the start.  Goal was 6:15-6:20, when I got my split I knew my work was cut out for me on the even pace front

2 -  5:52 (by marker) at turn around I was still first, but the second place girl was right behind.  I surged at 1.75 and dropped Tyler but the #2 girl was right behind me, I could hear her, and she passed me about at the 2 mile mark

3 - 5:59 (by my watch-didn't see 3 mile marker), try to not let her gap too much, but she's running strong and the race is getting hard.  At .5 miles to go, I surge and try to close the gap, but she has the audacity to run strong too

.1 25 sec, the #1 girl peels off, she's a bandit, so I get 1st place by default.  I see the clock at 18:14 as I cross, ended up 18:15 official time.  

I was so happy when I finished, so happy with my time.  I almost dry heaved, felt it coming on but the urge wasn't strong enough, so I bet I could have pushed the last mile harder.  I do feel like I could have run it stronger, but I am thrilled with the time because I was just hoping to break 19:00 and this means I don't have as much ground to make up to get back to where I was.

After the race, cheered in KellieS, then ran the 1/2 marathon backwards.  Saw some strong men, AmberG in #2 (but she passed that lady!), and ran MacK in.  

The event was very well organized, and well done.  Kudos to Hooper for his involvement.  I won a $50 GC to his running store (St George Running Center) for the win. 

Got new paces for slow days and they are faster!

Indoor warm up of .5 walking and stretching. 

Met MacK, ran 4.5 with her, including 1.5 with TylerS, then met up with KellieS and Heidi and ran with them for .5 mile.

8.07 ave pace for 6.17 (50:05).  Hopped on elliptical at level 4 for 20:20 after that, then power lunges and ball grab. 

Walked .5 miles, stretched, 

Met MacK and Ali, we warmed up 3.1, then did 14x25 sec strides, 60 sec rest.  Ave pace for strides were 5:55.  It was snowing most of the run, the roads were clear at the start but were covered with a thin layer of snow by the end.  Enough to make you question your footing, not enough to cancel the strides.

Power lunges and ball grab.

Will do abs tonight 

Walked .5 then stretched.

New easy pace doesn't feel easy to me.  it is 7:18-7:48.  Tried to keep on the slower end of this range.   It felt like the good old days, when I was in better shape and ticking the miles by, but I did have to watch my watch to make sure I didn't slow into a more comfortable pace.  Ran 9 miles total at 7:43 ave pace.

Hard tempo tomorrow. 

Indoor warm up,

then met MacK.

Plan was 5 mile tempo @ 6:27-6:38 pace.  6:27 is supposed to be my 1/2 marathon pace, but I need to build up endurance to be able to really do that.

32:38 for whole thing.  Splits were 6:33, 6:34, 6:29, 6:34, 6:27

Felt hard but ok.  Upper right ham not pleased.  Going to see if can get into PT today. 

Walked .25, jogged .25, then stretched, then ran 6.75 on treadmill eased into 7:35 pace on treadmill, though ave pace was more like 7:50 overall

 Got a root canal yesterday.  Had a nightmare last night that my temporary crown fell out (already).  I expect it to fall out at some point, I guess I am just cynical like that.  The temporary will be in for 2.5 weeks--unless it falls out. 

Thought my schedule only said an equivalent minutes to allow me 10 miles, but as I was warming up on the treadmill, I realized 105-120 minutes is more than 10 miles!  Sweet.

Walked .75, stretched, met Josse and MacK and we ran 13.15 in 8:17 ave pace.  This is my first half in a long long time.  My legs feel good.  

Need ab workout today.  I bought McMillans core dvd this week.  His elite athletes claim they do the exact workouts on the dvd, so I am excited to get it and breathe some new life into my ab workouts.