Denouement

Ran on the treadmill before work.

Plan was to meet MacK at Loafer, then meet TylerS on the warm up.  MacK didn't end up showing because her daughter's ear drum had the audacity to rupture in the wee hours.  So I eventually found Tyler and we warmed up.  My watch died within .5 mile of warm up, so I had no watch.  As I was warming up alone I decided if I didn't find Tyler or MacK, I would need to bail on the workout until the afternoon, after I had a chance to charge the watch.  There is no way I could do a 6 mile tempo without a watch, trying to target a certain pace.

We warmed up on canal road, about 2.7 total, then did 3 miles out and back on canal road.  Goal was 6:27-6:38 pace.  I did pretty much 6:25 the whole time.  Tylers watch died at 5.6 miles, but we were targeted for a 6:23 on the last mile, so I bet we got a 6:25.  He was much stronger than me the last 1.5 miles, encouraging me to keep my turnover going and stay loose.  I was in pain and the last mile I had to go to the bathroom, so I would surge and back off, then surge, etc.  At times Tyler was 2-3 secs ahead of me but was always nice enough to let me catch up.  We saw Clay at 5.7 miles or so, and he stopped and chatted with us at the finish of the tempo.  I hit the bushes, and had some rendezvous with the porcelain fixture once I got home.  Thus the drop in weight.  My body is basically saying, WHAT THE FREAK ARE YOU DOING TO ME!!!!

Tyler will post actual splits when he gets his watch charged.  But they were pretty even. (6:27, 6:25, 6:24, 6:25, 6:23, 6:23-25) total time:  about 32:30, or 6:25 ave

I got my ab dvds in the mail yesterday and will be doing my first workout with them today!!! 

Core workout: McMillan's stage 2, level 2 ish, plus 30x 5 lb weight launch 3 ways.  Some were hard (like the metronome x 15) while others, like the bicycle crunch, I have been doing for a while so I did more than level 1. About 25 min. 

Jogged .5 warm up, stretched, hopped back on tm for 5.1 more, 45:08 total time 8:03 ave pace, including slow warm up.

Met MacK , Melody, Amanda, and Desiree in SF.  I could choose a fartlek or hill repeats, and since I hate hills and am weak on hills, I chose hills.  I think next time I'll choose fartlek.  The plan was 8-10 hill repeats of 60-90sec length and 6-10% grade.  Heartbreak Hill sounded like the right hill to do.  I just mapped it on the course tool, and the portion we did is between 9 and 10% overall.

1 - 53 sec (.12 miles) - went too fast (someone called me a gazelle, which was nice, but they really should have yelled out "fool!") and didn't quite crest it, thought it would take us 80-100 sec to get up to that point, shows how much I know.  This overly exuberant start will come back to haunt me, down in 1:57 (.19)

2 - 67 sec (.16) added more distance to this and the rest of the repeats, rest 1:57 (.18)

3 - 71 sec (.16) starting to suffer for the first one, rest 1:52

4 - 73 sec (.16) now certain I am only doing 8 repeats, rest 2:07

5 - 72 sec (.17), rest 2:06 

6 - 73 sec (.16), rest 1:57

7 - 78 sec (.18), not very strong here, 1:50 rest

8 - 72 sec (.17), pulled out one last decent one

I would say they were decent repeats except #7, which I clearly dogged, not out of laziness, but out of weakness.  Felt nauseous and yucky.  I hate hills.  So I got some hill-administered humilty handed to me.  Melody ran up with me on all of them, she would encourage me if I started lagging.  If I had any breathe, some of you know I would have said, "No talking!"  She is so nice.  She pulled ahead on some, I surged ahead on others, it's good to be pushed.

Now I have to do this workout again sometime (but not next week!!!!) to do it smarter and better. 

Mid morning-paced marion through a 5k (28:18, a major pr for her, congrats Marion!!) 4.51 miles total

core workout in evening, McMillan stage 2.  The non-ab portions are pretty hard, my hips were exhausted at the end. 

Ran on treadmill @ 7:53 pace after warmup and stretching.

Walked .4 (5 min) then stretched, then drove into Provo, so that Sasha and Jeff could pace me for a 5 mile time trial.  I was thinking based of the Tuesday workout, which was supposed to be steady state, but I ran a little too fast (6 mile tempo at 6:25), that I could do 5 @ 6:15 pace.

Planning a 5 mile time trial is like prepping for torture.  None of the glory of a race, you don't get quite psyched up like a race, but you are supposed to perform like its a race.  

We did it on a 1.5 mile stretch of the river trail that has quarter mile marks, so there were 3 180's in the time trial, not ideal, but the splits were very helpful.

1 - 6:11, started out with a 94, then 90, then settled into 93's

2 - 6:16, already getting hard

3 - 6:12, at 2.25, I thought I was at 2.5 so it stunk to get to 2.5 and find out I wasn't over half way, I was just barely half way, Sasha was already requesting lots of fives, so I would surge to him, then he'd instruct me to stay on his shoulder, I would obey for a scant 5-10 seconds then slowly fall back.  It is so hard to keep my mind instead of my body in charge. Or maybe its my mind saying to go slower, but my body is able.  I am not sure which is the one that wants to quit, but each of these workouts are practicing hanging tough

4 - 6:10, getting harder, counting down the quarters

5 - 6:07,  aaaahhh!  So hard, I would surge to give Sasha five, I would feel failure in the bod, I also had to hit the bushes bad, but hung in there, envisioned my placement on the track (1000 to go, 600 to go), kicked at the end

30:56 per my watch and Sasha's watch, so 6:11 pace.  I feel like I am out of practice with how to workout.  Per my splits, it doesn't look like I was struggling, but it was a fight.  I am very grateful to Jeff and Sasha for planning their workout around mine.  I couldn't have done this without their help.  They  took off for a mile at 5:18, I think after my 5 miles were up.  

Will do core later. 

Ran 5 on treadmill in 40:49 plus stretching.

Indoor warm up: .5 walking and stretching. 

Interesting workout today.  4x2000m (pace 6:05-6:18, so 7:36-7:52, 3 min rest), then 3x200m (200m rest)

Met MacK and TylerS at 5am for an early start to a workout.  Temp was 22F.

Warmed up 2.16 in 17:34.

1 - 7:50, 2 - 7:44, 3 - 7:40, 4 - 7:39,  we used Tyler's watch for 1.25 segments, I am not sure if that is slightly more or less than 2000m, but its by garmin, anyway, so inexact.  all the rests were less than 3 minutes because we were going by Tyler's watch and he set the rests to be .25 mile. Then we ran to the track, so got in a mile between the 2000m and 200m sets, 1-35, 2-35, 3-35.  The first split is inexact because I was trying to find the spot on the track where the 200m ended, so it might be +/- 1, but the other two were dead on.  Then cooled down back to my car, over two miles. 

11.5 miles of running total.

At home did power lunges and ball grab, then endurox.  I will have to exempt endurox from the no sugar challenge.  I am not sure what it has in it, but my coach wants me drinking it after workouts, so I do.   

Thank you MacK and Tyler for running with me.  It makes the workouts much better to have company and positive pressure. 

45 min on treadmill + stretching.

Did core exercises last night. 

Indoor warmup - treadmill jog .5 miles and stretching. 

Met Melody, Amanda, Desiree, and TylerS in SF for a fartlek workout.  Speed-play was not playful today.  Plan was 6-7 x 3 min on, 2 min off.  I opted for 7 of them and everyone else complied.

We warmed up 3.18, hitting the wonderful ballpark bathrooms that are open, then started the workout.  Was hoping for 5:54ish pace, rest paces are affected by circling back for stragglers.  I'll post my paces per my watch, though my watch tends to run slow.  See TylerS' post for more accurate split info, though I was often 1 second behind him. 1 - 5:59 (flat, rest pace 9:42), 2 - 6:11 (uphill, rest pace 9:57), 3 - 5:54 (downhill, rest pace 10:34), 4 - 6:18 (uphill, rest pace 9:43), 5 - 6:02 (flat, rest pace 10:01), 6 - 6:08 (1-2% constant grade uphill--this is powerhouse road, rest pace 12:20), 7 - 6:08 (1-2% constant grade uphill--still powerhouse road). Surged to catch Tyler at the end of #7.  I would be with Tyler or a second back, and Melody was right behind me.  I'd feel the heat from her and the pull from him.  It was great to have them there, especially since the workout wasn't a particularly strong one for me.

So if you can't tell, the fartlek portion of the workout was uphill overall.  That is Tyler's fault since he chose the route :P  I didn't like how I wasn't hitting my desired paces (curious to see what Tyler's watch said), and I didn't feel super great during them, but it's all money in the bank.  Glad to have not given up and to have good company doing them.  Thank you Melody, Amanda and Desiree for coming down.  I hope you'll come down again next Thursday.

Did power lunges (lunge each leg in four positions for 15 reps quickly each.  The positions for left leg are 12 oclock, 11, 10 and 9.  For right leg its 12, 1,2,3).  Ball grab exercise - I use and orange.  Stand on one leg, put both arms up like you are under arrest, then bring them down, grab the ball with one hand, bring both hands up like you are under arrest, put the ball down on the ground, put both arms up like you are under arrest, then pick the ball up with the other hand, then when you put it down again, that is one rep, all while balancing on one leg.  I do five reps on each leg.  Works on my balance, specifically my hamstring strength while balancing?

Weight is a combo of what my corned beef and cabbage from last night and what the workout did to my stomach.  That and no sugar :(  I am excited for my Sunday free day!!!!

Evening:  Core workout.  About 25-30 min, slowly ramping it up. 

easy on tm

Walked .5, stretched, then met gals for long run.

Ran 15 miles in 2:00:11, 8:01 ave pace.  My legs feel good.  

In afternoon did core workout, plus ball grab and power lunges. 

Oh, dear.  Dare I confess?

About 8 reese's choc peanut butter hearts, three brownies (ok four), a slice of red velvet cake, a sugar cookie frosted, frosting as I made the frosting.  

Pancakes with syrup.  It was a most indulgent day.  Making up for lost time. 

On treadmill, 42 minutes.

Just to keep Luz watching, here's the lyrics from my favorite new downloaded song.  Kudos to my hubby Paul for finding this song.  I haven't found another Mew song I like nearly as much.  But I am listening to several right now.  Sifting through for another diamond.  Look up the song, it has an awesome tune:

Mew

Snow Brigade 

indoor warmup

Outside for run, including a 4 mile tempo. Just me and my mp3. Did miles 1 and 2 of the payson onion days 5k, then turned around, so I would have reliable splits.  I thought it'd be easier to find the mile markers in the dark, though.  I was always a second behind for marking splits.  I wanted to be 6:25 or faster.  6:23,6:23, 6:24, and I lost the last split dang it, hit the wrong button, I bet it was 6:23-6:27.  In the last mile, I listened to a Linkin Park song, which was great for keeping a fast rhythm and really fit that point in my tempo "PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY", that's not the title of the song, but those are the lyrics that fit.  I did the ball grab exercise, and will do core this evening.  

I am feeling the drag of tax season, but am thrilled to be able to train and to be able to do hard workouts. 

Slept in to try to avoid my son's cold.  

In afternoon ran 5 miles on tm in 40:23.

SI has been sore more consistently for the past four days, but today it was the most concerning yet.  Pain 2-3, not during run, but before and after. 

Walked .5 then stretched.  

Met MacK and Steve.  Plan was to do 8x hill repeats of heartbreak hill, but given how my SI has felt, and my rheumotologist's admonition to avoid hills, I decided to do the other option my coach gave me: 15-20 x 1 min on/off fartlek AND I decided to just do 15 of them, how conservative of me.  

Warmed up 2.4 miles, 19 minutes, then a potty break, then started the intervals.  It was snowing during the warm up and workout.  I'll give paces for the 1 min hard by gps (1-6:15, 2-5:57, 3- 6:23, 4-5:49, 5-5:47, 6-5:28, 7-6:04, 8-5:49, 9-5:53, 10-6:24, 11-5:45, 12-6:00, 13-5:35, 14-5:44, 15-5:27).  In the one minute rests I tried to get breathing in control but it never seemed to be quite enough rest.  Which is lame since they are equal farlek pieces.  Then we cooled down, but in the last mile of the cool down I found us at heartbreak hill, and decided to run up it like it was a hill repeat, so Steve joined me.  He was ahead, but I got 1:09, so not bad on tired legs.  My SI/ham were sore at times during run, but didn't feel them during hard parts and they feel fine afterward.  

Ball grab exercise at home.  Not sure if I will do core exercises or not, some of them put pressure on my SI.  I told myself I wouldn't modify my training if I can't handle the training I go on Embrel, but I don't want to spiral into where I was last year.  It's hard to know what to do. 

Ran 5 on the tm in about 40:40, felt pretty good, had a twinge or two in the SI.  

Drove to Bear River Lodge for family snowmobiling weekend.  Turns out there is no longer a restaurant at this "resort" which is 30 miles from the nearest town--surprise!  I did have some food and we had a kitchen, so we survived. 

High altitude - about 8,500.  Plan was 1:45 long run.  I knew my paces would be shot, and was afraid my only option would be a windy hilly highway.  Well, highway 150 was my only option, and my only option was to go downhill first, but the great news is that it was only snowy for one mile, the grade was only 1-2% (my eyeball estimate), there was a decent shoulder, and there weren't many cars.  So I ran 4 miles downhill (in the 7:30ish range), then 4 uphill (more like 9:00), 1:07 at this point, then got a drink and a bite of a banana from the cabin, then ran another 4.6, half downhill and half up.  It was so freezing, probably single digits, face frozen, hands frozen.  I hit 1:45 exactly and called it a day.

EXCEPT:  then my family was waiting for me, I got ready for snowmobiling as fast as I could.  When we started (around 9:30), it was about 17F, way too cold for my tykes.  We had a two seater and a three seater.  Paul started with the two little guys, and they would poke his back to tell him to slow down, or that they were cold every couple of minutes.  So Paul was stopping a lot.  We had about 13 miles to Mirror Lake, and we switched drivers, so now I had the two little kids.  I told them not to tap me to stop unless it was an emergency.  So they didn't tap me at all, we got there in about 20 minutes, I got above 50mph, but when we got there the two little guys were hysterical, apparently they had been crying the whole time, and I couldn't hear them, they were feeding off each other's misery, but they didn't tap me because I told them not to.  We spent almost an hour in a warming hut, massaging their cold extremities and their psyches.  They had alot more fun after that.  I am not the most sensitive mother :/  I got stuck in the snow with Benji twice when we were off in the powder.  Once we dug out on our own (with our mitted hands), once we were about to call for a dig out when my husband found me, and with his strength and good driving skills he was able to get us out, no problem.  It takes a lot of chutzpa to snowmobile.  I normally freeze when I am fearful, and that doesn't work well with snowmobiling because you have to keep your cool and keep up your speed.  It was  exhilerating, though.  Driving up a hill, not knowing what is at the top, but keeping up speed to make it up.  Crazy.  I think I like skiing better.

Evening.  I did an ab workout again.  My SI is still a bit sore, but pain level 1, nothing like Wednesday.  One shoulder hurts when I do one of the ab workouts, though.  Annoying.

Anyone see Johan Olsson's performance last night in 30km cross country skiing?  His early move was gutzy and I was so happy that he fought to hold onto a medal when he had so many hungry athletes upon him in that last stretch.   

5 on tm and stretching

Slept in, forgot to set alarm.  Met MacK and Aub on Zephyr road, warmed up then did 14x25 sec strides, paces between 4:54 and 6:11.  Did first few at 5k and eventually dropped down to mile pace.  1 min rest between.

Core workout in evening.

Legs feeling good.

Went to rheumatologist. He said the risk of Enbrel is side effects which I will know about whenever I get on the medication.  He said the lead time on flare ups are unpredictable, so it's hard to say how much pain is ok before going on Enbrel.  Also, when some get on Enbrel, they felt positive effects within a week, while some take 4-6 for the positive effects to kick in.  He said he would support me going on it immediately (low risk of flare up) or waiting until I feel the need to adjust workouts for two weeks.  That is the range, and it's up to me.  Nice, eh?  

Ran 5.3 on TM and stretching.

Walked .5 and stretched at home, then met Mack.  

Workout plan is 8-10 1,000m cruise intervals @ 3:45-3:50, 8k-12k pace (6:00-6:08) with 200m rest in between.   I was really concerned about whether I could do the workout, so I really didn't plan on doing more than 8.

We warmed up 3.2 miles, then at the track I changed to my Saucony A2.  It had snowed, and there was a layer of snow/slush, on the track.  Within 25 meters I learned something about my Saucony's--they have a line of holes on the bottom, probably for ventilation.  My feet were soaked within 100m, and I starting my intervals soon afterward.  

1 - 3:48 shoe came untied, tied it during rest (1:36 rest), 2 -3:47 (1:23), 3 - 3:47 (1:28), 4- 3:47 started to get hard here (1:30), 5 - 3:49 (1:52, other shoe came untied, had to tie it), 6 - 3:47 (1:24), 7- 3:47 (1:43), 8 - 3:44 and done!  I felt better in #7 than #8.  I was not happy in #8, but not to crying or super pain stage, so I probably could have done one or two more, but I am pleased to do a decent job on this workout and under these conditions.  Next week is mile repeats.  Yikes!

power lunges and ball grab, endurox

will do core tonight. 

tm with stretching.  

Deliriously tired today, perhaps the week catching up to me?  My work was really busy this week.  Still, able to keep my miles for the week above my working hours (just barely), so that is a victory.  Just not getting enough sleep.

16 in 2:03:30, about 7:43ish pace overall.

Walking warm up at home and stretching.

Met MacK, Melody and Amanda, and Aub at 6:30 in SF.  It was so windy, almost intolerably so.  The redeeming factor is the temp was somewhere between 35-42F, so it would have been LOVELY without the wind. We stayed on the high ground until we met Beth, then down into riverbottoms.  The plan for me was 10-12 easy, then 2-4 miles at goal HM pace (6:26).  I felt fatigued in general and legs tired, but typical me, I didn't modify the workout.  As I started the hard miles I was on my own, and at .25 into it I realized, "since I am not feeling good, I should have just done two miles hard, but I've already started, and the miles are supposed to be at the end, so I am now stuck".  The first .25 mile was the hardest part of this hard workout, just the adjustment to the fast pace, I guess.  First mile was powerhouse toward the canyon, I was on pace until I hit the steep hills, hit the first mile in 6:57 (uphill and into the wind). Second was 6:24 (still into wind, down then up, net flat), 3rd was 6:22 (gradual down), 4th was really just .93 miles on my watch, but I was headed toward a 6:05 (gradual down).  The whole course was net flat.  The last quarter mile is supposed to be faster, so I started to kick at 3.75, but by 3.90 I knew I had to hit a bush or risk an accident.  Dang! I was so close to finishing with glory.  Now my finish is way lame.  That additional gear change did a number on my guts and I was done.  

My throat is sore and has that sicky taste to it, so I am drinking emergen-c as I type.  I ran out of Endurox so I had a kirkland slimfast drink as my recovery on some ice.  It is the yummiest thing I have had since Valentines.  I am so ready for the sugar challenge to be done.  I have been valiant, but my heart is not in it.