Denouement

Scary dreams last night!

Warmed up 30 min, legs felt heavy.  20x25 sec strides, 60 sec between, this time chose a hilly course, had equal uphill and downhill for the strides.  Did well despite the heavy legs, they felt better after a few strides, felt even better second half, felt dead for the last two.  5:15 ave pace for fast part.

Quads sore, partially a residual from the 10k, partially from hills/strides today, so did an ice bath, 12 min @ 47F, then 15 min in hot shower, so hard to get out! 

Easy run, 7:48 pace.  Legs tired.

2 miles walking in evening. 

3.9 miles warm up in 30:00, then 30 min steady state tempo (6:30, 6:22, 6:26, 6:36 then 6:23 pace for 4:07, 4.65 in 30:03, 6:27.6 ave pace).  Had a really hard time keeping within pace in the fourth mile, it was slightly uphill.  Decent run overall, though.

10.37 in 1:15, 7:15 pace overall

Core workout in the evening 

Ran 8.1 in 1:01:52, or 7:39 ave pace, wasn't watching the watch too bad.  Ball of foot felt tight and achy toward the end, I would flex it in between foot strikes.  I don't mess with foot issues so got an appt with my PT same day, and he looked at it (by the afternoon I could only make it ache by arching it like I was trying to pick up a marble with my toes).  He said its not the beginning of PF, but more likely the beginning of metatarsalitis? and to take my easy runs easy.  My right ITB has been really tight and knotty, so both the PT and his meanie assistant did work on it, deep tissue with knuckles, and Astym.  I am all bruised now.  Josse would be so proud!

The great news for today, though tangential, is that I did FIVE pull ups right at the end of my run.  The most I have ever done is 3 before now. 

Early am, did my first run with another runner in 3-5 weeks, I don't know how long it's been, it's been that long.  I miss McKenzie!  Ok, so TylerS and Rich were running the am and invited me.  I was confused about where we were meeting, but I found them after they had run a mile.  The run was 14 miles, with a fast finish (@ goal half marathon pace - 6:15) for the last 2-4 miles.  Since one leg is totally bruised from PT yesterday, I thought 2 miles fast would be plenty.  We ran easy but on the swifter side of things for 11.54 miles (7:40 ave pace), then started the tempo.  I started leading, then Tyler and Rich pass me and I tuck in behind.  Used the SF half markers (running mile 3 to mile 1 markers, slight downhill).  First mile: 5:54, I guess I'll let them keep the lead, Second mile: 5:59, they are 3-5 sec ahead, I call to them that I was keeping going, and I went 2.5 miles, or just past where my car was parked.  The last half had some uphill, 6:02 pace.

14.2 miles total.  Felt great afterward.

Paul and I went on a long hike to celebrate our 14th anniversary today.  He planned it and packed plenty of food and cold water.  It was a HARD hike, way to steep up and down, if you ask me.  It's the kind of hike you don't want to do again anytime soon, though I suspect part of is is Paul and I getting older and being wusses.  It was the hike to the top of the Y mountain.  To get to the Y is steep and exposed, and about 1.1 miles.  We went to the top of the mountain above the Y, and it had fantastic views of the whole valley.  So beautiful.  It is 8 miles round trip.  It took us 5 hours and 55 minutes.  Now, if I was alone I wouldn't have taken that long, and we had lots of breaks, but it was harsh coming down, just too steep to enjoy.  There was a rattler right in the middle of the trail I found when I was leading, and I jumped back, when I did, it recognized my presence by coiling and rattling.  I freaked out because I have never seen a rattler before, and we were a couple of hours from civilization, but Paul thought it was super cool.  

Any how, 14 miles running + almost 6 hours of hiking (even though it was only 8 miles) equals I get to eat whatever I want today, and I am cashing in that chip :D 

Ran 7.81 easy, in 60 min.  

Evening: 30 min elliptical.  Hot bath and ITB roll out and stretching.  My ITB is still bruised, but a muted green, so this is the first day since my Friday PT session I felt like working on it.

25 min warm up, also stretching, then 12x 1 min on/off, with on segments meant to be 10k pace (5:55).  Did it on a hilly Payson loop, this is where I like to do my strides/fartlek, since there are up and down hill segments in equal amounts.  Then 25 min cool down.  10 miles total.  ITB not bothering me.  My right foot is a little bit achy, didn't feel it during the run, unless I paid attention to it, then I could just feel that my right foot was a bit different.  That's all.

9.5 miles easy with MacK, Holly and JenH.  MacK is running, less than three weeks after surgery.  I am happy that she is feeling so well, I am nervous she's going to get over-exuberant and tear something.  

If you do or don't know Kelsey on the blog, you might want to give her 30 seconds of your time as a wedding gift--she and her fiance are vying for a Bermuda wedding.  You can vote for them at http://tiny.cc/xdxfi and learn a bit more about them in the process.  I just voted for the first time today.  We can vote daily for them.  Best of luck Kelsey. 

Steady state tempo run, 35 minutes.  Ran along the SF half marathon course so I had mile markers.  Started at the 2 mile mark, turned around at the 5 mile mark. Goal pace is 6:21-6:34. Splits were: 6:18 (gradual uphill), 6:27 (flattish with a steep uphill, about .2 long), 6:14 (gradual downhill), 6:22 (inverse of last mile, gradual uphill), 6:04 (inverse of second mile, flattish with a steep downhill), .5 mile at 6:18 (by my garmin, gradual downhill).  Overall 5.5 miles in 34:36 (calculated stopping point, obviously made an error).  6:18 ave pace overall, a little fast.  I realized I was going to fast at the end so I slowed for the final .5 mile.

Core workout in evening.  Checked out Stage three core workout.  Will start that in July. 

In keeping with a cut-back week, I ran short.  Longer stretching.  Weeding.

Well, as this race approached I asked myself why I was driving over an hour for a 5k when I would really rather do the UVM 5k so I could cheer in all my friends that were running in Provo today.  I didn't consider that when I chose this race.  I wanted to run a circuit race hoping for good competition.  I wanted a sub 18:00, with 17:45 as B and an unrealistic 17:30 as an A goal.

I got to Holladay with just over an hour to start time.  I got my number and jogged a good part of the course for warm up.  Downhill the first mile you pay for in the second and third miles.  And that's basically how the race went.  At least the rain cleared during the race time.  

Mile 1 - Started out behind a pack of 8 guys.  We were on a flatish road, but at the 1k mark, we turn and head downhill.  I pass a guy.  I hear someone close behind me.  5:30.  Nice.

Mile 2 - This mile starts downhill, and I get passed by Amber Andrews, then is flat, then a turn around, then you go uphill. She gains quite a bit on me.  I think I am going faster than I am, my gps measures the mile long, 6:05 for this mile--lame

Mile 3 - I am tired, but I thought as I raced that I had a 5:55 split for the last mile, so I thought I could get under 18:00, which was a blessing mentally.  This mile I make myself surge many times (just surge through that turn, just surge to that truck, pretend like this is your last stride).  This mile was net uphill and had lots of turns. I don't get the mile split, but I have 6:34 for the 1.1, which is 5:58 ave pace.  It seemed so much faster!  

Well, I'm not sure what to say. I know I fought hard through the third mile.  I am sure I could have done better in the 2nd, and I guess I should have taken the first mile slower, but 5ks seem so short, I thought going out fast would be a good strategy, especially with the downhill.  It was a hard course, not one to get a 5k breakthrough, in hindsight.  I won $75 for second place, so that's cool.  I have some undone business in the 5k. 

8.53 in 1:05, 7:39 ave pace.  Hard day at work, but I work with the nicest people, so grateful.

Evening:  took a 2 mile walk with Paul. 

Ran the long Payson loop, with 20x25 sec strides, 1 min rest.  Coach says start these at 5k pace then increase speed toward 1 mile pace as you go along.  This is the first time I tried to conscientiously obey that instruction.  I held back to 5k pace for the first half and the last 7 made them more like mile pace, and so it felt nice to finish the strides feeling strong. 5:23 ave pace for fast segments.

Core workout in evening.  Also lots of weeding and cleaning.  Active day.

It was my son's last track meet of the track season. There's another meet next week, but we can't go to it.  He has been wearing my spikes from high school--they fit him!  It's been fun to see him compete.  He's not not naturally strong in sprinting or in distance, but he's improved, and he's quite good at throwing their nerf-like javelin. 

Met MacK and Ali in Salem.  Ran 6 miles, dropped of MacK, ran two more with Ali, then finished off on my own. 9.75 in 75 min (7:42 pace).  

Per Ali's suggestion, I walked .5 to get above 10 miles for today.  

Going to the PT today.  Nothing seriously wrong.  My upper left calf got tight after Saturday's race.  It's feeling better but still a little sore.  I want my upper right hamstring worked on.  My right foot is just barely tender (has been getting better over the last two weeks).  They might want to torture me by working on my ITB.  We'll see. 

3.5 miles walking in evening. 

Met MacK and TylerS.  Warmed up then did 12x1 min on/off @ 10k pace.  Averaged 5:51 pace for on segments, held back more than last time I did this workout.  I am working on obedience :) Dropped Tyler off, then MacK and ran a bit more on my own.  10 miles total.

Ab workout in evening. 

Woke up early! 4:25.  And ran with my new 405 Garmin, which just came in the mail yesterday.  It is sweet.  I like the bezel, though I am still learning how to navigate through everything.  

Ran .75 on my own, then stretched and met with MacK and Holly. Ran 6.44 total. MacK and I then went to the Payson pool, where we met up with Josse and pool ran.  1:03 in the pool.  I won't count cross training miles in my log.

18 miles easy tomorrow.  So glad I get to sleep in tomorrow. 

Ran two miles, stretched then ran 10 with Holly and MacK, picking up Aubrey on the way, then 6 less than fun miles at the end.  I started at 6:30 and finished around 9:10, so it was pretty hot the 6 miles on my own.  Legs felt good, but fatigued when I got home, kind of long run achy, so did 14 minutes in an ice bath, though I only got the temp down to 53F--should have bought some ice on the way home.

18.01 miles @ 7:45 ave pace. 

On vacation baby.  Note the great sleeptime.  We are in Oregon, so I slept until 6:15 but it felt like 7:15.  We are in Pendleton.  Went on a lovely 65 minute run with perfect temps, into farmland (without mp3 and with pepper spray).  There was a 16% hill for about .3 miles going down on the way out, way too steep to take advantage of, so I had that hill to look forward to on the way back, but it wasn't too long.  We'll do some hiking/walking later.

I survived the motel breakfast and avoided the chocolate muffins, omletes, sausage, bacon, french toast, cinnamon rolls, biscuits and gravy, and hot chocolate.  That was kind of hard.  But here's the most excellent breakfast I did have:  oatmeal, banana, 2 hard boiled eggs (skipped on 2/3 of the yolks), bran cereal, orange juice.   

Time to catch up on my blogging!  

This was in Vancouver, Washington in neighborhoods, some rolling, some flat.  Ran 3.8 warm up, nice long stretching, then 20x25 sec on/1 min off.  I couldn't figure out how to see my pace, but tried to do 5k pace for first half and 1 mile for last half.  I just calculated my overall pace at 11.55 mph (I need to figure out how to get my laps to document pace/mile instead of mph), with 11.11 for the first half and 11.99 for the second half, or 5:24 for the first half, and 5:01 for the last half, so did pretty good.  Long day on our feet, with the OMSI museum, a perfect science museum for our kids, then the Ira Keller Fountain the kids played in, then a 2.5 hour drive to Tillamook, 1 hour longer than it should have been because we got lost in Portland, then there was traffic.  Spent 5 glorious minutes at the beach at about 9pm.

Tried running around Garibaldi, a small beach town north of Tillamook (this is where we were staying).  The town is very hilly, my first mile was a 10 minute mile, my second was a 9 minute mile and included climbing high up on a road up a hill (it looked like a private road).  It dead ended into a lovely home with a gorgeous yard and three dogs that were not happy to see me.  I booked it down the hill and gave up on running in town. I ran a mile south of town to a very gradual canyon road.  It was a perfect canyon for running my Saturday run, when we came back to the city. 9.46 in 75 min, or 7:54ish pace.

Up at Silver Falls State Park conference center for my family reunion.  The state park had paved bike trails, so I did one for my steady state run.  It was a hilly trail, making getting into a steady state more challenging.  The first mile that I ran hard was a struggle, but then it got easier.

35 min steady state after 3 mile warm up and stretching (6:37, 6:43, 6:35, 6:17, 6:24, 6:29 pace for .39). 5.39 in 35:08, or 6:32 ave pace.

11.29 miles total in 1:21:55, or 7:15 ave pace.  Hopped in the creek by our cabin afterward for some muscle help, it felt awesome.  

Later did a 9 mile hike with my kids, some nieces and nephews, my sister and brother in law, my brother, my cousin and Paul.  There were 10 waterfalls on the hike, it was so beautiful.  The kids only made it about 5 miles, and some adults peeled off early to get the kids back, but my oldest son did the whole hike.  Ben is tough.

Ran 8 in 63:12, groggily.  Stayed up with siblings by the campfire until 12:30 and couldn't fall asleep right away.  Was worth it.  We had so much fun hanging out.  Shorter hike today. Napped in the car back to Tillamook.  Spent some time at the beach.  It was only in the 60's and windy so not so enjoyable for me, but the kids had fun.  Toured the cheese factory.  It was fascinating for adults and kids, then we all got ice cream.  Choc peanut butter in a waffle cone for me.

Woke up early to get in a long run before our drive from the coast to Boise.  I only had time for 14 miles, and I needed to finish fast, 2-4 miles, so did 4 miles.  Went up and down a gradual canyon road, very green and lovely.  I didn't have water, but had one gu at 8 miles, I thought going without water for 14 was pushing it but not too bad.  Fast miles were 6:09,6:11, 6:13, 5:54, all very gradual downhill.  When I got back to the hotel room Paul wasn't ready to exercise, so I went back out and ran two more miles. 

8.88 in 65 min, 7:20 ave pace, back in UT

Met MacK and Tyler. 

Warmed up 30 min, then did 20x25 sec on/1 min off again. 5:12 ave pace for 1st 10, then 4:45 ave pace for last 10.  Ave overall for fast bits were 4:58.   It seems like we were pushing them, I guess we were a bit too hard.  The paces aren't so accurate for each 25 sec, but overall they mean something.  

Overshot my cool down a bit, so got an extra .5 mile or so.

Got a nice gash in my arm about 5:20. 

Did core workout at 7pm.

Met Marion, MacK and another friend for chinese then Eclipse.  Still funny at parts, especially when sitting next to MacK, but was much better than the first two movies. 

86F at start, 90F at the end of the run.  10.23 miles in 75 min, 7:20 ave pace.  Hot! 

Got about 10-12 stitches in my arm after my run.  Seems the butterfly bandages were not adequate for my laceration.