Denouement

Went to bed feeling yucky last night.

I felt fine this morning.

I met TylerS from the blog for 8x 1/2 mile repeats on the road (flat part of Treeline road in SF).  Let me tell you up front that I pretty much stunk up this workout.  I should get some benefit from the workout, but not as much as if I had ran it smart.  I think my first mistake was to be hoping to be able to hit 2:45's.  If I had set 2:50 as my target I think I would have been more successful.  

We ran 2.11 warm up then started our repeats. 

1 -  2:43, we started this one out WAY WAY too fast, and it is my fault.  I am the more seasoned runner and should have been able to feel the trouble earlier.  I think our first 400 was about 70 sec then I struggled the rest of the 1/2, throat burning like it does when you sprint.  At the end I felt like I had ruined my workout out by starting too fast, and essentially I did, .18 rest (2:51)

2 - 2:54, it turns out the road while seemingly flat when you're running it easy, is slightly uphill on these even repeats and slightly downhill on the odd, .29 rest (3:23)

3 - 2:48, the half miles seem SOOO long, .15 rest (2:52)

4 - 2:59 (dang, double dang!), .21 rest (3:01) decide to just do 6 repeats

5 - 2:53, .22 rest (2:53)

6 - 2:59

Well, I think these splits speak for themselves.  I should have been targeting a slower time and should have been more conservative on the first interval.  I was pretty stupid out there today.  Better in a workout than in a race.  The upside is it should be fairly easy to beat this workout in the near future.

11.2 ave pace 8:35

weight 124

2 -

Ran later in morning by myself.  I felt better than yesterday.

I fought a headache off and on all day yesterday, most likely from lack of sleep and hard workout.  Family is in town so it will be hard to get in naps/sleep.

Ave pace 7:47

weight 124 

Ran four miles then met MacK for pool running in the new Payson pool.

So my Gold goal was 37:30, and Silver was 38:00, but just barely missed that one. This course is a fairly difficult one.

I ran 3 miles warm up with Josse, and my husband and son were racing too so we spent some of our time looking for Benji, I gave him a pep talk for the start of his 5k then we went to the start. At the start Rena Chesser was talking with two other girls about the money and they were saying how they wanted the money so I knew right away who I was racing against. Rena in Black, another recent BYU grad in grey and a UVU runner in red.

1 - 6:18, Mile 1 is uphill with two right turns. I am behind Rena and grey shirt. I pass grey shirt at about the mile marker.

2 - 5:47, right after the first mile marker we turn left onto University Parkway and head downhill. Its hard to shift into a faster gear, but Rena is ahead, so I close the gap and am right on her from 1.25 through mile 2. I feel like I can pass but remind myself there's alot of race left, and I just try to stay relaxed.

3 - 5:53 flat on canyon road then University Ave. Rena pulls away but I like my pace and let her go a little.

4 - 6:18, I keep 6:00 pace for the first half of mile 4, but slow down quite a bit when I turn East on 100 S and on through the mile 4 marker.

5 - 6:25, hill up to mental hospital then a 180 turn down the hill. I can't kick into a faster gear for the downhill. I am solidly in second place, Rena is quite a bit ahead and grey shirt is quite a bit behind.

6 - 6:24, long gradual uphill up 900 S. I am trying to not fade and get some wind in the second half of the mile since I know I am almost done.

.25 - 5:47 pace, I measure course as 6.17 but I bet it was full length, I kick to pass two guys and see I am so close to breaking 38:00 so I sprint but don't quite make it.

So 10k's are way hard!!!! I should have been tougher from 3.5-5.5 miles, it's hard to keep fast so long. I think I need more long intervals to simulate the intensity of a 10k.

I am pleased overall, though I wish I could have found the extra motivation in the middle. I think if I had raced it better I could have hit my gold goal of 37:30, but at the same time I'm glad the race wasn't any slower. This is definitely not a PR course. I am looking forward to Deseret News, though there is a new female team called Mormontimes.com which has quite a few fast girls who are ALL running Des News so its going to be a very competitive race.

My son Ben didn't walk at all in his 5k except for one water stop! He did so great!

PS - Did I mention I did a chair lift ride with my extended family at the Sundance Resort, then hiked down to Stewart Falls, then the rest of the way back home the night before the race?  We finished the hike at 8pm the night before the race.  Not too great for ideal race preparation, but very fun to do.  I have enjoyed having my family in town but look forward to an uneventful week next week. 

Day after 4th of July plus day after 10k = one groggy Saturday run. I met Josse and the SF group and did a very easy 15 miles. Stopped several times and chatted with different runners.

Ice bath after.

Ave pace 8:40

weight 125 (up one for the bad things I ate yesterday? I guess I am lucky its not five).

I am going to refocus on eating healthy now that the clan is leaving town.

Stayed up just after midnight talking with brother and sister in law who stayed at our house last night.  I love that family came into town but I look forward to better sleep and a mellow week this week.

I ran easy on some rickety legs this morning.  They really shouldn't feel so trashed after a cutback week.  They have felt sore since the race.  Saturday evening I started having some dull pain around my right knee, going up and down stairs, which has persisted, so I watched that knee during the run.  It appears to actually be pain around the knee, above and below it.  It didn't hurt during most of the run, just had a couple of twinges where it hurt for one strike then went away after a few seconds.  Not even sharp then, but kind of weak.  

Achy and slow.  Not sure I should do speed tomorrow, but now that that I have showered and stretched I am feeling less rickety.  

Ave pace 8:17

weight 124 

I met Josse at Sasha's and did two laps around his block so we could be warmed up and stretch before we started.  It was Jeff, Sasha, Josse, and I and MattK joined us on the river trail.  Then we did 6x1 mile repeats.  I wanted to do 5:45's but then Sasha only wanted to do 200m rests, so I downgraded my pace expectation to 5:50, which really took some pressure off.  Sasha pulled Josse in a harness so he decided 400m rest was better, but I kept my expectations at 5:50 or lower just hoped to not give up for #5 and #6.  We reversed direction on each mile (1,3,5 are very slight downhill, 2,4,6 are very slight uphill).

I don't have my watch so I have to go off memory:

1 - 5:46, felt in control, after the first mile, I inform Matt that we were doing 6 miles.  I didn't think he'd do them all (I need to psych up for big workouts like this) but he was a real trooper and was strong through all miles.  Sasha groaned through this mile after about .25 and I told him after the mile was done that I was about to punch him.

2 - 5:49

3 - 5:46, felt much harder than #1, but I was stronger than my #3 mile two weeks ago, no mid mile slow down

4 - 5:45, feeling capable of completing the workout

5 - 5:44, felt painful but still no slowdown

6 - 5:42, slowed down in the second quarter of this mile, held on for the third quarter, but kicked the last 200m  with Matt and Jeff.   Thanks so much to Jeff for encouraging me in this mile.  This is really the only mile where I needed him to tell me to close the gap and stay strong, etc.

This is my best workout of the year, possibly of my life (not my fastest, but I am now a marathoner I have to remind myself).  I have to go an ruin the post workout euphoria by getting in a tiff with Sasha about whether it's ever ok to race on Sunday.  Sorry Jeff, Josse, and Sasha for that one.  I obviously don't like being told what to do. 

Ice bath after 

weight 123  

I met Tyler, Ali, Kent and Pat at the Salem Stake center.  Pat and Kent were going to do speed but we could warm up with them.  Pat and Kent were stretching so Ali, Tyler and I ran to the corner and when we turned around Pat and Kent were gone! 

So we ran toward the river bottoms.  We eventually ran into Pat and Kent there.  We also saw Tom who gave us a quite humorous tongue-sticking out, fatigued face when we asked him what he was doing.  He was doing some type of speed.

We dropped off Ali at about 8.5 miles, then I dropped off Tyler at about 10.39 then I finished up to 12 miles.  Ali and Tyler were going a little faster than I wanted to go, so I slowed to a nice easy pace for the last 1.5 where I was on my own.  I got my first sports massage from Josse yesterday.  It didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would overall, though I was brought to tears at a couple of points.  I feel generally sore from it but not too bad.

My knee area had no twinges during my run today.  I go into Dr. Brady tomorrow.

Ave pace 8:10. 

Weight 123 

Ran up and down Payson with Ali.

I am really glad she came because it is scary to run Payson Canyon alone.

I ran .5 before we met up to warm up so I could stretch.

Here's the splits up:

1 - 7:32

2 - 7:27, Ali was a trooper and stuck with me through the mile 2 marker

3 - 6:49

4 - 7:26

5 - 8:07

.4 - 7:28 pace (I have never run this last part faster than mile 5 - so happy I felt strong all the way up).   total time up 40:46

My times last year were 46:10, 45:10, and 44:18, so this is a significant improvement off last year. I also felt much better, much stronger after mile 4 where it gets steeper.

I am not sure when Ali finished, but I reset my watch at 45:12, so she went faster than that. She ran it dang fast. Her first two splits were much faster than any of my first two splits from last year (Ali, you can see my 8/2, 8/16, and 9/13 2007 blog reports for last year's splits).

Took the downhill very slow. Bottom of right hamstring is sore. Good thing I have a Dr. appt today.

Ave pace 7:53

weight: 123

Ran 7.01 then met MacK for pool running for 60 minutes (12 minutes = 1 mile). 

Ave pace 8:00

weight 123

Went to Dr. Brady's yesterday.  He showed me some weights I should be doing, so I guess I will be starting a weight routine.  Nothing big or hard, it's just hard to find more time for training.  He worked out my right hamstring, which was sore yesterday after the workout.  It is still sore.  I'll have to watch it.  I am heading for my first 80 mile week ever.  I have felt good every day of the week except Monday. 

I did it!  My first 80 mile week ever!  

Josse and I met at the end of the HobbleCreek 1/2 course, drove up to the 6 mile mark, then ran up easy, then ran down, with alternate miles of easy and 1/2 marathon goal pace.  

When we got out of the car to start the run it was 50F!!! It was a little chilly to start but perfect weather for a long run.  

Note to self:  water out of spigot of the campsite at the hobblecreek start tastes nasty!  Took a gu there, so at mile 6.

So we got in about 7 miles before our first hard mile.  I really would like to keep my HobbleCreek pace to 6:00 average or below, so my miles should be 6:00 or below on this workout.  I would have been fine with 6:10 on the last one since its flatter.  Here are the splits for the hard miles:

1 - 5:52 (mile 2 of Hobble Creek race)

2 - 5:48, did two miles easy between 2 and 3 because we missed our water bottles so we got a drink at the cherry campsite.  The water tasted better there but the spigot was close to a smelly bathroom. (mile 4 of Hobble Creek race)

3 -  5:57 (dreaded mile 7 of Hobble Creek race, two uphill segments in there, though likely still net downhill)

4 - 5:47 (mile 9 of Hobble Creek race) 

5 - 5:58 (mile 11 of Hobble Creek race, a nasty but short hill - likely .15 in length, also road was gravelly for last 3/4, like they purposely tore up the top of the asphalt, hopefully they will repave before the race because it will slow me down).

6 - 5:55 (mile 13, including .15 of grass at the end--why does there have to be grass at the end when my legs are so tired?).

So I am happy to be sub-6 on all miles.  It didn't feel easy.  Hopefully this means a 6:00 pace for the race is getting close to do-able, and I am hoping this also means I am ready for a fast DesNews.  I have been blessed to have great training this week, even as ran the most miles ever.

Good stretching when I got home (felt way rickety by the end), ice bath up to the navel, and 45 minutes of weeding when I got home.

1:34:17 for the 1/2 marathon

weight 122 (even after a banana and a bottle of water-way dehydrated).

I'll be trying to hit 80 miles again this week, but shorter miles on recovery days and two a days on Tuesday and Thursday.  We'll see how that goes.  

9.09 at 7:56 ave pace, I felt mediumish, much better than last Monday.  Paul is out of town so I slept in.  It was overcast and already mid 70's.

weight 122 

Bad stressy sleep. Paul is out of town.

AM: Met Ali in SF riverbottoms for 6x1000 and then 4x400.

I borrowed a measuring wheel from Jamie, but it was early morning and I couldn't see the thing so I couldn't figure out how to lengthen the handle, so I walked with a crooked back trying to measure the road. The measurements didn't make sense to me at all, but I figured it out later that it was measuring feet, so kind of hard to translate to meters. I picked landmarks in the end, then measured them again after the run after I was awake enough to calculate 440yds=1320 ft, 880yds=2640, 1000m approx = 880 + 220 =1100yds, 3300 ft. These measurements on the road were shorter than what we ran, but close, so we actually ran a bit longer.

1 - 3:27, slight uphill (Ali 3:45), rest 3:25

2 - 3:26, slight downhill (Ali 3:45), rest 3:24

3 - 3:27, kept switching directions so up again, (Ali 3:53), rest 3:30

4 - 3:24, rest 3:34

5 - 3:28, rest 3:24

6 - 3:29, rest 4:35 then started 400's

1 - 76, slight uphill (Ali 85), .25 rest

2 - 75, slight downhill (Ali 85) .25 rest

3 - 77, slight uphill (Ali 85) .25 rest

4 - 73, Ali hung tighter on this one and got a 77

I am generally happy with the workout. I did start to fade on the 1000's a bit, but not too bad. It's so much harder to do a workout without Sasha or Jeff pacing, but this is exactly what I need, to learn to be tough all by my lonesome.

I ran over 3 miles after cool down.

Thanks Ali for coming out and doing speed with me!

PM:  I went to Josse's and she worked out my right hamstring.  It's been bugging me for about a week now.   There was a big hard knot she worked on.  It hurt so bad!

I ran 4.25 miles on the treadmill at an easy pace (between 8:40 and 8:00).

I will do abs later tonight.

Recovery run in Salem.  I saw Beth at about 2 miles and ran with her for just under two miles, then went out on my own.

In the evening after my treadmill run both of my achilles were tender.  I iced both, did some stretching, was very concerned about running on them, but they did just fine.  Perhaps some weakness but no pain.  My feet are in a ice trash can right now just to be safe.  

My hamstring is still tight, but not too bothersome.   

Ave pace 8:08

weight 121 for the first time since January, and before January 2008, I haven't been this weight since about 10th grade.  Still need to tone my upper thighs, where I pack my trash.  My goal is to have Sasha tell me I look like an out of shape elite runner (anyone remember where that comes from?).

AM:  Achy. Tender achilles tendons last night. Decided against the Hobble Creek 6 mile tempo I had planned. Ran easy around Springville with Josse. Right hamstring is still tight. When we turned around when going up a hill at mile 6 my left hamstring (or one or all of my tendons behind my knee to be more accurate) started hurting sharply. I stopped, poked at it and stretched, then started up again. The pain gradually subsided over the next 4 miles. I am falling apart!

I took an ice bath and stretched when I got home and my legs feel just fine now. When I am so achy the first thing to go has got to be the speed, but the next thing to go will be the mileage. Without speed or mileage I am not good for anything :(

weight 123

PM: Ran from Josse's house for a 3.02 mile run, ave 7:38 pace.  It was 92F when I started--way hot.  Then Josse gave me a massage and worked over my legs really good.  I have knots and tight muscles everywhere but she showed them who's boss.  I just laid there passively moaning and crying. 

Ab workout in evening. 

 

Ran 6.83 @ 8:08 ave pace then hit the pool for pool running with MacK.  My legs felt tight to start, then warmed and loosened up, I stretched at mile 1.  They continued to feel pretty good, though my pain in the back of my right knee returned.  It didn't hurt as bad as yesterday but was present.  For part of the pool running I could feel some joint popping I think from my right leg as I rotated my legs.  Not sure if that's bad or ok.

weight 123

I need a nap!

Its my youngest son's 4th birthday today.  I made sausage, bacon and pancakes for breakfast.  I only ate the pancakes with light syrup, strawberries, and bananas sliced on top.  Who says I've got no discipline???? 

Went to SF meeting place early because I have a church breakfast this morning.  Started at 4:30ish alone, ran 3.5, then stretched while the SF group formed.  We ran around the golf course.  I was supposed to gradually drop my pace until I hit marathon pace then do a marathon pace tempo which was supposed to quicken as it went.  I tried to pull the group of men faster, but it ended up being me and a 13 year old kid named Carter.  I warned him I was going to start doing marathon paced miles soon, and he didn't seem phased (he's doing St G this year-too young to start if you ask me!).  I started my tempo where we turn down Powerhouse, after 6.63 in 53:12.

1 -  6:38, uphill, Carter stuck with me for the first mile

2 - 6:31, gradual downhill, stopped for some gatorade quickly then turned around to go up Powerhouse so I would pass the pack of men behind me and hit the bushes in peace

3 - 6:30, gradual uphill up Powerhouse, stop in the bushes after this mile

4 - 6:26, same mile as mile #2, Carter had turned around with me so I had to explain to him to turn around (he was new to the SF group and I didn't want him to get lost)

5 - 6:30, gradual downhill and flat

6 - 6:53, uphill, up Zephyr, still was kind of weak in this mile (should have been 6:40-6:45)

7 - 6:39, up pretty little road then downhill, probably net elevation gain of ZERO, want to quit by this time but tell myself to hang in until mile 8

8 - 6:27, Zephyr downhill, another pitstop in this mile

9 - 6:32, gradual uphill

10 - 6:27, gradual uphill

so average pace was 6:33 for the tempo,  I wasn't able to increase the pace to 1/2 marathon pace like I wanted to, but I guess I should have anticipated this workout wouldn't be stellar since I haven't done more than a 6 mile tempo in recent history.  I am happy with the workout in general. 

18.7 overall distance, 7:25 ave pace

weight 122

ice bath after

Off to the ward breakfast now.  Please don't let me eat sausage (I love sausage).

Legs felt much fresher this morning than prior Mondays.

I forgot to write on Saturday that my legs felt pretty good on Saturday, but my right hamstring did tighten and cause me concern from miles 5-7, but then it got better again. Today my leg felt fine, only a little tight, but after the run it felt somewhat sore. I'm just glad no tendon has snapped and no muscle has exploded from doing 80 miles two weeks in a row. I will be dropping miles this week to prep for Des News 10k.

Did a Payson loop. It was humid and sprinkly at times.

ave pace 7:49

weight 122

Evening: core workout and one legged squats without weights (first time doing these).

I met Ali in SF riverbottoms. We did a 3 mile warmup then 2x10minutes at threshold with 2 minutes rest (goal pace 6:15).

first set -1.64 miles, 6:13 first mile, Ali was tough and stayed with me for the first mile, then .64 in 3:55 (6:06 pace) - I went 8 seconds too long!, this first 10 minutes has a slight downhill, 2:06 rest

second set - 1.63 miles, 6:13 first mile, Ali fell back after about 1/3 mile, .63 in 3:55 (6:17 pace), I went 8 seconds too long on this piece on purpose to make them even in time, this rep was in the opposite direction, so slight uphill

I wanted this workout to be only medium effort. The effort was more than I wanted to keep pace, but I hit my desired pace. I was going to run 10-11 miles but I cut it a little short in an attempt to not tax my legs too much before my big Thursday race. Perhaps my legs are a little tired from the squats I did last night.

Ave pace 8:13

weight 122

PM:  Dr. Brady

Top 3 pains:

1 - Right hamstring (still tight on Saturday workout, generally tight, not full flexibility), he worked out extensively

2 - both achilles tender, increasing as day goes on, no pain at all while running, he worked out calves and tendon areas, even the front of my calves, I have two nice bruises from them

3 - behind left knee (pain from last Thursdays runs, still a twinge or two per run there, but not major) I don't remember him treating me for that. 

He showed me some more strengthening exercises for my legs, and we discussed whether these were or were not bad to start in the middle of a training cycle.  He said the weights are so light they are not a weight training exercise, but an introduction to strengthening exercises for my legs. 

He chastised me for running all my miles on asphalt but there really aren't good dirt roads around here that I know of.  I am going to keep my eyes open for some though.  There are so many farms and fields there must be some flat ones I am just not SEEING.

Humid again.  Easy miles.  I sang with my music quite a bit to make sure I didn't run too fast.  

8:23 ave pace

Bonnie is hosting me for the DesNews 10k!  She is so sweet to do that.  So I'll be driving up this afternoon and spending the evening with her and her husband, then waking up way early for the race tomorrow.  I am EXCITED/NERVOUS! 

I slept at Bonnie's home and woke up at 4:20 for the 6am start of the Deseret News 10k.  Bonnie was supposed to wake up at 4am but her alarm didn't go off, so she had to get ready in record time.  We still got to the start with an hour to go.  We ran about 2.5 together and stretched.  Then I switched into my racers and did some strides and jogging.  The start was about 10 minutes late.  I saw a girl in bummies and Lindsey was there so there went first and second place.  I lined up just behind Chad and AdamRW.  It was nice to get to know them better.

My goals were 1- be under 36:30, 2 - break 36, 3 - break 35:48 (college pr), and of course, then 4 - break 35:30, which Sasha said was within the realm of possibilities.  I also wanted to place top 5 since that's where the money is, but I had less control over that than my time. 35:30 was about 5:45 pace overall, but should have had the first two splits of 5:38 and 5:36 

1 - 5:18 The race starts out fast!!!! Tons of girls and guys starting sub 5:00 pace even though the first .25 was flat, then we turn and head down on a steep downhill.  I start out too fast, but gradually slow and hold back and try to stay relaxed and not worry that there are 15 girls ahead of me.

 2 - 5:23 I try not to panic when I see the 5:18 first split and focus on running a good second split

3 - 5:45 This mile starts flat and my watch is registering slower than 6 min pace, at 2.5 the course turns downhill and I start to reel in the two mormontimes.com girls ahead of me, Michelle Simonaitis is right behind me so lots of people who didn't know me were cheering for our local masters celebrity

4 - 5:48 Still downhill but not as steep, there still hasn't been any water and I am sure wanting some

5 - 5:40 Similar to mile 4, I am feeling good still, and I know I am on target for 35 minutes

6 - 6:07 This mile stunk, first generally flat then slight uphill for the second half.  I am dying but I use my watch to try to motivate myself, trying to keep the pace below 6:00, which didn't quite happen but I think the game helped me by 5-10 seconds, a girl passes me with about .5 to go and I don't feel like going for her nor the two other girls that are theoretically in reach

.2 - ?  Cody cheers me on at about the 6 mile mark and out of embarrassment I decide to try to pick off the girls.  I use my recent 400m repeats as confidence and turn on the burners and pass two of the three girls.  The girl right ahead of me that I wasn't able to snag turned out to be Carre Joyce, who won the Ogden marathon.

I got 8th place but with 35:02, I can't complain.  I would guess that this race is about 1 minute faster than flat sea level (two minutes faster because of downhill but one minute credit back because of altitude).  I did weaken a bit in mile 6, but I felt much stronger than the 4th of July 10k I just did.

I jogged backwards on the course until I saw Bonnie and cheered her in.  She ran a great race, close to a PR.  I chatted with Chad and Adam, and then Bonnie's husband Dean, then met Emily Jameson and we ran almost 6 miles together.  It was much faster than my normal cool down's but it was great to catch up with her and learn from her.

I have felt so sick since the race.  I have the runs and stomach issues.  I am just starting to feel better, though my bed is calling to me to lay down.  I have to wait until naptime.

I felt horrible yesterday after my race (I felt fine for a couple of hours after, then it set in).  I have never felt so yucky.  I had constricted breathing, a headache and the runs and I didn't even notice the sore muscles.   

I woke up feeling better.  I ran nice and slow with Ali. My stomach still felt sensitive the first couple of miles with the inherent jostling that happens when running.  My breathing still didn't feel 100% and my legs are sore.  We stopped and stretched after a mile and that helped quite a bit. 

Ave pace 8:21 

Four hours of sleep-BAD!

My legs, my quads especially, are still sore from the Thursday race, so I sprayed on some type of soreness relief spray Ali gave me, which numbed them for a couple of miles, but it wore off (I am not sure at what mile).

I met the SF group, and Josse recruited a new fast girl named Merri, and she's training for her first marathon this year (TOU). It quickly became Josse, Merri, Hal, Chad and I. We went up to the top of Harry's Hill. Remember I said I would always push this hill. So even though I was sore, I pushed the hill. I was behind everyone because of a VPB. Hal was taking the hill hardest so I didn't think I'd catch him but I did at the end. .88 miles in 7:33 pace.  Last time I did this hill (5 weeks ago) I did the hill in 7:42 pace, but I didn't crest the hill as much so it was .82 distance. We did the Salem loop and met up with Darin then went around the golf course. By this time it was just Darin, Hal, Josse and I. Josse said she wanted to take it easy but I was feeling pretty good so I went a little faster with Darin, but our pace kept dropping, eventually below 7 min pace. I turned around for Josse, and we finished up with Hal.

8:02 ave pace. Very hot morning but at least there were clouds so no direct sun in the face. I didn't notice any hamstring issue other than some tightness.

Ice bath after, which I was able to make colder by freezing sandwich ziploc bags full of water. I had five of those, three cold packs, and the whole ice making container in the tub with me. I stayed in an extra long time and there were still the five ice chunks (shrinking but still there). I think I'll make these bags more often because the last time I went in the ice bath it didn't feel cold enough.

weight 122

So hard to fall asleep and stay asleep when I have had a good Sunday nap.  I especially have a hard time if I put on my coach hat, since I self-coach.  I think about upcoming workouts and what I should do, mileage for the next month, up coming races, and it's all highly not conducive to sleeping. 

Oh well, so I ran by myself for 11 miles.  Right ham still bothering me.  It started at the lower tendon, shooting up, and by the end of the run that didn't hurt but my upper attachments to my "sitting bone" hurt.  I was debating whether to delay my dr appt since my legs in general feel fine, but the ham needs some work.  My flexibility in my hams has decreased in the last month because of this tightness/soreness even though I am stretching 1-4 times a day.

ave pace 8:00

weight 122

Defyance 

I had a hard time falling asleep again last night. Took some Benadryl and that helped.

I warmed up with Josse 1.87 before 5:30 meet time, then we stretched and negotiated the workout with Sasha. We coordinated what the workout would be (3x2mile, with 200m rest) by email but Sasha thought I should do 6:00 pace or even 5:55 until failure. I didn't want to fail or race today since I am still just 5 days out from DesNews, not only a 10k but one that bangs up your legs, so I wouldn't change. He agreed to keep to plan but then asked if I would wear a heartrate monitor. I was feeling gracious since I won regarding the workout, so I agreed. He wore the watch that says what my heartrate was and tracked it through the workout. I was around 85 to start, rising to 130 or so during the warm up. After about 2 miles we started the first "cruise interval". I wanted 6:05-6:10 pace, Sasha wanted 6:00 or less pace. He generally won that fight.

1st interval: 12:00 5:56 first mile, 6:04 second mile, this is down the river trail so a slight downhill, we had more like a 400m rest after the 1st one because Sasha had some business with the bushes

2nd interval: 12:02 5:58 first mile, 6:04 second mile, this is a slight uphill, 200m rest

3rd interval: 11:52 5:59 first mile, 5:53 second mile, this is slight downhill, at the very beginning of this interval my legs felt tired and sore so I knew it would be tough making it through the last one. Sasha was having me give him five through the 5th and 6th quarters, challenging me to increase my heartrate (which was hanging out around 174). I started to pick it up as he challenged me to start my kick with about 600m to go and we tried our darnest to get my heartrate above 180 in the last 400. It got to 180 but not above. Much crying and close to throwing up at the end of this interval.

I am very grateful for him pacing me through this workout. I went faster than I wanted to (I wanted the pace to feel more controlled) but I am happy to get challenged and to work hard when I do come up to workout with his crew. I'll be up again in two weeks and we'll try the 6:00 to failure. Sounds like a load of fun!

Josse had to get to get home early, so we saw her after the first and toward the end of her second interval. She broke 13 min. for her first, so excellent!

I have a Dr. appt after some work this afternoon then will need to get another run in to reach my mileage for this week (85-ouch!).

Stretching, ice bath, Endurox (new flavor fruit punch - it's so gross but I guess I'll get used to it, I better anyway because I have a huge tub of it)

weight 122

PM:  Appt w/ Dr. Brady, had my back, hip and right hamstring worked on.  Then ran 5 miles on the river trail.  It wasn't bad in the shade but brutally hot (high 90's) in the sun. Ave pace 7:47

I had to fast from 7pm to 7am for some blood work this morning. So I went to be early last night and got up early to run.

Met Ali at 5am in Salem and ran to the ballpark and back. I was ok until about mile 9 and then I started to fade bad, probably because of no food after 7pm, and I had run yesterday afternoon so my body probably wanted some more fuel, or it was just mental and I was being a baby. Either way, slowed way down and finished most ungloriously.

Ave pace 8:18

weight 120 (must be the fasting)

I am going with my family to Raging Waters in SLC so it should be a fun but tiring day in the sun.

Time for some chow! 

Ran with Merri up and down Payson Canyon. I was going to do some stride but forgot until less than two miles from the bottom. Doing them showed me how sore my legs were. I think going downhill recalled the downhill soreness from my race one week ago. We didn't tempo up but our time up was 47:07 for 5.4 miles. 11.20 miles total for morning. 8:10 ave pace

weight 122

PM: Ran 4.47 at 8:21 ave pace in WH (higher altitude, about 6000 ave). I did the boring park loop, did the shady part uphill to increase the percentage of time in the shade. Ran through the sprinklers. Still nasty hot.

Evening: abs, stretching and leg exercises.  Enough to count as three workouts in one day.  Geez.