Denouement

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. 

Ran 5.04 in 8:00 ave pace, then hit the pool for pool running.  I thought maybe MacK was out of town but was thrilled that she came.  She was making me laugh quite a bit, probably a cruel attempt at drowning me :)  My legs always feel so good after getting out of the pool.  I think running and then pool running is a great workout late in the week when your legs are feeling banged up.

weight 122 

I met with Adam RW, Josse, MattK, James, Merri and her friend Tammy at the mouth of Provo Canyon for up and down, a 20 miler.  I wanted to do some fast miles and have this be one of two hard workouts for this week.  I felt good as we ran up, but when we turned around and started the fast miles it seems like I had to fight to stay in the right pace.  My legs are sore, and I'm not sure if it is residual from the race last week or just from high mileage this week.

After just over 3.5 hard we took a break at Vivian park so I could hit the bathroom and get a drink.  We were rerouted to the road because of the canyon fire, and as I picked up the pace to resume the tempo I got a side cramp that I couldn't shake so I flaked out on the tempo at about 1.5 miles.  So the workout portion of the run bordered on ignominious.  I was embarrassed to have a fast guy come down from SLC and for me to not be able to do a good workout that would count for something in his book.  I get kind of stupid when I run, the brain shuts down, and I forgot that you breathe deeply to get rid of side stitches.  Oh well. I guess not all workouts turn out.  

On the bright side, it was really nice to run with bloggers I don't normally run with, the scenery was awesome, Adam picked up 17 cents or some outrageous sum of change off the road, and we had what amounted to a post race ice bath party in the river afterward. (PS real runners sit down in the river, if you're going to get in, get in all the way baby!)  I bought a pool thermometer yesterday and brought it in.  It registered 57 degrees, not really cold enough but it seemed plenty cold to my toes.   

weight 121

I now have to pack and prep the house.  We are going to California for a short vacation.