Denouement

Bad dreams!  I dremt that the first two marathons I have done, (st. G and ogden this past year) were actually done with multi hour breaks in between running stints because I had to work and take care of the kids, so in reality I had actually never run a marathon all the way through.  Glad that was just a dream.

I started this morning's run on my own but saw Whitney and joined her.  She was on a recovery run but running 7 flat pace, so I, embarrassed, asked if we could slow it down.  My legs are still sore from the race.  We slowed it down but only to 7:15 ave pace for the 5 miles I ran with her.  I finished up my miles on my own, though I saw the high school's cross country team ahead of me and caught the stragglers, held myself back from catching the main packs since I'm doing a hard workout tomorrow.

I did another ice bath this morning.  This time added one ziplock baggie of solid ice.  Temp was 59F.  Still too warm.  I guess I better start filling up some more ziplock bags so I am ready for tomorrow.

This week is supposed to be another 85 mile week.  Fun fun!

weight: 123 (lots of banana chocolate chip cookies yesterday while watching the olympics-a bad sort of irony to be watching the olympics while stuffing my face with cookies- I'll have to stick to fruit for the rest of my two week couch potato stint called the summer Olympics)

AM: 14.5 miles, Met Josse before 5:30 and ran 1.5 miles then went into Sasha for a RB (real bathroom) and stretching. Josse's coming down with something so she hung out with MattK during the tempo. He also seems to be under the weather. We did a long warm up before starting the tempo, to get more light. It was so dark on the trail during the first half of our warm up. I really think Matt would have tried to sneak by us when he passed if I didn't say, "Is that Matt?"

The goal for the tempo was 6:00 pace until failure (hopefully 6 miles, 5 miles ok, my best was 3.5 miles in June). I was still sore during yesterday's run, but my ice bath seemed to take care of it, but the workout brought back the pain.

Mile 1 - 5:58

Mile 2 - 6:04 (1:31 each quarter, I felt ok at that pace but felt like picking it up would make me quit)

2.5 is turn around, Sasha's already asking me to give him five, a bad sign, I am already slacking on pace

Mile 3 - 6:07

Mile 4 - 6:08, Sasha makes me surge to pass him and plays other running "games" with me to keep me in it

Mile 5 - 6:04 (was about 6:10 pace for the first half and less for second half), Sasha said our last 200m was a 41. Much crying after, I don't think I could have done it much better today.

5 miles in 30:21. A great time for me for a 5 mile tempo, but dang those 21 seconds!

We ran back to Josse and Matt who were following our same route and did an easy run back.

So, this workout was a great workout, a hard work out, but I didn't meet my goal. I also didn't give up when I saw that I needed to go a little slower, so that is nice practice being tough even when you're not feeling it.

My legs were so sore after the workout, so I decided to jump into the river, since I wasn't going home. I was the only one who did so I had a very enjoyable cold 10 minutes of contemplating life in nature (though I could hear the sound of the freeway faintly, but I tried to ignore that spoiler). I showered at Josse's since I was going in to work, this saved me an hour, a couple of gallons in gas, and Josse even made me a yummy egg, honey, and whole wheat toast sandwich while I was showering. She is so sweet :)

PM: Ran 3.76 in the heat of the afternoon up in WH, so hilly and hot! 8:48 ave pace

Throat feeling a little throaty and I was so tired this evening so I snuggled in a blanket and watched the Olympics in the evening.

I saw Clay this morning as I drove down the mountain.  He was going up Loafer, so I asked if I could join, he said sure but I'd have to catch him.  I had to drive .5 mile to park still, so I drove, parked then thought, "Dang, he's 6 minutes ahead of me now, I'll never catch him!"  Thankfully he stopped and stretched, so I stopped and did some stretching too.  He's bouncing right back from his injury.  We ran up to the Elk Ridge turnoff then back down. That's enough of Loafer Canyon for me.  It keeps going up for another 2-2.5 miles, but it's a killer and much steeper than any race unless you're a crazy trail racer like our own mountain goat Jon.

I still had about 5 miles to run after dropping Clay off.  My legs are tired.  I am sure it's from the race, yesterday's tempo, and doing two runs yesterday. 

 Ave pace approx 9:30

weight 122

AM: 11 miles. Met Merri in Salem ran to SF and back. We did 8 strides within the run.

Ave pace 8:21. My legs felt pretty fresh at the beginning but they still have some soreness and fatigue in them.

PM: Went to Dr. Brady's. He worked on my right hamstring, which is still tight. He asked if I had ever tore my hamstring where he was working on it (in the middle), I said not that had been diagnosed. So perhaps there is a small muscle tear there. He put on another bizarro chinese herb patch on me, on the ham. I also had him work on my left groin area, which is sore intermittently over the last couple of days. I don't feel it when I run, just sometimes when I play with my kids and other times.

Ran 4 miles in the afternoon. I started at the 7-11 by the Provo River and hopped on the river trail. It was hot! (90something) I was running out of time due to a last minute client need as I was trying to leave the office, and I had to get home at a certain time, so I wanted to run 7 min pace. But my legs felt tired the first 1/2 mile, with my right achilles tight, so I took it easy the first 1/2 mile, but then I warmed up and felt good, so started to push the pace. I did marathon pace in the middle three miles. Splits: 7:21, 6:35, 6:32, 7:05

Shoe totals: Red sox: 50, Brooks Defyance (Blue): 395, Asics Stratus 2.1 (Purple) 59

I didn't even try to watch women's gymnastics. I was so tired and I knew it would run late. So I got decent sleep instead.

I ran 6.09 miles then did pool running with MacK for 63 minutes. My chinese herbal patch came loose so I got out of the pool halfway through the workout and wrapped half my thigh in athletic tape to help it stay put. And the tape is really tight so the result was a very unattractive looking thigh, oh well, a self esteem boost to MacK as she thinks, "I can't run much right now but at least my thighs will never look like Michelle's!" It is the last day the pool is open for early morning swim :( I am so sad. It has been such a nice weekly break for my legs. We had a great time chatting and catching up. They turned on the slides and we went down the steep one after we were done.

weight 121.5ish

Shoe totals: Red sox: 50, Brooks Defyance (Blue): 401.09, Asics Stratus 2.1 (Purple) 59

I met James, Josse, and Me at the end of Hobble Creek, then we drove up to 6.67 miles from the top.  We ran easy up then 3x3miles at marathon pace, with 3 minutes rest in between (well that was the plan).  

We did the up part easy pace, then stretched, potty breaked, and I took a gu and had water at the top, then we ran some more to get about 7.33 before hitting the starting line.  I got my splits from the road markers.  The mile marks were very clear since they just repainted them for the race next weekend.

First set: 17:39 (6:03, 5:46, 5:49) James and I ran the tempo part together, we were able to stay somewhat conversational for the first two tempo intervals, though in broken sentences for me, 3:01 rest

Second set: 17:50 (.61 by garmin @6:04, 6:01 by road markers, 5:50 by road markers, .4 by garmin @ 5:39), 4:45 rest because of VPB for me and water stop, then we ran a bit more to start at the fork in the road just before the golf course

Third set: 17:40 (I missed the mile 7 mile marker so the only mile marker split I had was in the middle at 5:50) In this set I felt yucky the first mile (some uphill and dodging bikers), really good the second mile (I'll let myself feel good and even say I pushed James on this mile), and in the third mile I felt ok the first half and started to feel spent by the second, but James started to feel me slide and coached me through the last .5. 

James was such a great help throughout the whole workout.  He reminded me that I need to practice doing inventory checks: (breathing, relaxed arms, shoulders, and I would add no excessive heel striking, pushing the ground with my legs). I need to do this in my workouts so I can do it in races.

We went uphill for probably .25 while finding Josse, then went back down and have several easy miles to finish out the workout.

2:32.38 for the whole run, 7:20 ave pace

Stretching at the end, we found Me up by my car (mile 6.67 on the course).  Her feet bugged her in the workout.  I am glad she hung out by the car. 

Major ice bath when I got home 54-55F.

weight 121

I am so excited I am tubing down the Provo River this afternoon!  Perhaps I can stick in my legs for part of it to get them iced again!

Also the women's marathon is this evening!  Anyone who wants to come to my house to watch can come, see my posting on the discussion forum.