All it takes is all you've got

Had a stomach ache...must have been something I ate last night.  I didn't sleep very well either because Ali kept waking up from her teething pain, I assume.  Took it easy on my run.  7.8 miles around Standley Lake.  7:28 ave.

I will probably do my long run tomorrow since I am racing Saturday.  That will give me Friday to take it easy and hopefully I'll feel good Saturday morning.  

We are remodeling our kitchen.  I just sold our old cabinets this morning and we and are picking up our new cabinets tomorrow morning.  Hopefully we can get the new cabinets up fast because we have the granite people coming Tuesday to do the template and Thursday to install.  Looking forward to a new kitchen!

The long run gets a mile longer each week.  Went out and back on big dry creek trail again for my long run.  Its a perfect route for the long run because it is a nice easy trail and it goes on for miles (probably over 15 miles one way) and the trailhead begins .1 mile from my front door.  It is pretty flat; I guess a gradual downhill all the way out and gradual uphill on the way back.  Starting elevation: 5567 ft, lowest elevation (around the turn-around point): 5238 ft.

Wore the water belt today but stashed it for the middle 3 miles to give my bellie a break.  I think once I start getting over 15 miles I'm going to stash water and just pack food in my shorts.  I drank 16 ounces of gatorade and since I got my honey stix in the mail yesterday, I took a couple of those...YUM!  Thanks for the recommendation, Allie!

Speaking of Allie, MY Ali continues to be overly sad over her teething woes.  I hope she can start feeling better soon.  I didn't sleep very well again last night because of her bursts of crying and I am really looking forward to some more peaceful, fun daytime activities with a happy instead of screaming baby.  And here comes the screaming baby now.  Gotta go!

Got to Breckenridge last night.  Nice house we're staying in!  The kids are loving being together.  

I went out this morning for a short run to check out the course for the 10k tomorrow.  Its going to be a HILLY one!  There is no such thing as flat here in Breckenridge.  Its a way cool trail run though.  Through thick wooded areas.  I'm looking forward to a fun time...but not anticipating a very fast time, considering the elevation gains and tricky footing.   

That was an awesome race!  The midpoint was 800 ft. elevation higher than the start, so basically we ran up a mountain the first 3 miles and back down the mountain the second 3 miles.  There were some extremely steep sections where I couldn't even hold a sub 10:00 mile pace.  I really enjoyed the course because it was different than anything I had ever raced, and very thick forest of shade and turns.  The only somewhat annoying thing about the race was that they decided to start the women 10 minutes after the men because they had more entrants than they had ever had and they didn't want the trail to be too bottlenecked.  So I had to pass a LOT of men throughout the race and I'm sure it slowed me down some..but whatever, I wasn't going for time anyway.  Just wanted to have fun and hopefully win...so both goals accomplished!

Here is my split breakdown: mile 1 (uphill) 8:03, Mile 2 (steeper uphill, started passing men) 8:50, Mile 3 (extremely steep scramble up the mountain passing many walking men) 9:49, Mile 4 (flat for a bit, then starting the descent and passing more men) 6:50, Mile 5 (more decending with lots of sharp turns and passing men...one guy took a turn too tightly while I passed him on the outside and he slipped down...he'll have a nice bum bruise tomorrow...sorry man), Mile 6 (only .75, I guess they decided to make it shorter than an official 10K because of the insane amount of climbing) I'm not sure my pace on the last .75 because I forgot to stop my watch at the finish...but it was probably around 6:30 pace.  I think my overall time was around 45 minutes, but I'm not exactly sure since I forgot to stop my watch.  I'll check the results when they post them.  

Good Times! 

UPDATE: Went to pick up my prize later this afternoon and found out that the male winner came in at 38 and change.  My official time was 44:24 and the 2nd place woman was 46:36.  Got a free North Face backpack for winning.  

On another note, my husband, Aaron did the Firecracker 50 mile Mt. Bike race today in Breckenridge too.  It was the USA Cycling Marathon Mountain Bike National Championships for the pros.  Aaron was entered in the open clydesdale division!  Haha.  190 lbs, might as well compete against guys your same size, right?  Anyway, he had a blast and I'm happy he did it.  He has been pretty overworked in his  business lately so I think it was nice for him to take a fun 50 mile supported mountain bike ride through the beautiful mountains of Colorado.

Easy 8 around Countryside.  Lifted weights at City Park Fitness center afterwards and took my shower there because our water is turned off while we are in transition between kitchen sinks/cabinets.  Oh joy.  I also filled up a couple of water bottles at the gym so I don't die of thirst today.  I'll be glad when the home rennovations are over.  Oh, I also found out I can do the Pilates Reformer class at the fitness center since one spot opened up.  The class is 14 sessions every Tuesday and Thursday until the end of August. Starts tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to strengthening my core!  Now if my kids will just get on board with the child care! I seem to have trouble with one, two or all three of them every time I go.  Today Ali cried sporatically they said, and she was very upset by the time I got back to pick her up.  I try to bribe Abe and Breanne with special priveleges if they be good while they are there and go without a fuss but unfortanetly as I picked them up Abe was pestering a 2 year old boy and one of the child care girls was trying to get him away from the little guy.  So when I got in the hall I had a little chat with him about being nice while he's in child care and I told him I was sorry he chose to have a privelage taken away because he was a bully.  He did NOT like that and bawled as we walked to the car.  Breanne was well behaved until we had to walk down the staircase to leave and she suddenly out of the blue started wailing that she wanted to go a different way.  That is the only way to go I'm not sure where she got the idea there was another way.  I think she must have just been feeling left out because the other kids were having cows so she assumed that was her cue to melt down too.  When we got in the car to drive home, I decided to start having cows too and we had a nice whine fest to get everyone's frustrations out.  Mine was pretend and very obnoxious (think "most annoying sound in the world" on Dumb and Dumber).  Anyway, it all ended with the kids laughing at me and now we're home and the girls are asleep.  Ahhh....

Moral of the story; please dont judge Moms with whiney kids when you see them in the grocery store, gym, ect.  It is usually not their fault.  Kids have their own free agency and are usually whining because of a poor choice they have made. Oftentimes they whine for no apparent reason at all despite the Mother's best efforts to be patient and loving.  I've sure gained a greater appreciation for my Mom through the past few years.  As my kids have episodes, I have flashbacks in my mind of being in their shoes.  I remember being 4 or 5 years old and often whining in the grocery store.  Mom would open the loaf of bread or box of granola bars to silence my mouth so she could finish shopping.  In fact, it seems that every time she took me grocery shopping we had to apologize to the checker for some food item being open because I needed a snack.  One time (I was probably 8 or 9) I remember laying down in the middle of the mall because I was so tired of walking around all day looking at boring stuff.  Mom had to bribe me with a big pretzel just to get me off the floor and to the car.  And now the Karma comes back to me.  :)

Must nap later.  Aaron and I were up 'till 1 a.m. installing our cabinets so the granite installers can do an accurate template today.  Then they will fabricate the granite and install it Thursday.  

Ran an easy 9 miles around Standley Lake.  7:20 ave.  Felt pretty good but really tired when I got back.   

Feeling like some type of illness is coming on.  Slight body ache and sore throat.  Better take it easy and get lots of sleep. 

Full blown flu hit last night around 5 p.m.  I literally hit a wall; fever, body ache, migrane, at least I wasn't puking.  Called Aaron to come home early but the earliest he could make it was 6:30 p.m. and by the time he got here I just handed off the kids and went to bed.  Slept 12 hours and still felt pretty gross this morning.  Did not go running this morning but felt good enough by 11:30 to go to my pilates reformer class so at least I did that.  

Feels like my body is slowly conquering this bug and hopefully I'll feel completely better soon.  Body ache is not as overcoming and headache is less intense.  Don't know if I'll get a long run in this week since I was planning that for this morning and Aaron is leaving for a guys trip tonight so I'm on my own to find child care for the kids.  I guess I'll just see how I feel and call a sitter to come over Saturday morning if I'm up for a long run.  Tomorrow I may just go to the gym and get in some treadmill miles. 

Called the neighbor girl to come watch my kids for an hour while I went running since Aaron is in Yellowstone fishing with his Dad and brothers.    Ran easy since I am still feeling pretty weak from the flu.  Every time I tried to push the pace a bit I induced a hacking fit.  Almost coughed up a lung once, but at least I didn't puke.  Decided to just take it easy and averaged 7:39 min/mile.   I asked the neighbor girl to come back again tomorrow morning so I can run again.  If I'm feeling any better than today I'll try to go for 12 or 13 again, but I think I'll wait to bump up the long run distance to 14 until I am completely recovered next week.  

I also emailed the coach of a running group in the area to see if I could jump in on some Saturday long runs and possibly a few Tuesday evening speed work sessions.  I think I'll join them next Saturday and see how I like it.  He said he has a few guys training to go sub 2:45 this fall, so I should definitely have people to push me. 

Still feeling pretty weak from the flu that may be turning into an upper respiratory infection based on the amount of coughing and congestion I am having.  Ran easy again today 7:34 min/mile ave.

One year ago today I was going on walks every few hours in an attempt to progress labor with my third baby.  Around 2:00 p.m. I sent Abe and Breanne to their friends house and labor really started to pick up.  I called my midwife and she arrived about an hour later.  Aaron and I labored together in our bedroom and the midwife and her assistants came in to check on us every 20 minutes or so.  Around 8:30 p.m. our sweet baby Ali joined our family!   It was another peaceful, amazing homebirth and Ali was a healthy 8 lb 20 inch bundle of joy.  Now she is a happy (most of the time), exploring, giggly, fun 1 year old!  Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Easy run around Standley Lake with Aaron's sister, Ashley.  She is training for TOU also and happens to be in town for a few days visiting from Utah.  Aaron's other sister, Elisse and all their kids are also here.  Its a full house!  12 people in addition to our family of 5.  Fun times!

I am still feeling pretty under the weather.  I assume it is an upper respiratory infection that is dragging on.  The wicked cough is pretty annoying.  Anyone have any good remedy recommendations? 

Another easy run with Ashley.  I feel pretty crappy still.  But I called the Dr. this morning and decided that I just can't rationalize spending $150+ just to have a professional tell me I do indeed have an upper respiratory infection and then proceed to take antibiotics that will probably not even speed my recovery.  Been there, done that.  Would rather just rest and hydrate a lot and save my money thanks.

I'm finally starting to get my lungs back! Yeah!  This morning I started to feel a little bit better, and was able to push the pace a little without coughing my lungs up.  I'm still a little congested and coughing a bit, but my energy level is stronger.  8.5 miles at 7:14 ave.

2 miles warm up to the high school.  

800 M. at 2:45 - 1 lap jog

1600 M. at 5:56 - 1 lap jog

3200 M. at 11:55 - 1 lap jog

1600 M. at 5:57 - 1 lap jog

800 M. at 2:49

2 miles cool down

Drank 10 oz of water and 10 oz of gatorade as well as one honey stix throughout the workout.

Felt pretty great.  Not an easy workout, but I definitely feel good about doing it!  Tomorrow I'll recover and Saturday is long. 

Easy run on Big Dry Creek.  Felt pretty sore from doing my first track workout in probably 3 years yesterday.  Started to loosen up after a few miles though.  

I think I'll join in on a group run with a training group tomorrow.  This group called Runner's Edge of the Rockies does Tuesday track workouts and Saturday long runs for marathoners.  The coach said there are some guys shooting for sub 2:50 marathons in the fall so I can run with them.  I will see how I like it on Saturday and consider joining.  I'd really like to run with other people to push my pace a couple of times a week, but I just don't know if I can commit to the extra travel time. 

Joined the Runners Edge of the Rockies group run since they were meeting just 5 minutes from my house.  Seems like a pretty cool group.  They have about 250 people in the group and about 80 of them were there for the group run.  It was nice to have water and gatorade every few miles so I didn't have to wear a water belt.  I ran with the 3:15 marathon group for the first part(the sub 3:00 hour marathon pacer was not there today).  After a few miles a guy named Jason came up from behind and ran with us too.  He is shooting for a 2:40 marathon in October, and we pushed the pace for 5 miles around between miles 7-12, running 6:30-6:40 pace.  Average for the whole 14 miles was 7:17 min/mile.  I think I'll join them for next week's run in Golden.  They are doing a max of 18 miles but I'm not sure I'm ready for that since today is the longest I've done thus far.  Maybe I'll do 16 or 17 next weekend.

Ran with a new friend from my ward at church, Lindsey.  She has done a few marathons, but is trying to improve her 5k time right now.  We did a pyramid track workout.  

2 mile Warm Up 

400 M. at 80 sec. - jog

800 M. at 2:56 - 1 lap jog

1600 M. at 6:01 - 1 lap jog

800 M. at 2:54 - 1 lap jog

800 M. at 2:57 - 1 lap jog

400 M. at 80 sec.

2 mile Cool Down

Total Miles: 8 

I still felt a little flat from my long run on Saturday.  I think the 5 mile tempo made me pretty tired.  I took a two hour nap yesterday after Church.  If I go hard like that again on a Saturday I think I'll wait 'till Tuesday to do tempo work again.   

Easy 9 around countryside subdivision.  7:29 ave.

There was a violent hail storm for about 15 minutes last night around 10 p.m.  We still have a big pile of hail in our front walkway from pouring off the roof.  I saw 5 dead birds on the sidewalks this morning.  Poor birdies.  :( 

I'm going to check out a new gym this morning, Ballys.  It is actually closer than City Park Fitness Center where I've been going.  My friend Lindsey said its pretty good and the child care rates are great...only $5/month per kid.  That is unbeatable! 

2 mile warm up

4 mile tempo 6:09, 6:23, 6:15, 5:54

2 mile cool down

Felt great!

I decided to join Ballys gym yesterday because its just 10 minutes from my house and I went to check it out and they offered me $30/month including child care.  That price is unbeatable, in fact I've been paying $10 a time for child care and entrance to city park fitness, so it was a no brainer price at Ballys.  It will be good to lift weights a couple of times a week in addition to my pilates reformer at city park.  They offer pilates reformer at Ballys too, but the reformer carriages are just out in the middle of the gym and not in a separate room, so I'm skeptical about the quality of the class...I'll try it out though and see if I like it as much as city park.  I really like the instructor, Trudi at city park.  She is from Boston and has a cool accent...and she is hilarous!

Easy run around Standley Lake.  Had to go early because Aaron left at 6:30 a.m. to go mt. biking with friends in Evergreen.  7:23 ave.

Will take a nap later... 

Easy 5 recovery run.  

I had a free session with a personal trainer last night at the gym I just enrolled with, so I took advantage, and she kicked my bum!  It was a great anaerobic workout and I was pretty tired this morning.  Tomorrow I'm going to run 16-18 on my long run...depending on how long the group I am running with goes. 

And the long run keeps growing...

Did 16 this morning in Boulder with Runner's Edge of the Rockies again.  I really love running on the Boulder Creek Path (when I'm not dodging cyclists..haha...one guy rode past me RIGHT on the middle line commenting "stay on your side!" as he almost clipped my left arm).  But that guy is not the norm...most people in Boulder are really cool.  The path, besides being just really scenic and peaceful is also shady and cool AND you get to see lots of "interesting" wanderers (for those of you who have been to Boulder, you know what I am talking about).    :)

 Anyway, the run was fun and felt great and I sat in the creek up to my waist for about 20 minutes afterwards (while eating a PB&J sandwich) ohhhhhh yeeeeeeahhhhhhhhh.  

7:30 ave. 

Easy 9 around Standley Lake at 7:26 pace.  Felt good.

Went to Ballys and lifted for an hour.  The kids seem to like the child care better there...what a relief! 

Easy 9 around Countryside.  Took the kids to the dinosoar playplace at the mall this morning and then went to pilates reformer at noon.  Put the girls down for naps after lunch and took a nap while Abe played computer games.  Feeling much refreshed...gotta do some kind of tempo work tomorrow.  Aaron is riding all the way to the top of Mt. Evans (the 14,000 ft. mountain that is the backdrop of Denver in all the postcards) on Saturday morning, so I'm going to do my long run on Friday and just run on the treadmill at the gym on Saturday. 

2.5 mile warm up to the track

5 X Mile at 5:57, 5:57, 5:59, 5:56, 6:00 with 1 lap jog in between each one

2.5 mile cooldown

Left the house around 5:30 a.m. and got back around 7:00 a.m. so Aaron could go on a ride with Eric.  What a BEAUTIFUL morning!!  My favorite running weather; 57 degrees and partly cloudy.  This was not an easy workout; my legs were pretty tired for the last couple of laps of each repeat but I pushed through it.  I feel pretty great now and I'm going to take a nap here in few minutes while my kids are napping. 

Nice easy recovery run 7:34 ave.  

I added some new songs to my ipod the other day and I almost laughed out loud at this one that I found on my husband's playlist and decided to put on mine.  Code Monkey

Long run this morning.  Stashed water bottles last night so I didn't have to wear the fuel belt.  Carried Clif Shots and sour slices.  Ate about 250 calories over 18 miles, which is a little bit more than I have been doing on my long runs, but I think it was beneficial.  I never felt totally depleted and was able to hold pace all the way to the end.  I planned on averaging 7:30 pace, but it just felt more natural and very comfortable to run 7:20s.  Around mile 6 this master's Iron Man Triathlete guy creeped up on me and we started chatting and running together.  I had to laugh because I think I have fallen victim to other competitive men for the last three long runs in a row now.  They seem to want to run a half stride ahead of me and the pace keeps getting faster.  Last week was the same scenario, this guy I was running with could NOT seem to run slower than 7:10 pace even though he didn't have any reason to run faster and I told him at least 5 times that I didn't need to be going that fast.  Finally when he took a pee break, I spotted a porta-potty and ran off without telling him so we could "accidentally" get separated and I could run slower the last few miles.  This morning seemed to be the same.  The guy kept talking about his running accomplishments and kept running faster each mile...a half stride ahead of me of course.  We ended up doing about 6 miles together between 6:30-7:10 pace...so that brought my overall average down quite a bit.  Two weeks ago it was a different guy in the Runner's Edge group who seemed to want to see me suffer and threw in a 5 mile tempo at 6:30 pace.  I think he just wanted to get me beyond conversational pace so I would shut up or something.  Then afterwards he expressed that he was pretty impressed and a little threatened because he didn't want to be "chicked" by a mother of 3.  Haha.  

Anyway, this morning after the masters guy was finished I still had 5 miles to go so I slowed back to a comfortable pace around 7:20s.  Overall I felt GREAT and I am WAY excited to race a fast half-marathon next weekend.

Total for today: 18 miles @ 7:07 average.