All it takes is all you've got

6 miles in 6:49 pace

Nice and easy run with some strides mixed in.  Legs felt great! 

11 miles in 6:57 AP

Up at 6 a.m. for snow shoveling and car scraping.  We got dumped on last night so I opted to do this workout on the treadmill at FAC instead of meeting the group at East Boulder Community Park.  I even talked Aaron into joining me at FAC and forever tainted his deeply held anti-treadmill conviction.

20 minute warm up, stretching, strides

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Fartlek with 60 seconds easy between 1 & 2 minute intervals, 90 seconds easy between the 3 minute intervals, and 2 minutes easy between the 4 & 5 minute intervals.  1 & 2 minute intervals were 5:30-5:35 pace (last one faster) and 3, 4, & 5 minute intervals were 5:42-5:50 pace.  Did that make any sense at all?  Well it was a good workout.

10 minute cool down

Dynamic stretching with Aaron in the yoga room afterwards.

Showered, ate a half a bagel with a yoplait yogurt, drank a water bottle full of Ultragen, and got bundled up again to go back out in the 6 degree snow storm.

Saw Coach D in the foyer of FAC as we were leaving and chatted for a few minutes but had to leave for my massage appointment at 9 a.m. and it was already 9:10 a.m.  The massage directly after the hard workout was genius.  I think I'm going to do that more often.

9 miles in 6:55 pace

Had a nice visit with my good friend Tread Mill this morning.  Of course we didn't have much to say to each other since I had just visited him yesterday morning.  Fan, who is generally kind and enjoyable company, was being unusually crude and unpleasant.  I can't blame her for at least trying to keep it clean despite the sweaty, stinky man blocking our path.  Just as I was waving goodbye to FAC, Sunshine overbearingly attacked me and I had to quickly get a hold of Ms. Sun Glass, who is always a nice buffer.  Mr. Temperature is still repressing us with his negative morning temper, but at least we can count on good ol' Sunshine to warm Temperature's mood a little.  Its also nice to see Sunshine working so persistently at inviting Icy Path and Snow Bank to kindly leave.  Forecast told me last night that Mr. Temperature should be in a better mood by the weekend, thank goodness!

6 miles in 7:13 pace

Nice and easy recovery run.  Cannonball Cooldown afterwards. 

Went to Abe's class Valentine's Day breakfast at 8 a.m. and enjoyed chatting with and getting to know many of the other parent's and children in his class as well as his fun and friendly teachers.  The breakfast was pot luck and there were lots of yummy things on the table.  I tried not to overdo it since I was heading straight to FAC for my workout afterwards, but I have to admit, I took my plate with a few extra things on it to eat after my workout.

Went to FAC and finally got the girls checked in and myself dressed and ready to run by 9:40 a.m.  

20 minute warm up, stretching, strides

4X8 minutes w/odds at 5:50 pace and evens at 5:40 pace. 2 minutes jog between each.

4 minute cool down

I would have liked to jog a little longer of a cool down but I was pressed for time to get Ali to her gymnastics class on time so I opted for a few minutes of stretching rather than my full 10 minute jog cool down.  Then I very quickly showered and dressed and as I was leaving I saw Coach D and Mary (RRB teammate) chatting in the foyer so of course I had to stop and say Hi.  Needless to say, I didn't get Ali to gymnastics on time.  No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to get Ali and Bre to gymnastics on time.  I really need to plan better and just give myself more time at FAC.  Okay, new resolution starting now...I WILL get Ali and Bre to their gymnastics class on time!!  Except for when I don't.  Because sometimes I wont.  C'est la vie.

Anyway, while Ali did her gymnastics class, Bre and I went to get some bagel sandwiches in the sandwich shop next door and came back to eat them while we watched Ali, who scarfed her sandwich directly after class.  A good time was had by all.  

This afternoon after picking Abe up from school I dropped him off at home to play with his sisters while Aaron worked (which turned out to be the type of work that includes cleaning up blood nose mess, consoling bawling children, and cuddling with recently woken up children).  I went back to FAC to meet Colleen for a session in the weight room.  She incorporated many new lifts/movements I had never done before and I was pretty pumped (you know, that arm trembling feeling) afterwards.  The best part about my sessions with Colleen though is simply the fact that I get to hang out and chat with rock star and running legend Colleen De Reuck for an hour.  Pretty fun and inspiring if you ask me. 

21 miles in 6:44 AP; total time: 2:21:21

Well, that was NOT the most fun I have ever had on a long run.  It started out pretty awesome in the gorgeous 43 degree sunshine.  My legs were somewhat tired from yesterday's workout and weights, but they loosened up after a couple of miles. I got into a groove early and felt confident that the run would go well.  Aaron and the kids drove out to mile 8 (seeing my smiling family was the highlight of my run) and gave me a bottle of EFS electrolyte drink, so I drank about 100 calories of that at mile 8.  I went out to the 10.5 mile turn around and stopped briefly to visit the bushes.  Stopped again on my way back at mile 13 to take in a strawberry Clif Shot and the other 100 calories of EFS.  

My energy felt great, legs felt strong, mental tenacity was pushing me right along.  And then, right around mile 15 my stomach started twisting into knots and my head and back of my neck started tingling.  I had to stop to fertilize the trees two more times in the final six miles.  

At mile 16 I forced down another few calories of liquid shot and some water but my stomach was NOT happy with me.  I didn't pick up the pace at all in the final few miles, I was lucky to hold on to 6:50 pace as I brainstormed what could possibly be the cause of this annoying stomach and head problem.  

At first I wanted to blame it on the 25 mg of caffeine in the Clif Shot I had taken at mile 13.  Then I thought maybe it was the fact that I ate too much cheese with my dinner last night.  I'm coming to the conclusion lately that cheese and my stomach are not terribly good friends.  Then with a mile to go I started thinking about my kids and husband back home and I remembered yesterday evening and the hour or so of time spent with my Son, Abe giving him a back rub to help comfort him through his own stomachache and headache.  Over the past 24 hours I've had lots of close contact with him, washed his stinky sheets, given him a bath, and wiped his bloody/snotty nose many times.  And now that I'm finished with my run and I'm sitting here with a rumbling tummy unable to eat anything more than chicken noodle soup and Emergen-C, its clear to me what the problem was in those final 5 miles...good ol' fashion stomach bug.  

We've called off all our plans for today and Abe and I both will be taking naps and resting ih hopes that we can recover and feel better by tomorrow.