Slow & Steady Wins the Race :-)

Great recovery run today at Green River Trail with Lisa, Anya, and Anya's dad.  Nice and slow, sprinkling a little.  Time was 46:xx something, I forget.  AP 10:28.  I forgot to reset the automatic lap splits after the race, good thing it doesn't matter!  

Later took Cooper on a 1.4 mile walk in the rain.

Decided since this is a light running week it would be okay to run 3 days in a row, so grabbed Cooper and did 3 sloowww miles around the neighborhood.  TT 33:00 so AP: 11:00.  Then grabbed J and did one more mini-loop walking for a total of 3.7.

4 loops around the neighborhood with Cooper.  Garmin wasn't on for first 1.1 for some reason, so TT was probably something like 62.  AP 10:20 or something.  It was dry for most of the day!

Did my poster presentation this morning, so 1 final down, 1 to go (next Wednesday)!  Can't wait!

What a busy day!  Work, research conference in Seattle, driving to Tacoma from Seattle at rush hour (ugh!), tennis match, then surprise cake & presents with J, then drove to Portland.  TIRED!  Won my tennis match 6-0, 6-2 after some stupid captain drama about her being late.  Last match of the season, I hope it doesn't clinch my movement up to 4.5 again.  I do NOT want to be a 4.5 again!

Justin surprised me with bike shoes for my birthday!  What a great husband!  And Cooper got me a bike bag!  What a great dog.  Now time for the birthday festivities to continue with an 80's party tomorrow night!

SUMMER IS BACK!!!!!  Perfect blue sky and GORGEOUS day.  Please stay this time!

This was interesting!  Went to visit Justin's grandma this morning and then golfing with J's dad so had no time to get a run in but really wanted to.  Golf felt horrible from the very first shot on the driving range and I just didn't want to be there today and wasn't feeling it.  The whole time I was dreaming of running, since after golf we're headed straight to Salem for the party.  So at hole 7 after losing about my 10th ball of the day I said I'M OUTTA HERE!  So with no garmin, no ipod (though I played Pandora on my phone with no headphones), no shorts (I was wearing golf capri pants!), no real sports bra, and my old running shoes (that have lots of miles on them), I took off from the golf course home!  I felt like I was hauling the first 32 minutes, probably around a 9 minute pace, I felt really great.  Then I hit Westview Rd, and it was steep uphill for the next 10 minutes, which I walked 2-3 of or so.  Someday my goal is to run that whole hill.

TT: 42:xx   TD: 4.28 (thank you mapquest)  AP: Around 10, was probably 9 until the last 10 minutes, then walking and sllowwww!  I planned to do 6 but by the time I got to his house I was DEAD and running farther meant running more hills.  So I stopped. 

Now I feel ready to start the day!  :-)  I'm ready to cut loose.  Footloose!  And I have the dress to prove it!  Tonight I'm gonna party like its 1989!

Decided to make up for missing my long run over the weekend.  Did 5 laps + a tiny bit more to hit 8 this morning with Cooper.  Just a tiny drizzle for a little bit, otherwise very nice weather.  Added in a few tempo miles the last 3 miles. 

TT: 1:17:18    AP:  9:39

Splits: 10:31, 10:05, 9:49, 9:53, 9:38, 9:14, 9:10, 8:56

I had a GREAT birthday weekend, got surprised by my husband with bike shoes and pedals, had an ice cream cake, an ice cream pie, and a regular cake (yes I will not be posting my weight anytime soon), went to the absolute best 80's party EVER decked out in some sweet prom dresses, and finally, as my last birthday gift.... I SIGNED UP FOR THE PORTLAND MARATHON!!!!!!!  Now I just need to get to that starting line healthy.

3 slow miles around the Emerald Queen.  I'll call it a hill workout since I went up a big hill 3 times.  :-)  I forgot my Garmin and my ipod, and I would not run there again!  Then Lisa and Anya got there, they have been feeling under the weather so we just walked 1.43 miles.  Then we tried to go to the Wheel of Fortune audition but it was a bust so they took me to a lovely Red Robin dinner, YUM!

THANKS LADIES!

Did 22 of my accel/decel sprints as prescribed by the PT down by the park with Cooper.  Aimed for 20 but did a few extra since Cooper messed up a few by trying to kill me. 

6 miles (4 laps) around the neighborhood with Cooper.  Drizzled/rained nearly the whole time until the end, which was kind of miserable at times.  When is summer going to get here?  Yesterday it was pouring, thundering, lightning, hail.  Summer??  Hello? 

Maybe I'll post splits later... if you're lucky!  It was like TT: 57:11 and AP: 9:38 if that math even works out!

TT: 57:11   AP: 9:32 (i was close!)

Splits: 9:50, 9:41, 9:27, 9:20, 9:25, 9:27

Road 16 miles on Burke-Gilman trail before PT today.  Maybe I'll post the splits later, I think it was in like 1:16 probably 13 mph average?  I am slow.  Also, it was my first bike fall ever.  Does that make me officially a biker or officially stupid?  Don't answer that!

And with fear Justin will take away my new shoes or my bike... it was related to my first time with the bike shoes!  Whoops.  I have some blood on my hands and a huge bruise on my hip but the blow to my dignity is the worst.  Some bikers had to ask if I was okay and I must have been a sorry sight!  I was trying to turn around which I should have just stopped and flipped my bike around, but instead I tried to turn in this tiny area and went into the shoulder and panicked and couldn't get my shoes out of the clips and sloowllly came to a stop and then just toppeled over!  It seriously must have looked HILARIOUS, just slow motion falling over, luckily onto the dirt not the bike path, with my shoe still clipped in and my bike on top of me.  NICE.  I am awesome?

In better news, both phase 1 and phase 2 (aka Brian then Blasco) surprises for Justin's birthday were a SUCCESS!  I am very proud of myself and he was very surprised!

**UPDATE** I forgot it had taken almost a miles for the garmin to register because of all the trees.. So:

TT: 1:16:24  TD: 16.9  AP: 13.3 mph

Splits: 7.1 (the messed up mile), 14.5, 12.7, 10.3, 14.1, 12.8, 12.3, 14.3, 14.9, 15.0, 12.3 (the fall!), 14.1, 13.3, 14.1, 16.9, 11.9

This has been a long day!  And this was a tough run, after about 11.  At 11 I started feeling starving, which doesn't normally happen to me, so I definitely either didn't eat enough last night or enough breakfast this morning.  Ran loops around the neighborhood, no Cooper since we had guests and he had plenty of people playing with him.  Started at 7:30 but it was toasty by the end, summer is finally here!  It was gorgeous out. 

TT: 2:14:49   AP: 9:38

Splits: 9:57, 10:03, 9:43, 9:49, 9:44, 9:28, 9:38, 9:37, 9:22, 9:34, 9:27, 9:18, 9:39, 9:28

What a great day!  Beautiful weather, had a BBQ, many surprises and friends over for J's birthday, rode go-karts that go 45 mph, and finished this run without dying! :-)  I'm exhausted now though.

4 loops around the neighborhood with Cooper this morning - gorgeous day already!  Decided to add in a fast tempo run the last loop (last 1.5 miles).  Cooper seemed really tired today (maybe from the dog park lake yesterday?) and I was practically dragging him the last fast mile, poor guy!  I think summer might be here!

 TT: 58:06   AP: 9:28

Splits: 10:17, 10:04, 9:39, 9:29, 9:16, 8:04

After 2 weeks of birthday fun, I need to start focusing on healthy eating.  And adding more strength work.  These both start TODAY!

**UPDATE** What a ridiculous day.  About 5 minutes after I wrote this post this morning I looked down and saw that my engagement ring diamond was GONE.  It was HORRIBLE.  Of course a sobfest ensued along with turning the house upside down until I absolutely had to leave for a meeting.  Having just come in from the run I was certain the diamond was 99.99% for sure gone forever.  Came home and J and I started looking again... and I FOUND IT!  Hiding in one of the drainage holes in the washing machine!  I cannot believe I found it, I should go buy a lottery ticket.  Needless to say some huge emotional shifts today!

BPA trail with Lisa and Anya.  Ran to the bathroom and back before they got there, then the full trail with Anya (and Lisa for a little bit, she is looking adorable!) and then kept going after they left through some of the neighborhoods.  Garmin got messed up after I stopped to chat with Anya so I probably lost about 0.4, so I just added that in and 4 minutes to the time.  Did a mini speed workout after they left, did 12 strides of about 0.1 each.  Didn't time them, but tried to keep them in the mid to upper 7's, which I think I did.  I put the fastest time in parentheses for the strides miles.  I was really tired by the end and legs felt dead, so I think it worked!  Speedwork is so hard, but so rewarding to watch your recovery times during your run get faster faster (slowly move from a 10 minute mile to a 9!).  

TT:  1:18:29   AP: 9:12

Splits:  9:51, 9:30, 9:40, 9:46, 9:22 (6:36), 8:28 (6:26), 8:20 (6:49), 8:38 (6:53)

The hills at BPA felt hard today though, which made me realize I am probably NOT ready for the hills of Seattle RnR!  I need to get a hill workout in before next Saturday!  I've been kind of debating between doing 15 this weekend or doing a mini taper, and I think maybe I should only do 8-12 but do some of those huge hills by Justin's house a couple times. 

Rode my bike 12.96 miles at interurban after work.  Didn't fall today - that's progress!  Once again I felt like I was getting better on the way out because I was flying, but then once again hopes got dashed when I turned around and faced that headwind.  The way back was drudgery, as you can see from the splits, and I felt like I was working so hard!  At almost the end I saw a running club setting up for a 5k!  I wish I'd known about it, I didn't really have enough time to go home and get my running shoes and come back, and then Justin got home from work late or I was going to have him go too!  Next time.

TT: 55:03   AP: 14.1    TD: 12.96

Splits: 13.7, 17.4, 15.5, 15.8, 16.1, 14.2, 15.1, 13.6, 13.5, 12.7, 12.9, 12.5, 12.5

Met Jordanne at Interurban trail for 10.77 miles of biking, nice and easy, chatting.  Saw a bunch of baby bunnies I wanted to steal!

TT: 53:19,  TD: 10.77 miles   AP: 12.1 mph

Then came home, grabbed a piece of chicken because I was starving (bad idea, then had a side ache/stomache the whole time, of course I should have had something that was simple carbs like a banana instead, idiot!) and Cooper, and set out for a run around the neighborhood.  Cooper had got into the trash, bad dog, but until mile 3 when he threw up twice I didn't realize that he had eaten this aluminum foil I had cooked the chicken on last night, so it was covered in chicken grease/fat/bbq sauce and apparently he had eaten the foil too, since now its all over the sidewalk.  Sorry neighbors.  So I took him home and then did one more lap.

TT: 47:39,  TD: 5.0 miles,  AP: 9:32

Splits: 9:48, 9:29, 9:29, 9:29, 9:22

Having 3 identical splits in a row is so weird!

Went to my Brooks biomechanics study today, which was awesome, I really want to work there!  They taped me up and put reflective things all over me and then made me run down this walkway about 40 times in 4 different shoes.  I'll call it a mile.  They paid me in a cool technical running shirt but really what a great marketing strategy, I give them an hour of my time and now I'll probably buy that shoe too!  It was The Green Silence, a running flat, which I've never had before, and I loved it!  The guy also recommended I try the ST Racer for races longer than 10ks.  

Then went for a bike ride at Burke-Gilman trail, what a beautiful day along Lake Washington in the sunshine.  Longest bike ride yet, the next milestone is to hit 2 hours.  I was hungry about 3/4 of the way through, I need to pack granola bars or something.

TT: 1:35:55    TD: 23.24    AP: 14.5

Splits: 14.2, 13.5, 13.7, 13.4, 15.2, 13.5, 15.4, 15.7, 16.6, 15.7, 14.7, 14.3, 14.4, 15.2, 14.5, 14.3, 13.6, 14.2, 17.1, 14.1, 13.5, 15.4, 14.0

Its the weekend! :-)

This wasn't exactly a confidence booster.  Early morning run of loops at the dog park and back.  My legs felt like lead the whole time (because of the bike ride yesterday?) and the usual lift/natural speed-up that comes around mile 4 never came today (as you can see from my splits!).  I had to play some serious mind games to get me past 4 miles today.  Was dreading Hillside the whole run and sure enough, it was hard.  I hope I feel better than this next Saturday!

TT: 1:41:12   AP: 9:52

Splits: 10:39, 9:57, 9:42, 9:46, 9:42, 9:41, 9:41, 9:43, 9:40, 10:10 (hillside)

9 holes of golf with Justin and his dad for father's day.  It rained.  And was kind of miserable.  Jeff and his parents just happened to be in the 4-some behind us!

I'm depressed about running.  My knee hurts, and I think its getting worse, and PT isn't helping.  I probably have ITBS.  Ugh.  I'm going to pretty much take this week off (thank you tapering anyway), maybe just a 2-3 miler on Wednesday, then maybe take the week after the race off (thank you recovery week anyway).  And then see how it is.  Usually it doesn't hurt when I run, just when I do everything else that involves bending (aka climbing stairs, descending stairs, sleeping, sitting at my desk, etc.).  Sick of it.  I also decided to run around Tacoma today and it was a terrible route, trafficky, dangerous feeling, smelly, muddy, and I only got to run around my ideal destination, the pretty Tacoma fancy waterfront, for about half a mile because it turns out its 3 miles from here.  Who knew?  I had to climb under a train to avoid backtracking a mile, that was awesome.  But then I got back from the horrible run and found out my internship IS a go!  I'll be in Portland 6 weeks this summer, hopefully learning amazing things and contributing in some way! :-) 

TT:  1:01:37   AP: 9:29

Splits: 10:58 (1.15), 9:55, 8:58, 9:49, 9:39, 9:19, 8:43

I did some strides during that one fast mile, and climbed a massive hill in mile 6.

Its SUMMER!  80 degrees and beautiful today, FINALLY.  Came home and laid in my chaisse lounge chair for a little bit, lovely.  Then Justin got home and we went golfing after work for the first time this summer.  9 holes at Sumner.  I am so terrible, it is so frustrating.  I don't understand how I was getting better for awhile and all of a sudden the last 3 times I have been terrrriibbblleee.  Saw Toy Story 3 in 3D last night with our free movie tickets that expired last night (or else I would have saved them for ECLIPSE! :-) ).  It was saaadd.  I love that little horse, it reminds me of Cooper!

2 loops around the neighborhood with Cooper this morning.  My knee still hurts, ugh.  I thought it was maybe feeling better last night (first time I've taken 2 days off in a row in a long time!) but my knee hurt again as soon as I was running.  Saturday is not going to be pretty.  It was warm already at 7am too!  Hopefully that doesn't hurt Chris too much (he's doing the full). 

TT: 28:xx  

Splits: 10:04, 9:36, 8:46 (I'm just guessing from memory)

What? WHAT? If you had told me yesterday that I was going to PR today (a REAL PR, not a post-injury PR, which I was hoping for), I absolutely would not have EVER believed you. The human body is so strange and amazing. It is truly amazing that I run mid 9’s in most training runs yet I ran a 7:58 average today. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, that is a SEVEN in my average. That is like my 5k/10k pace, not my half marathon pace! Got up at 5:10am, left the house around 5:50am, got there with perfect timing to wait in the longest PoP line ever, drop off the gear bag, and head to the corrals. Justin drove Chris and I, and we almost got arrested by an angry police officer since we had no idea where we were supposed to go and got out of the car off a highway. Whoops. We had no choice! I pressed the lap button but the Garmin had some different average so those are in parentheses.

Mile 1 – 8:26 (8:19) Ran with Chris for about half a mile. He was nice and started in my corral instead of his, and it was rough going around all those people at first. It is amazing to look behind you and see a sea of 28,000 people!

Mile 2 – 8:05 (8:03) I suddenly decided that I was going to take on a new philosophy for this race: run as hard as I can for as long as I can, and not worry about bonking and pacing myself like I normally do.

Mile 3 – 7:58 (8:00) A SEVEN? What is going on? Starting to beg that I start to get in the zone.

Mile 4 – 7:53 (7:50) Got down to the waterfront which was really nice to run down there. Very pretty. Finally facing the reality that at this pace, my zone is never going to get there. Reminded myself that its supposed to hurt, that means I’m working hard!

Mile 5 – 8:35 (8:13) The first of the 2 monster hills. I thought this one was harder even though it shows less big on the elevation map. Struggled up.

Mile 6 – 7:34 (7:33) FLEW down the other side. My quads and calves are sooo feeling this downhill sprint now. There was one little short part that so downhill I was terrified I would trip and pummel down. At this point I started to think that MAYBE just maybe, a PR was possible, but was still doubting my ability to keep this pace up. I’ve pretty much never seen a 7:34 mile on my watch before.

Mile 7 – 7:36 (7:44)

Mile 8 – 8:07 (7:50)

Mile 9 – 8:02 (7:57) The second of the monster hills. The first part was really steep but short, but then it went uphill pretty much the whole mile and then some. I actually can’t believe this is the time for this mile.

Mile 10 – 7:59 The uphill continues through the I90 tunnel, which was really echoey, loud, and hot. Did I mention already that it felt muggy and humid, even though later after the race I was freezing? I started dumping water on my back and head around mile 5. Maybe just because I was working so hard, but I was HOT and it felt stuffy in the tunnel. The Garmin lost reception for the whole time in the tunnel (probably .6?) and I forgot to undo the auto pause setting so here its messed up (calculated the split from total time).

Mile 11 – 7:33 (8:02) After this mile was over I was pretty positive I was going to PR, and so happy! About that AND about the fact that it was only 2 miles left!

Mile 12 – 7:24 (7:32) On the viaduct, my quads and legs are starting to feel like lead and I really really want to be done now.

Mile 13 – 8:18 (7:39) I knew this mile felt neverending. Showing up as 1.09. Starting to get the tiniest twinge of a right calf cramp which terrified me. Luckily it never came to fruition.

Mile 13.1 – 0:44 (6:19) I DID IT!

Felt nauseous afterwards (as always, means I went as hard as I could!). Watched Chris come in at a rocking 3:20 (he did the full), then we went to Pyramid for some food, delicious apricot ale (though I could barely choke anything down), and to watch the horrible-ending USA-Guana world cup match. My knee didn’t even really hurt today, maybe its better! But my quads and calves are screaming, I’m sure from flying down the downhill. Total Ascent: 1,823 (this is missing some of the climb from mile 10)

From the mat pads - 5k: 25:24, 10k: 50:13, 9 mile: 1:12:19

A midnight run (DC time) after a hectic travel day, getting here almost late, presenting the poster, and a huge late dinner.  Every second of the 23 minutes and 45 seconds it took for me to run these 2 miles on the treadmill (you read that time right!) was torture.  My quads still majorly majorly MAJORLY hate me and going down stairs is impossible.  This is definitely in the top 3 sorest I've ever been of all time.  Up there with my 2003 half marathon I didn't train at all for (and I wasn't a runner then!) and my one sole full marathon.  HORRIBLE.  Please let me feel better tomorrow?

Day 1 of attempting to train for my first triathlon (a sprint).  850 yards of swimming in the hotel pool (which is actually nice and 25 yards long but is kind of murky and doesn't have lanes or lines on the bottom so I go all over the place, which I guess simulates open-water running?). 

Swimming is hard.  Did the first 10 laps (500 yd) without stopping in about 11 minutes.  Total swimming time of 18:36.  Have a ways to go on this.

So tired from getting up at 6:30 (3:30 pacific time!) after not being able to fall asleep until after 1am.  But its so nice and hot and humid here! 

Hopefully I'll get some other sort of workout in later, we'll see how it goes.  In other, soreness news, I have progressed to being able to take the stairs regularly, versus my one-step-at-a-time method of the past 2 days.  So that is progress!

Early morning run on the beautiful trail by the hotel on the Potomac. I wish I had my bike!  My legs still feel like lead but the run has progressed to constant discomfort from constant torturous agony, so that's definitely progress!

Got back and swam 12 laps (without stopping!) for 600 yards in 13:19.  Garmin is having battery issues again as it died after 15 mins even though I just charged it, but total was around 38 minutes. I ran sloow so it might be less than 3.8.

Can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight and be back on Pacific time, I am exhausted!