Slow & Steady Wins the Race :-)

Happy New Year!

Even though I'm on such a roll, no work-out today.  I'll have to start my 30-something streak of working out again over at 1 tomorrow.  Just too tired from too much fun last night. Ha! :-)

I had such high hopes for my running in 2009, looking back at my resolutions for last year makes me sad.  I only met 1 goal, which was to run a half marathon in less than 2 hours (and was the one I broke my ankle in).  I hope hope hope 2010 is a much much MUCH better running year.  So resolutions for this year, include first and foremost:

1) STAY HEALTHY!  Do not get injured.  Do not do not do NOT get injured.  Being injured is miserable, I lost a good 6 months of 2009 and I can't let myself forget that.  I feel I have lately, and just love running so much, so I've let the running get out of control again.  6 days a week, nearly 30 miles a week, now that is just ridiculous and just asking for trouble.  So I'm going to be smart.  I think I need to suck it up and join a gym so I can use an elliptical, or just be consistent in doing P90x or yoga on running days off.  So for now, 3-4 days of running a week ONLY, try to keep it 20-25 miles.  Rest is good. 

2) STAY HEALTHY!  But if I do, finish the 2010 Atlanta Half Marathon on March 21 with @Leandrea.  We just signed up!  Just finish it, no time goals whatsoever.

3) STAY HEALTHY!  But if I do, perhaps a fall full marathon? 

Took Cooper out for a walk today, only ran about .8-.9 of this, was still feeling a little shin-splinty and wanted to take it easy since I'm running tomorrow with Lisa and Anya.  Hopefully I can make it through the run with them without walking!  Getting a little worried.... Maybe I just need a whole week off or something.

Ran 5 miles at BPA trail with Lisa and Anya, then out to breakfast at Black Bear Diner for Lisa's 30th Birthday afterwards! :-)

That's the good news.  I am worried, very very worried.  I feel my ankle again, and I fear my new year's resolution and new training plan is too little, too late.  I am going to take this whole week off, I have purchased some homeopathic remedy (I know, never done that before!) and I am just going to take that and hope.  Hope hope hope.   I DO NOT WANT TO BE INJURED AGAIN!  Hmm, at least i already have the crutches and boot ready?

Week off.  So did about 30 minutes of yoga.  

2 miles walking on the TM, followed by a little yoga, squats, and Day #1 of the 100 push-up challenge, which was: 6,6,4,4,8(max).

Went to the Dr this morning, convinced me all over again how horrible my dr was before and that I should have gotten someone new a longggg time ago instead of wasting all this time.  I have a bone scan later this week (scary! I've never had one before, kind of scared of the injection!), so then I will know for sure if my worst fears are true.  Yesterday and today though my ankle has felt much better though, so I did run 1 mile today on the TM.  2 miles total.  I did .5 walking, .5 running, .25 walk, .5 run, .25 walk.  Tomorrow I'm going to try 2-3 miles and see how it feels, and if it feels good, start my 3 days a week routine.  

Here's what she said though:

1) Orthotics - I got the SuperFeet Berry insoles for my shoes, I'm supposed to try these for a month and if they don't do enough for me I'll go the route of getting official expensive orthotics.  This should help with the shin splints, and possibly correspondingly, with the ankle.

2) Stretching & Strengthening - I need to warm-up, cool-down, stretch, and strengthen (duh, but I don't do it!).  Strengthen my front shin muscles, my knee inside, outside, and front muscles.  Do more p90x plus the special exercises, and do more yoga for the stretching.

Oh yeah, and Day 2 of the push-up challenge: 6, 8, 6, 6, 8(max)

Ran 2 miles on the TM at 5.0 (12:00, that's right, 12 minute miles!).  Did .5 mile warm-up and 1 mile cool-down for total of 3.5

At the end felt a tiny ache in my ankle.  Ugh, why can't i just be 100% and do whatever I want?  I'll try again on Tuesday and see how it is.  Bone scan sometime this week.

Day 3: 8, 10, 7, 7, 10(max)

CardioX.  

Ran 2.5 miles on the TM, 3.5 miles total (.5 mile warm-up and .5 mile cool-down). Felt better, I think. Less achiness about the ankle, and felt okay running.  What's sad is in just the week off I can already see my aerobic fitness is much worse!  I'll try for 3 on Thursday and see how it feels.

KenpoX.  Poor Cooper, he thinks anytime I'm moving around I'm trying to play with him, and today he took an uppercut right to the snout!  I felt sooo terrible.  He seemed to be fine, but I seriously connected with it like I was trying to punch him in the face.  Poor little guy.  

In other news, my arms have been so sore the last 2 days that the push-up challenge is out of the question.  So maybe I'm a little behind on that!

Walked a mile, ran 3, then walked another .5, on the TM.  

Found out my bone scan is going to cost $300 freaking dollars tomorrow, ugh.  If I can't afford health care WITH health insurance how can people even begin to afford health care without insurance?  So I'm trying to get out of it, but since it was past 5 when I found out this and a bunch of other problems ensued I'm not sure I can without paying a penalty. So I don't know what to do.  Just seems like a waste of money with my ankle feeling better.  I HATE HEALTH CARE COSTS!

Ran 3.25 miles with Cooper outside.  Ended up going to get the bone scan/xray yesterday despite the humongous cost, ugh.  We'll see what the dr says next week.  I have a feeling I'm in for some rest though, I better go get a gym membership and become best friends with an elliptical and the pool.  blah!

Played and walked about 13/14 holes of golf on the most beautiful Seattle day!  It was seriously gorgeous, like an April lovely spring day, not a day in the middle of terrible rain storms in January!  

I think I'm taking a running break for awhile, until maybe my ankle is healed.  Sad.  I'll try not to get too depressed about it.  

That's right, 2 miles today, outside with Cooper!  :-)  My Dr called earlier and SHOCKINGLY said she thinks I am healed, my xray and bone scan looked fine!  She said there is still some remodeling going on which might be why its achey, or it could be soft tissue that I need to strengthen, which I'm going to work on.  So she got me an ankle brace (which I wore and it feels so good and supportive, though chafing is a minor problem) and I'm going to go to a few physical therapy sessions to learn strengthening exercises and such.  I am ECSTATIC! Can you tell? :-)

Later I was in such a good mood we went and played tennis for the first time in forever.  I was terrible, and am going to be SO sore tomorrow in the weirdest places, like my pinky finger and the weird muscle in my hand and probably my shoulders.  

YAY!

Wonderful run with Lisa and Anya, its soooooo good to be running!  The ankle brace, although a chafer, is wonderful in terms of support.  I should have had that thing this whole time for sure.

 3.5 miles, up a HUGE hill (thanks Lisa!), I'll have to upload the Garmin data later just to see what the elevation change was.  It was rough.  

Garmin Update - Splits: 13:12 (the HUGE hill where we walked at the top), 10:53, 10:32, 10:23 (0.5)

Average pace: 11:22

That hill was 400 feet!  Total ascent 572. 

43 F.  Ran 5 miles with Lisa today at BPA trail, and it felt GREAT.  So happy to be out there.  And it was very very hilly, and we both did great, ran the whole time without walking any of the hills.  Just a tiny sprinkle, it started raining on my drive home so we got done just in time.

Splits: 10:22, 9:36, 9:50, 10:15, 10:07

Average: 10:02

Walking .4 mile cool-down.  The brace is great, but I have to figure out something about chafing.  Even over the sock, today it rubbed my heel raw.  Maybe I'm tying it too tight?  Or need something else (like lyrcra based?) underneath it?

3 miles on the TM, at around 5.6 (10:42).  .25 warm-up and .75 cool-down for a total of 4, while watching the Biggest Loser. I must say I think this is the worst season yet, I don't like ANY of the people on there!  Tonight was ridiculous.

In a separate note, I must first say how incredibly happy I am to be running again.  Soooo happy. But, now on to complaining :-) I really really really hate the treadmill.  It makes running feel like torture, while running outside is the most wonderful thing ever. The pace is either uncomfortably slow or uncomfortably fast, even at 10:42 miles.  BUT I DO LOVE RUNNING!

PS I can't WAIT until next Tuesday - LOOSSTTTT!!!!

Went to the park and ran 2 miles on the track with Justin, then played some tennis (30 minutes?).  I am a little bit better, but still sooo bad and slow at all the sprinting.

The run was great though, Justin was fast (he's actually been running a lot lately), so I struggled to keep up with him the first mile, and the second mile I ran pretty hard (for me).

Splits: 8:54, 8:21

Time: 17:14, Average: 8:37

45 minutes playing tennis with Justin.  My wrist was tired immediately, need to take tomorrow off from tennis.  That and the tendon on the inside of my elbow is sooo sore.  But feeling better!  Plus I'm getting my racket restrung and I found a team to be on!  

Got home right at 5 and it was still a little light out so I chanced it for a run with Cooper around the neighborhood.  Seemed like it was barely barely sprinkling, and I was hot in my rain jacket and regretting it, but when I got back both my hat and jacket were completely drenched so guess its good I wore them.  Was dark dark at 3.5 but finished to 4, just sticking in the culdesacs around my house.

Splits: 10:07, 10:11, 9:51, 9:55

Average: 10:04

30 minutes of Your Shape.  Was actually a surprisingly good workout (said I burned 308 calories but that seems like too much), but it was obnoxiously annoying saying I was doing it wrong the whole time even though I wasn't!  It said I only did 60% of it right or gave 60% effort or something, which made me mad, and the constant "watch your arms" "watch your legs" drove me crazy, I need to figure out if I can change the settings or I'll never do it again. It probably didn't help that Cooper was running around in front of the camera the whole time!

So glad this run is out of the way.  Ran up to Celebration Park (almost, it was more hills to the top so stopped just before) and back.  Not to be a Debbie Downer, but it wasn't too enjoyable.  WAY too much traffic, if I'm going to do this route I need to leave way earlier on a weekend day, it was loud and exhausty and I thought I was probably going to be killed.  It was also pretty hilly (pretty much all of 9th street is a one mile+ hill!), I kept getting a side-ache, and my right shoulder kept hurting (probably from being tense from thinking I was going to die).  The good part was that if it had been in my neighborhood, I'm sure I would have stopped way earlier because I was tired, and all these other reasons!  Walked 0.23 cool-down for total of 6.57.

I missed Lisa and Anya today.

Splits: 10:11, 9:42, 9:55, 9:40, 9:40, 9:42, 9:42 (.34)

I am pretty consistent eh?  Average pace: 9:47, Total Ascent: 701 ft.

Later went golfing so got in probably another 2 miles of walking.  Good thing, because I just ate the most delicious and terrible meal for me ever.

Weekly Summary: Mon-off, Tues-3, Wed-2, Thurs-off, Fri-4.15, Sat-off, Sun-6.34

Weekly Total: 15.49

Had late class tonight but rushed home and got on the TM to try and get in 3.5 before the new LOST (while watching the recap show, of course!).  Ran 5 minutes over or so, and didn't get the cool-down in, so just did a .25 warm up and only .06 cool down instead of .25 for 3.81 total. 

1.5 at 5.6 (10:42), .5 at 5.8 (10:20), 1 at 6.0 (10:00) and last .5 at progression every .1 up to 6.8.  Kind of a tempo run for me.

LOST LOST LOST LOST LOST!  We have to go back!

5pm, 50 F.  After an incredibly nasty day of rain when I was almost home from class all of a sudden it was dry out!  So as soon as I got home I grabbed Cooper and headed out, when of course it started drizzling again immediately, but I never really noticed it, my ears were cold for a little bit (achey) but otherwise the rain kept me at a good temperature.  GREAT run today, just felt great, out there with my bestest friend Cooper.  :-)  Felt so good I wanted to keep going and do 4 but decided to not be stupid.  Walked .25 cool-down. 

Splits: 10:05, 9:43, 9:27

Average: 9:38

30 minutes of yoga later.

20 minutes or so of tennis with Justin. Felt so sluggish and blah, plus it was sprinkling the whole time, so we are quitters.  Probably barely burned off the candy hearts I'm eating right now!

Maybe yoga later, I have a lot of work to do. 

7am, 50 F.  GREAT morning run with Cooper.  The weather was PERFECT!  I was way overdressed (as usual) so shed my fleece and ear wrap immediately and wished I could take off my tights.  Felt a little sluggish, but everything else was great.  .11 walking cool-down.  Off to a really busy day and weekend!

TT: 38:55,  Splits: 10:01, 9:37, 9:44,  9:29

AP: 9:43

9:40am, 45 F.  Ran down to the dog park, 3 laps on the trails, and back with Cooper on this lovely Sunday morning! The weather was perfect, and I was finally smart and just wore one long sleeved shirt, which was perfect.  Felt great pretty much the whole time, great run.  Took about a 5-10 min break in the 6th mile so that Cooper wouldn't maul me in my sleep for torturing him by forcing him to continuously run past the dog park but not go in! I had been feeling bad for him earlier because at around mile 4 he was acting tired (which means running really close to me and tripping me!), but when I let him go int he dog park he was sprinting around like a mad man, that LIAR!  Reached the huge Hillside hill at exactly 7, but forced  myself to run up it, so stopped when I got to the top at 7.18.  Walked the rest of the way home for a total of 7.51

Splits: 10:33, 10:08, 9:54, 9:40, 9:53, 9:43, 9:57, 10:33 (.18, the hill!)

TT: 1:11:40   AP: 9:58    Total Ascent: 899 ft

Time for shower, coffee, homework, and superbowl party!

Weekly Summary: Mon-off, Tues-3.5, Wed-3, Thurs-off, Fri-4, Sat-off, Sun-7.18

Total Weekly Miles: 17.68

About an hour or so (maybe a little more) of tennis with Justin.  Had the worst, scream out loud calf cramp earlier, and now both my calves are tight.  Maybe from running yesterday or maybe dehydrated?  Now my right hamstring is a little tight from the tennis, so time for some yoga.  Need to work off this weekend of indulgence (plus all the candy hearts I had today!)!

30 minutes of yoga.

Came home from late class to find my wonderful husband cooked a homemade pizza!  If you knew my husband you would know this is a BIG wonderful surprise (though bad for my diet!).  He even hand grated cheese and chopped a bunch of veggies for my side.  It was DELICIOUS.  Then I was soooo full but forced myself on the treadmill.  3 miles at 5.7 (10:30), 4th mile at 6.0 (10:00) increasing to 6.6 in the last .2.  Warm-up and cool-down for a total of 4.32.

LOST!

RACHAEM JOIN FAST RUNNING BLOG!!!!!!!!

The peer pressure worked! :-) Welcome Rachael!

http://rachaelw.fastrunningblog.com/

2.5 miles walking on TM. 

5pm, 49F.  Drizzling especially in the last mile. 

Ran with Lisa and Anya today, up a HUGE hill in the first mile.  Then we celebrated with delicious Zao noodles for Anya's belated birthday afterwards, and I ate waaay too much.  Way more than 4.4 miles earns!

Splits: 11:00 (up 500+ feet!), 10:17, 10:02, 10:08, 10:12 (.40)

TT: 45:36     AP: 10:22    Total Ascent: 878 feet

KenpoX, then 10 mins of yoga, then vacuuming, which is definitely a workout in itself.

Now off to the beach for a Roommate Reunion!  Yay for 3 day weekends.

Despite getting only 5 hours of sleep (we didn't even get here until midnight and then stayed up until 3, well the boys stayed up until 7 or something ridiculous), woke up early and headed out.  Drizzled the whole time, but was warm and immediately took my rain jacket off despite the rain.  Which, made me quite embarrassed when I got back as I was wearing a white technical shirt, sooooo........ yeah, good thing I didn't see anyone but strangers!  Decided not to take Cooper and skip the beach for the long run - I'll take him on the beach for the shorter run on Monday.  No huge hills but rolling mini hills the whole time that made me really tired.

Feel great to be done!  Time for fun!

Splits: 10:03, 9:41, 9:22, 9:30, 9:35, 9:26, 9:15, 9:24

TT: 1:16:19    AP: 9:32

Weekly Summary: Mon-off, Tues-4, Wed-off, Thurs-4.4, Fri-off, Sat-8

Weekly Miles: 16.4  (only ran 3 days this week instead of 4)

Beautiful run on the beach this morning with Cooper.  My stomach is kind of hating me for my weekend of bad eating (I'm not going to say indulgence because we didn't really eat anything good), and I'm sure the scale will too.  Need to have a veggie detox tomorrow.

Splits: 10:22 (1.15), 9:36, 9:38, 9:36, 9:36 (.85)

TT: 47:23     AP: 9:37

Justin made homemade pizza again. :-)  I am one lucky (too full!, there goes the veggie fast!) girl.  

About 30 minutes of Legs & Back X, before my computer battery died and my legs were shaking so bad that I didn't even bother plugging it in.  I'm going to be sore tomorrow.  

Decided randomly to make this my long run of the week, since we're headed to Vegas tomorrow night (Woohoo!), and running around the strip is just terrible (really trafficky streets, dusty/exhausty, dangerous, blah).  Ran 1.76 before Lisa and Anya showed up, then around Game Farm with them.  The last few miles I was definitely feeling it, which is where those 8's came from!  That was no easy run.  My legs are so tight from yesterday as well.

Splits: 10:02, 9:15, 9:24, 9:13, 9:03, 8:50, 8:40

TT: 1:04:30    AP: 9:12

Afterwards about 20 minutes of pathetic tennis with J.  My legs are soooo tight now.

5 miles on the strip, down past Bellagio and back, including 4 sets of stairs.  

Splits: 9:43, 9:33, 9:45, 9:25, 9:23

TT: 48:13   

Off to lunch with the Diebel's and then more fun!

32 minutes on the elliptical, 2.74 miles. 

Later - an hour of pole dancing class.  Yep, you read that right.  For a bachelorette party, embarrassing!!!  But fun to swing around on it. :-)

Down to the Bellagio and back again on the strip.

Splits: 11:53 (1.2), 9:51, 9:40, 9:25, 9:14 (.21)

TT: 42:45   

Then 15 more minutes on the elliptical (1.38 miles). 

Weekly Summary: Mon-5, Tues-off, Wed-7, Thurs-off, Fri-5, Sat-off, Sun-4.41

Total Miles: 21.41

5 miles on the TM.  3.5 at 6.0, last 1.5 alternating .1 at 7.0, .1 at 6.0.  It was rough and I was exhausted by the end.  Total 5.25 with warm-up/cool-down.

Lost is the best show EVER!

CardioX.

Decided to do my long run today since I have a 5k on Saturday and tennis on Sunday.  Definitely need some moleskin, my heel is so tender.  Ran 3.5 in Kent, then Anya and Lisa got there and we ran 4, then I ran 2 more on my own.  Great to run with them!  Short break after 4 when Lisa let us go to the bathroom at her house (Thanks Lisa!).

Rewarded myself with way too much Panda Express when I got home.  Now I am stuffed. :-)

Splits: 9:53, 9:42, 9:35, 9:39, 9:43, 9:56, 9:50, 9:47, 9:21, 9:29 (0.41)

TT: 1:31:17   AP: 9:42

A new PR! I can't believe it.  I was just thinking I need to have pre-injury and post-injury PRs, but this is both!  It was such a beautiful morning (despite the rainy forecast, pure sun!) and a GREAT start to the day. Visions of yardwork, golf, and tennis are dancing in my head. :-)  I think I was the 8th female but I'll have to wait and see if they ever post the results (that's a big if!).  There were about 160 people in this race I'm guessing. 

UPDATE: 19th place overall, 8th Female, 5th Female Adult (no age groups, just youth / high school / adult)

This was so hard, I think it's my honest PR, I could not have gone harder at any point. Ran almost the whole time with this 60 or 70 year old man, I sure hope I'm that fit at that age.  2 miles warm-up, was perfect.  Walked a mile cool-down.  Going to go buy a foam roller later today!

Splits: 7:49, 7:46, 7:35, 6:49 (.11)

TT: 23:54  AP: 7:41

3 miles around the neighborhood with Cooper.  Nice, very slow, recovery run.  Tried to go as slow as I possibly could, totally time 32:28.  So 10:45ish miles or something, too lazy to get the Garmin and it doesn't matter!

Then an hour and a half of tennis (I was baaad) and 9 holes of golf (I was okay) in the beautiful sunshine!  Now to the homework I've been neglecting all day.  

Weekly Summary: Mon-off, Tues-5, Wed-off, Thurs-9.41, Fri-off, Sat-5.15, Sun-3

Total Weekly Miles: 22.56

10 minute yoga trainer X.  Not nearly as much yoga as I wanted to do today, oh well. 

5 miles on the TM, slow, 5.5 for half and 5.7 for the other half.  I have a cold and feel horrible, running made me feel better but now I feel bad again.  So I kept it slow and easy, though since its the TM it still felt hard, of course.  I hope this goes away soon...

An hour or more tennis with J.  I'm still really bad, which is starting to get frustrating.  I better get better before next weekend or its going to be really embarrassing!  

Bought a bike trainer today... :-)  I can't wait for it to get here!

Officially 2 weeks candy- and ice cream- free.  Kind of cheated one day so far and had a cookie, but no cheating yet on the candy/ice cream.  

Ran Green River trail with Lisa and Anya tonight.  Was actually light out when we finished, what a great surprise!  Can't wait until daylight savings next weekend.  Lovely to run with them.  Slight twinge in my left inside shin, but it doesn't feel like shin splints.  I don't know what the deal is.  

Splits: 10:04, 10:08, 10:04, 10:07, 10:06, 10:10 (.27) VERY consistent!

TT: 53:12    AP: 10:06

Total Ascent: 769 feet

Decided to head out for a bike ride this afternoon since the weather was so nice.  Haven't ridden the bike since September, so my muscles were in for a rude awakening.  A bunch of laps around the neighborhood loop (7?).

9.32 miles

Avg Pace: 11.1 mph   TT: 50:36

Total Ascent: 751 feet

Absolutely GORGEOUS day, about 65+ degrees out, wonderful sun, just the best Saturday.  Went golfing this morning, then to a family lunch at Justin's sister's house, and then headed out for my run.  Ran down to the dog park and 5 laps around the dog park trail and back.  The way back is very uphill, and I had to totally talk myself in to not walking the Hillside hill, but I did it!  Very glad this run is in the bank.  Had water 5 times at the ends of each of the loops, and afterwards had a Powerade Zero, a banana, and a Medifast protein shake, we'll see how that is as post-run fuel tomorrow.  Legs were very dead at the end, but I think the bike ride and the golf didn't help either.  

Splits: 10:06, 9:23, 9:27, 9:31, 9:30, 9:29, 9:07, 9:13, 9:34, 9:25

TT: 1:39:15   AP: 9:27

Total Ascent: 1,215 feet

10.33 miles biking around the neighborhood when we got back home.  A little drizzly.  I did one small flat loop a bunch of times to avoid the hills because my legs were so tired.  But this felt good.  

TT: 54:56   AP: 11.3 mph

Total Ascent: 607 feet

Only got in 3 days of running this week, missed my 2-3 mile recovery run.  But its awkward picking which 2 days to run back to back. 

Weekly Summary: Mon-off, Tues-5, Wed-off, Thurs-5.27, Fri-bike, Sat-10.5, Sun-bike

Total Weekly Miles: 20.77

Took Cooper and Frankie on runs (half with one, half with the other, I'm not brave enough to take both at once!) around the neighborhood.  

Tiny twinge in my left shin still, but not when running, just after.  It doesn't hurt or feel like anything when rub my leg though, so I have no clue what it is and feel (and hope) it hypochondria.  

Hard to believe I was running on Saturday in the high 60's and today it was 38 F, tiny snow flurries, SNOW FLURRIES!  What?! 

Splits:  9:49, 9:38, 9:43, 9:43, 9:42, 9:14 (tried to pick it up the last half mile)

TT: 57:53   AP: 9:39

Ran at Game Farm park with Lisa and Anya.  Got there a little early so did 2 miles before they got there, that might be too much mileage for the week, I don't know, but I felt good so oh well!  

Splits: 9:35, 9:21, 9:22, 9:07, 9:05, 9:03, 9:08, 9:08 (.17)

TT: 1:06:18   AP: 9:14

Wow, faster than I thought!  I like that.

In other news, yesterday I semi-cheated and had a bunch of fake oreo cookies.  :-(  I have trouble bringing enough food on late night class nights and I was starving and succumbed to a billion pistachios, chips, and unfortunately, cookies.  But today my teacher brought donuts and brownies for the last day and I didn't have any of those!  So bad news and good news. :-)  Still no "official" cheating. 

11.03 miles on the bike around the neighborhood, exactly 1 hour, so exactly 11mph.  I am slow!  I felt maybe the teeniest tiniest bit better today than before, I didn't stand on any of the hills so maybe I'm actually getting the gear shifting down better.  I need to strengthen my quads, and get some running/biking gloves.  After pouring all day long (POURING) there was a break for the hour I was out, which was nice.

As a reward, happy hour with Jord. :-)

3.53 miles around the neighborhood with Cooper and Frankie.  Got lucky again with it being dry after pouring all day.  Felt very very very sluggish today.

Splits: 10:03, 10:03, 9:54, 9:57... yep, sluggish!

TT: 35:13  AP: 10:00 even

7:30am, 35 degrees.  Had to get up early this morning to get in the run before golf, and man it felt early with the spring forward.  Woke up at 6:45 and it was still pitch black outside, so fell back asleep and cut it close.  Ran down the the dog park, 6 laps down there, then back.  Was the only person there when I got there, which was a little scary, but had my pepper spray. :-)  It was cold, though I dressed right, I needed some gloves.  Icy on the bridges.  Started getting just exhausted at 9, it was rough going after that, especially the Hillside hill at 11.5, I wanted to die.  Hope I don't die next weekend!

Garmin took 12 minutes to get the satellites which was obnoxious, so splits are weird, and its possible it was a little less than 12, but over 12 with the warm-up.  Took a Gu after 9, it seemed to help a little, and had water after each of the 6 laps. 

Splits: 9:25, 9:21, 9:13, 9:14, 9:23, 9:13, 9:22, 9:04, 8:49, 9:16, 9:35 (Hillside hill!)

TT: 1:51:05  AP: 9:15

9 holes of golfing afterwards on tired legs, but seemed to be a good cool-down. 

Weekly Summary: Mon-6, Tues-off, Wed-7.18, Thurs-bike, Fri-3.53, Sat-off, Sun-12

Total Weekly Miles: 28.71  Whoops, this got a little high

Played tennis with J for an hour or so (it was so nice today!).  Loving the daylight savings.  Then came home and J set up my bike trainer (yay!) so I rode it for 40 minutes.  It was a definite workout, or maybe its just because its so much hotter in the house than when you're riding.  

Today's run was one of those runs that makes you think: "Wait, I CHOOSE to do this?  I say I love runnning? I hate running!".  It was horrible, miserable, blah.  First of all, I didn't even want to get off the couch, and then I wanted to be done at 3 so bad, but forced myself to do one more lap, then forced myself to do .4 more to get to 5.  The last 2 miles were so incredibly slow and sluggish, I felt liked I'd been running 20, not 5.  It was windy (my hat blew off, and it felt like I was on a treadmill at times, not even moving), raining, and I felt naked without running with my beloved Cooper.  Last week I had 2 dogs and this week I had no dogs!  There was a rainbow, the one nice thing about this run.  Finally (before this entry becomes a novel), I started having major anxiety and hypochondria about this weekend.  Every little ache became a stress fracture, and thoughts of getting injured again flood through my head.  I can't help think that it is so similar to last year, last year ran 13.1 the week before the half and felt fine, this week I ran 12 and felt fine, and I kept feeling possibly imaginary twinges in my shin and leg.  UGH.  This annoys me to even write it, I don't want to be this hypochondriac person.  It is just like riding a horse, its time to get back on the horse.  I know what the stress fracture felt like, it HURT, shooting pain every time my foot landed on the ground.  That's what to look for, not these weird imaginary things.  Whine whine whine whine WHINE, this is disgusting, I'm done.  

Splits: 9:50, 9:27, 9:11, 9:43, 9:49 - yep, you can see those horrible miles 4 & 5

TT: 48:01   AP: 9:36

An hour and 15 minutes of tennis with J.  Feeling better today, thanks for the support!  Was thinking today that yesterday's feelings could easily be soft tissue from playing tennis, plus I was thinking that my tennis shoes are from my senior year at the latest, so 2004, maybe even 2003.  So its probably definitely time for a new pair.  Putting the inserts in them would help too.  We'll see how the run goes tomorrow.

In other news, though its supposed to be 68 and gorgeous Friday and Saturday, Sunday is predicted to be a high of 50, sun-up isn't until 7:40 (the race starts at 7 and the low is 33!) and here's the worst... 70% chance of rain and THUNDERSTORMS.  They're already sending us info about this "flag system" where some of the flags mean to STOP RUNNING IMMEDIATELY!

Ran 5.53 miles at Roegner Park with Anya.  Sorry I couldn't do the full 8 with you Anya!  Was feeling better today and less like the terrible monster that emerged on Tuesday.  Let's keep my alter ego, Ricole, away for the rest of the weekend!  

Splits: 9:44, 9:22, 9:19, 9:13, 9:31 (headwind), 8:58 (.53)

TT: 51:54     AP: 9:23

Off to Atlanta on the red-eye tonight!  Be thinking good thoughts of me on Sunday - I just want to finish it injury-free!

Did the Atlanta Half Marathon today with Leandrea, and met our goals of both finishing and finishing without a broken ankle!  Yippee!  It was almost exactly a year ago (April 5) when I broke my ankle in the Portland Half and I've been having major anxiety about this all week so I'm glad its done and all is well.  Though I think I may have killed Leandrea.  Second person I have dragged along and killed their knee!  I'M SORRY LEANDREA!  But you did AWESOME!  Her first half and she killed it.  If not for the bathroom break I think we definitely would have been under 2 hours.

The bad: This course was hilly.  Only one hill that was bad, but "rolling hills" the whole entire way.  We were either going up hill or down hill it seemed almost the whole time, which is probably why L's knee hurt so bad.  The weather was fine, rained lightly about half the time, about 80% humidity and 58 degrees or so. Luckily the horrible pouring rain, thunder, and lightning waited until the afternoon, or that would have been terrible and brought on the "black flags" they told us about.  I didn't have music, just Harry Potter, and even though I charged my Garmin right before I left on the trip somehow it must have been on this whole time or something because it was dead.  Luckily L had hers and this was the first race I've done where they had running digital clocks at all the mile markers.  I wore brand new shoes for the first time, which was stupid and I knew it, and my right achilles was super tight and hurting for a few miles probably because of that.  Bathroom break around mile 10 that took at least a minute or 2.  I drank a little too much champagne at a wedding the night before but it didn't seem to hurt me! :-)  Not so much bad, all in all!

The good: We finished!  And I felt good.  I had no idea we were going that fast in the beginning, it just felt good and we were cruising along so we stuck with it.  But I have not been running 8's in any of my training runs so this was fast!  I felt good though and though my legs were getting tired I think I could have finished at this pace.  I pretty much killed L after mile 10, I felt so bad!  Took at Gu at mile 6 and 10, and gatorade and water at every aid station.  The spectators were great and lots of dogs and kids along the route, which I liked.  Not exactly scenic but we ran through some pretty old neighborhoods, by some cool churches, through some parks, and through Georgia Tech. 

We did a poor job of running the tangents I guess, and there were 18,000 people in this race so LOTS of weaving.  It was never not congested the whole entire time.  Garmin says we did 13.26 so our average is 9:09 according to that.  So the splits are a little off because of this.

Total Ascent: 2,102 (yep, hilly!)

TT: 2:01:12 (chip time, was about 5 minutes behind the gun)  

Splits:  8:55, 8:50, 8:39, 9:10, 8:44, 8:50, 9:00, 8:50, 8:43, 10:06 (bathroom), 9:50, 9:59, 9:16, 8:48 (.26) 

Ran home from Alyssa's gymnastics place, then an extra lap around the neighborhood. No Garmin since it failed me but mapquest said 4.02 plus the neighborhood loop, so it might be a little less than 4.5. TT: 45:00.  Haven't felt sore at all but my shins protested during the run, and that same tight achilles feeling came back.

Headed to the airport to head back to Seattle.... I wish Leandrea and family would move there already!

A little more than an hour of tennis with J.  I played horrible, I better somehow shape up before my match on Friday.  I did 30 lunges yesterday after my run and I could feel them today!  Big mistake!  

Was supposed to go bike riding with Jordanne but the weather didn't cooperate.  It drizzled to light rained on me the whole time, which didn't feel that bad but I was soaked by the end.  I really hope there's not something wrong with my Garmin, it was dead again when I turned it on even though I just charged it yesterday.  I also forgot to change it back to automatic lap every mile so the splits are weird.

6.25 miles around the neighborhood - 4 laps.  Still felt so sad without Cooper.  Luckily we'll be reunited this weekend!

Splits: 9:41 (3.26), 9:27, 9:38, 9:28

TT:  1:00:04    AP:  9:36

Played an hour and 45 minutes of tennis in my first match since 2007! I won, but I am out of tennis sprinting shape! Plus huge blisters on the bottom of my big toes, a blister on top of a blister! I was exhausted after.

Reunited with Cooper, so took him on a run around the dog park! 4 laps around trail, and a few laps on the barkdust inside the dog park so Cooper could rest or play, which he didn't rest! Don't tell J I took him so far, he made me promise I wouldn't make him do more than 6! :-)

Splits: 10:31, 9:46, 9:43, 9:32, 9:26, 9:21, 9:09, 9:14, 9:18, 9:39 (hillside hill)

TT: 1:35:50    AP: 9:34

Now off to play 9 holes of golf!  Happy Saturday!!

Another hour and 45 minute tennis match, never-ending by tennis standards!  I won, but sure dragged it out, was up 6-1, 5-2 match point and let it drag out to 6-1, 7-5.  I was worried!  I got new tennis shoes yesterday but my toes still felt on fire, and sure enough, the entire skin on my big toe is a blister that is trying to tear off, ughhh.  Guess they are just missing the callouses that need to build back up again? 

I've decided to wait on the marathon training, postponing it from Seattle RnR in June to Portland in October.  Although I'm sure I could keep going and it would be fine, after all the anxiety before the half I don't think it can hurt to give my ankle more recovery time.  Plus I'll have more time for training in the summer and the tennis season will be over by then.  So I'm going to do the Seattle RnR half instead with Chris, the CDA half with Rachael, Hood to Coast, hopefully a sprint triathlon, and then Portland full marathon October 10th.  Still quite a full year of racing!  Guess I have to make up for missing all of 2009. :-)

Weekly Summary: Mon-off, Tues-4.5, Wed-tennis, Thurs-6.25, Fri-tennis, Sat-10, Sun-tennis

Weekly Total Miles: 20.75

This week's plan is run Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and since I'm not going to be upping mileage for awhile, I really want to focus on adding in a tempo or speed workout each week. I also want to make sure to get a bike workout in at least once a week.  Too much tennis this week, not enough bike!

6 miles on the TM.  Even I, the ultimate loather of the TM, could not force myself out into that pouring rain and crazy wind today.  Last night the winds were CRAZY, the power went out and of course Cooper kept us up all night with his weird anxiety and fear of wind.  

1st mile 5.5 (10:54), Miles 2-4 6.0 (10:00), then alternated .1 at 7.0 (8:34) with .1 at 6.0 (10:00), did this 10 times.  It is really amazing how fast 8:34 feels on the TM, I was sweating buckets by the end.  Took pretty much an hour even.  

Ran 6.22 miles at BPA trail with Anya, strong headwind and the hills felt rough today, my right hamstring was still feeling tight today, must be from sprinting around playing tennis on Sunday.  Did 2 extra laps around Celebration park at the end, and kicked it up a notch in the 6th mile when a bum talked to me (talked to himself?!) and I tried to maintain it afterwards. :-)  Don't worry, have my trusty mace!  Rain held off until the very end.  

Splits: 9:38, 9:36, 9:53, 9:38, 9:20, 8:36

TT: 58:46   AP: 9:27

Was starving and ate way too much dinner and now I want to throw up!  Whoops.  :-)  Now time for a little more work and then LOST!

One hour on the bike trainer.  Lots and lots of class schedule issues today (first week of the quarter), ugh, I hope they get worked out. 

Ugh this was not a good run.  Felt slow, sluggishness, and nauseous at times (especially at the end, when I was forced to stop early because I felt so sick).  Felt light-headed when I came back inside too, just not feeling very well.  Took Cooper but realized quickly that we had left his gentle leader in Oregon and I could only stand him without it for 1 loop (he was pulling my shoulder out of my socket!).  Meant to do 8-10, oh well.  

Splits: 9:41, 9:45, 9:18, 9:29, 9:40, 9:21, 9:51

TT: 1:07:09  AP: 9:35

I struggled to even push through 7.  3 different people stopped me looking for a puppy - I hope they find him and he's okay!

Ran the Habitat for Humanity 5k with Justin, Jordan, and Rachael this morning.  It was Rachael's first race, so we were very pumped up despite the pouring rain!  Justin and Jordan were less than thrilled. :-)  Although it was miserable before the race, the rain stopped right when it started and it wasn't so bad, I was warm in my rain jacket and didn't need it.  The first half mile or so was terrible, over soaking flooded saw dust so your foot sunk about 4 inches in each step and I thought I might twist my ankle.  That part was horrible.  Because of the flooding there was last minute changes in course, which was why a volunteer I guess sent us the wrong way, which is why the race was only 1.89 miles.  I was very very confused when someone sprinted past me towards the finish, as I was expecting another mile.  I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep up the pace, so I was relieved that it was over, but I was bummed because I think it would have been a new 5k PR for me  

TT: 14:16 (fasted 5k ever, huh?!)   AP: 7:34   Splits: 7:50, 7:16

First mile had an added 10-20 seconds of getting up to the start line (even though there was only about 100 people it started on a bike path, so was pretty congested at the start) and then weaving around people.  I definitely benefited from the volunteer's mistake, because everyone in front of me had to turn around and run back to where I was and I just happened to find this out just in time, so for one millisecond I was in second place of the ENTIRE race!  Then got passed a bunch, including by one girl and then 2 more girls, though I passed one of them back, so I swear I got 3rd female but they called my name for 2nd and gave me a ribbon!  I will never ever ever EVER get 2nd overall female in a race again, so I savored it as much as possible. :-) 

.66 miles warm-up (9:35), 1.67 cool-down (8:57), for a total of 4.22.  Very proud of Rachaem!

Happy Easter!  Got up early to get this run in before church.  Took Cooper down the to the dog park, 4 laps on the trail there, and back.  Did a little extra lap to get to 9 but then realized I forgot it took 2 minutes to get the satellites so added on the extra .2.

Splits: 9:54, 9:14, 9:22, 9:18, 9:12, 9:06, 8:58, 9:19, 9:32 (hillside hill!)

TT: 1:25:29    AP: 9:17

Its nice to see that very very slowly (but surely!) my per mile paces (though inconsistent!) are starting to come down a little. 

Time for family fun!  (and a sugar coma)

My weekly miles got a little high, because I ran 5 days this week because of the race yesterday.  Hopefully that's okay.

Weekly Summary: Mon-6, Tues-6.22, Wed-bike, Thurs-7, Fri-off, Sat-4.22, Sun-9.2

Total Weekly Miles: 32.64

5.36 miles at BPA trail with Anya.  Not feeling 100% today, felt sluggish and had a side stitch most of the time for some reason.  I've been on an Easter candy binge that needs to stop starting tomorrow!  The scale was not happy with me this morning.  

TT: 50:35    AP: 9:26

Splits: 9:15, 9:28, 9:31, 9:34, 9:23, 9:26 (.36)

Very hilly and very windy.  Later, a pathetic 15 minutes of tennis with J.  The wind and cold (my fingers were so numb) were too terrible to endure.  I'm so sick of this stormy weather, when is spring going to get here? 

In other news, yesterday was my one year anniversary of my ankle break.  I hope I never go back. 

Late class tonight, but came home and did 1 hour 5 minutes on the bike trainer, with 3 short 3 minute breaks at 30, 45, and the end to do plank, lunges, push-ups, squats, etc.  

So ready for the weekend already. 

Ran a kind of speed workout around the neighborhood, the warm-up with Cooper.  I can't believe I forgot to put on the heart rate monitor AGAIN!  Apparently I need to sleep in it to ensure I get out the door with it on.  

Ran a warm-up, then 5 400s with rest periods in between (varying in distance, mostly around 400 again, but made sure to rest on the hills so this made it vary).  Was exhausted after the 5th one (intended to do 6 and 6 miles), and so decided to stop and turned toward home (stopping at 5).  Then I convinced myself I could do 6 miles and just skip the 6th 400.  Then when I got to 6 I convinced myself I could go until 1 hour even.  Ahh, the games one plays with their mind. :-)

Rest Splits: 9:32, 9:46, 8:55, 9:36, 9:41, 9:16, 9:32, 8:54,

400 Splits: 1:52 (7:33), 1:53 (7:30), 1:59 (7:59), 1:49 (7:15), 1:52 (7:28)

TT: 1 hour even   AP:  9:04

When I got home my hamstrings and quads were so tight so I did 20 really really easy minutes on the bike trainer to cool-down.

The candy binge has still not stopped! :-(  Time to drown those sorrows with a glass of wine, then bed.  :-)  This week has been so busy and neverending.  

Hour and 45 minutes of tennis, last one out there again!  Barely squeaked by with a win tonight,7-6, 7-6!  My healed blister is blistering up again.  Tired, and ready for bed, especially after my invented nightcap pinetini, or pinecrantini, I'm still working on the name.  :-)

The weekend is finally here!

FREEZING today.  38F.  When is spring going to get here?  Ran 3.5 miles with Lisa this morning at Weyerhauser loop, part around a cute little lake, I would totally go back there (uhh, with someone else, not alone!).  I think we walked about .6-.8 of this.  She did so great though, considering! ;-)  Then came home, grabbed Cooper, and headed out for 2 loops around the neighborhood to round it out at 6.64.  Overall slow, plus the walking, so total time was something like 1:14, and probably only 5.9 was running.  Not going to bother with the splits today!  

Thought maybe I'd do a longer run today but after last night's tennis thrashing my legs were dead and could barely get me around.  Now tons of cleaning and chores, then maybe some tennis and golf?  Investors?... possibly you!

In other news, I'm about halfway through Born to Run and I'm obsessed with it.  Its one of those books you don't want to ever be over.  Maybe I should try barefoot running!  Or sandal running?!

So beautiful today!  Definitely got my Vitamin D. :-)  Probably it was only 60 degrees but it felt too warm in the middle of the day for running, I'm glad I decided to do neighborhood loops instead of venturing out (even though it was kind of boring), which I'm so glad because it meant I got water/powerade after every loop.  A little over 8 loops total, for 12.6 miles, did a little extra just to hit 2 hours even.

Felt very sluggish at first, and my muscles felt sore, maybe still from Friday's tennis?  Felt suddenly better after I hit 5 miles, then started to feel sluggish and tired again at 10.  So 5 of these miles were good?  5 minutes on the bike trainer to cool off after, then the driving range.

Splits: 9:55, 9:52, 9:31, 9:47, 9:47, 9:26, 9:34, 9:31, 9:16, 9:30, 9:17, 9:09

TT: 2:00:17       AP: 9:33      Total Ascent: 1,329 ft

In other, totally random news, there was a dvd, not in a case, just a dvd, on the side of the road in my neighborhood.  It was called........... Good Will Humping!  That's right, you read that right!  NOT Hunting!  So that gave me a laugh every time I came around it.  So someone was driving along, and just decided to throw this dvd out of their car window??!! 

Weekly Summary: Mon-off, Tues-5.64, Wed-bike, Thurs-6.61, Fri-tennis, Sat-6.64, Sun-12.6

Total Weekly Miles: 31.49

Ran 7.35 miles at BPA trail with Lisa and Anya.  Great to finally all get together again!  Some walking in the first 4 miles, but probably at least 6.8-7 of this was running.  Afterwards a little bit of tennis with Justin to get him ready for this weekend, but I didn't work too hard. :-)

I also FINALLY used the heart rate monitor for the very first time!  Yaaaay me for meeting one of my goals I set like 3 months ago!  

TT: 1:17:17   AP: 10:31  Avg BPM: 135   Max BPM: 165

Splits: 10:09, 10:52, 11:56, 12:20, 9:48, 9:25, 9:26

The BPM are interesting, they go: 125, 126, 127, 120, 144, 150, 156, 157.  I wonder what my resting heart rate is?  I want to find out more about this.  I also walked a quarter mile on the treadmill last night BAREFOOT!  :-)

Time for LOST!

1 hour on the bike trainer, with squats/lunges/push-ups/plank at half way and the end, while watching The Biggest Loser.  

Slow slow SLOW today.  Busy the rest of the day so got up early and took Cooper around the neighborhood.  Cooper even did the 400 repeats today! :-)  Warm-up, then 5 400 repeats.  Felt slow and sluggish, my left shin feels a little tired, I think from trying to work on my form (not heel striking).

Rest Splits: 9:45, 9:58, 10:06, 9:35, 9:54, 9:58, 9:35, 9:49

400 Splits: 2:00 (7:49), 1:56 (7:50), 2:00 (8:04), 1:51 (7:31), 1:58 (7:55)

TT: 58:48   AP: 9:29     Avg BPM: 142     Max BPM: 172

I need to learn how to set a workout on the Garmin so the 400s are actual 400s and the times aren't all over the place!  I did wear the heart rate monitor again though!  So that's progress.

35 minutes on the bike trainer, while reading Nightlight and watching 16 & Pregnant.  How can I do both you ask?  A really crappy book + a really crappy tv show = neither needs even half your attention!  Yay for the weekend.

HORRIBLE.  Today was horrible horrible horrible.  My shins, which have been kind of bothering me all week, really acted up today.  I walked probably a half mile of this, until I finally just gave up.  Guess that's what I get for messing with my form - all with the intent to not get hurt in the future, but I'm hurting now!  So that's just great.  Ugh.  Oh well.  We'll see how running with the girls goes tomorrow, then I'll take a couple days off and hopefully that will fix it.  At least its good I'm not signed up for the marathon, then I'd be scrambling!

TT: 44:28 or something slow like that!

Came home and walked 1.25 miles barefoot on the treadmill.  I also wore the heart rate monitor before running and I think my resting heart rate is around 65 bpm.  Though I had already been moving around the house and had a couple cups of coffee.

Met Anya and Lisa at Cedar River Trail early this morning, what a gorgeous morning and perfect day!  Left inside shin was aching almost the whole time, though this was an improvement since yesterday, I've upgraded it only from Horrible to Mediocre/Poor!  Didn't want to leave anyone alone out there, was kind of iffy, but ran back with Lisa, since she's carrying precious cargo, then decided I was up for a little more so tried to find Anya, but didn't, she ran so far!  Felt scary for awhile, there were a few unfavorable characters out there.  But then towards the end lots of people started to come out so it felt way better, guess we were just out there too early.  Got back to the cars at 7.8, so decided to run until 8, but at 8 the shin pain went away so I decided to do 9, then at 9 I decided to do 10.  Lovely head games as usual.  :-)  I hope hope hope hope hope HOPE this shin pain is only temporary.

Splits:  9:46, 11:01 (bathroom break), 10:19, 10:04, 9:45, 9:59, 9:38, 9:35, 9:18, 9:29

TT: 1:39:17   AP: 9:53

It was SUCH a gorgeous day, did some yard work, then headed back to Cedar River Trail (since I liked it so much!) for a bike ride with Jordanne.  I decided that since Justin got to go to Vegas, I got to get a new bike seat... and oh my gosh what a difference.  SOOOO much more comfortable.  So we did 13.62 miles in 1:07:12, AP 4:56 or 12.2 mph. 

Now I might need to take Cooper to the park, he's feeling neglected!  LOVELY DAY!

Weekly Summary: Mon-off, Tues-7.35, Wed-bike, Thurs-6.2, Fri-bike, Sat-4.2, Sun-10+bike

Total Weekly Miles: 27.75

My shin still aches.  I think I'm going to take the week off, and pray its just shin splints and not something more serious.  Ugh, why can't I just run as much as I want and be fine?  I've been SO good only running 4 days a week.  

But, in other news, I'm going to try my hand at square foot gardening!  So tonight Justin and I built the garden box.  I don't know why I think I'll be able to keep something alive... but I'll sure try!  Yeah, we're pretty proud of ourselves!

Day off #1.  Maybe it feels a teeny tiny bit better?  Or that's just in my wishful thinking head!

Still met Anya and Lisa at BPA trail, biked 3.77 miles with them while they ran in 44 minutes.  So I probably burnt 15 calories? :-)  

Then came home, got dirt, and fixed up my garden!  Square foot garden day 2 below!  Then while watching LOST I biked 45 minutes with breaks for lunges/pushups/etc. 

Day #2 off.

My shin might feel better today??!!!!!  I will try a run tomorrow!  Maybe its not serious after all? KNOCK ON WOOD!

Tennis tonight, that should be interesting!

Happy Friday!

5 minutes of biking and 5 minutes of running before an hour of tennis.  Still felt my shin, maybe I spoke too soon. :-(  I was actually first off for the first time, 6-1, 6-0.  She gave up after the first set.

Walked 2.3 miles on 6% incline - I was sweating!  Then tried running a mile, then .2 cool-down.  I am worried I have a tibia stress fracture.  I don't want to be a hypochondriac, but this thing is not going away after 5 full days off, it feels the same, and it does not really feel like shin splints or muscular.  I'm worried!  I do NOT want to go through this all over again.

Next week I might make a dr appointment, but now I need to find an actual good dr this time.

1 hour on the recumbent bike this morning while I studied for my midterm.  Then golfed 9 holes, walked most of that, but didn't have to carry my bag, thank goodness.  I'm now feeling 75-80% sure I have a tibia stress fracture.  WHY?!!!!  I did everything right this time, something is seriously wrong with me.  I've been doing research on sports medicine doctors and going to hopefully get an appt tomorrow with someone actually good this time.  

Yesterday I barely felt my leg at all, so my optimistic bipolar self decided to get her hopes up and think she might be better.  WRONG!  So silly of me to be so optimistic.  Got up early for a test run on the TM, walked .5, ran a mile, cool-down.  That dull shin achey pain came back pretty soon after starting to run which I think can only be a stress fracture, and the rest of the day was worse because of the run.  

I really am going to try and stay optimistic this time.  After all, the pain is minimal, ridiculously minimal when not running.  Though the doctor might say otherwise, right now I can bike, swim, walk, golf, etc.  This does not need to be the depressing horribleness that was last spring.  I think I need to learn to love biking as much as I love running.  And take up swimming.  Then if I loved those things at least a little bit, not being able to run wouldn't be so devastating.  I am terribly sad about the CDA half (don't hate me Rachael!  You will ROCK it), and the fact that I am probably going to miss the Seattle Rock n Roll for the SECOND year in a row (this is becoming a tradition?) but Hood to Coast still seems a definite possibility.

I couldn't get a doctor appointment until Monday since I actually wanted to see a good sports medicine doctor this time.  I chose the UW doctors that treat the UW athletes and worked at the Olympics in Vancouver. 

Later, 35 minutes on the bike.  Nope, still don't love that thing. 

Met Lisa and Anya at BPA trail, rode my bike.  First lap of 3.7 miles, rode while they ran, so braking most of the way, 44 minutes.  Then did a second lap, did this one in 22 minutes, this was rough!  That is a hilly course and I thought my heart was going to explode on some of those hills (and my quads!), I should have worn my heart rate monitor.  So 20 good hard minutes of working out at least, 1:07:26 total, 7.53 miles.

Splits: 5.3, 5.4, 4.7, 5.1, 12.4, 10.9, 9.4, 8.3

30 minutes on the bike trainer.

16 miles around the neighborhood on the bike while Rachael did her long 11 mile run.  She dominates!  I am not a very good bike rider, this was hard and I was slow.  I rode while Rachael ran a few times to catch my breath which made my slowness even slower!  How do people ride so much faster than this?  The hills kill my quads, they were on fire and so tired!  So I did a bunch of loops around the lower culdesacs so I didn't have to do as many loops with the hills.  I wore my heart rate monitor! 

TT: 1:35:45  16.01 miles     AP: 10.0     Max: 21.0    Avg BPM: 126

Splits: 7.5, 7.1, 11.9, 9.5, 10.7, 11.6, 10.5, 10.2, 10.8, 10, 10.3, 10.2, 11.6, 9.5, 11.6, 10.9

Heart rate ranged from 109 to 139 with a max of 156.

Then we golfed 9 holes at Jade Green.  I got a 53, which is good (for me! I realize its horrible for most people!).  Then off to the horse races for the Kentucky Derby!

10.87 miles on the bike with Justin (can you believe it?!).  He rode the crappy mountain bike, it was sprinkling, not nice weather, but he still came without complaints!  We saw about a million (aka 30) bunnies and a bunch of ducks at Interurban Trail, and it didn't really rain on us too much.  Total of 1:02 time, did the first half much faster than the second, when we turned around the wind was in our face which we didn't realize which made it much harder.

Avg Pace: 10.5 mph

Have my doctor appointment tomorrow.  

That's right, I ran today!  And it didn't feel bad!  It didn't feel great, but it didn't feel bad either!

So the doctor yesterday didn't think it was a stress fracture, and the xray looked good, so he said to try running a few times and if its still bothering me in 2 weeks we'll get an MRI to investigate and find out if the stress fracture is really there or not.  He did notice that my left leg is still so much weaker than my right from the original break/casting/boot/rest period and said I should go to physical therapy (which uhhh, I should have gone to 6 months ago!).  So I had my first PT appointment today, which was all just the evaluation stuff.  It was embarassingly obvious how much weaker my left leg was, and she noticed some weird alignment things and things with my big toe I didn't really understand that could be causing the problems.  So hopefully this will all help a lot.  Unfortunately this place is so busy its hard to get my 2nd appointment, right now I don't have one for 2 weeks and I just have to hope someone canceled.

So I had my bike ready for the usual run with Lisa and Anya at BPA, but thought maybe?  So first I walked .25 and then ran .5 on the treadmill at home, and I didn't really feel it!  So I decided to do a short run with them and then I would grab my bike if I needed to, but I didn't need to!  Knock on wood, but I hope hope hope maybe its on the mend, and the PT will help keep these problems from coming back.

3.19 miles at BPA   TT: 34:00    AP: 10:39

4 miles around the neighborhood with Cooper.  Took a .1 or so walk break every mile for a total of 4.4 miles.  I'm far from feeling out of the woods about this yet.  My low inside ankle still has these weird sore spot like the bone is bruised and the shin pain seemed like it might be coming back at the end.  UGH!  Just want to be better.  

Later 30 minutes on the bike trainer while watching some lovely Thursday night tv.  Is it the weekend yet?

What a GORGEOUS sunny 70+ degree day.  Went golfing this morning with Justin's dad (HORRIBLE, I literally lost at least 10 balls).  Then I drove down to the flat and ran 5 miles.  I took the shortest strides ever, walked a minute about every 10 minutes, and went really really ridiculously slow.  That is my new game plan.  I actually felt pretty ok today, so that's improvement.  

Then got back to the car, grabbed my bike, and rode 6 miles (30 minutes).  

Then took Cooper to the dog park!  Lovely day. 

9 holes of golfing again today in the BEAUTIFUL summery 70+ degree weather.  Did MUCH better than yesterday, golfing a 51, which is actually really good for me.  And considering I got a 10 on the first hole, if it weren't for that it'd probably be a new PR!  Ha, its funny to use PR for golf.

Wanted to get a bike ride in but we had a family dinner and then went to the humane society with J's cousin and didn't get back to Seattle until 10pm.  What a great weekend, I hope its this nice next weekend.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

15 minutes on the bike trainer, I'm lame and should have done more.

This run felt so good!  Met Lisa and Anya at BPA trail.  I'm out of shape already... was breathing hard on all the hills!  

Splits: 10:20, 10:14, 10:34, 10:04, 9:48, 10:18, 10:07

TT: 1:06:10   AP: 10:13

Had PT eearrrllyyy this morning (7:30 in SEATTLE! ugh) and my calves are so sore already, but I got a great list of 6 or so exercises to do which I'm pumped about.  

LOST LOST LOST!  Only 3 more episodes ever!

30 minutes on the bike trainer, broken into 2 15 minute sections with squats, lunges, plank, push-ups, etc. in between and after and then my PT exercises after all of that.  This actually felt like a really good workout, sweat was pouring off my forehead at one point.  If I could do this 3 days a week I think I'd be in good shape.  

Decided to try doing the 100 push-up challenge again, so today was Day #1 - did 6, 6, 4, 4, 8 (max).  

I don't think my calves have ever been so sore as today, which is weird because I swear I didn't do that much at the PT yesterday.  Going up and down the 3 stories at my work, 4 stories at the parking garage, and 4 huge stories at UW was rouuughhhh.  

Summer might be here!  I love love love it.  Since my usual early morning meeting got canceled, took Cooper on a run around the neighborhood before class.  I can tell I've definitely lost some fitness with these last 2.5 weeks off.  I tried to pick it up a little the last two miles.

 TT: 49:45   AP: 9:55

Splits: 10:15, 10:05, 10:03, 9:41, 9:32

Intended on going for a bike ride at interurban after work in the beautiful sunshine, but my bike has a flat tire. :-(  So now I have to figure out how to change it and what kind of tire to buy and all that good stuff I definitely should already have known about!  So went and played tennis for 30 minutes or so instead with J. 

I decided that since I ran yesterday morning, it would be okay to run today afternoon, as long as it was short.  :-)  76 degrees outside, beautiful sun, SUMMER IS HERE!  I can't express to you how happy this makes me.  Makes the past 6 months of misery (thank you S.A.D.) all worth it!  

Ran 2 laps around the neighborhood with Cooper, which was probably too much for Cooper in this heat, poor guy.  I was sweating buckets, so he was probably suffering.  

Splits: 10:05, 9:50, 9:26

TT: 29:25   AP: 9:48

A summer weekend!  Hip hip hooray!  Off to our mini one-night vacation at the casino (thank you mystery shopping!) and then hopefully lots of golf and lovely sun.

Happy weekend everyone!

9 holes of golf... I golfed a 60!  That is NOT good!  J was so nice and went and got my bike fixed at the bike shop. :-)

DON'T SAY ANYTHING!!!  :-)  I realize the stupidity of my actions, but it felt so great, I couldn't help myself.  Hopefully there won't be consequences!  

Got up early to get this in before I had to meet the carpool for my tennis match in Olympia.  Was perfect weather, about 60 degrees and overcast.  Did 6 full laps and a mini lap around the neighborhood. 

TT: 1:42:10    AP: 10:13

Splits: 10:42, 10:39, 10:23, 10:33, 10:32, 10:12, 10:07, 9:53, 9:30, 9:35  (I'm slow!)

Then off to Olympia for the tennis match.  I won 6-1, 6-3, our team lost (again) 2-3.  Sooo happy I didn't have to play the other singles player, that match went 2.5 hours!  We were going to go golfing when I got back but it was drizzling, boo. I'm tired now!

Weekly Summary: Mon-off, Tues-6.48, Wed-bike, Thurs-5, Fri-3, Sat-golf, Sun 10/tennis

Total Weekly Miles: 24.48

What a nice day again!  73 or so, so headed to interurban trail after work for 15 miles on the bike.  This is the fastest I have ridden the bike yet - I just tried to go as hard as I could and my quads were definitely feeling it.  It is amazing how strong the headwind feels no matter which direction I was going, you can tell how important drafting must be in biking!  

TT: 1:00:31   AP:  14.9 mph    15.03 miles

Splits: 12.0, 15.5, 13.8, 14.9, 16.4, 16.5, 15.3, 14.8, 14.9, 15.1, 14.9, 15.8, 14.7, 15.5, 14.8, 12.0

The splits are all over the place from stopping to cross streets, and once I had a really bad crossing of the railroad tracks and I lost my water bottle.  Whoops! 

Day 3 of push-up challenge: 8, 10, 8, 7, 13(max)

Lisa and Anya bailed for tonight so I got 5.3 miles in before class this morning.  I had to run in the rain... what is that about!  It actually felt perfect though, but Cooper and I were both drenched by the end.  

TT: 53:21   AP: 10:03

Splits: 10:25, 10:15, 9:53, 10:00, 9:55, 9:29

LOST tonight.... the second to last one EVER.  Whatever will I do with my life when its over?

PT today was T.O.R.T.U.R.E.  I was literally almost crying at times, is it supposed to hurt that bad?  He was going to town on the back of my leg (kind of my calf but not really?) and two places on my IT band with two torture devices.  It. was. HORRIBLE!  This is the back of my leg already, only a few hours afterwards.  We'll see what it looks like tomorrow.

My bike is in the shop getting its front brakes fixed, boo.  Maybe I will walk on the treadmill. 

When I headed out today, it was sprinkling.  Then it POURED.  I was planning on quitting after 1.5 it was so horrible, but I kept playing mind tricks (just one more lap, just .5 more) to keep me going.  This was miserable miserable rain - windy and pouring sideways into your face.  My entire clothes were soaked and my shoes were sloshing.  Plus I stayed late at work and was starving so I'd just eaten and my stomach didn't feel that good.  All around, not the best run.  But it let up around mile 4, which was nice, except my shoes still felt like they weighed about 10 pounds.  Even Cooper kept looking at me like, "Really Mom?"  I really wanted to see an 8 on that last mile, but it was amazing how it felt like sprinting to get that 8:40.  Those 3 weeks really lost me some fitness. 

TT:  57:41   AP: 9:36

Splits: 10:09, 10:06, 9:40, 9:46, 9:17, 8:40

Time for The Office and some more lovely data entry. 

A billion loops around the neighborhood, the first 2 with Cooper.  My legs started feeling really heavy around mile 9, mile 12 was especially hard.  But I'm happy I did it, and the times weren't too terrible!  

TT: 1:57:58    AP: 9:42

Splits: 10:29, 10:16, 9:53, 9:53, 9:51, 9:38, 9:45, 9:25, 9:27, 9:29, 9:09, 9:11

I've been slacking on the push-up challenge but got back on the wagon today.  Day 4:   9, 11, 9, 9, 11(max)

Last night I got home around 1am and there were 3 cops, an ambulance, and a fire truck at the house across the street (not the one with the arrest before, the one next to that one).  They were blocking my driveway so I had to park down the street.  What is going on in my neighborhood?  Then I couldn't sleep until that was over so I watched the Grey's Anatomy finale which was a HUGE mistake since it was about a huge shooting at the hospital.  Needless to say it was difficult to fall asleep!  Then this morning there were 2 cops at a different house in the neighborhood.  Getting a little worried about this neighborhood we live in....

Happy weekend everyone!  I wish the weather would cooperate so we could go golfing.

3 easy recovery miles with Cooper this morning... in the rain AGAIN.  3 out of 4 runs in the rain this week - its like February, not almost June!  

TT: 31:09   AP: 10:23

Then went to my tennis match, they switched the 1 & 2 again which is annoying so I won quickly 6-2, 6-1 (about an hour).  I was first off the court again!  Its a miracle.  We actually won the whole match too!

Then came home and since the weather was still too iffy for golf, headed to Cedar River trail for a bike ride.  The first 9 miles felt great and speedy.  Then I turned around.  And it was HORRIBLE.  Apparently I had been riding the coattails of a lovely tailwind the first 9, and on the way back the headwind coupled with tired legs made me feel like I wasn't even moving.  I was just counting down the miles on the way back, wishing I was done!  It took me 10 more minutes to come back then it took to go out.

TD:  18.03   TT: 1:14:14   AP: 14.6    825 calories

Splits: 15.6, 17.7, 16.1, 16.0, 16.8, 16.9, 17.0, 16.6, 15.7  (first half)  13.9, 12.6, 13.5, 13.4, 12.4, 13.8, 13.5, 12.6, 12.3 (second slooowww half)

Weekly Summary: Mon-bike, Tues-5.3, Wed-off, Thurs-6, Fri-off, Sat-12.16, Sun-3/tennis/bike

Total Weekly Miles: 26.46

The very very last episode of LOST tonight.  I am exhausted and hope I can stay awake until 11:30pm!

Met Jordanne at Interurban after work for 11.61 miles on the bike.  We were talking the whole time and there are a lot of stoplights on that trail so pretty slow.  Still felt like a decent workout!

TT: 56:48  TD: 11.61  AP: 12.3   489 calories

Splits: 11.2, 14.6, 13.3, 13.2, 12.6, 10.2, 9.8, 13.5, 12.4, 13.6, 12.7

I should figure out how to set the Garmin to automatically stop when you're stopped at stoplights.  I know it can do that, but telling it to is a whole other story!  I've also decided I need bike shoes, the real kind that clip to the pedals.  That might be my birthday present!  :-)

Got bailed on again this week!  So got up early and took Cooper around the neighborhood before class.  My knee has been hurting when bending and today it hurt for the first time when running.  Its like I get rid of one injury just to get another one!

TT: 1:00:27   AP:  9:54

splits: 10:27, 10:13, 9:53, 9:46, 9:46, 9:22

Trying to get this poster done so I can have fun this weekend and not worry about it!

Late night at class again.  I can't wait until this quarter is over.

Day 5 of the push-up challenge:  10, 12, 9, 9, 13(max)

The only PT appt I could get this week was at 7am in seattle, ugh.  After some torture (only stick torture this week, no scraping!) I went for a run on Burke-Gilman trail.  Did 15 strides of about .1 in length each.  This was a great workout, I am so tired now! I should do this workout every week.  Now I am all sweaty and gross and have to go to class and work without a shower though.

TT: 55:06   AP: 9:11

Splits: 10:13, 9:47, 8:40, 8:13, 8:42, 9:29

Rachael is going to DOMINATE THE cDA half this weekend! She is running so fast! Goooooo Rachaem!

Did the CDA half with Rachael this morning and it was great!  Perfect weather, perfect race, this felt great especially after the mini injury I had a few weeks ago.  Felt tight the first 3 miles and was a little worried (I was really worried I wouldn't be able to maintain that pace the whole time and was going to be walking later!), but then I hit my stride and just got in the zone. :-)  

TT: 1:54:41  AP: 8:42

Splits: 8:27, 8:36, 8:37, 8:41, 8:44, 8:50, 8:59, 8:49, 8:47, 8:51, 8:48, 8:41, 8:17

Took a gu at 6 and 10, and had an absolutely fabulous brunch afterwards.  So proud of Rachael!

This was really a great race - it was extremely flat, ran along the beautiful Coeur D'Alene lake and saw some gorgeous mansion/castle homes.  We should definitely do it again next year!  Was pretty small, so it was definitely a race you would want to do with someone else.  The "expo" included a bounce house and the packet pick-up pretty much!  After worrying about this terrible weather all week it actually stayed dry for the entire race. 

Went golfing twice, virtual golfing once, to a delicious brunch, a delicious bbq, had a camp fire, ran the race, played cards, walked the boardwalk and pretended to look at $600,000 yachts, shopped for the 80's party next weekend, drove about 12 hours (should have been 9 but the traffic both ways was baaaaaaad).  Overall, GREAT holiday 3-day weekend! 

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!

I'm back home!  Yay.  4 loops around the neighborhood with Cooper, light rain the whole time.  My legs feel more back to normal today - still feeling very heavy and sluggish, but no real pain, besides my knee hurting.  Not the IT band pain though, this feels like runner's knee or something related to the quad pain and the downhill running.  Hopefully it will go away.  Forgot to change it back to automatic split so no splits.

TT: 60:00   AP: 9:45

Its our 4 year anniversary and my husband is a saint so I think we're headed to see Eclipse tonight.  :-)  The 4-year present is fruit/flowers so he also got me some more flowers to round out my raised bed I built last week. 

I was supposed to do a long run today... whoops.  Mix-up with the timing of golfing so ended up going to breakfast with friends (Biscuits - yum!) and then golfed 13 holes with J & J's dad.  Walked it without a bag, played bad.  I'm having golfing issues lately.  

Later went miniature golfing with Jordan and Rachael, I lost that too!

Decided yesterday to do the Stayton Annual Old Time 4th of July 10k with Rachael, so we got up early and trekked the 20 minutes over to Stayton for this $7 race!  I do like cheap races! :-)  It was a 3k and a 10k, and though there was probably about 200 people there it seemed like only 50 or so did the 10k, thus I was the 7th female (Rachael 8th) and 1st place in 25-29 age group (Rachael 2nd!).  We got ribbons, we liked that. :-)

Its true about tapering and recovering and everything you've ever read.  One week after the half marathon and I was NOT recovered or ready to do this.  This was miserable and felt so hard, harder than the half, even though I was pretty much slower.  There were 2 small miserable hills and one huge torturous hill and I really almost ran in with the 3k runners instead of continuing on.  I was glad I did it, and hey, its a PR, which is amazing, I didn't think it was until I checked out my blog, but I'm 100% sure I can beat this time sometime when I'm recovered and rested.  My legs felt like lead the whole time and my quad pain came back.  

But hey, a 5k, 10k, and half-marathon PR already in 2010!  Just need to get that marathon under my belt!

TT: 48:52     AP: 7:57  (unfortunately the Garmin is registering the race at 6.15 but I'll still take it!)

Splits: 7:35 (the only mile I felt good for), 7:58,  8:11, 8:04, 7:59, 8:00, 7:18 (.15)

Then we went and golfed 9 holes with the boys!  Happy 4th!

Took my new Nike Frees 3.0's for a test run this morning.  Meant to only do 1 mile because I'm nervous about how they're so much more minimal than my saucony's, but did 3 and felt good.  I really like the way they feel so far.  So light!  

TT: 30:23  AP: 10:06

Then golfed 18 holes in this 8 person scramble Jordan put together, which was really fun.  I have decided I LOVE scrambles!  It's so much less frustrating!  We lost by 2 (we got a 69, they got a 67) but I hit some good shots and enjoyed some sunshine (it was touch and go, but apparently its supposed to hit 90 later this week).  Now I'm frantically studying SQL before my internship starts tomorrow. SCARED!

Summer is definitely here!  86 F and sweltering.  4 loops around the dog park, no Cooper since he is sadly at home with Justin but it was too hot for him anyway.  Garmin had trouble registering which was annoying.  I let myself walk up the first half of Hillside because I was so tired, my legs still felt like lead and I was so hot/tired. 

TT: 1:23:01    AP: 9:45

Splits: 9:28, 9:25, 9:17, 9:20, 9:28, 9:12, 9:44 plus other splits messed up by the Garmin

Went over to Tigard High School and ran 4.16 miles over there in hot, sweaty, 93 degree weather.  Intended to go swimming afterwards but was so hot and tired and it was busy and I just decided then and there that I'm giving up the triathlon.  While I feel bad it will go another summer of swearing to do one and not, it just feels like to much stress to try and fit biking and swimming in to marathon training and working like 4 jobs in addition to trying to finish up my R&I stuff this summer.  Its just too much.  All of my allotted work-out time needs to go to marathon training.  Plus I don't have a wetsuit, I am bad at swimming, I hate swimming in open water, and its only 3 weeks away!  Don't be too dissapointed in me.  

TT: 40:18  AP: 9:42

Splits: 10:01, 9:33, 9:35, 9:40

Yep, you read that number right.  I am a pathetic, weak little baby.  With high hopes of getting my long run out of the way tonight (though I knew that was awfully ambitious), I set out at 6 or so, 93 outside.  After 2 miles my heart rate was so high, I was super struggling, just dead in the heat, and I walked the rest of the way home (another 3/4 of a mile!).  Despite my normal desire to never lose weekend sleep if I can help it, I'll try to get up at 5-6am tomorrow to beat the heat.

In other embarrassing news, my boss and I just realized today that we never submitted the annual report for our grant, which was due June 30.  Didn't just not submit it, never even THOUGHT about it (aka started writing it).  Kind of a big deal.  So that's what I'm doing tonight and this weekend.  

So glad this run is out of the way.  It was rough.  Tried to get up at 6 to beat the heat but snooze buttoned it up a bunch and didn't get out until 6:45.  Was still decent temp, its going to be cooler today (I think 85 instead of 95).  Decided to try a new route around the lake, and it was beautiful, basically a tour of all the nicest houses I've ever seen and about a billion garage sales.  But it was HILLY.  This was one of the hilliest routes I've ever done. Mile 3 and Mile 10 and 11 were pretty much all up giant hills (you can see it in the time) and I was done after mile 11.  Luckily I got to go down the huge hill at mile 12, so that's the only thing that got me through.  I thought I would have Justin come pick me up but I walked up the humongous hill back home at the end since he was still sleeping.  

TT: 2:23:53   AP: 9:35

 Splits:  9:53, 9:12, 9:50, 9:22, 9:22, 9:37, 9:38, 9:33, 9:47, 9:59, 9:59, 9:16, 9:16, 9:41, 9:27

I just barrreeellyyyy sqeaked all those miles in under the 10 minute mark!  :-)

Now time for some golf and a lovely weekend day back with Justin and Cooper!  I missed them!

Golfed 18 holes at Langdon - such a beautiful course!  So hot, sweaty, and tired though, even though we had a cart.  Thought we were only golfing 9 so I did a poor job with the sunscreen and now I have some bad sunburn on my arms and calves to show for it. 

Quads a little sore today after yesterday's run - probably from all the hills.  Golfed 9 holes at Sandalee - walked and carried bag.  Got a 49, (breaking 50 is really good for me!)!  Forgot to mention that yesterday I got a BIRDIE!  

After Justin and Cooper left :-( biked 9 super easy miles (50 minutes or so) at this really adorable Cook Park/Community Park/Durham Park combo that had trails between, including through a cute little butterfly garden.  It was all really cute and would be a great place to run, but was way too crowded and short (only about 2-3 miles of trails) for biking.  

Weekly Summary:  Mon-3, Tues-4.16, Wed-8.51, Thurs-off, Fri-2, Sat-15+golf, Sun-golf+bike

Total Weekly Miles:  32.66

Lovely run down at the dog park, breaking in my new Brooks Ravennas (the shoes I tried at the biomechanic study).  Loved them.  Also loved the temp, a nice sunny 70-75, which was perfect, especially after the toasty 90s of last week!  Meant to do a speed workout at the track, but I couldn't bare to leave the wonderful dog park, so many dogs and people out.  So I decided to do a tempo run instead.  This run wasn't easy, and the 6th mile was HARD, which is sad because its the only true tempo mile (apparently my tempos should be 7:38-7:58).  Told myself I could walk Hillside if I got that last mile in the 7's, which I did, but I didn't walk it. :-) 

TT:  1:02:58   AP: 8:44 (an 8! Yes!)

Splits: 9:38, 8:52, 8:37, 8:22, 8:18, 7:46 (yes!), 9:23

I forgot to mention that yesterday on my bike I almost ran over this huge ALIVE snake.  Needless to say I screamed and was so glad a) I didn't cut it in half with my bike tire, and b) I was on a fast bike and hadn't almost stepped on it with my slow foot!

Nice recovery run down at the dog park - 2 loops.  Intended to do 5, but felt a tiny twinge in my left low shin, and 4.4 was enough for the Nike Frees, so I stopped and walked the mile + home.  I miss Cooper (and my husband too I guess!).  I especially miss my running buddy when running!  There was a lady with a rabbit at the dog park, it was freaking adorable.  

That's all.  I'm tired.  Work work work, all day long.  Conference call on my lunch break, conference call after work, dinner/run, then work some more.  Now bed.  

Blah, this run sucked.  Felt blah, legs felt heavy, felt twinges in my legs that kept worrying me.  Maybe running that far in the Nike Frees was a bad idea.  Blah blah blah.  I'll take another day off tomorrow and hopefully I'll be feeling better Saturday.

TT: 50:29  Must have been almost exactly 10:00 AP.  Stopped at Hillside (that's how blah I was feeling!) and walked the rest of the way home. 

This has been the longest week EVER!

12.5 miles on the bike, 60 minutes exactly.  Not very fast but there was lots of stopping to turn around, cut around blocked barriers (and yet I didn't fall once, which if you saw me maneuvering you would realize that is good for me!), and stops at lights and stop signs.  At Springwood Corridor, which was kind of nice, but only about 2 miles of it was super nicely paved, so I did that part like 4 times.  After that it was soooo bumpy I could barely handle it.  Probably won't go back.  

Time to work on my paper more.  What a fun Friday night!  ha!  I got a huge St. Bernard on my bed, a gogurt thawing a little, a movie in, and time for more work.   Maybe a glass of wine would be good too.

HAPPY WEEKEND!

Perfect weather this morning for a run.  Ran around the lake again, but a less hilly route.  Still hilly, but manageable, then a few loops at the bottom of the hill.  Cut it close with our tee time because I accidentally snoozed for 40 minutes and didn't get out of the house until 8am.  Justin was a doll and came and picked me up to save time and me walking up the ginormous hill.  At mile 12 I was really struggling, took some sport beans at 13 which seemed to help (I think I might like those more than Gu?), but was out of water and didn't think I could finish.  After frantically searching every nook and cranny of the junior high (what school doesn't have an outdoor drinking fountain?) I passed a park and was SO happy to get a drink and fill my bottle.  

TT: 2:29:17   AP: 9:11

Splits: 10:16, 9:28, 9:29, 9:28, 9:18, 9:49, 8:54, 8:54, 9:00, 8:56, 9:01, 8:56, 9:15, 8:44, 8:51, 8:52

Then golfed 18 holes at the country club with J, J's dad, and Mike.  Walked some of the holes, which felt good to kind of cool-down and loosen up, but then I was so tired and just wanted to lay down the second 9.  We have a birthday party to go to tonight and I think it is going to be a struggle not to be asleep at 9!

Killed two birds with one stone and ran to Albertsons to return the redbox movie.  I probably looked funny running holding a movie!  Felt pretty good today.  Recovery week, after two weeks at around 33 miles I'll aim for 25 or so this week (6, 5, 4, 10?).  Added in one tempo mile (7:56) though I ran at a moderately hard effort for 2 miles (the 8:20 one too).  Ran about one quarter of the way up the huge hill, but I suck and walked the rest of the way home.  Someday?  I also need to practice pounding down that hill a few times to get ready for H2C.

TT: 53:02    AP: 8:49

Splits: 9:18, 8:59, 9:05, 8:20, 7:56, 9:13

Nice and slow down at the dog park.  Something like 9:23 average.  Felt sluggish.  

Blahhhhhh.  Sluggish and blah.  Something feels weird in my left ankle, its probably (hopefully?) nothing, its on the inside this time.  Just so slow and blah.  Down to the dog park, two loops, and back.