I'm not crazy...I'm just bored!!

Sleep, sleep I just want to sleep...

I was sore all weekend from my mini weights session on Friday! Today I actually felt like I could move, but I'm just tired. Got to the gym and needed some warm-up time. 15 min on the elliptical @ L14 = 1.5 miles.

I've decided I want my regular running pace to improve, so I'm going to start at 7mph/8:34 pace on the TM consistently. This will get some speed back in my legs and get my body used to a faster paces as well. So, since I had an hour left I hit the 8:34 pace and went to it. Honestly the pace feels fine, I think if I was trying to have a conversation with someone it would be more difficult, but when I'm just going alone it's not a problem. At 5 miles I put it up to 8:20, then for the last mile I did 8:00 till the last .25 which I took at 6:57. Feeling good!

I'm glad I did the run even though I was tired and had little motivation this morning. Now to see if I can be as happy about getting laundry done, the kitchen cleaned and the checkbook balanced...

What a perfect winter morning! Blue skies and my world covered in freshly fallen snow. I love to make foot prints all over the neighborhood :)

Due to slick roads we stuck to the Stake 5K route this morning, there is only one stretch that is on a busier road, but there is a good shoulder. As long as you stayed on the fresh snow the traction was fine, but if you tried to run on where they had plowed it was very slippery! 

My garmin only got the first mile-ish of my run with my neighbor, but sometimes it's liberating to run with no technology. I stayed on the course for 2 more loops after she left, since I know the distance by heart. I felt really good on the uphills - it was a nice push trying to keep my pace up on the hills! I also liked seeing my footprints, because the first loop my feet were 'dragging' into the step, but then the 2nd loop I had a great solid print with no 'drag' which to me means a better mid-foot strike, the 3rd loop I didn't get to see, but I felt it was more like the 2nd. Either way, good times on a beautiful morning!

Afterward I hit the gym for total body class - good workout, legs and arms! Baby wasn't happy in the nursery though -I think he may have an ear infection from the congestion left over from last week's cold :( So, I had to head off right after that. Onward and upward for a busy day!

I conquered the Mexican Mountain Goat today! I feel good about it, although my legs may be complaining tomrrow. 

After a leg workout yesterday in class and not much sleep last night, I was doubting myself. However, I knew I could do it...I just need to do it! I got a good warm up on the elliptical 20 min @ L12 - 2.0 miles. Then I hit the TM...

I knew it wasn't going to be pretty when my 'normal' 8:34 I was planning on maintaining throughout the run was feeling hard at 0 incline during the one warm up mile, so I bumped the speed down to 8:57 and then started up:

2 min @ 2% incline, 3%, 4%, 5%, 6% - with a 2 min rest @ "flat" between each increase throughout the workout.

1 min @ 7%, 8%, 9% ---oh heaven help me!!!

I did the hard part, now I get to come down, but I was running out of time (daycare - pphhbbttt!). So I did a bit of a skip down:

1 min @ 9%, 7%, 2 min @ 5% ---then, the day care lady came out, REALLY?!? Honestly though, I'd never been happier to change a diaper. I was exhausted!

Started back up where I'd left off and finished up:

3 min @ 3% and 4 min @ 2%, then I had a few minutes to run it out and cool down. After a couple minutes the 8:57 pace I'd kept steady the whole time finally felt easy (of course it was 'flat'), so I bumped it up a little bit the last 2 min and finished the last 30 seconds at 7:30mm. Honestly, that was SO much easier for me than those hills! I will conquer hills! This workout left me feeling so proud of myself for getting it done, that I think I may just have to put it into the regular routine!

Total of 6.75 miles and an AP of 8:53 for my first Mexican Mountain Goat!

After a leg workout Tuesday and Mtn goat yesterday, my legs were feeling quite a bit like lead today! Even without my neighbor coming, I still got up and out and got the miles in. It was slow, but we all need a 'recovery' day now and then, right? 

It was a lot colder than I remember it being for quite some time today, I had to keep hiding my face to keep it from freezing. Got home and showered and warmed up, then out to yoga. I really love yoga and I think I need to do more of it!

AP: 9:26 splits: 8:54, 8:55, 9:02, 9:38, 9:54, 10:04, 9:37

I decided to x-train today because of my dead legs and tired body. I'm trying to hit 45ish miles each week until mid March when I'll start increasing for UVM training and I am already at 30 for the week and I'll do at least 15 tomorrow, so I figured I'd let my body recover a bit before pounding it out tomorrow. Not to mention I've got a wonderful head cold I'm dealing with.

At the gym I hit the bike and got on my favorite one, but forgot Kelli said it was broken the other day when she was on it. You can't increase the resistance, so you have to do a program if you want to do anything other than 1. So, I did the 'interval' program - 60 min and 14 miles later I felt like I'd gotten a good workout. It varied from 1-18 resistance, I'd say averaging around a 10.

With some time and book left I spent the next 20 min on the elliptical, I put the ramp up higher than I regularly do and had it at 10 on L12 for 20 min and finished 1.9 miles.

Good cross training day, enough to feel like I did something for myself, but not the beat down I gave myself at the first of the week.

Oh, I knew today was going to be early, but I still hate it when that alarm goes off! Especially after my baby has pulled a fast one on me and woken up 3 times in the short 5.5 hours I'm trying to sleep. I went down to Lehi and met Becca at the JRP, because she had been so wonderful and come up here the past couple weeks, plus - I love the JRP in Lehi! 

It was dark and cold and I was whining about it. I wanted to go back to bed and be warm, but then we started the run - once you start a run you stop whining and just get it done. The first three miles went SO slow and were so hard, but by the time we turned at mile 6 things were a ton better. Only a few people out on the parkway, probably the least crowded I've seen it in quite some time. 

Got back to the cars at 11.35 grabbed a quick drink before we got cold then headed North and through the neighborhood to finish up to 13. Well, I took the long way and we ended back at the cars at 14 miles - meh, oh well - no worries what's an extra mile?

AP: 8:41 splits:  9:07, 8:47, 8:38, 8:34, 8:41, 8:45, 8:37, 8:29, 8:42, 8:39, 8:35, 8:44, 8:38, 8:38 - good and pretty consistent splits, I like that!

Becca was going to do 16 total, but after telling her about the 5K she decided to come along - why not? It's for a good cause! So, we headed back out to Herriman and got there just in time to get our stuff and shiver uncontrollably from the cold. We decided to wait out the last 10 min or so before the race in Becca's car and the second time getting out it wasn't so bad. I was still dressed in all my cold weather clothing and had even put on my race shirt to keep warm(er). This was a decision I'd regret!

As we were waiting for the start we met Chad and it was obvious from the crowd he would take a win here! We'd decided to just take things easy and not race, but once we started that race mentality took over and, well... let's just say we didn't really take it easy. The first mile was hard to get moving. I was all stiff and cold from the previous 14 miles and my body wasn't too happy about starting this again, especially at a faster pace. I pushed on and at about mile 1.5 things finally loosened up. It was also about here that we turned and I could see that Becca just a little way in front of me was probably 1st place in women and there were only 3 ladies between us. Well, now this would be worth the effort! The only discouraging thing to me was that this was the uphill portion (you must remember, this is Herriman you MUST go uphill and it always comes LAST). I knew everyone else was running the same hills though and I kept on, knowing I've run this hill too many times to count - I could do this!

Slowly the ladies fell away, the last one put up the hardest fight. I could hear her foot falls keeping up with me for quite some time, I felt relieved when they finally faded. I found out later this was Missee  from the blog. This was also the time I was regretting the extra clothing, the sun was up and I was HOT, but I was feeling good on the hills and I could see the finish and the last hill...I could do this! I now only had men in front of me to catch, Becca had a good 30 second+ lead on me. However, as this was a local race I knew a few of these guys and after all, I do have my pride :) I think I picked off about 5 men during this last stretch and 2 of them were on the last .4 of the course, they didn't like being passed in the end by a girl. This was quite evident from the sideways glance I got as I passed. Always feels good to finish a race strong!

On the last downhill push to the finish I though, yeah this effort was well worth a good 22 min or so...HA! When I could finally see the clock it said 24:50, what?!? Yeah, well, I'm slow I guess I should be used to it by now. Official finish time was 25:01 then right after I finished a girl came up to me "Congratulations! 3rd Place Female!" and handed me a $20 gift card to Wasatch Running - SCORE!!! Becca got the same for 2nd place, so I didn't feel so bad about bringing her :)

AP: 7:44 splits:  7;39, 7:39, 8:01, 7:07 (last .23) - kind of bummed I couldn't keep that last full mile under an 8, but since this was the hardest part of the hills I really can't complain about the pace (especially after finishing 14 miles just an hour before).

As we caught our breath we had a good chat and met Missee and found out she was from the blog and my email to the chumps had brought her there. Made me smile! Becca was done, but since the course was long I couldn't leave my mileage at 17.23, I had to even it out to 18. So, Missee and I ran a flat cool down around the parking lot. Only bad part is that I didn't get to say a proper good-bye to Becca and a thank you for pushing me (well, pulling) me through the race. It was great to hit some strides on fatigued legs - THANKS!!

I stayed for the raffle and they had some REALLY good prizes. If I would've seen them all I probably would've bought a few extra tickets. But, I won a signed football and Maurine won Larry Miller's autobiography (she couldn't run so I picked up her shirt and raffle ticket of course!). They also had a silent auction of some pretty cool stuff too! I ended up winning the auction on a limited edition signed print that was professionally framed and had the certificate as well, it is BEAUTIFUL, and I got it so cheap I felt like I was stealing it!

I had a wonderful time at the race and a great morning! I felt good about the paces I hit on the hills - I will conquer hills someday! Thank you Mexican Mountain Goat, we shall meet again. It was also nice that some of the people I passed commented afterward to me how impressed they were that I could keep such a good pace consistent up those hills and wished they could've kept up. Always nice to get compliments from others! Gotta love a good fulfilling morning of friends, running and prizes!

Now I must address a different topic (if you're not bored out of your mind and have actually read all this! Just know, I had to type it up twice - I know better than to write a long report and not save it STINK!). So....if anyone is willing and able I would love some company on a nice 31K trek on Tuesday morning to celebrate my 31 years of life I've enjoyed! :) Let me know if you're interested and we can work out details!