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

What a crazy night! HUGE fire out here, we were about 1/2 mile away from the evacuation line and watched the fire build and creep closer all night. Thankfully, once it hit the house line area the firefighters were right on things and it looks like VERY few homes were damaged, last night I would've sworn it was more than a dozen!!

After staying up late last night (1:30AM) listening to the TV coverage and reading internet update and peeking out the window I went to bed figuring I'd either skip the run, do it at the gym or do it at home. 

Woke up with school canceled, the fire looking TONS better, and not being able to get back into the neighborhood if you left. So, hubby worked from home and I spent a couple more hours on the computer on FB and checking updates.

Finally around 11:00 went out for a run to survey damage. Our neighborhood back roads turn into dirt roads and connect to the canyon road, so I decided to go up to the best bluff and check things out. Especially since all my other routes went through evac areas. The canyon we ran up Saturday actually looks nearly untouched! The cove neighborhood looks good and the fire line further than I thought from the homes. Only one area further East was still being sprayed by a fire truck with just a bit of smoke coming out. Looks SO much better than I even imagined last night, I thought for sure that I'd wake up to horrible carnage. I'm pleasantly surprised and grateful!

So, my 4 mile loop included about 1/2 mile of trail running, but I'm not complaining. It was nice and slow, because I was doing more gawking than running (and I haven't eaten yet this morning!). I'd look up and realize I was in the middle of the street...oops! Good thing it's eerily quiet with no school, cars and just the buzz of helicopters overhead.

Honestly, it was really nice to get out and de-stress a little bit. I needed it! Now, to get my head back to normal life and get normal Monday stuff done and pull myself away from the computer!

AP: 9:29 splits: 9:35, 9:28, 9:44 (trail running part), 9:13, 8:55 (last .1)

Another day to sleep in :) I knew I wasn't going to do body sculpt today since it kicked my trash and made me so sore last week! So, I slept in and just did the 6 on the TM at the gym. I'm getting spoiled with this sleep business, I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow when I have to wake up!

Started at a 9:30mm and would slowly increase the speed as I felt myself getting used to the pace, so a good progressive run. Ending at 8:13mm for the last 1/4 mile.  AP for the 6 mile run was 8:59, I didn't realize I was past 6 until I was 6.07, so I decided to round it off to 6.1. I can tell I'm hitting some taper madness because faster speeds don't seem so hard. I need to cool it and stick to the taper plan! I really want SGM to go well!

Walked and chatted for a bit after the miles with a friend, then stretched and chatted some more. Love these easy days! Shins are groaning a bit and I'm really trying to take care of them - stretch and roll the calves, I scraped the injured area Saturday and Sunday. Does anyone have any experience with compression socks helping shin splints? I'm kind of curious and willing to give it a shot if it's worth the $!!

Boy, I sure am getting lazy with this sleep thing :) I was going to get up and run this morning, but decided I'd have enough time at the gym to do some TM running. So, I turned off the alarm and went back to sleep. I must thank sweet Baby Fartlek for letting me sleep at night as well. 

Went to boot camp, but only did stuff I knew wouldn't make me sore. If I felt any burning or pain starting I'd stop doing the stuff or modify. I refuse to make myself sore, but I do love that class! We ran a mile in class today, so I got to add on a mile to my projected distance for my run today as well. 

After class went to the TM to wake up these legs! Decided I hadn't done any 800's in my training so I'd see if I could even hit a few at 3:30. I know it's not the full 8-10 with proper rest between etc etc that does a good accurate prediction, but I also don't want to exhaust myself. Just enough to wake 'em up!

1 mile warm-up at 9:20mm

800 @ 7:03 pace so a 3:31 or so - recovery .3 miles @ 9:13 (the TM doesn't have hundredths so I went for .3 instead of .2).

800 @ 6:58 pace = 3:29 - recovery .3 @ 9:13

800 @ 6:58 pace, 3:29 - recovery .3 @ 9:13

800 @ 6:58 pace (felt like I was going to die, so I bumped the speed down to 7:03 about 1/2 way, then felt good the last .1 and bumped it back up) = about 3:30.

Cooled down for the last .2 of the workout @ 9:13, then walked for 8 minutes afterward. AP for the 4 miles works out to be 8:15mm.

I'm surprised I could really hold those paces that long...things are looking good and confidence is building. Now to just get rid of these nasty shin splints...

Made an executive decision yesterday to not run today. We went to the circus and I couldn't even walk normal my calves/shins hurt so bad. I really need to find a way to take care of these things!!! I've tried it all, rest now is the only thing I have left...so I'm going to try. I also didn't want to run on them before I got the compression sleeves and I couldn't do that until this morning. I've got them now and will be wearing them all day to hopefully heal as part of my RICE treatment...

So, I went to yoga and will run tomorrow and use today as my rest day. It's easier to run 6 miles the day before a 12 mile 'long' run than a 22 mile long run!

Should've listened to the voice in my head telling me to just get my lazy butt out of bed and run outside this morning. Things would've been a lot better if I did. My poor 6 year old gets migraines and woke up with one this morning so I felt like I needed to take care of him before running, but I really wanted to go to the gym (to drop off the other 2 boys) so I could get some miles in and try out running in the compression sleeves. Got the boy some meds, an ice pack to put over his eyes (you couldn't talk to him, because he said that made him worse), and snuggled him up on the couch. When he was out cold (I think we got meds into him in time, because he usually is bad enough he throws up a few times or right after I give him meds and it all stayed down today!) and sleeping I left him on the monitor with my neighbor and ran off for a quick jaunt at the gym while he slept things off. If I would've run this morning I could've stayed home with the boy and not worried about the gym...ugghh I hate when I don't listen and regret it!

So, a quick 6 mile TM run @  8:57 AP. Started at 9:13 pace for the first mile, then 9:05 for the majority of the rest, but with about 1.5 miles left bumped things up a bit to just get finished.

Shins/calves are feeling better, compression sleeves seem to be working like a charm! They felt better after I ran and stretched than they have in a couple days, still do.

When I got home I woke up the boy and when I asked how he was feeling he said "good!" so, off to school he went. Now I'm just up for working and babysitting for the rest of the day....

Nice easy 'Sunday' run with the chumps. Forgot to wake up after turning my alarm off so I was rushing like crazy to get out of the house this morning, but was still able to get to Porter Rockwell Trail in time. 

It was so nice to have SO many running friends around, ran mostly with Slick to get some good SGM tips for next week. The physical prep is done...this week is now mentally getting ready. Had to forgo breakfast - too much to do at home this morning.

It's nice to see an AP of 9:08 and know  how wonderfully easy it felt. Controlled breathing and like a walk in the park. Gotta love the taper. Scheduled a massage for tonight - can't wait!

 AP: 9:08 splits: 9:22, 9:05, 8:49, 9:04, 9:01, 9:25, 9:30, 9:11, 9:09, 9:19, 9:13, 8:36, 8:00 (last .15).

Thanks to everyone who I got to hang with this morning!! It was absolute fun, just a little taste of next weekend....I want more! :)