Back in the saddle?

I woke up to nagging lower back pain.  I figured it would just go away, so I got ready and drove to my normal spot to go run.  It is cold, windy, and rainy today, and I contemplated the treadmill, but 15 miles on the treadmill would have been torture!

Anyway, I started running, and my back hurt so badly.  It was affecting my posture and running form, too.  I tried to keep going for a bit to see if it would loosen up, and it just kept getting worse.  I probably should have tried to go a little longer, but it just hurt too badly.

I'm really disappointed, because this run would have put me at 43 miles for the week!  Oh yeah, and I'm concerned about my back too.  I figure it will just go away on its own.  If not, luckily I already have a chiro appointment coming up in a few days.

Well, my runs are starting to get predictable and boring for everyone to read.  I'm loving the consistency, though (except for the blip on Saturday).  It's getting pretty cold out!  No signs of back pain today, except for a twinge starting at mile 6.

Total time was 1:07:33, a 9:39 average.  My mile splits were 9:45, 9:49, 9:44, 9:35, 9:39, 9:39, and 9:20.  I'm very happy with the consistency of my pace throughout the run.  I'm itching to step up a few runs to 8 miles this week, but I'm a little hesitant, too.  I don't want to overdo it with my upcoming half marathon on Sunday, where I am really hoping for a PR.  We'll see!

Well, isn't it funny that as soon as the words "consistency," etc., are in my blog entry, I log a big fat ZERO for the day?!?!?  I got to bed at 11 pm last night and had plans after work tonight.  I just couldn't drag myself out of bed at 5:30 this morning. 

I'm justifying it with my half marathon on Sunday, which will still give me 5 days of running for the week, even though Sunday's race will technically count for next week.  But, it's still 5 out of 7 days, so I'm OK with it.  

One of my friends whom I hadn't seen in a few months told me tonight that I look like I have lost weight!  Yeah!  Funny-the scale isn't registering the weight loss....I can see and feel a little bit of a difference though...

Tonight I tried to do a run that Sasha recommended I do before my last half marathon (which I couldn't complete due to GI troubles): 4 mile warmup, then 3 miles at half marathon goal race pace (8:20).  So, I thought I'd give it a whirl.  Unfortunately, I never got down to 8:20 pace.  With all the easy mileage, it feels so much harder to run fast now.  I'm going to try and do a similar workout to this every week now, and hopefully it will get easier.

Total time was 1:05:15, a 9:19 average.  My mile splits were 9:39, 9:47, 9:50.5, 9:47, 8:58, 8:39, and 8:31.5.  Those last 3 miles felt brutal!  I'm going to try and forget about it, and hopefully I can still break 1:50 on Sunday.

I had a really stressful day at work.  A problem came up that I won't be able to resolve until Friday, because the person I need to talk to is gone until then.  It's going to eat at me until it's worked out, and I can't put it out of my mind!  I definitely think it's related to my subpar run tonight...

I was not sore at all today after my attempted tempo run last night, which I thought was a great sign.  The last time I attempted a similar workout, I was pretty sore the next day.  Seven miles has started to feel pretty easy, so I thought I'd try 8.  I got out of the residential area and was running among skyscrapers.  I thought I would hate running down there, but it was really cool!  Guess I'm a truly an urban girl at heart.  :-)

Total time was 1:17:10, 9:39 average.  I was happy that I was able to keep up the same pace with an added mile, even though my splits were kind of all over the place!  My mile splits were 9:35, 9:48, 9:40, 9:38, 9:41.5, 9:47, 9:40, and 9:13.  My heart rate was low-to-normal at the end and was under 90 within 5 minutes.

1:50, BRING IT ON!!!!

This was an easy run, just to get the blood flowing before the race, and my shortest run in a very long time!  It was pretty cold outside (about 45: that's COLD for us desert rats!), but a beautiful morning.  I ran on my normal weekday path, and it's usually dark when I run, so it was really nice to run in a beautiful place during the day!

Total time was 47:55, a 9:35 average.  My mile splits were 9:41, 9:44, 9:39, 9:36, and 9:14.  The quicker pace felt almost effortless compared to the slower miles.  However, the cold made the effort seem a little harder, so I need to make sure I'm fully warmed up before the race starts tomorrow.  It's supposed to rain tomorrow.  :-(

Have a great day, everyone!

Well, the 1:50 guy eludes me again!  The race results are still not up on the Internet, so I might be updating later.  It was overcast and chilly at the start: perfect running weather.  The race was a loop that started and finished in roughly the same place, and very flat.  I was feeling very good going into it, but probably not as good as my last half in San Diego.  I was expecting to PR, because I've done an 18-mile run since then, so my endurance is even better.  Looking back over last week, though, I did a tempo run, added a mile to one of my daily easy runs, and ran 5 miles yesterday.  Maybe I overdid it a little bit???

I started slower than I wanted to, as usual.  Mile 1 was 8:45 (also, no chip timing, and I crossed the start line about 10 seconds after the gun went off, but the gun time is my official time, so it will have to do).  Next four miles were 8:45, 8:37, 8:38, and 8:38, still too slow.  I picked up the pace earlier in the race than normal, though.  I had about 90 seconds to make up when I hit the halfway point, so I thought I was in good shape. I started picking up the pace a little bit at that point to start making up for some of the lost time and ended up being right on pace, for the most part.  Miles 6 thru 10 were 8:30, 8:24, 8:24, 8:31, and 8:16, with a Gu right after mile 6.  Once I hit mile 11, though, I just couldn't pick it up anymore.  Mile 11 dropped back down to 8:30.  When I saw 1:34 at mile 11, I knew that a PR was out of the question (just couldn't go any faster!), but I was hoping I could do at least as well as last time (1:51:29).  I had another Gu at 11.  Mile 12 was 8:33.  I totally lost it, though, and ran mile 13 at my slowest pace of the race at 8:52.  Final .1 was 36.5 seconds, a 7:11 pace.  Overall pace was 8:34.

This was the first time I have ever run out of gas at the end of a half.  I'm not really sure what went wrong.  I thought I was doing it right by picking up the pace earlier so I wouldn't have to pick it up so much at the end.  Mile 13, and the lack of chip timing, caused my time to be slower than my last half.

It seems that I have hit a plateau in the last month.  If anyone has any advice on how to improve from here, I'd love to hear it!  Maybe it's time to add tempo runs back into my training.....

This race will officially count for this coming week's mileage, but I'll add it onto last week's mileage, which finally puts me back over 40 miles for the week (40.6)!

Well, this is too funny!!!  I will now never know my official time or placing because...the event coordinators messed up.  According to the official results online, I ran a 1:25:40 and got 2nd in my age group (behind someone I ran cross country with in high school)  and 8th overall!!!   That's a 6:30 pace-maybe it can be my long-term goal.  Ha!!  Actually, it looks like I was 14th in my age group and 77/333 for overall females.  They didn't post overall results.  Hey, I'll take a mistake like this!

This was my first run after the race, and I felt surprisingly good.  I was hardly sore at all, although my pace was quite a bit slower.  Part of that, though, was my apprehension with the state of the running path.  It's been raining a lot lately, and there are mud puddles and potholes everywhere now.  So, safe ankles took precedence over my normal pace.  It was COLD out, too!  I only saw three runners, two walkers, and one cyclist.  Usually, I see too many to count.

Total time was 1:09:55, a 9:59 average.  My mile splits were 10:02, 10:14, 10:09, 9:54, 9:56, 9:53, and 9:45.  The first three miles felt SUPER easy, and the last four felt a little closer to normal.  I hope to be back to my normal pace tomorrow or Thursday.

I downloaded several classical choral Christmas albums onto iTunes, and they are beautiful!  Only two weeks to Christmas!!

Well, after a dismal record of only run this week, I did the dreaded 20 miles today.  It was SO COLD.  I think it was close to freezing when I started.  I wore a long-sleeved shirt, short shorts, and a hat.  For the first eight miles or so, I was wishing I had tights and gloves.  At times, I could not feel my legs.  I thought that might be good: if I couldn't feel my legs, I could run forever!

This was officially my longest training run ever!  It was unintentional, though.  I couldn't get up to my desired pace of sub-10:00 for several miles, because of the cold, I think.  Total time was 3:21:54, 9:51 average.  Here are my mile splits: 10:15, 10:16, 9:55, 10:04, 10:10, 10:00, 10:03, 9:57, 10:00, 10:02, 10:06, 9:40, 9:45, 9:29, 9:36, 9:34, 9:28, 9:37, 9:29, 9:41, and 4:51 for the last .5 (9:37 pace).  I felt really good from about mile 10 to 17.  Then I started hurting.

The biggest feat of today's run is that I did it all alone!!  I'm so glad I got this run finished.  Now I'm off to get my hair cut and colored, and then to my firm's Christmas party tonight.  Yippee!

I already know that today will be a big fat "zero" because I am sick and staying home from work today.  I have a horrible sore throat that came about from: (1) running 20+ miles in shorts in near-freezing temps; (2) lots of yelling at the white elephant gift exchange at my work party; (3) standing around in the cold for 30+ minutes deciding where to go after the restaurant closed; and (4) not enough sleep for several nights.  Not to mention, I am STILL extremely sore from the 20.5-mile run on Saturday.  I'm not sure why I am so sore.  I haven't been this sore in a very long time. 

I'm glad I'm staying home today because something is going on with my family.  In the last two weeks, my brother had hernia surgery, my other brother got food poisoning (no hospital stay required), my mom got a horrible nosebleed that required a trip to the ER and some very painful treatment, and my grandfather went to the hospital last night with kidney stones!  I'm staying home and locking the door....  :-)

Well, I'm still sick, so no running.  The 15-miler on Saturday should be interesting....

Wow, it's really nice to actually be able to log some miles again!  After being sick for the better part of a week, I decided to venture out today.  I had planned on 15, but I decided not to push it too much after no running for a week and being sick.  I think my underdressing last weekend contributed to my sickness, so I wore pants, gloves, two long-sleeved layers, and a cap today.  It was 31 degrees when we started.

I felt my sore throat coming back almost immediately, so I decided to keep it at 10.  My husband did 21.  I saw him out on the canal, and we ran together for almost a mile.  Then I saw another guy I used to run with periodically and ran with him for a while.

Total time was just over 1:36, a 9:37 average.  I was happy with that, and it felt pretty easy.  I finished the first 5 miles in about 49:30 and picked it up over the second half.  My last two miles were 9:25 and 9:05.  Those two felt a little more labored than they should have, but hopefully I can get back to normal this week.

My plan for next week is 7 miles per day during the week and 20 next Saturday.  Then I will begin a 2-week taper until the marathon!  Hope this body holds up, and that the germs stay away!

It's almost Christmas!

Well, I surprised myself today!  I had planned on running 7 miles, but I felt so good after I got started that I decided to run 8. When I got to the turnaround spot, I just decided to keep going.  I was running among the high rise buildings by then, and it was fun to run there without traffic and people around.  I ended up running almost to my office.  I also ran much faster than normal, but it still felt easy (until the last 2 miles or so).  I was surprised at that as well, especially after not running at all last week.

Total time was 1:28:38, average 9:17 pace.  My mile splits were 9:16, 9:25, 9:21, 9:15, 9:17, 9:21, 9:17, 9:10, 9:17, and 5:00 (8:57 pace) for the last .56 mile.

After all the food I've been eaten, this run was much-needed.  It also was a huge confidence booster for the marathon.

Time to cook Christmas food!  Merry Christmas Eve!!

Unsuccessful attempt at a tempo run.  I warmed up in the first mile, ran a slow tempo mile, and gave up when the headwinds approached hurricane strength.   I'm frustrated about tempo runs in general, but I will save it for a message board post on another day.

Total time was 36:36, a 9:09 average.  Mile splits were 9:13, 8:43, 9:08, and 9:30.  I'm very glad I got a run in on Christmas Day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Brrr!  It is 47 degrees now, but it feels much colder.  I don't think the temp is right.  It felt harder to maintain my pace, and I couldn't feel my legs after about 5.5 miles.  I decided to slow the pace down a bit, because the run felt harder tonight.  Is it normal for my legs to be numb in 47 degrees?  I wore short shorts and a long-sleeved shirt.  My upper body felt very comfortable.  Weird...

Total time was  1:13:13, a 9:42 average.  My mile splits were 9:42, 9:49, 9:45, 9:33, 9:35, 9:48, 9:49, and 5:13 for .55 (9:33 pace).

There is a freeze warning tonight.  My husband is outside putting sheets on our ficus trees and other plants.

I was able to squeeze in 5 miles on the treadmill between work and dinner tonight.  It was boring, but I'm glad I got it done.  I ran it in 48:10, a 9:38 average pace.  It didn't feel as easy as a 5-mile treadmill run should, but it was fine.

We went to a Thai restaurant for dinner (yum!) with family that I had not seen in 15 years, and one family member whom I had never met.  It was a fun ending to a LONG day.

Tomorrow will be an intense day at work.  I'm hoping I can go home a little early and take a nap to gear up for 20 miles on Saturday!

My taper has officially begun!  It was in the low 30s when I started running at 6:40 this morning.  This time I wore pants, a tank top, a long-sleeved shirt, gloves, and a hat.  I felt so much better.  I started feeling slightly warm at about mile 16, but at that point, heat was the last thing I was worried about!  I ran solo again, with my iPod.  I feel so much better right now than I did after my last 20-mile run.

Total time was 3:17:22, a 9:52 average.  My average pace is almost identical to last time.  My mile splits were 10:20, 10:21, 10:15, 10:06, 9:50, 9:54, 10:04, 10:01, 10:04, 10:03, 9:53, 9:52, 9:43, 9:42, 9:42, 9:35, 9:17, 9:41, 9:45, and 9:12.

This drives me crazy!  I NEVER run this slowly.  After the first mile, I consciously tried to crank up the pace, and I absolutely could not do it until mile 11!  Obviously I can run much faster than 10:20, which shows with the last half of the run.  My husband and I discussed the possible reasons: I ate immediately before starting my run (no GI issues, but it probably took a while for the energy to reach my muscles), I rolled out of bed and left from my house (no time for my body to wake up), and the cold.  If anyone can think of another reason and has any tips, please let me know.  I would much rather run a steady pace.

The highlight of my run was my 3rd and final Gu.  It was MINT CHOCOLATE!!  I bought an entire box.  The packaging has green and red decorations, so it's a special "winter" flavor.  It is SO GOOD.  Snap them up if you can!!!

Because this is my first two-week taper, I would appreciate any tips on how much to reduce my mileage.  Also, should I do strides during these two weeks?