Each Day Is a Gift

Rest and fast day.  Last of the many goodbyes to my third son at the airport.  It's been fun having everyone home the last two weeks.

15 Weeks to Boston

 Schedule calls for 10 miles with 5 at 15K to 1/2  marathon pace.  The temp this morning was 9.  The road's an icy mess.  Darn road, I had wanted to break out my new shoes for today's run.  With a sore throat, runny nose all weekend and still not feeling much better this morning, I wimped out and chose the treadmill.

Put on my old Wave Rider shoes.  I hadn't run on these for awhile.  I used to run speed workout in them.  Cranked up the big fan, set the treadmill incline at 2.  Ran 2 miles warm up starting at 6 mph and gradually increased it to 7 mph.  Feeling pretty good the entire run. 

Drank 250 cc after 45 min. and the rest of the liter after the run.  I could feel "hot spots" forming on the bottom of my right forefoot.  Turns out that the "breathing air holes" of the shoe last had created six "poka dot like" blisters on my R forefoot.  I need to either wear different socks or put a gel pad in place of the shoe last.  Who knows???

6 miles at tempo pace 8:34.  2 mi warm up & warm down.  10 miles in 1:28:12.  AP: 8:48.

I'm going to eat healthy from today forward.  Will record and report food intake.  

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Nutrition today:  1 yogurt, 1 boiled egg, 1 bowl of barley soup, handful of corn chips, blueberries and grape tomatoes, 1 palm size halibut, 1 sweet potato, 1 C green beans, 1500ml water.

Woke up with sinus headache, sore throat and arthritis.  Snowing heavy outside.  Schedule calls for 5 recovery miles today.  What to do:  Treadmill again?  Brave the messy road?  Or curl up with ultramarathonman instead?  After checking in with Teena and Marion's positive blog which inspired me to not wimp out.  I once said:  "A good run cures everything, well almost everything."

Put on the sub-zero UA shirt, a light waterproof jacket, screwed shoes, sunglasses (wish Mr. sun was out) and the Polartec beanie Santa brought.  Wish I had an ipod shuffle... I would have some Beach Boys music.  Ya know running on snow reminds me of running on the beach.  I want to be in Hawaii right now!!! 

Instead of chasing waves (that's what I would do at the beach) I was blasted by cold icky slush of the passing cars (the drivers must be jealous).

Two discoveries:  1) I have duck's feet!!!  I saw my own footprints on the snow.  They flare out slightly at eleven and one o'clock.  2) Running in slush is easier than snow banks.  Yes, slush makes wet feet which was nothing compared to SGM08 prunes feet.  Snow banks are unpredictable, slippery and anti-forward.  Hmmm...perhaps I should ditch the screw shoes and invest in snow shoes or cross country skis.

Did the run cure anything?  Well, I wouldn't call it a good run.  Heck, could hardly call it a run.  It's a WORKout.  It did clear the thick goopie gunk from the sinus and the headache is easing up as well.  And the blisters felt better too.  So, all is well.

Will do some core work tonight.

***** No core workout!!!  Instead I shoveled 6" of snow, chiseled thick stubborn tire- treaded ice sheets off my 30' long driveway for three hours!!!  Guess what?  There's more snow, at least another 3" and growing on my driveway.  Arrrgghhh!!!  It's like doing laundry, it's never done!!!   My forearms are very sore.  Do we need strong forearms for running?  No?  Darn!*****

Nutrition:  oatmeal with banana, barley soup (again), 1 large juicy orange, 1 apple, handful of blueberries, 1 chicken drumstick, 1 chicken thigh, 1/2 a sweet potato, 1/4 C green beans, 1 caramel candy (from BeMo,  I was femished after shoveling snow and needed instant carb), 750 cc water. 

Normally I'd like to do a few speed intervals 10 days from race day.  But today was not normal.  I should have gotten out early when the snow was still pretty.  By the time I got back from taking my son to school, the snow plow had messed up the snow. 

Plan B:  ran in the middle of the road when there's no car coming, ran back to the slush when there is/are.  Can I call that a slushy fartlek? I finally gave up after 4.4 miles of dudging traffic and slush puddles; not to mention what the "neighbors" would say about me. 

Plan C:  got home, jumped on the treadmill and played with pre-programed #9 where the machine automatically power incline from 3 to 10 every 3 minutes.  I didn't like the pre-programmed speeds.  I want to run these inclines between 6 to 7 mph.  So after changing the speeds a few times; whala it automatically kept the speed at 6.5 while the incline increased.  I was able to sustain 7mph at incline 7 for 3 min. and 6mph at incline 10 for 2 min.  It wasn't pretty but it's still hill workout, isn't it? 

4.4 slushy miles at 44:15.  AP: 10:10

6 treamill miles with 4 miles of major hill climbs in 58:15

I was so pooped I ate one very small and yummy keylime cookie and one English scone with cranberries, drank 1000cc water. 

Am/Pm Yoga

Nutrition:  yogurt, 2 keylime cookies, 1 English scone, somen noodle soup with chicken & lettuce, lean shredded beef totilla roll w/ shredded cheese and salsa, 1/2 orange, 1 wedge honey dew melon, handful of almonds, 2000 cc water. 

The sky was blue.  The road was damp.  The temp was a balmy 35.  Smooth attended meetings after meetings, used up a whole box of Kleenex, drank a gallon of water, did not run a single step.   Tomorrow will be a better day!

Sunny sky with snow flurries.  Fierce north wind.  Slushy road.  Body tells me to take a rest day (still has runny nose, headache and congestion).  Mind tells me that I've got to get a GOOD run in this week.  What to do?  As if on cue, my Stake Primary Pres. called.   Her voice sounded worse than mine.  She has virus infection and horrible shingles.  The other counselor had her baby 6 weeks early by C-section a few days ago.  That means I am the ONLY one left to do the Stake Primary Presidents Breakfast tomorrow.  That did it, I need to get better INSTANTLY,  I HAVE to run!

It's futile to run in the terrible "North Bench wind".  I retreated to the treadmill.  Hmm how to make it fun?

I warm up with TM program #10 which is a 40 min. workout with various pre-programed speeds and inclines.  That was a nice warm up.  Legs were never tired.  Breathing required a little more effort with the upper respiratory congestion.

3.3 miles in 40:00.  Max speed at 7 mph.  Max incline at 10. 

Next I ran a step up and down intervals.  I ran 1 min. at 6 mph. (10:00),  next min. at 7 mph. (8:34),  the next min. at 8 mph. (7:30),  then repeat this 3 min. cycle.  I did this for 27 min.  It was easy to push just one button to change the speed.  I was surprised how quickly the workout went by.  Felt great with no fatigue.  Breathing by mouth most of the time.  Drank 750 cc post run.   

3.2 miles in 27 min.  Max speed at 8 mph. Incline at 2.  Average pace: 8:37. 

Sure hope this workout helps clear the cold fast.   

The Stake Primary Presidents Breakfast went well.  All 13 presidents came.  I lead the music, conducted and taught.  It was supposed to be an hour meeting.  But everyone lingered and stayed for 40 more min.  I made it home in time to take Steven to Orem for his violin lesson.  Ate a yogurt and a huge Kneader's cinnamon roll with a tall glass of milk.  It was 3 pm by the time I made it home.  Hubby said we had a wedding reception to go to and he wanted to leave by 4:30 pm.  Darn, I had wanted to run 12 but not enough time.

The sky was sunny blue, no wind, temp was around 28.  Wore the clothes I will wear for Painter's and finally my new shoes, WooHoo!  Since I had no gatorade or gel, I decided to split the run in two so I could run home to get a drink.  Then I would run the second half at marathon pace.  First time this week I didn't have to worry about my footings.  The wheezing was only on the uphill portion.  I was glad to get home to blow my nose and took a drink of lemonade with an electrolyte capsule.  It was the BEST run this year!!!

10.5 miles in 1:30:50.  AP: 8:39.  Splits:  8:44, 8:16 (downhill), 8:44, 8:58 (uphill), 8:41, 8:36, 8:22, 8:55, 8:46, 8:27, 8:31

Went out to dinner after the reception.  I was starving.  I ate twice as much as hubby.    

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