Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

Low 60s, cloudy. Objective: active recovery.

I slept like death, as my grandmother used to say.  I went to bed hobbling, weak and sore.  But this morning I felt great!  I was slow, but I had zero soreness.  Ten hours of sleep is my new miracle-recovery plan.  Trouble is, one cannot always stay asleep, even if one makes time for it.

PM- 2.1 run/walk with my daughter! :D 

Monday through Sunday weekly tally = 51.31 miles.  53.41

58F, mostly cloudy, windy (~10 mph), pretty pink sunrise, waning gibbous moon. Objective: easy.  5.74 miles alone, then 2.09 w/ Young Miss Sno!  (20 min strength work)

I am very pleased and excited to have had some running with my beautiful daughter!  She has two speeds: fast and walk.   We did a fun loop through the neighborhood, choosing landmarks and running to each one before taking another little walk break.  She is much faster than I am, she just needs to develop some aerobic strength.  If she continues to run this week (3x), she will get her own running blog, something she really wants. She is already planning her blog name: SnoFlake.  :)

How did this come about?  Yesterday we did a bunch of shopping for her fall wardrobe, (home)school supplies and shoes.  She is growing so fast, we had to replace nearly everything -- including sneakers.  And I suppose that is where the inspiration came from... next thing I knew we were lacing them up and going out for a run together.  We both noticed that the early evening run (on not quite digested dinner food) felt a little uncomfortable, so I told her that if she was up and ready when I returned from my run this morning, she could come out with me and do her miles.  And so it begins.

Someone who loves running as much as I do cannot help but be totally overjoyed to share it with someone I love as much as I do her.  I don't want to push it, because as we all know, you have to have the internal motivation or it will never get anywhere.  But I am already hearing, "this is fun!"   :D x 1,000

59F w/ steady rain.  Objective: easy to moderate pace w/ a few form drills. 

I cannot even remember the last time it rained here. June maybe? As Cliff Mass explains, our region really isn't its stereotypically wet self in summer.  But even this long drought is atypical.  All the plants in the neighborhood seemed to be sighing with relief. 

It can be tricky to dress correctly for rain in the summer, when higher temperatures might make me too hot and getting soaked might make me too cold.   Knowing I would be out in it for a while, I stayed conservative and went for warmth: my thinnest running tights, a long sleeve shirt of the thinnest fabric and closest fit, a nylon vest and gortex cap.  There is no point in trying to stay dry; temperature control is everything. At the last minute, I also slipped on my thin Smartwool glove liners. Every single inch of me got soaked, but I was perfectly comfortable throughout the run.  I believe my pace may have been hindered by carrying so much water, but I had a great time.

When I was a little girl, if I ever was at home during the morning of a weekday (eg sick, school vacation), I remember my mother watching and following along with Jack LaLanne on TV. I still have an LP record of his that my mother had purchased to get some extra exercise when she couldn't watch the show (it's blue vinyl!).  So I particularly enjoyed this little piece on Jack LaLanne. In addition to the powerful photos, there are two short videos embedded: the first about sugar consumption (as valid today as it was 50 years ago), and a self-improvement plan that is absolutely charming.  If you need a smile this morning, I highly recommend them.

60F, raining (light, heavy and everything in between).  Two runs: 1) V02 & leg strength (hill repeats), and 2) run/walk with my daughter.  

55F, cloudy, dry.  Easy run. 20 min. strength work.

I had a fine run, but I am starting to feel a bit sleep deprived. Might have to "go to bed with the chickens" tonight.   Hm. That doesn't sound right, does it?  Well, to bed super early, you know? An old idiom.

This morning I was pondering something that confuses me.  If I wear the Nike Lunaracers, which have quite a bit of bounce, when I do my speed work, am I cheating myself of the full workout?  Furthermore, if I do not plan to wear them in the marathon, should I perhaps not wear them for speed work? It almost makes more sense to wear them on easy days, ironically.

Though I am yet again pressed for time, I just have to mention my new toy: an iPhone.  How did I ever live without it???   All that stuff I used to have in my pockets (voice recorder, iPod & phone) when I went running is gone, replaced by this one little unit.  I also have email, internet, a notepad, 150 classic books, tides, maps (including real time traffic), MapMyRun, Kindle, a translator... I cannot even list it all.  Mr. Sno and I both got them.  The only drawback is that we had to go over to the dark side and use AT&T.  And the only inconvenience is that I don't have much time to play with it all! :)

Apologies for not getting to everyone's blogs lately. I will try to catch up later.  Cheers.

54F, heavy rain, some fog.   Part 1: easy run w/ 1.5 @ MP (9:00-9:15) near end.  Part 2: run/walk w/ SnoFlake in VFFs. 

It was what I call a saturation run, with actual squishing sounds coming from the water-logged feet.  It's one click below a car wash run, which has the additional feature of wind. But we so need the rain!  "It's only water, it's only water, it's only..."

I really did not feel like doing any MP miles, but forced myself; there is always a good chance that race day will be wet around here.

Tomorrow I'll just do a short run with my club and Sunday will be the long run.  Counting Monday through Sunday, I hope to crack 60 miles this week.

SnoFlake's new blog should be up and running by tonight. She submitted her data, but nowadays Sasha has an approval system to keep out the riff-raff.  :)

54F & cloudy.  Short & sweet w/ club & SnoFlake.  

I was up way past my bedtime last night (dinner at friends') and was happy to keep it short and slow (run/walk) this morning with SnoFlake.  I need a nap!  Our club had very few runners today.  SF is too young to join but ran w/ me as a guest, and one other woman, who was getting back to running after a 3 week absence joined us. SF is doing really well. We walk a lot, but I think that it's better for her than flash-in-the-pan runs.  I am very lucky; she is such a pleasure to be with, and we have a great time.   I'll do my long run tomorrow, and unless something goes awry I will go over 60 miles for my Mon-Sun week.   :D

Speaking of 60 miles, that looks like it will be the way of things for a while.  I finalized my running schedule with Coach Sean this week.  I am really pleased with the schedule. With all the workouts to choose from, it is very nice to have someone else say which ones on which weeks and not worry that I'm missing something.  The basic structure is ~60 mile weeks, some long runs w/ MP running (some without), and alternating weeks of hill repeats and a tempo run (2 quality workouts) with various intervals (just one quality workout). I get to make the choice of days for each workout, so there is plenty of flexibility for this stubborn old gal.

Since I'm also running shorter run/walk workouts with SnoFlake, my mileage may look a lot higher some weeks, but I'm keeping careful records so I make sure I get my fill of solo running - my SnoFlake workouts are just frosting on the great running cake of life.  :)