Stroller pushin in Texas

8.2 miles around the base.  It was cold and misty 

T25 Cardio 

T25 stretch

Struggle bus getting out today.  Got 6 miles while Naomi was in the stroller, I'll take it.

4 miles while David was on lunch and then I put Naomi in the stroller and went for 6 more.  Yeehaw, glad to get these miles

Brrrr, cold front and it was really cold out, so I went to the TM.  1 mile warm up and, 6 mile repeats and 1 mile cool down.  So I started my mile repeats at 8.0 amd went up every mile.  This was difficult for me and I wanted to run faster but it was a no go.

Came home and did T25 stretch before Naomi woke up.

I started my run outside and I thought I was going to be fine and dandy running in my shorts.  After 2 miles, I ended up thawing out on the TM.  I found a BUNCH of insurance documents out in front of the clinic.  Maybe I was suppose to run there to save someones identity?  Reminded of the time I found someone's full on SS card.  Weird place.

6.15 miles total.  Baby kept me awake all night.  David is sick so I didn't have to go at 5 in the morning to the gym.  Sad he's sick, but he saved me a little.

20 miles I was not planning to do!  

4 miles of warming up... 

Drink.  

4 miles of base hills- felt easy

Drink, fed baby, took GU, Salt Stick

Went to the TM and did a Boston hill simulation run.  This workout was to simulate the Newton Hills.  I found it on the internet and maybe I need to search more, but I thought it was relatively comaprable.

1/2 mile warm up @ 1%

HILL 1- .64 miles @ 3%

.75 miles @ 1%

HILL 2- .35 miles @ 4.5%

1.1 miles @ 1%

HILL 3- .50 miles @ 3.5-4%

.50 @ 1%

HILL 4 (HBH)- .50 miles @ 4-4.5%

.15 fast pace.'

This is a total of 5 miles, I repeated the hill workout twice.  

All of the recovery miles I sped the TM up to 7.5 and the hills were at 7.0.  My legs were tired by the end.

Cool down home.

If anyone has advice how to do a TM Boston simulated run, please let me know.  It's pretty flat where I live.  I just can't go run 10 miles up and down a canyon. I need to know how it feels to fatigue my legs with downhill and turning them over and go up hills.

8.25 around the base.  David's parents are here for a few weeks so I have some good babysitters while I run.  There is so much less stress in my life when I don't have to worry about when I will get a run in everyday.  Thank goodness for them.

The run was 7:53 AP and it felt slow. It's nice when "slow" pace is sub 8.  I probably should be going slower but I just get bored out there everyday by myself. 

3 mile warm up.

1200s with a 400 recovery jog between each.  4x

Did 2 sets of 800s with 400 recovery.  I just felt like trash by that point.  

The downhill part of the track was into the wind and the uphill part of the track the wind was at my back.  Guess you have to pick your battles?  I passed three out of four guys out on the track today.  

Cool down for a mile.  7:26 AP for the run

8 slow ones.  I had a good workout yesterday because this felt like crap.  :)  8:12 AP

Half mile warm up to the gym.  2 more miles of warm up on the TM.

-2% DECLINE mile repeats.  Started at a 6:30 pace and ended at around a 6 mm at the end.  I did 5 mile repeats.  I have no idea if this workout even is taking me in the direction I want to go.  Hardly felt winded.  

I need to incorporate more downhill in my workouts but this surely did not feel like genuine downhill.  I just kind of rolled my eyes at this workout.  

1 mile cool down

Looked up my Boston #.  16938.  I am wave 3, coral 1.  Funny how 6 years ago my BQ time was 4 minutes slower and I was wave 2, coral 1.  Times have changed.  I will be smack dab in the middle of a very large crowd.

6.1 around base.  We leave for San Angelo today for a trail race in the morning.

It's always nice to find out that your camp site is right next to the race start line when you wake up in the morning.  We parked the trailer in the dark and had no idea where we were.  In the morning we looked over and the race start was across the way.  David and I decided on the half even though I didn't mention to him that it was a trail race.   We were also meeting up with some friends from Abiliene that we met in pilot training.

Really low-key race.  There was a 50k, marathon, 1/2 marathon and 10k.  The course was pretty forgiving comparing it to other West Texas races.  I have wanted to do this trail race for a long time and the timing was on because we had David's parents in town to watch Naomi and they had their gigantic trailer in tow.  My goal was to set the course record 1:41 I believe.  You just can't gauge a trail race until you start going.

Race started and I easily put myself in the front of all the ladies and I knew there was a good chance I would take this race. I paced myself between two men for the first two miles and then I was off at three miles.  There was a really big hill that I had to slow down to about walking pace around mile 3.5.  There weren't too many technical aspects to the race.  The trail did a lot of weaving and it had some rocky spots.  Tons of cacti throughout.  There were times I thought if I tripped I would surely end up in a cactus of some sort.  

I didn't trip and I didn't get the course record.  It was pretty dang challenging.  My prize... A box of Girl Scout Cookies.  I was pretty darn dissapointed in the prizes.  The guy won the 1/2 with a 1:20 and a course record, pretty dang fast for a box of cookies.  I was happy we did the race, I think David didn't enjoy it as much as I did, he was 3rd with a 1:36. 

Cool race, would I do it again? No.  

Found out that I have the course record now for the females. hahaha

8.5 slow, crazy miles.  Walked a lot and my left foot hurt.

Warm up to the gym .5 miles, warm up on TM 1.5 miles

Quarter mile increases up to 10 2x

Boston hill simulation for 4.4 miles

Jog home.  Felt like poop

I think I am still recovering from Saturday's trail run.  Legs are still heavy, stiff and slow.  8:05 AP.  Came home and did T-25 stretch, need to do that more!

10 crap miles.  Man, this week has stunk.  I think I am just slow from last Saturday?  The humidity was horrific today.  I only did 4 Yassos on the track @ 3:24. Painful.   I swear the more miles I get in the week, the slower I go.  I am frustrated right now.Got 10 miles and  I was done.  

I took a break from running and went to the gym.  30 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes on the stairs.  I had to do something different and my legs needed it.

This was one of those once in a lifetime runs and it was pretty cool.  It was pouring rain out and David and I went to mark the 5k/10k routes for the Devil Dash he is putting on next weekend.  We ran down to the squadron and got the marking wheel but we decided to skip the wheel and go off of our GPS.

Cool thing about this run is we had permission to go out on the runway and mark the course.  We couldn't use any paint or anything to mark the course because of the rules but we mentally took note at all of the mile markers.  We thought for sure Security Forces would stop of us, but they didn't say anything.  The runway is super windy and the rain was coming toward us pretty hard.  We were stopped by some maintanence workers wondering what the heck we were doing out there.  They asked if we were lost.  Nah, just marking a course.

We ran the 10k route and then the 5k,  both on different runways so it's pretty cool.  The 10k route just seemed like it took forever.  We took note of all of the mile marks and it will be a great race.  David is a major stress man because of all the stuff he is doing for the Devil Dash.  We are trying to donate money for the Air Warrior Courage Foundation, so far he has done well.

By the time we were done, we went back home and I had around 12 miles.  Everything was completely soaked, including my shoes.  Changed my entire outfit and the weather had cleared for my last 6 miles.  Last 6 were all sub eight.  8:05 AP.  Good?  Bad?  I have no clue at this point.  Didn't really do a long tempo run this training cycle, guess I could fit one in later?  Still have a 20-22 miler planned.

10 miles AP 8:02.  It got really hot there at the end.  Stopped by my inlaws trailer and took a water bottle.  I was sad because I went on the perimeter trail and completely caked my new shoes in mud. Got home and baby was kicking with excitement when she saw me.  

TM run.  1 mile warm up.  

.25 mile @ 8.0

.50 mile @ 8.5

1 mile @ 9.o

rest 

Repeat 4X

This is my PR workout I used for Utah Valley 2 years ago.  I forgot how difficult it really is.  I may have cheated with a little decline here and there. ;)  I need to do this workout next week sometime and hopefully 5x.  It hurts.

I meant to go slow but it never happens!  This is where I need to recruit someone to run with so I can talk and not run to the rhythm of my music.  8:06 AP.  Weather was absolutely perfect, pretty humid but cool.  

I try to avoid the mud in my new shoes but it's like they want to go in the mud.  Oh well, guess they won't ever be clean.

Suppose to go 10 but it really did not happen for me.  I just was done at 7.  I kind of felt bad but not really.  I didn't sleep much and my body was tired and didn't want to run.  I really have gotten to the point in my training where I am just kind of done... I don't know how the long run is going to go, but it will happen within the next five days.  

Finally a run that felt comfortable and enjoyable!  The goal was to maintain an 8:30 pace or SLOWER.  Recovery day please.  My brain listened and I ended exactly with an 8:30 AP.  Texas weather has been absolutely perfect and beautiful lately, just a big fat tease before the summer, and then it's all a memory.

Tomorrow is the Devil Dash 10k that David is in charge of.  They really have almost raised 10k for the 10k!!!! So amazing to see people come together for a good cause.  Every day I notice more and more how GOOD people are in this world.  There have to be FAR more good people than bad people.  Who knows?  

I am saving my big solo 20-22 for Monday.  I hate messing mileage weeks up but hey, it's for a good cause and I need to help the hubby out with the race tomorrow as much as I can.  He basically has an army of volunteers, so I maybe will have time to run 20 miles after all.

Big day at the Sondrup house.  David came home at 11 last night after marking the course for the Devil Dash.  He had also been at packet pickup all day giving out bibs, shirts and registering people.  When he got home he told me that he didn't have any music for the event, so we stayed up until 12:30 creating a playlist.  David woke up at 5 and headed down to set up the race.  

Naomi got up at 7 and grandma and grandpa were here at 7:30 and I went to help with registration.  Registration was running smoothly so I went and ran 2.5 miles.  Got back and baby and G and G arrived.  They started the event and raised over $13,000 for the Air Warrior Courage Foundation.  As the Star Spangled Banner played, I looked around to see about 200 runners out supporting a great cause.  My heart was full for my husband.  There are so many good people in this world, running does bring that out.

I knew I wouldn't win the race because fast Rachel showed up.  She is about David's speed, so really there is no chance. wanted in the 42s... The first mile and a half I planted myself behind two different guys and drafted.  The winds are pretty fierce on the flight line, even if it's not a windy day.  My pace felt slow, I love doing that. :)  I don't know if they knew what I was doing, but it worked!

Every 1,000 ft of the runway is marked with descending numbers.  I just counted down to myself and kept going.  We turned and headed East into the wind again and I was just feeling like crap by mile 4.  I don't know, but this race was not easy at all to me, I felt like I was working pretty darn hard to maintain around a 7 ap.  Ran along the fleet where all of the planes are parked and that was pretty cool.  We finally got off the runway with a mile and half to go.  Surprisingly, the road felt more comfortable and faster as I was heading uphill.  Long uphill stretch to mile 6, turned the corner and got a little downhill into the finish line.  43:50, I wasn't excited at all about that one, but I'll take it.

Naomi and G and G still hadn't finished the 5k, so I went back to get them.  They were .60 from the finish and just walking along.  Pretty cool to see grandparents doing that.  I was excited to see Naomi and she gave me a big smile.I walked and ran with them to the finish area.  Beautiful day and really fun event!

20 miler down and out.  Proud of this one.  7:54 AP.  I ran out the West gate and into Del Rio.  Stopped at McDonald's for a drink and bathroom stop.  A guy saw me on the road and he told me good running and I was going a long way.  Lots of horn honks and waves, kind of funny.

Ran East toward the Main Gate.  This was into the wind, but it dried all of the sweat off of me, so it was ok.  Took the loop back to the West Gate,  18.65 when I got back to the base.  Stopped at the gym for a quick drink.  Finished off with a 7:20 mile.  Walked off a half mile back to the trailer.

My fuel belt bugs me.  All of the water bottles were foaming and tasted soapy so I had to dump the water early on.  Re-filled the water bottles at McDonald's.  Took 2 Gus and 4 salt tablets along the way.

3 recovery miles with Naomi in the stroller.  She was relaxed and enjoyed her run.  Good to be out in the evening running around the track watching all of the wee ones play baseball.