You've got to want it to win it

Met up with Andrea, Kate, and Lauren for a long run this morning.  We were all going different distances, but Lauren arranged it to get as much group running as possible.  She needed 22, Kate needed 18, Andrea needed 15, and I was planning on doing 11.  Lauren started early and 4 miles down the trail, then the rest of us met up with her in South Jordan by 10900 south.  The run just flew by!  I was surprised when we were already close to 5 miles... then 5.5... and I wanted to just keep running with them, but at 6 I knew I had better turn so I would be able to finish running back to my car.  On the way back I didn't recognize the way, then realized I must have gone a different path that connected to the one we had been on.  But I got back onto the Jordan River Trail eventually.  Another missed turn a few miles later, but running into some houses I knew that wasn't right so quickly correct my mistake.  And then once again when I was almost back to my car I didn't cross a bridge that I forgot we had crossed at the beginning.  But I made it back to my car eventually and was only a little over 6.  I am so glad I was able to get out and do another great long run this morning!  Probably a bit longer than I need since Jesse and I signed up for the Salt Lake 5k, but I do want to do a half marathon in the next few months anyway so building mileage is good. :)  7:43 average pace.

My lower back started aching Sunday night and was persistent through Monday, so I took an extra day off.  I am hoping it is just muscular... It hurts when I flex my lumbar spine or if I tilt the top of my pelvis posteriorly.  I suspect that it may be due to dancing in high heels for a couple hours on Saturday night or poor ergonomics while carrying my 20 pound baby in the carseat, or carrying either of my kids around the house...  Anyway, this evening I took a trip down memory lane and went to campus to go pool running.  It's weird how fast my years on campus flew by... Even though I'm still in school.  My classes are in a building a mile away from main campus, and my class right now is online so I don't even really need to come to campus except for exams.  

Anyway, my workout.  I started with a 5 minute warmup and then did 6 sets of 3 minutes hard 2 minutes easy.  The first 3 sets felt great, the last 3 got more difficult with each one.  My heart rate when I checked at the end of each one was around 150-158 (around 76-80% of my MHR) so the effort was good.  When I stretched afterwards I was able to get a little more range of motion in my lower back than I had previously, hopefully it heals up on it's own and feels 100% in another day or 2.

Short run in the neighborhood to see how my back would tolerate it.  At 2 miles it was feeling ok so I kept going and finished with 4.26 total.

Crazy busy the last half of the week as it was Jesse's birthday and I had a huge project due for school... Only 3 weeks left of the semester!  Then a 270 hour practicum and 6 more credit hours... I can do this!  It felt nice to get up early and run again.  I ran over to 2700s, up to 2300e, over to 3300s, and down.  Coming down 33rd I hit my toe on the sidewalk crack and completely wiped out... I was at least able to lean and land on the grass, but I tore a hole in the knee of my tights.  Not looking forward to seeing the bruise.  As I laid on the ground I wished I had just stayed in bed, but my iPod was singing "Try again as you did before..." So I had to get up and finish.  And I needed to get home sooo yeah.

Happy birthday, Mom!

This morning I got up and out the door early again.  This time I ran along 500e, over to 1700s, up to 1100e, and south.  I haven't been in the Sugarhouse area in a while I guess since I wasn't aware there was a Coldstone Creamery!  And all those other places and apartments on top of it.  I ran over to 2700s (by that time I was on Highland Drive) and then down and back home.  My back started hurting again as I was getting ready for work, so I'm kinda worried that running may be triggering the pain... I may have to spend a few days in the pool.  Good thing it's finally spring break at my school (Thursday, Friday, and Monday... short but hey it's a break!) so I'll have time to do that.

Long course hours at Crimson Lagoon were 6-8 AM, so I was determined to make it.  At least I was last night, this morning I turned off all 3 of my alarms as they went off... But then Ellie appeared by the side of my bed, so after getting up and helping her get back to bed I decided I should just get up and go to the pool.  So I did.  When I tried to pay for parking, I forgot that meters don't even start until 8!  So I got free parking, which was awesome.  For my pool running workout I started with a 5 minute warmup and then did 2 sets of 1-2-3-2-1 (minutes) with 1 minute rest after each.  HR was 162 or 82% MHR.  My back has still been hurting, though not as bad as it was Tuesday. Of course this would happen after I finally commit to running at Salt Lake and signed up for the 5k.  If it weren't for that, I would probably just have taken the day off.  So I guess it is good that I am at least still working out.  

Easter Egg (and house) hunt in Bountiful this morning meant later afternoon run. I ran from my house over to 2700s, up to 1700e, over to Sugarhouse Park, and through the tunnel and Hidden Hollow back down towards my house.  7:37 average pace, which was a nice surprise since I wasn't expecting to be able to do that after taking a few days off... But I guess pool running is a great way to build cardiovascular endurance.

Enjoyed my last day of spring break (only 5 weeks left of school...) by taking my babies in the stroller at Liberty Park.  I opted for the park so I could go by feel if I needed to cut it short.  I decided 2 laps was enough, my kids are getting heavy!  8:32 average pace.  Then I took my babies to the playground.  Ellie was asleep, but Elden enjoyed the swings.

Track workout in the rain.  I was determined to get this workout in, despite text messages from my mom and husband asking if I had looked at the weather... Yes, I had looked at the forecast, saw 100% chance of rain, but not lightning, so I was still planning on it.  To save time, rather than drive to Liberty Park after dropping my kids off at my parents house, I just ran to the East High track to run there.  I forgot they had redone the track!  It was nice!  Also, the stadium lights were on because there was football practice, so that was a plus.  It is 1 mile to the track from their house, so I did another lap and then some drills and 2 strides.  I love being able to shorten my warmups since I'm not in college or high school anymore and I can do what I want. :)  My goal was to do 2 by 1 mile threshold and then 2 800 thresholds with 20% timed recovery.  The first mile I got 6:06 then 6:10, then 3:07 and 3:10 on the 800s.  The wind was picking up towards the end so each time I was on the north stretch it just got harder and harder.  And I got more and more soaked.  I had my rain jacket, so my shirt was dry, but the outer layer, my shorts, and socks and shoes were drenched!  I was fortunate to find an extra hat at my parents house before starting since I had forgot to grab mine on my way out the door.  Feeling just ok on my times, I wish I could have had a little more consistency, but then again for running this alone in the pouring rain and by myself I have to give myself some credit.  Also when I looked at the splits in the garmin app later the 4 laps came up at 1.07 and 1.06 (5:41 and 5:43 mile pace?) and the 2 laps came up at .54 (5:49 and 5:53 mile pace).  Cooled down back to my parents house to finish with 6 miles total.

Jesse's and my new shoes arrived yesterday!  We ordered from Amazon, it's a lot cheaper than going to the running company.  Ran in them this morning :)  I did a 5 mile loop.  I ran along 500e over to 2700s, up to 900e, over to 3900s, and down to 500e and home to complete the loop.  Still a little sore from Tuesday night, but I think the soreness will be gone by Saturday.

Wasn't planning on having time to run today since I have to work early, and I had a test this afternoon and needed to go to the race expo to get my packet, but I was up at 5:45 with my kids anyway so after I got them taken care of I did a 3 mile run and stretched afterwards.  I'm excited to race tomorrow!

Race day!  Elden woke me up 2 minutes before my first alarm, and there's no snooze button on a baby so I had to get up.  But it was good so I could get up and moving and ready to go for the race.  We arrived at the course around 6:30.  Find out the "official start time" is 7:10 instead of 7, so a little relieved to have an extra 10 minutes warmup.  I did about 2 miles warmup and then strides and drills.  As I lined up at the start I noticed some high school boys and thought they might be good to pace with.  And another girl who also hopped in at the start closer to the race time.  My goal was to do sub 18 pace (which would need to be a really good day, but I did sub 18 my first race back from having Ellie... even though my miles were higher then.  I had at least done some speed before this one though).  When the race went out, I had guessed right on who would be going out quick from the high school kids.  I didn't go out super hard as I didn't want to crash and burn (though it's just 3 miles, what was I thinking? I was thinking it would be a long 3 miles if I went out too hard. I forgot how fast it goes when you're racing).  There were 2 girls ahead of me, but I told myself they would come back to me.  And one of them did about 3/4 of a mile in.  But one didn't, so while I decided I would just use the time to close the gap, that didn't happen.  For a little while I was running next to a guy and it seemed like the gap may have been shrinking, but after a while he took off and I didn't go with.  My first mile was in the 5:40s.  After Tuesday's track workout, it seemed reasonable.  But the girl up ahead had gone through in about 5:30.  It seemed the rest of the time I was just watching the gap get bigger and bigger.  I kept telling myself the gap would close eventually, but nope.  And in my mind I was making up excuses, "I've got an 8 month old baby.  I only run 2-4 days a week most weeks.  I only got a 2 hour and a 3 hour stretch of sleep last night"  But I had to tell myself to stop it.  After I had Ellie and was training and racing cross country, I had to tell myself many times that despite what the sports nutrition team would say about sleep and performance, my performance wasn't dependent on how much sleep I got.  My mile 2 split was around 12:20.  I had slowed down a lot.  My finishing time was 19:18 (on my watch) 19:19 according to the race results.  The winning time was 17:50.  I lost the race in the beginning when I let that girl go and assumed I'd catch up.  Big mistake.  I recognize that 2nd place is still an accomplishment.  But I am still disappointed that when it was time to go for my goal, I wasn't ready to work for it.  For a 5k I had conserved too much and didn't lay enough out there.  From this point I think I need to choose another race and work on my efforts.  I would love to run a half marathon, which means I need to be more consistent with my runs and overall mileage.  I will be done with my class at the U next week, which will be nice.  Two races I am looking at are the Ogden half marathon in May or the Utah Valley half marathon in June.  Part of me wants to do Ogden since it is sooner, but another part of me is saying wait until June to give myself more time to get ready.  I could also find another 5k or maybe a 10k in between to lead up to it.  Even though today's race didn't go as I wanted it to (because I didn't want to work hard enough when the moment arrived), it still makes a decent workout for leading up to something longer.  At the pace I was going I felt I could keep going for a little bit, though my endurance is nowhere near that for a half marathon yet.  Next week (or after I finish my schoolwork) I'll take a look at some races coming up and make a plan from there.

Nice morning run.  I ran over to 2700s, up to Imperial Street, over to 3300s, and home.  

Went to bed sick last night, woke up still sick.  

Am feeling much better as far as not having chills or headaches or feeling lightheaded when I'm up and about.  After looking on WebMD I think I have Hand Foot and Mouth Disease, which is a virus that causes blisters on the feet... it hurts to walk :(  

Evening run.  I felt better before I started, I guess being sick is still taking a toll on my body.  Had to turn around at 2 miles.

Today wasn't really a run after the first few minutes.  I went running with Liz at the Jordan River Trail.  We ran the first few minutes, then took a walk break, then ran some more, walked some more, eventually ended up just walking the rest of the way.  It was nice to talk and exercise at the same time (even if it wasn't running, it was still exercise!)