Create.

Fun morning! :)

Ry, Sophers and I met up with Christine, Ben, Marina and Kilia at the JRP. Kilia and Sophers wanted to run a couple of fast miles and an 800. We decided on our target paces before hand.

800 meter warm-up

1 mile @ 7:30

few minutes standing rest

1 mile @ 7:29

400 meter jog

800 meter (My time was 3:27 -- We were shooting for 3:30 but Sophers took off with 100 meters to go. Needless to say I couldn't keep up with her final kick. I should have started faster and made her catch me at the end. :))

400 meter cool down

** I can't believe how fast those young girls are!! This was a great workout for them. :)

________________________________

1.25 mile home by my lonesome, nice and easy

________________________________

1 mile with the twins, AP 9:44 (Sophers joined us for 800 meters)

Plyo (I only did about half of what Sophers, Sherm and Livvy did because I am worried that the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase this Saturday -- which Ry and I are doing for fun -- will chew me up). :)

_________________________________

4-way ankle and stretches on my own

__________________________________

Sophers cracks me up. She insisted that we go to Sports Authority this morning to buy her a "Quick Ladder" (a 15' long rung ladder used for agility training). She said she would pay for it with her own money. We decided to split the cost and she could ask her siblings to pitch in a few bucks each to offset some of her out-of-pocket expense. She is a riot!

3 nice and easy miles with Sophers on the JRP, AP 9:32

I was super happy to be able to slip on my trail shoes this morning ... it has been far too long! :)

This race was AWESOME! Absolutely beautiful. Also, I had a first - I truly got lost! But I will get to that. :)

Miles 1-3, solid climb. I was shocked when my hubby slapped my buttocks around mile 2. He was doing incredible!

Mile 4 - absolutely AMAZING! I think this was my favorite mile of the race. Surrounded by trees and running on dirt. AND my hubby was by my side for the first bit of it. I felt so good that I decided to take off.

Don't remember much about mile 5 but mile 6 was brutal. Climbing to Jupiter's Peak was grueling. Still had fun though! And very worth the view at top.

Mile 7 was another summit ... this is where things went awry. I have no idea how I missed the turn. I got to the summit no problems, even passed several runners, but then I somehow missed the sharp turn I was supposed to take. I was trying to catch up to this guy who missed the turn as well. STUPID of me!! I remember thinking, "This is crazy that they are having us run this area" - I actually fell and scooted part way down on my butt. I then hit a parking lot full of people that said they had not seen very many runners at all. CRAP!! Anyway, this mistake ended up costing me somewhere between 8-11 minutes I think. STINK. The wind kind of came out of my sails at that point. But luckily it returned when I caught up to my hubby and friend, Kiki. :)

The rest of the race was FUN as I was trying to pass as many people as possible (which since I took the wrong turn made this easier). At mile 12 I started to see some of the same people I saw earlier in the race. At mile 14 I saw two women whom I passed cresting the summits. I gave the last half of mile or so everything I had and it felt great. :)

It was wonderful to chat with Fritz before and after the race as well as to meet Amy. It was NOT wonderful to see that Fritz' ankle was all wrapped up and being iced. How he still took 2nd place after injuring it around mile 12 is CRAZY!!! That guy is NOT human!!! It was quite the sight to see him hop to the podium! :)

I would highly recommed this race!! But watch for that turn after cresting the second summit! :) :) :)

*** One other thing, my hubby rocked it!!! He finished in 3:05 which is 50 minutes faster than he ran Wahsatch!!! Amazing what just a little bit of consistent training can do. :)

3 nice and easy miles with Sophers on the JRP, AP 9:24

Then Sherm and Livvy joined Sophia and I for one additional mile in the neighborhood, AP 10:11.

45 minutes elliptical. Wanted to run more but I could tell that the niggle in my R calf is not improving. I know that if I don't take care of small things like this quickly that they can easily turn into big things. So I will likely be cross-training the next 2-3 days IF I can keep myself from running with Sophia in the morning. I can't even begin to describe how much I enjoy our mornings together.

It was actually beneficial to be on the elliptical because it gave me enough time to go through my doctoral project presentation again before presenting it for the first time (a practice trial in front of a few classmates and the professor who is my doctoral project chair) a couple of hours later. I was very happy with how the practice trial went. IT FEELS AWESOME TO HAVE THAT DONE!!!! A few more touch-ups and then my official presentation and 30 - 45 minutes of fielding a volley of questions from the faculty on September 4th!!! Can hardly believe it! :)

Happy Monday, All. :)

60 minutes elliptical -- blah

20 minutes strength training using only a 4 kilo free weight and my imagination. Good stuff! :)

Missed my morning run with Sophers tremendously. C'mon calf ... heal quickly!! :) :) :)

elliptical: 60 minutes

bike: 30 minutes (20 minutes hills)

Nothing exciting but calf is feeling better. :)

Happy Wednesday, All. :)

4 miles with Sophers, AP 8:33. This was a progressive run for her and she did AWESOME!!! We were on the trail portion of the JRP and she LOVED it. She was able to run these four miles with what she considered a 4-5/10 effort overall. (It was only a 2/10 effort for her until the last mile or so). She amazes me.

2 miles by my lonesome, roughly the same pace.

1.5 miles with Sherm and Livvy just barely dipping below a 10 minute pace.

******

Standard Resistance Training (which sometimes I find a bit on the boring side).

Upper body: 8 exercises 3 sets of 8-12 reps each.

7 miles total. All nice and easy - nothing below a 9 minute pace. (3 with Smo, 3.5 by my lonesome, .5 with Liv and Sherm)

So ... I have been thinking a lot the last little while about injuries. I think it can be very misleading to tell someone to build up their mileage by 10% a week to avoid injury. There is a huge difference with the amount of stress/strain our bodies experience when someone runs, hmmm ... let's say 10 miles at a 11 minute pace versus someone who runs 10 miles at a 7 minute pace. And then, of course, you have to take into consideration how difficult an 11 minute pace is for someone. Whereas someone may feel like they are barely moving at an 11 minute pace that may very well be another's marathon pace. So many variables to consider. A simple 10% increase seems ridiculous.

So this is what I have been thinking:

Why not implement the stress/strain curve type principle.

For example:

STRESS RATES:

VO₂ or faster = 10

10K pace = 8

HM pace = 6

MP = 4

MP + 1 min = 3

MP + 2 min = 2

MP + > 2 min = 1

Hills = ??? (perhaps assign by effort)

Total Stress = Stress number x mileage

The point is to allot yourself so many points to start with (for example, 10-15 points when coming off of injury). Then safely increase your training by allotting yourself 10-15% more points per week. Use them how you wish. Plan out a couple of key workouts, see how many points you use up, and then make do with whatever points you have left. So if you are doing faster runs and/or hills a couple of times then you are likely going to be running very slowly the rest of the week.

I am still playing with the numbers, and maybe there is something like this already out there. BUT, I am convinced that it would work.

I am going to use it for a while and see how it goes! :)

20.13 miles on the JRP, AP 8:23

*Great morning of running. Ran with Ry, Josh, JohnnyV and Smo! My favorite portion by far was when Ry left and brought back Sophers for my last 5 miles. She is AMAZING! She has had her highest mileage week yet (she would like to work up to 24 miles per week with the "NO OPTION" of running over 25 miles a week until she is 14) and had no problems staying under an 8:30 pace for the entire 5 miles she ran with us. If anyone gets a chance I am sure she would love an "atta-girl" on her blog (just hit Sophia on her link under my favorite blogs).

No issues with the R calf. It is back to that 2/10 type of "niggle" feeling, not real pain. Just enough to remind me to be mindful at the beginning of each run. :)

8 miles

- 3 miles with Sophers on the JRP, AP 8:39

- 4 miles by my lonesome, AP 7:42

- 800 meters with Livvy (4:25)

- 800 meters with Sherm (4:20)

Did some great core work with Sophers, Livvy and Sherm. We each had a basketball and came up with various core exercises that we could do. Roughly 15 minutes. Lots of fun and friendly competition!

GREAT morning! :)

8 miles

- 4 miles with Ry up through Murray, AP 7:53

- 3 miles with Sophers on the JRP, AP 9:12

- 1 mile with the twins, AP 9:49

Happy Tuesday. :)

Evening:

Standard resistance training:

Lower body - 10 exercises, 3 x 8-12 each.

8 miles with Ry on the JRP, AP 8:16

** Took Sophers, Sherm and Livvy to the HS track right after my run. Sophia was wanting to run a hard 1500 meters. She hasn't raced or done any really hard runs for over one month now and we were simply curious as to where her time would be. Her 1500 PR is 5:43, we were hoping for anything under 6:10.

Well, when we got to the track the HS team was using it. Stink. I told Sophers that I was going to talk to the coach and see if he'd be willing to let her do a 1500 meter run and possibly have someone pace her. When I told him her times he said that he didn't have any girls who could do that today but that he would ask a couple of the guys. Sophia was very intimidated and didn't know if she wanted to run with a HS boy. I asked her what Mary Cain would do. She then said she wanted to do it. CUTE GIRL!!

The coach told his runner to pace Sophia at about a 6:30ish pace but that if he could tell she had more to start picking it up. They started WAY TOO SLOW. But after one lap the coach could tell that Sophers was in it. He yelled at his boy to pick up the pace. The whole HS cross country team began screaming and cheering Sophia on. She kicked at the end (as usual) and ended with a 6:01. :) :) :) She was very happy!!! Of course she loved it when all the high schoolers and coaches were talking about what a beast she is!! :)

We then timed Sherm. He killed his 100 meters at a 13.98! He went straight away to the 200 but struggled a bit with that and ran a 33.24 (which is likely due to no rest between). :)

Livvy ran 100 in 17.77 which is great for her as well! :)

It was a FUN morning!! :)

Evening:

Yoga: Balanced lower body by Rodney Yee.

9 miles

- 4 miles with Ry and Sophers on the JRP (trail portion), AP 8:47

- 4 additional miles by my lonesome, AP 8:51

- 1 mile with Sherm and Livvy, AP 9:14 (this is probably Livvy's fastest mile per date, that I can recall) :)

* I keep having the urge to run fast but my right medial calf continues to remind me to keep things mello-yello. I think next week I will take it super easy and just enjoy California in hopes that it will get the adequate rest it needs to really heal. Right now I am just keeping things at status quo. :)

Happy Thursday. :)

4 with Sophers on the JRP, AP 8:36

16 with Ry on the JRP and up/down 7800. Sophers joined us for the last 4 miles. :) :) :) AP 8:19.

Off to Cali!!! :) :) :)

WOOT WOOT!!! :) :) :)

8.25 miles

- 4 easy on the beach with Ry and Smo

- 4.25 more with Ry (beach and SRRT), AP 7:42 

12 miles on the beach with Ry (Smo joining us for the last three), AP 8:42.

* I took a few days off this week thinking it would be the extra TLC my right medial calf needed to return to its happy place. I'm a little disappointed that it feels roughly the same. Thought about taking the entire week off but couldn't resist running on the beach with Ry and Sophers. So I didn't. :)

Loving my time here in beautiful California with the family!! Really not wanting to go back to school on Monday. 

Hope everyone has had a fantastic week!!  

morning:

7 miles, AP 7:51

evening:

2.5 easy miles with Smo, AP 9:14

The semester has officially begun. Classes seem good!! Not thrilled with the 7 a.m. start 4 out of 5 days a week though. Boo!!! :)

Happy Monday, All. :)

Morning:

I was crazy impressed when Sophia was up and ready to run at 5:30 this morning. Since I have to be to school on most days at 7:00 Sophia has decided to alternate running with me in the mornings on somedays but running during the evening on others, esp. when she doesn't get to bed on time. :)

Anyway, today she was up and ready to go at 5:30. That girl is constantly amazing me!

3 miles with Smo (Sizzler Loop +), AP 8:42

2 additional MP miles by my lonesome.

Evening:

800 meter swim (Boy my swimming fitness has declined!)

Morning:

10 miles, AP 8:16

Crazy how much I missed my Smo Run this morning (it's her evening run day).

Happy Wednesday, All! :)

Evening:

3 miles with Ry and Smo, AP 8:39 -- couldn't resist (but wow was it warm outside)

morning:

5 miles, AP 8:47

Okay ... Smo is officially nutty!!! She had planned on running with me this morning at 5:30 a.m. HOWEVER, she came up to my room at 5:27 saying she wasn't going. Weird, because she was all dressed in her running clothes. I asked why. She responded, "I woke up a little before 5 and couldn't fall back asleep and so I ran on the treadmill already." WHAT???? Needless to say her older sister was not happy to be awaken by the sound of treadmill running that early. SO FUNNY!!! Sadly, however, she was all pumped up after running that she couldn't fall back asleep when she was done and still had two and a half hours before school. My guess is that she will be falling asleep by 7 tonight. :)

5 TM miles, AP 8:42

Would have liked to have run more but I am running dangerously close to my point allotment for the week and I want to do a 20 miler on Saturday. Plus ... it is definitely easier to run only 5 miles before heading to class! I actually have time to shower and not show up stinky!!! :)

Sophia plans on running this afternoon on the treadmill.

20 miles, AP 8:16

Awesome morning!! Ran with Ry and Smo. (Ry ran 18, Smo ran 4, I ran 20).

I was BEYOND IMPRESSED with Smo this morning. We met when Ry and I had already run 14 miles. We could see her sitting on the driveway waiting for us (7:00 a.m.) as we were running home and at the end of the street. Why does that melt my heart so much? Anyway, Smo wants to run the Spanish Fork 5K again and crush her last year's time. If no wrenches are thrown in her direction that she not be a problem. Her last year's time was 25:39, AP 8:15 on that course (see http://sophia.fastrunningblog.com/blog-09-08-2012.html ). Her 5K PR 24:39, AP 7:57 at Snow Canyon (where she holds the course record for her age group. Well, actually her age group last year. This year she will be in a much tougher age group as she is now 11). She wanted to push herself hard today so that she could make a race goal for herself. She KILLED it!!! We ran 1/2 mile warm-up and then PUSHED! Her first 1.5 miles seemed comfortably hard, the next half of mile seemed hard, and the last mile she really had to dig deep. That girl is a fighter!! Her total time for the 3 miles was 22:31. Her splits were (7:39, 7:31, 7:20 and then one extra second, I must not have stopped my watch exactly at the right time). She AMAZES me more than I can explain. It was a fight for myself to keep up with her with that many miles under my belt this morning. GREAT RUN!!! I then proceeded to run another 2 miles (high 7s) by my lonesome.

Felt GREAT to be done by 8:00 a.m.!! WOOT WOOT!!!

Happy Weekend All!!! :)

(Was shooting for 165-175 points, ended up with 181. A little too high. Was not anticipating Sophia's push. It's 8+ hours since the run ended, R medial calf seems okay. Wish I could say that it was pain free but it is no worse than it was prior the run. I am pleased with this. We will see how it feels tomorrow morning and then adjust weekly points accordingly.)