Create.

11 miles (8 on the JRP with JohnnyV and the Running Professor and 3 on my own), AP 8:15.

The plan was to run 20 miles (hitting 70 running miles for the week) but the foot said, "No." :(

PF/FDL began to transition from discomfort to painful so I threw in the towel, which will hopefully pay off in the next few days.

Meeting the owner of a rehab store at noon to buy some ionto patches. I do not have a prescription for dexamethasone but recent research says the acetic acid 5% (basically plain 'ol vinegar) in conjunction with ionto has equivalent results with the plantar fascia. So ... what better time than now to try it out?? :) :) :)

Already iced/e-stim/taped. Also discovered some significant tightness in my FDL. Have had pronating problems before so will evaluate whether or not I want to add an arch. Think I will likely buy a strassburg sock to sleep in tonight as well. Possibly overkill!!! But what the hay!! ;)

Happy Saturday, All. :) 

*Note to self: Never put in writing that you have no niggles because the second you do one pops up!!!! Silly! 

100 minutes mtn biking with Ry in beautiful Corner Canyon

Approx. 1 mile swim in Black Ridge Reservoir 

* PF rehab:

ice massage x 2

my own version of ionto with acetic acid via a TENS unit

KT taping 

strassburg sock throughout the night

calf stretches and deep tissue work

150 minutes mtn biking with Ry in Corner Canyon.

*We went exploring and got lost. Oops.

PF improving but not ready to run on. Same rehab as yesterday. :) 

AM

Bike: 10 miles (48:27, most at random L7 with 15 minutes at L20)

Run: 1 mile (just testing out the foot -- getting closer)

PM

2.5 nice and easy miles with Sophers. Sizzler's shortened loop. AP, 9:22. PF is centralizing and improving. I will see how it feels later before making any decisions on how to proceed.

Same rehab as prior two days. :) 

elliptical: 50 minutes

run: 6 miles, AP 8:05

*I ran in my Mizunos because they make my PF feel the most supported. However, I often get shin issues with this shoe so I  need to wear this shoe with caution.  

PF did better than anticipated. We will see how I feel in a couple of hours. :)

9 miles, AP 7:49

PF is getting better every day. :)

Same rehab as the previous several days plus intrinsic foot muscle exercises.  

Everything nice and easy today. :)

Bike: 45:00 minutes, L4/Random

Swim: 800 meters (I swam today without my ipod because you cannot use ipods at the XTERRA. I did not like it. I did not feel nearly as smooth and/or fluid. Better change that ASAP.)

Run: 2 miles, 8:41 (wanted my foot to have a day off for the most part but was also curious to see how it would respond after yesterday's run -- foot continues to improve) :) .  

**** I definitely wasn't expecting to see a reference to this http://extremelongevity.net/wp-content/uploads/MCP-Jun12-OKeefe.pdf in my PT In Motion subscription this month. A credible research study that suggests excessive endurance training may be harmful in more ways than many have already speculated. I still believe that the benefits of distance running are incredible but this new research has definitely given me some things to consider. If your up for scholarly research article I would highly recommend this one. Since I have my cardiopulmonary class this semester it was especially interesting.

morning: 

FUN FUN FUN race!!! First ... let me say that I was most excited about my 10 year old daughter's 5K!!! You should read her race report  http://sophia.fastrunningblog.com/ she is unbelievably awesome!!!!!!! 5th overall for women and 1st in her AG. Ry had an AWESOME time running with her!!!!

In short ... I was really worried how my foot would do. I am happy to report that she behaved very well!!!

I didn't feel as strong as I did at the Park City Half, but hopefully that is largely due to my worrying about my foot. :)

This is a 3 1/2 minute course PR for me. I have run it two other times and each time I pretty much run it in exactly half the time that I run SGM. This gives me high hopes for the marathon if I can keep the foot happy. :)

Was wonderful to see and talk to so many people! A huge congrats to Rachelle on her 5K and Josse on her half! Those women are insanely FAST!!!! Also a huge congrats to Smooth and her hubby (who ran his first 5K)!!!! WOOT WOOT!!!

A SPECIAL thanks to Kim and Tom Lee who made this race INCREDIBLE!!!! 

(1 warm up mile before the race, 1 mile to get Smooth and then 1 mile with Smooth, and then 4 miles with Ry on the JRP when we got home.) 

Headed out to Blackridge reservoir now for an open water swim. I really hope that I won't drown. Pretty tired. :) 

afternoon

Didn't drown!!! :) 4 times around the perimeter of Blackridge Reservoir. I think that is little over one mile. I just relaxed and swam slowly (which is basically all I do when I swim ... I like to enjoy it). It felt great!

Hungry like a wolf now!! :) :) :) 

2 hours mountain biking with Ry on the last 2/3rds of the XTERRA biking course. I am so intimidated by this race. 

Green Pond -> Sardine Peak -> Maples -> Snow Basin -> Green Pond

Roughly 2100 feet climbing of the 3600 feet of the full course. How in the hay I am going to do the additional miles after the swim and before the run is beyond me. Race day adrenaline/stupidy? :)

The outlook point on top of Sardine Peak Trail.

Absolutely stunning up there! 

Bike: 30 minutes, recovery pace

Run: 8 miles, recovery pace 

3 miles with Sophers, AP 9:09 

4 miles by my lonesome, 4 at MP and 1 CD 

I LOVE running with Sophia. :) :) :)

(Sophia has decided that her next race is going to be the XTERRA 5K. She will run it with Ry. :)) 

10 miles

2.5 easy, 2.5 VO2, 1.5 easy, 1.5 MP, 1 easy, .5 threshold, .5 easy

*** CRAY CRAY morning: Timed my run perfectly to be able to have adequate time to shower and get to my cardiopulmonary clinical at the VA hospital. I "thought" I was supposed to be there at 8:45 a.m. Before jumping in the shower I decided to double check the time. STINK!!! It was already 7:12 and I need to be at the hospital at 8:00!!!! What was I thinking? Threw on appropriate attire and bee-lined it out of there! I am now done with the clinical and at the computer lab (didn't have time to grab my laptop) wondering if my classmates can smell my stink!!!!! NASTY!!!

*** One last thought: Last night I decided not to register for Boston. This morning I am questioning my decision. What to do?

My foot needed a relative rest day and so I took it. :)

Bike: 1:16:25, Random L10, 15 miles

Swim: 800 meters, 18:xx

** Ry surprised me with a new Prius C last night!!! It is Magnetic Gray and I LOVE it!!! It only cost me $1.73 in gas today to get to the U and back (it cost roughly $6.00 round trip in the Honda Pilot)! WAHOO!!!! :) :) :)

Bike: 60 minutes, Random L5, 15 miles

Taking one more day off of running just to make sure my foot will weather a long run tomorrow. :) 

22 miles total.

20 miles, AP 8:07 (10 of which were with JohnnyV) and then 2 cool down miles with Ry, AP 9:14. I made him go slow because I felt completely drained of glycogen.  I shouldn't be surprised since my miles have not been what they should be. I even took a couple of breaks to talk to people on the trail. Hopefully I will recover nicely before XTERRA this Saturday. 

At mile 11ish I got a dead arm!!!! I had to basically run the remainder of my miles with my elbow flexed and my wrist supinated. WEIRD!!! On the bright side it made my foot unnoticeable!!! :) CRAZY!

The only thing that sounds good right now is orange juice. 

Waiting for the TOU reports to come in!! :) 

Happy Saturday.  

***************

Here is a pic of Sophia and Ry finishing the Spanish Fork 5K last week. I am amazed at how good Sophers looks after her fastest 5K to date. I am in awe of her running form!!! :) 

Run: 3 miles, EZ

Bike: 70 minutes

I started getting sick yesterday and am feeling lousy. :( 

morning 

Slept in until Sophia came and woke me up (still not feeling well, but better than I did yesterday). 

2.5 miles with Sophers and 1.5 on my own

afternoon

Bike: 75 minutes (First time at the Sugarhouse Golds Gym. I don't like the bikes there as much as the ones at West Jordan.)

1 mile swim

6 miles

(3 with Sophers and 3 on my own) 

Holy Ravioli!!! That was so stinkin' hard and so stinkin' beautiful at the same time. :)

* A quick note before I begin (before any of you think I did better than I did): There was only 17 women TOTAL who were crazy enough to pay for this crazily satisfying punishment! :) 

Here are the highlights (and I am not checking for typos so BEWARE ... I am pretty tired): 

THE SWIM: I have never felt so panicky in my life!!! Even though I knew the swim portion went by gun time I lined up towards the back and the side in hopes of avoiding getting my body trashed by others. Should have gone to the VERY back! About 200 meters into the swim I got kicked HARD right in the nose. So hard that I thought I was going to pass out. I felt so dizzy and yet got kicked over and over again. At one point some guy swam directly on top of me. I went completely under and panicked a bit because he wouldn't let me back up (there were people on both sides of me). Stupid boy!!! Long story short though: there were times when I loved the swim ... others times were I thought I would not make it!! It took me much longer than I thought I would. I think my swim itself was about 41-43 minutes. My transition at that point was about 10 minutes!!!!!! Partly because I was so dizzy that I had a hard time getting my wetsuit off and getting everything good to go for the bike!

THE RIDE: The uphill never ended!!!! Over 3600 feet climb. The scenery was insanely beautiful!!! Red, orange, yellow EVERYWHERE!!!! My goal on the bike was to go sub 3 hours. I was thrilled when I rode it in 2:42:xx. The best part was that I only fell ONCE (with only about 1.5 miles to go). I did come out of my clips a few times though. Sometimes intentionally other times to just avoid disaster. I saw a lot of nasty falls. I feel very fortunate to have had my only fall on some nice soft dirt! The worst part (for me) was that my gum came flying out of my mouth around mile 7 and got stuck on my right brake. Before I knew it was there I had smeared it on there good. So every time I braked my hand felt nasty!!! :)  A very tough ride but it I felt so amazing having conquered my fear!!!

THE RUN: This is where I thought I would KILL it!!! NOT SO MUCH!!! About 1000 feet of climbing on what felt like zero glycogen. I wanted to run fast but I absolutely could not. Every part of my body was exhausted! The run was 6.3 miles (last year it was only 5.9 so I was hoping for that but they changed the course a bit). Aid stations at about every mile. I had not run the course but had thought that I could do it in about 50 minutes. Ummm WRONG!!! My time was 1:04:xx. At a 10+ pace you would think that people would be passing me everywhere. Nope. We were all just dead tired!!! I have no idea how some of the men pros ran it in 43 minutes. INSANE! The last couple of miles were mostly downhill. That was a nice gift!!! :)

FUN to have Ry, the kids, Annie and Nic (and their kids) to cheer me on!!!

I am so glad that I did this. It was so out of my comfort zone but I did it. I love that feeling!!!

For my 1st place in my AG they gave me a nice visor and a box of PowerBar gels. Cool!!! :) 

AWESOME DAY!!!! Ry and Sophers ran the XTERRA 5K. There were 39 women who ran it. Sophers took 4th overall among those ladies!!! Ry said she KILLED the 600 feet of climbing but that her shoes (Nike Frees) were not the best on the downhill portions which caused her to slow a bit. She is seriously on a roll!!!! 

Another cool thing: I was given 1 second of fame on the XTERRA highlights of the USA Championship video (from 5:04 - 5:05). Sweet!!!

http://www.xterra.tv/

(you have to press on the link for the highlights) 

15 miles, AP 8:38 on the JRP (perfect weather)

* I can hardly believe how much different it is to recover from a triathlon (at least the distance I did) and a marathon. I have zero pain. Just tired is all. I LOVE IT!!! :) 

5 easy miles: 2.5 with Sophers and 2.5 by my lonesome. Not sure that Smo (Sophers/Sophia) was a huge fan of the wind and rain. She is so stinkin' cute!

YASSOS

10 miles: 2 miles WU, 10 x 800 m with 400 m jog between each, .75 mile CD

(3:20, 3:20, 3:20, 3:20, 3:20, 3:20, 3:18, 3:18, 3:15, 3:15)

* These were done on the TM. 

2.5 with Smo, 1.5 more by my lonesome.

5 miles, AP 8:22 

30 minutes bike (random/L7) 

*********

Zero pain, but can tell that I am still recovering energy wise from XTERRA and yassos.

11 miles by my lonesome on the JRP (10 miles, AP 7:47 then 1 cool down mile). Hope I can hold a pace like this for 26.2 at SGM. Who's to say ... could go either way. Regardless ... it's going to be a fun ride. :)

Checked out Scheel's today!! That place is HUGE and CRAZY BUSY!! 

Happy Weekend! 

Keep checking for Huntsville race reports!!! :) 

5 trail miles with Ry and Smo in beautiful Corner Canyon. This was the farthest Sophia has ever run at one time. She did AWESOME!!! Our average pace was 9:53 which I thought was fantastic for her considering that there was over 500 feet of elevation gain in the first 2.5 miles. SHE ROCKS! What a beautiful morning! :)