I Probably Should Make My Blog Public again

Not much running.  Just on the course during races.  Maybe a mile, maybe a bit more, but I'm not counting it...

First race of the season was awesome!  The work that most of these kids did this summer totally paid off.  Everyone who ran last year was 1-2 minutes less (in one case, 4 minutes less) than where they were last year.  It's going to be a good season!

The girls team took 2nd, which really took us by surprise.  This was on the strength of only our top 4.  Our #5 was ill, so the girl that was our #5 today was 3 minutes behind our #4.  I was pretty happy, since most of those teams are in our regional too.  The only bad thing is that we'll never touch the 1st place team.  They have some wicked talent.  They beat us by 60 points, if that tells you something.

The boys team took 4th, which was also a pleasant surprise!  They usually get clobbered, but we have cultivated some talent.  Now I need to work on convincing my 2-5 runners that they will be better as a pack.  There's some animosity among some members of the group, so I know I have my work cut out for me.  These boys are way more petty than the girls, really.

A nice run with a couple of the varsity girls.  We had some pleasant conversation until about a mile to go.  Then we were working it a bit.  

I need new shoes. 

An awesome run to cap off a pretty sorry running week!  I ran a 3 mile warm up, 3.75 miles fast (8 min pace) and then a little under a mile cool down.  It felt pretty good and I finished it in avg. 8:40 pace (insert pat on the back here).

Today I missed a meet for only the 3rd time in 10 years of coaching (I missed one 2 days before I gave birth and another for a wedding in Colorado, so I've had good reason) and I'm anxious to see how the kids did.  Instead I sat in class all day.  I'm not too heartbroken because I hate this meet (9 separate races on an interesting but cowchip dotted course), but class wasn't exactly a rip-roaring good time either. 

Oh yeah!  And I got my new shoes.

A good easy run.  A little under 9:30 pace. Yesterday was overcast and drizzling.  Today was sunny and warm.  On my last mile I got a bit of cloud cover and a breeze.

My new shoes feel pretty good, but occasionally I find myself holding my foot rigid.  I don't know why I do that.  I'm hoping as the shoes mold a bit I won't do that anymore.

 Just found a new map that I like better than mapmyrun.com.  It tells me that my normal 5 mile route is really 5.1.  Good to know.  It's at www.gmap-pedometer.com.  You can use both satellite and street maps.

My run was split up today.  I did 1.5 before the girls' race, just by myself around the course.  Then I ran about 1.5 during the races.  Afterward, I ran about 2 with the girls as a cool down.

The race was a good one.  The girls ran especially well.  The boys didn't run as well.  Our #1 was not in top form.

Just a nice and easy 40 minutes with the girls.  Approximate distance, of course.

It's going to be a long week.  Two 12+ hour days in a row.  Then a meet on Saturday.

I'm determined to run tomorrow.  I just hope this week I have time to change before practice sneaks up on me.

We had a fun workout today--did a two-person relay (400, 400, 800, 800, 1600, 1600, 800, 800, 400, 400, alternating runners).  My assistant coach and I were partners, and sadly, we didn't win.  We were second.  I made the mistake of putting two people together that are fast over the short distance, but slower than others because of endurance.  They crushed.

Although I had a clock going, I wasn't really thinking during my portions of the race,  so I don't really remember my pace on each of the portions.  But we finished 5 miles in just over 30 minutes and I think I did the longest portion, a mile, in just under 7.  I know the shorter portions were a bit faster.

At any rate, I feel a little sick right now--my stomach was cramping, not during the fast parts, but definitely after and during the cool down.  I'm sure it was because I haven't done speed work in a while.

I started with an easy 5 miles before the meet.  Then, during the warm ups and the races, I got at least another 5 miles in.  Today was a good meet.  The girls took 3rd, missing our #4 runner, and the boys took 4th, missing our #3 runner.

Ran a nice tempo run.  It is getting dark much earlier.  Boo.

Yesterday my shoulder was causing me a lot of discomfort.  I have an appointment for Tuesday and I think I'm going to take it easy till I find out what I need to do to rehab it.  It doesn't hurt while I'm running, but it does afterward.

An  easy 5.  I think my shoulder problems may be due to a pinched nerve.  I'll find out tomorrow.  I've never been to a physical therapist except for my sister.  I think I may take this pt's diagnosis back to her.  Problem is that I won't see her for about a month, so she'll have to go by what they say.

5 easy miles.  I feel like that's all I'm doing right now and I'm okay with it.  I don't really have anything on the horizon, just working out, really.  I tried to work on keeping my shoulders down and back and I really tried to breathe out of my nose, but the nose thing was impossible.  So I just made sure to pay attention to my form.

I'm still sore, but I think part of it is just getting used to the position of grading (hunched hopelessly over a desk, feverishly reading paper after paper).  Plus I'm stressed right now with a bunch of papers that I have to get back today and I'm not done with.

Approximate.  I ran two miles with the girls for their warm up, then ran at least a mile during the cool down, then another mile with both teams for a quick cool down after the awards.

The girls won today (a nice plaque and 5 girls in the top 15 won medals) and the boys took 3rd, despite my top two boys winning 1 and 2.  Our #3 was sick and #4 is nursing an injury.  Bummer.

Mileage is approximate.  We were in Peoria today--the kids ran well.  I took only the varsity, so it was a pretty low key race.

 I did a warm up with the girls, ran during their race, cooled down with them, and then since I had some time before the boys' race, continued to run another 3 miles.  Then I ran during the boys' race and cooled down with the boys.

Ran out with one of the girls--we started after everyone, caught up with them before they turned around to go back towards the school, ran a little beyond them since we started late, headed back to school and then picked up the pace for the last 10 minutes.  We were able to catch the last two girls again.  

It was a good run.

4 miles--2 as a warm up with the girls and 2 as a cool down with both teams.  We ran at a camp that I'd never been to before and the course was pretty challenging...

And I did it all in borrowed shoes.

But my girls won (taking 1st and 2nd overall I might add) and the boys limped along at 3rd.  My 3rd runner is out for a little while and I fear that by the time he gets back into it, he won't be the 3rd runner anymore.

Approximately...We went for a nice run.  I ran with one of my girls and she really pushed me, especially at the end.  We were racing at the end.  She does that to me every time.  But it feels good.

Ran warm up, was too lazy to run mile repeats with the kids, although I'm sorta kicking myself on it now.  But oh well, the groups started to fall apart and I was reading splits and finish time.

Ran a cool down with the varsity girls, then ran 1/2 mile cool down with the JV team.

Probably a bit more than 6.

Warmed up a couple miles with my JV team.  Since there was no official JV race, we did our own.  They totally screwed up the course, though, so the times that we took are meaningless :)

Ran the course backward while the JV was running--the reason I know they screwed up the course is that I did not run into them while running it. 

The boys and girls ran at the same on the streets of a little town near us.  I didn't have much time to run around on the course because the girls started 5 minutes before the boys.  I ran a bit from the start line down the course and then back over to the finish.

It was a great day.  Both my boys and girls won trophies. I was expecting it on the girls' side, but not on the boys. 

It's at this point in the season that I am thinking I can't give this up next year.  I love cross country!  I love these kids!  ...so hubby and I are just waiting to see what happens before we make any decisions about next year.

I haven't been as stressed this year, and I think it's because I'm not training for anything specific.  Last year at this time I was training for my first marathon and now I'm just running to run. 

Today is Sunday.  Hubby's taking the boys this morning to paint and I just want to start the week with a clean house and all my homework done, so I may not run because he is going to watch football this afternoon/evening so I'll have the kids.  He deserves a football day.  It's been a rough week for him.

I had a great run, especially because I wasn't sure I'd get any miles in :)

It was pitch black when I ran at 7:30.  So depressing...It was chilly enough to put on a long sleeved t-shirt.  This is the first weekend I've had to do that.  And oddly enough, I just checked and the weather channel said it's 70 right now.  Weird.  Maybe it felt colder because of the wind.

Anyway, my first mile was about 8:45 and my second was 8:10.  I wasn't feeling too winded, so I thought I would just go with it.  The third mile felt easy--but when I looked at my watch it was 7:57.  My last mile was 7:28.  This is the first time in at least  month that I have timed anything I've been running (except for a some speed work on the track, but I wasn't really paying attention to it).  I wish I had a race lined up soon.  I have Columbus Day free from meets.  Maybe I'll look and see what I can find.

Also, lifted again.  My shoulder is starting to feel somewhat better, but now that it's getting better, I am going to start doing the exercises I was given.

Didn't run with the kids today.  They ran while I was in a faculty meeting, so I was on my own.  Ran 20 minutes warm up, 10 minutes fast, 20 minutes cool down.  The sad thing was that for 6 of the 10 fast minutes I was running into 23 MPH wind (gusting up to 31 MPH).  So while I was exerting myself, I was still moving only slightly faster than my warm up.  It was that kind of wind that makes your eyes tear up.

A slow 5 miles.  I ran with a couple of the JV boys.  It was slow and conversational...

My tummy hurt today.