3:33:33

Tweaked my back last week, not sure what's going on with that. It keeps happening. It's amazing how careful I must be to not be injured! Anyway, tried to catch up today, a little, doing 14 instead of 11. Luckily I had fudged the miles upwards before the injury, so I only ended up a few miles short this week.

I always run with the treadmill at 1% now; new muscles, especially calves are getting sore. But I feel it is a more honest effort, since I often can't be outside....I am back in Spokane, wishing I was in Gilbert, or Houston.

Still faster than my coach wants me to, even doing 6 in an hour. My brother is proof low heart rate training works, but I can't discipline myself to go that slow...Oh, yeah, and I was only supposed to go 4 today, but catching up from last week.

treadmill, still some lower back pain but not when running, just when bending over to stretch. Weird left trochanter pain especially noticeable when getting up from floor sitting.

walked/jogged on treadmill in between core exercises

Plan called for 5 miles at 8:51 and junk miles before and after to equal 8 total, also included 3X50 meter strides....which required me to go outside. Well. I'm a big fat wimp about the cold. I got everything ready the night before, then slept in...couldn't quite get away for as long as it would take to get in 8 miles without leaving my 11 year old home alone before school....just didn't want to do that, so I figured I could fit my run in at 3.

Well. 3:00 rolled around and my boys were home and I was playing Mom, struggling to find my sunglasses, never found them, finally got out of the house at 3:30, went down to Walgreens, bought sunglasses and took off......then realized I only had 40 minutes of daylight left.

The Gator occluded my breathing pretty well, so that by the time I was through with my 50 meter strides I was completely out of breath. Not used to breathing that cold air but took it off anyway after a mile or so, just to breathe. Still cold. I ended up doing 4 miles in 35:30...which is about right if I did the first mile in 9:56 and the other ones at 8:51, a little fast.

 Jumped in the Sequoia, drove home, changed clothes, and jumped on treadmill for a fast 5. Ended up doing a fast 4 with way too much left over so ramped up the speed for the last mile to 7.7 mph on the flat....I guess that's a little over 8 min a mile taking into account the lack of treadmill elevation. The other 4 miles I did only slightly too fast considering the 1% elevation.

I then cooled down....it took a while to slow down till I was almost 6 miles before I was below 8:51 pace, then the last mile (7) I did very, very slow. I am old. I must cool down very slowly. 

So I still feel great. We will see how I do Saturday for my "long" run of 12 miles. I'm still a little worried that I will too suddenly be increasing my miles and running faster and I won't be able to handle it. I have an easy week the week after this. I want to need it.

My diet is going okay, not great. Don't know if I have lost any weight yet.

And we are talking very slow. Tired and worried about my 12 miler tomorrow. Will try to go to bed at a decent time.

No more, no less, stuck to the plan, except too fast because I was on the treadmill. Even at 1% and .6 faster speed, it feels much easier than outside. I was all ready to go outside when Paul came home and said everything was a sheet of ice. No, thank you. I have six months left of trying to get my fantasy PR; not a time I want to risk injury.

Key run today. 3 miles jog, then increasing speed, the 7X3 minutes at 6.8 mph and 3% elevation, then cooling to finish off 8. Since it was a key run I pushed the envelope, but not much, did 6.8 twice, 6.9 twice, 7.0 twice and finished with 7.1 increasing speed and elevation through the final  minute to finish at 7.4 and 3% elevation. It was a tough workout, but not too tough, I recovered quickly. 

My right lateral foot, above the sole, distal,  is sore. Not while running, but afterwards. I have ice on it. It's hard to know which aches and pains are because of my connective tissue disease and which ones could be because I am overdoing it.

An easy 3 days coming up before my key run Saturday, and I will take them easy.

Great run outside, middle 7 around 8:15 per mile

I did this yesterday on the treadmill because I wanted two days off, no time for a long run today due to the figure skating championships all day...plus I wanted to try a low heart rate fat burning...I even walked about a mile of it at 5% elevation. Very slow. And at least as hard as faster for me, at least in some ways.

I then took the coldest ice bath I have ever taken. Usually I feel like screaming for about the first minute, this time it didn't even get close to tolerable until 9 minutes had passed and I was still shivering pretty hard 20 minutes after. I turned on the electric  blanket and crawled in. My legs feel fine this morning, not at all like I did a long run last night.

If my blood pressure heads up tonight I will get in 3 more miles this evening at 8:46 pace for the middle 2.5. Or something. I feel totally injury free!

gonna rest till Saturday

This was an amazing race, great feeling, great weather,  great surface (packed earth, slightly moist, albeit slow). However, there were numerous errors. The only hard numbers I trust come from my Garmin. Based on that, I should have ran about a 1:49 if it was a full half. And I got to meet Burt and his wife, that was so fun. I love blogs, even if I did have to use my brother to get "in" to this circle of Burt.

Now. I have read several of my brothers' race reports. They all have glaring omissions. I am barely mentioned. This is incredible, given the fact I beat all of them and I am a  girl! What is up with that?!!?! There is a reason why girls get an extra half hour in the standard qualifying times for the Boston marathon. It's because we are GIRLS. We have hips that are not conducive to speed, a lack of testosterone  and an abundance of estrogen which lends itself more to fat acquisition than lean muscle mass. We have families that still want the same care, whether we run or not. We have EXCUSES. We are supposed to lose to the guys....

But I beat all my brothers. Hello? I expect more than a passing mention. I fully expect all my brothers to beat me soon (especially after this race report). Hence you need to understand, London's run 2010 was an historic moment.

That's a total for the week. I died of fatigue all week.

Less than four weeks until the 2010 Snake River Canon Half Marathon being held March 6, 2010. Anyone interested? Ha.

Did a great key run today.

Tuesday  KEY RUN

Treadmill run, run at 1.0 elevation.

5 minutes at:  6.1

4 minutes at:  6.6

3 minutes at:  6.1

1 x 2 miles at:  7.6

4 minutes at:  6.1

1 x 1 mile at:  7.7

3 minutes at:  6.1

2 x 2 minutes at:  7.8

2 minute breaks at 6.1

CD at 6.0-6.4 to 9 miles

Stretch good post run!

Added in 1.4 , at least half a mile of it on the speed end. Good stuff, ready for a high mileage week, redemption from last week's woes.

the first mile slow, then strides, then 8 at 8:56(+), then waddle home.

Yup, I feel so fat when I'm tired. What's up with that? I guess I just

don't want to carry anything around, at all.

Skipped today, hoping tomorrow I will be ready for the 20 miler.

There really needs to be an intermediate time there. I know 9:30s are not "fast", but I did 19 of them and then a 7:53 for the last mile. Very excited about today's run, especially after Thursdays. I was ready to throw in the towel on Boston. It's not worth going if I am going to just bomb it again. Some days are better than others! So dramatically in my case.

Love pounding that AZ dirt! My whole pelvic girdle is sore; maybe old Moms aren't supposed to be running over 12 miles. That's when it starts to hurt. Then again, it used to start to hurt at 8, so there is good news. 

I didn't stop once today until I was finished. A first for me. I also ran all 5 if the last five miles under 9:30 pace, so I am happy. Overall time was 3:09 minutes. Then I walked a mile back. A great day for running, 55-65 degrees.