In The Long Run

I feel lazy when I take a day off of running, but I know my body is not ready for 7 days a week yet.  So I did Restorative Yoga for 1 1/2 hours.  My hips and hamstrings feel so much better, hope this feeling carries over to my track workout tomorrow.  

AM: Dynamic warmup, planks, lifting.  I've been neglecting strength training and figured it was time to get back into it.  Nothing crazy, though, until after Ogden.  

PM: SLCTC Track Workout. Warmup loop around Sugarhouse Park. My plan called for 5 X 1000m at 5k pace with 2 min recovery and everyone agreed to do my workout with me :) I haven't run a 5k in awhile so I wasn't sure what pace to aim for.  I decided 7:45 pace (4:48-4:49 for 1000m) sounded good, but I started off by trying to stay in control. I ended up running 4:47, 4:41, 4:39, 4:36, 4:35.  I was pleasantly surprised that I hit the last 3 at under 7:30 pace and I didn't feel like I was straining.  I felt really good and controlled through the workout.  I had a nice group to run with and I'm really glad that Neil, John, and Stacy were there to push me today. Cool down loop around the park.  

It's amazing what 6 weeks of consistent running has done. I'm finally starting to believe that I'll get back to where I was.  

Tuesday Night Trails! 7 miles on the BST.  I was slightly sore from yesterday, but felt decent on this run.  It's always nice to hit the trails on a beautiful evening.  

Met Stacy for a mid-week 10 miler around Sugarhouse and the nearby neighborhoods.  It was nice to have company and not surprisingly, it was faster (and felt better) than my last few mid-week runs.  

AM: Dynamic warmup, planks, light lifting.  Elevated planks are HARD.

PM: Easy 5 mile run with my husband and the dog around Liberty Park.  Followed this with a Restore yoga class.  My body felt even tighter than usual so this was much needed tonight. Shavasana was so relaxing tonight, I almost fell asleep.

I didn't feel like running today, but my dog had other plans.  I took her for an easy loop around the neighborhood.  It was a really enjoyable run.  Tomorrow I have the Strider's half. I decided that I should have some goals for this race so here they are: The first goal is sub 2. If I don't do that, I won't be happy at all.  Ideally, I would like to beat 1:57:57 which is my fastest recent half (October 2010).  I think I am fitter than that, but I guess I will find out tomorrow.   

I woke up this morning feeling like I was going to vomit.  Hit snooze a few too many times before I decided to actually get out of bed.  I had some coffee and a PB&J english muffin and that seemed to settle my stomach.  I quickly got dressed and headed north. Halfway to Ogden, I realized that I forgot my Garmin.  I also did not have a watch.  I would have to run completely by feel.  Not the end of the world, as I've done this before with some success. I'm somewhat of a headcase when it comes to running so sometimes it's good not to know paces so that I can't overanalyze things.  

I got to the Red Moose Lodge, picked up my packet, and got on a bus.  It felt like we sat on those buses forever.  Finally, we started moving and headed to the start.  At the start we were informed of the temperature: first 15, then 16, and finally 21 degrees.  I was frozen even with a down coat on. My feet went numb.  I waited as long as possible to take my warm clothes off.  I lined up in the middle and before I knew it, the race had started.

I could not feel my feet for the first few miles.  It was the weirdest feeling trying to run that way.  As my feet warmed up, it felt like my socks were bunched around my toes (they actually were not).  A guy I was running near at the 2 mile mark informed me that we were at 16:55 (there were no clocks on the course).  Crap. That was way too fast, although it was downhill.  I didn't feel very controlled and just knew I was going to slow down a lot.  

The miles seemed to go by so slowly. I kept hoping I would somehow be magically transported to mile 10, so I could just get this run over with.  I felt like I was going too slow and that I wouldn't meet my goal of sub 1:57:57.  At mile 11, I asked roughly what time we were at.  1:35 something, I was told.  Suddenly, it clicked that I could not only meet my goal, but I could even run sub 1:55.  I increased my effort slightly.  As I came into the finishing stretch I saw the clock in the high 1:53s and sprinted to try to get in under 1:54.  The clock clicked over to 1:54 and I finished a few seconds later.  I hoped that my chip time would be 1:53 something and it was.  Results said 1:53:52.

I'm pretty happy with this result.  It's my fastest half since May 2009 when I ran a high 1:48.   It was another step towards getting back to my racing times of 2006-2008.   I still have a lot of work to do to get below 1:50 again, but I think it is possible by the end of summer. Another positive is that my hamstrings felt great.  My left plantar tightened up after the finish, though.  

PM: Went to Yoga for Flexibility to unwind and stretch out. This was much harder than the Restore class I've been going to.  My husband and I were the least flexible people in the room, but I felt much better after the class.   

Easy run with the pup around Liberty Park.  The wood chips felt so good.  Only some slight quad soreness today.  Heading off to a Restore yoga class shortly.

Easy Liberty Park run on the wood chips with Nate and the hound.   Tons of people and pups out enjoying the beautiful weather.  

The Striders Running Blog has a video from the half marathon up.  I make an appearance about 1/3 of the way through near excited shirtless guy. I'm sure lots of other bloggers are in it, too.  

AM: Warmup, planks, lifting.  5-6 mile tempo run on tap for tonight.  

PM: Aborted workout.  Headed towards Liberty Park.  Hit one mile barely under 11 min/mile pace and I was struggling to even do that.  Legs really heavy, breathing labored, stomach sloshing. Decided that I needed the day off  and walked home. The walk was quite nice. Will do my tempo tomorrow instead and will run an easy 4-5 on Friday instead of taking the day off.  This should still be a good mileage week for me, I may even hit 50 if everything else goes according to plan.   

Warmup loop around Sugarhouse with Nate. It was fairly nice when we started. Then met up with the SLCTC group where I planned to do 5 miles at half marathon pace (8:41). The wind really picked up, the temperature dropped, and the rain started coming down.  I could only manage 8:58 pace.  Nate was freezing and so was I, so we skipped our planned cool down loop of the park.  My hands have finally thawed out, but I'm still so cold.   

I managed to find a brief window of sun to get my run in.  Usual short Liberty Park run.  I intended to do 10 miles today, but my legs weren't up for that.  After the run I went to yoga. It was a different teacher and ended up being a much different (and harder) class than I am used to.  

Easy Liberty Park run with the pup.  While it was warm and sunny out, the wind was fierce. The last 2+ miles home were directly into a headwind.  I had to work harder than I wanted just to maintain forward progress.   

This morning was supposed to be a 20 miler, but when I woke up to the rain I decided to swap this week's long run with next week's long run. My husband and I met some other runners super early down in Sandy. We logged about 11.5 miles on the trails of Dimple Dell.  I loved this, it's so nice to run in other areas. I had no idea that there were so many trails there. It was a bit muddy in spots, but such a great, runnable trail.  Soft, dirt single track, and wide wood chip paths. Tough to beat. I was really cold for the first hour or so until the rain finally stopped and the sun came out. 

Then I met up with the SLCTC group, changed into my road shoes, and did the final 5.5 miles on the paved Porter Rockwell trail. I felt surprisingly good for this last stretch and my pace was much faster than I expected. Given how good I felt, I probably should have just knocked out my 20 today. Oh well. Happy that I got a strong 17 in at least. 

PM: Yoga for flexibility.  This was hard, but I liked it. The instructor gave us all short head/neck/face massages during shavasana.  So relaxing. 

Planned on a super easy 5 mile recovery run today, but my hubby convinced me to hit the trails with him so he could test out his new shoes. We ran on the BST from Red Butte up to the saddle and back.  Since I wanted to take it easy, I walked a few hills that I normally run. On the return, we locked pace with another runner and chatted with him for awhile. It made the time pass quickly. Overall, this was a really good run.  After the run, we went to Restorative Yoga. 

2 loop warmup around Sugarhouse. 5 x600m at 5k pace with 200m slow jog recovery. Goal was 2:48 (roughly 7:30 pace). Hit 2:48, 2:47, 2:46, 2:48, 2:43. Ran these mostly by myself although the SLCTC group was doing their workout at the same time and I convinced one guy to jump in on a couple with me. Cool down consisted of 2 more track laps and another loop of the park. I felt pretty tired going into this so I'm happy I could hit my goal paces without straining too much. Maybe it was all the inspiration from tracking everyone at Boston this morning!

Tuesday Night Trails.  Easy run on the BST with Nate and Jim.  I'm planning to do my long run tomorrow so I don't have to worry about it this weekend.  

I felt blah yesterday, so I took the day off.  Got up early today to knock out my 10 miler. Ran my parks loop incorporating Sugarhouse and Liberty.  It drizzled lightly for most of the run, but I didn't mind.  Took the dog and she was a pain.  She is afraid of almost everything and today we managed to hit most of her favorites: kids, school busses, kids getting off school busses, garbage trunks, cement trucks, the interstate, overpasses, and traffic. 

3 loops around the golf course behind our hotel in Kanab.  Very pretty sunrise over the "coral cliffs".  

My husband is doing the Zane Grey 50m today.  I'm not even close to that insane, but I did have to get a 20 miler in today. I do not know this area at all and Nate took my garmin, so I decided to do this on the local HS track that was close to the hotel. I took Nate to the start of his race and made it to the track by 6 am. I stopped for water and/or gel every 4 miles and switched directions. After 8 miles, it was becoming a real exercise in metal toughness. Physically, I didn't feel too bad, but I was so bored.  It was also getting hot and would reach 84 before I finished. After 16.25 miles, I had enough of the track. I ventured out on the roads for the amount of time I figured would get me to 20.  It's possible that I was slightly short, but close enough. Now off to hang out at the Zane Grey finish.  I think it is going to be a brutal day for the runners. It is so hot and sunny already.

No run today.  Nate had a rough time in the heat at Zane Grey yesterday.  Although he finished (only 84 finishers out of 126 starters), it took several hours longer than anticipated. We had a hotel booked in Flagstaff and got there after 11pm.  It was a long day, I had been up since 3:30am.  I planned to run around Flagstaff in the morning before we headed home, but I just couldn't get up.  Planned on running when we got home, but we took a last minute detour to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon which resulted in a late arrival home.  It was worth it, though.  So stunning.

Slog around Liberty Park.  Just felt off, probably due to the 12+ hours in the car yesterday.  

Tuesday Night Trails.  Usual run on the BST.  Not loving the heat.

Another crappy run, seems to be the theme of the week.  I haven't felt good on any run this week, but today was a real struggle. The SLCTC group was meeting at Liberty Park so I ran from my house to meet them. The plan was to run with them and then run home from the park for a nice 9-10 mile run. I didn't feel great on the run to the park, but I thought/hoped having people to run with would help. Instead I kept getting slower and slower and ended up by myself again.  I was running 11+ minute miles, but breathing like I was in a 5k race. And I was overheating and felt dizzy. The run went right by my house so I stopped.

I haven't done any of my planned runs or workouts this week and I think I will just run 5 or so easy miles tomorrow and Friday and hope I feel better by Saturday.  I am planning to use the WRC 30k on Saturday as my last long run before Ogden with the hope of running the last 8 miles or so at goal marathon pace.  

Thursday Night Trails on the BST. Nate wanted to run trails, so even though it was a longer run than I wanted today, I let myself be talked into it.  Still felt blah, but much better than yesterday.

Talked myself in and out of running multiple times today.  Decided I should get out and enjoy the cooler weather.  Ran a nice, easy 2 miler around the neighborhood.  Actually felt good, but I'm sure I was going slower than normal (no watch).  I hope the feeling good part carries over to the 30k tomorrow.  I'd love to get a nice, long run in with a strong finish.  I don't care about pace, I just hope to feel better than I have this week!

I used this race as a long run for Ogden.  I struggle doing long runs by myself and none of my running buddies are training for anything long right now so I've been on my own.  It's also nice to not worry about access to water/gatorade/gu.  I haven't felt great this week, so I was worried about this run.  I decided that I would run slow and try to enjoy it and finish strong if I could.  Things actually went really close to plan. My garmin recorded 18.76 miles for an average pace of 9:36 (It's hard to run the tangents on this course because it is not closed to traffic).  I stopped several times to use the bathroom and walked through each aid station to drink. Sometime after mile 15, I realized that I felt pretty good.  My breathing was under control and my legs felt ok, so I increased the effort and tried to pass as many people as possible.  Only one person passed me in that stretch and I reeled her back in right before the finish line.  My last 2 miles were sub-9.  I don't think I've ever finished a long run strong like that so I am happy.  The run overall was a bit faster than my usual long run pace (9:45-10:15), but I felt much better during and after than I usually do.  

AM: 3 loops on the wood chips at Liberty. Felt surprisingly good.  Usually the day after a long run, I feel like garbage and can barely walk.  I expected today to be worse because I ran faster than normal yesterday, but instead nothing hurts and running felt springy and smooth.  Weird.  Is it possible that I've been running my long runs too slow?  Can going too slowly lead to soreness and sluggishness?

PM: Went mountain biking for the first time since 2006.  My husband's coworker lives in Jeremy Ranch and invited us to bike on the trails by his house.  I thought I was going to die. We started by climbing and basically climbed for 7 miles (1600+ feet of gain).  By mile 6, I was pretty tired and I was out of gears.  I kept praying for the climbing to end.  Well, be careful what you wish for.  Going down was so much worse.  My legs were shaking with exhaustion and fear.  I'm so happy I survived and with no falls.  

Only managed Restorative Yoga today.  Yesterday's mountain biking really worked me over good.  My whole body aches and my legs would not stop shaking in certain poses. I probably shouldn't do that again until the marathon is over!