In The Long Run

Liberty lollipop.

SLCTC group run.  Small group and I struggled to hang onto the back.  I think I'll count it as a tempo run, although it felt like a race.

Lunchtime spin class.  Hoping to get a short run in tonight to make up for oversleeping and missing yesterday morning's run.

 PM: Liberty Park run. 

AM: helped out/froze at the SLCTC 10k. 

PM run to Liberty in the snow. 

Easy 5 with the hound.  

Usual Liberty run.  Probably the first time in months that I managed to run for 4 consecutive days.  Goal is to make it 5...baby steps.

I didn't have much time today, so I decided to finally do the 20 minute assessment workout on the Pear Pro that I got for Christmas. The purpose was to set my heart rate zones for future workouts.  It was all based on perceived exertion and I'm pretty sure I screwed up and will need to redo this soon.  

Short run with some pickups.

Easy 5 before heading to Moab.  Weird pain behind left knee.

Busy day helping time the Moab Red Hot races.  My day started at 4:45 am and I did not get back to my hotel until almost 7:30 pm.  I was exhausted, but it was great watching all the runners come in.  There were some crazy fast performances (3:44 55K!) and some amazing runners out there. Someday I need to run this race, I hear the course is beautiful.

No running, but did some hiking in Arches.  My first trip to Delicate Arch plus a few other short hikes, probably 5-6 miles total.  Had every intention of running after hiking, but fell asleep and did not wake up until it was time to meet others for dinner. Oops.  

Back to the grind after a great Moab trip.

Usual Liberty run.

Very late day at work.  Only had time for 5, but better than nothing.

Spin class.

I worked the finish line at the last two SLCTC Winter Series races, but for some reason I decided that today I would run.  I wanted to see exactly how (un)fit I was right now, so I could plot out my UVM training.  My husband and I had the very important job of picking up the coffee before the race so we got to Saltair around 8:30 when it was relatively nice out. Within 20 minutes it turned into a whiteout. I've lived in western PA, upstate NY, and WY and these were the worst conditions I have ever run a race in.  I scrapped my plans to run hard and just ran at a comfortable pace.  The first half was not too bad, but I could tell by the faces of the returning runners that the second half was going to be miserable. After the turn, I felt like I was being pelted in the face with glass splinters. It was awful. I think I ran a 15K PW (personal worst).

The sun convinced me that it was warmer than it was.  I under dressed for this run and was so cold by the time it was over.  Meandered from home to Liberty, up to Sugarhouse, then back down home.

Very slow recovery run.  Felt absolutely awful for the first half, but ended up feeling pretty good by the end.

5 miles with 12x1 minute in HR Zone 5 w/2 minute recovery. This was hard.  

Very slow recovery run.  This was probably closer to 4, but I rounded down. 

60 minute run with last 10 minutes at tempo effort.

Nice run up to Sugarhouse.  First outdoor shorts run of the year!!!

Nice run up City Creek/through the Avenues with Vanessa. Rained the entire time, but I loved it.  

Unplanned day off due to long day at work. I think my legs needed it anyway.

Another late night at work, but I came prepared this time.  I didn't feel like running alone in the dark so I headed to the fieldhouse and ran for 55 minutes on the indoor track.  I didn't count laps, just jammed to my tunes for time, so 5 miles is just a conservative guess.

Not sure on the exact distance.  Met Vanessa for a lunchtime hill workout.  Warmed up from work to Red Butte.  Ran 12 hills (~40 sec) with jog down recovery.  Cool down back to work.  Beautiful day for running.

Easy run around Library.  I'm a little sore from yesterday's hills.

Lunchtime spin class.  This was hard. Lots of sprints/climbs with little recovery.  Had planned on an evening run tonight, but may skip it. I'm beat!

SLCTC breakfast run.  Missed a turn that added some distance.  Always nice to run in a different area and eat yummy breakfast afterwards!

Gorgeous morning for a run! Met Vanessa, Paul, and Kris at the Capitol then meandered through the Avenues up to Research Park and back.  Hilly run, but great company and conversation made it go by fast.  Broke out the garmin for the first time in months and was pleasantly surprised by the pace.  My fitness is starting to come back! 

AM: I have been neglecting my strength training and need to get back into it.  Hit the gym for an ease-back-into-lifting workout. Even though I took it fairly easy, I know I will be so sore tomorrow! I also need to re-incorporate planks and the myrtl into the routine. My core is so weak.   

PM: Usual 5 miler. This felt like a death march (as expected).  The soreness has set it already.  Tomorrow should be fun. 

Nice little lunchtime jaunt with Vanessa on a gorgeous spring-like day.  I'm still pretty sore from yesterday, but this helped loosen my legs up a bit.

Trail running!!!!!! 5 miles on the BST after work.

Guessing on distance, I ran about an hour. I'm in Tucson for a conference so I ran with a coworker through the U of A and surrounding neighborhoods.  Even at 6 am , it felt very warm.  Projected highs in the 90s for the weekend.   

Still in Tucson and guessing on distance.  Ran through the U of A and surrounding neighborhoods including a brief loop around a rather sketchy looking park. My feet and legs were killing me from wearing heels all day on Friday. 

Morning trail run on the BST with Vanessa, Kris, and Nate.  Random snowflakes fell occasionally, but it was an otherwise nice, although somewhat cool morning for running.

Usual loop.  My legs felt so heavy.  I also made two little kids cry on my run today.  They threw rocks at us as we ran past.  One hit me in the head so I yelled at the kids and told their dad what they were doing.  They ran into the house crying.  I don't think they will be throwing rocks at people again.

Usual run. Felt very slow and achy and my dog was acting stupid.

I will most likely have to skip the Buffalo Run 25k on Saturday.  A last minute work thing came up that I have to attend this weekend.  There is a small chance that Saturday morning will open up, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Bummed. 

Cut this run short.  I felt really unbalanced, almost like one leg was longer than the other.  I had a weird hitch to my stride so I thought it was best to just stop.

I thought that I would have to skip the race due to a work commitment, but everything worked out so I could run.  My training has been seriously lacking and I also weigh more than I've ever weighed in my life so I knew this wasn't going to be a great race for me.  I decided to go garmin-less and just run by feel. I ran over 7 minutes slower than last year and the last three miles really hurt, but I think I probably ran as well as I could have given my current fitness and fatness. After a cold start, it actually turned out to be a decent day for running (a tad windy, though). While I was a little bummed by my slowness, I'm glad I was able to run.  This race is one of my favorites. I also won an Ultraspire pack in the raffle.

Super slow recovery run on the woodchips at Liberty.

Morning run + Myrtl. Left hip is feeling wonky.

3 loops on the woodchips at Liberty.  My hip is not right.  I think it is my IT band.

Lunchtime spin class.  My hip does not like heavy resistance, but with easy/moderate resistance cycling feels good. 

SLCTC breakfast run in Park City.  Gorgeous morning.  Hip is still not right.  I need to start regularly hitting the weight room again. Between my hip and recovering from the Buffalo Run, this was not a good running week.  Here's hoping next week is better. 

Afternoon run with Nate on the Pipeline trail.  Gorgeous day although it felt really hot, and the trail is in pretty good shape.  Only a few short, snowy/wet sections left.

4+ loops at Liberty with 10x90 sec pickups. I'm not sure how fast they were, but faster than my usual pace for sure.  Running has been a real struggle lately, I just feel off.  Every step of this run felt awkward.  I hope this goes away soon.  

Trail run in St. George.  So beautiful and warm.

My running has not been good for the last month or so.  Two very minor injuries derailed things for a bit and a bout with food poisoning further knocked me back a bit.  But I'm back on the wagon and ready to start training again. I deferred my Utah Valley entry to next year so I have time to get in shape for a fall marathon. Right now, I'm slower than ever and need to lose some weight.

Today I ran 9.5 on Pipeline with Vanessa and Nate.  It was a beautiful morning for a run, but we had 2 dog incidents on the trail.  First, a super cute black lab carrying a stick twice as wide as the trail almost took Vanessa out.  Then a mile later a doberman puppy jumped up and bit me on the arm (if I'm being honest, he was super cute, too).  It was a very minor bite (barely broke the skin but it is bruised) , but I was stunned.  I don't think he meant to hurt me, I think he just wanted to play.  This is the second time I've been bit while running.  

Run Fit class. 2 mile warmup + strengthening exercises +plyos.  This class has really opened my eyes to how weak my core my core is and has forced me to start working on it.  The glute and hip stuff is really hard for me and I'm always super sore the next day.

Liberty Park run + core work.

Liberty Park run.  Added 1 mile at tempo effort. It was slow at 8:50 pace, but it was a start to getting faster. 

Met Vanessa at the Capitol for a run through the Avenues/City Creek.  Now heading down to NOLA for a conference.

Ran on the neutral ground along the St. Charles street car line.  This is one of the only soft surface places to run in NOLA and the houses in the Garden District are so pretty.  It was very muggy, but rather cool for this time of year (low 70s warming up to low 80s). It's been a few years since I've been here, and I'm feeling rather nostalgic. I have so many good memories from my years in Louisiana.

Another morning run on St. Charles. Very sticky out.

Liberty Park run. Gorgeous night.

Pipeline run with Nate.  Did not get out until noon so it was a bit warm, although it was quite windy.  Really needed this run after a couple of crazy days where work and life resulted in some unplanned days off.  First run in my Kinvara TR2s and I loved them.

Early morning run at Liberty.  We have a full house of guests right now so I was happy to fit a run in this morning.

Avenues run from the Capitol.  Beautiful night.

3 loops of Liberty with 2 miles at goal MP.  

City Creek run with Kris. Such a beautiful morning. I put my St. George training plan together today. I'm following the Hanson's plan with some modifications I made after reading You (Only Faster). I may have to modify further after seeing how my body responds to the increased mileage given my less than stellar running/mileage this year. Here's to hoping that I can train smart, stay healthy, make it through race day injury free, and finally get that elusive sub-4.

Run Fit class.  Lots of sprinting, stairs, and core work.

Morning run.  Sore from yesterday.

Easy Liberty Park run.

Nice morning run at Liberty.  There were tons of people standing around the pond at 6:00am watching what appeared to be some sort of geese roundup.

Trail run on the BST with the SLCTC. First time on the trails behind Red Butte.

Up and down City Creek with Nate, Vanessa, and Kris. Started early to beat the heat and it was a gorgeous morning to run.

Final RunFit class. Not much running today, but lots of core work.  Also had a force plate running analysis.  I am very unbalanced, putting much more pressure on my right foot.  I also need to increase my cadence.  

Morning run at Liberty.

6.5 with 2 miles at goal marathon pace.  Went a little too fast on the first one, but settled in for the second one.  These runs will increase to 10 miles at MP over the coming months. Gulp.

I won a free entry to this on Friday.  I wasn't expecting much but surprised myself by running faster than last year, although the course was slightly different.  The consensus after the race was that the new course was harder, but I don't know.  Most of my runs lately have been at 10+ min miles so I thought 9 min miles would be great on the dirt at a higher elevation, but I averaged 8:20s so I am happy.

Pipeline run with Vanessa and Lauren.  Absolutely gorgeous morning!

Liberty Park run.  

First attempt at at a track workout in almost a year. 1 mile warmup to Granite.  6 x 400 with 400 rec.  My goal was 1:50 for each and I ran 1:51, 1:48, 1:47, 1:47, 1:49, 1:47.  The last 2 were hard.  1 mile cooldown back home.  The Granite track is a weird place, but the morning crowd has much better track manners than the evening crowd I remember from last summer.  There were no baby strollers and dog walkers in Lane 1 this time! 

Blah run.

Another blah run, but at least this one had good company.

Terraces to Pipeline trail "run"

City Creek with Kris and Vanessa.

This was a disaster.  Ran ~ 2 miles to Liberty Park with Nate.  My legs were dead and he had stomach issues so we stopped to walk for a bit.  Ended up walking an entire loop of the park with the plan of running the last 2 miles home, but that never really happened.  I think we managed to "run" most of the last mile home.  So I should only count this as 3 miles, but since I'm pretty sure our walk pace was only marginally slower than the run pace we were slogging at, I'm counting it all!  It was a beautiful night for a run/walk, though!

Easy 6 to start the day.  Legs felt better than Monday, but I decided to hold off on the speedwork since I need to survive the Spartan Beast on Saturday. I don't know what I was thinking. My team doesn't start until 11 am and temperatures are supposed to hit 97.  That and I have no upper body strength and can barely do 1 burpee let alone the 30 I will need to do each time I fail an obstacle.  Brilliant idea on my part. 

Easy morning run.

Spartan Beast. 

3 mile hike. Delicate Arch.

4 miles hiking. Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

Slow run in Gunnison. Elevation 7700.

~3 miles hiking Mt. Crested Butte 

Rafting.

1.5 mile warmup.  8.74 miles Gothic to Crested Butte 1/3 marathon.

5 miles in Gunnison.

12 miles. Down Emigration + Wasatch add on miles.

Easy Liberty loop.

Pipeline trail with Kris. Gorgeous morning.  

2 loops on the wood chips at Liberty Park.

AM: Drills, core, weights.

Liberty Park.

Drills, core, weights

BST with Kris. Gorgeous morning, love trail running in the fall.  Somehow managed a full on side plant and and scraped/bruised my rght leg from ankle to hip.  Ouch.

Another beautiful fall run.  6 miles on the leaves at Liberty.

Easy 5 at Liberty before the nasty weather arrives.  I think this is the first time I've run 3 days in row since before St. George.  Feels good to get back into it.

Drillls, core, weights

Easy 5 before the rain hit.

Drills, weights, core

This was supposed to be longer but I got a late start.  Liberty Park is all kinds of weird after the sun goes down.

Firt part of the run was a mix of trails and road with Kris.  Started at the Capitol, ran up to the Shoreline trail following the Wasatch steeplechase course.  Turned around after 4 for a total of 8.  Then met up with the SLCTC group and ran another 6.5 on the roads.

3 loops on the wood chips at Liberty. I waited until the sun peeked out so it was a nice run.

In OKC for Christmas visiting family.  Explored the neighborhoods near where we are staying.   Very cold and windy. There was a bad ice storm on Friday/Saturday, but things are much looking better today.  

More exploring in OKC. Still cold and windy.

Even more exploring in OKC.  Warmed to 45 today.  Most of the ice is melted.  

6 miles weaving through an OKC subdivision.  Incorporated 12 x 1 minute pickups.  Somehow all the pickups seemed to be slightly uphill and into the wind.  The wind here is ridiculous, almost as bad as Laramie.  

Easy 4 through an OKC subdivision.  Beautiful day!

This race was postponed a week because of the ice storm. I wanted to run at Lake Hefner once while I was in OKC anyway so I decided to sign up even though I had barely run in December due to illness, 50k recovery, travel, and work.  I ran a 1.5 mile warmup and a 1 mile cooldown.  I had no clue what pace I was capable of running for 8k.  I hit the first 1k in 5:05 and thought maybe I could run low 40s, but then the wind hit me.  Most of the second K was into the wind and I slowed down a lot.  I had the wind behind me for the next 2k and picked it back up, but as soon as I turned around into the wind again, I just completely died. But it was a nice race, I got to see a new area, and now I know where I'm at fitness wise.  I was in pretty good shape (for me) at the end of November and I'll get back with a few weeks of consistent running.  

Ran the SLC Track Club's Beat the New Year 5k.  Ran 2+ laps of Sugarhouse Park as a warmup then ran the 5k with Nate and Vanessa. My only goal was to beat the new year (<30 min 5K) and we did with about 4 minutes to spare.  It was quite neat to run in the dark with fireworks going off overhead.  My garmin recorded 3.2 miles at a pace of 8:11.  Not too bad for how my December went running wise. Looking forward to better running in 2014. No excuses this year.