With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams...

Got up to spend some time on the elliptical.  I went out to the garage, and it seemed really warm and humid in there for how crisp it felt outside.  As I went to plug in the elliptical, I noticed water streaming down the top of the water heater. 

I worked on my physical therapy exercises and tried to find a way to make my hair look okay without showering. 

Did a mile of running up the bleachers for 15-20 minutes after school.  That was new for me.  I could feel some new muscle groups.  That's where my mile came from.  It's good training, and I hope I can do it more often.

Training log said tempo run today

One mile warm up, 4 miles at 8:51 pace, and one mile cool down.  That was my goal.

My warm up mile was slow (on purpose) at 10:41.  Then I just tried running at a pace that was a little bit of a push, but that I could maintain for 4 miles.  My 4 miles tempo were 8:32, 8:36, 8:38, 8:28.  Then my cool down mile was 9:30.  I felt good the whole time.  My knee is a little sore, but I think it's going to get better since I have these new shoes.

And I got a whole body ice bath in the shower with only cold water since the water heater is still broken.  BBbbbrrrrrr.

Did elliptical this morning.  I was so thrilled to go out and not have water streaming down my hot water heater into the garage!

After 30 min of moderate elliptical, I worked on my PT strengthening.  Knee is feeling better.  At this rate, I'll be great for Saturday.  I'm so excited that it's going to be cooler weather.

After school, I ran a couple of laps, did 6 bleacher sets, and then ran some sprints.  

100 sprint, 100 walk, 100 sprint, 100 walk, 200 sprint, 200 walk, 400 sprint, 400 walk.  That last 400 sprint was hard toward the end, but it felt good to feel the burn in my throat and my legs wobbling.

I slept in!!  Then I did my physical therapy stuff with some situps.  Want to let my legs (and knees) rest a little for Saturday's long run.

Finally found the All American Trail I'd heard so much about.  How nice that they had 2 clean port a potties to use.  It took us about 30 min to get there from home, and I always need to use one.

The trail is supposed to be 11 miles long.  We parked at mile 5.5.  There was a group of people all taking off running at the same time when I got there.  It looked like a running group.  After the run, they all sat around and visited in their lawn chairs and had drinks.  I was so curious and wanted to find out more about their running group, but I chickened out and didn't ask.  Maybe if I see them again. 

My new running shoes seemed to give me a great run.  I could feel the arch support, and it felt comfortable.  I did end up scuffing my ankles with my shoes quite a few times.  It's not something I've done before, so I wonder if it's from the way my feet are positioned in the new shoes.  I'll take the scuffed ankles over sore knees & feet any day.  They're my new, cool, battle wounds.  No complaints about my knees.  I was so worried about them, but they're nothing more than just a little achey.

We ran 2.5 miles out in one direction and then headed back.  So by mile 5, we were back at the car.  Took a quick potty break and downed some sports beans.  I left Mr. at the car and I took off for the other 7 miles on the other trail side. 

The run was great.  I felt like I was really getting my stride by mile 8-9.  At mile 10, I stopped & walked while I downed a gu, then I took up the running again.  There was a lot of uphill after that.  The last mile was almost entirely uphill.  Up a big, long hill.  It kicked my butt, but I was happy with the run.  I felt like I could have run a little further at the end (after it leveled out), so I'll be ready next week-end for the 14 miler.  Only next week, I'm going to do the hard hill section first!

Highlights of the run: The wetland section that was all boardwalk.  It was beautiful, and the boards gave a little.  Like running on a floating wood floor.  Also, I saw a wasp that looks like a big red ant.  Very cool.  Lots of neat spider webs with interesting designs in them.  Good shade to keep cool (but makes it hard to see the terrain on some parts), running successfully twice across the bridge that had a big sign on it that said "unsafe bridge."  And of course, no wild dogs. 

I don't have my garmin right now to post my splits, however I do know that for all but one, they were between 9 and 10 mm.  I'm happy with it all.  It was a beautiful day for a great run. 

The chinese food afterwards was wonderful too.  No guilt at all!

The training program said to just do 2 miles today, but I felt like I wanted a little more than that.  I ran with the Mr, and we took it slow and easy.  Other than kicking my heel a couple times, things felt good.

Worked on PT exercises after the run.

The weather was cool with a beautiful wind that blew just right.  Great run.

Did 30 moderate on the elliptical and some strength training after. 

I was planning on doing some running after school (along with bleachers), but the forecast is for rain, and I've been carrying around a box in my car for almost 2 weeks that needs to be mailed.  So I'll probably go visit my friends at the post office instead of after school workout.

Hope it's not raining tomorrow am...I've got 7 miles with tempo runs on the docket.

I love my running headlamp!  It was so nice to be able to see.  I could see the road and my watch.  It was magical while it lasted!

I made a course program last night for my run, but somehow my watch didn't remember this morning that I wanted it to use the program.  It was supposed to beep at 1.5 to tell me to speed up, and it didn't.  At 1.6, I realized it wasn't going to do what I needed, so I set it for the fast tempo run speed I was aiming for.  I'll be playing with my watch a little more today so it knows what I want it to do.  I know it's the 10% rule...I've just got to be 10% smarter than my watch.  

 Despite my watch, I was having a great run. Keeping good speeds and feeling great.  I was even picking up my heels so I didn't kick my ankles.  (I forgot twice, but the pain reminded me to keep on pulling my heels up.)

Just after I started my 3rd tempo mile, I got a huge pain on the back of my leg above my knee.  It felt like a charlie horse.  I couldn't run.  I stopped and stretched right there, but it didn't subside enough to run.  I was really glad I had my headlamp to shine so people driving by could see me there laying on the grass :-)  I ended up walking the road of defeat back home.  I stretched more and iced it.  It eventually went away, and it's not bothering me any more. I was even able to do my physical therapy exercises.

 BUT now I have lots of questions.... like what caused that horrid cramp, and what do I need to do to make sure it never comes back?  Was it the heel pick up thing?  Was it my knee brace?  Was it something else?    Has anyone else experienced this and knows what I can to prevent it?

I brought my gear to run after school today.  Should I do it?  Is it okay to run again on it, or should I rest it?

I never did finish my tempo training run.  Should I just finish it today?  Or should I try and re-do it tomorrow?  I only had 1 tempo mile and 1.5 recovery mile left. 

Advice would be appreciated.  I'm not feeling so defeated anymore, but I sure don't want to irritate that muscle and have that happen again.

 My paces were good.  Warm up 1.5 miles was 9:31 and 9:14.  My tempo runs were 1600 with 800 recovery.  The two 1600 I finished were 7:52 and 7:49.  The 800 recovery runs were 9:32 and 9:53.    My target goal pace, according to the training plan was 8:17, so I am happy with my little bit faster times.

This blog is getting long...I keep adding stuff.  I like how Carolyn in Colorado has the temp & humidity listed on her blogs.  So I did some research and found out that it was 65^o and 90% humidity today.  It was nice weather. 

I went on a very easy and slow jog after school.  Just paddled around the track a few times.  Got 1.5 easy miles...I didn't use the garmin, but it was over 15 minutes, so it was over a 10mm.  I walked the bleachers a few times and then stretched for what seemed forever.  Got some pointers from the local yoga lady, and tried some of her suggestions out. Nothing hurt, things felt fine.  I have renewed hope for Saturday.  Watch out 14...here I come!

Did elliptical this morning.  30 min of one course and 20 min of another.  Did the seminary thing, and then I worked on my stretching and physical therapy.  

Planning on meeting up after school and doing some kind of workout.  I'll be taking it easy, and hopefully getting more yoga stretches in.  

pm workout- walked the track once to warm up, then did some very slow bleachers.  10 sets is a mile.  Things felt good.  I did rub a little icy hot on the back of my leg, but I think it would have been okay w/o it.  Stretched with the varsity football team as my witnesses, and now I'm home and going to take a bath because we're having leftovers for dinner!

I got 8 hours of sleep.  It was awesome!

Got up and did some of my physical therapy to get my day started.  Things felt good, and I'm trying to get my diet and sleep in check for the run on Saturday.

Okay.. Today's run was really difficult for me.  My 12 last week was great, so I was sure my 14 this week would be pretty good, but there was something off, and it didn't go as well as I'd wanted it to.

We started off at 8:30 am after a great, restful night's sleep.  The weather seemed nice.  We were on the All American (wild dog) Trail again.  That was the part of the run that was the same, but almost everything else was different.  I'm not sure if any one, or a combination of all of these differences made the route so difficult.  But I do know that I'll be going back to my good old ways next week.

  Last week I ran the west side (5 miles) of the trail first, then the east side (7 miles).  I thought this week I'd change it up and do the east side first (6 miles) then the west side (8 miles).  Miles 8-11 this week were just a lot of hills.  I wasn't prepared for them, because I hadn't seen them last week since my west side distance was shorter last week.

I also changed my refueling timing.  I've always re-fueled at miles 5, 10.  But I wanted to try and see if I could do re-feuling the same times that will be offered at the marathon, which are 7, 13, 17, 23.  So I waited till 7 miles to "do the gu."  I was okay up until that point, but looking back, I think it would have been better to stay ahead of the energy game rather than waiting until I was depleted and then trying to catch up.  At mile 10, my energy was gone.  All gone.  And then I wanted to eat my beans.  My body was used to getting energy at mile 10, and it didn't get it.  I had to stop and stretch out a persistant side ache around mile 11. It was less than a minute stop, and I gave myself a good pep-talk to channel some positive energy. I couldn't wait until mile 13 to eat my beans.  By mile 12, I took a quick walk break (backtracked so I didn't walk any of the 14) and ate half my beans.  It was only 1/2 a mile later and I did another quick stop and ate the other half.  By then my water was gone.  I called Mr. and had him meet me at mile 13 1/2 with more water and gatorade.

It was the best place in the world for him to be.  He was at the top of the longest, hardest hill on the course.  I was at the bottom and I looked up and saw him waving the magical gatorade bottle at me.  It was the only thing that got me up that silly hill.  I kept running and sloshed gatorade into my mouth while he re-filled my water bottle.  I had pink snot when I got home.  I guess I was trying to inhale it up my nose too! 

Another thing that I think got me off my groove was that at around mile 8, my mp3 went out.  The batteries went out at mile 6, but it was right next to the car, and I had a spare with me.  So I put that "new" battery in at mile 6, and I was very cranky when it went out again at mile 8.  Obviously, it wasn't a new battery.  I spent a good 1/2 a mile trying to get it to work...thinking it couldn't be the battery.  I even tried the raido  (surprise...no radio stations out on wild dog trail).  I think at that point, it was warming up outside, I was listening to the rattle in my waterbottle (mr. accidently poured another waterbottle's lid into it when he filled it at mile 6), and my radio going out kind of messed with my head.  It was the beginning of the end for me.  Little did I know all of those sandhills were still ahead for 2 miles out at 2 more miles back.

I did run the full 14.  I had a potty break at 6, gu at 7, stretch break at 11, beans breaks at 12 and 12 1/2.  My time for the last few miles is really sucky.  But I promise, it's all I had in me.

One fun thing about the run...the end of it!  When we got back to the car, we got to talk to the running group that was there last week-end.  MTC (Magnum Track Club) is the name of their group.  Free club, but in order to be a member, you have to run the 15 mile course from the town of Magnum to ----(can't remember).  If you successfully run it, then you get a t-shirt and you're a lifetime member.  Sounds do-able after a few more weeks of training.  I was a bit intimidated when I saw that a few of the vehicles with the MTC sticker also had Ultra stickers on them.  But the people we talked to were super nice.  They even invited us to come to a 24 hour run next Saturday.  I'll never run for 24 hours, but I do have 16 miles on the docket, and it might be fun to do with a lot of people there.  It's just a 1.5 mile loop around a lake.  I'd need to do 11 loops.  I'm really thinking about it.  It's at least 90 min away and starts at 8 am.  I'm keeping my options open and maybe we'll be there next Saturday.  I won't be logging 24 hours, but I'll get a t-shirt :-)

 Here's my splits: 9:29, 9:55, 10:03, 9:26, 9:45, 10:21, 10:07, 9:44, 10:19, 10:12, 9:53, 10:42, 10:52, 11:05.  Like I said, those last 3 miles were tough....

Oh a happier note:  Greek Festival was awesome!  Baklava, the tasty treats that look like huge shredded wheat, evil eye jewelry, oil paintings, lamb & chicken gyros, grape leaves stuffed with rice, spinach & cheese in flaky pasty.    Goooooood stuff Maynard!

I'm falling in love with sleep.  I find myself thinking about sleep through out the day.  When I'm with sleep, I'm so relaxed and happy.  And after spending plenty of time with sleep, I wake up with such a glow....  I hope my husband isn't jealous.  But I secretly think he's falling in love with sleep too. 

Woke up and went for a beautiful 2 mile walk around the neighborhood.  It was around 8 am, and it was still nice weather outside with a nice cool breeze.    Loving Sunday as a rest day!

I let myself sleep in a little today because I knew I had a short run. The training program said only 2 miles.   How am I going to improve if I only run 2 on Monday and 6 on Wednesday?  In my head it seems like that's not enough running to get me ready for my 16 on Saturday. 

Any opinions on the way the program does this?  I've been doing elliptical on T & Th for cross-training and some bleachers in the afternoons.  But I just don't see how 8 miles total during the week is getting me ready for 16 on Saturday.  I think my Saturday run has put a big dent in my faith in the program.

My run today was really great.  It was cool (under 60) outside and I had my great new headlamp to light the way.  I ran 4 miles and they all felt good.  I just ran at a pace that seemed do-able for 4 miles w/o over exerting myself, but keeping a good tempo. 

My times were somewhere around 9:10, 8:56, 8:55, 8:49.  No mp3 today.  It was nice to just run "natural."  I was glad I had my headlamp on.  There was a wild attack animal in the bushes waiting to prey on me, but when I turned my headlight on it, it changed into a cute little wild rabbit.  Magic headlamp :-)

I did 45 minutes hard workout on the elliptical machine in the morning.  Then my regular physical therapy routine.

After school, I ran 1/4 mile warm up, then I totaled 1.25 miles on the bleachers.  Walked a little for cool-down.  Got to the middle school track meet just in time to see my daughter run across the finish line in first place for her 800!  She ran a 3:06.  That was the best part of the day!  That and her telling me that she was glad I'd come to watch it.  :-)

Today was my Wednesday tempo run.  Last week's ended up being the charlie horse run, so I was a little nervous that speed would be a trigger for me.  But it wasn't, and things went great.

I did a slow warm up mile 10:15.  The slow warm up miles seem to really help me when I'm doing tempos first thing in the morning.

My four miles at tempo were supposed to be 8:51.  I was able to keep it between 8:15 and 8:40 all four miles.  No potty breaks today.  The last tempo mile felt like I was really working.  It felt good because I knew it was helping me in the long run.  I'm just glad it was the last mile.

Slow cool down mile was a 9:30 average.  Then I walked 1/4 of a mile home, stretched & did physical therapy.

Elliptical 30 minutes hard workout.  Some physical therapy after.

I was going to run, but last night as I was looking at my running plan(s), I realized that if I do my bleacher run tonight, I'll already have met my 15% increase in mileage for the week. (After I add in my 16 on Saturday).

15% for me right now is between 2 and 3 miles more a week.  I've felt so good running this week that I really want to keep running more, but I do not want to risk injury.  So I'm going to keep the 15% increase rule and find other cross training to do.

Afternoon work out was supposed to be bleachers, but because of the middle school using the football field for a game, we just ran around the local 'hood for 2 miles.  Easy run. I wore my garmin, but didn't even bother to see what my pace/time was.

30 minutes easy elliptical and physical therapy exercises

Convinced myself I was going to eat healthy today.  Oatmeal & yogurt for breakfast, and then...as soon as I got to work, there was a chocolate glazed donut on my desk from the Friday donut Fairy.  It's gone and it's only 8:30.  My will-power is gone today.

Getting excited about tomorrow's big 16. 

Had a blast getting to play with the "big kids" who were running the whole 24 hours.  What a new goal I have to work towards.

The run was great.  Perfect course with 1.5 mile loop.  It was so nice to have re-fueling so readliy available.

I ran with Mr. for the first 7 or so, then for the next 7 I ran with an awesome lady named Sarah.  The last few I did by myself, and they were great.  I felt so good that when I did finish my 16, I just kept on running.  After I finished that lap, I slowed down, but kept jogging till I met up with Mr.  We ran the rest of that loop together, and then we walked a loop.  My total run distance was 17.7.  I'm not sure what my total distance with the walk was.  I'll post the stats later.

I could have kept running. I wanted to.  But I didn't want to risk the injury of over doing it, so I stopped when I did. 

The course was rather flat compared to what I usually run on Saturdays.  I think that made it easier to run.

Next year, I'm going to work on running & walking and trying to master that 24 hour run.  It will be a long day, but it will be fun.  The energy at the race was awesome.

Each one of these laps is a full mile (pace listed) except for lap 18, which was my last .75 mile, and lap 20 which was only .42 of a mile.

Total pace for the 16 miles was 9:54.  After I slowed down, my pace for 17.75 miles was an average of 10:10. 

1   10:16 2  9:18   3  9:57  4  9:37  5  9:39  6  10:09  7  10:03  8  10:09  9  9:51  10  9:52  11  10:05  12  10:23  13  9:45  14  9:53  15  10:16  16  9:24  17  10:45  18  11:21   19  20:45  20  22:29

2 mile walk at the park and a couple of strengthening exercises

Still tired and hungry from Saturday.

Had a 6 mile easy run on the docket.  I started out slow at a 10:10 pace, then I was keeping around a 9:38 pace until my watch battery went out just before mile 3.  Then I just kept on running until I knew I'd done 6 miles for sure. 

It was a little liberating not having to run to the watch...I just got to run.  I enjoyed it.  Stretched a lot, did some strengthening, and things are good.  So far, no injury after my 16  mile mark.  That's always been the point where I end up broken.  But not this time!!!  Yea for physical therapy :-)

And a big shout out to Carolyn for the head lamp..I am still so excited to wear it in the morning to light my way.

I ran a quick 2 miles.  8:23 and 8:01 pace.  Then I did elliptical for 20 minutes.  It's supposed to be my "easy" week, so I'm trying to build my miles but not over-do my training. 

I thought I felt a little ache in the back of my leg through-out the night, and I was worried about aggrivating it by running.  I had to drive to and from seminary today, so I decided that I'd just sleep in.  I topped off my lazy morning by taking the kids out to McDonald's for a bacon, egg & cheese biscuit breakfast.  I told myself I needed the protein for muscle recovery!  Is that the worst justification excuse in the world?  I washed it down with a diet coke :-)

I did do my PT strengthening exercises.  So the morning wasn't a total wash.

My leg didn't bother me much during the day, so after school I went out and ran as much as I could until I had to pick up kids.  I got in 2.7 miles.  They felt great while I was running, but afterward, I felt that achey-pull in the back of my butt/leg.  I tried stretching out as much as I could in between cooking dinner, mutual, and Walmart.

I laid all my running stuff out last night so I wouldn't have any excuses.  But my achey leg was bothering me during the night, and I'm soooo worried about making it worse and getting sidelined, so I just did an easy 20 elliptical and all of my physical therapy stuff.

My leg isn't bothering me now (4 hours later) so hopefully recovery is on the agenda.

I've brought my running gear to run after school.  Any thoughts on that?  Should I do it easy, or should I not do it at all?  I really want to get running, but even more so, I don't want to push too much and get hurt.  I am thinking easy bleachers with slow jogs for warm up and cool down.  Please advise on your thoughts!!!!

The 24 hour run results are in.  I'm so impressed with those runners who just kept going.  I think the web site link is     www.hinsonlake24hour.com  (I can't access it online at work to double check).  Anyone want to try it next year?

slow and easy 4 miles this morning

so glad it's Friday

Fun easy 5 miles with the Happy Ole' Running Educators.  We started with 2 miles on the trail.  It was misting rain, and Amy pushed her running stroller the whole way in the wet sand.  That woman is awesome.  The last 3 were on the sidewalk/roads.  Total time was 55 minutes, so it was an average 11 mm.  Not my race training speed, but I'm glad it was an easy pace because I was able to run and not irritate my leg/groin.  I'm ready to get back in the saddle on Monday for my regularly scheduled training.

Hopefully my schedule and firefox accessibility will allow me more time to communicate via the blog this week. 

On a really exciting note, Mr was so excited about his long run last week that he's signed up for the OBX half marathon.  So while Terri and I are running the full, he'll be working his way through the half course.  It'll be a family affair!  Exciting!

Nice 2 mile walk around the hood. And cake...lots of cake.

5 miles on the road this morning.  They felt good.  I started out slower at a 9:48, but I was able to run the rest between 8:55 and 9:15.  Stretching and physical therapy exercises afterwards.  I'm guessing because I don't do enough cross training that I'll have to continue to do the physical therapy strengthening exercises every day.  I guess that's okay if it's the price I have to pay so I can run.  They just get tedious.

Usually my morning run will wake me up and get me going for the day.  Today I just feel tired.  Hope I'm not coming down with something.  Maybe it's just a bad case of the Mondays. Probably is because this blog has turned into a whine-fest today.....wish I had some cheese to go with my whine.

Got to sleep in a little today. That was nice. I ran around 8:40.  It was 55 degrees and sunny- not a cloud in the sky.  I hope the weather for the marathon is that nice.  I didn't wear my garmin...it was just a run to get in some easy miles.

Whoops...forgot to change my alarm clock back from yesterday.  I felt so refreshed when I woke up, but it was an hour too late.  I didn't have time for my 7 miles.  I only had 30 minutes, so I did 30 moderate on the elliptical.  I'll get my 7 tempo miles in tonight or tomorrow morning.  

I was looking forward to the run this morning, but I really did enjoy my sleep.  My alarm is fixed now and ready for Thursday.