Back in the saddle?

Yippee! I decided to add an extra mile in celebration of being relieved of major upcoming workload, and it felt great.  I got started a little earlier and didn't have to turn on my headlamp until 4.2 miles into the run, although I left the residential area for a more commercial area after about 3 miles (my usual turnaround point).  The sidewalk there is much more even than the dirt path, but there is also more traffic.

Total time was 1:08:39, average 9:48 pace.  The whole run felt very easy, so I'm definitely feeling improvement in my fitness level.  My mile splits were 9:37, 9:50, 9:54, 9:56, 9:50, 9:45, and 9:43.  I need to be careful, though.  I'm planning some big runs this weekend (including one with Lybi and Mik'L!), which will put my mileage for the week over 40 miles.  That's a big jump from 34 last week, and I have a half marathon coming up next weekend.

I passed my husband coming the other way on the run.  He almost got hit by two cars, and he got bitten by a dog!  Rough night for him!

AM-Easy run this morning with my Saturday group, although we all got separated.  We always start out too fast (about 9:15), and then I drop back after about a mile.  I especially didn't want to push it this morning, because I'm meeting Lybi and Mik'L for 5 more miles this afternoon.  Total time was 1:40:50, with an average pace of 9:54.  One person in our group ran 22+ miles!  I feel 100% fine now, but I am a little tired.  On Friday nights we usually have sushi, and then go to Barnes and Noble and sometimes get lattes.  Last night, we got what we thought were decaf lattes.  1:30 am rolled around, and I was still wide awake!  My husband didn't sleep well, either.  If I take a little nap, I should be fine for this afternoon.

PM-I met Lybi and Mik'L for the first time, and we ran a 5-mile loop around Tempe Town Lake.  They were also the first bloggers I have met in person.  It's very cool how the blog brings people together who never would have met otherwise....I have run several races in the general area but had never run around the lake.  There were some spots of really deep sand, which made for some very challenging running.  Before the run, my legs felt surprisingly fresh, but I was feeling pretty tired by the end.  The 16 miles took its toll on my legs!  In summary: a great run with great company!

OK, bloggers, I need some advice (I am going to run this evening).  I have a half marathon coming up on Sunday in San Diego.  My mileage lately has been my highest ever before a half marathon.  I set my PR of 1:50:25 eight weeks after a marathon in 2006.  However, all of my runs lately have been at a very easy pace (avg. 10:00, but faster lately), with VERY few faster miles thrown in here and there.  So, I have two questions:

1) What kind of pace would be realistic at the race?  I am willing to push myself, but I am still training for a marathon, so I don't want to overdo it and get injured.  Is a sub-1:50 in the cards?

2) How should I train this week?  Do I need to taper, or do a tempo run or two?  I'd like to keep my mileage for the week at 40+, but not at the expense of injury.

I guess that's officially more than 2 questions...I am usually very precise with my goal race pace, but I have been training differently and don't quite know what my body is capable of right now.

PM-I did 7 miles in 1:08, 9:45 average pace.  At the beginning, it felt like I was walking, it was so easy.  I left work early, so it was light out for most of the run.  I had a piece of banana bread right before my run because I was hungry, and with 1.5 miles to go, I really thought I was going to throw up.  Not a good feeling, but I still finished strong.  My mile splits were: 9:34, 9:46, 9:48, 9:51, 9:52, 9:56, and 9:20.  Now that I see my splits, I realize how much I slowed down, until the last mile.  I need to work on more even pacing.

Well, I hate it when this happens.  I promise, I had very good intentions.  When I didn't drag my butt out of bed this morning, I went back home in the middle of the workday to get my running clothes, planning to make an appearance at happy hour (with my running group, ironically), and then hit the treadmill.  Well, happy hour turned into dinner and dessert, and I finally got home at 9:30!  I know things come up periodically, but I'm still really disappointed that I didn't get in a run today.  Oh well-to quote my favorite movie, "[Dramatic music] Tomorrow...is another day!"

Tonight I did 7 miles in 1:07:41, a 9:40 average, and then 4 strides with 1-minute recovery after each.  I messed up with the Garmin, so I don't know my exact splits, but I do know that I ran mile 7 in 8:46.  The whole run felt easy, and the strides felt great.  It's been about 45 minutes since I finished the run, and I'm feeling some tightness in both Achilles tendons.  I hope it goes away!  I'm getting really excited about my race this weekend!

Tonight my legs felt a little tired, just slightly.  My body probably isn't used to strides, which I did last night.  Total time was 1:07:48, a 9:41 average.  My mile splits were 9:38, 9:48.5, 9:55, 9:46.5, 9:45.5, 9:40.5, and 9:20.  Miles 3 and 4 are usually the slowest for me.  During mile 4, I concentrated on keeping the pace up, and it looks like it worked.  I'm glad I kept increasing my speed during the second half.  I think I'll just do 5 miles tomorrow, so I'll feel fresh for my race Sunday.  I'm not running on Saturday, but it will be an active day at the expo and the beach!

I'm logging this on Saturday.  I ran on the treadmill at the gym before I went to the airport because it was still almost 90 degrees outside.  I had salmon, rice, veggies, and a salad for lunch about two hours before, and my stomach reminded me of it immediately into the run.  I had planned to do as Sasha suggested (4 miles warmup, 3 miles at 8:20 pace), but I only had time for 6 miles, because of my flight.  So I warmed up for 3 miles, at 10:00 pace, which felt super-easy.  However, I had to stop after that to address the GI issues....I got back on the treadmill to start the hard miles.  Once I got into it, I realized my stomach was rebelling, and only one mile at that pace was in the cards.  So, I did one mile at 8:19 pace.  It was hard, but a lot of it was my stomach.  And, there was a girl on the treadmill next to me going 2.0 mph and talking on a cell phone!  What a workout!  Being able to finish the workout would have been quite the confidence booster, but I'm OK with not finishing it, especially with the GI issues.

Today (Saturday), my quads are pretty sore.  My body isn't used to going fast!  I'm hoping it goes away tomorrow.  I'm excited....Thanks for all the well wishes!!

Race results are finally up, 50 hours after I finished!  I ran 2 seconds faster than I thought.  I'm happy with my place divisions too: top 25% overall, top 12% of women, and top 15% of females 30-34.  The results also list my age grade: 58.64%, which I hope to greatly improve to whatever my maximum potential is.

It was about 60 degrees at the start, with some wind.  Sometimes I psych myself up too much for a race, so I felt kind of "off" all day Saturday (scratchy throat, unstable stomach, etc.).  But I woke up feeling great on Sunday.  The race starts on Coronado Island and runs past the beautiful Hotel del Coronado in the first mile.  There's a slight downhill, and an uphill before mile 6 (overpass).  At mile 9.5, the race does an out and back to 12.5, and then heads to the finish.  There is a short, but somewhat steep hill at about 10.5, which was brutal, but then we immediately got to go downhill.  There was a .5 mile straightaway to the finish, which was kind of frustrating because it was still so far!

I ran with Amanda for the first 10K.  She called out our pace, because she was prepared and had her Garmin!  Here are my splits, up to mile 12.  It got messed up after that.  8:39, 8:40, 8:44, 8:45, 8:35 (hill), 8:41, 8:29, 8:38, 8:25, 8:31, 8:01 (hill), 8:33, ????  I'm not sure about mile 12 either, because I think the mile marker was wrong.  I was SO CLOSE to a PR, and to breaking 1:50.  I look at my earlier splits and wonder if I could have gone a little faster then, but I truly know that I gave 100%.  I tend to start conservatively and make it up later on.  I don't know if it's the best racing strategy, but I love picking up the pace late in a race!  When I ran the 8:01 split, I was really encouraged, but it turned out that I wasn't able to hold that pace, even on the downhill.  At the end, my lungs felt fine, but my legs were shot.  So, I need to work on the anaerobic component of my running.

Overall, I am very encouraged by my time, ESPECIALLY when I'm doing all easy mileage in my training.  Based on my current fitness, I think I'll be able to PR (sub-3:54) at my January marathon-yippee!

Well, tonight was a monumental struggle.  I'm not sure if it was (a) residual soreness/ tiredness from the half marathon; (2) trying to get back in the groove after 2 1/2 days of not running; or (3) all the junk food I had today and last night.  I think it's a combination of the three.  Someone at our office is filling every jar, bowl, etc. with CHOCOLATE!  It's everywhere, and I can't avoid it!  Help!

Anyway, tonight was much slower than normal.  I finished in 1:09:51, a 9:59 average.  My mile splits were 9:48, 10:06, 10:09, 10:17, 10:03, 9:56, and 9:36.  I had twinges here and there, probably from the race.  I'm hoping tomorrow I'm back to (or close to) normal.

More good news about the race: I figured out that I ran the last 1.1 mile at a 7:55 pace.  I had run mile 11 at 8:01 and slowed back to 8:33, I think for 12, but I was able to pick it up even more for the finish, which probably includes the sprinting at the end.  I'm sure people everywhere are making fun of me for the sprinting part!

Tonight felt much better, but I'm still not back to 100%.  I'm still a little bit sore.  My quads started hurting a bit at mile 5, and I could really feel everything after stretching.  Thinking back, though, I have never run a half marathon as part of marathon training, where I had to immediately jump back into high mileage after the half.  So, although I wish I had recovered faster, I'm glad to be doing 7 miles again already.

Total time was 1:08:29, a 9:47 average.  My mile splits were: 9:55, 9:53, 9:48, 9:51, 9:47, 9:50, and 9:26.  I ran negative splits of one minute.  I'm happy that my splits were not all over the map tonight.  They were pretty close together, except for the usual "turbo" last mile.

I plan on getting up early and running tomorrow morning.  I'm attending continuing education for work all day, and I don't have to be there until 8:30!

Well, this has been a weird week.  I think the race took more out of me than I thought.  I've been exhausted all week, so I didn't get up yesterday morning to run.  My next big mistake was wearing stilettos yesterday.  I wear high heels almost every day, but I had to walk a lot yesterday (from parking garage to continuing ed course to lunch and back, etc.).  Sadly, my husband's oldest friend's father died this week.  Last night was the viewing.  I wore the same shoes and stood for 1 1/2 hours.

The funeral was this morning at 10:00 am.  I was supposed to do 18 miles this morning, but given my sluggishness this week and my ACHING legs from the stilettos, I was worried something might go wrong, and I'd get stuck 9 miles away and miss the funeral!  So, instead of just doing 10 or so, my lazy butt stayed in bed.

Lesson learned: half marathons require more recovery than I thought!  I'm glad I did it now and not 3 or 4 weeks before the marathon.  They can also cause a temporary zap in motivation!  I'm looking forward to next week!

Tonight's run felt great!  I was very surprised that I felt so good after my horribly slothful weekend, but I did.  I was scared to death by a man who passed me, though.  I was in the zone with my iPod (I know, BAD) and didn't hear him at all!

Total time was 1:08:23, a 9:46 average.  My mile splits were: 10:11, 9:53, 9:51, 9:45, 9:45, 9:40, and 9:17.  About halfway through the run, I started concentrating on my form by trying to kick each foot behind me after it touched the ground.  I don't think I pick up my feet enough when I run.  If you saw my shoes and how quickly they get dirty, you would probably agree.  Anyway, I think it helped tonight because I ran faster, and running faster felt just as easy.

I'm looking forward to some nice runs this week during the holiday!

Tonight's run felt really good.  I went to the grocery store at 4:30 pm (very scary place on Thanksgiving eve!) and was dying to get some peaceful time to myself, so I was very much looking forward to the run.  Tonight was the first time since last winter that I have felt cold in shorts and a tank at the start! 

I hadn't planned on picking up the pace, but it just kind of happened.  It definitely felt a little harder than normal, but I still felt strong throughout the run.  Total time was 1:05:07, a 9:18 average.  This is a big step for me, because one of my short-term goals is to get down to 1:03 for 7 miles and have it feel easy (actually for any extended run at 9:00 pace to feel easy, like it used to).  I wouldn't say tonight was easy, but it definitely wasn't tempo pace or anything like that-yeah!  My mile splits were 9:06, 9:22, 9:20, 9:21, 9:26, 9:24, and 9:08.  I've noticed that my splits have been very close together lately (except for the first and last miles), which is great!

Crazy story-yesterday I wore my highest stilettos to work (again!).  Wouldn't you know it, the building had a fire drill!   And, of course, we're on the 17th floor.  Sooo, I had to walk DOWN 17 flights of stairs in stilettos.  My knees ached for the rest of the day, and my quads were really sore today.  It's the curse of the heels!

 Happy Thanksgiving,everyone!!!!

It's a beautiful day!  We're eating tonight, so I went for my run at about 10:30, when everyone else was getting ready to eat!  Traffic was pretty light, although there were a fair number of runners and walkers out and about.  I love running my route during the day-it's so pretty.

Total time was 1:06:30, a 9:30 average.  It felt great, although my legs were a little tired.  My mile splits were 9:28, 9:32, 9:40, 9:33, 9:36, 9:27, and 9:15.  I'm taking it very easy tomorrow!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Whew!  I ran with two guys from my running group.  We started at 6:00 am.  It was still completely dark out, but we had a full moon, so it was really pretty.  Overall, it felt OK.  After about 12 miles, my lungs felt great, but my legs were starting to feel heavy.  There were a lot of people out, and I saw my husband twice!  He did 20 miles spectacularly.

Total time was 2:59:11, a 9:57 average.  My mile splits were 10:13, 10:14, 10:05, 9:56, 10:06, 10:00, 10:50 (slowing down so friend could catch up after pit stop), 10:16, 10:23, 10:06, 9:55, 10:18 (slowing down to look for a friend, whom we never found), 9:50, 9:51, 9:49, 9:42, 9:24, and 8:25.  I'm glad I had the gas in the tank to supercharge it at the end, but overall I think I should have done better.  I would have rather run all the miles under 10:00.   However, I have had a couple of weeks of less than stellar mileage.  It's time to pick it back up!  No more mileage under 40 per week!

Brrrrr!  I just finished my run, checked the temp online, and it said 58.  I know that's wrong-it feels much colder.  I know that's nothing to you northern Utah people, but when you're a desert rat like me, your blood gets thinner (my theory, anyway), and you get COLD!  I don't mind, though-I run much better in the (relative) cold.

Total time was 1:07:46, 9:41 average pace, with negative splits by about 12 seconds.  My mile splits were 9:41, 9:51, 9:40, 9:40, 9:50, 9:35, and 9:30.  At mile 4.5, I saw my husband, and we ran home together, kind of.  He ended up about a minute ahead of me.

I felt pretty good tonight, considering my challenging 18-miler the other day.  I wasn't too sore, but my knee started aching right at the end.  And my calves were SO TIGHT!  I don't know if that's from the run the other day or the cold.

I'm considering a 22-mile race coming up in 2 weekends.  I know I can finish it, but I don't know if it's a good idea, considering I haven't run 20 yet.  I plan to run 15 this weekend to gear up for 20 or 22 the following weekend.  I've never gone farther than 20 miles in training.  I'll see how my body feels at the end of this week and reevaluate then.  There's also a local half marathon coming up that would be fun.  Maybe I could break 1:50!

Tonight I ran 7 miles, and it's starting to feel so easy!  I never imagined that running 7 miles per day would feel so easy!  I think I'm going to keep this schedule next week as well, maybe with an extra mile here and there, and then start working up to 8 miles per day (!).

Total time was 1:07:24, average 9:38 pace.  My mile splits were 9:39, 9:37, 9:39, 9:37.5, 9:39.5, 9:34.5, and 9:38.  I did 4 x 100 strides when I got home.  I consciously did not pick up the pace in the last mile because I wanted to keep the entire run super-easy.  I don't know exactly what it means, but I am liking the fact that my splits are so close.

I just about had a heart attack at one point on the run.  I heard a noise, turned around, and saw a bike with a light heading toward me on the path about 30 yards back.  I turned around again, still there.  A little bit later, I noticed there was no light in my peripheral vision, and the bike had not caught up with me.  I didn't want to keep turning around, because I was afraid I would trip.  I was getting a little scared of scary bike person (possible attacker?).  Then, as I was crossing a somewhat big, well-lit, residential street (no cars coming), I hear, "EXCUSE ME!" yelled in my ear.  After I picked my heart up from the ground, I turned around and saw an old lady coming toward me on a rickety bike and headphones!  I was on the right side of the path, of course, with plenty of room all around, and she had to scream at me like that.  As she passed me, I said, "You scared me to death."  She either ignored me or couldn't hear because of the headphones.  Crazy people!  I don't know what it is about colder weather that makes things so creepy!

Another good run, felt easy.  Total time was 1:07:15, average 9:37.  My mile splits were 9:41, 9:38.5, 9:41, 9:43, 9:38, 9:33, and 9:20.  I forced myself to only look at the Garmin when it beeps every half mile and if I have to stop at a stoplight (when I hit the pause button) last night and tonight.  I've noticed that when I don't stare at the Garmin every 30 seconds, I actually run faster and more consistent splits.  Maybe (gasp!) I'll try a run with only a stopwatch and see what happens!

At the beginning of the run, I felt a shooting pain up the inside of my shin.  It felt a little like shin splints, but not in the place where I usually get them (haven't had them in 7+ years).  Of course, I told myself to run through the pain (best advice ever *sarcasm!*), and-what do you know!- it went away!

Soooo-I got an email from my best friend today who is training to run her first ever marathon with me in January.  She ran 17 miles the other day and SLOWED DOWN to an 8:35 pace!  And she wasn't even sore the next day!  (I'm not jealous!)  All she wants to do is break 4 hours.  Heck!  She could probably eventually break 3 hours with a pace like that!  I'm going to try to recruit her to the blog.

Tonight I ran at the same pace as normal, but it felt more labored.  By mile 6, my legs felt like they were running through molasses (or syrup?), although cardio-wise, I felt fine.  I'm not sure what that means: maybe slight overtraining?  I'm going to do 15 miles this weekend, nice and slowly.

Total time was 1:07:39, a 9:40 average.  My mile splits were 9:34, 9:44, 9:43, 9:46, 9:38.5, 9:38.5, and 9:33.  I didn't have the extra kick in me tonight.  But I took my heart rate when I finished, and it was only 130-135.  Within 5 minutes, it was down to 80.  Gotta take it easy on the legs...