Bike

Saturday didn't go as planned to say the least. I wanted to get up at 6 a.m. and bike for 2 hours. I have an old 80's rusted bike that I saved off a truckload of stuff a friend was bringing to the D.I. But Friday night (after a day at Lagoon), I had to take Makenzie to urgent care because her cousin managed to yank her arm hard enough that he dislocated her elbow. So needless to say I didn't get home until really late Friday night and I needed a pump before I could ride the bike. I just slept in and Justin got me a pump Saturday morning. But I didn't get a chance to take the bike out until late afternoon and since we had dinner plans, I only got to go for about a half hour.

I was disappointed in my slacker workout, but I was happy to discover that the bike was a harder workout than I thought it would be. My quads were burning before I made it to the end of my street! They burned the whole way, along with my inner thighs. I was breathing hard and was so elated that I could work up a sweat and get my heart going without ANY pain in my shin. And I even wondered if the pedaling motion would help strengthen my shin.

So even though I missed out on an anticipated 20 running miles last week, I did learn the value of cross training.

We're going to California in the morning (for a week) so I'm really hoping I can maintain my fitness on vacation. So now I have two tricky obstacles- injury and vacation... I hope it goes well, I'll update when I get back!

Low

Tonight was definitely the bottom of my marathon training so far. I took Tuesday and Wednesday off and my shin splint (right leg only) was feeling semi recuperated so I decided to hit the high school track and do a nice, slow 4 miles.

From step 1, the pain was bad. I was limp running. Limp running is not good. I just needed to work into it, I thought. But the pain didn't ever go away. By two miles, I decided to incorporate some walking. When I started to run again, though, my leg just killed even more. So I decided to just keep running, no matter how slow I got. At the end of mile 3 I checked my pace and I was doing 11:30 miles. I wanted to cry. The night was cool and clear and beautiful, and I was surrounded by tons of athletic people, and I was just flat out feeling sorry for myself.

I told myself I would finish what I started if I had to walk the rest of it. But I was able to run the whole time, and even got a glimpse of happiness for the first half of my last mile and felt good enough to do a sub 8 minute pace. But I knew speed wasn't going to help me recover so I backed off again.

My leg kills. Ice, ibuprofen, stretching... I'm trying to help this thing but it just hurts so bad. I'm having to come to terms with the fact that my Saturday long run just isn't going to happen. It scares me. I need those long runs. I'm going to have to get on the bike or I'm afraid things will get ugly.

I'm just angry right now. I felt so invincible, like I was immune to injury. That's probably why I'm being humbled. And it sucks. So... hopefully I can figure out how to overcome this.

Adjusting

Tiffany and I are still working on syncing our running preferences. We figured out a plan that we both like. I like to have 2 recovery days after my long run to ward off any injuries creeping up on me and she likes to run Mondays, so we decided she'll run alone Mondays, I'll run alone Tuesdays, and we'll run together on Wednesdays, Thursdays and of course on Saturdays.

I'm pretty frustrated right now though because the first day I ran with Tiffany I got shin splints. I have NEVER gotten a single shin splint in my life, not in my training last year, not in all the training I've been doing since February, nothing. And bam, first run together and I'm like "what the heck is this?" And it kept getting worse all last week. After our 12 miles on Saturday it was pretty bad. I tried to "run through it" (dumb) yesterday and it hurt the whole time. I'm toying with the idea of taking some time off but I can't take too much off or I'll screw up my training. Not exactly sure what I'm going to do. We did some yoga this morning and it felt so good. Maybe I can just do more cross training this week and when I stop hobbling around I can jump back into running. We'll see...

12 miles

Tiffany and I had our first long run together this morning. We went down to Draper and did 12 miles. We got some rain training in. As long as it's not pouring, running in the rain is great. We had cool weather for the entire 1 hour 52 minutes. I didn't stop the time for any of our water/gel/potty breaks and we averaged 9:20 miles. It was great having a partner on a long run and we had some fun moments. Tiffany just had to make me laugh hysterically on our last mile and I was laughing so hard I couldn't even run, I thought I was going to fall over. I won't share what was so funny... but yeah, it was bad. We had a good time.
My shins are hurting... first shin splits I've ever had and that's no fun, it better stop. Probably because my training has been a little off this week and I'm still recovering from the race last Saturday.

Keep it going

Gotta get my discipline back. I slacked off on the mileage a bit this week. I'm also trying to transition to a schedule with Tiffany. I only ran 3 miles yesterday b/c I went too late and it was getting dark. So I was a couple miles short for my weekday running this week. I'm still trying to decide what to run tomorrow, because Tiffany and I both have different training schedules... so we need to figure that out. I think I'll just run Tiffany's 13 tomorrow. Far enough for me!

Actual Riverwoods Results

I got the actual posted results from the Riverwoods race:

Place overall: 48th out of 376

Place in women's division: 22nd out of 266 (yeah, this race was definitely a female majority)

Place in 25-29 female division: 6th out of 44

Pretty cool, I'm very happy. I have to add that Sheena was 2nd place in our division and 5th out of 266 women- wow!

Tiffany's here!

Tiffany got here Monday night and we've started running together! Yesterday we ran 6 miles (about a 9 minute pace) and today we ran 4 (just under 9 minute miles). We're just taking it easy and it's fun having someone to run with!

Riverwoods Results

I'll post about it on my family blog when I have pictures, but I wanted to write about the 10 miler while it's fresh on my mind. Sorry about all the detail, but I want to remember this for next year.

Got up at 5:30 and felt relaxed and ready to go. Ate a peanut butter/honey/banana sandwich before I left and plenty of water and powerade. I rode down to Provo with my friend Sheena and everything went smoothly before the race started. We talked about everything related to running, including race strategy. Sheena got a 7:16 pace in her half marathon in April, so I like hearing about how she does it (being tiny and fit probably helps, but her strategy has got to be important, too). She says she always starts out hard. If she needs to slow down, she can, but she starts out with full effort. This is the opposite of what I usually do. I'm usually very conservative at the start, and if I feel comfortable, I'll speed it up. So at the last minute, I decided I'd try Sheena's strategy this time. Sheena made her way to the front of the starting line (where she belongs), and I hung out about 5 or 6 rows deep into the start. 3,2,1 and we were off.

The riverwoods race is a downhill shot for quite a ways and I was tearing down it. I finished the first mile at just barely over a 7 minute pace. I didn't know how fast I was going at the time (I figured it out after... because the second song on my ipod ended right when I hit the 1 mile mark, and the first two songs together are 7:08). I found myself running next to 2 very fit looking girls and felt comfortable with their pace. I made a goal to keep up with them for the rest of the race. I took a gel that I forgot to take before I started and it's kinda tricky eating those things when you're huffing and puffing and flying down a hill. I did a little leapfrogging with those girls for the next two miles, but by mile 4 the terrain was flat and I pulled ahead for good. I was pleasantly surprised.

I kept a pretty aggressive pace, and was surprised how long I could hold it. I hit the halfway point and took another gel. I wasn't sure if it was necessary, but Sheena said that was her plan so I figured I might as well try it, too! I was also surprised by how few people were passing me. Last year it felt like hundreds of people passed me! This year it felt like less than 50.

On mile 6, a girl who had been ahead of me the entire race, and who I had seen check her pace watch about 100 times, had stopped to walk at the aid station and was coming back to pass me. I asked her what her pace was and she said 7:30. I couldn't believe it. I thought as long as I could keep her in sight, I stood a chance of beating the 8:00 mark. It got hard during mile 7. I wanted to slow down, and that's when all the stuff I've been reading online came into play. I remembered a Runners World article that said one of the things that distinguishes elite runners is that they know how to push through pain (not injury pain, but fatigue and aching muscles and joints). It encouraged me. I could do this, it was a mental game now and I was more than halfway done. I kept telling myself positive thoughts (another tip I had read about).

I came out of the canyon and knew the finish line wasn't far. I was pushing, but was already going fast enough that I couldn't achieve a very distinguishable change in pace. I just wanted to finish hard and keep up what I had been doing. A few people passed me, but I couldn't worry about them. By mile 9, it was all about what I could do. I pretty much closed out the people around me and just focused on my own body. I didn't have it in me to sprint to the end, so I just kept plugging along.

I finished in 1:18:30 for a 7:51 pace! I was elated and very shocked that I beat a 8:00 pace. I never run that fast, and to achieve it in a 10 mile race was really mindblowing. I know it helped that this was a downhill run, and I probably couldn't have done it on completely flat terrain. But regardless, it was for sure a PR for me that I don't know if I can beat again, so I was really happy with the results. Sheena finished in 1:10 something for a 7:07 pace - she got 2nd in our division and I got 6th (also extremely surprised there were only 3 girls in our division between me and Sheena!).

It was a great race and I'm glad I did it, despite the fact that walking down the stairs makes it feel like my quads are being torn out of my legs. My only other race this year is the marathon, and I have zero ambition about time on that one. Just want to finish it. My sis-in-law's dad is a very seasoned runner and marathoner and he says the Park City marathon is awful/hard. He told me, "You can go ahead and take what you think your marathon time is and add 30 minutes for Park City." Wonderful.

So this was my fun race for the summer. I'm really happy it turned out so well!

Dang it

So my only race before the marathon is the day after tomorrow. I haven't given it a lot of thought b/c I'm so excited about Tiffany coming. But now it's here, and I'm really curious how I'm going to do. Last year I ran out of my MIND. Way faster than I was prepared to run. I just checked my blog post from it and I ran 8:42 miles?! What?? I read that and said a verbal, "crap."
I want to beat my time. But beating that time is going to be tough. The past week or so I've been doing closer to a 9 minute pace. I do remember after that race I thought I was going to die. By the time we drove home from Provo I just laid on my living room floor for like 20 minutes and just kept telling Justin I felt like somebody poisoned me.
So, needless to say, I emptied the tank on that race. But I'm so much better prepared for this one. The race last year was the first time I had ever run ten miles, and I only trained for a couple of weeks before it. I've been pretty seriously training now for months. So I better beat that dang time! My total time was 1:27:02 so I'm aiming for under 1:27:00 this year. Please please please!
(p.s. did my due diligence and ran 4 miles today... 8:55 pace)

Seven miles

Didn't feel like running yesterday so I rewarded myself for doing it by running as slowly as I wanted. I even stopped to walk for a minute when I got a cramp (I ran like 20 minutes after dinner... I was asking for it). I haven't stopped to walk in the middle of a run in years. And it was totally fine, I walked for about 60 seconds and started back up. I felt like my mom, the queen of fartleks (haha that sounds awful).
It had rained all day yesterday so the combination of cool air and slow running felt like a real treat. And I saw a beaver in the wild for the first time in my life, he let me get about 10 feet from him, it was pretty cool. Don't remember how long it took me but I think I was doing 9:30 or slower the whole time.

Back to 4

Ran four miles yesterday in 35:33 (8:53 miles). The scab on my heel/ankle was able to scab over really well during my 2-day break so yesterday I was determined to not mess it up. Naive me. I put on a bandaid and wrapped it with some kind of gauzy stuff. Nope, 2 miles into it, it was just a big tangled mess so I ripped it off and almost cried as every step was tearing the scab off just a little bit more. Oh well, I'm done worrying about this thing, I might just have a raw ankle until my marathon.
We've had quite the rainy weather this week and it has been raining all day, so my seven miles might be interesting tonight. Might have to do it electronics-free. dun dun dun...

I actually cross-trained

Mondays are my cross-training days. So far, my efforts have been modest, to put it nicely (aka do 40 pushups while I watch Medium and maybe some crunches).
Today I began video #1 of P90X. I have heard terrible-wonderful things about it, like how people can't walk for a week b/c they're so sore and such. I don't want to be that sore, sounds a little counterproductive to marathon training if you can't even walk.
But today I did the chest/back which means an hour of pushups and pullups. I don't have a pullup bar so I had to modify it with a band, but it was a really good workout. I will admit, I had to do sissy girl pushups for half of it, but it felt so good to do some real strengthening exercises.
There are a bunch of dvd's in the set, so I'm hoping P90X will be the ticket to making me super strong for my long runs.

Fourteen

Well, I did it. The furthest I've run to date: 14 miles. It wasn't bad. But it did have its setbacks.

Setback #1: Pesky blister. The dang thing can't heal because I keep running and rubbing it open again. Mile one was definitely the most miserable, as my bandaid was soaked through with blood and hanging off before I even got to the 2 mile mark. It stung like crazy and I had visions of a gauze-wrapped ankle for my next run. When I completed one mile, I had to laugh to myself (yay! only a half-marathon to go with this thing!). But yeah, by the time I got to 3-4 miles, it was numb and only periodically bothered me. I definitely need to get some of that liquid bandaid stuff.

Setback #2: My legs! So weird, but my legs just ached through this whole run. That's usually not a problem until I get past 8 miles or so, but from the minute I started to the minute I finished, my legs where achy. It was a good ache though, a "growing" ache, not an injury ache.

Those were pretty much my only obstacles; besides those, my run was quite enjoyable.

I ran a new trail in Draper that a friend recommended to me. It was really nice, nestled up against the mountain so I had a gorgeous view of the valley. I even came across a couple of water fountains, which was a pleasant surprise. At about mile 7, I had returned to the trail head when I was bombarded with an oncoming race. Some race for Taylor Swift, I have no idea what that was all about. But I liked seeing all the other runners, and it got me motivated for my Riverwoods 10 miler in one week.

I felt like I was running with mollases stuck to my soles, I just wasn't feeling any kind of speed today with the achy legs. I thought I was going over 10 minute miles the whole time (yeah, I forgot the nike+ tells you your pace until the last mile!). But when I finally checked my time at the half-marathon mark, it was 2 hours, 2 minutes, only a couple minutes slower than my race time last year, so I was pleasantly surprised. I had plenty of energy for the last mile, and actually ran it in under 8 minutes, which was motivating. 2:09:30 for my final time, average of 9:19 miles.

Blood & Sweat

No tears, thank goodness, but I definitely had some blood going on yesterday. I set out to do my 7 miles and as soon as I started, I realized my new shoes had chafed the back of my left heel from my last run. I thought about going back to get a bandaid, but it didn't hurt terribly bad so I just kept going. BAD IDEA. By the time I hit my first stoplight, I could see blood all on the back of my shoe, and stopping made it really hurt.
I had no choice but to keep going though, and it really didn't bother me that bad as long as I was still running. My shiny new shoes are a bit tarnished now, and Justin was sad I made them look gross so soon. I told him it was the mark of a runner and I was proud of it, haha.
Anyway, I ended up doing 6.55 miles because we wanted to go see a movie and I ran out of time. My pace was on the ipod was a lot slower than I thought, somewhere around 8:50 miles... I'm wondering if my pace was off all along during training. Probably. We'll see. Gotta go do 4 miles now and I'm not looking forward to messing with my heel. I'm gonna wear my old shoes!

Movin on up

I'm moving up in my weekday distance this week to 4-7-4 schedule. Saturday will be 14 miles, my longest feat yet.
I'm also moving up in the gear category. Justin surprised me with the Nike+ for my ipod that I've been wanting for a while. It's only $30, but I've been feeling bad about my selfish running budget lately and decided I didn't really need it. I'm SO glad to have it now though, that thing is awesome. He got me a little pouch thing that attaches to your shoelaces so I didn't have to buy Nikes (yuck, not my favorite) or cut a hole in the sole of my Asics. I used it for the first time today. I'm going to have to get used to it, but I love it.
I ran 4.22 (I know exactly now) in 36 minutes (8:30's).