Rain or Shine the Road is Mine

Legs felt much fresher this morning than prior Mondays.

I forgot to write on Saturday that my legs felt pretty good on Saturday, but my right hamstring did tighten and cause me concern from miles 5-7, but then it got better again. Today my leg felt fine, only a little tight, but after the run it felt somewhat sore. I'm just glad no tendon has snapped and no muscle has exploded from doing 80 miles two weeks in a row. I will be dropping miles this week to prep for Des News 10k.

Did a Payson loop. It was humid and sprinkly at times.

ave pace 7:49

weight 122

Evening: core workout and one legged squats without weights (first time doing these).

I met Ali in SF riverbottoms. We did a 3 mile warmup then 2x10minutes at threshold with 2 minutes rest (goal pace 6:15).

first set -1.64 miles, 6:13 first mile, Ali was tough and stayed with me for the first mile, then .64 in 3:55 (6:06 pace) - I went 8 seconds too long!, this first 10 minutes has a slight downhill, 2:06 rest

second set - 1.63 miles, 6:13 first mile, Ali fell back after about 1/3 mile, .63 in 3:55 (6:17 pace), I went 8 seconds too long on this piece on purpose to make them even in time, this rep was in the opposite direction, so slight uphill

I wanted this workout to be only medium effort. The effort was more than I wanted to keep pace, but I hit my desired pace. I was going to run 10-11 miles but I cut it a little short in an attempt to not tax my legs too much before my big Thursday race. Perhaps my legs are a little tired from the squats I did last night.

Ave pace 8:13

weight 122

PM:  Dr. Brady

Top 3 pains:

1 - Right hamstring (still tight on Saturday workout, generally tight, not full flexibility), he worked out extensively

2 - both achilles tender, increasing as day goes on, no pain at all while running, he worked out calves and tendon areas, even the front of my calves, I have two nice bruises from them

3 - behind left knee (pain from last Thursdays runs, still a twinge or two per run there, but not major) I don't remember him treating me for that. 

He showed me some more strengthening exercises for my legs, and we discussed whether these were or were not bad to start in the middle of a training cycle.  He said the weights are so light they are not a weight training exercise, but an introduction to strengthening exercises for my legs. 

He chastised me for running all my miles on asphalt but there really aren't good dirt roads around here that I know of.  I am going to keep my eyes open for some though.  There are so many farms and fields there must be some flat ones I am just not SEEING.

Humid again.  Easy miles.  I sang with my music quite a bit to make sure I didn't run too fast.  

8:23 ave pace

Bonnie is hosting me for the DesNews 10k!  She is so sweet to do that.  So I'll be driving up this afternoon and spending the evening with her and her husband, then waking up way early for the race tomorrow.  I am EXCITED/NERVOUS! 

I slept at Bonnie's home and woke up at 4:20 for the 6am start of the Deseret News 10k.  Bonnie was supposed to wake up at 4am but her alarm didn't go off, so she had to get ready in record time.  We still got to the start with an hour to go.  We ran about 2.5 together and stretched.  Then I switched into my racers and did some strides and jogging.  The start was about 10 minutes late.  I saw a girl in bummies and Lindsey was there so there went first and second place.  I lined up just behind Chad and AdamRW.  It was nice to get to know them better.

My goals were 1- be under 36:30, 2 - break 36, 3 - break 35:48 (college pr), and of course, then 4 - break 35:30, which Sasha said was within the realm of possibilities.  I also wanted to place top 5 since that's where the money is, but I had less control over that than my time. 35:30 was about 5:45 pace overall, but should have had the first two splits of 5:38 and 5:36 

1 - 5:18 The race starts out fast!!!! Tons of girls and guys starting sub 5:00 pace even though the first .25 was flat, then we turn and head down on a steep downhill.  I start out too fast, but gradually slow and hold back and try to stay relaxed and not worry that there are 15 girls ahead of me.

 2 - 5:23 I try not to panic when I see the 5:18 first split and focus on running a good second split

3 - 5:45 This mile starts flat and my watch is registering slower than 6 min pace, at 2.5 the course turns downhill and I start to reel in the two mormontimes.com girls ahead of me, Michelle Simonaitis is right behind me so lots of people who didn't know me were cheering for our local masters celebrity

4 - 5:48 Still downhill but not as steep, there still hasn't been any water and I am sure wanting some

5 - 5:40 Similar to mile 4, I am feeling good still, and I know I am on target for 35 minutes

6 - 6:07 This mile stunk, first generally flat then slight uphill for the second half.  I am dying but I use my watch to try to motivate myself, trying to keep the pace below 6:00, which didn't quite happen but I think the game helped me by 5-10 seconds, a girl passes me with about .5 to go and I don't feel like going for her nor the two other girls that are theoretically in reach

.2 - ?  Cody cheers me on at about the 6 mile mark and out of embarrassment I decide to try to pick off the girls.  I use my recent 400m repeats as confidence and turn on the burners and pass two of the three girls.  The girl right ahead of me that I wasn't able to snag turned out to be Carre Joyce, who won the Ogden marathon.

I got 8th place but with 35:02, I can't complain.  I would guess that this race is about 1 minute faster than flat sea level (two minutes faster because of downhill but one minute credit back because of altitude).  I did weaken a bit in mile 6, but I felt much stronger than the 4th of July 10k I just did.

I jogged backwards on the course until I saw Bonnie and cheered her in.  She ran a great race, close to a PR.  I chatted with Chad and Adam, and then Bonnie's husband Dean, then met Emily Jameson and we ran almost 6 miles together.  It was much faster than my normal cool down's but it was great to catch up with her and learn from her.

I have felt so sick since the race.  I have the runs and stomach issues.  I am just starting to feel better, though my bed is calling to me to lay down.  I have to wait until naptime.

I felt horrible yesterday after my race (I felt fine for a couple of hours after, then it set in).  I have never felt so yucky.  I had constricted breathing, a headache and the runs and I didn't even notice the sore muscles.   

I woke up feeling better.  I ran nice and slow with Ali. My stomach still felt sensitive the first couple of miles with the inherent jostling that happens when running.  My breathing still didn't feel 100% and my legs are sore.  We stopped and stretched after a mile and that helped quite a bit. 

Ave pace 8:21 

Four hours of sleep-BAD!

My legs, my quads especially, are still sore from the Thursday race, so I sprayed on some type of soreness relief spray Ali gave me, which numbed them for a couple of miles, but it wore off (I am not sure at what mile).

I met the SF group, and Josse recruited a new fast girl named Merri, and she's training for her first marathon this year (TOU). It quickly became Josse, Merri, Hal, Chad and I. We went up to the top of Harry's Hill. Remember I said I would always push this hill. So even though I was sore, I pushed the hill. I was behind everyone because of a VPB. Hal was taking the hill hardest so I didn't think I'd catch him but I did at the end. .88 miles in 7:33 pace.  Last time I did this hill (5 weeks ago) I did the hill in 7:42 pace, but I didn't crest the hill as much so it was .82 distance. We did the Salem loop and met up with Darin then went around the golf course. By this time it was just Darin, Hal, Josse and I. Josse said she wanted to take it easy but I was feeling pretty good so I went a little faster with Darin, but our pace kept dropping, eventually below 7 min pace. I turned around for Josse, and we finished up with Hal.

8:02 ave pace. Very hot morning but at least there were clouds so no direct sun in the face. I didn't notice any hamstring issue other than some tightness.

Ice bath after, which I was able to make colder by freezing sandwich ziploc bags full of water. I had five of those, three cold packs, and the whole ice making container in the tub with me. I stayed in an extra long time and there were still the five ice chunks (shrinking but still there). I think I'll make these bags more often because the last time I went in the ice bath it didn't feel cold enough.

weight 122