I'm not crazy...I'm just bored!!

Got to sleep in on Sunday, so I'm feeling nice and rested today and got up early on a beautiful morning for a nice easy good ol' 6.2 mile loop. Some of it is where the 5K for the tri Saturday was, so that was a little nostalgic too :)

I really thought I was going faster (AP: 9:27) I thought for sure I'd get home and see and 8:30ish AP, but Noooooo. My dumb stupid slow legs are back :( I really, truly, honestly wish I could run faster. I don't mind just running and enjoying it, but I wish an easy run was closer to an 8mm for me. That I could race in the 6's and linger in the low 8's for daily workouts. Blech, whatever, I should just be happy I can run! 

splits:  10:03, 9:31, 9:15, 9;22, 9:29, 9:12, 8:26 (last .2)

After getting kids off to school I went to the gym and ran 6.3 miles on the TM. My feelings about the morning run came rushing back to me, so I decided to teach these legs a lesson! They can and WILL run faster! 10 min warm-up @ 8:57, then did 1 min on/1 min off 'speed' work. First couple I did at 7:53 with rest @ 8:41 consistently. But then the speed got faster for the 1 min on and the majority of them were run at 7:30 pace. It felt a lot easier than I thought it should have - especially given my road run just this morning. The last 2 were at 7:03 and I think I should've probably tried to do the majority of them at that speed. Oh well...whatever, I guess I like being slow! Then I did the last .4 at a consistent 8mm to finish up.

AP:  8:06 for last 4.3 miles. I accidentally hit the stop at 18 min and I think I was over 2 miles, but I don't know...I figure doing 8 min of speed work I should've been there, but I knew I was at LEAST 2, so just left it at that and started again. Dumb machines...hate TMs!

Hit FIT class afterward and a new teacher did some new, interesting things. Kind of changed class a little bit, but I did like it. I was dripping sweat, so I guess I can't complain.

Now I'm off...trying to resolve to do more with myself this month. When the 1st comes on a Monday I have NO excuses. I want my children to see me doing more than spending a bunch of time sitting on the computer. So, I may disappear a little from the blog and not keep up like I enjoy doing, but I will try to sneak on at night when they are in bed and check on y'all! :)

Well, the sleep in from Sunday has officially worn off. Stayed up late last night and didn't get to bed until midnight. It was all for a good cause though. Bye-wing is heading home and I won't see her again for about a year, so I had to stick it out to the bitter end to get all the time in I could! We did get to do Benihanna dinner too though, so it was totally worth it!!

Four and a half short hours after getting to bed I was up and headed to BBK's. Nice warm-up, but there wasn't anyone to linger in the back with me, so it was keep up or die. I'm glad I did and didn't wimp out, but it wasn't easy after yesterday's miles and speed.

Dumb me, I think I must be a glutton for punishment. We met at the track which means speed work. After yesterday I didn't think I could do it, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well I pushed myself to hit something decent.

Two 1000M with a 400M rest. Two 400M with a 200M rest, then finish with two 200's with a 100M rest, then finish the lap for a cool down. Repeat, but only doing one of each interval instead of two. On the 400's and 200's I got to see low 7's to low 6's which was nice. I was still Waaaay behind the group, BUT no one ever lapped me, so that is improvement :) Especially on tired legs from yesterday.

Went out for one more cool-down mile to round out to 10 and my legs were heavy and tired! Ended with a 10:21 AP for the mile! HA!! I guess I'd run the speed right out of them.

Came home and got a nap until I woke kids up to get ready for school (yes, I'm a bad mom and let the stay up late too to get a good final visit with cousins in), then went back to bed while they were getting ready :)

The 2 youngest woke up at 9 and since this was the first week for boot camp in a while (teacher has been busy) we headed over to the church for a good beat down. I got a good stretch in afterward, so I hope I'm not too sore tomorrow! Since I'm already at 22 for the week I think I'm going to do some swim and bike tomorrow and give the legs a rest from the pounding. I don't want any more injuries!! I'm just finally starting to get back at it.

AP: 8:52 splits: 9:24, 8:47,  9:19, 9:30, 8:36, 8:12, 8:21, 7:59 (YAY! been a while since I've seen 7's not in a race!), 8:12, 10:21 - yup, speed gone! My garmin says that I hit 11mph (5:27mm) during that 7:59 split...not sure I believe it, but still nice to see! :)

As promised today was a 'rest' day - at least from the pounding of running. 

Slept in since I was just going to the gym and that is always a nice treat! 

Lifetime does a spin class 9-10ish everyday except Wednesday - blech! Whatever. So, I decided to just go up and use the spin bike anyway since the ones on the cardio floor are those big seat, weirdo ones with no cages or clips. I knew I'd get a better workout on a spin bike.

I just let my music be the guide and when the rhythm would slow down I'd increase the hill so I still had to work as hard or harder. I think I had a better workout than I usually do in spin. Nice and sweaty! A full hour on the bike with lots of hills and some speed mixed in.

Then I transitioned quickly into my suit and out to the pool. I wanted to get a mile in before I had to get kiddos, so I jumped in and started off. I was so pleased that I'd done 12 laps in about 13-14 minutes that I chatted with the super/speedy swimmer next to me for a minute. All of a sudden I had chatted away my buffer time and had to get at it! Did 20 laps without stopping in about 23ish minutes. Total of 32 or one measly mile :)

Now was the QUICK transition training time! Getting out of the pool and trying to walk right after finishing laps is crazy...you feel kind of dizzy and your legs don't want to hold you up. But, I grabbed my stuff and bee-lined it to the locker room to throw on shirt and shorts and get to the daycare. Record time I'm sure :) I think I ended up being 3-5 minutes late, but no one said anything so I'm taking that as a good sign.

Nice to get a workout in and not have the pounding on the body. I think I may try to keep my Wednesdays and Fridays as x-training days with occasionally some lower mileage in there as well. Just feels good to change it up a little.

Another early morning with BBK's. Those guys are tough and fast...they always are good about quickly putting me in my place when I think I'm doing well :)

3 mile warm-up which was much faster than I would've liked (8:52AP), then a 6 mile tempo. The turn around of the tempo was about a 1/2 mile away from  the start (like an 'open-jaw' route) and I was SO tempted to just run back to the church! Good thing Kelli was there to pull me back to reality.

I wanted to keep the tempo at MP, well hopeful MP, and see how things went. It's frustrating some times to hit those paces and know you can run a half at an AP faster than that! Those 6 tempo miles were harder than ANY of the DesNews miles that were much faster (of course, this was good rollers and not just downhill). I just don't get it sometimes. Goal was 8:10-8:20mm for the tempo and I hit them perfectly - or a little faster.

When I got back to the church I was exhausted and for one of the first times in my life wanted to puke. I knew it would make me feel better! But, I didn't. Puke pace for me should be MUCH faster than this!! I chatted with Nancy for a bit then did a mile-ish cool down just nice and easy around the 'hood.

AP: 8:34 splits: 9:20, 8:42, 8:30, *8:19, 8:00, 8:17, 8:00, 8:12, 8:16* 9:57  (the *to* is the tempo miles, thanks to Kelli I was able to hold on the last mile - I was done! Just 20.2 more of these and I'll hit my MP goal....HA!).

Now I'm off to yoga, and boy do I need it today! Can't wait!

Did a re-run of the Triathalon with Becca this morning. We biked the 3+ miles up to the reservoir and then jumped in. Okay, it was a slow submersion. I'm a pansy and during the race I just did it, but this time I had time to think about all the fish that were going to eat me. Took a minute to get going. 

We swam the perimeter of  the reservoir (500ishM) and it was nice to see that there were 5 other crazy women there swimming at 6:30 in the morning as well. I actually saw the sun peek over the mountains while I was side breathing. It was really beautiful! Kind of like one of those 'eternity' pools that rich people have on the beach? Yeah...and all in my backyard! :)

Jumped back on the bikes and did the bike route. Not having to race uphill to Kennecott was kind of nice and still a good workout, but the downhill was still just as sweet! At the finish line we passed it and rode back to my house to start the 5K.

Only problem was we'd wasted away our extra time. So, I now had kids to feed breakfast to and get lunches packed and Becca had to get home so she could go play this weekend. Blech. Oh well. So, while my kids were headed off on their bikes to school I took off running and did my 5K loop. I just had a good 20 min transition time :)

The run was great. I felt comfortable the whole time and the AP was under a 9mm and I almost got my 'hill of despair' mile under 9 as well! It's nice to feel good on a run. Especially after a 19 mile bike ride and swim.

AP: 8:56 splits: 9:11, 8:34, 9:02 (SO close!!), 8:59 (last .1)

bike AP: 15.2 mph (after I take out the stops I forgot to stop the garmin at!).

Ahhh, what a beautiful morning! I was tired, but once I got going with the wonderful, amazing and pleasant company along for the run, I forgot all about being tired. Maybe having a nap on that skateboard that was tied to Smooth's waist for a few miles helped too. 

Smooth, Annette, Karen, Dr Smith and David came along. Dr Smith (The dentist Annette works with as a hygenist) and David saw us as we were just leaving the parking lot. We invited them to come along with us. Small world - they live in Smooth and Karen's neighborhood...so basically everyone had a connection to them but me. Well, except that I'm related to Annette. Does that count? :)

We had a wonderfully pleasant run chatting back and forth about different topics to the lake and back. At Willow park on the return Smooth and I took a side trip to throw away trash in a dumpster and ended up a little bit behind the others. So, when we got back just shy of 14 miles (all the others wanted for the day) they went ahead to just finish up and Smooth and I grabbed a drink with Karen then headed off for our last 5ish miles. When we passed them on their way back we tried to convince them to go a few more, but only David took the bait. Brave man! Furthest he has ever run. Both the boys are training for their first full down in SGM.

Karen, Smooth and I wound our way around the construction and went North. It has been SO long since I've been North, I really miss that trail. I'm glad I got to do a little bit of it today. I was ready to be done around 15 miles, when we were done at 18 it took me a while to figure out we weren't just at 17! I could've gone for 20, but I stopped - sticking with the plan and trying not to get injured.

We had a nice 1/4ish mile walk back to the cars and that always helps my legs recover better! We stretched and chatted like stink bugs (with our butts in the air to get the hammy's good) and then took off for home. PERFECT long run morning!

AP: 9:16 splits: 9:35, 9:31, 8:46, 8:58, 8:55, 9:04, 9:28, 9:18, 9:04, 9:04, 9:13, 9:06, 9:18, 9:32, 9:26, 9:31, 9:37, 9:27. So, the AP wasn't the greatest and we slowed at the end, but the fact that I felt good means more to me than pace right now! There were some splits in the 8's :)

On the way home I got to thinking about a tri later this month I was thinking about doing with my daughter. Since I was feeling so good, I called her and asked if she wanted to do a bike/run practice with me. She was ready when I got home! Off we went...1.5 on the bike to get Lucy out a bit, then 5 miles (what she will do at the tri) on the bike (total of 6.5), then we ran 1 mile (she will do 1.7). It was slow and she was whiny, but I tried to encourage her through it. She finished almost happy and I think now feels pretty accomplished. I loved spending some time with her out there on the road. I only have 8-10ish years left until she leaves me for good...gotta make the best of it!!!

So, I really ran 19 miles today, but I'm not counting the last one with Lauren. It was just too fun to count :) Next week we're going to try the full 1.7!!

Got up for a wonderful early summer run. Just 6.25 on a new loop, nice and easy...the way I like it :) Except when at one point I could hear two guys gaining on me. I had to keep telling myself it wasn't a race and it was okay if they passed me. Turned out I know the guys and when they caught me we had a good laugh about it.

AP: 9:47 - lots of uphill, not an excuse...just a fact.

Went to the gym and ran a quick 6.75 to round out the miles for the day. Met a new 'friend' on the TM and she is married to a coach for the U gymnastics team. Amazing woman! Helped time go by quickly as well.

AP: 8:51 - why is it so much easier to run faster on a TM? Am I really that lazy?

Hit FIT class for a good workout before taking off for the day. I really like the new teacher - she has changed things up for the good. Too bad I'm only at this gym for another few weeks. HA! Who am I kidding I won't miss the drive or the hollywood :)

Okay...so the main post is done. This is my venting now. So, if you're not in the mood...you may stop here :)

WHY IN THE WORLD CAN'T I BQ?!? I keep reading more and more reports of people who run slower 1/2 and 10K times than I do by 3-7 minutes and they are in my AG and can BQ, but I can't. Why? I don't get it. It just rips my heart out. What am I doing wrong? Am I too fat? Don't push myself enough? Need to increase miles? Need better stability so my body will handle the miles...what?!? I'm SO frustrated when I read about other people who are my same age (or older) and most of the time don't train as much as I do, can't do shorter races as quickly, typically weigh more than me but yet have beat my marathon time into the ground. Uggghh. Sorry, I'm just frustrated. I know that I can only ever race myself and my first 3 marathons I should've BQ'd and ITBS prevented it, but I am still frustrated. I just want one little thing...to run a marathon in a 'predicted' time for what I do a 1/2 and 10K at. bother... I guess I should just stop, but I know this is the place I can vent and not get criticized for it. Thanks for 'listening' to the rant.

Honestly, a horrible night. I went to bed and my last words to my husband were "I just want to sleep tonight." Famous last words. I don't know what the hey was wrong, but an hour after falling asleep my baby wakes up SCREAMING and wouldn't stop no matter what we did for about 30-45 minutes. He was not happy. I finally took him out on the front porch swing (he's always loved being outside) and he settled down. It still took another 30ish minutes to get him to sleep, but by then I had a whopping 3 hours to sleep before the alarm went off. Then it was the restless sleep I've had the last week anyway. *sigh* Needless to say, I'm tired.

Had a nice easy 3 mile warm-up with the BBK's and a great chat with Lisa. What an amazing woman. Then we did a 1/3 mile warm-up for the workout....okay, just ran to the start. We did 4  one mile repeats - 1st all uphill, 2nd down then up, 3rd all down, 4th up then down. I think I really only hit good paces on the downhills, but being so tired I was just glad my legs were moving faster than a 9mm pace! Did one cool down with Julie, one of my fav BBKers, then headed home for a quick nap before starting work.

AP: 8:42 splits: 9:38, 9:04, 9:27, 8:22, 8:11, 8:31, 7:15 (3/4 of this mile was the downhill repeat...like I said, only on the downhills), 9:08, 8:07, 9:14 - So, my miles didn't fall on the mile splits exactly, but I'm sure you can tell where the effort was. Kind of proud of that 7:15...meant that the full mile may have been below a 7:00

Boot camp was cancelled this morning (sick teacher) so I came home and did The Shred level 2. It's no boot camp, but a great alternative - especially for a 20 min quickie.

Backwards kind of day. Slept in (due to yesterdays fiasco) then had some morning appointments, so by the time I got done I had enough time to make it to lunch with some running friends and then head off to the gym for a bit before having to come home for kids.

Did an hour long sweat fest in the spin room, then went out to the TM and did 3 miles @  8:34 pace. Yup, I'm not a good afternoon runner. I was SO sick and lightheaded after that. I should be taking an afternoon nap - NOT running at that time of day, especially on a full belly. Blech.

Another fun day with the BBK's! Warm-up for 3 miles and a decent clip and I felt good too - which hasn't happened for a while.

Then we started straight into the 7 mile tempo. I tried some positive thinking today. "Did you show up to run or show up to quit?" "Strength and Determination" Finally, when the whining got too much for my head to take: "ain't nobody here feel sorry for you!" Someone posted that they'd overheard a mother yelling that to her son on the second lap of his 1500M race. I love it!

I now think I could've pushed harder on the uphills, but there is always next time. This is a good standard tempo run they do often, so I'll have a good baseline judge. I already have HUGE improvements from when I did it last time (uphill all in the 9's and downhill all 8's except one), so we're heading onward and upward.

AP: 8:30 (it was 8:27 before doing a cool-down mile with Becca. I almost told her no, because I liked the AP so much I didn't want to ruin it :) ).

Splits: wu: 9:35, 8:52, 8:47 tempo: (uphill) 8:41, 8:37, 8:38, 8:21 (half up, half down on this one), 7:47, 7:45, 7:26 (all down), cool down: 9:05

Got home and headed off to yoga. It was a good sweaty class. Changed things up a bit and I loved it even more. I will miss my Th yoga next month when I switch gyms.

Was going to do the Blackridge Tri course again, but due to technical difficulties had a change of plans. So, I did my 3 mile run since I was already up...then came home and went back to bed.

Got kids off to school then headed to the gym for my traditional Friday spin. Good hill workout. She wouldn't let us touch the resistance for 15 min 'hills' where she kept adding and then would do surges/sprints/jumps. Good times!

Quickly headed down to the pool and did 32 laps/1600M/1 mile in about 37ish minutes. Little time for stopping, because I had to get kids out of the child care.

Home again, home again jiggity pig. On to the weekend....

I needed a good run with good friends this morning. Stayed up late hoping hubby would get home from work, but at 1:00 I finally called it quits. 5:45 came WAY too early. I'd had a rough night dealing with drama from some neighbors (directed at me) so it was nice to get out and have a good run!

Classic 12 mile loop out and back on the PRT, wonderful pace, wonderful company and not a thing in the world to complain about (except the night before, but I'm getting over it and trying to be an adult about it all). It was kind of nice to have a 'back off' week. I feel like I need to go run some more... I'm not completely exhausted! 

AP: 9:00 splits: 9:18, 9:28, 9:13, 9:03, 9:05, 9:15, 8:39, 8:39, 8:48, 9:01, 9:00, 8:36

The real question is...can you guess who is who in my new picture? Bye-wing, Quiet Pirate and I are in our front yard with our mom and dad.

Started out NOT wanting to run, I knew it would get better if I just gotout and I knew I wouldn't have another opportunity today if I didn't just go, so I went.

I felt good the first few miles and stopped at mile 3 to get a nice little drink before heading up the monster Herriman hill. I actually felt pretty good heading up the hill, so at the top I decided to add a little on. The plan was only for the 8 mile loop, but we all know about the best laid plans...

Headed up to the Herriman Reservior where the Tri was held. Those are some good hills I tell ya! I took a nice flat loop around the water then headed back down to Butterfield Park on the bike route. Only problem was by this time I was regretting not eating beforehand. I was feeling light headed and nauseated. I need to eat before I run. It would come and go, so I just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful sunrise and watching the sun peek over the tops of the Wasatch. I live in such a gorgeous place! Totally worth the nasty hill climb.

Finsihed out the miles and then since I needed to get home (and I was already behind schedule adding 2 miles on) I took a new shortcut home. Kind of a fun little easement to connect 2 neighborhoods and make it easier for kids to walk to school. It was perfect, ended just over 10 instead of the long way which would've finished around 11. Perfect!

Now I'm sitting in the waiting room at the hospital. Just sent hubby off to have his galbladder taken out. Fun times... Good thing the gym is closed for renovations this week and I don't feel cheated missing FIT class. Yeah, that's my biggest worry this morning...

Since I don't have my Garmin I'll have to update splits later, but I looked and saw AP of 9:16 for the run, which for all those hills and the way I felt on the good downhill sounds pretty good to me!

Unfortunately, sometimes there is more to life than getting a morning run in. Today was one of those days. I am not a runner...I am a person who runs. Today the person had to come first and the running will have to wait until tomorrow.

Well, either my alarm didn't go off or I sabotaged myself and turned it off - I have no conscious recollection of either. I nearly made my kids late for school. Woke up at 8:15 and had 15 min to shove them out the front door - YIKES! So, needless to say I didn't get my peaceful morning run in like I was hoping for.

I did get off to the gym, but by the time all was settled at home and I could leave I got to the rec center (Lifetime is closed this week) it was after 10. When I got in there and got all the info about things, I found out the day care was only open for one more hour. Sigh...run fast!

I got 5.5 miles in before they made the announcement that the day care was closing in 5 minutes, and I wasn't surprised that when I got down there Adam was the only one left. Yup, that announcement was for me! So, I paid my dues and left. (AP: 8:45)

I did get a nice short bike ride in while I ran some errands and went to a meeting, but now my day is back to the walls and painting...maybe some cleaning if the family is lucky!

There must just be something magical about running with Kelli. Luckily she was just taking it easy this morning, so I tagged along instead of trying to do a tempo with the BBK's. I felt wonderful the whole run, the pace felt easy and I could just jabber away all the crap floating in my head as we wandered down the parkway. 

We got finished and I felt fantastic, more like a 4 mile run - not 8.5! I guess this is what 'tapering' does for me. That and cutting out all the extra x-training/resistance/classes I do all week on top of running. Then I noticed our pace was  8:41 for the miles and I just about jumped out of my skin. I'm finally starting to come back from my cruddy Ogden/UVM/injury days at the beginning of the season!  Now if PCM doesn't screw it all up for me, I might just be able to hit my goals at SGM.

AP: 8:41 splits:  9:14, 8:45, 8:31, 8:40, 8:39, 8:37, 8:34, 8:30, 8:34 (last .5) *even consistent splits...I tell ya, this girl is magic for me!

Since the gym is closed and I took yesterday off of painting I've got 5,000 and one things to do at home, so no yoga (grrrr) and I'm passing on the rec center workout as well. Back to gettin' lucky around the house!

One of the best, most amazing, fun and fabulous races I have ever ran! Rode up with Karen, Smooth and Becca and then met Teena and Lowell before the start. Hung out in the lobby of the Hotel staying warm until the final 2 min count down. We were off to a wonderful start! Teena of course took off, the rest of us were just there to mosey along and enjoy it :)

Wandered around Park City for 26 fun filled miles of chatting, harassing, picture posing, and over-enthusiastic cheering of all those we passed. Had a great time picking up extra gu's etc. at aid-stations and we all just stuck together and had a wonderful time. I think if you added up all the time we spent just stopped at the aid-stations you could take off about 15+ minutes from our time. Honestly, I would guess the AP (of running mind you) was around a 9:30.

It's kind of funny how despite all the fun and 'talk' going through your head we all seem to just drop dead silent and just want to be done around mile 22-23. We all just got quiet and simply enjoyed one another's footfalls and breathing. THEN the finish line becomes the chatty room again. Full of celebration, fun and eating! Finally getting to talk to and get names of the people you've leap-frogged for MILES and get a few more pictures.

Some highlights for me:

*taking the caffeine gu at mile 13 - holy moly that put a nice kick in my step and some fun comments in my brain :) Okay...I never shut up, but all the extra energy was coming out of my mouth instead of coming out of my legs! Now I know to keep one of those in my pocket at SGM so I can let it come out of my legs!!!

*The top of the Deer Valley loop - seriously you should have a short party there. The end of the MILES of uphill, so my party was chasing down Larry driving away. I sprinted as fast as I could to catch/keep up with the car, he said it was about 10mph - oh yeah!!

*Empire street - oh that hill? was that a hill? I didn't even notice :) RAN up it. Took it by the horns, threw it down, sliced it up and ate it for breakfast. Heck yeah baby! Everyone else was looking around wondering who the crazy woman was that had enough energy at that point to do a hill sprint up that nasty thing. LOVED it!! When I hit the top and could see the nice downhill stretch I spotted a pair of flag shorts and got to chat with the ol' Slickster! Good times baby!

*Jumping for a picture at mile 18.5ish aid station. We'd lost Lowell by then, but all 4 girls posed for Larry and jumped in the picture! Again, everyone around us was looking at us like we were crazy for having enough energy and mind to stop and take a jumping picture that late in the race!

*95% - yes, the last 10K I promised Karen (no more lies!) it really was all downhill, a few parkway rollers of course, but REALLY 95% downhill. Every time we'd come to one of those rollers Karen would curse "Raaacheelll!!!" Then I'd yell back 95% I'm sticking by my 95%!!

*The last mile. About .2 ish after the mile marker for 25 I looked back (I'd gotten a bit ahead of Smooth) and noticed that she was safely in the company of Karen and I wanted to see if I had a good pace mile left in these ol' legs at the end of a grueling marathon. I turned it up and finished with an 8:38 split, which with the bit that I was going slower I'm going to guess was at my 8:15ish goal MP. I was really able to hit the gas after a guy with a sprinkler on the trail near the finish hosed me down! He got my 'favorite person' award for the day. I was going strong and when I hit the mile marker 13 for the half I put it in gear. My final split for the last .1 split was an AP of 5:51....wow, I didn't think my garmin would work going that fast :) I love a strong fast finish and being able to feel like I have it left in my legs!!!

*The company. I seriously loved this race more than all rest for so many things it gave to me through the wonderful people that accompanied me on the run. At one point Smooth said I could leave her. I denied the request and told her I'd be poking my eyeballs out with a knitting needle if I wasn't there running with her! I needed an escape this weekend after the rotten week I'd had and I got it - more than I probably deserved. Thanks all my wonderful peeps for putting up with my antics, whining, caffeine high and craziness. It was WONDERFUL!!!

After the race we did lunch at Cafe Rio with families, our pre-race group and EricO. It was simply delightful. The only warm, quiet, uninterrupted meal I'd gotten to eat all week!

My only complaint is that my feet hurt. I've never had my feet hurt before and I'm blaming it on all the trail/gravel running. I have pampered feet and they aren't used to such pounding abuse. I came home and stuck them in an ice bath! They are feeling better today, and I feel I'm ready to run tomorrow. We'll see what the feet/legs have to say about that when I take off in the morning :)

Hubby and baby didn't sleep well last night, so I used it as an excuse to not get up this morning. I regretted it as I slugged out the miles on the TM at the gym. 

I was short on time when I got to the gym so I only got 5.5 in before FIT class (AP: 8:43), then I went to class and Jen was the sub today. Oh man alive her classes are brutal! Did more arm work than leg work which was welcome today, but I'm not sure washing and brushing my hair will be all that easy tomorrow.

I wanted to do at least 6 miles and I had 5 min after class before day care pick up, so I jumped on a TM and did one (yes, just one) yasso 800. I wanted to see if I even felt like it was possible to run 8 at a 7mm pace (a 3:30 predictor time), honestly it wasn't all that bad and even pulled the speed down a couple times on the last 1/4 mile. On a good day I might be able to pull that off on the track. Tomorrow the BBK's are meeting for speed work, the race is literally on now...6 weeks to SGM and if I want it I gotta start believing it and pushing myself and NOT listening to my whining self. I can and will.

Speed work with the BBK's! I finally am starting to feel good and hit some decent paces on speed work. It's nice to finally feel slightly recovered from Ogden and UVM and nasty injury plagues this summer. 

Nice and easy warm-up for 3 miles and then we hit the track.

We did a mile of warm-up with the last two laps doing pick ups on the straights, then the fun began. Many in the group had done the SV half and so weren't quite ready for speed work, had I known that I may have chickened out and not done it, but since I'm always so behind I started about a half-lap early and never noticed until half way done that only a few had stayed on the track - the die hards! :)

3X400M with a 200M recovery and then 2X1200M with a 400M recovery between. Repeated twice with a 400 between sets. I forgot to lap the first 2 400's; maybe it was because I have been too afraid to record my splits for speed work yet this year, but I finally felt I was hitting something well so I lapped my 3rd 400: (1:36 - 6:13 pace). Not too shabby. The best part was the whole first set only the super speedy guys passed me! No one ever lapped me like usually happens, now I was a little ahead, but I still usually start that way and get passed. Not even Michelle and Peggy caught me until the very end!! :)

Splits for the rest are as follows:

1200 X 2 (5:20, 5:23 - Garmin has the 5:23 @ 6:55 pace, because it was recorded long at .78)

400 X 3 (1:41, 1:41, 1:40 - 6:40ish pace, love that the last one was a tad faster! Not as good as my last one in the first set, but still not too shabby for me!)

1200 X 2 (5:32, 5:32 - 7:09mm; still not as fast as my 2 the first round, but not all that much slower.)

Finished with 2 cool down laps around the track then some good chatting before we left :) I'm proud of myself for sticking out the track work and not slacking off, but pushing myself of tired legs from Saturday, then hitting some decent paces to boot! I really like that my 1200's weren't all that far off of my goal pace for 800's to predict my 3:35 marathon time. Gives me confidence. Like I said yesterday, it's time to dig in and get it done. No more whining. There is do or do not - make a decision, plug in and do it.

AP for 11 miles: 8:17, probably my fastest ever double digits run!

Heel and outside, bottom of R foot is buggin' me. Just a little squaking. So, since I did just run a marathon and then did speed work, I decided the best prescription for the day was rest and icing. No running, but I did end up doing 4 hrs of yard work (including mowing the lawn since my husband is still slightly incapacitated) and then cleaning the kitchen, sweeping, mopping and topped it all of with folding laundry for a good couple hours. Wish I could've just sat on the couch and put my feet up and eaten popsicles all day :)

Another great BBK run. Three mile warm-up then a re-group to hear the workout. They had an 8 mile tempo on the docket. Foot was feeling better, but I didn't want to push my luck, so I opted out. 

There was only one problem. I was the only 'slow' one there today. Luckily Aaron said he wasn't doing tempo so we just plodded along at a good clip, but we got to the top of the S curve on the trail behind the pool and he chickened out. Okay, so his Achilles has been bothering him and he didn't want to have to run back up. I decided to brave the last mile and then turn around by my lonesome.

YIKES! I think I am a big pansy. I didn't like running on the parkway before dawn alone. Then one of the fast guys from group came tearing around a corner of a bridge and nearly made me scream. The last of the group was only about .3 in front of me (.15 to my turn around), but I decided to just hang with myself anyway - I was feeling a little braver.

I didn't realize that my pace was increasing or that I was pushing a decent tempo until about 1/2 mile from the finish. Made me feel good to see some decent splits when I thought my effort was remaining consistent out and back. I could tell I was a little faster, but I didn't think it was THAT big of a difference. Feels good to be able to hit sub 8's and not blink an eye. I remember just a few weeks ago doing an 8:15 tempo for 6 miles just about killed me.

When I got back to the park everyone had taken off- yup, days like this it is VERY apparent I am the slowest one of the group. Missed having company, but I think I push myself harder when I'm alone and don't have anyone to talk to. Chad was still hanging around, so I roped him into a mile cool down. I love it when an 8:48 pace is a good cool down! :)

Came home and got kiddos ready for picture day at school then went to the gym for yoga. Man am I gonna miss it! I'll have to remember how to do it and do my own class at the rec center next month.

Foot is still doing relatively well. Better than yesterday even. I must be doing something right! I'm excited that I have the tri with my daughter Saturday so that I don't feel like I have to put a ton of miles on my foot and can give it a bit of a break.

AP: 8:44 splits: 9:35, 9:27, 8:57, (tempo-) 8:52, 9:15, 8:57, (alone-) 8:35, 8:42 (huge hill UP), 8:05, 7:52, 7:47, (cool down-) 8:48.

I was going to run this morning, but my compadre backed out on me, so I bagged it :) I know I probably would've been fine, but the foot wasn't as happy as it was Thursday so I decided it was best not to push it and go out on my own just for miles. 

I slept in and then went to spin class. It certainly was a good one today! She had us working on cadence, but UP a hill. I've really come to like Jen as an instructor (still not sure we'd get along outside of class, but she is a good instructor!) and she pushes me harder than any other instructor. She just doesn't take whining or excuses and yells at you to keep you motivated. For lack of a better analogy I'd compare her to Jillian and I like that kind of coach/trainer! I need someone yelling at me and telling me I'm full of it when I make excuses and to stop being a pansy and just get it done. Anyway, last week at her class - good times!

No time to TM after class, had to get home to pre-school orientation.

I'm really kind of bummed I'm far away from hitting 40 miles this week. I've been trying to stay minimum at 40 miles/week and this is the first week I haven't made it. I keep trying to find time in my head that I can get a few more miles in. It's getting frustrating for me. I don't know if I'm making too big of a deal out of this foot problem or if it is serious. It's usually the worst in the morning, but once I get it warmed up and moving things are better. I just don't want to screw up SGM. I've worked for a full year to hit this goal and I had to give up my chance to do it at UVM due to injury and now I'm fighting stupid injury again. Uggghh. I'm just really frustrated and feeling down on my luck.

My second tri and a good time had by all! This was my daughter's first tri and she did AWESOME! I'm a bit of a proud mama today :) The alarm comes too early at 4:30 on a Saturday, but it was worth it to get a great transition spot and have time to hang around and talk out the race before hand.

They had the full distance racers go first and just had you line up at the pool by est swim time. I stayed in the middle of the pack between 8-9 minuters and I was spot on! 8:30 finish time for a 400M swim. I was passed a couple times and I passed a couple people, so it was near perfect. I liked that they spread you out almost a full pool length! Ran to the bike, hopped on and I was off (excellent T1 time, 4th fastest).

I wanted to really push myself on the bike this time. Last tri I was a little too comfortable and having too much 'wheee' time,  so I pushed and this was the perfect nearly flat course to do so. 2 loops of the  5 mile course, Down Center St in Orem to the Parkway trail then back up 800S (Will's pit stop/Costco street). The hill down was fun, but the hill back up was nasty. Only good thing was, it was short and over with quickly. Really overall a good flat course! I was only passed by one female, but I caught her less than 1/4 mile into the run and she was only about 90 seconds faster than me anyway. Plus, I still have my big ol' clunky Wal-Mart bike. Someday I'd like to see what I could do on a nice bike. But, like I told one guy who passed me (with praise for hittin' it hard on a mtn bike) "give my husband a raise and I'll get a nice bike!" Finish time was 37:16.5 (18mph) - good enough for 10 overall fastest bike time.

I don't know what happened on the run transition. I thought I went pretty quickly, but I was SO slow compared to many others (this will come back to bite me later). I think it has to do with the fact that I have to tighten and tie my laces (double knot of course). If I had the quick tight laces things might've gone better, well faster. I was off on the run and determined to run faster than the 3.2 on the last one. This meant my goal was to keep my paces under an 8mm. I knew I could do this, it wouldn't be hard. C'mon girl -- what'cha got?!? I was lovin' passing people on my first loop. I'd see the female out in front of me, reel her in and pass her. First mile split came in at 7:45. Okay, legs finally getting over jello stage - faster now. Next split was 7:25, nice! Just going up from here. Well, I must've topped out 3rd split was exactly the same (7:25) which makes me frustrated, because it was the downhill section. Not that there was much either way. It really was a pretty FLAT course! The second loop was hard, because by this time there were many others in front of me and it played head games as to whether or not they were really ahead of me or on their first loop. I just tried to stay strong and push ME. At least my last .25 split was better for my finishing touch: 6:49. Which gave me an AP of 7:28 and a total time of 24:21. Not a killer 5K time, but for jello legs after a bike it was all right.

So, I finished well and was excited to see 1st in AG and 2nd overall female. Woo hoo! I knew it was a smaller race, but it still felt good. Until I realized this was unlike a running race. Because we were so spread out in the beginning in the pool, someone 5 minutes behind you could really be in front of you. Craig had said Lauren started her run just a few minutes before I finished so I ran backwards on the course to find her and run her in. Such an amazing girl! When we'd practiced she would always whine and want/need to stop before even a 1/2 mile into the run. Well, when I saw her about 1/2 way through the 1.6 mile run she was running and going strong! She didn't stop the whole time. I ran her in and watched her finish, seriously proud mama!

So, we waited and waited for awards. I did get a nice massage which is always a good perk! Hubby and boys had come to watch and cheer us on so we played and ate a bit. When awards came I was announced as 2nd in my AG - well poo! But, the first place girl was only 10 seconds in front of me. Double poo! I figured at that point they had taken overall finishers out of the AG's so I wasn't going to be there. But, when they announced them the 1st place finisher in my AG was 3rd overall! So, if I had made that T2 time just a tad shorter or pushed the pace on the run just a bit more I could've done 1st in AG and 3rd overall - a double dip! DANG!! Oh well, that is how the cookie crumbles and teaches you to push harder even if they aren't in front of you next time. Here is the worst news about the whole 10 second thing. Where did I slack and let her beat me? Not the swim (1+ min faster), not the bike (1+ min faster), but the RUN! uugggghhh! I don't let triathletes beat me on the run. Her T2 and run time were the only ones faster than mine. That is what really frustrates me about it all. Oh well, like I said: next time I will see her 10 seconds in front of me and take her down! :)

Lauren's overall place was 8th in the Novice category (200M swim, 5 mile bike, 1.6 run). She was frustrated with her goggles and had to keep emptying out the water :( Her transition times were GREAT and her bike time was pretty good for a 10 year old on a mtn bike too. She made it up the hill without having to stop! Tough girl :) Her run? oh yeah, 5th overall! Gotta love that girl. Only thing that made me mad was they only did overall awards not AG awards in novice. I really wanted her to get a medal :( Kind of bummed about that and almost asked for one just because she was the youngest, but decided to let life be real and not coddle the kids. She said the swim was her favorite part, which doesn't surprise me. Too bad she did the best on the run :) Maybe I'll make a runner of her yet! Overall finish time: 58:13 - 8th overall. Only a 14 yr old and 16 yr old would've been in her AG and the 16 yr old finished a couple min in front of her and she beat the 14 yr old by 14 minutes. Yup, that's my girl :)

So, I do like triathalons, but so much goes into them and I'm just not ready to buy all the crap. It's fun and sometimes I think if I can do this well untrained, what could I do trained and on a good bike? Oh well, I'm happy running now and using biking and swimming for x-training. Especially when my foot is being a poo head! Overall a wonderful morning. I really couldn't have asked for more...except 10 seconds faster (grrr).

What do I love about triathalons? You push hard, but aren't horribly sore on Monday! I was ready to hit the road running this morning. Tried a new course on the Herriman trails and it ended up being 9 miles instead of 7 - oops, but my hubby was nice and I was really only about 5 min later than when he needed to leave. 

The course was good and I was determined to run the hill of despair (SV halfers know what I'm referring to!) all the way up to 7300W, so I could've cut it short, but my pride got the best of me!

It was a wonderful new route and I loved being able to run on the trails. Only problem is that the down doesn't feel good enough to make up for the bad going up! Weird.

AP: 8:51, splits: 9:05, 8:38, 8:37, 8:42, 8:31, 8:43, 9:24, 9:38, 8:25 - can anyone guess which miles were the hill? I swear, I think it may be a mental thing, but I can NOT beat that hill!! (beating it means under a 9mm pace for me).

After sending kiddos to school I hit the gym, but due to a short couple errand runs on the way there I only had time for one quick mile before FIT. 7:32 mile then I ran into class!

The class was a GREAT one, I really like the new teacher (and her music), I will certainly miss her and the class.

Finished off with 3 quick miles to round out the miles for the day since I had to get home. I set the timer for 24 minutes, then I knew I had to keep it at an 8mm or less. One nice thing about TM's is you can force yourself into a pace! finished them in 23:32 so and AP of 7:51. To be completely honest, it was a lot easier than it probably should've been. I hope this week of training continues on this same path.

On a different note, this Plantar crap is getting annoying. The pain on the side of my foot has gone away, but the heel pain isn't making me happy. Easy to run with once it's warmed up, but I wish it would go away! I'm already rolling on a frozen sprite bottle and frozen golf ball 2-3X per day as well as stretching the foot/calf and doing the 'wadding the towel' or 'pick up marbles with your toes' exercises. Anything anyone else would like to add to my regimen before I pull my hair out? PT appointment is still a couple weeks away and I'd LOVE to cancel it!

The real question is...did Smooth and I run the PC marathon, or just dance our way through? :)

A wonderful BBK morning. We went with a classic hill sprint/tempo workout this morning and I am almost ashamed to admit that I not only liked it, I think I missed it!

3 mile warm-up, regroup, 10 min warm-up 5 min easy then 5X of 30 sec on/30 off. Ran to the 'hill' track just South of Oquirrh Mtn Temple. Either way you run it, downhill at the beginning then uphill at the end. Recover and re-group. Yup, I still suck at hills! Besides the fact that I left my speed on the TM yesterday. We ran the track loop (.4 miles) I think 5 times then went back to the temple street.

There we did a 'dog mile' - fire hydrant to fire hydrant = 1 mile. All out, whatever you can do. I hit it in low 7's!! I was pushing myself and even passed a few people (yay! I wasn't last!), now that isn't to say they weren't taking it easy, but I did finish just behind a couple fast girls not going easy, so I felt good that I'd pushed hard.

Went back and did another track loop, then 3X approx 30 sec hill sprints with downhill recovery. When we were done with that, we were finally done! Finished up with 2.5 cool down miles to round out to an even 11. Becca and I were keeping a nice consistent pace :)

Good times, trying the Straussberg sock this week - still icing and rolling. Not as bad as I had anticipated today after the run.

AP: 8:48 splits: 9:44, 9:02, 8:40, 8:48, 8:35, 8:14, 7:18 (the last .10 ish of this mile was recovery, so most of it the 'dog mile' which means it was faster than a 7:18! Yipee!), 8:53 (hill sprints -blech), 9:12, 9:09, 9:10 (see - pretty consistent!)

It's nice to pile the miles the first of the week and be able to 'taper' to a long run :)

Well, the first night with the sock went well. It didn't bug me too much, thankfully and my PF is really starting to feel like its on an up swing. Compared to last weeks low miles and the pain I was having then, this week I've been higher miles and pain is probably 60% less (today). So, I'm seeing this as a good thing. I'm gonna keep on keepin' on with all the stuff I'm doing until I don't feel that morning heel poke when I first stand up.

Decided to get out for a nice easy recovery run this morning. Just my normal 6 mile route at a nice and easy pace (9:29). The sunrise was beautiful and I was happy to be out and not pushing any pace, but just sitting back and enjoying it all!

Went to the gym and did 60 min of spin (my own class, I'm beginning to think I may be a good spin teacher. I can push myself pretty hard sometimes!), then went out to the pool and swam a mile in about 40 minutes (give or take).

Since today was my last day at Club Hollywood I decided to let the kids swim afterward. It was nice and my 4 year old (for once!) didn't want to leave. Oh well, it was good while it lasted and we got our last hoorah in.

Took Scott's advice and finally had that caffeine this afternoon. Between no sleeping in this week and frying in the sun this afternoon I was zapped. Lucky for me, my neighbor stocks a years supply of pepsi max. Not my favorite, but it'll do the trick!