New Wheels

Happy birthday to me a few weeks early. I just purchased a Trek WSD 1.5 road bike. Added on more durable tires than the standard. It is sweet. My son James also has an upcoming birthday so we decked him out with a new Trek as well. And of course we then cleaned off and added lights to James' old bike for Jake (whose bike was WAY too small). Fun!

Week #3 in the Books

So I cut back a bit this week. My actual training did not look much like my schedule, but I am pleased with it nonetheless. It was one HOT week, so paces were slow.

M: abs; arms; buns/thighs pilates

T: Speed work (just under 4 miles)(1 mile with 200m fast; 200m recovery; 5 x 300m; 100m recoveries)(1:10, 1:09, 1:05, 1:04, 1:03).

W: 6.62 recovery (9:38); abs; arms

R: 10 easy (9:19); abs

F: 8.5 easy (9:12)

Sa: 6 recovery (9:50); abs, arms; buns/thighs pilates

Su: 17 (9:23)

Total: 52

Was scheduled for 56 miles, so not too far off. My long run this week was only supposed to be 15, but I felt good and wanted to make up for cutting last week's 17 miler down to 11. It was very hot and windy, but all in all a success. My hamstring/glute/piriformis is decidedly better, although tight. So I need to continue doing my pilates to stretch that area out. I have been a complete slacker with that for the last year. Time for that to change.

Off to look at bikes!

@rse is improving

And that is spectacular news. As I mentioned previously, I was a bit worried going into Tuesday's track workout after cutting mileage last week and eating ibuprofen like candy. But the workout went fine. Next morning all systems were a go and I ran a 6.5 mile slow recovery run. Hey, things improving. Yesterday I ran 10 and although it was hot and icky, the heinie did not protest. Ran 8.5 this morning and am in a decidedly different place I was a week ago. It is a glorious thing when you can run through an injury rather than watch it spiral out of control. And you know the place when you are crossing your fingers and wishing it is the former rather than the latter.

With that said, sweet. I am still in business. :)

HOT!

Whew! It has been HOT this week! Actual temps in the 90s - into the 100s with the heat index. The heat certainly has not been making running (or any outdoor activity) easy! The good news is that my glute/piriformis/hammy thing is definitely getting better. Yesterday it was a bit tight when I woke up, but I logged 6 easy with no problem. By this morning, I was at 85%. I ran 10 easy this morning and it does not seem aggravated. We'll see how the day pans out. It was ridiculously warm and sticky though this am and my HR was through the roof as I slogged out some SLOW miles. Not the biggest confidence booster, but I am healing and getting time on the legs so I'll take it.

Happy Thursday.

Track Workout #3

So I cut back last week as promised, and despite my early buffer in the week, I only logged 42 miles. Sunday I cut my long run to 11, which was ok by me since it was 85 degrees! I took the run mile by mile, and at the end felt I easily had another 6 in me, but decided not to push it.

Monday was a rest day and I did lots of stretching. My hammies, quads, butt, were all definitely very tight.

Unsurprisingly, I was a bit skeptical going into last night's track workout. It was also brutally hot - 98 degrees with heat index over 100. Yuck. Thankfully, due to the heat, our coach scaled it back a bit and gave us a little more recovery time. I also made the executive decision to work hard, but not overdo anything. That was a bit of a downer because, of course, I was almost entirely concentrating on "does this feel ok?" ... "is this too fast?" ... "am I going to hurt myself?"

Workout was as follows:

1.1 mile easy warmup (8:52)

4 striders

1 continuous mile with 200 meters faster than 5K; 200 meters jog x 4 (this was part of the extended warmup, so not meant to be overly fast. (50, 50, 51, 45)

5 x 300 meters; 100 meter cool down (1:10, 1:09, 1:05, 1:04, 1:03)

.5 cooldown (8:58)

The mileage was a little lighter tonight and the workouts were overall a little slower. The best news was my butt did not ache at all all and I ended up having a lot of fun! And this morning, everything feels good so I am out to log a nice easy recovery run.

Talked to my coach and he thought it was a good idea to scale back the miles for the next couple of weeks.

Here's hoping I continue on the upswing!

I can't tell you how bummed I am that Cindi's race was not all that it should be. It was a PR, which deserves some celebration (actually, I'd say alot since its been well over 18 months since I've see one), but bitter sweet nontheless given she trained her ass off and was in great shape. I would say she easily had a 3:35-40 in the basket on a good day. Moral of the story to me (before seeing race report): weather can kill you. Sad reality for marathoning, but 'tis oh so painfully true. Two times in a row sucks. Sorry C.

On another note.... Hit Fireman's Fest with hubby and friends last night. Awesome. Today the boys and I biked to the parade. My kids are at the perfect age for this type of thing. Awesome. Hit Red Robin for an early Father's Day dinner before Johnny had to head out for a wedding gig. Neighbors over to play. Good times.

I am looking into a new bike. Need something so I can ride from time to time with friends and the kids. This is the time to hit the bike while they still want me around.....Don't want to drop crazy cash, but don't want to buy (another) clunker that hurts me.

My friend Su died on Wednesday. And it effing sucked. She was an awesome lady.

Another friend has surgery on Monday for a recent diagnosis of breast cancer. I had so much fun today shopping to put together a personalized care gift basket. I hope she likes it. I found the book, Crazy Sexy Tips for Cancer. Yes. One needs humor with reality.....

Last night, one of my best friends toasted to the fact that she was healthy. I toasted back with a full heart. And I share the same with all of you as well. Be healthy. Be strong. Kick ass in whatever way you do. I celebrate it.

Making Some Adjustments

I am currently in the position where I need to scale back my marathon training load to make sure I can handle my track workouts without injury. The good news is that this is the fourth year I have juggled marathon training with the Capitol Mile training and I know this happens every year. So these adjustments are anticipated.

The first couple weeks (of the six) of mile training always have heavy effects on my legs since those muscles are simply not used to the work. Last week my nasty flu bug required me to take 2 days off after the first workout. My legs were sore for several days, but nothing big.

This week, at the second training, I could feel my L quad and R hammy the whole time. Nothing painful, but they were talking to me. I knew 5 repeats of the workout would be pushing it too. My legs weren't too sore on Wednesday, but everything was a bit off. I logged 5 easy for recovery and then ran 10 on Thursday. All was ok for the most part. But on Friday, my L pirformis/glute/hammy were really bugging me. I cut the run off at 3.8 very slow miles. But the entire day Friday my butt was killing me. I actually took ibuprofen twice (and I never take it).

I had been planning to run the Block the Sun Run 5K today. No way. I knew it was iffy to schedule it at this point in training anyway, but my butt conclusively put the nail in the coffin on that idea yesterday. Today it feels a lot better - I don't even feel it unless I flex the muscles. BUT I am taking the day off rather than logging the 10 miles I had planned.

At some level I always HATE deviating from the plan. But I have done this enough times to know it won't hurt my training at all. Alternatively, plowing through is certain to end in injury. With that said, I am scaling back the next 4 weeks by 7-10 miles a week. Hopefully this will get me to a sub-6 mile race, and then ready to crank up the miles for my fall race.

Congrats to Cindi on Grandma's Marathon today. It really sucks it was so hot.

Week #2 Track Workout

So tonight was week #2 of my Capitol Mile track workouts. I got up early this morning to log 5 easy to make sure I got in my scheduled miles. Little did I know that this would be a heavier workout.

We hit the track at 7 and overall it was a nice night for speedwork. It was overcast, 70 degrees and just a bit windy. The workout du jour was warmup; 4 striders; then 800 meters at just slower than 5K pace; 10-15 second rest; 200 fast (faster than mile pace); 600 meters active recovery = repeat x5.

Here is how they shook out:

1st 800: 3:26; 200 m: 38 secs
2nd 800: 3:27; 200m: 40 secs
3rd 800: 3:26; 200m: 42 secs
4th 800: 3:26; 200m: 41 secs
5th 1000: 4:10

Not too shabby. Those 800s were pretty darn consistent. And yes, those 800 paces were just faster than my 5K pace - not slower. My L quad was a bit iffy from the very first strider, so I tried to keep the faster stuff contained. That is not to say, however, that I wasn't working my butt off. I got the old HR up to 199 more than once. :)

Total mileage for the day: 11.3. Bonus since I was scheduled for 8. Now I have a wee bit of wiggle room this week.

Here's to hoping my quads aren't killing me tomorrow. And here's to being thankful I do not have a nasty flu bug coming on tonight! :)

What a Week

Despite the fact that I am terrible about frequently updating my blog, I always think of so many things I'd like to say. If only I had just a little more time so I would sit down and write it all out.

This week was a very interesting week. It was my first week of training for Steamtown/Chi-Town and the Capitol Mile. I was ready! But the week did not go as planned.

M: rest

T: AM: 5 miles recovery (9:38); PM: Track workout: 1.75 warmup, 15 minutes @5K pace without watches (feel only)(6:56); .75 mile cooldown.

THEN THE FLU STRUCK HARD!!

W & R: unplanned rest

F: 6.77 miles (9:12) - stomach still very queasy

Sa: 10.52 (9:05) - feeling better

Su: 15 (9:20) - HOT! It was 80 degrees when I started.

Total: 42 (53 scheduled).

Not too bad given I thought I was going to die in the middle of the week. Yeah, I guess I thought I was going to die during the last miles of my long run too. Pace dropped pretty quickly from 9:00s to 9:30s. I knew it would happen, but that didn't make it any damn easier. I did take a nice ice bath afterwards, completely set up by my 6 year old. He thinks it is hilarious and loves to get it ready and hang with me while I do it. I still can't get him to sit down in the cold water though (feet only). Ha. It is a priceless thing. One day I will get him in there.

*****

What else is going on? Kind of a lot. I have been pretty stressed out lately thanks to work and this crap economy. I was pretty busy in March and April, but things really dropped off in May. Despite my best intentions, my hours sucked. June didn't start out any better and it was really starting to freak me out. But now I have really come to chill out, if you will. Our whole office (most of it anyway) is slow. Clients aren't using legal services as much. People are cutting back. I could freak out about it 24/7, but that isn't going to change the situation. So I decided to take things more in stride. So far, it is working.

On Friday, I went to visit a client's lab. At first I was annoyed and didn't want to go because it would eat at least half of my day. BUT IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! The clients were so excited about what they do and were thrilled to show us all of their "secrets." It was really infectious and cool. I am so glad I went. I then went to lunch with one of the heavy hitters in my office. She was just diagnosed with breast cancer a couple days ago. D@mmit. Life is way too damn uncertain to worry incessantly about billable hours. They caught it early. Hopefully she will kick it quickly.

******

Friday night we went to Miller Park for the Brewers / White Sox game. It was awesome. Perfect night, fun people, flowing beer. What more does one need? Oh yeah, and I got my 15 seconds of fame on TV looking like a dork and saying "Go Brewers!" :D

******

Saturday John's band had a show. I was so bummed he would be leaving. Then all of a sudden, it got cancelled! Yay! (for me).... So last minute we got a sitter and went out to hear my colleaque's band. It was so fun to get to go out together. The show was a bit of a disaster because the bar did not usually have bands (this was some new festival going on) and the sound guy the band hired SUCKED. The mix wasn't great and it was WAY too loud for the space. But I could tell they really rocked and my colleague has a kick ass voice. It was cool. They usually play large festivals and venues so they were a bit cranked out of whack of how everything played out. Maybe I can get to Summer Fest to hear them again in a couple weeks.

Anyway, my rockin colleague with the amazing pipes just lost her husband of 14 years a few months ago from skin cancer. They have 4 kids, she is a lawyer and a rocker. She is hanging in there, but it is all just so d@mn sad. We take too many things for granted while life is good. I could not manage without my husband. It makes me want to cry even thinking about it abstractly.

With that said, we hung out with our good friends last night entirely too late. Entirely too much beer. Lots of fun.

******

Kids are done with school. They are hilarious and having a good time. They did a great job at the track on Tuesday and had a good old time. They are both very social and it is fun watching them meet new kids and see how they take people in. We also wrapped up soccer for the spring and they each proudly ran around with their trophies this weekend. James also won the "Cheetah Award" for being so darn fast. Nice.

******

Life is short. Enjoy it. Don't wait for something else and don't worry about shit you can't change. And keep running. It is very, very good.

Not a good first week of training so far....

Swine flu is no way to start the first week of training. Okay, so it probably isn't swine flu, but I definitely got SLAMMED with a flu bug starting around 10:00 pm last night. Yikes. I am just now starting to feel human. Of course I had a project I HAD to get done this morning, so I did log a bit of work. But other than that, this was the first day I have taken off for illness in a LONG time.

Losing 5+ in 18 hours is painful. Where are iv fluids when you need them?

On a brighter note, my first track workout went well (thankfully just hours before my body protested). The kids had fun with their group and we have a fun training group this year as well. We did a 1.5 mile warm-up, striders, then a 15 minute time trial at 5K pace without our watches. Haven't gotten the deets from my coach yet, but I think I was probably on target.

The bad news is getting sick/dehydrated after speed work means every muscle in my legs and lower back is killing me. Hopefully that will dissipate soon so I don't completely tank this week.

Oh well. Better first week than 15th.....

Happy running.

50

Just logged 15.5 at an (8:50) pace. It was warmer out there than I initially expected (I was thinking upper 50s, it was 70). The run was steady and nice, although my HR was high thanks to the heat.

Just popped my head over the 50 mile mark for the week. Woo hoo. It is nice to be back at it.

Tomorrow training officially starts for Steamtown / Chi-Town with a rest day. :D

Wrapping Up a Recovery Period

Running really does make you feel better. I was really cranky today. Thank you running.

From the moment I woke up this morning, the kids were hell bent on protesting just about everything. And my little one had a serious attitude. I have been relatively stressed out anyway this week, so it did not go over well. By 2:00 I was pretty much just in an uncharacteristic, sour mood. So I laced up my shoes and hit the road. Everything felt a bit stiff and I *almost* turned around and said forget it. I am so glad I didn't. By mile 2, my HR settled in nicely, the weather was perfect (55, breezy and sprinkling), and all and all I felt good. And of course it gave me the opportunity to chill out and clear my head.

This week is my last recovery week. Next week starts marathon training and my training for the Capitol Mile. Woo Hoo.

Here is how this week went:

M: rest/pilates/arms
T: 8.2 (9:12)
W: 10 (8:54) / arms
R: rest / pilates
F: 8.2 (8:58) / arms
Sa: 8.2 (8:47)

All of my runs were in near perfect weather and all of them were somewhat progressive. Tomorrow I hope to log 15 and change to hit 50 miles for the week. I have also been doing abs and side weights daily. Bumped up the arms again. It is my goal to tone them back up. Still slacking some on the buns/thighs pilates. I know I SHOULD do it because my R hamstring has been tight since I stopped doing it religiously... but it is hard for me to get down and do it. Don't know why. Hopefully that will all improve. I have a plan in place for the next training season - time to hit it with conviction!

With that said, here is a recap of my mileage for the last 8 weeks:

Illinois Marathon week
1. 18.4
2. 23
3. 18.4 (Crazylegs 8K: 36:36)
4. 38.4
5. 31.1 (Run for the Rock 5K: 21:49)
6. 45.5 (Madison Half Marathon: 1:40:35)
7. 34.2 (Race for the Cure 5K: 21:50)
8. 34.6 currently - hoping to hit 50 after tomorrow.

My recovery was not as I had planned, but I am feeling well rested. I think I did this right. Plus, even though I am nowhere near my 5K pr, it is nice to be back under 22.

Looking ahead and setting goals:

Capitol Mile 09: Break 6
Fall Marathon: 3:25
Generally: hit a PR, any PR! :)

Race for the Cure 2009 was amazing. It is always one of my favorite races of the year as the cause is near and dear to my heart. We ran on my friend Tania's team. This year's race marked the three year anniversary of her own breast cancer diagnosis. She has been on a mission and walked several Komen 3-Days (and is actually hoping to complete 3 this year!). But for this year's Madison RFTC, she was going to run her first 5K - something she thought impossible. Well, it was a pure joy to see her and her husband (and actually their son about .3 miles ahead of them) finish. Amazing.

*****

My race was good. Solid. Nothing spectacular, but decent. I ran a 21:50. Then I met up with my boys and 2 nephews who did the one mile walk. Well, they sprinted. Cute. Fun. Awesome. Amazing.

And despite there being 12,000+ participants, I ran into so many friends. Very fun.

*****

Yeah, but I also realized this weekend I have definitely entered "middle age." No, I don't know what the specific parameters of "middle age" are, but I am the person I would have labelled as "old" when I was a kid. Ugh. It is funny too because James keeps asking me if me and Daddy will have another baby. HELL NO! Okay, I don't say that, but I do say no way Jose ever so subtly. The good news about this middle age stuff is your kids can finally roll will things. We have lots of fun stuff going on. I'll take it, crows feet and all. Ugh.

****

This week: last week of freedom. I plan to start training next week. Ideally, I'd hit 50 miles. Likely? No way. I have a conference early tomorrow and b/w John and I we have events almost every night this week. But I will enjoy this freedom. The last 7 weeks have actually been awesome.

I meant to read through some new plans tonight and maybe tweak things up, but of course I forgot everything at work as I rushed out to get kids to swimming lessons.

****

Anyone heard of Girls on the Run? I have been interested in it for quite some time. It is a self esteem builder for young girls as they train for their first 5K. I may have to rally to get a program in my town. I'd love to coach... I'm sure my boys would be good assistants.