Running For Trevor

Sataquin Orchard loop with Jen, 7:23 pace.  We were going to do a workout but I have a cold & Jen was well cold (we were both underdressed after the heat wave of yesterday) and we are both just lazy. 

Probably a good thing we scratched the workout because rumor has it I'm going to be trying to keep up with a bunch of speed demons tomorrow morning. :-)

Multi city Long run with JulieC starting at her house in pg. First 10 miles easy but hilly, 8:12 pace. Lots of day dreaming about when we ran this loop over the Summer......ahhh those were the days! Then I started a tempo 6:30, 6:10, 6:10, 6:03, 6:04. Short stop after mi 2 to make sure I was going the right way & the last mile was quite aided. That said going fast felt really good and fairly comfortable.

I felt great during the run but afterwards started getting dizzy and nurse Julie had to revive me and bring me back to life with her magical orange juice. I've never been the brightest crayon in the box but doing this run with no fluids knowing my history of dehydration & low blood sugar was really stupid. Lesson learned! Truth be told I haven't drank or taken in fuel at all this winter. My hands just don't work in the winter and I don't get thirsty. Hopefully my lack of practice doesn't effect me too much in Phoenix.

Easy miles around the orchards. I could really get used to running at 10am.

25 minutes strength training - planks, pushups, upper body weights

8.25 miles on the treadmill, 2% incline - 7:30 pace.  Started really easy and finished with a 6:48 mile.  I felt oddly good for the Monday after the super bowl.  Must have been all the chips & dip I ate or the booty shaking family dance party we had during the half time show.

PM:  3.5 miles easy 8 min pace, ITBS rehab and foam rolling

Track workout with a big crew this morning. Josse, Jen, Emily, melody, Melanie, & JulieE.

1.5 mi warmup

1 mile at 5k pace 5:49 (dream 5k pace!)

8 times by 1 lap fast 1 lap recovery. 63, 64, 64, 64, 65, 66, 64, 64

3 or so cool down. I felt pretty good for the workout other than my breathing being a little off because I'm still recovering from a cold. A big thanks to the girls for pushing me.

Today is free pancake day at IHOP!

Elk Ridge uphill loop with Jen.  Hard route, easy pace.

I somehow got talked into running the Zion trail Ragnar Relay so I've got about 6 weeks to turn myself into a trail runner.  Any advice and suggestions are welcome. :)  Or replacement nominees?  It should actually be a lot of fun but seriously I'm clumsy and would be lying if I didn't admit it kind of scares me.

8 mile Santaquin orchard loop with Lily.  We threw in a little unplanned tempo in the middle 6:35, 6:30, 6:24.  Just a nice controlled effort and I felt pretty good. 

Lunchtime PM:  20 min elliptical.  Long enough to shake my legs out after the tempo, short enough to not break much of a sweat.

Provo canyon birthday run with the birthday girl JulieC.  Her birthday was yesterday but we celebrated today.  I felt flat and tired but still really enjoyed the run with Julie. :)  It is way too bad Utah Valley marathon wasn't today.  36 degrees and 20mph tailwind coming down the canyon was lovely!

Hale Freezes over 10k tomorrow.  My plan is to use the race as a half marathon paced tempo in a last ditch effort to prepare for IMS Arizona Half next Sunday. 

Sorry for the spelling errors I'm updating from my phone. I'll attempt to fix this mess when I get to a computer.

This is a tough course and the weather conditions were less than ideal this morning. I made the mistake of driving the course and sliding all over the place in my car (it would have been better if I just didn't know what I was in for I think) so my main goal was to just stay on my feet. It was icy, slick, and pretty yucky especially the last couple miles. With My whining out of the way I am incredibly satisfied with my time and effort. I warmed up 2.5 with Jen & melody. So so nice to have those girls there. I am very used to chasing after them in workouts and just tried to follow suit for the race. Jen split off at the 5k but I was able to keep melody insight (very distantly) for most of the race.

Splits were 6:05, 6:12 (not able to take advantage of the downhill too much because it was icy and I was focused on footing), 6:10 (I usually hate this stretch but welcomed the clear roads), 6:30, 6:44, 6:20. 38:09/6:20 pace for 6.04 according to the garmin. Official results had me at 38:10, good enough for 2nd place female and 5th overall. I realize that these splits are quite inconsistent but the second half of the course is really hilly and I feel like I paced a very even effort. Cooled down 2 miles with Melody. I feel good about my time today and think it is right where I need to be going into the half. Although the course was short this would still have been a PR for me compared to my onion days 10k (2 weeks before TOU) where I paced 6:24. This is a good sign and the track workouts are definitely paying off. A big thanks to Josse for coming out and cheering and for blocking off traffic for me. :) and a shout out to my training partner in crime Jen who won the 5k & melody who won the 10k. I am very fortunate to have such awesome athletes to train with.

Pm: got out for 3 mi to shake the legs out.

4.5 miles from my parents house to Westlake High School.  I was so exhausted from helping my Mom with nursery I was barely moving.

Met my parents & the pups at the school and walked for a little over an hour on the indoor track.

30 min weights - planks, pushups, core & shoulders, ITBS rehab

8 treadmill miles, 7:30 pace.  It's been a while since I've ran on the treadmill and this was really boring.

I wanted to mention that the highlight of the race Saturday for me was that my ITband and feet did not bother me or hold me back at all.  I am so thankful to be feeling healthy and strong.  My It band is noticable at times after a long run but I know the foam rolling, rehab, ect is helping.  I've noticed with my feet that the zero mm Saucony Mirages seem to irritate it the most so I've quit wearing them for the time being.  It seems the more arch support I have the better.  The metetarsalgia is still a bit of a mystery but I'm happy that it's not holding me back at the moment.

PM:  2 miles slowly, the sunshine was just too tempting to turn up.

I was planning to meet Jen at the track this morning but decided to bail. Mainly because I wanted more sleep but also because I realized that short intervals probably wouldn't be the smartest workout for me today. Instead I did a 5k tempo on the treadmill. I had no real plan of what I was going to do when I started the workout but as I got going this seemed to fit the bill. 2 miles wu and then 5k (hm-10k pace effort) with splits of 6:22, 6:18, 6:15, 5:52 for the final .1. 3.4 cool down at a 7:45ish pace. .5 incline for the 5k portion so I guess you could call it aided. The main purpose of this workout was a last chance confidence booster for me and despite it being 5,000 degrees in the gym I felt really good.

20 min strength training.

6.6 mi easy with Jen, shortened orchard loop. Slept in my running clothes so that I could sleep right until 6am and I'm pretty sure I was still asleep the first few miles. 7 hours of sleep was lovely! :)

Pm: 2.4 easy 8:00 pace. Totally random comment but I've noticed that the faster I've gotten the slower my recovery runs have become. I used to have a hard time running easy and now I look forward to it. Not sure this is significant at all but I was just thinking about it this afternoon and thought it was worth noting.

Planks & pushups

7 miles with 2 x 800, 3 x 400, 1 x 800 all equal recovery. 3:09, 3:08, 1:30, 1:30, 1:30, 3:10.  I was just planning on 2 x 800 & 4 x 400 but slowed the last half of the last 800 down to HMP (6:27).  This workout felt harder than I would have liked but hopefully two light and easy days will have me feeling better by Sunday.

Running Warehouse is offering an extra 25% off all apparel until Sat.  http://www.runningwarehouse.com/catpagesale.html?ccode=SALEWA&utm_source=mailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=extra%2B25%2Boff%2Bliq%2Bapparel&coup=FEB1325D

20 min strength training

6 miles easy. I woke up with the beginning stages of a cold this morning. Terrible timing but I am not overly surprised as both my niece & nephew that I babysit every Tuesday have been really sick. It is so hard not to catch things with kids. I am trying to stay calm and focusing on staying hydrated and getting plenty of calories. I did feel better after the run and stopped and picked up some gatorade and cold-ease on my way into work. I've been sick a few times this winter and able to fight it pretty well so hopefully I can kick this quick!

Easy with a few strides at hmp. Weather said 9 degrees and it felt much warmer than that. Still have a sore throat & runny nose but feeling better and energy feels okay. Off to Phoenix!

Very happy with the race today! My friend posted on my faceboook wall last night "A winner’s strongest muscle is her heart." and these words really resonated with me. I ran with a lot of heart today and am really pleased with the way things turned out. I will post splits/report later but wanted to get the results up and thank everyone for all of the continued support. Off to read a book by the pool and enjoy some sunshine. :-) It is hot here!

Still processing this race and trying to wrap my head around the idea that it actually happened. It's still a little surreal to me but let's get to the details.

Background: I signed up for this race in July because I saw a deal on fb for $40 for the full marathon. I called my friend Heather that lives in Phoenix to see if she was on board. She was and so I signed up and decided it would be the perfect time of year to get out of Utah. I didn't know much about the course or the race besides the fact it was a total no frills race and it was in Feb in AZ. I switched to the half marathon (smart decision) in January after battling some injuries after TOU.

Pre-race: I wanted to PR (1:28 on a flat course) but I also felt I was capable of 1:25 so that was the goal. My training had been different gearing up for this race than ever before but I had worked hard.

Nutrition: Mostly noting this for myself for future reference. 3/4 plain bagel & a banana pre-race (55 grams carbs?), 20 ounces of Gatorade & 16 ounces of water. Gatorade at every aid station except the first and last (maybe 1oz total in my mouth at each station...plenty on the face) and a gel at mile 7.5. Oh and the 5-hour energy 10 min before the start!

Splits: 6:22 (slowest mile), 6:13, 6:11, 6:11, 6:14, 6:10, 6:11, 6:14, 6:20, 6:09, 6:16, 6:16, 6:12, 5:38 (50 seconds).

Elevation: 186 loss / 48 gain

Report: 1.8 mile warm-up with a few strides before wishing my friend Heather good luck and lining up at the start. There were a few girls that looked fast and a couple of people talking about going for sub-1:20. I was wondering what in the heck I was getting myself into but managed to stay incredibly calm. Staying calm is critically important to performing well in my opinion. I had looked at the course map a few times and some people I met on the bus ride up told me there was a hill at mile 7 and 12.5. I decided before the race I would run on effort and did not calculate goal splits. The race started and I managed to hang back and let people go. Little did I know that my first mile would be my slowest of the entire race! I started as 5th place female and eased into a comfortably hard pace. The first mile felt awkward and hard and it took me 3 miles to find a grove and feel like I was in control and not forcing my body. I was in 3rd place by mile 2. The weather for the race was perfect but there was an 8mph headwind that was annoying. It was not a big deal but just enough to be annoying. At mile 3 I caught up to a tall guy with bright pink socks (Steve) and did my best to draft off of him. I hit the 5k in a little over 19 min and decided at that point to not hold anything back. I was not really following my plan of 6:25 minute miles and realized I was risking blowing up but I wanted to take the risk. Why not? So I just went for it and continued to run off of effort. I hit the 10k in 39 minutes still tucked right behind pink socks friend. The effort was starting to get to me and I contemplated slowing down. As we came into an aid station and I caught back up to pink socks friend he mentioned that the female Arizona Ironman Champion was not too far ahead and then said "how cool would it be to catch her". Although I never actually saw her and had no idea how far ahead she was those words sparked some sort of fire in me and gave me just the boost I needed to fight and keep pushing the pace. Runners were very few and far between and besides me and pink socks friend Steve there was only one runner I could see ahead. We finally managed to catch white shirt guy at mile 9 and after seeing his back for 9 miles I was so excited to reel him in. He was very supportive and would end up working with me until the finish. The effort was getting harder but my splits were coming in consistently and I just continued to work as hard as I could. I hit mile 10 at 1:02:30 and thought about slowing down and just running a 5k in 22 minutes and still reaching my goal of 1:25 (moment of weakness). Or I could really see how tough I was and run a sub-20 last 5k! I wanted to see what I was capable of and I really fought for every step that last 5k. I had caught white shirt guy and stayed in between him and pink socks dude. Having these two to work with was incredible helpful. This was a small race with very little crowd support. My feet started bothering me at mile 11 and my calves were screaming at me but it felt good! This is what I work my butt off for; I train for these moments of complete pain when you are pushing yourself so far outside of what you ever thought you were capable of. This is what it is all about. I managed to stay focused and ran with my heart. I kept repeating in my head and out loud (poor white shirt guy) "run with your heart" "run with your heart". The little hill at mile 12.5 was not too bad (freeway overpass) and I powered up it and then flew into the finish with the biggest smile on my face. My friend Emily was cheering at the mile 13 mile marker and since my family wasn't at the race it was so great to see a familiar face. I was beaming from ear to ear as I crossed the finish line and was so incredibly happy!

After talking to the first & second place girls and my friend Emily I jogged back to mile 12.5 to run my friend Heather in. 1.2 mile cool down.

Post-Race thoughts: Still processing a lot of this. I feel disappointed when people ask if I won and I have to respond that no I didn't win but I did run really well. Hard to explain to non-runners (family) that winning was not the goal. I am so incredibly happy with the way I ran and at the end of the day I am only out there competing against myself. By far the coolest thing about it all is that I paced 6:15 for the race which is the OTQ pace. I want to keep working hard and make that dream a reality!

7 mi recovery in a little under an hour.  Ran from my friend Heathers house to the canal trail. 

Foam rolling and stretching poolside

I ran into a guy on the run that stopped me because he recognized my uvm shirt I was wearing and we ended up talking for about 20 min.  He just ran 23 miles of the Phoenix full course yesterday and was giving me all the details.  I am soooo close to booking a flight to come out and watch that race because I have so many friends running it.  It is going to be awesome!  The course sounds great.

7.5 easy miles in AZ mostly on the canal trail in a little over 60 min. (although I was gone 80 min because I stopped So many times to take pictures and soak in the sunrise.) Beautiful morning in AZ with the most gorgeous sunrise I've seen in a long time. I am sore but feeling good.

Headed back to UT. :(

8 mi orchard loop with Jen, 7:32 pace.  My legs are very slowly returning to life.

20 minutes strength training

PM:  3.4 miles, 8:10 pace

Hilly route with Jen in Salem easy 7:52 pace.  It was a lovely snowy run down south.  We were both sitting in the parking lot for 10 min sleeping before we realized that we were both there. Ha ha so funny.

I am looking for opinions.  I absolutely realize that this is open to criticism so feel free to reiterate how stupid I am.  I already know I'm an idiot!  I am registered for the Dog town half marathon this weekend.  Yes I am an idiot and registered for this not even realizing it was right after IMS.  (My new new year’s resolution for 2013 is to quit being so spontaneous!)  Anyway I am trying to decide what to do.  Do I race the half at MP?  Drop down to the 9k or 5k?  Jog it?  Just spectate?  I hate throwing away money but definitely don't want to risk an injury by doing something dumb.  I am feeling good post race, I think the flat course helps with quicker recovery but I am definitely in no spot to race a half again.  Ahhh why am I so stupid.

PM:  4 treadmill miles 8:00 pace.

A lovely snowy run in Provo Canyon with JulieC, 7:50 pace.  My Kinvaras officially suck in the snow!

I've decided against going down to ST.G for the race.  The trip was planned around heading to Vegas to see my brother afterwards but family plans kind of crumbled and it seems the smartest choice is to just stay home.  I'm just not sure I trust myself to not race and my focus is to stay healthy so this seems to be the optimal choice. :)

That said where are all the cool kids that aren't racing tomorrow running?

11 mi 8:35 pace with Josh, Pam, and JoAnna in Springville. Very windy but a nice forced recovery for me and great company.

Planks & pushups

Half marathon recovery day number 7. 7.5 mi in the orchards of Santaquin 7:28 pace. Windy out but not as bad as yesterday and it was kind of sunny! :-) First day since the half that I've ran a mile under a 7:30 pace. Not forcing anything and just letting my body naturally control the pace. Feeling good!

Upper body weights

3 min elliptical - every single treadmill was taken....so many walkers.....so annoyed...

8 miserable miles on the treadmill with 4 x 30 second strides at 6:00 pace.  Crappiest run I've had in awhile but I'm pretty sure it's just because I haven't ran on the treadmill in awhile.  I could have sworn my device was at a 4% incline even though it read 1.5...

PM:  3.5 easy

9 mile orchard loop with Jen, 7:13 pace.  I have no idea why we were moving faster than normal but we just naturally picked it up once we started talking about racing plans for the rest of the year.  Last four miles were sub-7 and felt good.  Half Marathon recovery day #9 and feeling strong.  I am planning to take the rest of the week easy with a brisker long run in Phoenix on Saturday. :)

20 minutes weights + planks/pushups

25 min lower body strength training

20 min elliptical - my legs were wobbly after the ST and I didn't want to make a fall off the treadmill type of scene so this seemed like the safest bet....

6 treadmill mi, 7:30ish pace, 2-3.5% incline.  Felt oddly incredible running on the mill this morning...weird?!?

I've gained a good 3lbs since the half which is no big deal, I think I earned my "fat & happy" days but seriously if you haven't tried cookie butter yet just say no!!!

PM:  4 easy, 8 min pace.

Easy in Salem, 7:52 pace.  Testing out a new route for Jen's track team this morning which was a nice break from the normal hilly route.  Jen does not own a garmin and just guesses on route distances when she drives around town.  This is the 2nd time we've done this and shes been off by about a mile both times.  Poor track kids have no idea. haha I love it!