I'm running, sortof

I'm a blog slacker but I'm ok with that. Been busy with Christmas and all. Lots of cleaning, celebrating and more cleaning, ughhh! Tomorrow night we're going to First Night in Bethlehem. I'm hoping to get Avery to take a nice long nap so she can see the midnight fireworks instead of the 5:45. Instead of the ball dropping they have a giant yellow peep.

Yesterday was my first run since Oct. 8th and the sprain. I ran 1.5 miles and it wasn't too bad. The ankle was tight and achy but not horrible and my lungs were great. I felt like I could have kept going but I didn't want to push it. I felt great, of course it could have just been adrenaline and excitement from being out there. I came home and immediately iced the ankle.

Went to the sports medicine doctor and she says if there is bone bruising it could take up to 12 or more weeks to heal. Just to be on the safe side and make sure its just a really bad sprain we're getting an MRI done on Friday. I'm still having lots of pain and clicking and tightness and I am happy I can run, even if just a couple of miles but I'd hate to keep this up to find out there's a loose bone fragment floating or something. If that's the case I'd need surgery and since I'm not really running right now I could deal but if I start running again and had to stop for another 3 months (and in the spring no less) I think I'd hurt someone. I now know that running is really an addiction because I had major withdrawal. Just ask my husband, I've been a nasty moody depressed pain in the ass lately. I need my endorphines and Vitamin DDDDD!

Planning another short run tomorrow morning. Probably just another 1.5, this way I'm close to home and not overdoing it.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, Hanukkah, etc. And if I don't get on here in the next day or so a very happy New Years!

Let it Snow!

We had a nice little snow storm here last night. It made rush hour a mess but was very pretty. This morning it was all white with icy tree branches and beautiful. Luckily I work from home so I didn't have to drive in. They had the roads cleared pretty quickly and the snow has melted a bit from last night. The snow almost put me in the mood for Christmas (but not quite).

My ankle is feeling better, I'm finally noticing real progress. My PT wants me to get an MRI since my progress has been slow. It's been 10 weeks today since I sprained it. I go to the doctor's on Monday and I have to present her with the findings and recommendation from PT for the MRI. I don't think I could run on it yet but I don't have any pain on the elliptical anymore so its my new best friend.

I miss running a lot. I miss it when I am driving down my running routes and seeing the seasons change. I miss it when I see anyone else running, I'm totally jealous. Most of all I miss it when I'm having a particularly bad day. The other day was one of those and I had PT after work. I warm up w/ 10 min on the elliptical before all the other stuff and I was so happy on there working up a good sweat. By the time PT was done I felt much better. I need those endorphins I guess!

Hopefully I'll be running by the new year. I plan to take it easy. I'm starting with my new boss mid-January and with my additional responsibilities it will make getting in longer runs more difficult so maybe its good I'll be starting from scratch.

The Audet's Elfing around

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

My non-running chubby autumn

OK, its hard to drink lots of wine and beer when you aren't running. It just helps make my untoned flabby body acquire more flab. I'm not gaining wait as much as some of my male running friends did while not running but I'm seriously flabby. I'm just starting to use the eliptical at physical therapy and while my ankle hurts a little I love being able to work up a good sweat again. Next week I'll be tackling the eliptical at the gym with a vengence! My therapist wants me to get an MRI since its been 8 weeks and I'm still having pain. I have a doctors appt in 2 weeks. Will this ever end!

What else have I been up to? Well we went to my SIL's for Thanksgiving in Virginia Beach. We had a really good time. This weekend Avery has house guests. Our neighbor was going to be away for the weekend at a conference and her husband is a Chef so he's gone nights. We're watching their girls (age 5 and 9) from last night until tonight. We're also doing home improvement and painting. First off is the foyer.

Right now I am playing Julia's Gameboy Advanced. As you can see I'm accomplishing so much on my Saturday mornings now that I am not doing my long run, haha!

Philly Marathon 2008

HydroTrack

Today was my first day on the Hydro Track. It was interesting. The water was to my ribs and when I first walked it felt like walking on the moon. Walking causes more splashing than running which seemed wrong. I did intervals on it, 5 min walking, 5 min running x 2.

It felt to great to be running again even if it was harder due to the resistance of the water. After the first 5 min run the front of my ankle was really sore but by the end of the 5 min walk it felt better and the next 5 minutes of running were pain free. By the time I got home the front was sore again so I iced it good. I will be going on the hydro track once a week for the next two weeks. They think I need at least 3 more weeks of PT before I can get discharged.

Here's a picture of the Hydro Track:






In other news I registered Avery for Kindergarten this morning. I can't believe she'll be starting next fall. Time flies!

Weekend Warriors

Busy weekend up until today. I took Friday off and scoured the downstairs of the house. Friday night Avery and I went to a Silpada party/playdate and had a great time but got home really late. Yesterday we were at a pre-holiday party down the road all day. Avery was exhausted from all the activity and was in bed by 7:30! :)

Today is a lazy day. We stayed in our jammies until noon. I made a fire and Avery colored while I read. It was great until the dogs came to the back door filthy and smelly after rolling in deer poop. So I had to do two dog showers and then my own and now I'm back to chillin'.

I might take Avery to see High School Musical 3 later if I feel ambitious.

If you are reading this you better have already voted!

Last night I got everyone lunches ready, laid out all of our clothes and Avery and I took showers so we could get up extra early this morning to make it to the polls. We got there at 6:56 and got out at 7:00. After that we headed to Avery's new preschool and had a very easy transition, believe it or not. Next I had Physical Therapy which went well except I forgot sweats so I could only do stretching, resistance and balancing exercises. Quick drive to work (there was no traffic thanks to the election) and almost got there on time!

Physical Therapy

First day of Physical Therapy. Mostly talked about what exactly happened, when it hurts and on what scale. Then she took some measurements of my good and bad ankle and did some flexibility exercises to see how bad it was.

I have 0 flexibility pulling my toe up to my shin and only 40% flexibility in pointing my toe down and right or left. She said that's not too good. She also said that there is still a good amount of swelling on the ankle which indicates how severe the sprain was. She will recommend an MRI if she doesn't see improvement soon since she worries that with the bad swelling I had during the xray could have hidden a fracture.

It will be four weeks Wednesday and I'm still having pain. Now that she was poking and prodding it today its really sore right now.

The cool thing is that she said one of the other PT facilities has an underwater treadmill and she's going to try and get me in it at least once a week for now. I have PT 3 times a week for the next month. Hopefully I'll be back running by the end of it.

No Power

So we had tons of snow yesterday. So strange for October. Since there were still leaves on the trees this weighed them down a lot and there were lots of downed trees hitting electrical lines etc. Plus really high winds. We got home to a very dark neighborhood. Avery and I went in and got out the flashlights, lit a ton of candles and started a fire in the fireplace. We grill hot dogs and had roasted marshmallows. All of us (Bella, Boots, Avery, Mike and I) piled in bed with lots of blankets and went to bed.

Woke up this morning and there still wasn't power. So I packed all our frozen food in a cooler, got our clothes together and headed to my cousins. She lives 2 miles down the road but in a different township. She has power.

Crazy weather. Just crazy.

Snomets

That's the word verification that came up when posting a comment on Sage's blog and I liked it so much I had to put it here.

Trick or Treat Round 1

Our neighborhood does trick or treating on the Sunday before Halloween. I think it was because it used to get dark earlier. Anyway, this year Avery went as Ariel from The Little Mermaid. I hope when she is older she never wants to dye her hair kool-aid red, its not her color. We go again on Friday with my friend Amy and her kids. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

Autumn

I am loving the fall weather. Too bad I can't run in it. This weekend we had the fire going all weekend and had such a nice time hanging at home. My girlfriend, Amy, and her daughter, Sarah, came for a camp out on Friday night. It was cold so we camped out in the family room, roasted marshmallows from the fireplace for s'mores and did gave ourselves pedicures. I had a little too much wine and had a nasty headache on Saturday morning.

I need to get motivated to do exercise. It's so easy to throw on running clothes and head out the door without thinking but doing my dvd's and stuff at home isn't happening as easily. When I'm at work I have no problem going to the gym but that's only 3 days a week so I have to get motivated at home!

I am getting quite a bit done around the house now and lots of reading done as well. Things that I put aside to go out for a run or was too tired to do when I got back from my long runs on the weekend.

The ankle is feeling a lot better but is still achy. I can walk without limping and the stairs don't hurt as much. However, if I move it the wrong way it hurts like hell. It's a nice reminder that I really am not back to normal even though I can walk ok.

Dr. Visit #2

So I went to the doctor this morning. I was supposed to go this coming Monday but the swelling had gone down significantly and since she hadn't ruled out a break I thought the sooner I see her the better.

She was much happier with the appearance and said it looked like more like a typical sprain now rather than a balloon! She did some resistance exercises against her hand and then felt all along the foot. She said I tore the tendons marked in orange in the picture below and further aggravated the injuries I had to the Peroneal tendons which are marked in green (she didn't say whether or not that was a tear or not). She also said that I had bad bruising of the ankle bone which would make my recovery slower. I need to wear the brace for the next 10 - 14 days all day and then after that I will need to wear it only when I exercise for at least a month. Because of the edema swelling I had she doesn't want me doing any cardio (so no bike) for the next 10-14 days and because of the bone bruising she doesn't think I will be able to even try running for a month after that (so 6 weeks until I can even think about running). I go back to her in 2 weeks.

RICE

Well, I don't have to do the I part anymore but I'm getting plenty of rest this weekend. Avery and I are watching movies, playing video games (OK, I was while she watched Hello Kitty, Holly Hobbie and stuff like that), colored and read. To be honest, its been awesome to not be able to go anywhere, as long as I don't step outside and feel how nice it is out. Than I want to take a walk or run.

I did miss the chance to see a ton of friends from High School this weekend. The class above mine had their 20th reunion this weekend and everyone was around so I'm bummed about that but next year is my 20th so I'll see them then!

I'm so proud of my buddy Tim for completing his first marathon yesterday!!! Go Tim!

I've started looking at basebuilding plans to do once I can run again. I don't have a goal race in mind yet but figure a really really long base building will be great, I love basebuilding, just running lots of miles with no worries to speed (I have to admit though, I have come to love intervals, maybe I'll have to throw one track day in every once in a awhile).

Dr's visit #1

So I went to the Sports Medicine Doctor today. I have such severe swelling she said she can't rule out a fracture yet. She saw a shadow on the x-ray on my ankle that she didn't like as well. She prescribed lymphedema therapy to reduce the swelling and gave me a brace to wear to stabilize the ankle. Right after the visit the therapist had a cancellation so I got right in. Basically its massage of the leg to get the fluid moving around in the right direction. She told me that she didn't want me wearing the brace but to wrap it for a week. She handed me instructions on how to do it myself and then wrapped the leg (see above picture). Basically its 3 layers of bandages over a compression sock. The bandages aren't like ace bandages because they aren't flexible so its more like a cast. My toes were swollen as well so she wrapped them up too.

I wear the wraps for a week and I have to pump my foot and do air ABC's a few times a day. I go back to her next Monday and then right after another massage I'm off to the sports medicine doctor again. Hopefully the swelling will be down and we can figure out the damage. The doctor said if its a fracture I won't be allowed to run for 4 to 6 weeks at least but if its a sprain she'd try to get me back to running as soon as possible. I won't have time to catch up on mileage for the marathon but at least I would be able to run.

Oh and I'm allowed to do the recumbent bike so I will be doing that all next week along with weights and Pilate's so I can stay in shape.

And that's a wrap

I think the gods were against me running this marathon. First the inflamed tendon now this.

Ok, I got out to do 5 miles. I'm at about mile 2 on a beautiful run. All of a sudden my ankle rolls on and edge of pavement on the side of the road and I go flying. I am screaming it hurts so bad. I think I broke my ankle. I pull myself over to the grass and just yell. My knees and hands are in so much pain along with my ankle. I'm laying on my back with my knees pulled up to my chest and a car just drives on by. I must have screamed for about 3 minutes.

Thank goodness I decided to bring my cell phone with me (in case the tendon started hurting again and I need a ride home). I call my house and ask my aunt to come get me that I fell and am hurt bad. While I wait for her I watch the blood rolling down from my knee to my foot. I'm a mess and shaking like crazy.

I decide to test out the ankle. I can walk on it but it does hurt in various places. My aunt and Avery arrive. I get home and take my shoes off. My ankle is swelling by the second. It's huge. I was hoping I had just twisted it really bad but based on the swelling its a sprain. The blood on my hands and knee clotted so it was a pain in the ass to clean the cuts out. They are all pretty deep.

I wrapped my ankle in an ace bandage and have it elevated with ice on it. I took my prescription antibiotic and am sitting on the bed stewing. WTF. Why? Really?

Editted to add: Here are some pictures after I cleaned the cuts up. I have to get the one's off my phone from when I first fell. They actually look worse now, several hours later as the redness from the burning is becoming apparent.

Lots of good stuff

I had a great 2 days! I took a half day from work on Friday and headed down to Delaware to Alexis' and then to DC for a Flyer's Pre-season game. This was my first live hockey game and it was great. Not so great for the Flyer's, they lost but its pre-season so its ok. We even had our first Chipotle after the game (PacerChris was so proud). We got home pretty late and had to get up early to volunteer at a local 5k so needless to say I'm exhausted right now.

So we get up and head to the 5k. Alexis had just finished saying, wouldn't it be funny if Matt (Scratch from kickrunners) showed up and then I see her eyes go big and her jaw drop and she starts laughing, I turn around and there he is walking over to register. We ended up being water girls which is pretty difficult. Almost as difficult as being on the other end, being the runner and trying to grab and drink the stuff. It was actually a lot of fun and the weather was great for a race.

After the race we headed to the running store so Alexis could get new shoes and then headed back to her place, got changed and headed out for a short run. We ended up doing 3 miles in 29 minutes. Since she has a 15k tomorrow she was supposed to take it easy, so I kept her slow and she made me speed up. We were perfect for each other! Now my 5k PR is 29:20 so I was really pleased with this run. It felt fine the first mile and then was comfortably hard the next 2 but never felt like a race pace for me which means I'm pretty confident I could easily kill that PR next time I do a 5k (especially since I've only run once, a week ago, in two weeks).

We got back to her house and stretched (and in my case, iced the foot) and then showered and went out to lunch. Afterwards it was time for me to head home. I pulled in the driveway and hear Mommy!!!!! and see Avery, Bella and Boots running towards me. I was only gone a day and they made me feel like it was a month! Mike had a fire going and Avery and I roasted some marshmallows and had a great time.

Even though the weekends not over yet I can already tell you that it was a great one!

Peroneal Tendon injury

So I've been doing research. It could be a strain or a tear. If its a tear I'm screwed. Either way it looks like the recovery is a few weeks. Looks like I'll be hitting the bike and elliptical for a while. I have an appointment with the doctor for Monday to see what's up. I'm going to try and run again on Sunday and see how it feels but I have aches and pains in it off and on during the day.

Foot Update

So Monday I drove to the parkway to do my LR. I started out and felt great. My body was very happy to be hitting the trail again. I was even thinking to myself that I will never be able to stop running, it would drive me insane, I'd miss it so.

I got to around 4 miles area where the injured tendon is started to feel tight and uncomfortable. I stopped and stretched a little, shook it out so to speak. When I started to run again same thing and then it started to hurt. I got scared and ended up walking the last mile of the loop to my truck. I didn't even get to finish one of the 3 loops I had planned.

I found a rock by the river and stuck my feet in to ice them and sulked. How frustrating. Alexis asked me later if I'd consider switching to the half and I said not yet. I'm not giving up hope yet but its not looking good.

I'll give it a little bit more time. If its still jacked up next week I guess I'll go to the doctor. I didn't run yesterday because Avery was home sick but I will try to get in a couple of miles today and see how it feels.

My little dancer

Overslept

I was up late last night. I overslept, which is probably a good thing. I awoke to a torrential downpour! It's raining harder than I can remember in a long time. Guess that's the Nor'easter we were getting.

I was going to do my run today. The foot was feeling better yesterday and for the first time I didn't limp. Today it feels almost 100%.

I'm going to log on to work early tomorrow morning so I can get off early and head out for my long run.

Avery and I are spending the day in her room watching movies and then if the rain lets up we'll be heading to my mom's for Eggplant Parm tonight. Mike had to go into work today so he won't be home until tonight. After yesterday's birthday party that Avery and I went to and dinner party later that night, we can use a day of doing nothing!

Stressing

I don't know what to do. My foot feels ok when I jog around a bit but hurts like hell when I'm walking. I know its because I run midfoot to toe and I walk heal to toe on the outside of my feet (the tendon is on the outside of the back of the foot).

Should I run and risk the injury lasting longer or getting worse (even if it feels ok while I'm running) or should I not run and loose my fitness! It's not like I can go on the bike or elliptical or anything to keep up my cardio. I can't use the foot so that just leaves low impact stuff.

I have an 18 miler planned for Sunday. I wouldn't mind giving it up for a shorter distance and running my long run another day during the week as long as I could run!

This is totally why I was scared to RACE the PDR instead of running it. I'll be so ticked if this F's up me being able to run the marathon.

Junk Yard Dog

Boots O'Malley is definitely a junk yard dog. I am sitting in my living room in front of the open window and hear the dogs outside. I heard growling (like play growling) and look out the window. Boots is dragging the 9 foot plastic drain pipe that is part of the rain gutter across the front yard. I wish I had thought to take a picture before I ran out front to yell at him.

So not only does he eat barbie dolls, polly pockets and molding, he sticks his head in the garbage cans all the time and steals tissues, trys to drink out of the toilets, rolls in deer poop and wrestles drain pipes.

In our townhouse we had a tire that was underneath the back stairs. It was flat from the Envoy. Tiny got a hold of it and loved it. He'd play with it for hours. He was a total junk yard dog! Looks like boots needs a tire too!

Too bad we don't have trees with strong branches. Tiny and Diamond loved ropes tied to trees.

The simple life

There is a cube at work where we have a book exchange. People leave books they have read and then you pick up one if you need something new to read. Recently I picked up a few books, one being trilogy of Amish life.

It was a novel so its not all just facts about the Amish. It's written by a women in Lancaster who isn't Amish. Anyway, as I've been reading these it has made me put things into better perspective about life, time and material possessions.

I'm not materialistic but I like things although I don't need them. I like clothes, shoes, bags and gadgets. I've spent way too much loot on these things in the past. I need to stop impulse buying. I see something I like and I don't think twice, I just get it. Then my basement fills up with stuff over the years that is in great condition but I know longer want around the house. This is changing as I type.

Why does everyone feel the need to have their calendars full? I've been struggling with this for a few years now. I am guilty of this. I want to see my friends and I have trouble saying no to getting together with them but then I'm miserable because I'm running all over and not chilling at home with my family in the house I paid too damn much for to not enjoy. I hibernate in winter so that I can recuperate from running all over during the summer. I just stay home, sit in front of the fire with the kid and relax. I have also made sure that I have one weekend a month, no matter what time of year that I have nothing going on. I don't spend that weekend cleaning and stuff like that. I spend it cuddling with Avery and the dogs, watching movies, sitting on the porch and enjoying some peace and quiet (as much peace and quiet as you can have with a 4 year old and 2 dogs).

I'm also making sure I don't enroll Avery in a million activities. I know you want your kid to experience a lot and find their niche but seriously, dragging your kid to something every night is going to mess them up. They are going to turn into those adults that can't sit still and chill. Avery is taking ballet now. The kid has been begging to for over a year. It's once a week. She also digs horses so I take her once a month for a lesson. That's enough. The week that she has both together is exhausting for her and me. I want her to go outside and play, use her imagination, run around like a nut, get dirty in the yard. I don't want her always in the car going from one place to another and having everything laid out for her so she doesn't have to use her imagination. Yeah, dance class is cool but watching her dance around the house to her own songs she's made up is so much more impressive to me right now.

I really think I could dig the simple life. Some of you who know me might doubt that because of what I have and stuff but really, I could give that all up for a little cottage or cabin somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I could give up the big house, the car, the fancy gadgets, all that. I just need my family, my dogs, my sneakers, a garden and lots and lots of books.

Philadelphia Distance Run 09/21/08

Yesterday was the PDR. I was excited for the weekend in Philly as much as the race itself. I didn't have an overall time goal for this race. I had decided to either use it as a training run, either a progression or a tempo depending on how good I felt. I was planning on running the first 3 miles at 11:00 then if a progression going 3 at 10:30, 3 at 10, 3 at 9:30 and bringing it in as fast as I could the last mile. If a tempo then trying to hold it around 10 minutes. If that brought a PR that would be great.

Saturday I drove in with Jill and Maureen and met up with Jen and her husband for lunch at Marathon Grill. Afterward we headed for the Expo at the Philadelphia Convention Center. We got our bibs and shirts and browsed the goods at the expo. I purchased a pair of race ready shorts and The Stick. I stopped by Fleet Feet of Marlton to see my old high school friend Jen and catch up. I was tired since I'd been up late the night before and couldn't wait to check into the Sheraton and rest a while before dinner but first we stopped at the Reading Terminal Market and I got Avery some liberty bell chocolate money and lollipops.

Back at the hotel I rested and read my book for a bit then setup all my gear for tomorrow so I was prepared in the morning. At 6:00 Jill and Maureen picked me up for dinner. We went to a little Italian place Alexis had suggested. It must have been a really popular place because the wait was long. I had spaghetti and meatballs.

Alexis and I drove back to the hotel and proceeded to stay up to late talking. I didn't sleep well once I did go to bed because the air conditioner would wake me up every time it kicked in. 5 hours of restless sleep wasn't very good but it would have to do. At 5am the alarm went off and I got up and showered. Once we were ready we walked to a Starbuck's and had some oatmeal for breakfast then headed to meet everyone.

We met up with Jen, Matt, Tom, Jen, Alexis' friend and Tom's friend. We soon split up since Jen and Tom were in the first corral and we were farther back. We waited forever in the porta-potty line and were next in line when the race started and the elite's headed out. I managed to get into the 12 or 13 corral just as everyone began to walk towards the start.

I had my garmin set for 3 fields Lap Pace on top, Current lap and Pace on the bottom. I tried to keep the Lap pace to 11 the first mile. I thought I had done that well even though I felt like I was holding back. The next mile was tougher to keep at that pace but I tried. After we hit the 2nd mile marker it was consistently in the 10:30 range even though I really was holding back so I went with it. I decided then that I would do a tempo. I was feeling really good except for the heat. It was pretty warm and the sun was strong, once we got out of the city there were areas that were long legs directly in the sun and those were tough.

I didn't take any water until mile 6 and had my first gel at mile 5. I believe that if the weather had been cooler and/or cloudy I would have felt even better and been faster. At the rest of the water stops from that point on I would drink one cup and dump another over my head to cool down. I took another gel at mile 10.5 because I was getting a little tired and figured I could use the boost. At around 11 my legs felt tired but I pushed on. At 12 I was really tired. I was disappointed because I saw my pace slowing but decided if this was a normal tempo I'd have a cooldown and I guess this was it. I had this crazy cold/burning sensation in my shins/calves that I can't explain. Alexis had told us a quote from Lance Armstrong that was "Pain is temporary, quiting is forever", I modified it to "Pain is temporary, a PR is forever" and kept telling myself this throughout the rest of the race. It helped. I pushed on as best I could (so I thought) but only managed and 11ish pace.

About .2 miles to the 13 mile marker I was thinking that this is why I do intervals so I can kick it at the end even when I'm in pain so I did. From that point on I did a 9ish pace until the finish and managed a 1:12 minutePR for a time of 2:16:23. I was somewhat disoriented at the finish and that lasted for about a minute or so.

I circled the family areas looking forever and decided that if on the second loop I didn't see them I was going to sit at the fountain and soak my feet like many others were doing and then I saw Alexis.

Here are my splits:

10:36 (guess lap pace wasn't a good indicator since I thought I was doing and 11)
10:31
10:14
9:47
10:07
9:58
10:17
9:57
10:15
10:06
10:05
10:34
11:10
2:45 (9:06 pace)

My splits weren't as consistent as I would have liked but I'll take it. The lap pace messed me up because I really thought I was in the 9:50 to 10:00 range for most of those miles.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my results. I felt like I actually raced instead of just doing a pedestrian pace I usually do during races. My Lehigh Valley half time was only a minute twelve seconds slower but I had walked a good portion of that because I hadn't trained so when I was running I was running a fast, rested pace. I know I have better in me and if it was a cooler day I would have had better splits.

On the walk back to the hotel my left foot/ankle started hurting. Sort of under the ankle. It continued to hurt all day. When I got home I iced it off and on all night and took Vitamin K. Today its worse. A little swelling and red in the area. I think its a tendon or ligament or something but its very hard to walk on. I have it elevated and am icing it today. I hope its nothing serious!

I seem to have ADD

At least in this class I do. I can't pay attention to his lectures. I'm fine when we start coding though. Guess I'm more hands on in my old age. How many more days of this do I have? Two? Just shoot me now!

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday Mike and I had our 6th wedding anniversary and our 11th year together anniversary. We got married on the date we started dating so its easy to remember! Friday he had a dozen roses delivered to work. They were great, 3 colors, pink, red and this cool yellow-orange.

Yesterday we were planning a fancy dinner and a babysitter for Miss A but ended up taking her with us, going to a new Thai place I wanted to check out and taking Avery to see Fly Me To The Moon in 3D (Avery and my first 3D movie). It was a great day!

This week I'm in training all week, yuk.

Change of pace

Today we did our long run at the Columbia Trail. I haven't run there since the spring. It's a 7.5 mile rail trail and its beautiful, mostly flat and slight decline from mile 5 on. My RP is having some ankle issues so she wanted to avoid hills and it's taper time so only 7-8 miles on the schedule.

First couple of miles my calves were tight. I think this was because of the tempo yesterday, I noticed it on my cool down mile yesterday too. After that I felt great. My legs felt a little tired around 3.5 miles but then everything just opened up and I felt great. I could have gone faster but my RP kept asking that we slow it down because her ankle would start bugging her. While our splits aren't that great it was great to know I could go faster and longer with absolutely no effort. The only negative was the humidity was so thick you could cut it with a knife. I was soaked after the first 1/2 mile. I didn't enjoy that too much but it didn't seem to bother my legs or lungs too much.

Here are the splits:

11:10
11:00
10:41
10:50
10:50
10:38
10:20
10:03

I've decided to treat the PDR as a progression run. I'm going to split it up into 3's and leave the last mile for whatever I feel like. This isn't a goal race for me and I have two friends completing a half for the first time so I don't really care about my time so doing a progression sounds like a good plan.

After I stopped by my oldest friends house and visited with her and her baby. On the way home I stopped at the farm stand for my weekly veggies and fruits. I need to clean the house but I think I'm going to relax and read for a while. There is an Italian festival going on that we might take Avery to later but we're pretty much winging it today.

Tempo Run take 2

Technically take 3. The first was on 8/20 because I missed the first one I was supposed to do the week before, I think missed the next couple but had what was basically a 9 mile tempo a few weeks ago intead of an easy LR so this is my 2nd tempo that was actually supposed to be a tempo.

SOMEBODY convinced me to shoot for 9:20 to 9:30 pace for them seeing as how I was in the 9:40s last time. Mind you I was doing them this time at work where its hilly as hell. Here's the comparison (although the 1st one was 4 miles, 2 mile warmup and 1 mile cooldown, this one was 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cooldown with 3 at tempo):

I still don't like tempo runs. I'm going to try the next one on the track.

Mojo

So last week I didn't get to run because of my quad issues. The first 3 days of non-running were torture, I so wanted to be out there running. The fourth day I was able to run again but wasn't able to get the run in due to life issues but I wasn't too bummed about it. The next day was our little tropical storm so no running. I was content to sit at home and read all day. Sunday I went for my first run and it was supposed to be 12 miles. I made it 5.5 and it totally sucked. My injuries were better but lower leg, achilles, etc were hurting like crazy. I was not pleased. I decided to take Monday off and shift my schedule up to give myself time to adjust. Tuesday we had crazy storms so I didn't get my run in again and my mojo was gone. I didn't care that I wasn't missing it. I was grumpy (from lack of running but I didn't want to run either) and discouraged. I thought to myself that maybe I wasn't cut out for 3 more months of training and the marathon was a bad idea.

This morning I felt much the same way. Tired, lazy and not motivated to go to the track. But I knew I would. I also knew that this had better be a good workout or my mojo wasn't going to come back. I packed up Avery, my Aunt and my water and towel and got in the car. I dropped them off at the park and ran to the track. The warmup was ok. Kindof slow but I figured that was a good thing. The rest was awesome. I felt great, my legs felt powerful and there was no pain. The 1600 went really well. I felt that I went at a pace that was hard but maintainable for the whole mile. I was definitely out of breath when I was done but my legs still felt great. I did 2 loops of recovery one walking one running slow. The 800 felt great too! The 400 went well but I felt like I should have been faster. I definitely felt like I should have been faster for the 200. Faster in the sense that I felt like I was running faster than I actually did for both.

I couldn't wait to get home and compare it to my first ever interval session (and ladder) just a month ago. Here are the results:

I have found I really enjoy doing intervals. Especially the ladders. It's great as the distance gets less the effort gets greater. For 2 years I feared speedwork like it was the plague. Now I actually look forward to it!

Guess my mojo is back!

Feet

I went to the podiatrist last night for a second opinion on my Morton's Neuroma since the cortisone shot from my orthopedic doctor didn't do squat.

He felt the neuroma on the left foot right away (between the 3rd and 4th toes). He was surprised I said the second and third toe for my right foot since usually they are in the same spot on both feet. Sure enough, he didn't feel anything there but did on the 3rd and 4th (I felt it too). Perhaps the cortisone shot didn't work because there was no neuroma between the 2nd and 3rd which is where I got the shot. He said the pain could have radiated to the second toe.

He doesn't recommend the alcohol schlerosing shots. From what he's seen there isn't a high success rate. One of the reasons I was considering them is because a side effect of the surgery is permanent numbness in the toes. He said this will occur with the shots as well since its essentially killing the nerve. Another reason I was considering it was I was under the impression (from others who have had them) that I could get them now and continue with my marathon training. He said that was doubtful. He knows someone who is having them currently and there is no way she could run. GRRRRR.

He wants and MRI and another appt in two weeks. He wrote a script for an anti-inflammatory to take daily. I will most likely get another set of cortisone shots at my 2 week appt.

I've decided that I will get the surgery after the marathon (most likely January '09). Since the surgery is performed on the top of my feet I won't have too many days off my feet. I forget what I read about how long before I could run, I hope not too long!!!

Benched

I've been benched for an injury and I didn't even get it on the field...

Monday night I was standing on a chair trying to reach something and when I stepped down I must have over extended my leg and I felt this horrible cramping/ripping sensation in my right quad.

Right after it got ridiculously tight (again, almost like a cramped muscle where its contracted). I iced it all night and then in the morning I thought it felt better until I bent down to help Avery get dressed and had the same sensation. After that it bothered me when I walked all day long.

From everything I read about muscle tears I need to stay off of it for 72 hours so I am not going to run until Friday, then I'm just going to do a couple of miles to see how it feels and if its good I'll do my long run on Saturday.

What stinks is I had the best 9 miler on Sunday, with pace times I haven't had since I ran Broad Street w/ Lori in 2007! Plus my left hip is feeling 100% better, no pain, no limping...

Hopefully the rest will do me good and I'll only need these few days to fix the muscle! Let the cabin fever begin...

Happy Labor Day!

I'm supposed to hit the track for some speedwork today. I can't go right now anyway because even though there is no school today there are practices and when I went by earlier this morning the football team was on the field.

I don't feel like running anyway. I have a headache. I think its sinuses. I'm hoping its allergies but I haven't been feeling myself since Friday so maybe I will take it easy today. I ended the year with 128 miles which is an all time high for me. Starting the new month with zero on the first day isn't what I want but we'll have to wait until this evening to see if I'm up for a run.

We had a busy day yesterday! After my run I came home and Avery and I quickly jumped in the shower. She had a play date with a group of kids that no longer go to her school. Two of which were her best friends. She's made a new best friend over the summer named Casey so the seperation wasn't as traumatic as I was thinking it would be. They had a great time. The only issues was the tire swing that they were spinning on forever. Ella and Avery looked like they were going to get sick but they didn't. Danny wasn't so lucky. He looked green and when he was in the car on the way home he threw up all over himself and his sister. Poor kid!

The playdate was from 10:30 until 2:30. When it was over we stopped by my parents house. I had gotten my mom and iPod Shuffle as a gift because she was joining the new gym by her house. I had to go put iTunes on her computer and show her how to take her classical cd's and put them on iTunes then onto the Shuffle. After that was done we went outside.

My parents live in the same house I grew up in. The road basically goes up a big hill so each house is higher than the last. Our neighbors, Hank and Bernice, had a great little hill between my parents house and theirs. My brother and I would roll down it all day long and in the winter there would be great snow drifts against it where we could dig out forts and igloo's. Yesterday Avery had a blast rolling down the hill over and over again. She made me do it a few times with her. It was fun but boy was I dizzy when I got to the bottom. I don't remember being so dizzy after when I was a kid!

After picking too many of my mom's flowers Avery and I went home. I was tired. I had been outside from 6:30 am until 5:30 pm and my head was starting to bug me. I got home and just wanted to relax but Avery wanted to play princesses. She dressed up in her Bell dress and we headed outside. I pushed her on the swings for a bit and we sat on the half done patio (that I doubt will get completed any time soon :-( ) and then we ended up on the deck. Avery has play kitchens and tables out there so we played that I was making her eat. It was fun but I was so tired. I was so excited when it was 7:30 and bath time!

We slept in this morning, it was lovely. Now we're hanging out in the family room watching Disney Princess Sing a Longs on the TV.

Nice....

I had a great run this morning. I was supposed to do 10 but I only ended up w/ 9. I felt a hotspot forming on the inside of my right arch. I was thinking of doing the crazy big hill for the last mile but since I knew I was getting a blister and had to do speedwork tomorrow I cut it short. My average pace was 10:06! All summer my average pace has been between 11:30 and 11:40.

Today I never felt like I was running too hard and I never felt like I was runnig too easy. Just right.

Here are my splits:

10:37
10:02
9:55
9:45
10:02
10:09
10:09
10:31 (I don't know why I slowed down so much here.)
9:43

Sweet. This was a big confidence builder. I guess the speedwork and tempo runs are paying off. I also want to thank Jill and Maureen. I met them in my first 1/2 mile and ran the next 2.5 or so with them. They made me pick up my pace more than I planned but when I realized it wasn't to hard to maintain I tried to keep it up for the rest of the run. Thanks Guys!

26.2 Ways You Know You Are A Runner

One of my friends from the running forums posted this today, I liked it, so here it is...

1. You know how many miles there are in a marathon.
2. Your weekly mileage is how much you run, not your commute to work.
3. You know how many miles you get out of a pair of running shoes.
4. You can convert Kilometers to Miles in your head.
5. You measure your running route in your car to get the exact mileage.
6. When someone tells you their age, you automatically know their Boston qualifying time.
7. You know Grandma's as the route from Two Harbors to Duluth, not the person.
8. You can drink, blow your nose and pee on the run.
9. The problem with the treadmill is there's no place to spit.
10. You have less than ten toenails and that's normal for you.
11. Body Glide is your friend.
12. Ibuprofen is affectionately known as "Vitamin I".
13. Navigating walkers, dogs and baby strollers annoys you because it interrupts your pace.
14. When you participate in an organized event, you know not to run in your race t-shirt.
15. You have a favorite energy gel and flavor.
16. The "Picasso" above your fireplace is last year's TCM poster.
17. You have pre and post race rituals.
18. The journal you keep is in miles and pace not feelings or thoughts.
19. When you look at the weather conditions, you calculate how many layers to wear.
20. The pride you feel after a good run is worth the pain it took to get there.
21. You have more t-shirts than you could possibly wear.
22. When you hear the word "bib", you think of race numbers not babies and Gerber food.
23. The "no carbohydrate diet" does not apply to you.
24. You know that Fartlek is not vulgar terminology.
25. A hill is an opportunity just waiting to be challenged.
26. You know the phrase "you're almost there" only applies when the finish line is in sight.
.2 Your vacation destination is determined by your race schedule.

6x400 Track workout

I decided I would drop off Avery and my Aunt at a nice shady park near the track. Across the street was the library so they could play in the playground then go to the library after. I left my car there and ran to the track (around .75 miles) and then finished my mile warmup on the track.

I made sure to alternate my direction regularly to hopefully help my hip. I guess I did ok. Looks like I started too fast. I just went out for each 400 as hard as I could. I wish I had gotten 2 miles for my warmup so I was loosened up more before I started but at the same time I figure its good for me to get used to have to push it after a mile.

1m w/u
400-1:48
400-1:50 (this one felt the hardest)
400-1:56
400-1:59 (I knew this one felt too easy)
400-1:56 grrr
400-1:52
1mi c/d

Came home and did a lot of stretching (especially those hips) and used the foam roller.

Tonight I have to go to a training for volunteering at the Lehigh Valley Marathon. Are they teaching us how to hand out water????

New Shoes

So 3 miles into my long run on Saturday my Morton's Neuroma started acting up. It got so bad at around mile 7 that I had to stop. Severe shooting pains in my toe. Not good. So I walked a few steps and was fine after that, it still bothered me off and on for the rest of the 16 miles but I dealt with it. What I realized was that it wasn't the distance of the run that was irritating it. I have only had pain on my Saturday runs but not when I hit the higher miles, its always around 3 or 4 miles that it kicks in. It's also not the course. I ran the parkway on Thursday for my tempo and had no issues. What I realized was that I only wear my Brooks GTS7's on Saturdays now. I wear my Adidas Supernova on Tues/Thurs at work and I wear my relatively new Mizuno Wave Alchemy 7's on Monday and Wednesday for my quality workouts. So I'm thinking its the shoes.

I was going to switch days with the Mizuno's to see if the Brooks were bothering me during the week. I think I only had about 250 miles on them so I knew they were at the end of their life but thought since I was only using them once a week that they would last until around 300 or 350. Mike wanted to get new sneakers that day so I took him to my LRS and decided I would get another pair as well. I got the Mizuno Wave Alchemy 8's this time. My first pair of kicks that weren't blue since I started running! Let's hope this ends my discomfort and pain.

Horse Whisperer

Avery has the bug, the horse bug. We went to see her horse Marlin this weekend at a horse show in NJ. He is my friend from work's daughters horse and Avery met him on memorial day and rode him like a champ. Ally told Avery he could be her horse too and all she does is talk about him.

He was in a 4-H fair last week and my friend sent me pictures of them jumping. I showed them to Avery and she started crying saying she missed him and look, he missed her too, she could see it in his face. Too cute.

Ally competed with him in Western yesterday. They had never done western before but there were so many horse shoes in the area yesterday there wasn't anyone else in her class so she did Western. She one a first place and two second place ribbons.

After Ally put Avery right up on him and gave her the reins. She didn't forget anything she had learned in June and rode him (by herself, no one was holding on to Marlin). Then Ally guided them into the corral and had them walking over poles and up on platforms. She was so comfortable on him and steered him in all the appropriate directions. Many of the people there were commenting on how good a rider she was for a 4 year old. I was really proud.

I had a pony growing up but I never did any formal riding or shows but I have always loved horses and am so happy that Avery has that same love. They are taken to her too, even the feisty one's were drawn to her and nuzzling her.

I told Mike that night that we had a horse whisperer on our hands and he said, "I was afraid of that" and laughed. Looks like we better start saving our money!

I'll post pictures later.

Bring it on!

I am so loving the early morning weather!!!! I had an amazing "easy" run this morning. Easy is in quotes because I didn't take it so easy, although it didn't really feel hard. I figure that is due to the amazing 50 something degree weather and the fact that I did the tempo last night. 5 miles with awesome splits:

10:54
10:44
10:37
10:20
9:39

The last mile is after the crazy hill and I always take it faster because we push so hard up it that once we're over we just fly! This run goes in the books as one of my favorite runs ever.

1st Tempo Run

I missed my first tempo run 2 weeks ago because it was on my birthday and I was a busy girl. The following week was the fartlek so this week is my 1st tempo run. Schedule said 6 miles with 4 at tempo 1 w/u, 1 c/d. Since I know I need more time to warmup I decided to do 2 miles for my warmup. According to MacMillan my tempo runs should be between 9:45 to 10:10. My HM pace is supposed to be 10:04. I ran the 7.14 miles in 1:16:39. My tempo splits were:

10:01
9:46
9:43 (this mile was completely flat)
9:44

I probably went a bit to fast but I was scared to slow down because I thought I'd slow down too much and I knew there were hills on the 2nd and 4th mile so I wanted to make sure I banked a couple of seconds. However, I had lots of energy I guess because I charged them (scared I'd slow down too much).

My breathing was fine the entire time. My quads/hip flexors were tight. Other than the tightness in my thighs I would say the 4 miles were comfortably hard like they were supposed to be. Once again, I've surprised myself. Just like with the speedwork I am realizing I am faster than I thought.

I'm really hoping that following a training program for once (and one that involves quality runs, not just building miles) will help me get closer to my full potential as a runner.

While I ran Avery had a playdate with Rachel and Carly at Jill's house, where she had a blast. Thanks Jill!

Holy Hell!

Ok, the foam roller is an evil marvel!

Picked one up on the way home. Wow did that thing hurt me! I did feel better after. It kind of reminds me of those massage cushions that you put on a chair and they knead your back. Of course when I sat in one of those it actually bruised my back. Hope that doesn't happen with this!!!

Ouch

Last nights track workout didn't go exactly as planned. Avery and I drove over to the high school and they were having football practice on the field so I decided to go the extra 2 miles to Lehigh University's track. It wasn't too busy. I got Avery all setup on her blanket and started my warmup. I did 1.25 miles. I was supposed to do 4x1200.

I ran the first one and by the end of the 800 I was feeling pain in my right hip flexor, quad and hamstrings. Bad pain. I finished the 1200 w/ plenty of lung but not enough leg. I did it in 5:42 which is 7:42 pace. I did a recovery walk with Avery and got ready to go again. All I got was a 400 at 1:53 (8:13 pace). I was really hurting and pretty discouraged. Oh and I had to go to the bathroom (just #1) and there weren't any around. This just added to my frustration.

I figured I would switch the workout to 400's so at least I could get the speedwork in. I started for the next 400 and it became a very painful 200 at 1:05 (8:12 pace). There goes that plan!

I did a 200 meter cooldown and called it a day after some hardcore stretching with Miss Avery.

From that point on my hip flexor has acted up every time I get up from a seated position and I feel the need to limp for a few steps.

Guess its time to invest in a foam roller!

I did 3 recovery today. I was supposed to do 4-5 but I do these at work and they are paving the road I run on so I couldn't go all the way out (it was closed) and had to just do a couple developments to even get in 3. I stayed very slow the first 1.5 miles and found that I naturally sped up quite a bit at the end again.

Hopefully my tempo run tomorrow will be better than the last two days!

I love my long runs

I look forward to my long run all week. I'm enjoying the diversity of my weekly workouts but they are challenging and while pushing the distance on the weekends is a challenge the runs are just so pleasant. I love running in the parkway, its so pretty. I love getting up early with dozens of other people to run there. I like doing whatever pace feels good and pushing it only if I feel like it. The satisfaction of completing the distance is another plus.

I was worried about today's run since I had gotten a cortizone shot in my right foot yesterday for my morton's neuroma. While the shot didn't help the neuroma it didn't hinder the run. Around 4 miles it started to bother me and the pain was off an on the whole run. I should feel relief within the next couple days from the shot.

We got there just as the sun was rising and decided to do a 1/2 mile warm up walk before we ran. 13.25 miles in 2:25:23 Average HR 157. Here are my splits:

11:48
11:45
11:16
10:54
11:21
10:53
10:52
11:03
10:34
10:28
11:03
10:25
10:09
7:27 (just for fun)

You can see where the hills are from my pace. Not that they are big hills but I obviously slow down for them. The first couple miles I ran slow. My quads aren't used to the speedwork yet and were tight the entire run although they loosened a little after 2 miles. I'ts nice to see so many 10 minute paces in there since I really didn't feel them while I was out there. I think if my quads were loose I could have had more in the 10:30 range the first half.

Tootleks and recovery

Yesterday were fartleks. 3 for 3 minutes each 1m w/u 1m c/d for a total of 5 miles. I did them at the beginning of each mile so I could keep track of the time I spent doing them.

We don't mention the word fart at home we say toot so Mike said to call them farleks (and didn't believe it was really a word until I pulled it up on wikipedia). I mentioned it today on kickrunners and someone said I should call them tootleks, so there you have it.

They went well. I did them at home which meant hills but I picked my least hilly route. I did the mile warmup really slow and then hit the first one on a gradual uphill at 9:58 pace. Not that fast, oh well (as you'll see this again tells me I need 2 miles of warmup). The worst was that the recovery for this was a steep hill. Ughhh. Next one was 8:58, now that's better. It was pretty much flat for this one. Next one was more uphill than the first and I did it in 9:03. Did my cooldown and a 1/2 mile walk. Not to shabby.

Today was 5 miles easy. I stayed up last night watching The Other Boleyn Girl and didn't get to sleep until almost 1:00 so getting up at 5:15 was not fun, thank goodness I have to meet my RP at her house or I would have slept in. It was soupy humid this morning and I was tired so it wasn't a fun run. Typically on this route I get really warmed up at around 2.5 or 3 miles and book back in but today my pace stayed pretty consistent, only increasing about 15 seconds the last mile.

Tomorrow is a well needed rest day. I'm actually enjoying the speedwork (never thought I'd hear myself say that). And I'm very glad my coach decreased my weekly mileage from what I was doing during base training because its leaving my legs tired and sore. Having Friday off is perfect because by my Saturday morning long run my legs feel rested and the runs are great. Hopefully once I get some more speedwork under my belt my legs won't feel that tired, even if the rest of me is from staying up late watching the olympics!

Speedwork take two

I had my second speedwork session tonight. 3x1600 w/ 1 mile w/u and 1 mile c/d.

Here are my results:

w/u - 11:17
1 - 8:25
.3 recovery - 9:43
2 - 8:45
.3 recovery - 10:51
3 - 8:36
c/d - 11:58 (had to walk some of this carrying Avery who was over playing in the inside field).

I'm pleased. I didn't look at my watch at all and just went out there and gave it my all. I definately pushed really hard the first repeat. I felt like throwing up when I was done so that was a good sign. The second repeat Avery wanted me to stop after the 1st loop so that slowed me down for a second so I could yell over to her that I couldn't stop yet.

I know to the speedy this doesn't look like much but all 3 of these repeats are the fast miles I've run so far so I'm happy.

What a weekend!

My weekend started Friday since Mike, Avery and I took off for my birthday. We had a nice relaxing day at home and then Mike and I went with my friend Karen and her husband Joe to see STP at Musikfest that night. It was a lot of fun and a very late night. I think I got to bed around 2am.

Saturday 6:30 I was up and getting ready to meet my RP for my long run. I felt sick I was so tired. I stopped for coffee on the way knowing I needed a little caffeine if I was going to get through even the first mile! It was beautiful out, no humidity and around 65 degrees. The first mile everything was a little tight but after that I loosened up and sped up too! I ran the next 10 miles averaging about a 10:30 pace. My last mile was 9 minutes and my last quarter I gunned it and did an 8 something. It felt great to be running that pace again. I don't think I've done that pace for a LR since spring. It just shows how much the humidity weighs me down. Even with little sleep I did very well. I was pleased.

I came home and watched the opening ceremony for the olympics, cleaned the house and read a book. This morning Avery woke me up by coming into our room way to early so I headed to town for coffee (we were out) then came home and got ready to go to a friends for brunch. We had a great time despite the crazy storms. I was so tired on the way home I wanted to take a nap but my cousin stopped by to hang out so we went and grabbed some food and came back and hung out. We were supposed to go see the fireworks at Musikfest tonight (its the last night) but we were all worn out so we are staying in.

It's a beautiful crisp cool August evening. I can hear the fireworks we chose to miss outside the open window. Growing up I always thought August was the hottest month of summer then once I was in college and a lifeguard I remember always wearing sweats in the morning and evenings at the pool and that the humidity had died down from July. I think August is actually my favorite month of summer now.

1st official speedwork session

I did it! Yippee! And it wasn't as horrible as I thought. I went a little faster than I had planned on each interval. I based my times on Macmillan's chart. Overall I'm happy with the workout. Here's my results.:

1 m w/u - 10:51
1600 - 9:01

800 - 4:28 (9:00)

400 - 2:02 (8:08)

200 - 0:52 (7:18)

1/2m c/d - 5:40 (11:16)

Here's what Macmillan and RunnersWorld say I should be doing based on my best 10miler of 1:40:








What I think of the track? I think it will take some getting used to, more for the warm up and cool down than anything else. I might do my warm up off of the track next time and ask my coach for a 2 mile warm up. It usually takes me 2 or so to feel good.

Last Base Building run of the season

Thanks Jill, for taking it nice and easy with me this morning on our run.

I didn't get much sleep last night and really had a hard time waking up this morning. This is the most I've run in 3 weeks considering I missed my long run last week when I was sick and the week before I could only do 10. It didn't feel quite as easy as the 15.5 a few weeks ago but it felt ok and I'm happy with the distance since its another milestone.

Here's the logistics:

Could it be more humid!

So after lasts nights adventure I couldn't get to sleep. Mind was racing, nothing negative but just thinking and thinking which isn't good when its 11 something and you need to get up at 4:45! Woke up at 4:30 and got ready. Soooo tired my stomach hurt. It was way too dark when I left the house at 5 to meet my co-worker at her house. The sun was just coming up at 5:30.

Got to work, dropped off our stuff and hit the road. Since it felt like soup out and I was so tired I decided just to do 3 instead of 4. It ended up being an ok run. I think if I had run at lunch yesterday or earlier I could have been faster this morning. Average pace was 10:38, Average heart rate was 150, max heart rate was 182 (for .17 miles and it was on the killer hill).

I should have done the 4 but I was so glad when I could stop at 3, I was soaked!!!

This was my highest month of running so far, 96.3 miles. If I could have run last week it would have been around 140 :(

Tonight's Run

I got my marathon training plan from my coach today. In preperation for my upcoming speedwork I decided to run to the High School track tonight and run it a couple laps. It's about 4.5 miles to the track. Even though it was 90 and rediculously humid it wasn't too bad of a run, in fact my 3rd mile was in the mid 9's. I got to the track and was pretty tired but I called Mike to come pick me up and figured I would run it until he got there. I did 2x400's at an 8:37 pace. Not bad after a pretty decent paced 4.5+ miles.

I also decided to wear my heart rate monitor for the first time today. Since so many people have been doing LHR training I figured I could at least keep track of my heart rate on my runs. Here's my stats for my run. Total 5.14 miles, avg pace 10:46, avg HR 99bpm, max 166bpm:

3.12miles avg hr 88 61.3%

1.29miles avg hr 109 24.9%

.42 miles avg hr 127 7.5%

.24 miles avg hr 152 5.2%

.07 miles avg hr 164 1.2%

Not sure what all that means but it was interesting to see. Considering when I was sitting in the car it had my heart rate at 88 does that mean I ran 3.12 miles that easy? I'll have to read up on it I guess.

Let the Countdown begin...

Well not really since I don't have my training plan yet but training does start for me next Monday. However, I just booked my room for November for the marathon. So I'm registered and have a place to stay, now all I have to do is run run run.

1st post cold run

Wasn't horrible. The second I started the run my legs shouted in joy. OK, they didn't talk but they felt like they missed moving like that so much! My first two miles were fine except if I took a deep breath it hurt a little. On the two big hills I had to take a 10 second walk break at the top. At the finish I have .75 mile hill I climb (like I said, I live on the top of a mountain). My legs were tired. My pace throughout the run was pretty good so I'm happy. 5 miles done.

Got home and was sweating so bad I jumped right into the shower. I bent down to get the conditioner and on the way up split my head open on the shower door handle. Avery heard me yell and made me stick my head out so she could see if it was bleeding. It was and she proceeded to cry hysterically for me. I tried to tell her I was OK but she was so upset. I got out and had my Aunt look at it and she said it was a nice puncture wound and to see how long it bled for. I cleaned it out and put ice on it. It didn't bleed too long. About 30 minutes later the headache started and is still present hours later. It's all scabbed up now and is going to make doing my hair tomorrow interesting.

If I can get up early tomorrow I'll get 3 or 4 done in the morning. Otherwise I have to try to get it done after work since I have to do a demo at our other branch at 11 and won't have time for my lunchtime run and shower.

On the mend

Feeling better as of today. Went to the doctors yesterday and she put me on antibiotics. My lungs were clear so I'm ok to run when I feel up to it. Based on how I feel today I think I can try tomorrow.

I did absolutely nothing all weekend but rest, watch movies with Avery and read two books (The Alchemist and Down Came the Rain). The house really needed to be cleaned and laundry put away but I was determined to get better so that meant no activity what-so-ever! (It was kindof nice to have a weekend to veg. The past few have been crazy busy so this was needed).

Playing house

Do you ever feel that you are just pretending to be an adult. Like when you were little playing house? That's how I feel most every day. I'm not sure if its a good thing or a bad.

Timeout!

Avery just turned to Boots and said "Boots, you're a pain in my ass."

It is so hard to not laugh and look all serious when you tell her that's a bad word.

Seriously?

I have either the flu or a really really bad cold, I'm talking fever, chills, aches and pains you name it! WTF!

I really can't afford to take the days off from work but I can barely walk down the stairs so I'm home. My marathon training doesn't start until 8/4 but I was doing so well with the base training I'm really upset I'm missing out on my runs. There is NOOOOO way I could run right now. Like I said, I can't even walk!

Ok, enough feeling sorry for myself. Hopefully it will be gone in a couple days.

Happy Anniversary to me!

Yesterday was my 2 year anniversary for running. I celebrated with a 7 mile run at 6am. Hard to believe that 2 years ago I couldn't run a mile and this past weekend I ran almost 16! Woohoo!

I had an unbelievably amazing run this morning. Considering that my legs are tired from the 7 yesterday and it was 74 degrees already with a dewpoint = 66. It was probably the best run I've had ever or at least in a long time.

It didn't feel hard at all and I was running at a great pace considering how hilly the route is. To start off the first mile is all uphill and then its rolling hills for the next mile. The 3rd mile starts with a really tough hill (we used to hate this one) and we end on a hill as well. Here are my splits:

10:56
10:25
10:02
9:36

Nice negative splits. Average pace is 10:15. Total time 41:07.

Again, this run was cake. I felt like I was giving it a just the right amount of effort and it felt great not like I was doing too much. I wasn't even completely wiped out when we finished. I had more left in the tank.

I wish that first mile was faster but its probably good it wasn't. Here I woke up at 4:30 this morning and was so tired I just wanted to go back to bed. Glad I didn't.