Wordless Wednesday

Monday Musings

If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I've been sick for the past few days. Stupid strep throat. In retrospect, sharing a water bottle with my daughter (who also ended up diagnosed with strep a few days earlier) was not such a good idea. Sleeping, drinking water/tea, & taking meds is pretty much all that I've done since Saturday evening.

I must finally be feeling better because I'm starting to get a bit stir crazy and bored. In my boredom, one of the things that I decided to do was look back at posts last July.

Did you know that it was roughly this time last year that I tried out Saucony Progrid Triumph 5 running shoes courtesy of a giveaway from onlineshoes.com from Wes's blog? Wow. How awesome that was! I ended up switching to these shoes and I couldn't be happier.

I was also sporting a broken/smashed finger. Don't miss that one bit! What is it with me and stupid injuries in the summer? Last year smashed/broken finger. This year scraped/broken elbow.

My running mileage in July 2009 was 55.7 miles with my long run at 7.0 miles. I've exceeded that mileage total already this month walking hills, but it's obviously not the same as running. And the long stuff isn't happening for me right now. However, somehow I am reassured by looking at those numbers. I don't think I'm too far off actually.

My post reading was interrupted by the postal carrier ringing the doorbell. I appreciate our postal carrier driving up to the house to deliver a box at the doorstep instead of leaving a slip and making me go pick it up myself at the post office. But I don't understand why she puts the rest of the mail in the box (I have a long driveway) rather than bring it up as well. Anyway, the package was a box with a few interesting products from American Nutrition to try out and review. Will post a review in about a week once I've had ample opportunity to try them out.

I also decided to make a word cloud. It made me smile so I posted it on my sidebar. Oh, and I made a few slight changes to the blog layout.

That's all I've got for now. Stay healthy!

So close, and yet so far

Received my second of three Euflexxa injections on Friday. On August 2nd, I can resume whatever activities I wish including running, however it might not be until early September that the full benefits of treatment are realized.

I was signed up for a local Sprint Tri on Aug 7th. I haven't been able to train for it. I have debated whether or not to show up and try to have fun or cancel my registration. It seems unlikely that I can go in unprepared and finish this with a smile, so I sent an email to the race director this morning asking if I can give up my spot so that someone else can participate. The race is likely to sell out, so I am fairly certain he will either give me a refund or forward my registration to next year.

The following weekend is the Rio Grande half-marathon. Earlier in the year I had wanted to participate in this event and aim for a time goal. That's obviously not happening. Instead, I am participating as a volunteer. I'm actually looking forward to being on the other side; it should be fun.

My plan is to begin running in early August. Starting off slow and easy to test the knee. If all goes well, I'm jumping straight into half marathon training for a race in mid October. As long as my goal is to finish upright, smiling, and wanting to do it again, this should be do-able. I won't take crossing the finish line for granted after several months of down time.

Looking at my sidebar I notice how empty it is of race results. Oddly, I'm okay with that. My return to run training will coincide with my son's departure for college. Something tells me that I'll need it then way more than I need it now anyway.

Friday Follies - Back from NYC Edition

Wow. Five days, four nights in the Big Apple. What an experience. I took 175 photos with my brand new Panasonic Lumix DMC- ZRI camera (love it!) and uploaded about 30 of them to facebook - find me there to see them. For the blog, one photo and a few thoughts from the trip



1) There was a lovely path with lots of other runners along the Hudson river just steps from our hotel. I wasn't able to run, but took a nice stroll one night as the sun was setting.

2) New Yorkers get a bad rap. I expected rudeness, but experienced nothing but kindness.

3) The subway was convenient for getting around, but it was unbearably hot in the tunnels while waiting for the trains.

4) Blue Men Group was the highlight of the trip. And Son was chosen as an audience volunteer to participate in the show. How cool is that?!?

5) Holy smokes there were a LOT of people everywhere. Especially Times Square at night. Aye Carumba.

6) Gelato = best sweet treat ever. Why, oh why, don't they have that where I live?

7) It was cool how every neighborhood was different and unique. So much diversity on one little island.

8) Embassy Suites Hotel rocks for a family of four. Huge room, bedroom for us, kids slept on the couch bed in the other room. Breakfast buffet included with made to order omelets.

9) Two words to describe the financial district = Concrete canyons.

10) One of these days I'll learn. Bringing exercise clothes on vacation does nothing but waste space in my luggage. No worries though, we walked all over Manhattan!

Have a great weekend folks. Time for me to tackle a mountain of laundry...

Looking forward

I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. ~Author Unknown

I realized yesterday that if I can walk 6.2 miles over the next 2 days, I will be 0.1 miles over my May monthly miles by feet on July 15th. Now if that's not some motivation to get out there and keep moving forward, I don't know what is!

I get my first of three Euflexxa injections the morning of the 16th. That comes with some planned downtime, so the numbers won't go up too much after that.

Essentially, this is the base I have built for myself for when I come out on the other side in August ready to run. Will it be enough? Time will tell. Right now the plan is to run Duke City HM again in mid-Oct. That means when I start running, I'm headed straight into half marathon training. Yeeehah!

Crazy? Perhaps. Determined? Absolutely!

Stubbornly persist, and you will find that the limits of your stubbornness go well beyond the stubbornness of your limits. ~Robert Brault

Saturday Seven

No, not seven miles, seven random things:

1) As of the morning of July 10th, I have logged 32 miles of fitness walking which includes 12 trips up the hill. It's growing on me, but I miss running.

2) I'm getting really bored with that hill. Need to find a new one to climb.

3) I *so* love Marshall's. I recently picked up 2 pairs ($9 each) of Layer 8 shorts that are designed just like Nike Pacer shorts except that they are missing the rear pocket for an Ipod. One is grey with yellow trim, the other is black with pink trim. Score!

4) I also found really soft microfiber twin xl sheets in brown and khaki for Son to take to college. I'm sure that's not as exciting to most of you as the shorts, but it's something he needs for the dorm room and the price was perfect. Score again!

5) I also love Headsweats hats. The only time that I don't wear them when walking or running (or gardening) is when it's too cold. I picked up two new ones recently: lime green and white with pink trim.

6) Last night we went to the Zoo for a summer concert. It was a perfect night to sit out and listen to music. We had never heard of the artist, Carrie Rodriguez, but were pleasantly surprised to find out that we really enjoyed her music. I think I might pick up her latest CD.

7) Five days until my first Euflexxa injection. Not that I'm counting or anything...

Three Things Thursday

Yet another reason I'm anxious to get on with knee treatment...I'm running out of things to say.

1) Still walking and walking and walking and walking: 21.75 miles in the first 7 days of July. After dinner last night, I had the opportunity to walk up the hill with my son. While we were heading that way, I mentioned that I've seen a two runners recently run a bit further up to the very top and then disappear I have no idea where they go. We decided to climb up there and check it out. It's just a big sandy plateau up there. I'm still not sure why they go up there or where they go after that! It's not obvious that it connects to anything. Maybe they go down the other side and connect to another road/trail and make it a loop instead of an out and back? Oh well, at least now I've been up there.

2) I am enjoying gardening wayyyyy more than I ever expected. I'm out there every day tending to the plants, weeding, harvesting veggies, and sometimes just observing progress. I am so glad we decided to fence in an area for it when we did our landscape remodel. Before this year, I was doing container gardening which was not nearly as much fun. Pretty much everything in the garden is doing well, except for the strawberries. The strawberries have really been struggling. Over the past few days, I tore out some of the dead/dying plants and replaced them with new plants. That by itself would be the definition of insanity - doing the same thing and expecting a different result. I also attached some netting to the fence on that side of the garden to give them filtered instead of direct sun for at least part of the day. When instructions say to give plants full sunlight, they don't mean 15hrs of the intense, cloudless sky, high UV, scorching sun of the desert southwest. From my past experience with container gardening, strawberries did better in partial sun. It's worth a try anyway. If this doesn't work, I'll give up on strawberries entirely and plant something else there next year.

3) While parts of the country are struggling with insane crazy hot temps, it's actually been quite nice here. Highs this week around 85-90 and lows 60-65. The big temp swing during the day brought to us by virtue of cloudless skies and high altitude (nothing to trap the heat when the sun goes down) makes for quite pleasant mornings and evenings.

Off to a Good Start

With the cortisone shot now kicking in, my knee is feeling a bit better and July is off to a good start.

Thursday evening I took the dogs up the hill. I then dropped off Bandit at home and took Stymie out for another mile.

Friday morning the dogs went up the hill with me again. I dropped them both off afterwards and went for a 1.5 mile easy run. I wasn't wearing my Garmin, so I'm not sure how fast I was going, but I'm sure it wasn't very fast. I was pleased that my knee felt "okay" and considered going for a longer run Saturday morning.

Saturday morning came, and I decided that I'd be better off walking the dogs than trying to go for a longer easy run. Anytime that I've tried running multiple days in a row, it has not turned out well. Instead, I took the dogs up the hill, dropped off Bandit, watered Stymie, and went back out with Stymie to traverse the hill a second time.*

(*For the record, I'm not playing favorites with the dogs. Bandit is older and gets tired after the 2 mile hill climb. Stymie, on the other hand, has the boundless energy that one might expect from a large 15mo old puppy).

So for anyone keeping score, here's how it adds up: We're three days into July. Already I've traveled 10.5 miles on my feet, including 4 trips up the hill and one short 1.5 mile easy run. I'm quite pleased.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone. In honor of Independence Day, I'll leave you with the following thought: “What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom “to” and freedom “from.” ~ Marilyn vos Savant

June Tally

The Numbers

On my feet: 58.0 mi
On my seat: 9.3 mi
Races: Nada

Thoughts

Being injured sucks. Being "double" injured sucks doubly. Focussing on what you CAN do rather than what you CANNOT - priceless.

Plans for July

Keep walking hills. Receive treatment for knee. Reconcile race schedule.

The Verdict

What's up with the Elbow and Knee?

Arm/Elbow - Got X-rays and had a quick follow-up appt in which I received the green light to resume normal activities. If it bothers me in the future, come back, otherwise case closed. That was good news. I was good about following doctors orders: resting it and doing my mobility exercises. I think this helped speed up recovery.

Knee - Same diagnosis as in 2008. Chondomalacia Patella (irritation of the back surface of the kneecap) from Patellofemoral Syndrome (kneecap scraping on the femor). Essentially, this is a chronic issue that is never going to go away completely, but it is manageable.

Treatment plan - He gave me a cortisone shot yesterday which hurt like crazy, but is supposed to provide short term pain relief by tomorrow. I will start a series of 3 Euflexxa injections spaced out one week apart beginning on the 16th. My patella tracking doesn't seem to be much of an issue, so no PT this time, but I should keep up with the PT exercises from before for maintenance.

What is Euflexxa?

Euflexxa is a particular brand of medicines for HA therapy.

Essentially it helps replenish the joint fluid, providing cushion & lubrication to the knee. This works for my issue, because it gets the kneecap up off the femor so that it stops scraping. It normally provides relief for 6-12 months. In my case, it was wildly successful treatment last time, providing relief for nearly 18months. He said he's never had a patient report such long lasting results. I'm optimistic that it will work for me again, although I'll probably consider going back sooner if I have even mild symptoms because once my knee started bothering me it went downhill fast and the wait to get in for treatment is rather long.

What does this mean for Training/Racing?

I don't expect to be able to resume run training until mid August. If you follow me on FB, I posted a note yesterday with my thoughts on specific upcoming races and a half-baked training plan for the interim. When I figure it out completely, I'll fill you in here.

All-in-all, I'm encouraged. Just a bit anxious to put this all behind me. Mid August seems like a long way off.

Tuesday Three

* My fitness walking (with an occasional wog) added up to 19.25 miles last week. That's on par with my run mileage during half marathon training. I may not be building cardio fitness, but it should be good for building strength; I went up and down the hill 10 times last week!

* Son traveled solo for a few days at UC Berkeley last week. His travels went well except for a minor issue on the BART (boarded wrong train) which he was able to work out. Apparently he had a blast while he was there. He came home *very* excited for school in the fall. Next time that he heads out to Cal, he will be moving in and staying for 4 months. *gulp*

* Today is my long awaited orthopedic appointment for my knee. I hope he devises a plan to fix me up soon so that I'm able to run again. My knee has gotten progressively worse over the past several weeks. It now bothers me even on my walks. This appointment also includes a follow up on my elbow fracture, which is feeling much better. Perhaps I'll be released to normal activity on that front. Fingers crossed...

Monday Musings

• Walking is a pain in the butt. Literally. I don't really feel it anywhere else, but my glutes have been particularly fatigued since embarking on my run-walk endeavors.
• Our neighborhood is home to not one, but two three-legged dogs. One is missing a rear leg. One is missing a front leg.
  
• This weekend I bought a pair of white jeans that are too long. I knew they were too long and bought them anyway. Why? I like how they fit in the rear.
• My elbow is feeling a lot better this morning. I'm hoping to get the green light for normal activities (from an elbow perspective) when I go back to the orthopedic next week.
  
• I'm still waiting on the appointment for my knee. Not happy about the long lead time...
  
• Bandit graduated from basic obedience training this weekend. He did even better than Stymie! Proof that you *can* teach an old dog new tricks.
• One of my cherry tomato plants is out of control. I counted 15 tomatoes on it this morning and at least 75 blooms. It's crazy!
  
• I planted my watermelon and cucumber hills 5 ft apart in anticipation of being overwhelmed by the vines. Instead, the plants are maybe 3" tall. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong.
• I totally misjudged how long it would take to walk 4 miles Sunday morning. As a result, I missed church. Oops.
• It's officially the first day of Summer. I hope this means that the wind will finally die down.
  

The Elbow Saga continues...

Tuesday morning I got a call from the Urgent care clinic. Upon further review of my x-ray, the radiologist discovered a non-displaced fracture at the radial head. I was told to see an orthopedic asap.

Got in this morning. Ortho doc explained that when you move your forearm, turning your wrist over, the radial head must rotate within the joint. A fracture reduces this movement, causing problems with extension, as well as forearm pronation and supination. I need work on these movements so that I don't lose mobility. If it heals improperly, mobility is gone for good. That would be bad.

No cast or sling or surgery required. I consider that to be a good thing.

No swimming, no cycling, no weights. Take it easy with the arm and just work on mobility.

Running technically okay, dog walking not so much. But he stressed that taking it easy so that it heals properly is very important. Damaging it further would be a bad thing.

I'm supposed to go back in a few weeks. Until then, I guess I'm on injured reserve...

Greek Yogurt & Elbow

Greek Yogurt

A few weeks ago, I decided to get on the non-fat Greek Yogurt bandwagon. On paper, it's a great snack - loads of protein, zero fat, real sugar (but not too much of it), pro-biotics, and calcium. All packed into an individual snack sized container.

I don't recall the first brand that I tried, but it was a big YUCK.

Next I found Oikos brand in strawberry, which I liked a lot. Except for the price tag. It was ~1.69 for a 5.3 oz serving. Yikes.

Then a local health food store had 6 oz servings of Chobani on sale for .99 each. I picked up a couple in several different flavors each: strawberry, pomegranate, vanilla, peach, & blueberry.

The strawberry was too sweet for me straight out of the container, but my daughter likes this one. With some real berries added in (strawberries or blueberries), the flavor is balanced out more to my liking.

My first try of pomegranate was favorable, but since then I've decided that I don't care of the crunchiness of the seeds. I probably won't buy that one again.

I did not like the vanilla when I first tried it. The vanilla flavor is too overpowering. But it's grown on me. I actually enjoy it mixed in with my granola instead of milk and a handful of fresh blueberries.

Peach is hands down my favorite. I like it every way that I've tried it. I like it straight out of the carton. I like it with my granola. I like it with berries. I think I could eat this for breakfast, snack, and dessert and not get tired of it. Just thinking about it is making me want another one..

My husband's favorite is blueberry. I like this one too, but not as much as I like the peach.

Flavors I didn't try were plain, pineapple, and honey. I wanted to try plain, but they didn't have it in the 6 oz containers. Pineapple sounded interesting, but it wasn't non-fat. Honey simply didn't sound like something I would like. I also noticed that it had more sugar & more calories than the other flavors that I tried.

Elbow

I ended up going to urgent care this morning because my elbow was hurting more quite a bit more than I thought it should. It was also a bit swollen. They took an x-ray and it doesn't look fractured. However, the wound had gotten infected, which is what the doctor thinks was causing the tenderness and swelling. They cleaned it up again, wrapped it, and put me on antibiotics (Good thing I have all this Greek Yogurt on hand to replenish the good flora). Tomorrow morning I need to unwrap it, clean it up, and wrap it again. I'm really hoping that the doctor is right, and that my elbow will feel better when the antibiotics kick in.

Good thing I wasn't chewing gum...

You know how some people can't 'walk and chew gum' at the same time? Well apparently I have trouble with the simple act of walking. Who knows what would have happened if I had complicated matters by trying to chew gum too...

I woke up early Wednesday morning to give time to do a repeat of the hill gallowog from Sunday before work. I was out door at 6:00 with Bandit in tow. We had just completed a run segment and were slowing down to a walk.

When out of nowhere, I was attacked by a speed bump! Okay, maybe "attacked by" isn't the right phrasing. Perhaps "surprised by" is more accurate.

Next thing I knew, I was going down...and man oh man, that asphalt was unkind upon impact...

So, I picked myself up, dripped blood back to home, and proceeded to clean up my newly acquired road rash.

The worst of it is on my left elbow, where is where I took the bulk of the impact. I have a very impressive 2 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch gash/wound. It's rather disgusting looking and still painful. I'm expecting a scar to match the one I have on my right knee from a swing set related injury as a kid.

I'm taking a few extra days off so this can get a good start on the healing process.

On the bright side, this new elbow injury has distracted me completely from the problems I've been having with my left knee!

Be safe out there. There may be a speed bump hiding in wait to attack YOU!

Hill Gallowog

After reading more about the Galloway method, I decided to give it a try on Sunday. Right now I'm thinking of it as walking with run breaks (vs running with walk breaks) and expecting it to balance out to a slow jog pace. Hence my term, Gallowog.

The plan was to take one dog out solo and go up the hill near my house. Try something like a 1:1 or even a 1:2 (more walking than running). Return home. Repeat.

Decided to take Bandit out first. Had to adjust the run/walk interval a little to optimize it to the route we were running, but it went fairly well. My run/walk buddy, Bandit, did a good job matching my pace and staying at my side with a loose leash.

Switched dogs and went out with Stymie. Woah, boy! During the run intervals, he consistently took off at a much faster pace and I found myself trying to reign in my 80lb puppy. I need to work more with him to get him to match my pace and/or use the hands-free leash if I plan on running any with him.


When it was all said and done, it took me about 60 minutes to "gallowog" the dogs for a total of 4 miles and traverse the hill twice.

I'm quite pleased. This seemed like a much better workout than normal dog walking, was fun, and still didn't bother my knee.

Looking at my exercise logger, I realize that I haven't taken a rest day for the past 10 days. So, that is what I shall do today.

Have a great day!

Running vs. Walking

This morning I covered ~4 miles by feet, of which only 1.25 mile was running. In addition to being easier on my knee, the slower pace of walking allows me to enjoy the world around me in a new and different way, but it takes *forever* to cover the distance.

When I got home, I decided to do a little research about the benefits/disadvantages of running vs. walking. This is what I've discovered:

1) From a calories burned perspective, logging miles makes a lot of sense. It doesn't matter if you run a mile or walk a mile, it takes the same energy either way. But since running is faster, walking requires a larger time investment to burn an equivalent number of calories. It's doable, just takes longer.

2) Walking does help with cardio fitness, but not as much as running. That's because normal walking doesn't usually raise one's heart rate to the optimal training zone. Brisk walking and/or hilly terrain, however, may help.

3) Running has 3-4 times the impact on your bones and joints than walking. That means running has a higher risk of injury. It's also why it bothers my knee more. But on the flip side, the higher stress on the body from running has a bigger benefit toward building/maintaining bone density.

After digesting all that I've learned today, I'm beginning to think that a good compromise may be either a structured easy run/walk (Galloway-style) or race-walking (which I'm really not too interested in).

And with that, I'm off to learn more about the Galloway method...

Different Paces, Same Places

Walked the dogs for 2 miles Tuesday morning. I rode my bike to the run group meeting spot in the evening, chatted for a bit before they headed out on their run, and rode back home.

Wednesday I took the dogs on a 1.3 mile walk in the morning, then did a short 0.7 psuedo-run for national running day. Yeah, it wasn't far, but at least I got out there an ran!

Today I took the dogs out for a short 1 miler in the morning, and another 1 miler this evening.

It doesn't seem like a lot, but I'm realizing that even a little bit every day adds up. Including Monday, I've traveled 8.2 miles on my feet and 18.5 miles on my seat (bike). Not too shabby.

May Tally and Random Musings

May Totals

46.1 miles on my Feet (run + walk)
84.3 miles on my Seat (cycling)
0 races
1 high school graduation

Thoughts

The summer isn't going to turn out as expected due to issues with my knee, but sometimes life's greatest experiences are unplanned; I'll try to make the best of it!

Plans

Orthopedic appt at the end of the month. Taking it one day at a time from now until then with regard to my run/walk/cycle schedule.

Random Musings

* Chobani Strawberry yogurt tastes just like strawberry jam. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy strawberry jam (on toast), but I prefer yogurt to be more tangy. The Oikos brand Strawberry is much more to my liking.

* I had been planning to run another half marathon in August. It now seems unlikely that this will happen. Today I decided that if I can't run it, I will volunteer. It's a win-win!

* Rode my bike yesterday to the store to pick up a few things and carried them home in a backpack. Felt all proud of myself until I saw another couple who was there with a pull cart attached to a bike and an entire week's worth of groceries.

* Our grill seems to have died and needs to be replaced. Is it wrong that rather than be sad, I cheered? I'm really excited that we might be able to replace this old grill with a new Weber grill (they are supposed to be high quality)!

* I'm only about 3 lbs from my goal weight and holding steady. This makes me happy.

* When all else fails, boiling water is an effective organic ant killer. You're welcome.

Where's Lisa?

So as it turns out...

When things aren't going so well on the running/cycling front, there isn't much to blog about. Nor is there a lot of motivation to read blogs about the running/cycling of others.

Who knew?

It's not like I haven't been doing ANYTHING. It's just that what I have been doing isn't all that exciting because my knee continues to be problematic. And I'm really struggling to keep a positive attitude right now.

But here's how the past week unfolded

* Sunday: Walked 2.0 miles with the dogs. Obedience training is really paying off.
* Tuesday: Met the running group. They did fartleks. I "ran" 4.2 miles very slowly.
* Thursday: Unplanned rest. Bad weather (thunderstorms) & sick kid (tonsillitis).
* Friday: Walked 1.5 miles with the dogs. Cut short due to more thunderstorms.
* Saturday: Ran 4.2 miles even slower than Thursday. Walked 0.5 miles with the dogs. Went on slow 17.5 mile bike ride. Walked another 0.5 miles with the dogs.

So that's 12.9 miles by foot & 17.5 miles by bike for the week. Not horrible; not great.

Making Due

Yesterday, I set out on my bike with the intention of doing hill repeats. However, my knee wasn't happy with doing hills at all, so instead of repeats, I just did one hill this time.

While I enjoyed cycling on Friday, it's nowhere near the same for me as running. I love running. I don't love cycling. *sigh*

A few of you asked whether I have thought about trying to see a different specialist. I have considered it, but it only gets me in about one week earlier and a new person won't have my medical history available. All-in-all, I think seeing the same guy a week later is still the fastest path to getting this worked out.

I've decided that my 'run' total this month will include miles walked. It's my life, my log, my rules. :-)

Have a fun weekend everyone!

Benched...

The weekend got worse from a knee pain perspective before it got better. By Sunday afternoon, I was hobbling around. Not good.

I called the orthopedic guy's office early Monday morning. They cannot see me until the end of June. Why is the lead time to see a specialist soooooo long? Even if he does start me on Euflexxa injections again, we're looking at July before treatment starts. That's a good two months away. Then the downtime from the injections. This is going to mess me up throughout the entire summer. Sigh.

Between now and then I will simply use my best judgement. Coach thinks I need at least a full week off. Then we need to keep the volume, distance, and intensity down to a level that allows me to run without pain. I guess it's a good thing that I don't have any races on my calendar at the moment.

So I guess I will try to find ways to cycle more, assuming that won't bother my knee nearly as much. In fact, if the wind isn't too bad today, I think I will cycle over to my running group's meeting spot and back. I can't run with them, but I can still meet up!

Wordless Wednesday

Turn of Events

Haven't had much of interest to blog about. I could write about how I had to work Tuesday evening and didn't have chance to run. Or about skipping Thursday's run in favor of attending my Son's Senior Class Honor Assembly. Or about how I had the 'pleasure' of an emergency Friday night dental visit when a crown came loose during dinner. None of that would make for interesting reading though.

Instead, I decided to wait for today and my planned 8 miler.

So...the run group was meeting at a different place this morning. The route that was planned out was a loop. The planner thought the loop was 'about' 8 mile. Six of us showed up, and away we went.

The temp was ~50 deg when we started with a gentle breeze. Quite nice actually. We naturally broke into approximately two groups based on pacing. The small group that I was with was doing ~10:45 pace. Something I've been running comfortably for the past few months.

Around mile 5, however, my left knee started to hurt. It started as a gentle nagging pain, but quickly turned into the same pain that I experienced in 2008. Some of you have experienced this yourself. It's the 'you really need to have someone look at this' pain.

I began to ease up on my pace and slowed to something closer to 11:45. It helped somewhat. Also part of the route was on dirt. That was a little better as well. But by mile 7, even a slow pace on dirt wasn't enough to compensate for the knee pain.

At mile 8, we were still a good mile from our starting point. Normally I don't mind going a little longer than planned, but not today. I made it to about 8.5 miles and decided to turn off my Garmin and walk in.

The best description is that it is crunchy and painful. I'm fairly certain that it's a repeat of what ailed me before. I probably need to see the orthopedic for Euflexxa injections again. If I go that route, however, it will likely be a good 2 months or so of down time. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

In any event, I believe I need to do the following in the short term: 1) scale back on distance and intensity, 2) increase the frequency of my PT maintenance exercises, and 3) call on monday to schedule time with the orthopedic guy.

Additionally I will think about doing more cycling. And maybe even get back to the pool again...

Tired, Sunburned, and Happy

On Friday afternoon, I was able to get on my bike for a decent ride. This was a big deal, because I really haven't been on my bike since early March!!

I decided on a route with some serious climbs. It was exhausting, but satisfying. I ended up doing 19 miles total and met up with Husband to ride home for the final 5 or so. Here's the profile:

Yeah, those hills were challenging, and I was pretty slow going up, but I did it!

Saturday morning I went out for my 8 mile run. The weather was beautiful, but I was really struggling the whole way. It was one of those runs that just *sucked*. It certainly didn't help that I was out there solo, no friends on the trail for motivation. I couldn't figure out why it was so awful, but now I'm thinking that maybe that bike ride Friday afternoon may have had something to do with it?

This afternoon, Husband & I went out for another bike ride. This time ~25.5 miles on much flatter terain. For some stupid reason, I failed to apply sunscreen. Ouch. Don't think I'll make that mistake again any time soon.

As today is Mother's Day, I was showered with gifts when I got home from the bike ride.

Son put a lot of thought into finding some music that he thought I would enjoy and got me a CD. He also asked if there was something that I would like to do. Yes! I asked if we could load the dogs in the car and take them down to the ditch bank for a walk. And so we did. Bliss!

Daughter got home from work just before we came back with the dogs. She cleverly put some dark chocolates and a card that she made on my pillow. She also sat me down to tell me some of the reasons why she appreciates me. Given that she's a teenager, that was truly special.

I also found some Godiva raspberry and dark chocolate truffles in a gift bag by my computer. Those must be from Husband, who is also making dinner tonight (Chicken Mole) by request.

And that, my friends, is the story behind being Tired, Sunburned, and Happy.

Friday Five

Sorry for lack of posting or commenting. I've been too busy with life this week to pause for blogging. But it's all good!

1) I wanted to run on Thursday more than I wanted to sit out another evening because of windy weather. It was supposed to be an EASY run, but nothing about running in 25mph winds was easy no matter how much I slowed it down. It was, however, very satisfying.

2) Stymie & I passed the basic obedience test this morning! We've been practicing twice a day for two weeks for this test because parts of it were difficult to master in the 6 weeks that we've had with the class. He had to demonstrate Leave It, not taking treats from a stranger, not coming when called by a stranger, Sit, Sit-stay from a distance, Come, Down, Down-stay with distractions, Heal (including left turn, right turn, about-face, and automatic sit when handler stops).

3) I'm finding a that Gardening is very satisfying albeit a lot of work. The beans are coming up. One of the cucumer hills is sprouting. Some of the peppers have tiny little fruits on them. So do a few of the strawberry plants. The almost-killed-by-frost tomato plants are coming back to life. The watermelon hills seem to be the only things not doing well (or rather, not doing anything) at the moment.

4) I'm heading out for a solo bike ride a little bit later this afternoon. The plan includes meeting Husband when he gets off work so that I can finish the ride with him. He cycle commutes on Friday, and I'm off today, so it works out well.

5) I have 8 miles on the schedule for tomorrow. First longish run since the half-marathon. And it looks like I'll be running the ditch bank alone for that one. It should be peaceful.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Tuesday Thoughts

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Low 70s, wind "only" ~15mph. So I was determined all day to find a way to run when I got home.

I found time for 4.1 peaceful miles along the ditch bank. I took it slow-easy, not worrying one bit about pace. With every step, I felt my stress melting away. Ahhhh!

And while I was out there, I thought about the difference between can't and don't want to.

I don't like running in high wind. I don't like running on the treadmill. I don't like riding on the trainer. It's not that I couldn't run last Thursday, It's that I didn't want to. I didn't want to run outside in the wind and I didn't want to run on the treadmill.

It's not that I couldn't cycle on Saturday, It's that I didn't want to. I didnt' want to cycle outside in the wind and I didn't want to put the bike on the trainer.

This doesn't really change anything other than an acknowledgement that I'm responsible for my own actions. Which by the way, is even *more* important in other aspects of my life. While I don't care to go into detail on that, trust me, it's an important lesson.

Here's hoping for nice weather so that I want to run and cycle outside later this week and on the weekend!

In which I aspire to Make Lemonade

Physical Fitness over the past half week has been a whopping goose egg.

• Didn't Run Thursday due to high (~35mph) winds.
• Didn't make up the run Friday due to cold/windy weather
• Didn't run Saturday due to cancelled groups and decision to cycle instead
• Didn't Cycle more than 5 miles due to wind sucking the life/fun out of me
• Didn't Run Sunday due to decision to skip race (btw, Husband did great!)
• Didn't Cycle Sunday due to rain, thunderstorms, and Hail
• and I won't be running with the Group on Tuesday due to a personal conflict

*Sigh*

So yeah, it feels like Life has been pelting me with Lemons lately. And my mood has been equally sour. This is not a good way to be, so with my extra free time, I tried to Make Lemonade in other areas of my life.

• Replaced veggie plants in my garden that had been affected by late frost
• Ordered Patio furniture for the new shade structure
• Ordered Mother's Day flowers for Mom & MIL
• Ordered graduation gift for Son
• Practiced Dog Obedience skills with Stymie & Bandit
• Watched the Blind Side (on DVD)
• Spent an hour doing Wii Fit.
• Made a serious dent in Laundry Mountain (it never ends!)
• Tried a new soup recipe - delicious!

It's not the same as running or cycling, but it beats moping around the house...

Horizon...

April Running tally came in at 75.6 miles. Not as high as March, mostly because I'm in a recovery period following my half-marathon, but still decent mileage for a 3 day per week runner. I'm pleased.

I have no races on my immediate horizon. This is not a good thing. I'm at a bit of a loss without an upcoming race/event to target. Plus, the training schedule picks back up again next week as recovery period will be over. Since I don't know what race/event is next, the training plan is somewhat generic.

I'm purposely *not* running a local 5K/10K tomorrow. I'm just not feeling it, so I decided to pass on this one. Most of the run club is running it, so we didn't meet today. I could have run alone, but decided against that.

No worries. I'm hoping the weather holds out so that Husband & I can hop on our bikes later today instead. I'm not sure if I have enough time to prepare for it, but I'd really like to do the Albuquerque (half) Century again this year if possible. Problem is that it is a short 5 weeks away and I haven't been on my bike all month. Time to put on my cycling clothes and get out on the bike if I'm going to make this happen.

Have a great weekend!

Intervals and Close Encounters

INTEVALS:

Intervals were on the schedule for yesterday evening. The workout was prescribed as: 15 min warmup, 3x (5 minutes HARD, 3 minutes REST), 10 min cooldown.

Decided to do this as an out and back. And I was mathmatically challenged and thought that I would turn around after the 2nd 5 minutes hard. To make the cool down closer to 10m minutes, I should have turned BEFORE the 2nd 5 minutes, but whatever. Just made for a longer easy segment at the end.

The splits were as follows

warm up - 11:01
5min hard 9:14
3 min rest 16:03 - walking
5min hard 9:28
3 min rest 18:20 - walking
5min hard 9:12
3 min rest 11:30 - walking, then running easy
cool down 10:36 - ended up being 18 min, 1.75 miles to get back

I'm not really sure how fast my HARD segments should have been, but I was impressed with myself for pulling off numbers in the 9:10-9:30 range, for me that is pretty darn speedy.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS:

I was hit by a cyclist during my warm-up. Never expected that to happen!

Begin rant.

I was running the warm-up on the sidewalk next to a road with a bike lane. The cyclist was riding fast up on the sidewalk rather than in the actual bike lane. And as he came speeding by, either his body or his bars hit my forearm. SMACK! He didn't stop or slow down to say sorry or make sure whoever he hit was okay. I was okay, but that's not the point.

For the sake of argument, let's say I had been a little kid or part of a family walking on the sidewalk, this could have really turned out bad. Anyway, my arm was sore, but nothing serious. But still...

Being a seasonal cyclist myself, this really made me angry. The guy should have been riding in the bike lane and not up on the sidewalk. If he felt the bike lane was unsafe, he should have slowed down and been much more cautious around walkers/runners up on the sidewalk.

This is a perfect example of why cyclists get a bad name. Motorists and others are upset with them in general. They end up taking it out on the rest of us when we are out on the road (where we belong...not on the sidewalk!!)

End rant.

Tuesday Tidbits

1) Just for grins, I took a photo of each of the dogs this morning.

Apparently, Bandit was too tired/lazy to get up for the photo. I was feeling the same way when my alarm went off, so I understand! Also note that he is sporting a reflective collar. He could be a runner, but he still pulls too much to go out with me. I leave it to Husband to run with him.

On the other hand, we have Stymie, the-giant-puppy-who-turned-1-yrs-old-a-few-weeks-ago-and-is-about-to-graduate-from-obedience-class. I'm thinking maybe I can start running with him soon.

The thing on the left in the picture with Stymie is the pool table and those tiles are 18" square, just to give you some idea of his small pony-ish size. I definately feel safe when I'm out with him...


2) Stepped on the scale this morning and was quite pleased with the number that showed up. Lowest weight that I've been for a good two years, and much closer to where I want to be. Yay!

3) We had church directory photos taken on Sunday. The photographer also took one other pose of our family which turned out nice, so I ordered that one. I am very happy about that. Might be the last opportunity for quite some time for a family photo with the four of us.

4) I was expecting to have a personal conflict tonight that would keep me from the running group. But that conflict went away. So now I'm on tap for intervals this evening. Not sure how I feel about that...

5) There are ants in my garden! I need to figure out a way to get them out of there without chemicals. Yesterday I tried sprinkling cinamon and coffee grounds on the opening to their hole. Later in the day, I saw a roadrunner hop the fence to my garden. Maybe he likes cinamon and coffee coated ants?

edited to add: Roadrunners are welcome to hang out in my garden. They eat things like snakes, rodents, insects, etc. They don't eat plants.

Tempo Run

Before I get into the details of this run, some background for context.

My goal for the half-marathon was to finish strong & feeling good & uninjured. I didn't have a time goal, and Coach purposely didn't give me any specific paces to hit during training. Instead, he would prescribe something like "steady" or "tempo" or "easy" and I ran by feel.

Over time, I learned that "tempo" means something around 10:10. And easy means something closer to "10:45" And warm-up usually comes in at about "11:05". Apparently, so did he. I shared my Garmin data with him, so I guess this is no surprise.

Anyway...

When he handed me the training plan for the next month, I found it to have pace targets All.Over.It. I don't know why, but this makes me very nervous. *gulp*

Which brings me to yesterday. Coach ordered up a tempo run for Saturday morning. He asked for 15min warm up, 4 mile tempo (10:00-10:20 pace for me), 10 min cool down.

As soon as we started, and area near my right hip going down my leg started to hurt. What the heck?!? Where did that come from? But I found that it got better as I got warmed up. So I was determined to go ahead with the run as planned.

I was nervous about hitting my tempo pace target. But as I thought about it, I decided to just to run by feel. This is what I have been doing for the past three months, and the pace has sorted itself out. Why should today be any different?

I used my lap button to separate the tempo portion from the warm-up and cool-down. And I was thrilled after the run to see the results: ~11:00 for the warm up, 10:03 for the tempo portion, ~11:30 for the cool down.

Now for some serious attention to that IT band. Foam roller, here I come...

Friday Five

1) Tuesday I was supposed to run 4 miles @ 10:30. I did not have a pacer with me, so I had to wing it. I ended up doing the following:

mile 1: 10:51
mile 2: 10:07
mile 3: 10:01
mile 4: 9:46

Oops. Had it been a progressive run, that would be success. But for the prescribed run, it was a big FAIL. However, given that I've had a lot of my mind lately and certainly felt much better at the end, it's all good.

2) Last night our group was supposed to run 30 minutes, then meet at a local diner for dessert. We don't do this often, but we were celebrating our recent successes including our club-mate who PR'd with a 3:18:35 at Boston.I was the ONLY one who actually showed up to run. Everyone else had planned to skip the run and head straight to the food. I caved into peer pressure and consumed a breakfast burrito and a huge serving of bread pudding. Yummy!

3) My son has less than a month to go before high school graduation. In the fall, he will be leaving home to attend school out of state. While I'm extremely proud of him and excited for the opportunities that lie ahead, I'm really not doing very well with the whole leaving home thing.

4) Coach gave me a training plan for the next month, but from a race perspective, I don't have a plan for what's next. Must.Remedy.This.Soon.

5) One of the spectating run club members took photos at the race last weekend. I look like a dork in all of them, but I'll share one from near the finish line in which I look happy (because I was!).

Reflecting

First off, Congrats to all the Boston runners. How exciting it was to follow along yesterday! I can't wait to read the race reports. I am also looking forward to talking to the guy from my run group who ROCKED Boston yesterday and achieved a PR for the marathon distance!

While my half-marathon achievement may pale in comparison to running Boston, it truly was a significant accomplishment for me. I'd like to take this time to reflect back on my past half-marathons just to put it in perspective.

2007 Chips & Salso 2:38:08 - This was my first ever half-marathon attempt. I planned to accomplish the distance by employing a run/walk strategy. By mile 11, I was done, caput, finished! I walked practically the rest of the way. I was hurting in a big way afterwards, but was quite pleased with myself for getting to the finish line.

2007 Duke City 2:36:58 - Second half-marathon attempt, a mere 6 weeks or so after the first one. Same strategy. Slightly faster result due to a bit more training, but still hurting at the end. Slower and slower as each mile progressed and more walking. If someone would have come by in a golf cart at mile 12 and offered to take me to my car, I would have given up and jumped right in!

2008 Unser 20K - While not technically a half-marathon, it was close enough to include in my history. Finish time was 2:21:35 for 12.4 miles, so it would be something like a 2:30:00 finish for a full 13.1 miles. Walked through most of the aid stations. Again, I was hurting by mile 10 or so.

2008 Chips & Salsa DNF* - This was the year that my knee issue (patella-femoral-syndrome) made itself known. My knee was hurting at the start line. I never should have attempted run the race. I stopped running at mile 6.5. I walked to mile 10 at which point I was picked up by car and headed to urgent care...

2008 Duke City 2:29:07 - Once again, about 6 weeks after my DNF. For some stupid reason, I tried running a half-marathon AGAIN. My knee was feeling better because I basically didn't run between the two races. However, once again, knee pain emerged. This time at mile 5. I was miserable throughout the rest of the race. Walked a bunch at the end. Very unhappy. A few weeks later, finally had the appt with an orthopedic that set me on a path to get healthy with regard to my knee.

2009 Duke City 2:25:14 - A full year and much knee therapy later, I tried again after racing nothing longer than a 5K in between. I had trained almost exclusively on dirt trails. Running the race on ashpalt took a huge toll on my body. Everything hurt by about mile 8. Lots of limp-walking especially the last few miles. Did not achieve my goal of finishing strong, feeling good. Not a happy camper.

2010 Albuquerque Half-Marathon 2:21:31 - Slight knee pain at mile 11, otherwise, I felt good and ran steady throughout. Planned my race and raced my plan. Finished strong and feeling good. It was a long road to this point, but I finally conquered the distance, it didn't conquer me!! VERY HAPPY!!

Albuquerque Half Marathon Race Report

Official Time - 2:21:31. Half-Marathon PR!
Age group placing pending, but I think I was 18th of however many W45-49

Woke up in the middle of the night to let the dogs out. It was raining, but not too hard. I figured that I could run in that if it didn't let up in the morning.

However, when the alarm went off, all I heard was rain coming off the roof. It was wet out there, but the rain had stopped.

Checked the weather and it was about 47 deg with temps expected to be about 53 in late morning. I decided to wear capris and a long sleeve shirt. Had it not been for the threat of more rain, I would have gone with a short sleeve shirt.

Arrived at the parking area and had a good 3/4 mile hike along a muddy ditch bank to the race start location. Husband & I commented about how much it would suck to have to run on that. Ha! If I only knew...

Got our chips and found the others from the run group. Two were running the 10K. Three of us were running the half. A few were spectating. Wished everyone well and waited for the race to start.

While lined up for the start, the RD announced that we would be running down the road, to the foot bridge and across, then around a field on that same muddy ditch bank that we walked up from the parking area.

You have got to be kidding me! First off, the foot bridge is only wide enough for two people at a time. Secondly, the ditch was a slippery muddy mess.

But alas, he was not kidding. And roughly 2 minutes and 30 seconds after the gun went off, I found myself in a dead stop, waiting my turn to get across the narrow foot bridge. Sigh.

I took a picture of the foot bridge afterwards to show that I'm not exagerating about how narrow it was:

Once we cleared the bridge, we had roughly 2 miles of mud running before we finally got to the street. So yeah, the first 2 miles basically sucked. On the bright side, I definately didn't go out too fast. Ha!

After that, we finally made it out onto the road, where we stayed for the remainder of the race.

I won't bore you with a mile by mile replay, here are some highlights:

• My kids showed up at roughly the halfway point to cheer us on. I really appreciated that.
• On the asphalt, I settled into a pace that was basically the same as in training, ~10:45.
• The only walk break that I (purposely) took was at the final aid station.
• I believe I would have finished close to 2:20:00 if it wasn't for that stupid foot bridge at the beginning.
• I ran solid throughout. I wasn't able to turn it up at the end, but I didn't slow down either. I am happy with that.
• My knee started to bother me a little at mile 11. Not horribly, but enough to make me take notice.
• The run group did great overall. Both 10K racers won their age groups. Two of us had half-marathon PRs

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, folks. As for me, I'm ready for a nap!

Edited to add: I failed to mention it earlier, but I fully met my primary goal of finishing strong and feeling good. I'm VERY happy. :-)

Friday Five - Freakout Edition

1) I am praying the weather forcast for Saturday is wrong. Low 44, High 59. 60% chance of showers with occasional t-storms. I do NOT want to run my half-marathon in rain and/or t-storms.

2) Somebody in my running group asked what I am wearing to the race. This question was aimed at spectating, being able to easily locate me. I responded - "I dunno, whatever is clean?" But seriously, what AM I going to wear to the race? Why haven't I figured this out yet? I need to figure that out today and make sure that it IS clean. After all, the race is tomorrow.

3) Coach had running partner & I run fairly easy last night. 15 min easy, 20 min steady, then a cool down at the end. I asked running partner if he could pace us at 10:00 min/mi during the steady. He totally rocks as a pacer. Garmin said we ran 10:50 for the easy, 9:59 for the steady, and 10:25 for the cool down. It was a very short run, but another confidence booster with regard to being able to control pacing.

4) Busy busy day today. I need to plant my beans, cucumbers, & watermelons this morning. Clean up. Take Stymie to obedience class. Return Stymie to home. Go across town to pick up packet (oh.my.gosh.the.race.is.tomorrow). Come home and call the guy about the controller on the irrigation system. Meet with guy about said irrigation system. Figure out what I'm going to wear tomorrow. Make sure it's clean. Make dinner. Stop obsessing over the weather forcast and try to relax so that I can sleep well.

Please forgive me if I do a lousy job of catching up on blogs in the midst of all of that.

5) Have I mentioned that the race is tomorrow? Oh.my.gosh. oh.my.gosh. oh.my.gosh.

Fabulous Four

Taper must be messing with my mind, because I showed up to my running group lacking anything and everything resembling confidence. But I'm persistent if nothing else, and wanted to make something happen today.

With the race 5 days out, I needed this run for my mind more than I needed it for my body. I was doubting myself before, but now I'm back to believing in myself. I can and I will start out easy and pick it up at the end.

I'm ready.

Done, Done, Not Done

Thursday's run was not a 5 mile run like I thought. Not sure where I got that crazy idea. It's not at all what the training plan says. It was 15 easy, 20 steady, 15 easy. I must admit, I didn't like the idea of the steady portion of this run, but reluctantly went ahead with the plan. Coach said to shoot for 10:15-10:20 on the steady.

I explained that while he can give me whatever numbers he wants, I have no idea how to aim for a pace. I agreed to start out easy with the group, then pick it up for 20mins, then slow down again at the end. The paces would be whatever they were.

When I got home and evaluated the run on my Garmin, the numbers were as follows: 10:45, 10:07, 10:33. Emailed this to coach and he was pleased.
Thursday run - DONE.

Saturday's run was scheduled as 6 miles easy. Most of my easy runs have been ended up in the ~10:45 range, so I expected to see the same again. Oddly, I ended up running with 3 other people in my running group, none of which were feeling it on that particular morning. Personally, I think the problem was that it was too warm (45 when we started) and we were all dressed for ~30s like it's been for the past several months. Our pace was ~11:20. Blah. Note to self, check the weather carefully on race day and dress appropriately! Anyway, Saturday run - DONE

I had one other item on my list this weekend - early packet pick up. The other day for packet pick up is next Friday. However, the combination of son coming home from another out of town campus visit (which I was eager to talk to him about) and then getting ready for prom (which he looked very handsome for), put a squeeze on my time. Packet pick-up - NOT DONE; it will have to wait for next week.

Babbling...

All kinds of bloggy ideas were coming to me while I was running on the ditch bank this afternoon (to make up for the run I didn't do yesterday). Now I'm here typing and drawing a blank. Why is that? Perhaps my brain is wired somehow to my legs. When I stop and sit down, the brain shuts off? Who knows. So I shall resort to babbling...

I really enjoyed the comments to my last post. I found it very interesting to see where each of you draw the line (or not). Lots of different opinions. Seems to depend somewhat on your particular circumstance including what you are training for, what your goals are, and what weather you have to deal with on a regular basis.

Ten days 'til my half-marathon, but who's counting. Oh, I guess I am. Hehehehe. I believe it is a fair statement to say that I have enjoyed every single run leading to the race with the exception of the bad 12-miler. Back at the beginning of the year I set a goal for myself to "Race to Train, not Train to Race" and I believe I've scored a well deserved A+ on that one thus far.

In the last few half marathons that I've run, I've finished feeling like the course defeated me. This time, I want to conquer the course. I'm not positive, but I think I will go in with the attitude that the race starts at mile 10. Everything up to that point is a warm up. Slow-steady for 10 miles, then pick up the pace and own that last 5K. Sounds good on paper. We'll see what happens on race day.

Group run tomorrow. I think 5 miles is on the schedule. Then my "long" run is 6 miles on Saturday. Seems funny that my long run is only 1 mile longer than a mid-week run, but whatever. I'm trusting my training, and that's what the schedule says.

Where do YOU draw the line?

Everybody draws the line somewhere. It's just a matter of where.

Let me back up.

This morning I checked the weather forcast and it was predicted to be ~54 deg, winds 25-30mph with gusts up to 40mph at run group time. I immediately thought. "I'm not running in that"

And I'm okay with that.

Because everyone draws the line somewhere. I've run when it was 11 deg outside. I've decided that 15deg is my lower threshold. One line is drawn there.

I've run in light snow. I've run in heavy snow. I've run in sleet (ouch!). I've drawn a line at sleet. And any time the roads are icy. Or when visibility is low.

I've run in heat. I've run in humidity. I've run in hot sun. I don't like it, but I haven't drawn the line there yet.

I've run on wet pavement. I've run in light rain. I've run in moderate rain. I draw the line at heavy rain or deep puddles. Oh, and I've drawn the line at thunderstorms too.

I've run in the early morning. I've run in the afternoon. I've run in the early evening. It's all good as long as the sun is up. I draw the line at darkness.

I've run in sand. I've run hills. I've run at the track. I think this year, I'm drawing another line at the track. My knee doesn't seem to like all the turning.

And that brings me to today. I've run in light wind. I've run in moderate wind. I've run in heavy wind. And I'm not exactly sure where the line is, but it's well below 20-25 mph with 40mph gusts.

So where do YOU draw the line?

Nine Mile Run

Holy Saturday started off with a nine mile run. This was my last long run before the half-marathon. From here on out, nothing longer than six miles. Taper has arrived!

My plan for the race is to go out slow-steady and then pick it up at the end. I believe that this strategy that has the best potential to position me to accomplish my main goal - finishing strong, feeling good, smiling, and wanting to do it again.

With that in mind, I wanted to test out this approach on my last long-ish run. Success! I finished with a smile and am feeling great! I ran the first seven miles at ~10:52 and the last two miles at ~10:14. Overall average pace was 10:44. I will be thrilled if I can to do it just like that on race day.

After the run, for a cool down, I spend some quality time walking each of my dogs separately. This is to practice what I'm learning in the obedience class. Leash manners are getting much better! Maybe in another month I can try walking them together.

A few of you asked about pictures of the dogs. Here's one that I took last week that might give you some idea of their sizes. I was inside the fenced garden area watering my strawberries and Stymie was peeking his head through trying to find out what was going on in there. Bandit didn't seem too interested. I'll try for some better photos later this week. :-)

Happy Easter, everyone!

Three Things Thursday

1) March Numbers:

Ran 81.6 miles, I'm quite certain this is a monthly mileage PR for me! With a vacation week in there, no less. Woot!

Didn't bother to tally bike or strength, while it was non-zero, it was also non-impressive.

April plan is to stick to my training and *rock* the half-marathon in two weeks by finishing strong, smiling, and wanting to do it again!

2) Thursday non-Run:

The group ended up *not* running today due to high winds (25mph with 40mph gusts). Sure, I could have run solo, but I declined due to allergies. The plan is to run tomorrow morning instead. I really need my Garmin to cooperate on Saturda for my long run. But I must say that I'm happy that it seems willing to cooperate tomorrow morning:

3) Dog Obedience Training

Stymie and I are headed to obedience class #2 tomorrow. First class went well. We've been doing our homework all week, and it's going well. I'm looking forward to whatever we will learn/practice tomorrow. I'm also hoping that maybe I can begin to include him in some of my shorter runs soon. He seems to be past the massive growing stage. Not sure his exact weight, but I'm guessing ~80-85lbs as he is bigger/longer/taller than Bandit who weighs ~75 lbs.

Monday Ditch Bank Run

I normally do my mid-week runs on Tuesday and Thursday. However, tomorrow happens to be Passover. I'm planning to attend a Passover Seder and won't have time to run.

So I needed to do my 5 mile run today. I decided to run on the ditch bank for a change. I wish I had my camera with me. I saw a several ducks swimming in the ditch and some flowers along the ditch bank that were beginning to bloom. Very cool.

I've been having trouble with my Garmin not seating well on the cradle.. Today was one of those days when I found it mis-seated and uncharged. I have a pretty good idea where my turn around point is and it was scheduled as an easy run so I didn't need to know my pace. But I must admit to being addicted to data. It bothers me somewhat not knowning precisely how far I ran (4.9? 5.0? 5.2?) or what my splits are. But I'll get over it.

Success!!

If you follow me on FB, you already know that I consider my Saturday run a success. I finished a total of 11.1 miles with no knee pain (YAY!), finished strong, and felt awesome afterwards and throughout the day. It was sooooo much better than last week. But why?

I'm not an expert, but these are a few things that I think may have contributed to a successful pain-free run.

1) The massage on Friday.

She did more of a sports massage and was able to work out some tightness in my muscles. In addition to putting me in a very relaxed state, I could tell that my body was moving more freely afterwards. It was a good experience. I'm going to go back again sometime, just not sure when.

2) New shoes.

I wore my Saucony Triumph 6 shoes instead of my old 5s. I prefer the 5s, but I think it may be time to retire them. I've had the 6s in rotation for a few weeks, but this was the first time they went with me on a long run.

3) Better pace management

My running partner wanted to push the pace this weekend. I knew that would be a bad idea for me. So we went our separate ways. Actually we went the same way, but at our own paces. Hehehe. I started off about 15sec per mile slower than last week and held that throughout. It was a very sustainable pace for me and my body seemed happy. I felt great and picked it up a bit for the last two miles, a sign to me that my run strategy was 'smart.'

4) Less Stress

Last week we ran at a later time than usual. I was feeling a little rushed because it was getting later in the day and I had a lot to do before picking up my kids from their trip. When I am stressed, I get tense. This weekend, however, we ran at our usual time. No time pressure at all. Plus I was still relaxed from the massage. I can't help but think this is a much better mental & physical state to be in when running. Stress and tension must impact form, especially when one gets fatigued.

What do you think? Am I way off the mark or do these seem like reasonable contributing factors? And am I overanalying? It's just so important to me to finish pain-free, strong, & happy. I want to be able to do that over-and-over-and-over again.

We're three weeks out. Next week's long run is only nine, then six, then RACE!!

Five Things Friday

1) I think the extra rest/recovery on Tuesday was just what I needed. I felt notably better yesterday and was able to run 5 miles with the group on a BEAUTIFUL early evening without knee pain. Everyone else was doing easy/steady/easy. I stuck with easy (and coach agreed). My pace ended up being 10:34. Which, by the way, was my steady pace last year. Even though I have not been focussing on speed, my speed seems to be improving. Actually, I'm a lot happier this way. When trying to get faster, I got frustrated when not seeing the desired improvement. Now that I'm focussion only on endurance and injury-prevention, the improved speed is a bonus.

2) Stymie and I have our first obedience class today. Assuming it doesn't get cancelled. I'm questioning it just a bit because I was supposed to get a reminder call yesterday and didn't. And I didn't have time to follow up myself. Will just show up and hope that we are on.

3) This afternoon, I'm also scheduled for a massage. This is a huge deal for me. Husband talked me into a massage while we were on vacation. He gets them every 3 weeks or so and finds that themt o be very beneficial. The concept sounds good to me; however, I am completely weirded out by the thought of a complete stranger touching me. It took me a good 15minutes to calm down the first time. But once I did, I did notice a positive benefit. So, I decided to give it a try here at home. Fingers crossed that it will go well...

4) Husband decided to sign up for the upcoming half-marathon as well. Woot!! And he *might* run the 11 with me this weekend. Or not. He doesn't like getting up early to run. I don't like running later in the day. So we'll see what happens with that. But he will be running with me on race day and that ROCKS!

5) I keep meaning to post about our wonderful vacation get-away, but haven't had time. Maybe I'll get to it this weekend. Maybe I'll just skip it all together. Not sure yet. One observation that I will share is that I was surprised that the food in Puerto Vallarta was MUCH milder than the local food here in New Mexico. Not sure if that is because their chilis are milder due to the difference in climate or if they purposely keep it mild for tourists.

That's all for now. Enjoy your weekend!!

Adapting the Plan

"Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach." - Tony Robbins

Until today, I haven't missed a training run for this upcoming half marathon. Today I've carefully considered my situation and have purposely chosen to skip the scheduled run. While my knee is feeling better, my back is a bit sore after the shuffle-hobble on Saturday. I truly believe that I need a few more days of recovery more than I need this run. I'm listening to my body this time. Given that my goal is to finish feeling good, it just doesn't make sense to run when I'm experiencing the bad kind of pain.

In light of this decision, I made it a point to get up from my desk and do a bit more walking than usual. And up and down the stairs a few times at work. I've also decided do some stretching in the hot tub later this evening. I'm aiming for active recovery.

So...Thursday I have 5 miles on the schedule that I'm intending to complete. Then 11 on Saturday. I *really* want Saturday's 11 to go well; it's my second chance at a big run in prep for the half.

It's all downhill from there with the remaining weekend long runs scheduled as 9 miles, then 6, then 13.1 on race day.

She's Back!

Did you miss me? I didn't make a huge deal of it on blogger (didn't seem like a great idea to announce to the entire internet that we were going to be gone), but we've gone to and returned from Puerto Vallarta since my last post. Where, among other things, we celebrated our 21st anniversary.

And the kids have gone to and are currently en route to home from their trip to New Orleans. Where they spent four long grueling days of labor to rebuild houses. I'll save any other details from both of those trips for another post. This one will be devoted to running.

On Tuesday, Husband & I ran up and down the beach. I didn't have my Garmin, so I'm estimating based on time that it was roughly 3 miles. Man o' man that was a workout. Husband felt it mostly in his calves, I felt it in my abs. Running in sand is something all together different than running on hard surfaces or even packed trail.

On Thursday we thought about beach running again, but quite frankly I was not interested in being out in the sun. So we headed to the hotel fitness center where I succumbed to 5.2 b-o-r-i-n-g miles on the treadmill. If you have followed my blog for even a short amount of time, you will know how difficult that was for me. I despise the treadmill. But, I figured it was better than skipping the run, so I endured.

We got back late yesterday evening and I had 12 miles on the calendar for today. Our normal running time is 8am, which wasn't looking so good given that it was snowing when our flight came in and was supposed to snow all evening. I was actually relieved when I got a text from my running partner that he needed to postpone his run from 8am to 11:30.

As it turns out, by the time we started running, the storm had passed and the sun was back out. And Husband decided to join us! Seemed like it was going to be a good run.

And it was. For 9 miles, that is.

Then my knee started to bother me. Not good. I decided to ease up and let my running partner go on ahead. I was determined to finish this run, but I needed to back off the pace. That worked fairly well until the last mile. By then I was doing a full-on limp-hobble-shuffle. Still determined to get in the mileage, I backed off some more.

About two hours and sixteen minutes after I started, I was back at the car. Nine minutes after my running partner made it in. That means I slowed down an average of 3 minutes per mile on those last three miles. Blah.

So, I'm chalking this up as my first bad run of the season. All I can do is shake it off, take care of my knee, and try again next time. And hey, without the bad runs, we'd never appreciate the good ones, right?

Now I have a BUNCH of blogs to catch up on. Enjoy your weekend!!

Terrific Ten

I'm not sure why, but 10 miles seems to be where it becomes a real mental game for me. I was already nervous about the run last night. That's not a good sign.

But I broke it down logically. It's simple really. All I need is a good night's sleep, appropriate fuel, some fast tempo music, and a charged up Garmin. Eat appropriately, dress appropriately, & show up at the meeting spot on time. Find an easy/sustainable pace. Run for 5 miles. Turn around. And run back. Believe in yourself. Believe in your training.

The sleep was good (not great, but good enough). My ipod was charged. My Garmin was charged. I figured out what to wear. Had time to eat. Got there on time. Running partner was there already. We decided to head out early, assuming some of the others would catch up with us anyway. And so we were off.

It helped that he was a bit tired and didn't feel like pushing the pace at all. It helped that we had stories to tell that kept our minds occupied most of the way. It helped that the weather was quite pleasant actually.

I kept waiting for the point in the run where it begins to suck. That point never came. We stayed fairly steady the whole way. Picked up the pace just a bit at the end and finished strong. Overall pace was 10:47, final mile was 10:24.

Next week the schedule calls for twelve. You know what? I think I can do this.

Coachless Run

Showed up at the meeting spot yesterday to find that the speedy training-for-Boston guy and I were the only ones who showed up. Coach wasn't there, but I really didn't expect that to be a deterrant for the rest of the group. Oh well, their loss!

It started off a little awkward. The Boston guy felt obligated to run with me, but I didn't want to hold him back. I kept telling him that he could go on ahead, but he insisted that we stick together. When it was all said and done, we had gone 4.6 miles. Time actually went by fairly quickly because I had someone new to chat with.

Today is a rest day. Tomorrow I have 10 on the schedule. *Gulp*

3 Things Thursday

1) I haven't managed to get down to my goal weight, but I'm okay with that. My clothes are fitting differently and I just might need to go down a size in running shorts. Not taking action on that quite yet, the last thing I need is smaller running shorts that don't actually fit, but I'm keeping this in mind as a possibility.

2) The weather has been weird lately. Another storm has passed through threatening to dump snow and/or rain on us. We really haven't had much precipitation from it though. Or at least not yet. I hope it stays that way throughout the day so we have reasonable running weather this afternoon. Then it can rain or snow all it wants. Is that asking too much?

3) I'm rediscovering jewerly. I got into a habit of wearing exactly the same stuff over and over and over again for the past several years. Leaving the rest to sit in my jewelry box. Recently, I decided to start switching it up again. Quite refereshing actually. The downside is now I want more... Heheheh.

Tuesday Training

I don't know, maybe just blogging about what was keeping me up at night helped. But I'm thinking the 4.25 mile run before dinner didn't hurt either. In any event, I slept well enough that I woke up a half hour before my alarm went off and feel rested this morning. Yay!

About that run. My training plan said 45min easy. Coach said that he wanted me to pick it up and run "steady" at the end once I passed the bridge. For clarification, he added "try for ~10:15."

We went out a slightly different route than usual, heading north up a dirt trail rather than heading south and onto the bike path. I dutifully turned around at 22:30 minutes. Some of the others continued on for a bit as we each have slightly different plans based on individual goals. I found myself alone when I got to the bridge. No one to pace off of. Drat. Unsure whether I was anywhere close to the prescribed pace at the end, I picked it up a bit.

I was pleasantly surprised when I checked my Garmin later in the evening. My average pace for the first 3.5 miles was 10:43. The .75 mile section after the bridge was at 10:08. Mission accomplished!

Not sleeping well

Are you familiar with the song Trouble by Ray Montagne?

"Worry...
Worry, worry, worry, worry
Worry just will not seem to leave my mind alone"

There are several things other things going on in my life that keep me up at night. It's a bad habit as there isn't much I can do about things at night, but that's when they trouble me the most. I don't wish to share the details on some of the more personal ones, but here's an example:

Background for Context: My kids will be heading out to New Orleans for Spring Break to help rebuild/repair homes destroyed by Katrina. I'm incredibly proud of them for choosing to spend their spring break this way. However...

Worrisome Thoughts: They are making me crazy by postponing packing until the last minute. Do we have everything they need? Am I caught up on laundry? It will take 2 full days of driving there and then again on the way back. What if something happens on the road trip? Son has to fly out Sunday to meet up with them. What if something happens with his flights or connection? We'll be travelling that week also. What if something happens while they are there? How easy it might be (or not) to contact us in case of emergency?

Reality: We can make an emergency trip Thursday for supplies if needed. I've supplied emegency phone numbers and back-up contacts that will know how to get a hold of us. Son is an experienced traveller, surely he can figure it out what to do if there is an issue with his connectons.

Sometimes I wish I could just turn off my mind, relax, and get some decent sleep. Sigh.

Saturday Surprises

Saturday started off with a long run. My training partner & I decided to go 9 instead of 8. We are scheduled for 10 next weekend and both of us felt better building up a little more gradually. My request was that we try to stay together for the first half. After that, if he needed to speed up, don't worry about leaving me behind. I'd be fine.

We started off with the rest of the training group. The group stayed together for the first mile. Then everyone found their own training paces and carried on.

Surprise #1 - Once everyone found their paces, we weren't the furthest ones back. This is extremely unusual, which is why I noted it.

Surprise #2 - Negative splits. AGAIN. In fact, the final 3 miles were the fastest of the bunch. Nice and steady at a 10:30 pace. Props to the running partner for this one, he set the pace and I focussed on staying on his feet. If I started to fall back a bit, he'd turn around and say "come on, you've got this." I believed him.

Surprise #3 - Overall pace for 9 miles was 10:42. Un.freaking.believable. I have no idea how I'm doing this. Smarter training? Lack of injuries? Maybe both?

Surprise #4 - Coach gave me a gift certificate for a RoadID! I'm going to order two of them, one for me and one for Husband.

Surprise #5 - I felt good afterwards. Tired, but not sore. If I can add 4.1 miles to this on race day and still feel that way, it will be a huge success.

Chilly cycling

This morning's ride home from the shop (after dropping off the vehicle) was quite pleasant for the most part, despite chilly morning temp of about 38deg. I wore two pairs of socks and toe covers - feet were fine. Sugoi tights, two long sleeve shirts, a fleece, and a wind breaker - body was fine. Balacava under helmet - head/face was fine. A single pair of full fingered gloves - woah! should have doubled up. Fingers were NOT fine. I should have known that if it was cold enough for extra layers for my feet that I also needed extra layers for my hands. Oh well, it was tolerable, just not ideal.

Speaking of chilly, our hot tub has been a cold tub for several weeks. Apparently the circuit board that controls the heating element needs to be replaced. We've been waiting impatiently for the part to arrive. Good news is that it's in and the repair guy is supposed to be here this morning to fix it. Fingers crossed!

Changing subjects completely, both of my midweek runs went fairly well. Met up with the running group each time and accomplished 4.4 and 4.2 miles respectively. With daylight savings time just around the corner, the group should be able to meet up just a bit later without racing against sunset. That will be a good thing. It is difficult for me to get from work to the run group location on time.

Happy Friday everyone!

Three Thoughts Thursday

1) Got my training schedule for now through the half marathon. The progression of upcoming weekend long runs is as follows: 8, 10, 12, 11, 9, 6, race. The only thing that I'm nervous about is that 12 miler. And not simply because it is 12 miles, but because I'll be on vacation the week between the 10 and the 12. Not sure how that's going to work out. Other than that, I'm excited to do this thing!

2) Last weekend, I brought my handheld with nuun on my long run (8 miles). This weekend, I'm switching to the belt with a combination of nuun in some bottles and accelerade in others. I'm hoping that will work out better for these upcoming runs over 7 miles.

3) I need to drop one of the cars off for service tomorrow. Assuming the weather cooperates (ie, no snow, ice, wind, etc), the plan is to toss the bike in the back and cycle home. I don't know about the rest of you, but with my busy schedule, finding creative ways to insert cross-training into an errand is generally a win for me.