It happened.....

I am down and injured. I was overdue to get new shoes and just kept pushing my luck. I went and did some speed training on Wednesday and felt something funny on my ankle/ achilles tendon. I didn't get my full work out and could not go any further, so I stopped. I went and bought new shoes that same day, but the damaged had already been done. I can't even do the elliptical without feeling it, so I have been doing the bike and this other glider machine. I thought I was feeling better, and attempted to do my long run this morning, didn't even make it out one block and decided to quit, and not take any chances with only 3 more weeks to go. Today was supposed to be my last long run, 22 miles, before tapering. I don't know if I should attempt to get the 22 miles in  a few days when I do feel better or if I should just leave it at that. At least I did do 20  miles last week. I want to make sure to be 100% by Marathon day, definitely don't want to risk being able to run it. FRUSTRATED!!!

Runing does not equal loosing weight.

I had an appointment with my Gym's personal trainer on Friday. She showed my how to use the machines and gave me a plan to target each muscle group. Today I worked out my arms, and my core. It feels good to actually know what I'm doing! :) I also did 5 miles. I didn't have my headphones to listen to the TV, and could not take the treadmill. I stopped at 2.5 miles and did the other 2.5 on the elliptical. That counts, right? I'm excited to start seeing results doing weights, hopefully in a near future. I'm also going to attempt counting calories this week. It's so frustrating to see the numbers on the scale at a complete stop even though I'm runing crazy miles training for this marathon. It used to work, back when I first started running after my first baby, I was also nursing and the pounds just seemed to melt away with just running a lot less miles than I do now. Maybe my body has gotten used to running and needs to be challenged in a different way to kick off and start loosing weight with exercise again, that and I guess I will have to start dieting. Blah!

Does this happen to anybody else? Do you run and loose weight or are you kind of just stuck like me? And what do you do that works?

Happy running! and if you are one of the luck ones; Happy running and loosing weight!

20 miler: check!

I almost slept in when my alarm did not go off this morning. I woke up and looked at my alarm clock and saw that it was 5:35 am! Aaah! Thank goodness I had all my clothes laid out and ready to go. I even had time for a BM before leaving, (sorry! that might have been to much info, but those things are important for runners, specially when going on a long early run) and got there just on time.

So we met at 6 am at the capitol, run a couple miles up city creek canyon, came back down and run through the Avenues pass Shriner's hospital, to the Primary Childrens Hospital, the Zoo, one mile or so into immigration canyon and then back to the capitol again. It was great, a little windy and chilli as we went up immigration canyon, but great. We got lost for a little bit around the U campus, which I think gave us a little more milage, and eventually found our way back. The miles go by so fast when you are running with someone new like I did today. She is a cancer survivor, who started running 2 years ago after recovering from cancer, and has already qualified for Boston, she is running it this year. Wow! It's amazing how many inspiring people are out there running, and all the stories they have to tell.  Makes me count my blessings to hear stories like that. I have a little ritual before every run where I make sure to say a little prayer and thank Heavenly Father for the health and strength he blesses me with and being able to run. I am truly blessed.

So I did it! I ran my first 20 miler ever!  It was not a fast one, but I got all my 20 miles in and that is an accomplishment of itself! I think it took us about 4 hours, but I felt great the whole way, even felt like I could have gone for a couple more at the end (I didn't go for more at the end).

Next week 22 miles and then 2 more weeks for tapering til Marathon day!

18 miles: check!

My 18 miler last weekend went great! Great weather, great company, great time! Being able to finish strong gives you such a high. I'm feeling confident that I will be able to finish this marathon. It will be great!

Today I went for a speed work out and surprised myself. I was able to shave 30 seconds off my 800's. Yay! I had not done my Yassos in  2 weeks and decided to do them this week instead of a 7 miles tempo run with the group. I guess the saying is true "If you want to run faster run with faster people" I've only been running with the group for 4 weeks now? and I'm definitely seeing the results. I'm excited!

Doing 20 miles this Saturday.  Most of the group is running Moab this Saturday, and I don't know who will show up to run this weekend. I might have to do this alone, will see how that goes.

If anyone is looking for a great group to run with Locomotion is a great option. You can always come and check it out for a few runs before you decide to regsiter and pay the fees. They ran different routes through out the valley, from Draper to Centerville and did I mention they have a support van to follow you on long runs? Got to love it!

Here's their link

The next level

So I have mentioned running with a group. It's been a few weeks (3 weeks?) and it's been awesome. The people there are all very friendly and welcoming. I tried out a different group before finding them and I didn't quite feel it, but with this group has been a different story. I guess it also helped that I already knew someone and didn't just show up  by myself. Come to think about it, I haven't ran with my friend during our group runs, we run different paces, and that is what is so great about a group, you have all sorts of runners going at different paces you will never be left to run alone. I have run with a different person every weekend ever since starting with the group, which is good, different stories and conversation makes the miles go by a lot faster. I am running with Boston qualifiers, college runners, veteran runners, running moms, etc, etc. It definitely has "forced" me to step it up. There's just something about running with other people, kind of like a race, you feed off of their energy. It's not even competitive, you just go with it and before you know you settle into a good rhythm, 16 miles have gone by, and you finish strong.

This week I also joined a few from the group for a couple of morning runs. I make quite a drive just to meet them, but I so much rather do that than running alone. Like I said, running with them has forced me to step it up to the next level, even getting up earlier. Their during the week runs start at 4:30 am! Who am I, and what has become of me? A running junkie? Ha! But they have been great runs, filled with speed and hills! The girl I ran with this morning decided to let me know towards the end of our 7 miler that she was only 24 yrs old and used to run in college, her specialty : the 800 mts. Uh...thanks for telling me that towards the end of our run. She was lucky I didn't pass out, then she'd have to stop to do CPR on me and that would have ruined her time.

But, really I am glad to have found this people and excited to be learning new things about what my body can do. Kind of like when I first started running after my first baby. Finding out that I could run a little faster and further than a 5 K, I just didn't know it. I'm kind of getting that same sense of satisfaction and accomplishments all over again, and it feels good.

The quest for this weekend: 18 miles. My furthest run yet.

What I did this week:

Sat: 16 miles (not 17 as planned)
Monday: 4 miles, recovery run
Tuesday: 9 miles of rolling never ending hills
Wednesday: rested (should have run 4-5 easy miles)
Thursday 7 miles at 8'30 pace

Happy running to all of you out there! May you conquer all your running quests!

Not sure I'll do this again

 Cool picture I took after being done with my run. That little white dot behind that cloud is the moon.

 

I went out on my 8 mile tempo run, all alone this morning. It was very scary to be running alone in the dark at 5:30 am. My heart was beating fast and my breathing was very heavy, and it wasn't because of how fast I was running just to get out of that little 2 mile canyon stretch, I was really scared and nervous, I was even shaking a little bit, all the while thinking "What in the heck am I doing!?" and battling in my head whether I should turn around and go home and trying to gather the courage to keep going and just get it over with. My heart almost stopped when I saw and heard something moving behind the trees; two deer! I could picture in my head someone jumping from behind a bush. I was sure I would not make it out of there alive. Where were all the other runners we always come accross (Mrs J's been injured and could not make it ) That was the one thing that got me out there, thinking that there is always so many people on that route. Not today! Well, as you can see I did make it out alive, and I'm glad no one had to find the note I left in my car with my whereabouts, you know, in case I went missing.  I do think is amazing how you can get away from busy downtown Salt Lake City and back to the peace and quite of nature in just a couple of minutes though.

On a bright note. One of the things I love about this route is the view of the city below. Before the sun comes up you can see the city lights just as bright as you would at night, it all changes within minutes right before your eyes. The lights begin to disappear and the sky becomes alive with shades of blue, and pink. A good way to start the day., scare and all.

 

The capitol at 7 am. Wondering what all those people in suits do in there. It sure looks like a fun place to work at.

 

**Note to self: "Do not go up the scary trail alone at 5:30 am again!**

week 10

 The plan

Monday:  5 slow recovery run
Tuesday: Zumba aerobics
Wednesday: 8 mile tempo
Thursday: 5x800 Yasso
Friday: upper body and abs
Saturday: 17 miles

Only 6 weeks til Marathon!

My four year old keeps telling people "I'm running a Marathon with my mom" I'm so glad to see her taking notice and hoping this will help her be active and healthy as she grows up. I'm also looking forward to one day crossing the finish line with my little girls, and later, much later even running a Marathon by their side. That would be awesome!

Week 9 and part of 10

Last week I had an interesting week getting all my miles in. Mondays easy recovery run started not so good. We weren't even into a mile in when I could feel like a little pinch in achilles tendon, that and  and my calves felt as if they were on fire. I had to stop and take a walking break for a few minutes, then went really slow from there. We got our 4 miles in, but I could feel every minute of them, my calves were really, really tight. I sat down on my couch that night and tried to massage them, but felt that it was making it worse, they kept getting tighter and tighter. I put some ice on them, but couldn't really feel any relief. I rested the next morning and felt better by Wednesday. My running buddy couldn't come that morning so I thought I'd wait until a little later when there would be a little bit more light and I could feel comfortable going alone. I think I waited too long. I got up there at about 6:30 am. I started out slow and then realized I was going to be really late going back home and had to pick it up if I wanted to make it on time to get my little ones and myself ready for school. So what was supposed to be a 7 mile tempo run, turned into a 7 mile speedwork run. My calves where killing. I was sure I would be sorry later and that this run would result in an injury. I did some more icing that night and tried to massage it. I went on a slow 4 miler the next morning, could not finish the 4th mile and decided to go home before it turned worse. I walked the next day, applied some more ice and yes, I ventured out into my first 16 mile run the next day. I thought I would get out there and play it by ear. I would run slow and if I felt like I just could not do it, I would just turn around and come home. The first 3 or 4 miles where a bit uncomfortable, but not as bad as I'd imagined. I went past a certain point and to my surprise I started feeling  really, really good. I kept it slow to be on the safe side and was able to run 16.5 miles in 2 hrs and 50 min. I felt really good all day long and was again surprised the next morning when I wasn't super sore and could walk up and down stairs and get on the floor, and back up, to  play with my little girl in nursery at church. I think there is a benefit on going slow come recovery time. I like it!

This week I decided that I am going to go solo for the rest of my marathon training. So to be able to run alone in the mornings I decided to run a combination of treadmill and street running. Monday I got up early and went to the gym at the same time I would normally be outside. I did three miles on the treadmill and then came home when there was a little more light and run outside another 2 miles. This way I won't be tortured running on the treadmill for the whole 5 miles. Three miles on the treadmill is really just all I can take. This week my tempo runs go up to 8 miles and I am planing on running those with Jessica from church, and going to the park for speedwork on Thursdays. I feel the park is a safe place because there is other runners there before 6 am, even thought we shouldn't be there. I hope I don't get a ticket or something. Anyway, I'll see how this goes.

This weekend long run calls for another 16 miles, but since I did a little more this past weekend I'm shooting for 17. I think I will be OK.  After this week there is only 6 weeks til crunch time, EEK! and exciting!

Moral of the week: "Slow is good"

Happy running!