Run that ye may Obtain

6.46 miles in 8:18 pace

Hamstring felt a little more tight after my workout yesterday so I just took it really slow today.  Felt good once I warmed up though!  I’m going to see Richey the ART guy to get it worked on again today and probably again on Friday.

I think I’ll go to the gym today at 4:00 and lift weights.  I’ve been trying to do some hip exercises and evidently I have very weak hips because one of the exercises is to write the alphabet with your leg and I couldn’t even get  to O with my left leg.  Hmmm no wonder my right hamstring is over compensating.

9.8 miles in 7:48 pace

Met Running Republic at East Boulder Community Park.  Arrived a few minutes early so I could get some dynamic stretching in. Cold 17 degrees, but once the sun came up…so BEAUTIFUL!!

20 minute warm-up, stretching, strides

4X30 second short hills/jog down recovery

4X3 minutes steady/90 seconds easy

4X90 seconds fast/60 seconds easy

4X30 seconds short hills/jog down recovery. Surprise! We got to do one more since one of our teammates didn’t run all the way through the 4th one

Hamstring felt pretty good throughout the workout.  The finial 5X30 second short hills were the hardest because its accelerating that causes it to work.  Once I get set in my pace, hamstring just does its job.  So the 3 minute intervals were felt great because there was less stopping and starting.

10 minute cool down

6 miles in 7:45 pace

Did 7 strides throughout the run.  It was pretty windy this morning!  The uphill miles were into the wind and the downhill miles with the wind at my back.  Would have been nice to swap that.  Oh well, I can’t control the uncontrolables.  Hamstring felt pretty good.

I met with Coach D tonight for some one on one goal-setting.   We talked for over an hour and formulated a plan for how I’d like my year to go.  Here’s the run-down (pun intended):

Saturday, March 20th: National Half-Marathon in Washington D.C.

• Aaron will watch the kids for the weekend while I make a quick trip out to race at sea-level and PR
• Darren is going to contact the race director and see if he can get me a comped entry and hotel.
• Goal pace: 5:50 per mile=1:16:30 (should put me in the running for a top 5 finish and some prize money).

10.51 miles in 7:59 pace

WAHOO!!!  After lots of rest, recovery, ART therapy, massage, ice, and patience, I was able to do a workout today!!!  I met my running group at the Fairview High School track in Boulder and we did 800 M. repeats together.  I met Richey, my ART guy a few minutes before workout started and he showed me some good warm-up drills he calls dynamic stretching.  He works with the people who formulated these drills and is a big believer in their injury prevention/healing effects.

After our drills, we did 20 minute warm-up with the group, stretching and strides.

Then 8X800 at 10k pace.  I went with a slower group than I normally go with since I am just coming back and need to take it easy for a while.

Our 800 M. repeats were 3:14, 3:15, 3:17, 3:11, 3:13, 3:04, 3:06, 3:05 with 2:30 jogging in between each

The pace felt GREAT and I was just feeling SO grateful to be out there running fast and getting my heart going again!!!

We then did a 15 minute cool down and I did some more dynamic stretching with Richey.

Watch out, Boston…I’m on my way back!

5 miles in 8:04 pace

While searching for some motivation I found this article written by Ryan Hall that is really cool.  What a great perspective he has.

My hamstring is feeling a little bit better every day.  I’m getting ART done on it again today.

5 miles in 8:20 pace

Aaron has a busy couple of days with the county auctions today and tomorrow.  He was up until 2 a.m. last night analyzing house values and deciding what he would bid on in Adams and Boulder County.  He’ll probably be up late again tonight doing the same thing for Denver County.  He was kind enough to watch the kids last night while I went to the Church to speak to a Young Women’s group about Nutrition (I’m pretty sure my friend Allie would have done a better job).  My friend Marcia was the one who asked me to present on nutrition. I think because of a conversation we had a couple of months ago when she asked me about my diet and I told her I eat 6 times a day. She must have been impressed that I am not the size of a whale and thought that must mean I know about nutrition.  But just because I eat a lot doesn’t mean I’m a nutrition expert. I know more about running than nutrition.  It was fun preparing and presenting though. I know more now than I did before.

Aaron’s watching the kids again tonight while I assist with the set-up and take-down of a Relief Society meeting.  I made some yummy chili in my crock-pot to contribute, but I’m going to set some aside for Aaron and the kids to eat for dinner too.  Smells YUMMY in my kitchen right now.

Anyway, this busy couple of days for Aaron is why I just took the kids to the gym this morning for my workout; so Aaron could sleep in and then get right to work when he woke up.

Lifted weights after running.  Hamstring felt okay after about two miles but its a little sore now.  I’ll cross train again tomorrow.  It is slowly getting better each day, but I don’t want to overdo it and set myself back.

Biked 25.29 miles in 1:35 (15.9 mph) with 2,506 elevation gain.

My friend watched the kids for a couple of hours this morning and I’m watching her kids on Thursday morning.  Today’s route had a few more hills than Saturday’s route, but had a better shoulder and smoother road surface.  It was a loop I used to ride when I lived in Superior, only it was a 15 mile loop for me then.  Now that I live 5 miles South, its a 25 mile loop.  Highway 128 to Highway 93, back on Marshall Road.   Basically its riding the rolling highways into Boulder and looping back.

Felt great until I started to get a side ache in the final 5 miles and just wanted to stop.  But of course I still had one big climb and a few more miles of downhill to get through.  Hamstring felt great.

7 miles in 8:20 pace

Healing slowly, but surely.  Hamstring felt better after a day of rest yesterday but now after my run this morning its a little tight again.  I’ve iced it a few times today.  I’ll cross train tomorrow and try running again on Wednesday.  I also have an appointment with Richey, the Chiropractor on my team tonight to get some work done on it.

The good news is that my sickness that kept persisting all last week (pink eye, congestion, fatigue, headache, ect.) has finally passed!

30.58 miles of cycling in 1:54 (16 MPH) with 1,809 feet of elevation gain.

Hamstring felt pretty tight again today so I decided to cross-train.  Dusted off the road bike, pumped up the tires, put on my wind-breaker and headed out.  My previous bike rides this year have been on my mountain bike since the roads had more ice/snow and I wanted more grippy tires, but after the 50 degree week the roads are clear enough for skinny tire biking.  Today was slightly overcast but a warm 47 degrees.

I was reminded today how much I really enjoy cycling on my road bike.  I can go so far and fast.  The workout provides sections of pushing it up hills and then cruising down hills as my heart rate rolls up and down.  I love those short hill climbs when I see the crest of the hill approaching and push it hard and get there quickly.  I climbed up a canyon for a few miles and kept my heart rate pretty steady for 20 minutes or so and then cruised down as fast as 41 mph at one point.  Its definitely a rush going fast down a hill on a road bike.  It took me a few minutes to get adjusted to the speed after not doing it since last summer but once I adjusted I really started enjoying it.  Big grins.

The road bike I currently ride was purchased with my prize money from winning the Ogden Marathon in 07′.  Its very light and has great components.  My very first road bike was not as light and had lower quality components.  That one was purchased after 2 years of saving all my left-over per diem money at BYU.  If I remember correctly, they used to give us us $40-$140 cash (depending on the length of the trip) to spend on meals every time we went out of town for a track/cross country meet.   I was just a full-time student-athlete at the time and that left-over per diem was my only income.  After two years I had saved $1,000 to buy myself a road bike.  So I guess you could say my running has payed my way into becoming a cyclist too.  :)

In August, 2007 I rode my first Century (100 mile) road biking tour, the Desperado Dual in Southern Utah.  It was really long and exhausting, but very fun.  Maybe I’ll look into doing another Century this summer.

7 miles 8:49 pace

Another slow, easy run.  But a RUN, nonetheless!   It just feels right to take it easy as my injury is still healing.  If I push the pace, it causes me to alter my form and I don’t want that to cause an injury somewhere else.  Nice and sunny here again today.  Gotta love mid-50s in January!