Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured

Met the FWRC group this morning.    Perfect weather 55 degrees.   Started out with quite a bit of a larger group but quickly whittled down to Lindsay, Melissa, Emily, Ashley, Elise and myself.   Emily dropped off early on and then Ashley turned around at mile 6.    

 This week has taken its toll and I was tired and up and down during the run.   I used the POP just before mile 6 and had to run on my own for the next two miles and really struggled getting back in gear.   Once we hit the water stop at 9.5 we decided to run hard for the next two miles and recover easy until the end.   Everyone took off and after about .25 I looked down and we were doing 6:45 and for me that is not sustainable, so I dropped back quickly.   We tried to recover and that was short lived for about 1.5 and then we picked it back up until the last mile that was spent, winding and looping to get to 15.   

Splits:   8:43, 7:49, 7:49, 7:41, 7:41, 7:57, 8:03, 7:40,  7:30, 7:24, 7:21, 7:32, 7:52, 7:56, 8:27

Avg Pace: 7:50

Compared to last week, the effort felt much harder and was less consistent but based on this week, probably reasonable.     We spent a lot of time discussing long runs and that for runs longer than 15, we need to be slowing down.......We all agreed, but I am not sure it will actually happen.   For most of us, this is the highlight of our running week.   It will be interesting to see how the mileage compares, they are all running White Rock and I am running Houston.   Also, different philosophies on how long & how many long runs to do. 

Lots of thoughts of everyone running St. George today and I am anxious to read race reports!

CONGRATS to Marcie and a 2:52!!   So excited for her!

2.1 to meet the group

3.75 with the group

2.65 home

Felt off all day, slow and completely annoyed with everything - my shirt, my left knee was achy, needed to use the bathroom.....

Glad it is done and hopefully all the annoying stuff is done as well.

I had a hard time gearing up for this workout and it is usually one I like.  It is normally 4x1.15 mile repeats on a hilly road outside my neighborhood.  It is very similar to the BBK workout at Parkway Palisades.   Anyways, I was on my own and struggling.   I have also become far to aware of my time/pace and not focusing on the run.   Did the first repeat and was dissapointed with my time and did the second and was frustrated.  I should have made myself do the next two but decided I would do hill sprints - this is what the plan I am following called for but I normally like the long hilly repeats and in marathon training, they serve there purpose.  Ran and lectured myself for .75 to the bottom of the hill I was going to sprint and did the 4 repeats without timing them.   I ran them hard and have no idea pace or time but I did run each hard.   This is a valuable lesson for me to learn at this point in the training cycle....work out by feel and get it done, quit looking at the watch.   I never paid attention when I ran with the BBKs, it was fun and some days we pushed more than others, but lately I have become way to focused on the time, not what I am trying to accomplish.   

Avg Pace 8:37 - 3 warm up, 5 hilly & sprints, 2 recovery/cool down.

Nice recovery morning with the group - Avg Pace 9:09

I have been sick the past few days.   I woke up Thursday expecting to run but ended up right back in bed and fought a fever most the day.   I ended up taking Friday off but I was starting to feel better until I was driving back from Dallas during the peak traffic that afternoon.    About half way home I started to really not feel good and barely made it home  - I will spare the details from here, but I was not feeling well all evening.  Went to bed early and woke up to met the group and it only took about five minutes before I realized I would be in trouble if I ran.   Back to bed until 8:45 -  I haven't sleep in that late in years.   

I have felt pretty good most the day so I decided to get out this afternoon which was a mistake.   I head out at 4 pm with a temp of 83 and wind of 15-20 mph.     I headed into the wind for the first 3.25 and then turned around.   I pushed way to hard on the way out and when I hit the turn around it was rough.   I never could get in to a rhythm and I finally stopped and walked for a minute at the 5 mile mark and told myself pace didn't matter, just find a pace that works and try to enjoy the rest of the run.   It was rough!   I pushed way more than I should have, especially early on; my legs were extremely crampy the entire time.    All a combination of not feeling well this week, stress from work, weather and poor decision making.    Goal for next week is to get it done.   Next week was to be my recovery week, but that is now this week and next week is back to full mileage.

Splits: 9:02, 8:37, 7:59, 7:53, 7:58, 8:39, 8:27, 8;07

Avg Pace 8:21

Extremely humid this morning, but I am not complaining.   It rained Saturday night in to Sunday and I wish we had a few more days of it.    Slept in 30 min and ran 1.8 to meet the group, 3.5 with the group and another 3 home.   My calves are extremely tight as well as my hips, so lots of stretching today.  

I am taking the day off of work to hang out with my kids, we will see how it goes.   We are doing nothing fun.... grocery shopping, cleaning the house, homework.....

Avg Pace 9:11

AM:  Easy run with Saskia this morning.   We did a repeat of Saturday's mess and I felt much better, though I do think it is down hill heading out and up hill heading back.  Avg Pace 8:51.

PM:  Met the group at the store for some tempo miles.....not sure we did a true tempo but we did  some fast paced miles.   We did a 3 mile warm up - 8:20, 8:00, 7:55 and then did the same loop as the fast paced miles - 7:22, 7:30, 7:33.  Pretty disappointed with the fast paced miles, the effort was hard and I never felt like I was in a rhythm, just pushing.   I am going to have to figure out how to run in the evening, it is a little different the early morning runs.   I was pretty miserable the second loop, but if I want to run faster, I have to run faster.  The key will be sticking with these workouts and then trying to pick up the Thursday workout as well.   Avg Pace 7:47.

Missed Wednesday due to thunder storms, but back at it today.  I was on my own for what was to be marathon pace miles.    I did a 3 mile warm up and then 4 MP and 3 mile cool down.   I am horrible with pacing and the MP miles ended up being more 10K miles but that is okay.   

MP splits:  7:37, 7:36, 7:22, 7:23

Avg Pace 8:11

Got up and going and felt horrible, I have a toothache and did not sleep well but it was too late to cancel.   Took it super easy and enjoyed the run.  Now I am going to the dentist......I hate the dentist and I put it off far to long.

This will be long, but I need to document and maybe somebody has some insight.

Yesterday after the dentist I didn't feel well but headed into work.  Tried to eat a granola crisp and then some chex mix.  Still not feeling well, one of my employees had Chineese and it looked really good.   Ordered Pei Wei and went to eat and one bite and I knew I was in trouble.   I left early and went home.   Slept for 2 hours and then spent the next 2 laying on the floor wishing I would just throw up and feel better.  Took a while, but done and over the course of the evening, I started feeling pretty good and had some dinner around 8:30.  At this point I was still not sure what my plan was for in the morning but decided I would see how the night went.   I chalked the nausea up to too much tylenol.

Woke up this morning, tired but feeling okay.   Got dressed and headed to the race.   I decided to run the first half at 8 min pace and then pick it up at the turn around.  Warmed up for a mile with Lindsey and felt good.   Lined up and the lead group took off.   I am usually pretty comfortable running my own race but today I was on my own the entire time and there was no one even close until the last mile.   Had water at mile 2 and then NUUN at 3.5 (my one complaint about the race is the water stops - none at the turn around!).   Was feeling okay but not great but this is normal for me, I usually feel better the second half.  Avoided getting sprayed by a skunk at 2.5.   Got to the turn around and  no water - took the GU with out water and was surprisingly okay.  I started to pick it up a little, but never really got to where I wanted to be.  I was not feeling good at all, the breathing was off, the legs were tired and I was on count down to the end.   GU & Water at 9.5 and the water again at 11.   I actually started to feel somewhat better the last two and ended up picking off a guy.   Finished with  1:43:14 which is a honest course PR, the only faster half's I have are at Hobble Creek.    Hung out with everyone for a while and then went to head home.  My stomach started feeling a little rumbly the last 15 min I was there.  

Got in the car and went to call my husband who is on a college visit with my son and he couldn't believe I ran after yesterday's mess.   I told him I missed last week's long run and I needed to get it done.  Started not feeling well here, and it was down hill home.  The 30 min drive was horrible.   The nausuea was back and my stomach was a mess and all I wanted to do was get home.   I made it within 10 min of my house and had to pull over and throw up.   10 min later I pulled in and still do not feel good at all.  Fever, nausea and an entire day that I get to spend chasing my girls to volleyball.

After the race I was convince that I am not in the shape I thought I was and that I really need to get my act together.  Now I am not so sure.... My Saturday runs have been at a faster pace over a longer distance but today was hard.  So the question is how much of today's race was off due to being sick or out of shape?

Splits: 7:48, 7:58, 7:46, 8:06 - water, 7:59, 8:00, 7:52, 7:53, 7:48, 8:04 - water and almost hit by a car crossing a street, 8:03 -water, 7:56, 7:49, 6:28 for the last .1

Easy miles while my daughter was at cello - post root canal.

What a week!   I ended up with a root canal on Monday, swelling & complications Tuesday & Wednesday, traveled on Thursday and tried to recover a bit on Friday.   It has been a long, long week.  I am on IB as needed - finally, but still on antibiotics.  I tried really hard to give my body the opportunity to deal with this and get well, but between not running and side effects of the meds, I have gained 10 lbs this week - not good.

I met the group at the store for our Saturday run and other than taking it easy, I was hoping for 16 but if I didn't feel well, I told myself I could turn around anytime.    Melissa, Elise and I started and I said from the beginning I wanted to stick to 8:30 or slower and they agreed as well.    About 2 miles in I knew I was going to be in need of a bathroom but there was one at mile 4 so I should be okay.   We reached mile 4 and it was gone - I was devastated!  For the next 4.5 miles I was looking everywhere for a bathroom and spotted a 7-11 on the other side of the river.   Luckily there was a crossing right there and I hiked up through the trees, but was so completely happy.   Met back up with Melissa and we headed back.   I was good to go for 2 miles and needed a bathroom again.   I took a couple detours without any luck and at mile 13 it was time to close with MP miles.   I made it a mile but, if I had done anymore, I would have been in trouble.   I detoured off the trail here and found another 7-11 and then headed back to the store via the road.  

The run felt good and I was please I had done as well as I had.  I only GU'd once and during the run felt fine.    Unfortunately now, I have a massive headache and have been in and out of the bathroom all morning......

The next few weeks will be challenging, I have a lot of work travel and good intentions.

Avg Pace 8:39

Early morning flight, I missed out on running in the fog - bummer!

Up early and it was hard!  Amazing what a few days of sleeping in will do to a person.  Hills were on the plan for today and I was planning on running the same route as before - my Parkway Palasades simulation but with a different approach.   I was going for an even effort of moderate pace.   

I warmed up for 2 miles and then started for my 5 repeats (funny thing is, I had to come back so it ended up being 6).  I felt good the entire time but on the last out I could tell I was getting tired and the legs were fatigued.   On the last trip back, I had to stop at 3 different times because I was in desperate need of a POP.   Drives me craizy!! Ended up not cooling down for a mile and went home to take care of my issue.  This was much better than two weeks ago and my pace was about the same.  Avg Pace 8:39

On the very first out I saw three deer in the field...Crazy!  They stood and stared at me while I did the same right back.    I started thinking about all the live wildlife I have encountered in the past 18 mos.....

1 snake

multiple frogs

bunnies daily

lizards daily

2 opossums

3 armadillos

3 deer

1 coyote

I live in the city but on the edge and to the west are open fields for a couple of miles to the lake and I amazed at what we have seen.

Another 9 miles and another day with bathroom issues. Made it three miles and then tried to fight the urge for another 4. Not the best idea. Finished up and lesson learned.

Avg Pace 8:42

Traveling today and tried to run on the hotel treadmill and it was by far the worst I have ever run on.  Made it maybe .25 and said no way, not worth it.  

Met the group at the store for the Saturday run.   Goal was to stick to 8:30 - 9:00 min pace, goal not achieved.   It was the coldest morning so by far, 35 degrees - CRAZY!  I originally thought I over dressed, but it got cooler before it got warmer, so I ended up okay.   It was the normally easy week for the rest of the group so they were just doing 10, but I am traveling next weekend and so I needed to change my schedule.   

I started with the normal group and 2 miles in knew I was going to fast and needed to drop back.  Laura was wanting to slow down as well and so we thought we would be right around 8:30, which I thought we were doing or at least close.  At the turn around we picked up Ashley and Tim and it felt like we picked up the pace but in reviewing the splits, they were almost dead even at 8:05......not good.   Dropped everyone at the store and headed back out for what I thought would be 6 more.  I slowed down here, but not as much as I should have or intended to.   Got caught in a local 1/2 marathon taking place on the trails and interesting running in a race but not racing.   Hit the 3 mile turn around and started deciding the best way back and realized if I went out 1 more, I would have water on the way back.  I opted for the water but it made the run a little longer.  

I felt great today and the effort never felt pushed after the first 2 miles, but I still need to slow it down.  

Avg Pace 8:13

Another chilly morning, but I love layering up a little - not a lot.   1.5 to meet the girls, 3 with them - very, very slow, 20 min with Saskia and then a mile back home.   Right IT band is starting to be a little irritated, so I have a date with my foam roller tonight.