TexasLindsey

Ok.  I'm back.  I stopped running for a month because #1 I twisted my ankle playing with my children and it was as big as a grapefruit for 2 weeks.  #2 I got one sickness after another from my children who just started daycare. #3 I had to go on a weeklong business trip to Florida. 

Everything is all worked out now.  It's just been such a transition going back to work for the first time. 

Met Ashley and Tim at the corner to run 6 miles.  It was a progressive run.  1st mile was 10:00 pace, 2nd was 9:30, 3 and 4 were around 8:45, 5 was 8:30, mile 6 was 9:00.  I couldn't keep up with Ash and Tim on mile 5.  They were more like 8:15 and I fell behind.  That's what I get for taking a month off.  Next day my calf muscles were really sore. 

I booked my hotel for NYC Marathon.  It's going to be awesome!  My husband and I are staying in the same hotel as Ashley and Tim.  Tim and I are running the race.  Ashley and my husband are going to spectate.  This means I have to get serious about training.  Have alot of work to do over the next 4 months in order to get myself back in shape.

It was hot... like 90 degree, humid and way too sunny to be out running.  I was about 10:10/m.

3 miles in sunny heat. 9:53/m.  90 degrees, humid. 

7 miles at 6:30 am with running group.  85 degrees, humid. 

mile 1- 8:30

mile 2 -8:50

mile 3 -8:30

mile 4- 8:50

mile 5- 8:30

mile 6- 8:50

mile 7- 9:15 

3 miles pushing Ryan at 7pm.  Pleasant 10:00/m pace. 

3 miles pushing Jake.  90ish, humid, cloudy.  10:30/m.  Not an easy run.  Hills. Jake talked the entire way asking questions about how concrete is made and bugs.  He also scared me a couple of times with freak-out observations. 

3 miles by myself.  95ish, humid, very sunny.  The sun was a beatdown.  9:45/m.

Didn't wake up until 6 am.  Only had time for 3 miles.  80ish, humid.  9:45/m.  I am so slow. 

6 miles at 5 am with Ashley and Tim.  Weather=75F, 60% humidity, 10mph wind, dark.

mile 1- 9:44 pace by myself on way to meet them at the corner. 

mile 2- 9:01 pace felt ok

mile 3- 8:22 oh boy.  Ashley and Tim have been running 18 milers on weekends and are in so much better shape than me.  I'm hanging on for dear life, here.

mile 4- 8:15 ok.  I'm just going to imagine this is a race.  headphones in.

mile 5- 8:25 uphill, but actually, starting to feel like I'm getting into a rhythm with this pace.  Ash made me sprint the final steep uphill.

At the top of the hill I had to walk for a bit to catch my breath.  Ashley and Tim went on to run two more miles.  I told them I was really proud of them but I'm going home. 

mile 6- 9:30 chugged it home.  Whew!  

Meeting them tomorrow same time.  I'm so happy to have friends that push me.  Today I got my confidence back... For the first time since I started running again I felt like my old self if only briefly in mile 5.  If I keep upping the milage, I'll be back in top form in 2-3 months.   

Weather= 75F, 70% humidity, 12 mph wind, 70 dew point, dark.

mile 1- 10:21

mile 2- 8:31

mile 3- 8:15

mile 4- 8:22

mile 5- 8:29

mile 6- 8:35

mile 7- 9:06

mile 8- 9:45

Met Ashley and Tim again.  1st mile by myself running to the corner to meet them.  2nd mile Ashley started pushing the pace immediately.  I held on pretty well.  I think cardio speaking I've improved greatly in 1 week's time.  My legs felt a little like jello at the end of the big hill on mile 5.  I was going to run home and do 6 for the day but Tim talked me into doing an extra 2 with them.  I said only if they slow down.  So 6 and 7 were us slowing down.  8 was me by myself running home.  My legs got a huge workout today. 

It was so humid today.  We were all drenched!  Looked like we jumped in a pool!

8 pathetic miles at 6:30am with my running group.  Weather=80F, 85% humidity, sunny.

So none of my normal running group was there this morning. Most of them met at 6am so they could do 18.  The rest of them didn't run this morning b/c they are running El Scorcho 15 or 30 mile race that starts at midnight tonight.  

 So the fastest group at the store was the 9:30 group.  I ran with them for about 1/4 mile but I just didn't want to do 9:30... I am never going to get back in shape if I don't push it. 

I sped up but running by myself was less than motivating.  I did 8:45 average miles 1-3.  Mile 4 I picked it up to 8:30.  Then my friend, Wendy, caught up to me.  She was late to the store.   She must have been running 8:00 or better to catch me.  I started running with her.  We did 8:20 mile 5.  8:36 mile 6.  Wendy is in amazing shape... she runs 50 miles a week and lifts weights and does bootcamp.  (no kids!)   So she's just talking away cuz 8:30 is soooo slow which is ok because she's doing El Scorcho tonight.  She's asking me all these questions and it starts getting really hard for me to answer them and run this pace.

I tell her at the water stop at mile 6 that I can either stop talking, put in my iPod, and go 8:00-8:20 back to the store (2 miles to go)... or I can keep talking but I'd have to slow down cuz I'm out of shape and talking and 8:30 is hard for me.  

Wendy said, "let's talk".  So mile 7 and 8 were 9:00/m.  I felt like a failure when another girl passed us.  I'm so slow!  My stomach and upper legs are soft too.  I only gained 5 pounds these last 2 months of not running but my body lost so much muscle that is replaced with "softness" ... Still look skinny, but I am NOT tone.  Grrr...  I'm mad that I let this happen.

 My friend Melissa came running up when I was at the store.  She just finished a 12 miler with her brother.  They said they ran "slow" for the first half but then sped up for the last 7 miles to half marathon race pace...which averaged to be 7:30/m, 7:20 the last mile.  Now I'm really jealous!  I ran with them last year...  that sounded like something I could have done last year....  

 I'm so determined to get back in shape!  I've got plans to run tonight and tomorrow morning.  I guess I should at least be glad I am injury free.  Gotta stay that way and be patient with my pace as I build milage back up.  

 ---------------------------- 

 7pm run 5.5 miles pushing Ryan in the running stroller.  Went to Trinity Park to run a couple of El Scorcho laps with my friend Mario who was starting at 7pm and going to run until 7am.  The real race doesn't start until mid-night.  Most people finish the 50K (30 miles) by sun up.   Mario is crazy!  He had a good plan though.  He was keeping his pace at 11:00/m until 1-2 am, at which point he said he might get faster.  He's got people delivering him food at certain times too. People camp out and spectate all night.  It's kind of like a party atmosphere in the park.  I hear it's a lot of fun.  I can't go because of my kids.   Maybe another year.   So I ran 2 miles at 9:30 pace by myself trying to figure out where in the park they were camped out and 3.5 miles with Mario at 11:00 pace.  We had to leave because Ryan was getting tired.  That 11:00 pace did feel nice though...  I swear I could have done it all night. 

4.5 miles pushing Jake in the running stroller at 7:30am.  Weather= 80F, 71% humidity, 70 dew point, 9 mph wind, sunny.  Average pace=10:50/m.

I was going to get up early and run 10 before my kids woke up but I was so tired I snoozed alarm until 7am.  By that time, Jake woke up.  He said he wanted to go with me.  

So I figure I'll just go the hilliest route I can while pushing the stroller and call this a strength training workout.  It was a tough workout.  I was drenched in sweat when I got home.  It was also tough because Jake talks non-stop and repeats questions until I answer them.  I was going to do 6 miles but he started repeating "I want to go home" so I cut it short.  We also had to stop twice so he could get bugs.  

 My two year old is much easier in the stroller.  He just relaxes.  I can easily do 10 miles at 9:15 -9:30 pace with him.  

It's going to be fun when they get old enough to run with me!   

8 miles at 5am.  Weather=81F, 85% humidity, 72 dew point, 12 mph wind, dark.  Average pace=9:30/m.

Met Ashley and Tim.  Ashley actually had to leave after only two miles because her plantar faciitis was killing her.  I hope she didn't tear it like I did last year... that really sucks! 

Tim and I ran the remaining miles.  We went super easy.  It felt really hard to breathe today.  I didn't know if it was me or the weather.  Now I see the humidity and dew point were pretty high.  Who knows. 

8 miles at 5am.  Weather=80F, 50% humidity, dark.  Average pace=9:30/m.

Met Tim.  Ran really slow.  It was nice to go slow.  Felt like I could have gone another 4 miles easily. 

6 miles at 5am.  Weather 80F, 70% humidity, dark. 

mile 1- 10:32

mile 2- 9:43

mile 3- 8:53

mile 4- 8:48

mile 5- 8:30 (up hill got down to 7:30 pace)

mile 6- 10:32 back home

Ran with Tim.  Went a little faster.  I only had time for 6 miles today because I had to get to work early. 

3.5 miles at 8am.  Weather=84F, 65% humidity, 16mph wind, Very SUNNY.  Average pace=10:00/m.

 I went slow because the sun was really hot.  Also, tomorrow I'm running 12 with my running group.  Could be some fast miles in there.  I'm hoping for at least 8:30/m for the whole run.  

 Downloaded all new music to my iPod!!!  First time in almost a year I've changed the songs!  I'm sooooo excited!  I hope this will make tomorrow's run AWESOME!  I'm ready for a really good day.  The last two Saturday runs have been disappointing because I've been so out of shape... but I've been working hard this week and I think I might get my groove back tomorrow! 

15 miles at 6am with my running group at the Trinity Trails.  Weather=85F, 60% humidity, SUNNY!

 Met up with my friends.  There was a good turn out today.  I ran with these guys Clint and Brian for the first 5 miles.  I started to feel really good... felt like I had a ton of energy.  The guys wanted to turn around at 5 mile and go slower back to the store because the heat was getting to them.  I decided to go another mile out before I turned around.  I had to speed up in mile 6 to catch up to Ashley and the other girls.  I talked to them at the 6 mile mark and everyone was wanting to do different things.  Ashley's foot was hurting and Wendy was sore so the two of them were going to go back to the store at 9:00 pace.  This new girl, Brit, who happens to be really fast (she also qualified for NYC and is going this year) and my friend from this blog, Jodi, were wanting to do 16 and14.  I decided on 12 for the day but to tempo it back to the store to see how fast I could go by myself.  

The sun was a beat down.  It was directly in my face for miles 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.  I was doing really well but the sun did start getting to me by mile 11.  With a little more than a mile left, I turned into the shady path that went to the store through the woods.  I slowed way down.  It was kinda like I hit the wall.  Oh well, I did much better today than I have in months!  I'd say miles 7-10 were a good little 4 mile tempo.  I'm happy with that, especially in the heat. 

I hung out at the store for about 20 minutes and then Wendy came back and asked me to do another 3 mile loop with her.  So that's what I did.  Talked to Jodi and Brit afterward and they said they ended up doing 8:15ish on their 8 miles back to the store... with some 7:45's in there.  I can't wait until I get in shape enough to keep up with that! 

mile 1- 9:04

mile 2- 8:35

mile 3- 8:40

mile 4- 8:46

mile 5- 8:41

mile 6- 8:28

mile 7- 8:06

mile 8- 8:17

mile 9- 8:16

mile 10- 8:09

mile 11- 8:56

mile 12- 8:48

 Average for miles 1-12: 8:33/m. 

mile 13- 8:44

mile 14- 8:57

mile 15- 8:30

8 miles at 5am. Weather=80F, 80% humidity, 6mph wind, 73 dew point, dark. 

Met Tim today.  Very humid today.  Ashley's got severe plantar faciitis so she's having to take off for a week.  We went really slow.  Most miles were in the 9:15-9:25 range.  The final mile was by myself on the way home.  I actually speeded up to 8:30 pace for that mile.  I am starting to feel strong again! 

6.5 miles today at 5am.  Weather=75F, 79% humidity, dark.  (11:10, 9:25, 7:50, 8:30, 8:09, 7:26 pace for 1/2 mile, 10:10) 

Had a hard time waking up this morning at 4:30am.  Felt dehydrated and run down.  I skipped my cafeine and decided to take it slow today.  Mile 1 to meet Tim was 11:10.  Tim was slightly late.  He looked tired too.  He said he was at the Ranger game until midnight and he had some beers while at the game. 

At this point I suggested that we do a hilly route 6 miles today.  Not meet tomorrow so I can get some extra sleep (Tim doesn't take days off so he'll probably still run) and meet at 4:45am on Thursday for a 10 miler. 

So we started out on the run and the first mile together was mostly downhill - 9:25.  Then we turn to this street that is 7/10th of a mile long and is all uphill, the steepest part being the last 200 yards or so.  7:50 for that mile.  My legs are jello now.  Also, I left my water at the corner and we're not going back that way... darn.

Next mile has a big uphill and some rolling ups and downs.  Tim wants to run fast and I am slowing him down.  He's having to take wide turns to let me catch up.  What happened to all that being tired talk this morning?!  Ha!   8:30 for that mile.  I think I'm dying and ask to take a little break to catch breath at the end of this one street.  Then we start on the 5th mile and it's mostly uphill for the first half and downhill on the second half.  8:09 for that one.  Only 1/2 mile to go to the corner where my water is... all downhill... 7:26 pace. 

I'm wiped.  Ran 10:10 pace on the way home.  Good workout!   

10 miles at 4:45am.  Weather=79F, 80% humidity, dark.

 So I'm running to the corner to meet Tim and I'm looking down when this flash lights up the sky.  I look up at the sky and it's clear.  No clouds.  Did a street light burn out?  Running along, another flash in my peripheral vision.  Ok.  Maybe I'm seeing things.  I'm loosing it.  When I get to the corner, I can see further in the distance and I see there are lots of clouds to the north.  Whew... not crazy.

 The entire run was a light show.  It started getting scary when the clouds moved over us.  It seemed like the lightening was not hitting the ground very often.  It was mostly staying up high.  

mile 1- 10:40 

mile 2- 8:12

mile 3- 8:30

mile 4- 8:32

mile 5- 8:23

mile 6- 8:42

mile 7- 8:50

mile 8- 8:45

mile 9- 9:32

mile 10- 9:13

3.5 miles at 5am.  Weather=79F, 70% humidity, dark.  Average pace=8:45/m.

Ran with Ash and Tim.  I was sooooo tired.  Waking up at 4:15 or 4:30 am is killing me.  I tell them I'm going to only do the short loop.  They run with me all the way to my house and then they were running another 3.  

All I want to do is sleep.   : (   Now I have to go to work.   

13.5 miles at 6am.  Weather= 80F rising to 90F, 60-70% humidity, little wind, dark then sunny.  Average pace=8:33/m.

Meet my friends at the running store.  We didn't run the route with the store because they were starting at 6:30 and my friends wanted to start at 6.  Mile 1 was 9:00 pace.  Mile 2 was 8:30.  Mile 3 thru 6 were ranged beteen 8:15 and 8:25.   I was kinda running by myself ahead of everyone else for these miles.  My intention was to do a medium/hard effort 12 mile run.  In the heat, 8:15 felt like 1/2 marathon pace to me.  I was just trying to focus on my breathing and form trying to get my heartrate into a rythm at 8:15.  I was doing pretty good but my quads were burning, an indication that I still have more strength training milage build-up before I get back to where I was. 

At mile 6 we stopped at this hot water fountain.  It was not refreshing.  We stopped for awhile.  Everyone in the group wanted to do different milage for the day and go different routes.  Finally we decided to get off the trail and go into this neighborhood (Tanglewood) because it had shade. 

When I started running again, mile 7 was 8:25 but it felt much harder.  The rythm I had going was totally lost.  Then when we crossed the river and started on the other trail, I landed on this rock and somehow a blister or something ripped open.  I could tell I was bleeding.  Great.  Mile 8 was 8:41 because I starting to loose focus.  There were some turns and I'd never been that way before so I didn't know where we were going. 

At this point we split up.  Some of the girls were doing 16-17 miles and some of us wanted to do less.  Miles 9-11 were average 8:30.  It was nice being in the shade but we were running on streets and the angle of the street was starting to make my feet hurt worse.  My shoes were soaking wet with sweat.  Mile 11 we made it back to the river trail and the guy we were running with, Matt, stopped at this restaraunt telling his sister just to pick him up on her way home.  Ha, ha!  It was really hot.  At this point probably 90 degrees. 

I kept going with Melissa.  I had a final gust of energy at mile 12 and I did 8:30, which at this point felt like 7:30.  Then I crashed.  I was expecting water at the end of 12 and I didn't see it.  My legs hurt.  I was hot.  My feet were in very bad shape and one was bleeding.  Mentally, I just didn't care anymore.  I told Melissa I was going straight to the store.  I didn't care if I was short to the intended 15 she and I said we were going to do.  Melissa wanted to still do 15.  She went one way and I went another.  I did 9:15 pace the 13th mile and 8:45 the last 1/2. 

It was a good workout.  My legs were sore afterwards.  Blisters and a cut on my foot were my only major issue.  I'm just in the milage buildup period so I'm pretty happy with what I did.  I'll do 14-15 next week's long run.  Then 16-17 the following week.   Just ramp it up gradually.

6 miles at 5am.  Weather=85F, 40% humidity, dark.

My garmin may be dead.  I did hard and soft re-set... nothing.  Nothing happens on the charger.  Ugh!  

Ran with Tim.  He ran two miles before I saw him.  The first two miles we ran together were really slow.  He started pushing the pace in the 3rd mile.  At the 4 mile turn around point I asked him what our pace was (since I didn't have a watch).  He said we were 8:15 on the last mile and 7:10 on the last 1/2 mile.  We started running again up a hill.  I pushed it.  Another 8:15ish pace for that one (I'm guessing).   I was tired.  Quads were burning.  I told him I was only doing 6 today.  He went out for another 2.  The guys a machine.  He's trying to run between 80-100 miles a week. 

If he keeps wanting to go this pace, I think 6 miles may be the max I can do in the mornings.  If he slows down a bit, I'll do 8.  I really don't care.  Life is so busy for me right now.  I'm just going through the motions trying to fit in running and working and taking care of children and my house. 

6 miles at 5am.