6.24.2012

Patience, patience, patience! (40M)

I had to be reminded several times last week that there is still a ridiculous amount of training time left until my goal race for the fall. I was pushing the pace in workouts just because I could, but the reality is that now is the time to be sitting back and letting my body adjust and build slowly. When I get down to 12 to 15 weeks out from the Half, then it'll be okay to really work on my hard days. For now though? Time to put the brakes on and settle down a bit! I was 100% ready to run a PR in the half last October and that was off 14 weeks of training. I've got about 3 weeks of true training under my belt right now (15 total of getting back into running after my time off) and another 19 weeks remaining!!! I have the luxury and rare privilege of runners to really take my time on this build up and do things right.

This week will be pretty similar to two weeks back in terms of workouts, but I'm adding a few extra miles since I'm still trying to build my volume back.

Sunday, June 24th
7M run at WRL
COMMENTS: Jake and I ran with Tod and Carey for the first 3.5 and then turned back for the car. We ended up averaging 7:20 pace for my run and then I hopped on the bike to keep Jake company for his last 7M. He had a solid last 7! No new foot pain today. My joints were a bit achey but I've spent the last two weeks (excluding yesterday) on pavement, so that could be part of it. Easy run tomorrow, core on Tuesday morning, and then time for another team workout that night!! :) I love getting my routine and schedule right now!

Monday, June 25th
40' run on the grass at Mountainview + 6x20" stride, 20" rest
COMMENTS: Joined Jake, Josh, and Corey this morning for my run. I was a bit tired still and felt like we were moving pretty good, but apparently it was barely 8:00 pace! Yikes! Definitely going to take advantage of my morning off tomorrow; we've got our team workout scheduled for the evening! Say a prayer for this 104 degree heat that's predicted! :/

Tuesday, June 26th
Core in the AM
30' run around Grand Prairie + 2 x 300 + 5 x200 (equal rest, all consecutive)
COMMENTS: It was extremely hot today, probably the hottest day we've had yet. We (Katie, Linet, and myself) got in 3.8 miles during our warm up and then hit the track. The 300's were 58, 57, followed by 200's that cut down from 38 to 36. Overall, the last two miles were in 13:48 which is a tad slower than they have been, but I give the heat credit for that today! ;)

Wednesday, June 27th
rest day

Thursday, June 28th
9M run in 68' (7:33 AP) through the neighborhood
COMMENTS: Ran with Pauley for the first 6 and Jake for the first 8 miles, then finished things out solo. Definitely not feeling good though; just very heavy and tired. Guess that's part of training during the summer in Texas! :) No major "injury" pains though, so that's a plus! Mile splits of 8:38, 7:59, 7:37, 7:27, 7:19, 7:22, 7:22, 7:16, 7:01.

Friday, June 29th
5M run on the grass track + 6 x strides
COMMENTS: Talk about running on E. My gas tank is definitely running low this week. Total run averaged 8:15 pace with miles of 9:12, 8:19, 8:08, 8:02, 7:33. The strides felt better than the run, but my hip flexors are tight (no major foot pain).

Saturday, June 30th
2M warm up + 5M progressive + 1M cool down with GTTC on the Trinity Trails
COMMENTS: Much more controlled workout this week compared to last week, mostly just because it didn't call for any "fast" miles so it was easier to pace. Our progression was 7:19, 7:05, 6:51, 6:45, 6:13 averaging out to 6:50 pace. The cool down was in 7:08, so not terribly slow either. I'm feeling a bit better and I'm excited about the gradual smart build that Jake has planned for us. Just need to take care of these blisters!


Total Weekly Mileage: 40M

6.17.2012

A whole week at home - FINALLY!! (37M)

Last week ended remarkably well considering the shaky start I got with my foot. I found out it was peroneal tendonitis so I eased up on the daily pace, iced like crazy,  and started some NSAID pills and an anti-inflammatory gel. By Friday afternoon's run, the pain was already subsiding some. Score!!

Just to be safe, I'm going to keep my mileage the same this week; if all is clear on Saturday we'll move up again next week. I'm excited to workout with the girls twice this week and FINALLY be home for a full 7 days straight... It's been forever since we've had a full week without travel!

Sunday, June 17th
56' run around Lubbock with Jake
COMMENTS: Not a bad run at all. I wasn't sore at all from yesterday, but I'm still real worn down and tired. I'm glad I had Jake to run with though; it forced me to run a decent pace whereas a probably would've chilled too much had I been on my own. Looking forward to Tuesday's workout though! Very minimal foot pain again! :)

Monday, June 18th
40' easy run through the neighborhood
COMMENTS: By easy, today I mean a nice slow trot, haha! At least for the first 25', then I started moving. But man, I have just been having the hardest time getting fluid and smooth on my runs; I'm feeling pretty heavy and worn down but for no reason at all! Hopefully now that all this travel is slowing down I'll get my feet back under me! Regardless, I'm so grateful to be able to move so freely and enjoy this privilege to run. Even on these sluggish days I still enjoy every step.

Tuesday, June 19th
30' moderate run + track ladder of 100, 2x200, 300 & back down
COMMENTS: I was still very tired and my muscles were really tight tonight. Leg swings pre-workout were even painful! I think I may be dehydrated so I'll have to work on that tomorrow. Splits for the track ladder were 19, 39, 40, 58, 59, 37, 39, 19 with equal rest after each one. Total 2 miles were 13:54 but the wind was brutal on the recovery. No pain where my tendonitis has been, but I did have pain in the middle of my left foot? Special shout-out to Mrs Katie Noss who made me WORK tonight!

Wednesday, June 20th
rest day

Thursday, June 21st
56' moderate run through the neighborhood
COMMENTS: Felt much better this morning than most of my runs lately! Maybe these weekly rest days are more helpful than I thought! :) Map My Run puts me at about 7.6M for the run which is actually more than I needed. I had a little aching in my feet, but definitely nothing bad at all!

Friday, June 22nd
40' run on the gravel path and grass track + core
COMMENTS: I pretty much went out for a casual trot this morning! In other words, I felt like poop and ran like it too! Hahah! Even running slow I felt tired. Thankfully I started to get my feet back underneath me towards the last five minutes; hopefully tomorrow is a different story!

Saturday, June 23rd
2M warm up + 5 x alt miles + 1M cool down on the Trinity Trail Loop
COMMENTS: Team workout day!! :) Ran with Jake and Katie, Edwin was with us for most if it as well! I felt really rotten on the warm up, but when we started the workout the first 6:30 mile felt so casual. Originally we'd planned to alternate 6:30 and 7:30 pace, but we adjusted and just cut down thru the workout. Ended up with alt mile splits of 6:28, 7:16, 6:18, 7:03, 6:03. Definitely a nice surprise and solid workout for this being our second week. We have so much time left to train that it's not even funny. Can't wait to see what this partnership can do for our fitness!

Total weekly mileage: 38M

6.10.2012

Let the fun begin! (37M)

Last week's down week ended up coming at the PERFECT time - Lots of travel, lots of long work days, lots of stress, and, unfortunately, some new foot pain. But God is good and I'm trusting that things will be back to normal this week! :)

Tuesday night is our first team practice and I'm looking forward to a chance to train with a group again! I'm going to do my best to listen to my body and be smart about when to push things and when to save up for another day! Hope everyone enjoys their week!


Sunday, June 10th
7M run at White Rock Lake + light core work
COMMENTS: Only slight pain in my foot today and, as usual, it stopped after the first 15' or so. I ran the first 3.5 with Jake, Pauley, Zach, and Matt, then turned back around to finish my run on the last portion of the DRC Half course. Very good run today in terms of finishing hard; average paces per mile: 8:07, 7:31, 7:15, 7:20, 6:55, 6:59, 7:09 (first part of last mile), 5:42 (last 1/2 mile).


Monday, June 11th
5M run on the trails
COMMENTS: Not a bad run at all except for the nasty spiders I kept hitting! :) I ran by myself for almost the entire run, which was nice because I could go my own pace. Still aches in my foot, but nothing un-runnable.

Tuesday, June 12th
6M run + 8 x 200/200 float
COMMENTS: First practice with the GTTC ladies!!! Yay! We ran 4M around Grand Prairie, then did the 8 x 200's progressively getting faster with a float recovery. Total time for the 2 miles was 13:24 with 200's of 42, 42, 40, 40, 38, 38, 36, 36. Pretty good pain in my foot again - Icing and meds!
***Saw my podiatrist today, I have peroneal tendonitis so I'm supposed to stay off hills, ease up on my running (nothing fast), and stay on level surfaces. He also prescribed Naprelan (NSAID) and an anti-inflamotory cream to put on it. Time to start praying! We're giving it two weeks and if the pain isn't better then he'll do an injection and I'll have to stop running a few weeks. :/

Wednesday, June 13th
rehab (rest) day

Thursday, June 14th
56' run through the neighborhood
COMMENTS: My foot was more sore on this run than it was this time last week, but I'm only 1 dose into my pills and NSAID gel, so I'm going to give it another couple days. Aside from that, the run was nice; I was pretty tired today, but not sore.

Friday, June 15th
40' run on the treadmill
COMMENTS: Stormed all morning, travelled to Lubbock during the day, ran on a treadmill immediately after a nap... not a recipe for a fast or smooth run! ;) But I got it in and my foot actually felt a little better today!

Saturday, June 16th
2M warm up + 5M progression run in Lubbock with Jake + light core
COMMENTS: 34:36 for the progression run with splits of 7:21, 7:07, 6:54, 6:49, 6:23. I'm definitely glad Jake was with me on this one, he did a GREAT job pacing - There's no way I would've been able to progress the way we did on my own. I had to work for the last two miles, but it wasn't as brutal as I had feared it would be!

Total weekly mileage: 37M

6.03.2012

The calm before the storm! (28M)

I capped off last week's training with another low key race, this time a 4 miler in Dallas. I still haven't done any aerobic work (aside from last week's surprise 5k), so this was another brutal test of my lungs! Haha! I'm feeling really strong these days - probably due to spending the last 7 months not running a step and just doing core and strength work - but my aerobic strength is definitely at an all time low!

This coming week will be a "down" week, since I have done nothing but gradually build easy mileage since I started back in late March. After this week, we begin meeting as a team and I'll finally get to start adding some quality to my training! Jake (my husband and coach) keeps having to remind me that November is still a long ways away, so I have to be patient and trust that fitness will come if I'm consistent and give it time!

Sunday, June 3rd
35' run at White Rock Lake + light core work
COMMENTS: Nice and easy to start, but picked it up to a very strong pace for the second half (still very comfortable though). No pain this morning and my legs felt surprisingly good and fresh.
30' run in the Ho Chi Minh trails in Houston with Jake
COMMENTS: This was an unplanned run, but it was too nice outside and I was feeling pretty lethargic after a long drive down. Another very nice run though; I'm so grateful to be able to post this. Running is a true gift - Don't ever forget that!


Monday, June 4th
20' strength & core circuit in the morning
32' run on a golf course in the evening
COMMENTS: I was definitely feeling weak and run down on this run, but it was 6:30 and I hadn't eaten since noon aside from a few snacks! I am hoping that tomorrow morning's run will be more back to normal. I will say that the strength circuit I'm doing these days is TOUGH so if I can make a habit of it I could see some huge benefits down the road!

Tuesday, June 5th
32' run in Ho Chi Minh trails with Jake
COMMENTS: Definitely felt much better on today's run than yesterday's run! I'm still pretty tired, but it's been a long week and I'm traveling so my diet/ rest is all off kilter. No pain at all on my runs so far, but my foot did ache a bit while eating dinner tonight (not a pain when walking, just an ache when sitting).

Wednesday, June 6th
rest day

Thursday, June 7th
32' run on the golf course with Jake
COMMENTS: Not a bad run, but I'm still feeling sluggish and heavy. Just really worn down and tired this week. It could be from the travel but there's no way to tell without giving it a few more days. Nixed the strength workout since I'm feeling bad and had to drive back to Dallas today.

Friday, June 8th
35' VERY easy run through the neighborhood
COMMENTS: Ran the first 15' solo and the last 20' with Jake - Feeling really sickly today and last night, so something must be going on. I shuffled through most of the run but finally started to wake up a little towards the end. Outside of my left foot has hurt two days in a row now, but only for the first half of my runs. I don't feel any pain the rest of the run or during the day.

Saturday, June 9th
15' run on the gravel and grass at DBU
COMMENTS: My foot was hurting again, so I cut the run short in order to save myself for a longer run tomorrow. I'll cross train this evening. I'm really frustrated about this, but trying to be patient until next week when I can get an MRI done again.
30' strength circuit + 30' bike in the afternoon

Total Weekly Mileage: 26 Miles