28 September 2009
27 September 2009
Week 10 and Tyler Curtis 5k
I've already blogged about the ant attack that sidelined this week's training a bit......Good news is that my ankle is no longer swollen and hasn't been since Friday evening after wearing my brand new CEP compression socks. I love, love, love these socks! Not very attractive and James keeps cracking jokes about me officially being an old lady now, but I don't care.........they WORK. Now if I only had a pair in pink :).
Saturday was the Tyler Curtis 5k, 15th race in the grand prix series--only 5 more, YAY. Since I'd been under the weather my plan was just to take it easy and get it done without passing out. This is a somewhat challenging course with rolling hills, last year's time was 25:19 (I think) and I was going to be happy with a 25ish minute finish again. Warmed up with Patti, Tala, and Karen for 1.78 miles and felt decent so I knew I would survive the race.
Lined up about 3/4 of the way back thinking if I started there I wouldn't be tempted to take off so fast. Ummm, yeah, best laid plans and all that. I did start off at what felt to be a comfortable pace with Jackie for the first mile but the weird thing was that we ended up doing mile 1 in 7:42, faster than I'd planned. We did get mixed in with another runner who was a very LOUD breather and I had to pull away because it was starting to mess up my rhythm. Unfortunately I'd forgotten to bring my mp3 player so I couldn't use headphones to drown that person out.
Miles 2 and 3 I'd caught up to Karen and just kind of leapfrogged with her for the remainder of the race. She'd pass me on the uphills, I'd pass her on the downhills and this is a hilly 5k so there was quite a bit of that, LOL. Hills were taking a toll so I slowed down--mile 2 was 8:04, mile 3 8:03. Very consistent which is unusual for me on a 5k, mile 3 is almost always quite a bit slower than 2.
Started kicking it for the finish line right at mile 3 and almost passed 2 guys just before it! You should have seen their faces when I pulled out ahead of them. Of course they couldn't let a middle-aged woman outkick them so they finished just barely in front of me. Made them work hard for it though!!!!!!!!!! Karen also got herself a 5k p.r., woo-hoo!!!!!!!
Online results aren't posted yet so don't know my exact finish time, I know I was the 74th across the line overall (male and female). Garmin time was 24:50 but I'd walked around a few seconds before I remembered to hit stop. I also took 3rd place female masters! Nice little plaque for the wall :).
I paid for yesterday's 5k today though. Woke up tired and with my left leg cramping this morning. Also had received a wrong number call just after midnight and Elsie woke me up at 0130 wanting to go to the bathroom :(. So started out today's run tired and achy which is not how you want to begin your first ever 20 miler.
Sooo, what can I say about today other than I survived? James rode his Sun cruiser bicycle with me so I wouldn't have to wear my fuel belt and I would have somebody to talk to. Problem was I was tired, cranky, and sore so didn't feel like talking much. Felt like I was slogging almost the entire run. Took my gels at the proper times, drank as much as I could stand and took lots and lots of walk breaks.........And started fantasizing about an ice bath at mile 11, not a good sign, LOL.
The weather was great, downright chilly for the first hour but the wind came out to play for the last hour and kept picking up more and more. I felt like I was being pushed backwards when I was running into it so everytime I'd turn where it was at my back I'd deliberately pick up the pace to try and make up for the slower portions. Today was also the slowest I'd ever ran up Ella Street. Just couldn't seem to fight the wind and the hill :(.
On my last walk break just before mile 19, I was dragging..........I literally had to yell at myself to just run. James thought it was kind of funny but he also knew I was struggling so didn't say very much, wise decision on his part ;). 20 miles in 3:34:50, average mile pace was 10:44, not bad considering the walk breaks and how tired I was before even starting.
The weekend has taken its toll, I'm hobbling around like a little old lady right now but this time last year 12-14 miles would have me doing this and now it's taking 18-20. Definite improvement. Oh, after stretching I immediately filled up a huge washtub we have for Elsie with cold water and ice and sat with my legs in it until my feet went numb. It felt AWESOME!
Final mileage on the week was 40.86 miles just a bit short of the 42 scheduled. Not going to worry about it though since I was sick most of the week.
Saturday was the Tyler Curtis 5k, 15th race in the grand prix series--only 5 more, YAY. Since I'd been under the weather my plan was just to take it easy and get it done without passing out. This is a somewhat challenging course with rolling hills, last year's time was 25:19 (I think) and I was going to be happy with a 25ish minute finish again. Warmed up with Patti, Tala, and Karen for 1.78 miles and felt decent so I knew I would survive the race.
Lined up about 3/4 of the way back thinking if I started there I wouldn't be tempted to take off so fast. Ummm, yeah, best laid plans and all that. I did start off at what felt to be a comfortable pace with Jackie for the first mile but the weird thing was that we ended up doing mile 1 in 7:42, faster than I'd planned. We did get mixed in with another runner who was a very LOUD breather and I had to pull away because it was starting to mess up my rhythm. Unfortunately I'd forgotten to bring my mp3 player so I couldn't use headphones to drown that person out.
Miles 2 and 3 I'd caught up to Karen and just kind of leapfrogged with her for the remainder of the race. She'd pass me on the uphills, I'd pass her on the downhills and this is a hilly 5k so there was quite a bit of that, LOL. Hills were taking a toll so I slowed down--mile 2 was 8:04, mile 3 8:03. Very consistent which is unusual for me on a 5k, mile 3 is almost always quite a bit slower than 2.
Started kicking it for the finish line right at mile 3 and almost passed 2 guys just before it! You should have seen their faces when I pulled out ahead of them. Of course they couldn't let a middle-aged woman outkick them so they finished just barely in front of me. Made them work hard for it though!!!!!!!!!! Karen also got herself a 5k p.r., woo-hoo!!!!!!!
Online results aren't posted yet so don't know my exact finish time, I know I was the 74th across the line overall (male and female). Garmin time was 24:50 but I'd walked around a few seconds before I remembered to hit stop. I also took 3rd place female masters! Nice little plaque for the wall :).
I paid for yesterday's 5k today though. Woke up tired and with my left leg cramping this morning. Also had received a wrong number call just after midnight and Elsie woke me up at 0130 wanting to go to the bathroom :(. So started out today's run tired and achy which is not how you want to begin your first ever 20 miler.
Sooo, what can I say about today other than I survived? James rode his Sun cruiser bicycle with me so I wouldn't have to wear my fuel belt and I would have somebody to talk to. Problem was I was tired, cranky, and sore so didn't feel like talking much. Felt like I was slogging almost the entire run. Took my gels at the proper times, drank as much as I could stand and took lots and lots of walk breaks.........And started fantasizing about an ice bath at mile 11, not a good sign, LOL.
The weather was great, downright chilly for the first hour but the wind came out to play for the last hour and kept picking up more and more. I felt like I was being pushed backwards when I was running into it so everytime I'd turn where it was at my back I'd deliberately pick up the pace to try and make up for the slower portions. Today was also the slowest I'd ever ran up Ella Street. Just couldn't seem to fight the wind and the hill :(.
On my last walk break just before mile 19, I was dragging..........I literally had to yell at myself to just run. James thought it was kind of funny but he also knew I was struggling so didn't say very much, wise decision on his part ;). 20 miles in 3:34:50, average mile pace was 10:44, not bad considering the walk breaks and how tired I was before even starting.
The weekend has taken its toll, I'm hobbling around like a little old lady right now but this time last year 12-14 miles would have me doing this and now it's taking 18-20. Definite improvement. Oh, after stretching I immediately filled up a huge washtub we have for Elsie with cold water and ice and sat with my legs in it until my feet went numb. It felt AWESOME!
Final mileage on the week was 40.86 miles just a bit short of the 42 scheduled. Not going to worry about it though since I was sick most of the week.
25 September 2009
Mulligan please
ugh, what a week........I want a do-over. On second thought, it might be even worse so never mind I guess, lol.
First off, Monday started off ok. Got in 9.33 miles (9 scheduled) that included a warmup run to the health club then 8 x 800s at 10k pace (8:19 or just under for me) with 400s for recovery (5.25 miles on the 'mill), then a cooldown run back home. I didn't think I was ever going to get back across Hwy 36 to my neighborhood though, morning rush hour. Even at the stop light I was kind of spooked to run across when the crosswalk light said it was ok. Eeep, Monday morning and Friday evening drivers are the WORST!
Immediately after showering and a quick bite to eat, James and I took his mom to the urgent-care clinic so we could all get our flu-shots, our insurance would cover it there and we didn't have to make an appointment. Unfortunately we were surrounded by sick people coughing everywhere, ewwww. I think there was only one other person there besides us that didn't have some kind of flu already.
Monday afternoon I ended up stepping on an anthill while doing my truck walkaround inspection before leaving out. Those little buggers swarmed my right leg and started stinging, ouch, ouch, ouch!!!!!!! Thought I'd gotten them all knocked off, smushed, shaken out of my shoe, etc but walked to the front of my truck and had a second round of stings from the ones I'd missed. Ended up with welps all over my right ankle and up to my knee and by the time I'd shut down in TN that night my right ankle was HUGE, I ached in all my joints, and had a killer headache.
Tuesday morning--ankle still swollen, joints achy, head hurt, my throat was sore, it was storming in middle Tennessee, I picked up a very f'ed up trailer, James had to swap out trailers for a load that turned hot, and I had to fight my way into the NLR Pilot to fuel. Whew......
We did manage to get a run in Tuesday night after sundown that was quite nice, 3.94 miles but in hindsight I probably shouldn't have run. Was feeling lightheaded afterwards even though it was a very easy pace.
Unfortunately we also received a call while we were out from one of James' mom's friends that she (James' mom) had to be taken to the emergency room. It turned out to be nothing serious but it did give us quite a scare since we were already almost to Texas and the person that called didn't tell us what was going on. My mother-in-law has a hiatal hernia and acid reflux and absolutely refuses to eat correctly. She doesn't believe that food has anything to do with these issues and if you've ever tried to convince an elderly person of something that they don't want to believe then you know what we're up against. Anyway that's what was wrong with her Tuesday night, she'd ate something that day that disagreed with her and it caused some severe distress for her. Her friend that was there called an ambulance even though she could have driven my m.i.l. to the hospital much quicker. Her reasoning was that she thought my m.i.l. would get seen quicker if she arrived by ambulance even though it was non-life threatening. Sooo, not much sleep Tuesday night.
Wednesday--rain, rain, rain, and still all the same symptoms from the previous day. Saw the aftermath of a horrendous accident that killed 3 people north of Temple/Belton on I35. Bad, bad wreck...........
Thursday--had a 10 mile run scheduled that didn't get done because ankle swollen and sick still from the stinking ant stings. Oh, and rain.....
Friday--Sunshine! My ankle is not nearly as swollen, I feel better although kind of weak, and I'm home. And the sun is shining!!!
I do have a 5k grand prix race tomorrow and I've got a feeling it's going to be a slow one :(. Oh well, I don't have to place in order to ironman the series but it's hard on the ego to have a race when you're not feeling very well.
Oh, and dispatcher called this afternoon to let us know that we would be alternating Tuesday and Wednesday pickups in Tenn. from here on. James is thinking about getting on the 2 rounds/1 round schedule again which would mean we'd only have every other weekend off together like 1.5 years ago. The extra money would be nice but we'll have to discuss it in more detail later this weekend.
First off, Monday started off ok. Got in 9.33 miles (9 scheduled) that included a warmup run to the health club then 8 x 800s at 10k pace (8:19 or just under for me) with 400s for recovery (5.25 miles on the 'mill), then a cooldown run back home. I didn't think I was ever going to get back across Hwy 36 to my neighborhood though, morning rush hour. Even at the stop light I was kind of spooked to run across when the crosswalk light said it was ok. Eeep, Monday morning and Friday evening drivers are the WORST!
Immediately after showering and a quick bite to eat, James and I took his mom to the urgent-care clinic so we could all get our flu-shots, our insurance would cover it there and we didn't have to make an appointment. Unfortunately we were surrounded by sick people coughing everywhere, ewwww. I think there was only one other person there besides us that didn't have some kind of flu already.
Monday afternoon I ended up stepping on an anthill while doing my truck walkaround inspection before leaving out. Those little buggers swarmed my right leg and started stinging, ouch, ouch, ouch!!!!!!! Thought I'd gotten them all knocked off, smushed, shaken out of my shoe, etc but walked to the front of my truck and had a second round of stings from the ones I'd missed. Ended up with welps all over my right ankle and up to my knee and by the time I'd shut down in TN that night my right ankle was HUGE, I ached in all my joints, and had a killer headache.
Tuesday morning--ankle still swollen, joints achy, head hurt, my throat was sore, it was storming in middle Tennessee, I picked up a very f'ed up trailer, James had to swap out trailers for a load that turned hot, and I had to fight my way into the NLR Pilot to fuel. Whew......
We did manage to get a run in Tuesday night after sundown that was quite nice, 3.94 miles but in hindsight I probably shouldn't have run. Was feeling lightheaded afterwards even though it was a very easy pace.
Unfortunately we also received a call while we were out from one of James' mom's friends that she (James' mom) had to be taken to the emergency room. It turned out to be nothing serious but it did give us quite a scare since we were already almost to Texas and the person that called didn't tell us what was going on. My mother-in-law has a hiatal hernia and acid reflux and absolutely refuses to eat correctly. She doesn't believe that food has anything to do with these issues and if you've ever tried to convince an elderly person of something that they don't want to believe then you know what we're up against. Anyway that's what was wrong with her Tuesday night, she'd ate something that day that disagreed with her and it caused some severe distress for her. Her friend that was there called an ambulance even though she could have driven my m.i.l. to the hospital much quicker. Her reasoning was that she thought my m.i.l. would get seen quicker if she arrived by ambulance even though it was non-life threatening. Sooo, not much sleep Tuesday night.
Wednesday--rain, rain, rain, and still all the same symptoms from the previous day. Saw the aftermath of a horrendous accident that killed 3 people north of Temple/Belton on I35. Bad, bad wreck...........
Thursday--had a 10 mile run scheduled that didn't get done because ankle swollen and sick still from the stinking ant stings. Oh, and rain.....
Friday--Sunshine! My ankle is not nearly as swollen, I feel better although kind of weak, and I'm home. And the sun is shining!!!
I do have a 5k grand prix race tomorrow and I've got a feeling it's going to be a slow one :(. Oh well, I don't have to place in order to ironman the series but it's hard on the ego to have a race when you're not feeling very well.
Oh, and dispatcher called this afternoon to let us know that we would be alternating Tuesday and Wednesday pickups in Tenn. from here on. James is thinking about getting on the 2 rounds/1 round schedule again which would mean we'd only have every other weekend off together like 1.5 years ago. The extra money would be nice but we'll have to discuss it in more detail later this weekend.
20 September 2009
AR 20k pic
Found this on the ARKRRCA picture page. Tala and me just before the turn-around point at the Arkansas 20k. Look, I'm smiling during a race! At this point I still felt great.
Issuing a challenge to the truck drivers to identify where I'm at. No prizes, but curious as to how many recognize this spot.
Issuing a challenge to the truck drivers to identify where I'm at. No prizes, but curious as to how many recognize this spot.
Chafing, toenails, and plantar fasciitis
Ok, knock on wood but I've been EXTREMELY lucky in that I rarely experience any kind of chafing issues. Well, now I know why--I haven't been running far enough. So far though the only chafing issues I'm experiencing is on the tips of my TOES! Time to make the first ever Body Glide purchase and then remember to actually use the stuff.
While we're on the subject of toes, I'm currently going through the marathon training rite of passage. Yeppers, I have three toenails that are in the process of detaching from my feet. Actually one I'd already lost the majority of and have a bit of new nail growing back. The big toenail and the one next to it on my right foot are also working their way loose. EW, EW, EW. This has pretty much ended my days of wearing open toed sandals in public.
On the plantar fasciitis front, all is good there as long as I don't try to wear my cute, flat sandals (like I did last Sunday). I can get up out of bed and not hobble around for 30 minutes while waiting for the foot to loosen up. Today my foot is sore but not that kind of sore, just an all over my body hurts from a hellacious run sore ;). The aggressive icing, stretching and Fit-Flops has worked, yay!
While we're on the subject of toes, I'm currently going through the marathon training rite of passage. Yeppers, I have three toenails that are in the process of detaching from my feet. Actually one I'd already lost the majority of and have a bit of new nail growing back. The big toenail and the one next to it on my right foot are also working their way loose. EW, EW, EW. This has pretty much ended my days of wearing open toed sandals in public.
On the plantar fasciitis front, all is good there as long as I don't try to wear my cute, flat sandals (like I did last Sunday). I can get up out of bed and not hobble around for 30 minutes while waiting for the foot to loosen up. Today my foot is sore but not that kind of sore, just an all over my body hurts from a hellacious run sore ;). The aggressive icing, stretching and Fit-Flops has worked, yay!
19 September 2009
Arkansas 20k
ow, ow, ow..........This one ranks 3rd for me behind the Hogeye 1/2 Marathon and Sara Low 5k for tough courses. Hilly and lots of places where the road had a wicked tilt. I'm achy right now and hobbling around when I do pry my butt up off the couch. As a result I just placed an order for some compression socks to help with recovering after these tough races and runs. I went with the CEP Socks because a twitter friend works for them. Not exactly the most attractive things but hey if they work, I'll be ecstatic!
Race report--Eugene told me beforehand that it was going to be tough and I'd already read some other reviews along the same lines. Since I had an 18 mile long run to get done, I just decided to start out much slower than usual and use this as a supported training run. Great news was that it was overcast with just an occasional light drizzle, no overheating from the sun and no downpours. Almost perfect, yay!
I was sooooo happy to see that Brenda, Cindy, and Lisa decided to race! Missed them last weekend. Now I knew there wouldn't be any keeping up with Lisa but on good days I can keep up with Brenda and Cindy. Those two decided to take off a tad faster than what I wanted so I ran with Tala on the first half (plus a bit). She's great company too and a darn good runner :).
After the first half, Tala was taking a walk break to get some water and I noticed that B & C had slowed down just a bit from their blistering initial pace along with Karen so I sped up just a bit to catch up with them. Ran with K. for quite a bit then took a walk break so I could ingest a gel and that's when C. caught back up to me with a group of guys. Had another great mile or two then it seemed like survival mode kicked in, that's when we started back with the bigger hills :(. It was just try and keep moving at that point.
Oh to back up just a bit, K. and I ran with a guy for a while that had 35 marathons and several Ironman Tris under his belt. Amazing! I'm just hoping to survive my first, lol.
Garmin splits
Mile 1 8:56
Mile 2 8:38
Mile 3 8:41
Mile 4 8:50
Mile 5 9:01
Mile 6 8:58
Mile 7 8:36
Mile 8 8:21
Mile 9 8:50
Mile 10 9:25
Mile 11 9:10
Mile 12 8:56
Mile 12-12.49 3:59
So no negative splits but not too inconsistent either. I'm happy with it and since this is my first 20k race it was going to be a personal record regardless of my time.
Chip time 1:50:18 (garmin time 1:50:28)
75/179 overall (Male and Female)
16/77 Female overall
And I came home with this--thought I might place today because it's a smaller race but knew it wouldn't be master's and thought it would be further down so I'm very pleased :). Especially since I didn't set out to race race today.
Tala by the way needed some extra mileage too so we kept each other company for another 4.5-4.75 miles AFTER the race. Did I mention it was hilly? Big day, my first 20k and almost 18 miler (17.99!).
Race report--Eugene told me beforehand that it was going to be tough and I'd already read some other reviews along the same lines. Since I had an 18 mile long run to get done, I just decided to start out much slower than usual and use this as a supported training run. Great news was that it was overcast with just an occasional light drizzle, no overheating from the sun and no downpours. Almost perfect, yay!
I was sooooo happy to see that Brenda, Cindy, and Lisa decided to race! Missed them last weekend. Now I knew there wouldn't be any keeping up with Lisa but on good days I can keep up with Brenda and Cindy. Those two decided to take off a tad faster than what I wanted so I ran with Tala on the first half (plus a bit). She's great company too and a darn good runner :).
After the first half, Tala was taking a walk break to get some water and I noticed that B & C had slowed down just a bit from their blistering initial pace along with Karen so I sped up just a bit to catch up with them. Ran with K. for quite a bit then took a walk break so I could ingest a gel and that's when C. caught back up to me with a group of guys. Had another great mile or two then it seemed like survival mode kicked in, that's when we started back with the bigger hills :(. It was just try and keep moving at that point.
Oh to back up just a bit, K. and I ran with a guy for a while that had 35 marathons and several Ironman Tris under his belt. Amazing! I'm just hoping to survive my first, lol.
Garmin splits
Mile 1 8:56
Mile 2 8:38
Mile 3 8:41
Mile 4 8:50
Mile 5 9:01
Mile 6 8:58
Mile 7 8:36
Mile 8 8:21
Mile 9 8:50
Mile 10 9:25
Mile 11 9:10
Mile 12 8:56
Mile 12-12.49 3:59
So no negative splits but not too inconsistent either. I'm happy with it and since this is my first 20k race it was going to be a personal record regardless of my time.
Chip time 1:50:18 (garmin time 1:50:28)
75/179 overall (Male and Female)
16/77 Female overall
And I came home with this--thought I might place today because it's a smaller race but knew it wouldn't be master's and thought it would be further down so I'm very pleased :). Especially since I didn't set out to race race today.
Tala by the way needed some extra mileage too so we kept each other company for another 4.5-4.75 miles AFTER the race. Did I mention it was hilly? Big day, my first 20k and almost 18 miler (17.99!).
Week 9
Wow, can't believe that I just finished up on week 9 of marathon training!?!
Monday--raining plus slept in so didn't get to the track before school started therefore it was the gym for intervals on treadmill. 8.02 miles 1:14:13. 3 x 1600s at 8:19 pace, 400 m. recovery jogs. ehh workout and had stomach issues but more on that later
Tuesday--3.02 miles in 30:47. Had a rare moment of sunshine just after sunrise at Hurricane Mills, TN so went out for my easy 3 with Elsie. Good thing too that was the last of the good weather for a bit and my trailer wasn't ready at Mt. Juliet (had an extra 2 hour + wait). Stopped at a pond for Elsie to get a drink and she decided to dive in instead, LOL.
Wednesday--Rest day. Full day of driving though with more than enough rain at least until just south of San Antonio, then had some sunshine again for a bit.
Thursday--9.05 miles in 1:27:46. Supposed to have 5 of the miles at marathon pace but it was just a fight to get it done pace. Legs were tired from driving the previous day and it was VERY windy. Most places that I run at while I'm on the road I won't start out until sunrise due to safety issues so that means I have to run when it's warmer out than I'd like. Oh, this was at Pearsall, TX (100 miles north of Laredo). Warm, humid, and windy + tummy issues
Friday-National Run @ Work Day. Seriously thought about waiting until I got home to run the 3 scheduled but was kind of guilted into going ahead and doing it at Mt. Vernon, TX because of the run at work thing, LOL. Pouring rain and I decided to run the frontage road back west instead of my usual into town route. The frontage road was the closest I could get to running at my work. Felt great and rocked a runner's high that lasted almost until lunch time. 3.17 miles in 29:16.
This is where I was parked Thursday night/Friday morning. Small truckstop but refills of coffee are under a buck if you have your own mug :-).
Saturday--Arkansas 20k race and I had 18 miles scheduled, eeep! Well, got it done, sorta.....totals from everything was 17.99 miles, close enough :-). I'll give a race report in a separate post. .76 mile warmup (had planned for 2 but was late), 12.48 mile race, then 4.75 miles afterwards with Tala.
Total for the week 41.25 miles. No cycling because it's been raining and only one core workout.
Monday--raining plus slept in so didn't get to the track before school started therefore it was the gym for intervals on treadmill. 8.02 miles 1:14:13. 3 x 1600s at 8:19 pace, 400 m. recovery jogs. ehh workout and had stomach issues but more on that later
Tuesday--3.02 miles in 30:47. Had a rare moment of sunshine just after sunrise at Hurricane Mills, TN so went out for my easy 3 with Elsie. Good thing too that was the last of the good weather for a bit and my trailer wasn't ready at Mt. Juliet (had an extra 2 hour + wait). Stopped at a pond for Elsie to get a drink and she decided to dive in instead, LOL.
Wednesday--Rest day. Full day of driving though with more than enough rain at least until just south of San Antonio, then had some sunshine again for a bit.
Thursday--9.05 miles in 1:27:46. Supposed to have 5 of the miles at marathon pace but it was just a fight to get it done pace. Legs were tired from driving the previous day and it was VERY windy. Most places that I run at while I'm on the road I won't start out until sunrise due to safety issues so that means I have to run when it's warmer out than I'd like. Oh, this was at Pearsall, TX (100 miles north of Laredo). Warm, humid, and windy + tummy issues
Friday-National Run @ Work Day. Seriously thought about waiting until I got home to run the 3 scheduled but was kind of guilted into going ahead and doing it at Mt. Vernon, TX because of the run at work thing, LOL. Pouring rain and I decided to run the frontage road back west instead of my usual into town route. The frontage road was the closest I could get to running at my work. Felt great and rocked a runner's high that lasted almost until lunch time. 3.17 miles in 29:16.
This is where I was parked Thursday night/Friday morning. Small truckstop but refills of coffee are under a buck if you have your own mug :-).
Saturday--Arkansas 20k race and I had 18 miles scheduled, eeep! Well, got it done, sorta.....totals from everything was 17.99 miles, close enough :-). I'll give a race report in a separate post. .76 mile warmup (had planned for 2 but was late), 12.48 mile race, then 4.75 miles afterwards with Tala.
Total for the week 41.25 miles. No cycling because it's been raining and only one core workout.
18 September 2009
ommmm
eFor those new to my blog or whatever, I drive a dedicated route from Middle Tennessee to Laredo, TX. Fortunately I've found a very nifty shortcut on back roads that eliminates the need to drive through Dallas, it's 15 miles shorter, takes the exact same amount of time as the interstate and is a helluva lot less stressful. However, despite my countless hours on various mapping sites I can't find a good way to bypass Austin without taking the new toll roads. And Austin is shall we say, a little on the difficult side to get through without your blood pressure going off the charts, LOL.
I was finding myself getting very, very, very angry on the round trip through there. So angry that it was starting to affect my mood the rest of the work week and I was constantly snapping at James. As a result approx. a year and a half ago I decided to start applying some of the strategies that I use while running. Deep, even breaths, a conscious dropping and relaxing of my shoulders, and keeping at least half a tractor trailer length (usually a full truck length though) away from the vehicle in front of me no matter how slow or fast the traffic was, or more likely, not going. Well the last part I don't use when running but you get the point, LOL! Little bit of an edit here--I usually keep a much greater following distance when driving, this is referring to traffic jams/stop and go city driving.
And it worked! It's so automatic now that between Georgetown and Buda that I'm almost in a meditative state. I'm fully aware of all the traffic around me but I'm no longer flying off the handle at the slightest hint of a car or truck cutting me off and I'm just a nicer person to be around for a bit. Now, once I get north or south of the aforementioned points, all bets are off.........
It's worked so well that late last month I started applying these tactics to anytime I'm driving. I've even found a couple of curse words that can be used in polite company and they're so ridiculous that I can't help but smile after I've used them and instead of flipping someone the bird (or wanting to) I give them a thumbs down--makes me grin and gets the point across just as effectively. The latter by the way was an idea floating around on Twitter.
Now don't go thinking I'm going Pollyanna, I still have a ferocious potty-mouth (although I'm TRYING to work on it) and I'm having to think about relaxing more than what I thought I would when I started this. But, instead of NEEDING a vacation, right now, it'd just be nice to be able to take a week off. I told James about this experiment yesterday and he replied that he'd noticed a change, just wasn't sure what had changed.
I was finding myself getting very, very, very angry on the round trip through there. So angry that it was starting to affect my mood the rest of the work week and I was constantly snapping at James. As a result approx. a year and a half ago I decided to start applying some of the strategies that I use while running. Deep, even breaths, a conscious dropping and relaxing of my shoulders, and keeping at least half a tractor trailer length (usually a full truck length though) away from the vehicle in front of me no matter how slow or fast the traffic was, or more likely, not going. Well the last part I don't use when running but you get the point, LOL! Little bit of an edit here--I usually keep a much greater following distance when driving, this is referring to traffic jams/stop and go city driving.
And it worked! It's so automatic now that between Georgetown and Buda that I'm almost in a meditative state. I'm fully aware of all the traffic around me but I'm no longer flying off the handle at the slightest hint of a car or truck cutting me off and I'm just a nicer person to be around for a bit. Now, once I get north or south of the aforementioned points, all bets are off.........
It's worked so well that late last month I started applying these tactics to anytime I'm driving. I've even found a couple of curse words that can be used in polite company and they're so ridiculous that I can't help but smile after I've used them and instead of flipping someone the bird (or wanting to) I give them a thumbs down--makes me grin and gets the point across just as effectively. The latter by the way was an idea floating around on Twitter.
Now don't go thinking I'm going Pollyanna, I still have a ferocious potty-mouth (although I'm TRYING to work on it) and I'm having to think about relaxing more than what I thought I would when I started this. But, instead of NEEDING a vacation, right now, it'd just be nice to be able to take a week off. I told James about this experiment yesterday and he replied that he'd noticed a change, just wasn't sure what had changed.
14 September 2009
Week 8
Ok, first off, I apologize for the previous post--blogger and pictures is not mixing well for me for some reason anymore, grrrr.
This week was a fallback week and for some reason I just couldn't get into the groove of things. I only had 2 runs that were enjoyable, blech.
Some of this I've posted about already.
Monday--supposed to be hill repeats, only .87 miles done
Tuesday--hill repeats. Miserable, only did 5.68 miles of the 8 scheduled
Wednesday--Run/walk with James in Middle Tenn. 5.24 miles in 55:46. Good day
Thursday--rest day, but should've run because I was delayed by traffic anyway so didn't get in and out of Laredo as planned
Friday--run/walk with James at Von Ormy, TX. Light mist but very humid so hard to breath. 5.45 miles in 58:34. James ended up walking all but .75 miles because it was so difficult to catch your breath.
Saturday--14.05 hard miserable miles in the evening (2:27:49). First 6.5 miles stomach kept cramping so it was a run/walk routine. mile 7-10.5 felt okay. 10.5 on I was tired and becoming more and more cranky. James had pedaled along with me to keep me company since I would be running after dark for 1/2 of the run and he quit talking at around mile 11.5-12. Argghhhh!!!!!!!!!! I didn't even have any podcasts to listen to-hadn't loaded up my mp3 player-and probably wouldn't have used it anyway since it was so dark. I'd also driven in from the Waco area that morning so my legs weren't exactly fresh.
Sunday--4.22 miles in 53:40 with James and Elsie. Legs were very tired from the previous evening but overall it was a nice run. Misting rain and cooler so was able to just sleep in and get up whenever to run.
Even though I felt miserable Saturday I must have looked kinda fast. I had to make a pitstop at the bathroom in Berryhill Park and while running through the park I passed a couple of 10-12 year old boys. One told the other "I dare you to race her!" and the other was like "uh-uh, I think she can beat me." Nice little ego boost :).
Total for the week was 35.51 miles (35 scheduled). No cycling due to the rain, being tired, and I just couldn't bear the thought of the trainer.
After breakfast digests I'm going to head to the gym to do my speed workout on the treadmill, not looking at the schedule right now but think I'm supposed to do 8 miles total with 3 x 1600s at 10k pace.
This week was a fallback week and for some reason I just couldn't get into the groove of things. I only had 2 runs that were enjoyable, blech.
Some of this I've posted about already.
Monday--supposed to be hill repeats, only .87 miles done
Tuesday--hill repeats. Miserable, only did 5.68 miles of the 8 scheduled
Wednesday--Run/walk with James in Middle Tenn. 5.24 miles in 55:46. Good day
Thursday--rest day, but should've run because I was delayed by traffic anyway so didn't get in and out of Laredo as planned
Friday--run/walk with James at Von Ormy, TX. Light mist but very humid so hard to breath. 5.45 miles in 58:34. James ended up walking all but .75 miles because it was so difficult to catch your breath.
Saturday--14.05 hard miserable miles in the evening (2:27:49). First 6.5 miles stomach kept cramping so it was a run/walk routine. mile 7-10.5 felt okay. 10.5 on I was tired and becoming more and more cranky. James had pedaled along with me to keep me company since I would be running after dark for 1/2 of the run and he quit talking at around mile 11.5-12. Argghhhh!!!!!!!!!! I didn't even have any podcasts to listen to-hadn't loaded up my mp3 player-and probably wouldn't have used it anyway since it was so dark. I'd also driven in from the Waco area that morning so my legs weren't exactly fresh.
Sunday--4.22 miles in 53:40 with James and Elsie. Legs were very tired from the previous evening but overall it was a nice run. Misting rain and cooler so was able to just sleep in and get up whenever to run.
Even though I felt miserable Saturday I must have looked kinda fast. I had to make a pitstop at the bathroom in Berryhill Park and while running through the park I passed a couple of 10-12 year old boys. One told the other "I dare you to race her!" and the other was like "uh-uh, I think she can beat me." Nice little ego boost :).
Total for the week was 35.51 miles (35 scheduled). No cycling due to the rain, being tired, and I just couldn't bear the thought of the trainer.
After breakfast digests I'm going to head to the gym to do my speed workout on the treadmill, not looking at the schedule right now but think I'm supposed to do 8 miles total with 3 x 1600s at 10k pace.
Salado Creek
Fall is arriving and while the cooler mornings are making for some very pleasant runs in that I'm not sweating the moment I step out the door and I'm not having to get up at 5 am, I must say that I don't like the shorter daylight hours available. Another down side--heavy rains are back, esp. in Texas. While Texas really, really, really needs the rain it makes for white knuckle driving at times because I think everybody there has forgotten how to drive in the stuff. It certainly doesn't help that the rain was coming all at once in certain areas instead of slow and steady.
Last Thursday and Friday the I35 corridor from Waco to San Antonio was bordering on nightmarish. Wrecks everywhere, flash flooding (although that wasn't quite as bad as a few years ago when every low spot on the interstate was underwater), and just general stupidity on more than a few motorists' parts (truck and 4-wheeler).
Friday in particular was adventurous, it ended up taking me 3 hours to drive the 64 miles from the south side of Austin to Salado. Austin, well it's just Austin. It's going to be stop and go through there no matter the time of day but it was well before rush hour started so it shouldn't have been quite as bad as what it was, esp. with no accidents.
From the 272 mile marker to the 285 (Jarrell to Salado) though I was only able to average around 7.43 mph. The cause of the delay was the Salado Creek overflowing its banks onto the interstate........Normally this is a very pretty little creek that you can walk across, maybe knee deep at most. Friday it was a raging monster! Now by the time I reached it, the water had subsided to where it was no longer covering the interstate but still very scary looking.
Very blurry pic
Note the stop ahead warning sign
One of the 4 news crews filming the traffic backup and flooding.
I ended up shutting down at Robinson even though I had the hours available to drive because my nerves were shot from the traffic. Had entirely too many motorists pulling directly in front of me and slamming on their brakes and since I didn't have a race to get in for on Saturday there was no need to rush home.
Traffic tip of the day--if it's rainy, misty, overcast, etc.....please use your headlights. Certain colors of cars (white and dark colors) just get lost in the spray and are practically invisible during these conditions.
08 September 2009
Monday that's actually a Tuesday
Just like everybody else in the states, my schedule is completely out of whack from the long Labor Day weekend. Twas nice having an extra day off but this means that James and I will be picking up on Wednesday instead of Tuesday so our schedules will really be off from the norm. Speaking of our work, it's looking like we are back to normal with both of us picking up on the same day and even at the same plant for now, yay!
Oh, and yet another work related tidbit--I received a call last night/this morning at 1:49 am from a night dispatcher wanting me to get up and cover a "hot" load to Dallas. Quite fortuitously, I'd left my phone in the computer room so didn't get wakened, LOL! Don't know why James didn't get a call too, hmmm.
Workout wise this week has been crappy--almost literally..........having stomach issues again. Tried to get out twice yesterday for my hill repeats and both times had to make a mad dash for the bathroom, ugh. Same thing this morning but finally got whatever was in my system out so managed to get some semblance of a workout done. Think it was set off by the peanut butter I'd had for a pre-workout snack yesterday. I'd sworn off of it just over a month ago thinking it was the culprit in some of my issues but was in a hurry so reached for the jar again yest. morning. So that pretty much confirms my suspicions about peanut butter not agreeing with me.
I was supposed to run 8 miles today with hill repeats in the middle. Got the hill repeats done but only have 5.68 miles showing on my garmin.
Why the mileage shortfall?
1)Didn't get in the full warmup and cooldown portions
2)couldn't get the garmin to sync with satellites again so just took off with the timer counting down
3)hit pause 3 times instead of lap on my hill repeats-once was for the entire repeat up and down before I'd caught my mistake
The repeats went ok--4 X .25 mile, 8 x 1/8 mile then all the way up the hill to finish up (1/2 mile). My legs are tired...........
To try and avoid traffic, James and I drove out to Riverside Park (he was on his mountain bike) but we did have to deal with a few pervs--well, James did, they weren't interested in me :). One guy was sitting in his pickup with the door open and no pants on until I entered the park--James had gotten there just ahead of me. I'm ok with whatever people's sexual preferences are among consenting adults but damn, don't be out in public wagging your weenie to people who aren't interested.
Last week's run total was 40.98 miles, this week will be a backdown so should only have 35ish miles by Sunday (and a 14 mile long run, whew!).
Oh, and yet another work related tidbit--I received a call last night/this morning at 1:49 am from a night dispatcher wanting me to get up and cover a "hot" load to Dallas. Quite fortuitously, I'd left my phone in the computer room so didn't get wakened, LOL! Don't know why James didn't get a call too, hmmm.
Workout wise this week has been crappy--almost literally..........having stomach issues again. Tried to get out twice yesterday for my hill repeats and both times had to make a mad dash for the bathroom, ugh. Same thing this morning but finally got whatever was in my system out so managed to get some semblance of a workout done. Think it was set off by the peanut butter I'd had for a pre-workout snack yesterday. I'd sworn off of it just over a month ago thinking it was the culprit in some of my issues but was in a hurry so reached for the jar again yest. morning. So that pretty much confirms my suspicions about peanut butter not agreeing with me.
I was supposed to run 8 miles today with hill repeats in the middle. Got the hill repeats done but only have 5.68 miles showing on my garmin.
Why the mileage shortfall?
1)Didn't get in the full warmup and cooldown portions
2)couldn't get the garmin to sync with satellites again so just took off with the timer counting down
3)hit pause 3 times instead of lap on my hill repeats-once was for the entire repeat up and down before I'd caught my mistake
The repeats went ok--4 X .25 mile, 8 x 1/8 mile then all the way up the hill to finish up (1/2 mile). My legs are tired...........
To try and avoid traffic, James and I drove out to Riverside Park (he was on his mountain bike) but we did have to deal with a few pervs--well, James did, they weren't interested in me :). One guy was sitting in his pickup with the door open and no pants on until I entered the park--James had gotten there just ahead of me. I'm ok with whatever people's sexual preferences are among consenting adults but damn, don't be out in public wagging your weenie to people who aren't interested.
Last week's run total was 40.98 miles, this week will be a backdown so should only have 35ish miles by Sunday (and a 14 mile long run, whew!).
05 September 2009
Clear Mountain 5k, week 7, and found
Ok, knew it was bound to happen sometime but my local bike shop mechanic has found my blog (Hi Jason!). Guess I'll have to quit trash talking about him now, huh? LOL!!! Actually as most people who read this know by now I love my LBS........Okay butt kissing over.
Today was race number 13 in the state RRCA Grand Prix series and I've got to say I'm not particularly fond of this one. There's nothing bad about it, it's relatively flat, and it's by the river so I should love it. But...........I just don't. My attitude about it was kind of soured too because the Sara Low Memorial 5k was today in Batesville and I had to miss it due to trying to iron the g.p.
Today I'm kind of frustrated with the fact that I pre-registered (was number 74) and still got stuck with a size medium shirt instead of a small. There weren't even any X-larges that I could trade the medium for so James could have a shirt. Oh well, guess I'll have to take the scissors to this one and cut the sleeves and neck out. From here on if there aren't any female cut t-shirts available I'm going to request the kids large. At least it will fit albeit slightly shorter than a regular tee.
Also, it's a non-chip timed race and I never, ever know what time is going to be shown in the official race results. For example today, my garmin showed 23:20 and I didn't shut it off right away + started it as soon as the race started even though I was about a quarter of the way back from the front. Also the time on the clock at the chute was different. I still pr'ed by 1 second according to the race results. I know I shouldn't quibble about this since it was a matter of seconds but still.........Oh well, it will give me more lee-way to try and pr on the next 5k or two.
I am pleased with my race performance, I actually felt good and steady throughout most of the 5k. There was a spot around mile 2 that I had to slow down just a bit but not a whole bunch. I did feel a tad nauseous just before mile 3 but you're supposed to feel that way aren't you? LOL..... Reeled in everybody that I focused on except for one woman and I think the race results show her only 1 second in front of me--btw that's wrong too, she was more like 3-5 seconds ahead.
Official time 23:25
16/160 female
104/377 overall
1/20 female 40-44 age group
I won 3rd place female masters!!!!!!!!!! Very happy about that but the woman that is right with me in grand prix points female masters took first place masters :(. She's VERY fast!
My time last year for this race was 25:22 so almost a 2 minute improvement.
Week in review (still have a 5 mile easy run for tomorrow)
Monday--1.59 miles with Elsie around neighborhood in 17:09
Tuesday--7.14 miles in 1:08:15--hilly run at Hurricane Mills, TN. Felt great, no walk breaks. This route had approx 4 miles on a gravel road. Beautiful cool morning, was blowing smoke for the first couple of miles. Got splattered with gravel from the school bus driver again, grrr.
Wednesday--5.52 miles in 1:10:14. Run/walk with James. He had a great day with over 3 miles running and no breaks but I was having tummy issues so had to walk a couple of times. Another beautiful day with low humidity and chilly fingers. But no more baked apples the night before a run for me, eeeep...........
Thursday--rest day, but still had to wake up early in Laredo to deliver before the morning rush. My first thought when the alarm went off was why am I getting up when I didn't have a run scheduled...........
Friday--5.28 miles in 1:05:55. Not much warmer than Wed. but much, much more humid so James didn't have as good of a run. We also started off with a huge hill so that played a factor. He still ran straight through for 3 miles though. Walk breaks were only at the beginning and end. I was feeling bad so went to bed around 8 pm last night (felt achy and slightly feverish).
Saturday--Woke up with a headache and stumbling around........Pre-dawn wakeups suck. But anyhoo, Lybbe sent the healing fairy from Ontario, Canada to Arkansas so felt decent by race start ;). Thanks again Lybbe! Approx. 1.57 mile warmup in 15:50--ran more but started before my Garmin had time to find the satellites and sync up so using what was actually recorded. 5k race, then finished up with an 11.05 mile run (1:58:33) with Cindy and Brenda for a total of 15.72 miles this morning.
Brenda and Cindy really saved my butt this morning, I know I wouldn't have gotten my long run done if they hadn't come along with me. Love, love, love these girls!!!!!!!!! They also took me out on a route that I didn't even know existed off the Rivertrail so not only did we race this morning and have a long run, we ran trails!!!!!!!!!!! Real, honest to goodness monster uphill, switchbacky, rocky, technical trails! So while the 11ish mile time may seem kind of slow, well it was after a race AND on trails. The 15.72 miles by the way is my longest single run to date--entering new territory here........Felt great until the last 4 then started kind of dragging, the final 2 that I did solo felt endless, blech. Sun had come out and it was heating up fast. I got it done though so happy about that even if my distance was a tad short of the 16 scheduled.
Me after today's fun! I'm still standing and yes, I was wearing my lucky running skirt :)
35.25 miles on the week so far.
04 September 2009
Run With Jazzy
I heard about Jasmine this past week on the Land Line Now xm radio show. Very cool that she's doing this and even though I don't have a ton of blog readers I thought I would get this out to hopefully garner a little more publicity. After all, how can I resist something that combines two major things I'm involved with--running and trucking?!
Anyway, she's running across the United States (Los Angeles to New York) to raise money for the St. Christopher Fund, a not for profit that provides financial aid to truckers with medical problems and also conducts medical research that will benefit professional drivers.
I've just purchased a shirt and will be making a donation later this weekend, I just think it's wicked awesome that this 16 year old is doing.
Anyway, she's running across the United States (Los Angeles to New York) to raise money for the St. Christopher Fund, a not for profit that provides financial aid to truckers with medical problems and also conducts medical research that will benefit professional drivers.
I've just purchased a shirt and will be making a donation later this weekend, I just think it's wicked awesome that this 16 year old is doing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)