good days and bad days

Today was a bad day.  I woke up early for my training run and decided to do it on the treadmill so I could have the ease of the treadmill keeping my pace and wouldn't have to use as much willpower.  I guess my legs weren't quite ready after my 15 mile run on Saturday.

My long run on Saturday went really well and I felt pretty good considering it was my longest run by 5 miles since my last marathon in October.  I ran it at my mgp (marathon goal pace) plus about 30 seconds which is what my training plan had me do.

But today my legs felt like lead.  I chalked it up to a bad day and cut my intervals down a bit and ended up getting in 5 miles.  I hope my next one goes better.  I think I'll hit the pool tomorrow and do some laps to give my legs another break.

Nike +

I just cashed in my hard-earned Coke Rewards for a $50 Nike Gift Card.  I've been purposely saving up for this for months.  I knew I wanted some running gear but I wasn't sure what.

I was thinking a nice waterproof jacket would be really useful or maybe even a fun pair of shoes but when all was said and done, I went with the Nike Sports Band and the Nike + Sensor.

It came in the mail yesterday and I've already got my training plan on the website so that my runs will count towards my goal.  I'm excited to have a new gadget to run with!

Back up and running

The ending of the Provo Half was the beginning of a miserable illness.  I had a massive cold for about 10 days, which also turned into an ear/sinus/throat infection, which also included a day of puking and chills.  I took two full weeks off and still even had a hard time starting back up.

I really take the days when I feel good and normal for granted. 

I'm at the bottom of my training plan again and ready to start getting serious again.  I'll be starting my marathon plan on Monday.  We're planning on doing the Top of Utah Marathon in Logan in September.  I did this marathon 5 years ago and really like the course and since we didn't get into St. George this year, we thought we'd go for it. 

A Half to Remember

I froze my butt off today.  This was by far the most miserable race I've done in terms of weather.  The morning started out beautifully.  It was cloudy but not too cold.  I planned to wear tights and a long-sleeve tech shirt.  No hat, no gloves, no jacket.  My choice of clothing proved to be a bad one when just after the gun went off, the rain started falling.  I think there were about 10 minutes where it wasn't precipitating. 

I felt great through about mile 9.  My splits for miles 1 and 2 were 8:22, mile 3 was 7:45, miles 4-6 were 8:18, mile 7 was 8:06, miles 8-10 were much slower (where I started to freeze to the bone) at about 9:30, mile 11was 9:09, mile 12 was about 8:30, mile 13 was 8:20.

I ended up with a 1:51--7 minutes faster than last year but still 6 minutes slower than my overall half marathon PR.

I'm happy with my performance and even happier that I didn't lose any limbs or have to be hospitalized for hypothermia. ;)

Jon tried to be at the finish line but the weather was so crappy that he decided to wait in the car and cheer me on at mile 13.  Meanwhile, the car battery died, which meant I was left to walk back to where he was parked.  I was so numb and cold at this point that Jon had to help me get my wet shirt off because my hand wouldn't function and my arms were frozen stiff. 

Let's just say that my warm bath was the most welcome bath I've ever had!

When we got home, Jon checked the status of the online registration for the Hobble Creek and saw that it had already filled up (in 2 hours) and the only way to register was to go stand in line at the Runner's Corner before noon (it was 11:30 when we found this out).  We rushed over and I signed up!  I'm excited for that race.  I've heard its a fun, fast course and I've never done it before.

I'm also waiting on the status of our St. George lottery.  We're supposed to hear next Friday.  Crossing my fingers.

To race or not to race

That is the question.  I've been thinking about doing a last minute sign-up for the Utah Valley Marathon.  I've never run this one but it's downhill, fast course is appealing. 

If I do sign up, I won't count on a PR since I'll only have about 8 weeks to train for it.  My mileage is already at about 15 miles so I'm not to worried about increasing it.

Now it looks like we'll be here for the majority of our summer so I may do it.  Yikes!! (excited yikes)

Snowy Trail

Last week, my friend and I decided to run a downhill, half-marathon route to mix things up a bit.  The first 4 miles were beautiful and fast.  Once we hopped onto the river trail portion of our run, we found ourselves running through 2 or 3 feet of frozen, uneven snow.  We weren't the first to run through it--apparent by the other foot/bike prints.  Luckily it was frozen, otherwise our run would have been ruined.

So it was slow-going.  We ended up having to slow to an 11 minute mile pace just to make sure we didn't twist knees and ankles.  The last thing I wanted was an injury in the middle of training. 

2.5 miles later, we hit a frontage road and it felt amazing to be running our normal--even faster--pace.  We had a good fast run and ended up averaging about 8:30 miles including those 11 minute mile early on.

I never post pictures but here are a couple of pictures I took with my phone.

Cancelled

Well, I've canceled my Weight Watchers subscription.  I just lost steam.  There's no other way to put it.  I was totally committed and working hard for about 2 months and I just couldn't do it anymore.  Figures.  Yes. I'm a little disappointed in myself.  I didn't reach my goal.  I'm 4 pounds lighter than I was but I was hoping for 14! 

So I'm still running hard and have just decided to focus on that.  Hopefully I'll have some pleasant side effects.