Life has been going fast - training has been going slow. The never ending battle right?
I had decided to run St. Louis marathon a few months back and have been trying to keep up with training. With work travel and just general 'life' it's been hit and miss at best. I'm pretty sure I can do it regardless, it's just going to hurt and be slow. Because of that and a prior commitment the night before in Carthage (meaning drive all night and not get a good nights sleep the night before the race) I decided - just do the half!! Great idea, EXCEPT it was already closed. :-(
So, back to the original plan - eek my way through the rest of the training.
Game plan as of today - run today (4-6), maybe bike a little Friday, St. Patty's Urban Adventure Race Saturday, and 20 mile run on Sunday (LSSD - that is long, SUPER slow distance - hehe).
Next week I'll do normal weekly runs - 4-6 miles on at least 3 days, then follow that up with a 23 mile run on Saturday.
I'll leave town that Sunday for Salt Lake City for work - hopefully get in runs on Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday. Thursday I fly to Portland, OR after work and meet Brady. We plan to do a lot of biking and one long hike on Friday to take the place of my run and allow a little recovery. The Muse concert is Saturday, then we head home Sunday. There will be more biking, hiking, walking on both of those days.
Chilling out will be on the agenda for the week of the 5th - probably 3 runs of 3-4 miles.
Saturday night drive to St. Louis - hopefully sleep for at least 5 hours, get up and run 26.2! :-)
Maybe not the best plan, but it's the one I'm going with until I change it! ;-)
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Bloodletting
I know I've talked about it before, but I truly believe that giving blood takes it's toll on my running (biking, exercise) performance for at least a week. This week I gave blood on Tuesday afternoon. They started to take it out of my left arm and the blood started coming out - about 3-4 inches worth then it stopped, not to a trickle - just stopped. The 'nurse' fiddled with it - moving the needle around in my arm (ouch!) - to no avail. She had her supervisor come over who did the same thing until it looked like a little gum ball was developing under my skin and decided it best to pull out. Since I was already there I offered up my right arm, which I found out she was only able to do because I had rounded up and said I weighed 120. I guess if they take 35cc of blood out of you they can't start over if you weigh l19 or less. So, we flip the chair around and start again - this time with success. I felt fine upon completion. I got up and had a sugar cookie, some grapes and a diet caffeine free Pepsi before heading back to work for the last 30 minutes of the day. I started feeling a little light headed and decided it best not to work out. Once I got home I took off the bandages they gave me and saw how mangled both my arms looked. They both had knots and bruising - I am a lovely druggie - lol! Even after three days I am still rocking some purple/green/yellow patches the size of quarters.
So, like I said, no running Tuesday. Wednesday just ended up being too busy (painting - blah!). Yesterday I got myself ready and headed out - only to get 2 miles in and feel like passing out. I decided this was not a good thing to happen while I was running alone at dusk so I headed home. I maybe made it 3 miles (out of the 6 I had intended). I think it's just something I need to accept if I want to continue to give?!? I've done all I know to do - drank lots of water before and after and just not pushed myself too much. *Sigh* - to do the right thing; the generous, caring, helpful thing or to be selfish and keep my runs at full throttle...
We know that I will continue to give, and to complain when I can't knock out the mileage or the speed post drainage and that's OK.
So, riding to work this week and the weather today is SUPER! Get out there and RIDE!
So, like I said, no running Tuesday. Wednesday just ended up being too busy (painting - blah!). Yesterday I got myself ready and headed out - only to get 2 miles in and feel like passing out. I decided this was not a good thing to happen while I was running alone at dusk so I headed home. I maybe made it 3 miles (out of the 6 I had intended). I think it's just something I need to accept if I want to continue to give?!? I've done all I know to do - drank lots of water before and after and just not pushed myself too much. *Sigh* - to do the right thing; the generous, caring, helpful thing or to be selfish and keep my runs at full throttle...
We know that I will continue to give, and to complain when I can't knock out the mileage or the speed post drainage and that's OK.
So, riding to work this week and the weather today is SUPER! Get out there and RIDE!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Run With the Wind 2010
I need to back up before going directly into race day recap. I was able to finish out my week of travel with a fairly good run schedule. Monday 4.25, Tuesday 6.2, Wednesday 4, Thursday 1 - wait, is that right?? 1 mile? Yeah, my silly chest cold kicked back on Thursday - I tried to run, but the lungs were having none of it. I opted for a total body weight routine. It wore me out too, but it was better than running. Overall given the way I felt I thought my exercise for the week was pretty stellar. I decided to take Friday off (travel day's are always hard to get in a workout). We flew into Northwest Arkansas, the man friend met me and we went to PF Changs in Rogers to eat with his brother & brother's gf, quick browse through Williams-Sonoma (since we were there), and then a not so quick browse through Lewis & Clark Outfitters. We decided to do a little bike shopping - the man is under the impression I need a new mountain bike and after riding a few new ones (with shocks that actually work) I am starting to buy it. (More on the bike shopping later.) We got home around 9pm and I decided I would do the race the next day so I got ready and went to bed.
So.....Run With the Wind 25K?? Unlike last year's 'Run INTO the Wind' this year really was a 'Run With the Wind'. It was pretty chilly to start (high 20's/low 30's) but once we got going it felt pretty nice. The wind wasn't so strong that I felt it propelling me forward, but the two times we turned into it I could definitely feel it was there! The race is either solo or a team event. I was running solo, but I had friends that were running as teams. It was nice - I first hooked up with Linda (her and her hubby/teammate were each doing a little over 10 with 5 mile overlap in the middle) and we ran till around 5 miles. At that point Scott E. joined in and before long Scott M. (and Cloe the dog) caught up to us. We all ran together for a bit then Scott M., Cloe and I took off a little faster until we got to the next transition point - mile 10. At that point Amy took over for Scott M., Linda finished up, and Scott E. hustled to catch up to us again. The three of us pounded along the eastbound rolling hills that lead into Sarcoxie. After a couple miles Scott E. checked up a bit and Amy and I continued on. She gave me the go ahead with around 2 miles left - lol - maybe she thought I had something left in reserve, but I really didn't. I was able to speed up just a little until my mom happened to drive by and thought that she would cruise along and chat with me for a bit (that's hard to do when you are 13 miles in). I was able to get some momentum back after she drove on. Brady caught me shortly after on the bike and helped me get to the turn in point (about 1/2 mile shy of the finish) before he took off so he could have warm clothes waiting on me at the finish. I had Scott M. and some of their friends and other runners to cheer me on and a 9-10 year old boy ran it in with me for some extra support to finish in 2:24 something. I was so glad to be done. It hadn't hurt as bad as anticipated, but that was before the coughing started. I must say running is more fun with others. Next year I will have Brooke back so watch out wind!! ;-)
Side notes - the t-shirt was pretty awesome this year - short sleeve tech t-shirt vs. the long sleeve cotton last year (that was complete with the prior years date). I was even able to snag a small - love it! Support was also great this year - plenty of water/gatorade and the finish line bagels, oranges and banana's hit the spot. It's a great race that I hope continues to grow in size!
Till next time - run on, bike on!
So.....Run With the Wind 25K?? Unlike last year's 'Run INTO the Wind' this year really was a 'Run With the Wind'. It was pretty chilly to start (high 20's/low 30's) but once we got going it felt pretty nice. The wind wasn't so strong that I felt it propelling me forward, but the two times we turned into it I could definitely feel it was there! The race is either solo or a team event. I was running solo, but I had friends that were running as teams. It was nice - I first hooked up with Linda (her and her hubby/teammate were each doing a little over 10 with 5 mile overlap in the middle) and we ran till around 5 miles. At that point Scott E. joined in and before long Scott M. (and Cloe the dog) caught up to us. We all ran together for a bit then Scott M., Cloe and I took off a little faster until we got to the next transition point - mile 10. At that point Amy took over for Scott M., Linda finished up, and Scott E. hustled to catch up to us again. The three of us pounded along the eastbound rolling hills that lead into Sarcoxie. After a couple miles Scott E. checked up a bit and Amy and I continued on. She gave me the go ahead with around 2 miles left - lol - maybe she thought I had something left in reserve, but I really didn't. I was able to speed up just a little until my mom happened to drive by and thought that she would cruise along and chat with me for a bit (that's hard to do when you are 13 miles in). I was able to get some momentum back after she drove on. Brady caught me shortly after on the bike and helped me get to the turn in point (about 1/2 mile shy of the finish) before he took off so he could have warm clothes waiting on me at the finish. I had Scott M. and some of their friends and other runners to cheer me on and a 9-10 year old boy ran it in with me for some extra support to finish in 2:24 something. I was so glad to be done. It hadn't hurt as bad as anticipated, but that was before the coughing started. I must say running is more fun with others. Next year I will have Brooke back so watch out wind!! ;-)
Side notes - the t-shirt was pretty awesome this year - short sleeve tech t-shirt vs. the long sleeve cotton last year (that was complete with the prior years date). I was even able to snag a small - love it! Support was also great this year - plenty of water/gatorade and the finish line bagels, oranges and banana's hit the spot. It's a great race that I hope continues to grow in size!
Till next time - run on, bike on!
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