10 Miles to Heaven:Turn left here

From my mouth to Gods ears...

I haven't RUN 10 miles since the half marathon program. I haven't run 10 miles since the Half Marathon! That was March 1st! LOL. I was a little worried. I didn't sleep much but I tried to rest and not to think about things I have no power over, although that is easier said than done.

I got up at 6:15, ate a banana folded some laundry (so I would actually have something to wear)Grabbed my GU and water bottle and was ready to run by 7:15. I did a half mile or so warm up, stretched then put my head down and kept Liz and Vicki in my sights for the first few miles. My pace was supposed to be 10:30-10:45 a mile. I was running with the fast girls and landed a little fast at the 10:31/mile pace overall. I felt good and feel good now. Next week though...12miles.

I spend those miles thinking and praying. I've been doing that a lot. Thinking through things I can't seem to figure out, have no power over, don't know how I can make it better, mulling them around a bit, waiting for answers that are impossible for me to answer on my own and giving them away to a Higher Power. My church today was a 10 mile run.

I guess things are working out, maybe not for the best but calmed down for the moment so I need not worry the way I did last night. On top of all the other things going through my head my sister calls to say that her friend was bit by something and was headed to the hospital because she was having a severe allergic reaction. Upon inspection it appears to be a bite from a Fire Ant. I'm glad she's doing better today after some medical treatment and some pre-emptive Benadryl in her purse in case it happens again, she's home. That girl lives in Oklahoma, she needs some BIG ASS BUG SPRAY before she goes to any more football games.

a bad feeling

I have this feeling that something is wrong. Its something I can't talk about on here but its keeping me up, turning my mind, turning my stomach every which way and upside down, wishing I wasn't so far away. I'm afraid tomorrows 10Mile run will suffer but oh well. I will keep my phone by my bed and hope for the best. Try to fix what I can fix tomorrow. nothing I can do from here, right now, and its tearing me up inside. I'm going to pray and maybe to sleep. We'll see.

I met the Princess last night

Thursday: Too hot to run 6 miles at 6 o'clock with girls so I headed to the
gym. I picked a treadmill that no one was on and no one was signed up for 7pm.
Since it was 15 til I signed in and jumped on. First my fan didn't work should
have been a sign that this run was not meant to be. I did sweat it out for 2
miles. I pushed the cool down button as I got the feeling someone was staring at
me. It was In Motion treadmill princess and her entourage. I didn't recognize
them right away. It took me a moment to put two and two together. Then this
transpired....

Princess: Ummm... my friends and I, (waving her hand to
acknowledge her
equally annoying friends), we reserved these treadmills for
7pm.


Me: I'm sorry, its 7:10 now and I need to cool down. I'll just
be a few
minutes.

Princess: YOU don't understand. We RESERVED (said
very slowly like I'm some
kind of freakin' idiot) these treadmills down there on the
sign in sheet for
7pm.


Me: Your initials were not there for 7pm.
Mine are. I'm almost
done. (I did not ever say this in a snotty or rude
voice. Just to the fact
voice. I didn't talk slow either although THEY are
obviously the
idiots).

Princess: (hands on her WIDE ASS hips, my
judgments are moving the surface
quickly and in abundance now) Maybe you
erased it and put yours down.


Me: (Stopping the treadmill) Its a freakin' treadmill. I
wouldn't do that.
(First I bit my tongue for the insults on the tip of it
threatened to fall out
of my mouth. I took the towel and my water and walked
away WITHOUT wiping down my machine from the horrific amounts of sweat I lost in
those 20 minutes I was running. I'm a rebel I know).

Girl behind me who
was kicked off her treadmill from the princess group:
You go girl!

Harder Faster Stronger

I'm glad I did the 10K program before starting the Marathon program. I'm finding the speed work to not only be working but really mixes up the running routine. I enjoy the way I feel after (most) runs, especially after my speed work.

Tuesday we ran 2 miles warm up then 4 strides. We did some interval work of 4 minutes fast and hard then a 3 minute recovery. We did this three times before heading back on our 2 mile cool down. Those four minutes were the longest 4 minutes running. Paul (one of the coaches) said that we should be reaching close to our maximum heart rate. That makes me wish I had brought my heart monitor with me. I'm still a bit scared to use it. By the third set I was running over a half mile at 7:45 pace. I haven't seen that pace.... well not at all since I started running again.

The problem with that is that now I want it lower. I would love to run a 7:45 mile. Of course that leads to faster miles, faster pace and someday a sub 4 hour marathon. I know I'm projecting way too far, its just so hard not to think about when I'm staring at the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll half scheduled for next year and hopefully CIM again. Someday I would like to do the Disneyland half and for my 35th birthday I'd like to do the Goofy Marathon.

Yea I'm a bit of a freak, I can admit that. First lets get through this training program. Step 2 getting over the finish line in Sacramento. Step 3 planning for next year.

Tonight: 6@ 6 girls only running group. Lets see how far we get in 105*F temps.

Light bulb moment

FOOD IS FUEL.... OK so I have known this for a while but I'm not like some of you foodies. I'm not good at it. I can cook a couple of things pretty well but very few of them my family will eat. Most of them revolve around veggies and my kids and husband like things out of a can or a box. Today I ate really good, well I should say I ate like a pig. Actually as I'm writing this those of you from Chico will be jealous that I'm mowing on a frozen yogurt from Jon 'n' Bons... actually its a Carmel latte swirl with chocolate granola on top. I know I'm so bad.

Today I ate... a bowl of Honeynut cheerios with a banana cut up in it and a glass of OJ at 6:30am.

I ate a toasted bagel with a poached egg and slice of pepper jack cheese and a tablespoon of mustard on it at 10:30am

I ate a chicken fajita taco from Taco's De Alcapoco (again you Chicoans are jealous I know) at 1:30pm.

I ate a half of a large chicken breast breaded with a half of a slice of laughing cow cheese melted inside, 1 serving of creamy Parmesan risotto and 2 servings of acorn squash for dinner at 5:30pm.

I have drank over 96oz of water today. and I'm eating easily 2 servings of frozen yogurt now. YUMM-O.

I cannot believe how well you feel when you have been eating like you should be eating, errrr....at least getting the calories you should be eating. Now that I'm clocking almost 25 miles a week and I'll be adding more this week I hope, I feel good on a run when I eat good. DUHH... It has only taken me 9 months to figure this out. I have found that my stomach is not balching at wheat products since I've been running but still does not like food high in fat... like that Japanese place in Washington with their fried rice. I loved it... it did not like me. hmmm.

Eat, Sleep, Run

Since all this training has hit full swing and I'm finding that I'm hungry nearly all the time, (this is a new thing for me) and in need of a nap nearly every day, (also a new thing for me) will it get better? All I do is EAT, SLEEP, RUN. I hope that my body gets over the shock and starts behaving properly. I can't live like this. My hubby is going to kill me if I don't start finding some energy to clean the house.

The 10K "Time Trial"

To assess each of us for our estimated marathon pace we had a "10K Time trial". Today I woke up tired... I hate it when that happens. I ate a bagel because we were out of oatmeal, I had orange juice because I was worried about not having enough calories or fuel. I dropped the kids at the neighbors and headed to the park.

Once there I ran a half mile warm up before we ran a mile warm up and 4 strides with group. We stretched and headed off on our time trial. I did this exact 10K loop August 2nd and came in (at their time) 56:39. My watch said 56:29.

Anyway, I took off with Liz (my running hero... she works with my mom. Of course she doesn't know that she's my running hero.) I kept her in sight for the first 2 miles til she stopped for water after taking a GU. I passed her and she caught up with me. We talked but I was really struggling. I kept looking at my watch and thinking OMG I'm never going to able to finish at this pace. This is like 5K pace for me. We ran the rest of the way in together. Well at least to the Damn Bridge when she passed me and kept that last half mile speeding up. I'm not sure what her time was but I came in at 56:05. YEAH!!!! I had to do another mile cool down (I only did 2/3 of a mile cause I could hardly move. I had used ALL my reserves but since I ran 1 1/2 miles for warm up I figured I was OK. I stretched, drank some electrolyte stuff they had out there and headed home. I dozed for a bit after drinking my tea because I was just exhausted.

I have to say that WAS the MOST INTENSE speed workout I have ever had. Here's the breakdown:

M1: 9:02
M2: 9:02
M3: 9:15
M4: 9:10
M5: 9:08
M6: 8:48
.2M: 1:50
_____________
56:05

***************************************************

Last weeks totals:
Sunday: 8 miles easy
Monday:Rest
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: 2.2 really hard miles
Thursday: 4.5 miles
Friday: 4.5 miles
Saturday: Rest
_________________
Total: 24.2


Plan for this week:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday 5 mile speed workout
Wednesday: 4 mile easy
Thursday: 4-5 miles easy
Friday: 4-5 miles easy
Saturday: rest or 4 miles easy
Sunday: 10 mile long run
___________________
Total: 27-33 miles

What the HECK!?!

Saturday the hubby bought me some new kicks. I *heart* my Mizunos. I am on my 4th pair. They are the prettiest running shoes I have ever worn. I tried on another pair a size smaller but they were so tight along the frount of my foot that it hurt to even stand in them. HMMM... So I went with the Alchamy 7. The freakin' things give me blisters. I have NEVER had blisters with My Mizonos before. What the heck is going on? I'm emailing Tom at Fleet Feet to see if anyone else is having issues. 4 blisters! 4. I am appaled. They had better not have changed my Minzunos. I'll be really sad. I'm already really mad. Walking around like a gimp. This apparently not the time to take fashion over comfort.

Sunday

Sunday Morning I got up early and went for an 8 mile run. I didn't go my usual route to the park but decided to do the neighborhood thing and take the bike path through town. There were enough people out on a Sunday morning to feel safe there. (usually I would not take this path, I personally know too many people who have been jumped or attacked along this trail). Lots of people walking and running smiled at me, waved, a few I even recognized. I took to the streets and headed North to a small trail I had seen several times and was curious about, looking back I should have done this trail when I had someone with me because NO ONE would have found me for ages if something had happened to me but I'm trying not to be a wuss and it was so nice to run through the quiet morning along this mile long rolling hills path behind the local subdivision. I liked it so much I did it again. By the time I finished my second loop I had 3 of my 8 miles finished. I took my run West and headed for the bike path. made a sharp turn South when I got through the main streets and took off. I had never been all the way to the other side and was surprised when I ended up a block from the Hubby's Aunts house. Of course no body was home. But it was nice to look at my watch and see exactly 6 miles as I crossed the houses path. Good to know. I was still feeling really good. I took two shot blocks at mile 5 one at mile 6 and one at mile 7. I took off across one of the towns busy intersections and headed back towards the house along the channel (another thing looking back might not have been a good idea) to the foot bridge we take to get to school and headed up towards home. I crossed the 8 mile mark as I turned the corner to our house. PERFECT. I could have run another two miles but I had to get the kiddo's ready for church. I felt so good. My ass hurt for a couple days but that could have been the squats I had been doing too. LOL.

Monday and Tuesday
I took Monday off after my "long" run. I had our first group run for the Marathon training program Tuesday night. We ran 5 miles, steady for our first work out. I ran with the faster crowd. I shouldn't have done that. It felt great. I felt good all day, I felt great during the run. I stretched really well. Everything felt perfect.

Wednesday
Today I walked with Jenni. 5.18 miles. 1h18m. Not bad. Good clip but I wore myself out I guess. I stretched then headed out for my run. I was exhausted and I have never had so much negative talk during a run. Not even when I started running. My blisters hurt, my legs hurt, I'm wheezing... where the hell did that come from. What the heck is going on??? 2.2 miles? I literally could not run a step farther. I had to walk it in. I was on the verge of tears the whole (LOL) run. I just hope that I get my crap together tomorrow. Eat Breakfast early, no walking before hand just get my miles in. I'm up to an amazing.... 15.2 miles for the week when I'm supposed to hit 25-31 miles by Saturday. Let's all pray that today was a fluke!

As Scarlet would say, "Tomorrow is another day."

New Kicks and a fresh perspective

I hate being sick... I haven't run in three days because the thought of taking a deep breath is just depressing, painful and too aggravating to mention. Anyway I still want to feel like a part of the running world, (and missing three days of running made me feel out of the loop... I'm such a dork or actually a runner but haven't decided which yet) so I took the hubby and the check book down to the local running store and bought some shoes to replace my MIA (in fact in my sista's living room 600 miles away) shoes. Its a little weird to walk into a store like that and realize that not only do you know everyone who works there, and some who just came in to buy shoes or running gear, but they all know you too. You know what I mean, the Cheers factor. Instead of "NORM" it was "Hey Tina you ready for Tuesday?" "Hey Tina you been running this week? How many miles you get in on your trip?" Crazy ain't it, that you can feel at home in a running store. Proof that I spend too much time and $$, according the the Hubbs, in one single place. I think I'm supporting the local economy by purchasing my hobbie items with a local store. I know for a fact that I have probably spent $700 or more since January 1st.

Hubbs, Alan and Susan the owners, Tom who was sizing and helping me find shoes all talked about running (or Hubbs lack of), talked about the marathon program coming up and the excitement around that. For the most part I listened and had little conversation with my self (in my head thank you very much) and I found that for the most part, my whole life, I have felt like I hang on the outside fringes of most groups I partake in. PTA, parents at school, even my friends core group of friends. Here in the store, it feels like I'm right in the middle and part of it all. Accepted although I'm slower than most, accepted even though many of them have been runners for a lot longer than I have, accepted because we have similar goals and passion for this sport that I just don't see going away. Part of me giving up on me, or certain situations has had to do with not feeling apart of it. I finished the half marathon program, the half marathon, three 5K's or so, the 10K program and a 10k... I'm feeling pretty successful right now.

I came out of the store with a smile, a feeling of fulfillment and a new wicking hat and some new shoes to boot. I didn't run today but it was one of my most successful breakthroughs on the training front.

crap

My throat is on fire. An hour ago it was only when I swallowed, and even then it hurt... bad. Now its all the time. I don't want to be sick. I guess no olympics for me tonight. I'm putting the kiddo's in bed and going beddy by myself so I can fight this off if I can... that and drinking lots and lots of water.

Today and Yesterday

So I got an email from one of the coaches for the Fleet Feet marathon Training program when I got home from our family vacation.

Hi Everyone

Welcome to the Fleet Feet Fall 08 Marathon
Training Team. Next Tuesday we will have our inaugural meeting and run. The
16-week journey that we are about to start will require a lot of effort and
commitment. If it didn't, then everyone would be able to run a marathon!
Consistency and sticking to the plan are what will carry you through the program
and all the way to Folsom Dam on December 7th.

Over the course of
the program we will see how your bodies adapt to the stresses we are going to
place on them. Ideally, you will run 6 days a week but for some 5 maybe enough.
If you are currently running less than 5 days a week, this week would be a good
time to bump it up to 5 days. One of those 5 days should be a longer run, say 6
or 7 miles, and the others can be 4 or 5 miles. The weather is still warm so
staying hydrated is very important. Dehydration is cumulative so if you are
running 5 or 6 days per week you face the risk of starting a run still
dehydrated from the day before. That will not help you achieve your goals! I
suggest keeping the water bottle handy at all times.

We will go
into more details of the program itself when we meet on Tuesday. However, in
general, Tuesday will be our speed workout day, Sunday will be our long run day,
and Monday will be a rest day. The other days will be recovery runs or
cross-training days. On certain weekends during the program there will be
options, e.g., in week 10 you can go run the Wine Country half marathon (with
our Half Marathon Training Team) or stay here and do a 15 mile easy run. We will
talk about those options nearer the time.

For now, if you have any
questions in the next week, please email or call me. Paul Smith will be the
assistant coach for the program; you can also email him at ...

Alan

So I was like HOLY $hit! I'm not running nearly as much as I should. So I said, "sure I'll run with the girls 6 @6 group again", so much funner in a group. We left from 5 mile rec area and ran the backside of the creek for more shade since it was 98*F and 60% humidity. There were 7 of us and we took out time today so nobody got hurt of overheated. Usually we do 6 miles but we turned around at the 2.25 mile mark to make it 4.5 because it just wouldn't cool down. Most of our miles ran in the low 11's to upper 10 minute times I was OK with that.

I have found that it takes me a good 2-3 miles to really get my body out of that anaerobic state and into the aerobic state no matter how warm it is, where I feel good when I run and I'm able to run faster, easier and with more confidence. Those first few miles are really, "I just want to quit" miles. I hate that. Now that I know that it takes a while to really warm up I prepare accordingly. I ran two miles before my 10K so I wouldn't be starting out in the 11+ to12 minute range on my miles and those first two or three miles were still hard for me. I need to do strides, they let my body know what it feels like to really run, then my brain says "OH YEA! That's what those legs are supposed to do." Those things and I need to ice more. I stretch pretty well for a runner (notorious I think for finishing a run and heading to the car or the shower or for food instead of stretching).


Today. I took the boys to school, Hollywood is in 3rd Grade and has a very sweet teacher. Blondy is in 1st grade, his teacher is very sweet too. I lucked out, let me tell you. They have great friends, great teachers, a great school and they are both there at school with their friends, their teachers... ALL DAY. 6 hours to myself. Of course Hollywood (he's my dramatic kid) forgot his lunch just inside the door at home so I got a late start at my run. I got down to the park and took the trail all the way down to Valambrosia hoping to make it to 5 mile and back about a 6.5 mile out and back. Apparently they were working on the road and I couldn't get across to I did the 5.5 mile loop instead. I didn't time myself because it was already nearly 100*F and I thought I would be obsessed with running faster but on inspection of my watch I found that my 4-5 mile pace was about 9:47 not too bad. I headed around the "Damn Bridge" and ran into Tracey's sista, Sarah, with her boys. I hung out and stretched for a few minutes then went down to get in the water and "ice" my legs since I didn't have any ice at home. We have a "pool" the city made from the creek that runs through the middle of town. Its been cemented in, a damb built and we even have lifeguards posted during hte summer for swimmers. Sarah's son Jack came down to put his feet in and Luke (the baby) wanted to play in the water too. He kicked and plashed as I held him and had a grand old time. We all headed home and I felt really good about my run today. Tomorrow I start earlier to get home at a decent time. Hubby is home... the kids are gone ALL DAY... ;-)

Trip

We had a great time on our trip. I got a good quality 4.25 mile walk in with Tracey in the hilly suburb of Seattle. ONE MONDO HILL to conquer that you think will end but it just keeps going, and pushing a stroller. Not my usual, hills yes, pushing a stroller really made it harder though.

We did A LOT of walking on Tuesday with our little walk together than taking the kiddo's and hubby with us to the Museum of Flight. I could have stayed there forever but the kids move a lot faster than us so we had to move on before finishing any one display. We had dinner that night at a YUMM-O pizza place then walked home. I figure we got about 7 miles of walking in total that day.

The next day we met Sista and took the Ferry to Seattle. We walked a lot, like 1.7 miles to Pike Market through the market area and then to the bus stop. We took the bus to Safeco Field for the Mariner's Game (Twin's WON!! YEA!) then walked another 1.2 miles back to the ferry. 4 adults and 3 kids walking all that was interesting but fun. I wish we had time to see the Space Needle but it sure gives us something to come back for.

I did run Friday Night for about three miles. The base is pretty flat compared to other areas (Tracey's neighborhood or down town Seattle) but enough hills to challenge me since my home town is REALLY FLAT. I have to look for hills where its safe to run, and there aren't that many. So that's my trip. Not as much running as I would have hoped but a good time with good friends and family(and only one kid puked on the trip). I am blessed.

Summer Sizzler 10k

This is not a race I planned on running. Actually it was just to get in fighting form for the marathon program starting August 19th. Since it was a certified course but not chip timed I went ahead and signed up (free for me since I did the 10K progam) and went on down to the park Saturday morming. My goal was to get 8 miles in that day so I went on out and did my warm up of 1.8 miles before the run started. I really do need two or three miles to get warmed up, even in the summer, before I feel like I'm not struggling. I stretched and did some strides. I had a vague goal of under and hour, a more concrete goal of 57:00 minutes. Since this race was more of a long tempo run for me, my goal was really just to have a faster second half than the first half.

My times started out in the mid 9's and hit the mid 8's by the last two miles. I came in at 56:35. Not too bad. I didn't really train as hard as I had hoped with all the smoke in the air this summer. I have no excuses when the marathon program starts since the kiddo's will be in school.

Touchdown

... and I'm home. I promiced myself (and the hubby) that I would not actually blog until I finished the pix from the wedding last Saturday but I wanted you all to know I have a few planned.... My 10K Summer Sizzler was a blast and I took a vacation with the fam to Seattle area to visit friends and sista so I gotta update that too. I'll even post some pix. Did lots of walking but only did one 3 mile run due to lack of free time.

I'm a dumb ass and left my running shoes at the Sista's so I guess I'll have to go down to Fleet Feet and buy meself some new ones.... he he he... it was all part of my evil plan.