6/5

 Looks like this is just going to be weekly updates! Going to do some cutting and pasting from my texts with my accountability buddy: 

Tuesday 5/31: Super tired today and felt like I was really struggling through my whole workout. I think it’s going to take me awhile to recover after running too much last week on way too little sleep! 55 min Peloton, 20 min upper body, 15 min stretching, took kids to the pool for 3 hours and swam for 40 min/read for the rest of the time. 

Wednesday 6/1: Real feel of 76 at 6:30 am with 85% humidity…I told myself I could just run and skip the tempo part of the workout. That worked to trick myself out of bed. Ran 2.1 to warm up, then did the 30 min tempo workout I ran last week and actually followed the intervals (3 min tempo, 3 min easy) after I realized I would not be able to hold a steady tempo, then ran .6 to finish out the 6 miles at the end. Splits were 10:15, 9:49, 8:47, 8:58, 9:06, 9:49. Really really struggled with the heat. 30 min strength for runners when I got home. 

Thursday 6/2: Active recovery for me today. Woke up just after 6 am and I’m just about to start the last 20-minute strength session. Frustrating that it will take me 4 hours to do my workouts…just so many kids with so many needs!! 45 min walk before they were up, then half an hour of stretching/yoga, then 20 min upper body and finishing with another 10 min restorative yoga (basically savasana the whole time). 

Friday 6/3: 14 miles for me this morning—I ran past my house twice. Easier than parenting. 😂 Felt so great and I would have loved to just keep going forever. I think it was a combination of much cooler temperatures today (it’s 70 with a real feel of 78 right now but was about 60 when I started) and taking it easier than I normally would have; I ran 5 miles with Chelsea and she asked to slow down a couple of times. Avg pace was 10:09. And about 15 stretching at home. My right tibia has been a little sore the last couple days so I’ll wear compression calf sleeves today—I knew i ramped up mileage too hard last week so I need to kind of baby that area bc it’s always my first to go.

Saturday 6/4: 70 peloton, 10 upper body, 10 stretching. My legs didn’t have much juice in them today after yesterday’s 14–looking forward to a recovery day tomorrow!

Sunday 6/5: Today was soooo busy! Ward council, primary where the rest of the presidency and chorister were gone, graduation open houses, and missionaries for dinner. Thankfully once everything was done I went on a 45-min walk with the kids which was so nice. 5 min core and 10 min hip stretching before bed (way too late; my teens just want to hang out all night!). 

Monday 6/6: Up early this morning to get a very unwilling Juliet to cross country (she really doesn’t want to do it BUT she is so so so much happier after she runs that we are making her. I have conflicting feelings about this…) and then ran 10.1 miles while she was at practice. 30 min strength for runners before I start driving everyone around this morning. 

Somewhat ironic—after practice I was telling Jules how much I enjoyed my run and she pointed out that my shoe was covered in blood. Didn’t feel a thing but looks like I ripped off another chunk of nail. 

Tibia is still bugging me; I think my calves are too tight and I really need to work on stretching them. 

Avg pace was 9:45 but I think this is bc I had one 10:44 mile where I was crawling under a construction fence and forgot to stop my watch. Splits were 10, 10:44, 9:47, 9:39, 9:39, 9:29, 9:36, 9:33, 9:32, 9:30. 

Memorial Day weekend

 Wow I'm behind! Busy weekend; we were camping Friday-Monday.

5/27: Friday morning before we left I ran 13.1 (6 miles with a friend, 2.5 with Juliet, and the rest solo). The first 10.5 were at 9:54/mile; the miles with Juliet were much slower (around 12/mile) as I'm trying to get her back into running. Felt pretty rough the first couple miles by myself as I have really been struggling with insomnia and anxiety. 

5/28: Saturday I ran 5.4 miles around the state park where we were camping (very hilly! 9:40/mile) and then hiked 6 miles with all six of our kids + 4 of their friends. Our tent was on a pretty bad slope so I was sore all weekend from sleeping with tensed muscles trying not to roll downhill onto the kids next to me. 

5/29: Sunday I was really feeling it in my hip flexors from the two preceding days' runs so I was glad to have a rest day! I walked 45 minutes early in the morning and then took another 20-minute walk with Neil while we waited for the Dutch ovens to do their thing.

5/30: This morning (Memorial Day) I ran 6.3 miles around the state park again and it was soooo hot and my calves were dying. Just so sore and cramped (it was a really rough night...we went to bed at midnight and then Isaac woke up at 12:30 throwing up, so we didn't sleep much). I had to stop after the first mile to stretch my calves because I was in so much pain. Thankfully they felt a lot better afterwards and I just kept a slower pace with the heat (10:19/mile) and then did 30 min of strength when we got home this afternoon. 

I ran more than I should have this week (my plan had me at 12 miles and I ran 31 plus 4 strength sessions and the bike/yoga), but I was really having a rough one emotionally/mentally and the running helped for sure. It was also nice to run while camping as that was a first! 

5/26

 First day of summer break for the kids! 

Active recovery day: 45 min walk, 20 min upper body, 30 min yoga (20 min focus flow for hips, 10 min for quads)

5/25

 Rough night of sleeping after the Robb Elementary shootings and worrying about sending my kids to their last day of school. 

15 min run to warm up, then 30 min at tempo, two minutes running to finish out the 5 miles, and a quarter-mile walk to cool down. Still really struggling with my heart rate going too high post-Covid (and my allergies were AWFUL yesterday). HR hit 175 near the end and I had to reel it in. Splits are above—mile 2 was split between tempo and warmup and mile 5 was split between tempo and cooldown, so miles 1, 3, and 4 are the most accurate. 

Crazy day racing around but I managed to wedge in 30 min strength for runners and 10 min restorative yoga. 

5/24

 Cross-training today. 22 miles on the Peloton (PowerZone endurance) with an average HR of 122 (chest strap). 20 min upper body and 5 min stretch to follow. 

Here we go again!

 Okay, I'm going to try this thing again because I'm starting marathon training again today and it's harder for me to write this down in the paper logs. 

Quick overview--I'm going to try less running and more cross-training and strength, so only 3 (maybe 4) days a week of running in hopes to avoid injury. The plan I'm looking at is Hal Higdon's 24-week 3 days of running plan, so it starts today for my November race. 

I just ran a half a couple weeks ago; I was training on endurance but not on pace. Had some major stomach issues the day of the race and finished in 1:58:14 which I felt good about considering the day and the way my training had gone (I had 3 weeks of travel in the 6 weeks leading up to the race).

Anyway, here we go for today. The plan was a 3-mile run and 30 min strength; I ended up running 8.5 and doing 30 min of strength (strength for runners on the Peloton app). 

I've been struggling with keeping my heart rate down since having Covid in January; what feels like an easy pace to my legs has a much higher HR than I'd like. 

Data from my Apple watch:

Run: 8.5 miles
Pace: 9:47
HR: 154
Cadence: 157
Temperature: 51 degrees and overcast

Strength for runners: 30 min after the run 

11/7

Okay, let's give this another try.

I ran another half-marathon a month or so ago (it was not fun--85 at the start line after weeks of sub-40s temperatures and I got so so so dizzy that I had to walk around mile 12 for a few minutes and then had to lie down for about twenty minutes at the finish, but all the times for that day were terrible and the winning times were 9 minutes slower than the previous year).

Lots of stroller running this week--6 Monday, 5.34 Tuesday, took yesterday off and just walked 3 miles bc my IT bands are bugging me, 7 today. Trying to really be careful about sleeping enough and eating well because I've decided to go for a PR in the half next spring and a marathon in the fall and the best way to start my training base is doing all the little things right. So I'm going to focus on nutrition, flexibility, and sleep for a couple months and then ramp up training in January.