11/7

So behind!

I ran on Wednesday the 25th; don't remember how much. Packed Thursday, sold and bought a house Friday + unloaded the truck, unpacked all day Saturday. Ran 7.3 Monday, 7 Wednesday, 5 Thursday (only TM run of the week!), 4.3 Friday, and 8 Saturday pushing Matthew in the jogging stroller. 31/6 for the week.

6.2 speedwork yesterday; 5 easy today. I'm really feeling burned out with the move/work/running so I'm going to step it back for a month before I start marathon training next month.

10/24

6 for me today; threw in some speed stuff to keep the TM interesting and see what I can do for a half in 6 weeks. Started out at 5.2, worked up to 7.1, back down to 6.3. Average pace was 9:40.

10/23

Lots of rain all day so I ended up with 6 on the TM at 10:05.

Saturday did a gorgeous and glorious 15k trail race with my friend--it was the perfect end to my Saturday long runs with this friend! The trail was really gorgeous--by far the most rugged run I've ever done and the weather was perfect.

30.3 miles last week; not too bad for still being in recovery mode.

10/20

Started a semi-normalish running pattern again this week, although I'm still taking it pretty easy to baby that stiff fracture site.

Monday: 5
Tuesday: 6
Wednesday: 5
Thursday: 2.2 (walking for rest day)
Friday: 5.1

Planning to do a 15k trail race tomorrow with a friend--it should be gorgeous weather!

Oh gosh, I'm so behind again! Finished all my runs for taper and ran the marathon; it's just hard keeping up this log concurrently with the move!

So Chicago was not as good as I was hoping--a week before the race we started getting emails about the conditions. It ended up being very humid and in the 60s at the start and 80 at the finish...just not a great day at all for a marathon!

My legs were aching the day before, thanks to the combo of driving the Subaru up to Chicago (it always hurts my leg SO bad; something about the angle of the pedal just kills the leg I fractured two years ago) and walking around the day before, even though I really tried to limit the walking time. I went to bed pretty early and got a solid 6-7 hours before I woke up at 4:30 to get ready and head downtown. I got a ride from my sister's apartment in Lincoln Park in to downtown with a friend who was coming in from the suburbs, and then met up with another friend at her hotel. The race started at 7:30, and it was already warm enough by then that I was comfortable in a tank top and shorts...not a good sign!

My legs were aching in the first mile, and in past marathons I've just loved the whole experience for the first 15-16. I was literally checking my watch a quarter-mile in and already feeling like I didn't want to run that day. Just totally not feeling it one bit! The cardio felt fine and I wasn't tired, but I just was not there mentally and my legs were telling me that this was a stupid idea.

Then my feet started going numb and were COMPLETELY numb by 4 miles. Then they started hurting like crazy. Just crazy pain and I've never had anything like that (these were new shoes I'd worn on my last few long runs and I didn't really love them, but they were the best of the new shoes I had--in hindsight I just wish I'd gone with an older pair even if it had less cushioning). When I took my shoes off at the end of the race I had 3 blue toenails, multiple blisters, and some bloody blisters--and I usually NEVER blister ever ever. Anyway. My Garmin also had a hard time with the buildings/bridges, which I'd expected, but one thing I had not anticipated was how much that would drain the battery...more on that later.

I ran the first half in 1:59:17, so bang on target. Then my Garmin started going haywire--I was using the pacing function, and it told me that mile 14 was 8:16. Then mile 15 was 7:36. Not good! I was trying to just run by feel and keep the same pace I'd had earlier, but I was also hot enough that instead of running through the water stops, I was walking for about 10-20 seconds while I drank one cup and poured 1-2 more over my head. So that made it hard to keep the pace consistent. At the 25k, my pace had slowed to 9:26/mile, thanks to the fact that I had no idea what I was running and my watch had just told me I was at 7:36/mile. So so frustrating. By this point, my feet were also incredibly painful and I was scrunching my toes up and down at every water stop to try to get the circulation going again--it would help for about a quarter-mile and then the pain started up again.

Around mile 18 my watch died completely. I've had this happen a time or two on a run, but to have it happen during a race was incredibly demoralizing. I had no idea on pace anymore and I had no idea how far I was on mileage, which was also really emotionally difficult. I did the mental math for awhile on my splits at every mile marker, but around mile 20-21 I decided that since I had already missed the mark for a 4-hr marathon I honestly did not care that much about the difference between a 4:03 marathon and a 4-whatever, as long as I beat my previous PR of 4:17. At this point I was just so hot that I was more worried about being able to finish safely; I was both shivering and covered with goosebumps while also sweating profusely, and I knew from experience that once I hit the shivery-goosebump stage I am close to blacking out. So finishing on my own rather than getting loaded onto a stretcher became top priority! I started walking longer at the water stops and drinking both Gatorade and water, in addition to pouring water over myself--I was walking between 60-90 seconds at the water stops to make sure I was getting as much fluid as possible. I'd been eating Honey Stingers every 2 miles and kept that up with Gatorade and water at every water stop (I skipped the one in the last mile, but other than that I stopped for every one between 18 and 25). I didn't walk other than the water stops which was so dang hard--tons of people were walking and I just really really really wanted to join them, but I knew I would feel better about the race later if I didn't. At some point in here we passed the 24-mile marker and for some reason I was convinced it was going to be the 25-mile marker and I had one of those horrible despairing mental breakdowns that you only get in the late stage of a race like this--I'd been telling myself I only had 1.2 to go and to realize it was 2.2 was basically the end of the world. But I kept going.

Overall, the last 10k was absolute hell. I was so miserable and in so much pain and it was so dang hot!! (At some point my music also died but it was so miserable that I don't even remember when it was.) When we got to the last 800 meters and I saw that it was the uphill over the Roosevelt bridge to the museum campus I just felt so despairing--I didn't walk, but the pathetic little shuffle I did was probably barely faster than walking! I literally could not pick up my pace one bit on the last 100 meters of downhill to the finish...I seriously gave it everything I had to keep going on that last 10k.

In hindsight, I'm not sure I would have run anything differently. I had a terrible positive split on the second half of the race, but I really do feel like I was trained for the pace I was running and it was a function of the weather and that stupid watch dying. Overall, I'm glad I was able to finish with a 5-minute PR; slowing down & taking the extra time at the water stops was very difficult emotionally, but I don't know that I would have been able to finish if I'd stuck to my original pace goal.

The Chicago environment and crowds were awesome, but I probably won't run this again. It was a great big city bucket-list race, but I think I will stick to marathons that are later in the fall just to avoid potential warm temperatures--I really do so much better with those 55-degree days!! And I'm not running another marathon with that watch or those shoes.

 
Post-race recovery isn't going as well as I'd like; that old fracture site has really been bothering me. I ran/walked 1 mile yesterday to warm up and then did 2 easy miles and it hurt SO BAD later, so today I just walked a 5k. We'll see how it does later...I think having to drive back home the evening of the marathon did not help one bit.

9/18

Last week--9 Tuesday, rest Wed, 9.1 on Thursday (supposed to be longer but the fog was so bad I had to wait to run until there was some visibility, so ran out of time). Thursday afternoon I fell off a ladder and had such bad swelling afterwards that I couldn't run until it went down, which means I missed an easy 4 and my last 20.

Ran 6 today--foot still pretty sore and the bruising was painful to run on my other leg, but the swelling that prevented running last weekend was mostly down.

9/11

8 Monday, 7 speedwork Tuesday, 6.4 easy Wed, rest Thurs (looked at houses all day), 14 late Friday, nothing Saturday--looked at houses again and then worked nonstop getting ours ready to list for sale until 1 am. 35.61 for cutback week--my lowest in SO long and my first skipped run in recent memory! Life happens.

Today: put an offer in on a house & did 7 easy.

9/2

18 miles with 14 at MP. This is the hardest run of my training cycle, so I thought I would make it extra fun and run the hilliest route I could possibly route around my town. Yay! 2 warmup miles at 10:09, 14 miles at 9:05, and 2 cooldown miles at 9:39. I was shooting for 9:09 for those MP miles so I'm pretty darn happy. :-) Amazing weather--it's just making me worry about a hot day in Chicago totally throwing me off!

SRD yesterday; mowed the lawn and walked a couple of miles with my kids. 51 for the week.

8/31: 11 today--ran out of time to make it to the planned 12 but a heck of a lot better than nothing. 9:49/mile since I felt less sick if I ran faster.

8/30: 6 for me--first 3 were easy and then I started to get nervous about getting back in time and ran the second half too fast. Felt truly terrible during the whole run--I legit thought I was going to be throwing up in the bushes at some point. 

8/29: 2 warmup at 10:15, 5x1000 at 5k pace with 800 meter recoveries, mile to cool down before baby woke up (just like last week, should've been 2 cooldown miles!). 8 total on the TM (DH out of town so no chance to get outside) and I am DRIPPING.

8/28: Drizzly 8 for me this morning--ran one kid out to the middle-school bus and got back in time to walk the elementary kids out to their bus. Not bad timing.

232 for August, 1282.2 for the year

8/22

Pretty miserable 10 today--the only time I could go outside was 6 am and when I got up it was to a raging thunderstorm...so I went back to bed. Ended up on the TM--2 miles warmup, then 7 miles of 3 minutes at 8:48 and 2 minutes at 10, then a mile to cool down (should've been two, but baby Meb woke up when I started the cool down and he was not going to let me get that second mile!). Figured a mile wasn't going to matter much in the grand scheme of things, and tbh, I felt pretty crappy the whole run--couldn't find my inhaler and I was coughing so bad!! Plus I hate hate hate trying to do speedy long stuff on the TM. Average pace was 9/mile and it felt much harder than it would have outside.

8/23

Supposed to be a rest day, but the weather was too good to waste! Did Friday's easy run tonight plus a bit more for 5.5 total.

8/24

12.5 for me today and gosh it feels like I've been running forever! My car is at the mechanic, so I borrowed a double running stroller from my neighbor to run the 7.3 roundtrip to my 4-year-old's preschool open house. We were there for about half an hour, then ran back (this started at noon so there was zero shade!) and then I put the baby down for a nap and ran 5.2 on the TM. Surprisingly the outside miles were much easier, even with the heat and the stroller--I averaged 10:08 on the way there and 10:30 on the way back (one killer hill took me 11:40...yikes). 10:15 for the last TM miles.

8/26

Second 20 done--yay! I was actually pretty worried about how this one was going to go when I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. Baby Meb woke up at 5 and I fed him, then lay there drifting in and out of sleep until my alarm went off at 6. I was just not feeling great and really struggled to choke down a banana (literally--it took me 20 minutes!). When I started out it was so cold and I shivered for the first few miles until the sun came up--this weather is amazing! First mile had me worried at 11:06 (I was shooting for 10:30) and I picked the pace up a little bit and the next one was 9: 57. I leapfrogged back and forth for the next 17 miles between 9:50 and 10:06. Ran miles 9-15 with my friend, then my phone battery died on me when I tried to restart my podcasts at mile 16. I was pretty bored but just focused on trying to run strong since the last mile was mostly uphill, and ended up with an 8:54 20th mile. All in all I'm pretty happy with this one! I also carried the Nathan handheld and really liked it, except my achy shoulder is telling me that extra weight was unwelcome! Now for yoga and the foam roller!

55 for the week, 199 for the month so far. This is on track to be my highest mileage month ever!

8/21

7 easy with 7 x 100 strides. Ran it on the TM to make absolutely sure I really did take it easy since I'm dreading an 11 with 7 at HMP tomorrow. My plantar fasciitis started bugging me again and I'm wondering if I can do the speed stuff or if I should just run the 11 all at the same pace. We'll see...

8/19

Yesterday--8 aerobic with 8 x 100 strides.

Today: 15 for me today--my LR was 14, and then I ran a cooldown mile with my oldest daughter when I got home. Nothing too exciting--did some trails today to keep it interesting since I wasn't running any MP miles. 44 for my cutback week.

8/16

5 easy--man oh man do I need that SRD tomorrow.

8/15

More catching up!

Saturday: 16 miles with 12 at MP. Nailed the MP miles (9:09) with 2 to warm up at 10:15 and 2 to cool down at 10:04. It was great weather and I was cold when I started, which is always nice! 48 for the week & 100 for the month.

Monday: 8 very very hot miles after the kids were in bed. I think there were more bugs out last night than any two nights so far this year.

Tuesday: 8 miles of VO2 max stuff. Dang that was hard--not really a confidence-building run. 2 miles to warm up, then 5x800-meter repeats at 5k pace (7:30). Then 2.5 miles to cool down, but I got really bored so I threw in some more 7:30 stuff. I did this one on the TM because I honestly did not think I could make myself hold those paces outside today--it is HOT out there!!!

8/11

Six easy with 6 x 100 strides at MP.

8/9

Playing catchup:

Drove to Michigan Saturday morning and spent the day at the beach. Ran 4 easy late late once the kids were in bed. 52 for the week.

Monday: doubled and ran 9 in the afternoon, then 3 easy that evening. (Neil wasn't there so it was harder fitting in runs with all the kids at my parents' house.)

Tuesday: 8 in the morning

Wednesday: drove home and ran 6 once the kids were in bed. Threw up about 4 miles in, which I attribute to insane lack of sleep thanks to Matthew totally hating anywhere that isn't his crib (I spent most of the nights rocking him...it was long.)

8/4

First 20 out of the way! Actually a really nice night to run--it was about 60 when I started at 6 pm. Ran the first 12 by myself, then met up with a friend for the next 5.3, then headed home. My friend had originally told me she would only run about 4.5, so I had some extra mileage, and when I hit 20, I was very very happy to walk the remaining half-mile home! Probably a good thing for my legs, which are so dang sore--driving to Michigan tomorrow is not going to be fun. 10:27 average pace--I was shooting for 10:30, so pretty close!

8/2

Today was supposed to be a lactate-threshold run with 10 miles total and 6 at HMP, but because I'm modifying this week's training schedule, I wasn't coming off a rest day like the plan dictated. And I was tired, and it was hot out there. So I ran 2 warm-up miles (10:20, 10:16), and then just tried to pick up the pace to what felt comfortably hard. Ended up with those 6 miles at 9:26, 9:04, 9:04, 9:05, 9:06, and 8:49 (had to at least try to get closer to HMP on the last one!) Then ran 9:56 and 10:14 to cool down and did about 20 minutes of yoga once I got home. All in all a good run but I'm really looking forward to a rest day tomorrow before I gut out 20 on Friday night. Yikes...

8/1

5.4 easy on the TM. My legs are feeling really beat up from all the hills lately.

7/31

12.6 for me tonight (12.9 according to Strava, but since I went with Strava once last week for the extra .3 I won't take it this time!). Legs were still pretty tired after Saturday and I was not in danger of running too fast. :-)Nailed my (aerobic) goal pace but it didn't feel very easy--today should have been a recovery run, but I need to do my 20 on Friday night so I'm having to move some stuff around.

192 for July...not too shabby.

7/29

18 for me with 10 @ MP (9:09). I gotta be honest, I was pretty nervous about this run, to the point that I was feeling sick to my stomach until I actually started the MP miles and they were doable. (Well, by the end my legs were trashed and I wanted to stop.) First 4 were at 10:12/mile and I was so mad because I was using the Garmin virtual pacer to hit 10:30 and I was really worried that the too-fast pace would mess me up later. Next 10 were bang on at 9:09, even though the splits were a little ragged individually (9:05, 9:17, 8:55, 9:15, 9:08, 9:10, 9:37 (stopped to stretch my calf), 9:05, 9:10, 8:52). I mostly did a good job routing this around flattish or gently rolling stuff, but at 8.5 in to the 10 at MP (12.5 overall) I ran up a 5% grade from the river bottoms up to campus and it was not pretty. Totally talked myself into pushing it the last mile so that I could hit the MP overall and then I walked for about 3 minutes and ate my granola bar, so the next mile (15) was pretty slow at 11:46 and then I ran semi-normally again and averaged 10:35 for those last 4 miles, including the walking one.

Overall I'm happy with how this run went--I think that the 4-hr marathon is POSSIBLE but it may be a stretch, based on today and how tired my legs were by the end. But I also ran 3 double-digit runs this week, and I haven't even run 2 yet this cycle, so this week was a big jump up for me!

50.3 miles this week and 179.4 for July so far.

7/28

7/28:

Aerobic-paced 7 with 8 x 100 meter strides this morning with the jogging stroller and baby Meb. SO HOT AND HUMID already!!! Hard to believe it's supposed to be 52 when I start tomorrow.

7/27: my birthday! SRD and took a nap. :-)

7/26: 10.3 miles @ 9:44. Same route as Monday. 

7/25

10 really fabulous miles last night--it was a beautiful evening and the miles felt effortless. 9:57 overall (one slow mile at 10:30 on the 1.2-long uphill and then the last 3 miles were about 9:40).

5 recovery today--I think I'm going to switch over to the Pfitz 18/55 plan I used for my last marathon. I'm a little behind since I should be doing the first 20 this week, but I think I've worked it out so it will be okay and still give me time for 3 20s and recovery between each.

7/21

7 every day for the last 3 days; skipped my rest day as we're booked this weekend and I won't have time to run. 40 miles this week for a cutback week (just realized I forgot to post last Saturday when I ran 15 and ended at 45 for the week).

129.1 for July so far.

7/18

Easy 7 today.

7/17

12 for me tonight on the bike paths--didn't really plan on that many but it was a good night for running & I figured I could get my cutback week LR in since I'll be traveling Saturday morning. I was worried that my legs would be dead with back-to-back LRs but I felt surprisingly good and actually ran about 15 seconds/mile too fast (I did pretty well for the first 6 but once it got dark and I couldn't see my pace anymore I ended up accidentally negative splitting it).

7/14

7 miles at 9:40 on the TM

7/12

8 yesterday, 7 easy today. I'm pretty tired.

7/10

8 TM miles at 9:43. Good run.

7/8

Beautiful beautiful 14.1 this morning...I love these runs where I feel so good! Pretty decent weather until mile 10 or so when the heat hit. 4 miles through the woods, which helped bring my pace down closer to where it needs to be...should have been running a 10:30 average and managed to hit a 10:16, so better than I did earlier this week. (Woods miles are always slow.) 44.1/week

7/7

Oops, not doing so hot on posting this week.

In Michigan for Monday & Tuesday's runs--ran 8 miles both days and got some good hills in. 9:21/mile Monday and 9:48/mile Tuesday. Both runs felt great. Easy 7 late Wednesday night on the TM, Thursday was a rest day, and today was a good-effort sub-10 7 miles on the TM. Always feels harder on the TM than outside so I am just mentally not worrying about hitting the same paces as long as the effort feels the same.

6/30

7 today, 6 yesterday. 36 for the (cutback) week and 166 for the month. Happy weekend!

6/28

Another 7--pace felt really hard for the first mile and I was sweating buckets, then felt fantastic once I hit 2 or so miles.

6/27

7 easy

6/26

9 miles--this is supposed to be a cutback week so we'll see if this ends up being my LR for the week.

6/25

6.3 on Friday

13.1 for me this morning (couldn't stop at 13!). Ran too fast at 9:38 instead of 10:30, which is the pace I THINK I should be targeting for LRs if I want to average 9:09 for the marathon. I am really struggling to keep my pace down (I seriously felt like I was hard-core plodding along and I kept slowing down over and over). I was pretty tired by mile 10, and the last four miles were 9:36, 9:39, 9:31, and 9:22. I really don't know if I should MAKE myself slow down, or just run by feel--those last 4 miles felt very slow to me, and I was surprised that I was hitting the same average pace I'd been getting for the majority of the run. Anyway, I'd love anyone's two cents on that since I'm still inexperienced on marathon pacing. The whole run today I was just running by feel and trying to slow down every time I saw my watch.

40.1 for me this week/130.1 for the month

6/21

6.2 just shy of MP on the trails Monday, 7.2 easy on the TM yesterday, 7.3 aerobic on the TM today.

6/17

6.3 @ 10:09. 36 for the week, 776.2 for the year

6/16

Monday: 11.2 (6 on TM, 5.2 outside)
Tuesday: easy 6.2, was really tired
Wed: 6 aerobic
Thurs: rest day (started on Zoloft again and was so tired I fell asleep instead of doing any cross-training or yoga)
Friday: 6.3, felt pretty crummy when I started so started at easy pace and then worked up to 9:22; avg pace ended up being 10:23.  Started inhaler for exercised-induced asthma, so I'm hoping that will help me pick up the pace when I'm not coughing so much--it's been getting really really bad (usually I cough every 10-15 seconds).

6/10

Forgot to post on Thursday--5 miles. Took Friday off to take the kids to a living history museum an hour away, then played night games with them until 10 pm.

Did 5 today on the TM with some faster stuff just because I really wanted to get running over and done with after a looong day of yardwork (weeding, pruning, spreading100 cubic feet of mulch, digging up new flowerbeds--I'm beat, and remembering why I prefer training for spring marathons to fall ones!). Anyway, mile warm-up, then repeats with 2:15 at MP and 2:45 at easy pace until I hit the 5 miles. 32 for me this week and 54 for the month.

6/7

Crap, I keep forgetting to post here. Just going to copy and paste my FB running group posts:

Today: Happy running day, y'all! 7 for me tonight (yeah, my morning run didn't happen, thanks to a certain very small person). Kind of a weird run--did the first 2.6 on the TM waiting for DH (we had one of those nights where we were all over town for kids' games), then combined errands with running and literally ran to the store for milk (and yes, I did buckle the milk in because I didn't want it to fall out!). Big bright moon and lots of stars tonight!

Yesterday: 5 easy ones on the TM today that sucked--I was too hot, I was really tired and my legs felt like lead (I was too jazzed up from my run last night and couldn't fall asleep until 3 am), and I got interrupted about a thousand times. Tomorrow I'm getting up at the crack of dawn and getting my run done before my kids wake up, because this late-night after they're in bed/TM when they're all home thing is NOT sustainable.

Monday: 10 for me tonight--surprisingly still a decent amount of light when I finished up at 10:30! Really nice run with a good breeze and it had cooled off enough to be very pleasant. Ran at 4-hr MP +40 seconds for the first 6 (treadmill) and then slowly accelerated over the last 4 miles to run the last mile at MP (outside). Which was comfortable but not exactly a pace I'm excited about holding for 26.2...I've got a lot of work ahead of me if I want to shoot for a sub-4 marathon, which is the goal lurking in the back of my mind.

Saturday: 10.2 today and I really feel like I fought for those! Hah! 4 early this morning on the TM and then baby Matthew put an end to my run; did all the baseball games and yard work and finished up painting all the interior doors in my house--got totally worn out, but did another 6.2 after the kids were in bed (4 outside and 2.2 on the TM).

Friday: Easy 5.5 today. My right IT band and hip have really been bugging me the last week (I think from carrying my fat little baby while hiking!) so I didn't want to push anything.

And I think that catches me up!

6/1

117.5 in May; took the last week off to go hiking in the Smokies with the kids. Anywhere from 4-7 miles a day hauling kids up and down mountains...it was a pretty good workout, plus the 7 nights in a tent meant I came home more tired than when I left!

6.5 pretty hard today on the TM with lots of interruptions. I probably should have run last night but I didn't get to the point where a run was possible until 10 pm, and I ended up just going to bed. Hopefully I'll catch up on sleep enough so that I can get out for runs early morning before anyone is up rather than hitting the TM in the afternoon.

5/23

10.2 late late last night (nothing like running bike trails at 11 pm) and another easy 4 late tonight (finishing up at 10 pm and I really should have been in bed hours ago).

5/20

8 today and 40 for the week.

5/19

7.5 total; 5 on TM while baby napped, then 2.5 outside with the jogging stroller (little boys on bikes) after the baby woke up.

5/18

4.5 easyish instead of SRD

5/17

Monday: 6.3 aerobic
Tuesday: 6.5 easy
Wednesday: 7.2 with speed intervals

5/14

5.2 easy Thursday with the jogging stroller.

Girls on the Run 5k on Friday night with Juliet--it was SO hot and I was feeling awful, but I was super proud of her! She ran the whole time which is the first time she's ever done that for a 5k. She was really struggling at times, but we said a few prayers and sang some songs and I told her stories the whole time to distract her--she also wanted to hold my hand the whole time so we ran 3.1 miles holding hands. :-) Helped to distract me from the six times my mouth filled with stomach acid, ugh.

I was planning to do a LR Saturday, but I was just feeling absolutely awful and Neil told me that I absolutely needed to take a day off and that he would take my running shoes away if necessary! I am terrible about giving myself permission to skip a run so that was what I needed to hear. :-) Feeling better today but still just really drained.

Only 29.3 for the week...ugh.

5/10

Keep forgetting to log stuff here.

Monday: 7 aerobic, felt like crap
Tuesday: 7 easy, felt even worse
Wed: 7 speedwork (1 @ 6.5, 1:15 @ 6.6, 2:45 @5.5), felt great. Why is speedwork so much easier?! And I usually run faster outside just at a comfortable pace than I ever do with speedwork sessions on the TM; treadmill running is so much harder for me, especially now that I'm keeping it on a constant incline to help with the tibia pain.

5/6

7.5 on road & trails; wind was KILLER!!!! I was hoping to get a little farther but stopped at home to check in and I had a very angry baby waiting for me & by the time I finished feeding him, my ankle had stiffened up (twisted it a little in the woods), so I decided I should probably call it quits for today. Kept a pretty hard pace up anyway (7 seconds slower than yesterday's TM tempo, but with 30 mph winds and over muddy trails!) so I was pretty beat.

34 for the week/month

5/5

Finally did some speedwork since I had to wait the month per the orthopedic doc's instructions!!!! 6 miles; 1 mile warmup at aerobic and then 5 miles of intervals (10k pace for 2 minutes; HMP for 3 minutes to recover). Hard workout that felt awesome; body still hasn't adjusted to constant incline setting on the TM (I'm only at 1 which is embarrassing given that I used to routinely run it at 5), but again, incline still helping with tib pain.

5/3

Doubled today--3.5 easy this morning and 4 easy with 9 1-minute strides this afternoon. 7.5 total; man did I need those endorphins. In the last stages of deciding if we take a job offer this summer or if we have no income, yay, so fun! (Especially since it looks like we'll be saying no. I hate this.)

5/2

Quick 5; wish I'd had time for more.

5/1

8 miles around 9:48/mile; good start to the week, I guess? I've been running on more inclines and that seems to help with the tib pain, but man am I anxious to do some speedwork!

4/29

7 today with the jogging stroller between rainstorms, walked another mile to cool down when I got home (mostly to extend the baby's nap a little longer!).

31 for the week and 99 for the month--if I'd known that I would have run that last mile!

4/28

Rest day yesterday; so beat that I actually laid down for 20 minutes during the afternoon.

6 aerobic today.

4/26

7 Monday, 5 Tuesday, 6 easy Wed.

4/22

Quick 5.5 before a long day of baseball and softball (tournament weekend). 31 for the week; measly 68 for the month.

4/21

3.5 easy

4/20

Catching up...

6 today; maybe yoga later if I have time, but I've been swamped & today is Abigail's birthday.

5.5 yesterday with Nate in the jogging stroller; lots of hills. Hiking with the little boys before starting the crazy round of track/baseball/softball in the evening.

4.5 easy Tuesday + yoga; tons and tons of crying and freak-out moments.

6 Monday + yoga. Even more crying than Tuesday

Saturday: 6, yoga, hiking. 21 for the week and 37/month.

Friday: 5, yoga.

Thursday: yoga

4/12

5 and yoga. Running feels harder than it did a couple of weeks ago; hopefully I readjust soon. EEG for Matthew tomorrow and I'm kind of a wreck.

4/11

First day back to running; 5 miles and day 9 of my 31-day yoga change. X-rays and ortho today; he couldn't find out what's causing the pain but his guess is all the stuff that the PT identified with the pelvic and spinal damage, plus my right leg is 1 cm shorter than the left. Prescription was to really crank up glute & core work and not do any speedwork for at least a month. I feel like I should be more relieved by this but I'm not really sold on the fact that the bone integrity is good, given that it's the same kind of pain I had last time and stress fractures don't show up well on X-ray. Guess we'll see how I feel after this run.

Circular Logic (Half) Marathon Race Report

1:55:37 for me today, which is a PR by 1:20.

Is it terrible that I'm not thrilled with this? I really feel like I could have done better--I tried just running by feel and I don't know if that was good. I wasn't really pushing either (worried about my leg) and I just wasn't feeling it mentally today to gut out a fast hard race--never got that "I'm going to die because I'm running so hard" feeling--I feel like I know how to pace in a 5k but after 9 half-marathons I still don't know how hard to push the whole race. I got a side ache (I NEVER get sideaches!!! but I swear this one was cosmic justice for telling my daughter to run through one on Wednesday and just focus on her breathing) during mile 6 and the rest of the race just sucked.

My legs were really cold and felt stiff & I couldn't get my Gatorade bottles off my belt bc the cold made the plastic less flexible and the squeeze release didn't work. Took one Honey Stinger at mile 10 or so but I think it was too late to help. The good news is that my leg (suspected tibial fracture; appointment with ortho next week) didn't start aching until about mile 12. Ran another couple miles with the kids so it was 16ish total (older kids ran solo and DH ran the rest). And the kids had a blast so that's good!

Anyway, a PR is good, but not a race I'm really proud of. Splits 8:52, 8:43, 8:35, 8:33, 8:38, 9:11 (sideache here and felt like I was barely staying upright), 8:56 (sideache still terrible), 8:44, 8:51, 9:02, 9:10, 8:51, 8:41, 50 seconds for the .1. Avg pace was 8:50. Looking over my splits, it seems like the ache came from the 8:30s miles, but they felt so easy!! Grrr. Stupid running by feel.
My legs were really cold and felt stiff & I couldn't get my Gatorade bottles off my belt bc the cold made the plastic less flexible and the squeeze release didn't work. Took one Honey Stinger at mile 10 or so but I think it was too late to help. The good news is that my leg (suspected tibial fracture; appointment with ortho next week) didn't start aching until about mile 12. Ran another couple miles with the kids so it was 16ish total (older kids ran solo and DH ran the rest). And the kids had a blast so that's good!

Anyway, a PR is good, but not a race I'm really proud of. Splits 8:52, 8:43, 8:35, 8:33, 8:38, 9:11 (sideache here and felt like I was barely staying upright), 8:56 (sideache still terrible), 8:44, 8:51, 9:02, 9:10, 8:51, 8:41, 50 seconds for the .1. Avg pace was 8:50. Looking over my splits, it seems like the ache came from the 8:30s miles, but they felt so easy!! Grrr. Stupid running by feel.
Anyway, 152.5 for March, 16 for April, and 498.7 for the year. Hopefully I'll get more miles in April but top priority is getting this tibia thing under control, so it's possible I may not run again this month. 😬😭

And afterwards I had the WORST post-race pain I've ever had. Never again will I have a pelvic and spinal adjustment days before a PR race!! I literally could not stand or walk by the end of the day, and that was after foam rolling and stretching for about an hour right after I got home. My right leg was just totally dead from the hip down and I couldn't lift it up at all. It was so bad--my abs literally felt like I'd just given birth and were all worn out from contractions--I was super nauseated from the pain and had to take some major ibuprofen before I could sleep. The side ache makes a lot more sense now--I guess I was running that race using muscles that have been lazy for months if not years!! Fortunately it's a lot better today and just normal post-race stiffness.

3/29

4 late last night around my parents' neighborhood after getting the kids in bed--so nice to see the stars again!!

Easy 3 today after driving home--well, faster than it should have been, but I felt appropriately clunky and plodding even though my Garmin told me I was running faster than my aerobic TM pace that feels hard. Why is running outside against wind so much easier than running inside?! Last run before the race Saturday--I'm going to try to rest the next few days after driving 800 miles in the last five days, which totally killed my leg!

PT and athletic trainer this morning--really interesting session (this is the total miracle worker that I saw last time when I was having so many knee issues after Luke was born--she wedged me in this morning totally last-minute when my mom called her last night while I was running). They both agreed that I should follow up with imaging with the orthopedic doctor I saw last time (although I just checked and he's no longer with the practice, which I guess is a good thing since I wasn't impressed by him, but may now take longer to get in to somebody new). They also agreed that the majority of the issues I have with the right tibia are coming from the calcification in my ankle from a 20-yr-old injury. (Sidenote: what I really love about this particular PT is that she works SO hard to figure out what's causing the issues rather than just saying, oh, it's broken, quit running and wear a boot, which is all I got from the ortho). Anyway, my pelvis is tilted and rotated, my peroneal muscles & tendons are inflamed in both legs, but worse in the right, my feet are super super tight and I have basically zero flexion in my ankles and feet. So that all means that my feet aren't taking any of the compressive force when I run, and it all gets transferred to my tibia, and my glutes aren't firing because my pelvis was so rotated, and my calves and quads are working too hard. She also said that once my glutes are firing again my weight loss should really pick up, which would be exciting--I've lost 30 pounds since baby Matthew was born, but it's plateaued and I still have more I want to lose before Chicago training kicks in.

She worked quite a bit on releasing stuff today and got my pelvis about 60% of the way back to where it needs to be (during which I mashed my face into the table and used all my labor breathing exercises so I wouldn't scream like a scalded cat!! Dang that hurt!!!), but my spine is still popping every time I move the right leg. So I've got a bunch of exercises and rolling and icing to do. I'm cleared to run Saturday, but I think after that I'm going to cut way back on mileage for a month and just really try to get all this stuff cleared up, then take a month to build mileage again before I start training for Chicago, and do a lower-mileage program for Chicago than I would have done otherwise.

How's that for longest post ever?!

3/27

5 easy aerobic (9:56)

5 @ aerobic wedged in before I left this morning--kids start spring break today & we're in Chicago for the next two days and Michigan for 3-4 days next week, so the taper for next weekend's race is coming at the perfect time!
31/week, 140.5 for March, 470.7 for the year

Feels really weird to not run more this week but my leg is feeling WAY better with the decreased mileage and lack of speedwork.

3/23

Today: 5 easyish
Yesterday: 6 aerobic

3/21

5 easy

3/20

10 for me tonight at appropriate LR pace--no pushing it like I have been doing!! Starting my taper/mileage cut to see if it helps that achy leg. Extremely boring TM run--I literally did not make it to the first minute before I started checking mileage and elapsed time. TBH I'm looking forward to tapering because I've been really tired lately.

3/18

5 pretty easy in the woods. SHould have been 7 but I cut it short because I'm worried about my tibia. I do not not not not not want another stress fracture and I am sick with worry that I've got one starting. I don't know if I should take a week off (or more) or pull back a ton with mileage or quit doing speedwork...I've got a race in two weeks and I may just take a week off after that.

37/week; 439.7 year

3/17

6.5 easy--went a little too fast for the first 5.5 doing HMP-intervals every 10 minutes and really felt it in that right leg. Fed Matthew at 5.5 and then ran the last mile actually at easy pace without trying to push it.

3/16

rest day yesterday; 7.5 at 9:17 today

3/14

6 miles easy

3/13

12 around 9:40 pace. Finished at 11:30 PM as usual. Right leg hurting as it's wont to do; I absolutely hate that I don't know if it's because of the old stress fracture, a new stress reaction, something to do with the ankle damage from a swimming accident when I was a teenager (crushed to the bone and damaged circulation; it's given me problems ever since) or what.

3/11

8.2 on TM @ 9:39. My plan was to run on the TM until Matthew woke up, feed him, and then go outside to finish my run. OF COURSE he is still asleep when he never sleeps this well normally and I've gone over what I needed to run this week by quite a bit.

43.5 for the week; 402.7/387.9 YTD

3/10

7.3; 9:46/mile. Stopped at 5.1 to feed Matthew.

3/9

Rest day today; easy 3 and yoga, plus an afterschool mini-hike with kids

3/8

7 at 9:20ish, pretty similar to last week's run. Tempo intervals. Still really feeling how grippy the new TM belt is; it's not running through sand by any means, but it takes a lot more effort!

3/7

6 easy

3/6

12 on TM; 9:42/mile. Felt pretty good for an 11 PM run.

3/4

10 total; kind of a weird run. I decided to run on the treadmill since my cough is still really bad and the cold aggravates it...TM display stopped advancing at 4:50. Restarted and it was fine until 8.2 miles, then just totally quit. I unplugged everything and restarted it & got another minute in and it quit again. So I just went outside and finished up the 10 while Neil messed around with the electronics & diagnosed it as a short in the on button. It works again now & hopefully it will keep working, but I will have him teach me how to fix it...I would love for this treadmill to just hold on until after he graduates & gets a job!

Thought about going farther  but checked in at home & Matthew was awake and waiting for me, but at least I got 2 double-digit runs this week.

39 total for the week; 29 for March;  356.2 YTD. I need to run 38.8/week to hit my 2017 goal (I realized that was a more accurate way of tabulating than by month!). I'm also going to start tracking that yearly total based on what I have/what I need.

So yearly total this week: 356.2/349.1

3/3

5 easy--just didn't have time to do more

3/2

8 @ 9:20ish with a stop at 5.5 to nurse Matthew

One of my friends said it takes about 200 miles to break in a new treadmill...gosh, I hope so! This thing still feels like a beast to run on...my legs are aching. Or maybe it's all the fitness I lost during pregnancy, or maybe it's week 7 of being sick, or maybe the lack of sleep...ugh. I caught a new cold from Matthew and it's miserable coupled with the cough from the last one that's still hanging on.

3/1

6 easy

2/28

USRD yesterday; just too exhausted and sick--baby was up every 40 minutes all night for four nights running and I was totally trashed.

10 today but kinda wish I'd just quit at 6, which is when I stopped to feed the baby. Once he was awake I had to stop a few more times since he wasn't very happy just chilling on my bed with toys & watching me run...all told it took me about 3 hours to get in just under 100 minutes of running and it felt like I was running ALL DAY and deprioritizing everything else. I'm not very happy with myself right now.

146 for February, which stinks.

2/25

6.2 easy. Tibia aching last night after the speedier stuff so I didn't want to push it today on pace or distance.

37.2 week; 136 month

2/24

SRD yesterday--out almost the entire day since Neil took his prelims and passed!!!!!

6.3 today. First 3.2 ran at 6.5 with a few slower-paced intervals at 6.1; second 3.1 ran mostly at 6.5 cranking it every couple of minutes to 6.6 and 6.7.

First 3.2 around 9:22/mile (not exactly sure because I accidentally reset the TM, so it was faster than this). Second 3.1 ran at 9:02/mile.

2/22

7x800 with 400-meter(ish) recoveries. Half-mile warmup but no time for cooldown (baby stop just before the 7th set, raced through that one and didn't do a recovery, then booked it out to pick up a kid from school). I really tried to run the recoveries as a recovery, instead of keeping them fast-but-slower-than-speedwork-interval pace like I usually do, which made the overall run slower, but whatever. 6 miles total; 56:22. 

2/21

7.5 easy

2/20

11.2 for my standard late-night Monday run; quick baby break at 4.5. This TM belt feels much more fatiguing than my old one...hopefully I break it in soon! Then again my legs are pretty dead--2 hours of hiking with the kids in the woods today and an hour-long walk with them yesterday.

2/18

8.3 today, but spread out--maybe a triple? 3.2 with my oldest 2 this morning in the woods--mostly slow running with a few walking breaks (12:22/mile). Oldest DD wanted to go much slower than the younger, so I promised the younger one I would take her out again. Fed the baby, then ran 2.55 alongside my daughter to bike to the library (9:37/mile), picked out a couple of books that she'd been waiting for, then ran 2.55 home (9:19/mile). I swear that kid never gets tired!! This was supposed to be a very easy day for me and I kept having to ask her to slow down when we were biking.

42.3 for the week; 98.8 for February.

2/17

5 miles just under 10/mile. This is more miles than hours of sleep I got last night--I am completely trashed and my legs are even more tired than yesterday.

2/16

7 miles & first run on new TM belt. 10 minute warm-up, a little more than 5 miles at 9:30, mile cool-down. Legs were just dead (finished at 10:30 PM).

2/15

Officially dead. Half-mile warmup, then six sets of intervals (1 @ 7, 1 @ 7.1, 30 seconds @7.2 mph, then 2 at 6 mph...normally I like to do this one at 8 and 7, but I was afraid to go faster because it was really hard to keep my balance!! There was a HUGE fold in the belt and I lost about 5 inches on the side of the deck of runnable space). At the end of the last interval I just did not have a good feeling about it and stopped to check on the housing, and when I started it again I realized that the mileage and time clocks were no longer working. So...I'm done for the day at 3.5 miles and REALLY hoping that the new belt will be a good fit and that things will be okay and I won't have to buy a whole new treadmill...not what I want to invest in with a few months of grad school left. 

2/14

6.5 easy with FF bc Matthew woke up

2/14

12 at 9:51. Felt surprisingly good, probably because I spent most of yesterday in bed living on cough drops. Stopped at 6.5 to remove the motor housing on my treadmill, since the belt was sufficiently creased that it was catching and tearing on the housing (ordered a new one today and it should be here by the end of the week; it was still under warranty for 2 more years but the company was bought out and the new company won't honor the warranties, so that expense was a fun way to start off the week!). Ran another 3 miles and then had to adjust the housing again, another half-mile and baby woke up. Took 20 minutes to feed him, then got back on the TM (midnight at this point) and ran another 2 miles. Ah, the relaxation and euphoria of running...

2/11

Had to stop running tonight because my treadmill belt is starting to tear and it was tripping me--also it's after midnight and I'm tired. 9 miles.

35 for an unplanned cutback week.

2/10

5.3 today at 9:56 today and made myself take a rest day yesterday. My throat feels like I've been eating glass.

2/8

4.2 first thing this morning. Felt SO much better than yesterday, although I'm still coughing a lot. Started out very gently (11:30/mile) and worked up; avg pace for the run was just under 10/mile.

2/7

6.5 easy. felt terrible like I'd been run over by a truck.

2/6

10 miles at 9:39. Legs are dead. Can't remember the last time I got a decent night's sleep and it's really catching up with me--moved baby to his own room tonight so fingers crossed.

2/4

7.5 and yoga. 40 for the week, 21.5 for February.

Thought about going longer so I could hit 42 for the week, which is what I need to stay on target for 168 miles in a shorter month, but I decided my overall health would be better served by spending that time stretching. Hopefully that will allow me to stay limber, avoid injuries, and ramp up bigger miles in marathon training later on.

2/3

8 at 9:26 today; SRD yesterday. Bad night with Matthew & I'm exhausted.

2/1

6 tempoish (started out at 11:20, worked my way up to 7:53, then back down to 8:57ish and hung out there, then finished the last quarter-mile or so at 8:30ish). Avg pace was 9:18 thanks to the fact that I took about 2 miles to warm up. I don 't know if I'm doing these tempos right--based off the Higdon method I used when I very first started--but working my way up speed-wise and then back down to the HMP seems to work well for me mentally and physically. Frankly I was so tired today that the idea of running a mile warm-up and then holding a static pace seemed totally unbearable! Matthew has had a couple of HORRIBLE nights and I've gotten so little sleep that my legs have been aching ever since Monday...just not enough sleep for the muscle repair. I actually went back to bed for about an hour during his morning nap after I'd gotten the kids off to school...when I was lying facedown on the carpet after breakfast I realized I probably should try for more sleep. I think the problem is that I'm just not getting any quality sleep--he's still in our room (which is 2 months past when all the other babies have moved to their own room) and I can't sleep soundly even when I do get the chance to sleep since I'm listening for him, and he's still waking up about 4 times a night. Argh!

1/31

6.5 easy, about 25 seconds faster than the easy pace I've been using, which was appropriate for marathon training but I think I can pick it up for half training.

January miles: 171.2...if I can keep it over 168/month I'll hit 2017 this year, which would be cool.

1/30

12 miles, 9:30/mile, 11 pm, treadmill...another Monday LR down.

1/28

7.5 at 9:15/mile on hilly back roads--it was a really pretty run but tiring with the constant rollers and broken asphalt! 24 mph wind gusts were some good resistance training and I was glad I had a good jacket on! I was really happy with this run bc I sandwiched it in by running home after playing the piano accompaniment for my daughter's solo and ensemble competition (gold for her, yay!). For some reason those multitasking type of runs (like running home from stuff or running to meet DH & kids somewhere) always feel extra satisfying. ;-) 40.7/week & 152.7/month

1/27

Stars aligned and I got 10 miles on the TM during naptime today!! 9:23/mile; decided to really make it a quality workout since I didn't run yesterday. One of the things I realized is that I've been running at marathon-training paces, not half-marathon paces, so I can push most runs faster than I have been.

In other news, this is my first week with 2 double-digit runs since my stress fracture, so that's exciting.

1/26

SRD today with yoga. I haven't done yoga for a couple of months and boy am I not as flexible as I should be. To be honest, I really wanted to run today, but just for the purpose of accumulating miles, and I'm telling myself that running junk easy miles just to get more miles is not as useful long-term as taking a rest day and working on flexibility so that my next couple of runs are higher-quality. Right? ;-)  But in the next day or two I'm going to sit down and figure out some kind of training plan for the next couple months (marathon relay that I'll run as at least a half, probably more on April 1) because I've got to have some sort of schedule so I stop fixating on mileage rather than quality.

1/25

5.5 with 9x400 meter repeats at 5k pace, did a half-mile warm-up. Took an extra couple of minutes to jog after the last repeat in lieu of a full cooldown and gave myself an extra 20 seconds of jogging between repeats--that 20 seconds sure made it feel easier than last week!!

1/24

6.5 easy once the kids were in bed; walked half a mile to cool down and spent a good long while stretching.

1/23

Monday: 11.2 on TM at 9:49/mile...so boring...so boring.

Saturday:
7 beautiful miles outside with the stroller and baby...in shorts and T-shirt! Hard to believe it's January. Six days in a row for me and I've spent the whole day painting, so I wasn't setting any speed records, but soooo nice to get outside.

38/week and 112/month.

1/20

6 on TM progression from easy to HMP. Had to stop at 4 to feed the baby and by 6 he was so done with the swing that I had to quit.

1/19

Should've been a rest day but ran 5.5 trying to get Matthew to go to sleep.

1/18

5 speedwork on the TM. Half-mile warmup, then 7x400 at 5k pace with 400-meter recovery jogs in between, then half-mile cooldown. Nice to get some legit speedwork in but that last one was hard!!

1/17

Squeezed in 4.5 easy. So hard finding time to run!!!

1/16

10 late--still not feeling great. Just not getting enough sleep to kick this thing.

1/14

7.4 late on the TM--too icy outside and spent the day working on house stuff again (like dead-lifting two stoves). 33 this week with only 4 days of running thanks to the two days of sickness. Felt worse today than I did yesterday so I'm looking forward to SRD tomorrow. Glad I got a decent LR in on Monday; that 13.1 is helping me feel a lot better about the crummy rest of the week!

74 for the month so far.

1/13

Today: 7.5 a little faster than aerobic
Thursday/Wednesday: no running thanks to fever/stomach bug
Tuesday: 5 easy

1/9

13.1 just because Matthew kept on sleeping (put the kids in bed, put him in his crib, and started running). Just under 10/mile.

1/7

Busy week!!

Thursday--first rest day in 43 days! Time to end the streak bc my legs were aching enough Wednesday night that it was hard to sleep.

Friday: 6.2 with some speedwork

Saturday: 7.2 finishing at 11 pm; spent most of the day painting and doing super deep cleaning.

34 for the week/month.

1/4

6.3 easy on TM. Six stops in first two miles for kids, then gave up and fed the baby (who was supposed to be asleep), then ran the last 4.3. Running with a baby around is pretty dang hard sometimes.

8 boring TM miles today, 6.3 really stressful miles yesterday (got some terrible news mid-run that meant I broke into sobs every half-mile or so...yeah, that was no fun), and 1.5ish walking Sunday.