2/29

Full hour of physical therapy this morning, plus more exercises at home on my own, and then a run.  I'm tired.  And there's nothing quite like being asked by the crosscountry PT how many miles you're doing a week, and then asking her how many miles her team runs a week.  Let's just say the difference was an even 100.

4 miles, NO STOPS!!!  Yay!!!  Amazingly (since he was up all night coughing and sneezing) Luke stayed asleep.  Maybe I can even shower before he wakes up--that would be awesome.

4 miles; 8:40/mile

2/28

5x400 today; 8:34/out and 9:05/back for recovery.  Had to stop after the 3rd one for Luke.

2.5 miles total; iced afterwards because my knee was popping and grinding

day 1

On my calendar it says I should be starting half-marathon training today.  I don't think I'll be running one this spring, but I decided to go ahead and do the runs as if I were whenever I can.  So here goes.

Started running and stopped after 5 minutes to tighten the treadmill belt; ran another 2 miles and then got a drink, then finished out.  It felt weird to only plan to run 4 miles.  Kind of exciting!  Free time!

4 miles; 8:45/mile

2/25

Didn't run yesterday because it was the first time all week that Neil was home in the evening and we were able to spend time together and as a family.  Ran today during quiet time, stopped at 3 miles to turn on the fan and get some water, then another 2.  Thought about running another one, but decided not to--fortunately, since both of the boys woke up right as I finished.

The more I think about it, the more it seems that this is not a year to be doing much long-distance training (perhaps my knee was a good way to make me slow down and realize this...).  Neil is trying to work every spare minute and I've got another baby and I'm working twice as much as I did the summer where I was able to run 2 half-marathons and a 10K.  This year needs a different focus, and I feel like right now I need to be putting my time somewhere else.  This is something I'm sad about, but...I think that's how it needs to be right now.

5 miles; 8:54/mile

2/22

This is so frustrating!  I just am not loving running these days.  I was planning to run yesterday and try to do some speedwork but my hip was hurting so much that it was painful to stand or walk, so I ended up soaking it out in a super hot bath instead.

I ran late tonight--I HATE running at night because I'm so exhausted, but I've been grading all the projects from both of my classes this week and so I'm short on time (grading during naptime rather than running because I dread grading so much that I try to get it out of the way first).  Anyway...

ran 4 miles, then stopped to switch laptops (I was watching Hulu on Neil's laptop because he ran first so I used his laptop while he showered, then stopped to switch to my [ancient] laptop when he was ready to work).  Ran another mile.

5 miles; just under 9:00/mile.  I hate how slow I'm getting.  Stupid knee.  Stupid treadmill breaking and being sick.  And STUPID PHYSICAL THERAPY that takes an HOUR every day and means I have that much less energy to run.

Run of crapitude

I think the only thing worse than talking yourself into running when you feel lousy is having that run interrupted over and over and over.  I had stress dreams all night about my patella grinding off the side of my knee and becoming completely detached and only held on by the skin of my leg...it was not a restful night, plus the pile of grading that I'm dreading conjured up its own set of stress dreams.

Ran 2 miles and then stopped to give Luke his pacifier and restart Juliet's story (Luke had been crying for awhile--I don't know how to make that kid sleep a decent interval!  So frustrating; it seems like no matter how soon I start running after he falls asleep he always wakes up). Ran another 1.1 miles and then brought furious Luke to hang out on my bed, ran another .9 miles and decided that the panicky fear and occasional leaps off the treadmill to rescue him from diving off my bed was not worth running another mile.  Grumpy grumpy grumpy about that.

Oh...and I'm starting to give up on racing this year.  Maybe the achiness in my knee will get better when I'm not sick, but right now it's pretty bad and it pops like mad and I honestly don't know how I would even run 10 miles on it this way.  Plus Neil is INSANELY busy and I'm worried that this is not the time for our family to work around long Saturday runs.  We'll see.  At this point, I would rather Neil tackle the prelims marathon than I conquer the real marathon.

4 miles; 9ish/mile (hard to time with all the stopping)

2/18

Up very late last night (past 1 am) with grading and whatnot.  My parents were here the whole day and then I did more grading and then started running just before 10 pm.  So late! So tired!

Ran 1 minute and then had to stop to get the DVD I dropped; ran another 7 minutes and then I had to plug in my laptop, ran to 15 minutes and I had to stop to give Luke his pacifier.  You'd think that at 10 I would be able to run without fear of baby stops, but...apparently not.  Stretched, water, then ran to 3.3 and stopped again to stretch and drink, ran to 5, stretched (longer stretching time--about 4 minutes, since my knee was starting to feel weird) and then ran a final mile.

6 miles; 9:13/mile...really took it slow because my knee has been feeling weird the last couple of days.  I'm starting to feel gloomy about the prospect of running a half in the spring.