Long runs

I ran my six miles this morning. I feel tight. I wonder how my whole body will be feeling in a week, when I'm racing 26.2 miles. I also rolled my left ankle today. Again for no reason. But I think I have resilliant ankles. I roll them and they are fine.

6 miles; the usual Texas long run route

Last day with my Tech team

I played disc for the last time with the kids in Lubbock. I'm really going to miss them; it has been a lot of fun. After it was too dark to play and we were all getting ready to leave Kyle (one of my favorites -- the one with the dreds) was like, "I just want to thank Anna for playing with us..." Bla bla bla. I thought that was sweet, and then I expressed my thanks for them letting me play with them. Then Kyle was like, "we should give her one of our Lubbock discs!" Everyone thought that was a good idea, but Joy was like, "well, someone would have to pay for it." Then Tony (the guy who's in charge of this whole operation) gave me his Lubbock disc. It's used and says "Tony" and "Lubbock" faintly on the back, but it will be a good reminder of my days of frisbee here on the high plains.

My hamstring is bugging me a little bit, but not too bad. We'll see how it holds up tomorrow on my last long run before the marathon. (Only six miles.)

2.5 hrs; Texas Tech

My week as of yet.

Monday I took as a rest day since I did a whole heckuvalot of running this past weekend.

I did go running on Tuesday. Three miles. It was the usual aches and pains until on the way back I, for no good reason at all, completely tanked my right ankle. It just folded right over. It kind hurt, so I walked it off a bit, then I started to slowly run home again. It didn't swell or anything, so I didn't ice it. For some reason I have a hard time icing my ailments. It's like a mental thing or something. I just don't want to for some reason.

Today I started on my run way too late. I was only planning on doing a couple miles anyway because I wanted to see how the ankle would hold up. By the time I ran over to 19th Street it was too dark so I just turned around and came home. Maybe it was only a mile. Who knows. I tried to stretch out really well when I got home to make up for the lack of mileage.

At least I get to play frisbee tomorrow. It's my last night with the Texas Tech kids. The last frisbee of sabbatical. I'm going to miss them all.

Texas Sectionals in Austin

It was fun. It was hot. And there was a lot of running involved.

So I took a little road trip to Austin, Texas this past weekend to play a lot of frisbee. Seven games in two days. Only one female sub. I'm amazed at how our women held up. We're hardcore. It's funny, though, because the only people complaining of being tired were the guys! And they had at least ten subs!

We went into the tournament seeded fourth out of eight teams. We held seed and finished fourth as well.

On Saturday we won our first game and lost the next three. On Sunday we won our first two games and lost the last one. I don't think my legs had anymore in them for a fourth game on Sunday, so it was just as well.

I think the heat really affected me. It was just SO hot and humid! Both days I was just dying by the second game. Like spent. Finished. Wanting to pass out. By the next game I would feel better, though. I don't know what it was about that second game, but it was a killer. Maybe because the first game wasn't too terribly hot because it was still pretty early, but as the day wore on my body just needed to adjust. Who knows. It was crazy, though.

I played a lot better on Sunday than I did on Saturday. I made some stupid errors the first day. But I wasn't afraid to lay out, which was pretty cool. The grass was a lot nicer than most grass I've played on recently. Especially in the morning when it was still dewey. I had some good D's, some good throws, some good cuts. It was a lot of fun, I must say. I'm glad I went.

Oh, and Austin is a pretty cool place.

Texas Sectionals; 7 games; 4th place; Austin, TX

last practice before sectionals

Last night we had our last practice before sectionals. It was a good practice. We went over some stuff--zone defense. We scrimmaged. I think it went well. I got a hand block, which are rare for me so it was exciting. I almost had a really good lay-out catch, which would have been cool. My legs didn't really bother me too much. I hope we do well in the tournament this weekend. We're going into it in fourth place, out of eight teams. Right there in the middle of the pack; just where I like to be. I hear the weather in Austin is supposed to be hot--mid 90's--and humid. It will be important to stay hydrated. I'll let y'all know how everything plays out.

~2.5 hrs; Texas Tech

big sky, big clouds, big sunset

I guess I set the alarm last night without really knowing it. My sister said she heard it go off twice this morning until it shut off. I do remember waking up, seeing that it was around 6:30 am and thinking it was too early and too dark to go running. So I went back to sleep, totally unaware that the alarm had ever gone off.

Later that day I regretted not getting out there earlier. It's always just so bloody hot. And it had rained quite a bit today which made the air more humid.

[Quick anecdote about Lubbock, Texas: It is so flat here that when it rains the water has nowhere to drain. The streets become big puddles, like the whole place is drowning. Just think of cars synchronize swimming and that's pretty much what it is like here. It's quite a sight.]

I got out there a little after 7'ish. At first it was surprisingly cool'ish, later it became unbearably hot. My legs were still pretty tight--especially my tendon by my left ankle, and my right hamstring. I iced tonight. I pushed the last stretch pretty hard, which I felt good about.

3 miles; Iola southward to Milwaukee

swill

When I got to practice tonight I really wasn't in the mood to be there. I didn't really want to deal with the whole Don situation. And it seems it is always windy here in Lubbock, which means a lot more zone defense. Sometimes I really don't like playing zone. Especially if I have to play the cup. Too much running! And I never got to handle all day. Which was probably for the best because all my throws were swilly. Today just wasn't a great day for disc.

As far as running goes, I was just tired. I felt sleepy, as it were. My legs didn't feel like they could hold up to all the running and sprinting. Maybe I wasn't getting enough oxygen or something. It just wasn't fun. But my hamstring didn't really bother me, which is always a good thing. Oh, I did completely tank my ankle once. It hurt. But after a few minutes it really wasn't bothering me. That could have been bad news.

~3 hrs; Texas Tech

Always a head wind, never a tail wind.

Today was my highest mileage run before the marathon. I can't believe we're to that point already. Now I'm into taper.

My biggest fear about St George is that I didn't have enough time to gradually get my mileage up. Sure, I ran eighteen miles today, but my longest run previous to that was only somewhere around fourteen. I hope my legs are really ready to pound 26.2 miles. I'm counting on the adrenaline of race day and gravity to carry me through.

The first few miles of my run today I was experiencing what happened on Tuesday. My calf/tendon area on my left leg must be really tight and it causes my foot to go kind of numb. I made an effort to keep stretching it out, and it soon wasn't bothering me at all. What did bother me was my right hamstring and I just felt kind of tight.

My calves were really tight and sore immediately after the run. They were the first things I iced, though, so I hope I can keep that under control. I'm pretty tight overall, but not too bad. I'm going to make some effort to keep icing tonight and tomorrow. My left ankle kind of hurts as well. I love my aging body!

18 miles; Iola southward... Milwaukee to 4th...

practice

Practice was good yesterday. My hamstring held up reasonably well. I tried to warm up better and keep it stretched as much as possible. I missed a few catches, which always sucks. But I do remember getting a few really good D's. There was some good running involved as well.

~2.5 hrs; Texas Tech

frisbee and running

Monday night I played frisbee. I didn't really warm up and when I started playing my hamstring was bugging me a little bit. Not a whole lot, but it was still noticeable and I didn't want to aggravate it further. So I left before practice was officially over. I had gotten a pretty good workout in nonetheless.

Yesterday I went running with Robert. He said it was about three miles, but I think it was closer to four. The weirdest thing happened. My left leg started hurting (to the left side of my calf) and then my whole left foot went completely numb. It was very odd. It was like I was running with a brick attached to the bottom of my leg. I didn't like it one bit. I'm not running today because I just feel like I should take a day off and rest my body. I was going to throw a disc around with this Don guy tonight, but that's a whole other story. . .

Ten miles

I went running this morning. I could only do ten miles. My legs were hurting. They are so tight and sore and I can only imagine it's from the half marathon and frisbee on Thursday. Hopefully this shorter run will help build up those darn muscles. Because, afterall, it is in those lower mileage weeks that your body becomes stronger.

My calves are still tight along with my hip flexors and hamstring. But what's new?

10 miles; Iola... Milwaukee... 4th Street... 11th Street...

the disc in texas

I had so much fun playing frisbee tonight! I was a little worried as I was walking toward the field--I only saw a bunch of guys doing a drill. This surely wasn't pick-up, I thought to myself. I asked the guy that was sitting on the bleacher if he was playing and if it was pick-up or not. He was like, no it's practice. Oh. Practice. Then I told him how Tony had told me to come tonight. The guy was like, oh well then you can talk to him after their done with the drill. Finally Tony comes over and we introduce ourselves. He told me I could scrimmage with them after the next drill. So I put on my cleats and threw with the other guy until it was time to scrimmage.

This is what I love about ultimate frisbee: everyone is so nice. It doesn't matter where you are, what team you're on, or if you're a beginner, everyone is nice and willing to help out. Well, I guess unless you're in some big-time tournament or something. Which brings me to my next point...

They want me to come play in the sectionals tournament in Austin in a few weeks with them! They really need women and since I'm pretty good they're willing to practically pay everything for me to go. It's kind of exciting. So I'm seriously thinking about it. I might as well play in a tournament while I'm here, right? Right! And then I get to see another part of Texas. I think it could be a really good time.

There was only one other girl who showed up. So I pretty much played savage the whole time. My legs held up even with all the intense running. I did start to slow and get kind of lazy at the end but that was after like two hours of endless playing. The thing that bugged me the most was my feet! I don't know if it was the socks or what--they're relatively new--but my feet felt like they were totally getting blisters. They're still a little tender on the balls of my feet. It was weird, that usually doesn't happen. Next time I'll put BodyGlide on them for sure!

Anyway, playing disc makes me happy and I'm glad I found some people to play with while on Sabbatical.

~2 hours; Texas Tech ultimate