marketing scheme

well we all know how I love the GU energy gels. especially vanilla bean. a week or two ago I stumbled across their Stash Your Trash program. at first I was a little confused. were they going to collect all these sticky, used gu packets and then recycle them? or were they just going to throw them away in the end, just like I could throw them away without all the hassle of mailing them in?

so it turns out they just throw them away too. but with the incentive of free gu {5 packets for every 50 empties; and free schwag for 200+ empties!} I've started my own sticky, used gu collection. I know throwing them away myself is just easier + cleaner, but who doesn't love free gu?!

***gladly accepting all sticky, used gu packet donations***

monday:

45 minute pool run.

I always feel like everyone is watching me, wondering what it is I'm doing. have they never seen an injured person--though from the looks of me, I don't think you'd be able to tell I was injured--run in water before? sometimes I wonder if they think I can't swim, like I'm afraid of the water or something. especially when I walk on the deck with my cap + goggles (just in case*) and my geriatric floaty belt. it's pretty awesome.


*fyi - I am not doing my pool running with the cap and goggles on my face. I bring them just in case there are no lanes to do the pool running, since it requires deep water. in that event, I revert to lap swimming.

the update

okay, I'm sure everyone has been dying to know about the injury situation.  I had a consult with the good doctor {aka bro-inlaw, PhD) tonight and after examining my foot he gave me the go ahead to run the marathon.  yes, the go ahead to run the marathon!  

he did all his little tests, all the poking and prodding, twisting and turning.  well, your foot is stable, he says.  he thinks it's my fascia.  he told me to keep doing the pool running to stay fit, wear one of those boots at night--the plantar fasciitis ones that keep your foot stretched--and to roll my foot with a tennis ball during the day.  in a week or two I can try and do some short runs, but if there is pain I should stop.  but no matter what, I can run the marathon.  you might be in pain, but yes, you can run the marathon, he says after about the twenty-seventh time I've re-capped everything he has just told me.  

he kept reiterating that there would probably be pain involved.  but that it's not going to do any long-termdamage.  I can deal with pain.  I feel that just being an endurance athlete means you have a better ability to manage pain than the average person.  I can do it.  

I will have about three solid weeks off the foot.  even if I have a stress fracture (which is possible, but the extreme pain in my ankle/foot could also be from the connective tissue pulling on each other--or whatever) that is enough time to get it healed.  at least mostly.  

he did tell me that I shouldn't run for four to six weeks after.  that's okay, I said.  once I was done with this marathon, I was going to focus more on biking more anyway!  he gave me this look.  that, are you kidding me? look.  no biking.  I can swim and pool run.  okay, I can deal with that.  I'll just focus on swimteam.  

but I can run the marathon.  and that's all that matters.  

and I can try and run it at a good pace, if I want.  I can still try and qualify for boston.  we'll see if I can hang with the 3:40 pace group crowd.  hopefully the pain isn't out of control.  hopefully I haven't lost too much fitness.  we'll see.  and if nothing else, it's always another state.  and that's really the overall goal anyway.  

the weekly recap

wednesday:  rest

thursday:  rest

friday:  45 minute pool run

saturday:  30 minute easy spin + 2 hour pool run  [note to self:  don't ever try and go to steiner on a saturday morning.  especially during the hours of 8 to 9:30am.  masters will inevitably take every lane in the pool.  every single lane.  and even after your thirty minute warm up via the stationary bike, you'll find a lane but will have to share it with the minnows swimteam.  eight year old kids splashing all over the place does not a fun pool run make.  and then you'll just end up getting kicked out of your lane anyway, because they'll have to set up for the water polo practice.  next week I'm hitting the pool at 6am.  hopefully my luck will be better.]

just trying to hold on

remember how my foot was hurting on friday? well, technically it probably hurt a little on previous runs too. . . but friday it was pretty apparent.

since I didn't run on saturday (but I did ride my bike along the salt lake marathon's course a bit) or sunday, I figured my foot would start to feel better. it hasn't. I'm over three weeks out to my race. this cannot be happening to me! the thought of not being able to run it just tears me up inside. I have worked so hard, and devoted my life to this and my goal of qualifying for boston.

so I'm trying to stay positive. I'm trying to focus on the things I actually have control over. the things I can do to help the situation. and hopefully, in the end, make it better. make it work.

so I'm going to implement rest. I'm going to also be implementing active rest -- aka cross training. which pretty much means I will be spending the rest of my life in the pool. I tried water running yesterday for the first time in my life. it's interesting, but if it can keep me fit without being able to do much else I'll take it! I mean, who doesn't love to wear the geriatric floaty belt? love it!

I also think swimming will be okay.

so everyone send some good, positive vibes my way. I'm going to need them. this is just one more road block I'll have to work through for this thing. trust me, this isn't the first time during this training season that I've felt like it's all been totally hopeless. and then I usually come back stronger than ever. pray for me!

nineteen

I ran my long run today because my friend, scotty, is running the salt lake city marathon tomorrow and we need to be his cheering section. {he's trained for this thing solely on a treadmill. I can't even imagine.} I mean, the race route goes right by my house, so why not?

so today's run didn't really feel that great. which is okay. I felt pretty sick when I went to bed last night. like I was going to puke or something, and was scared I'd actually be sick and running wouldn't seem so appealing. I felt relatively fine this morning, though. so that's good.

I felt tight in the early miles. I loosened up midway through. by mile 10 or so I started getting tight again. if you look at the elevation profile I was running uphill for a few miles. it felt like I was just crawling up that last push. but it probably wasn't really that slow. maybe just kinda slow.

the way down that hill (that very little steep section--it was only about a block, really) kinda pounded my legs.

my left foot really started to hurt. hopefully that is a pain that does not linger with me for any amount of time.

I had salty face. it started getting in my eyes near the end. I usually wear my visor, which helps soak the sweat up. but I did wear shorts and I had no problem with the chub rub. thank you, bodyglide! though the past couple runs the bodyglide on my feet doesn't feel like it's been working like it used to. no actual blisters yet, but I feel hot spots forming. no beuno.

I am glad the long run is done and out of the way. I can enjoy the rest of the weekend! yesterday it was one month exactly to the big day. next week is my longest run. then I'll taper and hopefully be ready for the journey ahead. hopefully I'm physically and mentally ready for the challenge at hand.

19 miles; 6th east/south temple/11th east/21st south/wasatch dr

baby baby bike

so I wanted to go on a ride tonight. but by the time peter got home I was in the middle of doing the biggest pile of dishes you have ever seen. and my carbo-loading extreme dinner had not even been started yet. . . and we were both starving. so as I finished up the dishes peter so nicely went out to the storage and got my bike. then he pumped up my tires. isn't he sweet?

so while he slaved over a hot stove, I was out on my first "ride" of the season. it was pretty baby. I just rode over to liberty park and did a few laps. I wasn't even gone that long. it was just a get-to-know-you type ride. me and my bike haven't seen each other in a long time. it's nice to get reacquainted. you know, take it slow.

the good news was that pete had the delicious dinner ready to go when I got home. hurrah!

baby swim

I didn't really have time for a full workout today. I hate those days when you're so busy working out isn't really feasible. but today I made time for it, even if it was just thirty minutes in the pool.

the workout wasn't really anything special. probably not even worth mentioning, but I'll mention it anyway. I did a 500 warmup. a quick 100 IM. then I did some 100's, mostly freestyle. I don't even know how many. I just sort of swam.

monday + tuesday

monday, april 14th:
I did a 4.5 mile loop. it was good fargo practice--windy! the temperature was really warm, though. when I got home I didn't really have time to stretch and ice like I had wanted to. I had an appointment come up. I had this really random twitch going on in my left buttocks for a few hours afterward. pretty random and slightly annoying.

tuesday, april 15th:
I went up to steiner to do a speed workout on the tready. the track was a no go a) because I had to do it in the afternoon after work -- you know, high school track season and all. and b) because it was a rainy/snowy/sloshy cold mess outside by the afternoon. spring to the extreme! so I opted for the indoors where my pace can more easily be controlled. I did a one mile warmup. and then alternated between a half mile at 7:19 with a couple minutes of walking. I did 5 800's (800 equals the half mile, peeps). I did a 1.5 mile cooldown so the total running distance would be an even five miles. yeah, I'm OCD like that. I tried to stretch pretty well afterwards. and then I took an ice bath to cover all my bases in one, quick shot. my legs felt pretty beat up. today will be an easy, recovery day for sure.

eighteen

I made myself a little route on friday night. I got pretty into it because after I printed out the map (below) I wrote out where my aid stations were going to be (aka which street corners I would stash my little water bottles) and where my turnaround point was, et cetera. I even placed my little gu's on the appropriate mile markers. I thought it was really cute. pete didn't seem to appreciate it as much.


on saturday morning, after driving the course and placing all my baby waters and poweraids, I set off on my little eighteen miler. the first half mile my legs felt a bit like dead weight. by my first aid station (mile two) I had loosened up quite a bit. most of the run put me snaking through the avenues. and if you know the avenues, you know that it's always a hilly run. I was either going uphill or coming downhill. not much in the way of just flat.

but I ran through it all and kept a good pace. my legs started getting pretty tight around mile 14 or so, but it wasn't enough to make me want to stop running. I still felt strong. strong enough to run through any discomfort I was feeling. strong enough that when it was all over I still felt that if I had had to, I could've pulled another two miles. that's a good place to be mentally.

oh, and the weather was beautiful. just perfect for a saturday morning long run.

{p.s. if you want to analyze the bizarre dream I had before waking up and going running, go HERE. it involves qualifying for boston and cleaning tomkat's toilet. you could even win a prize.}

18 miles; avenues

plyo

I went to steiner yesterday to get a plyo workout in. seriously, I swear by these. they make you a faster runner without much effort. every runner's dream!

I warmed up for two miles on the treadmill.
did my plyo jump rope routine for ten mintes (unfortunately I had to do 1 minute intervals instead of 30 second intervals. totally forgot the man-watch and had to go by the time on the digital clock above the ice sheet)
ran a half mile cool down on the treadmill.

I stretched afterwards and came home and iced some key areas that were kinda feelin' it. I think today will just be a rest day as I gear up for the 18 miler tomorrow.

the pm swim

I am torn between the am swimteam and the pm swimteam. I love being able to get my swim workout in before the rest of my day starts (that is if I can wake up for it); it just feels so good. but I like the wednesday night swim coach and the people that swim in my lane better. I just feel like I fit more in the pm swimteam. but this is the kicker: I hate getting home at 8 o'clock.

with that being said I made it to the pm swimteam tonight. it had been a while. the old familiar faces were all there. we swam hard in our little slow lane. I felt good. I always feel good after swimming. it is such a fantastic workout.

500 warmup (300 free, 200 stroke)

8 X 50 kick (odds butterfly, evens freestyle)

8 X 50 drill IM

3X:
200 moderate free
100 fast IM
50 easy recovery free

2 X 75 (50 easy, 25 fast; 25 fast, 50 easy)

cooldown

some speed and also a little look back

I did some speed work today. I ran my little self over to the highland high track and did some fun repeats. the yasso 800's. basically you're supposed to run a set of repeats at the same time in minutes as your goal time for the marathon. thus my 800's were supposed to be run in three minutes and forty seconds. since this is my first week of the yasso 800's, I only did four. I'll keep adding more repeats as the weeks progress. (okay, so I'll only actually do these a few more times before I'm into taper and it's almost my race! yikes!!)

so with that being said, I ran all four of my under three minutes and thirty seconds. my first one was 3:19! now let's get one thing straight: I will not be running my marathon in under three hours and thirty minutes! I was obviously running way too fast. with each repeat I kept telling myself, okay you can run slower. . . it just wasn't happening. I think it was the fear of not making it in time. and it's not like I was all out sprinting in these 800's or anything, but my feet were certainly moving!

my legs felt awesome during the first two. as in my hamstrings weren't bugging me at all. I was surprised and quite relieved. the third time around I could feel it in my left hip flexor. the fourth time my hamstrings were starting to complain a bit.

then I had the run home. all in all I think I ran about six to six-and-a-half miles today. my hamstrings were not loving me when I got home. I took an ice bath just so I could get all the major muscles groups in one shot. some days I just don't feel like dealing with all the frozen corn bags.

* * *

I hadn't been back to that track since the early days. the days where uncertainty and a sense of untested confidence ran strong. it was during that time that I started to see myself for what I was: a runner. a girl with strong legs, a strong heart and a strong sense of what she wanted.

it was during those spring evenings that I met with them. told what I could achieve if I just put in the work now. I learned that I was able. I learned that I was strong. I learned that I was ready, though I had no real idea what lay ahead.

two weeks before my first marathon: slow down. you don't need to go fast. you've put in the work. you're ready. and he was right; I was ready.

stepping once again onto that track brought everything back. the warm faces on those warm evenings; sunlight fading, long golden light. we were all working toward the same goal, each at our own pace. there was encouragement. there was laughter. there was sweat. there was a bond that brought us together.

we are still held by that bond, even though we have not stayed in touch.

I miss my friends.

I wish I could tell you my stories, of all that I have accomplished and are setting out to do. I wish I could hear yours. I know we have all done amazing things. running was just the beginning.

recovery

yesterday morning I was at the gym running on a treadmill before the sun even came up. dedication, I know. I had to get my recovery run in before work. four slow, easy miles. my hamstrings have been really tight since the race on saturday. I was hoping the run would loosen them up a bit. during the run they were starting to feel better. but as I went about the rest of my day, they were still sore.

on monday's I've been getting some sports massage therapy. I think it's helping greatly. I'll keep getting them after my long runs into the taper phase of my training. after the massage yesterday, I could almost immediately feel the difference. my hamstrings felt so much better. though, they do feel a little sore; I'm hoping today's run helps sort things out further.

thirteen point one: provo city half marathon

ah yes, the provo city half marathon. I'm not sure I'd really recommend it to anyone. I mean, it wasn't really that bad. and it was the inaugural running of the race. so they still have time to work out the kinks. but it really wasn't that great, either.

basically I felt the mile markers were a little off--if they even had mile markers at all. oh, and they said aid stations at mile 2, 6, 8, 10, 12 but seemed to have them in random places. so I'd get to one and have to wonder what mile I was actually at. as a runner, it's pretty important to know where you are during the race, if only for the mental game and your sanity.

the run along the provo river was pretty nice. until you got out by utah lake. wind. wind. wind. with nothing to block it. yikes! that was a tough spot in the race for me. strong headwind equals a not so fast and a slightly more tired anna jo. it could've been worse, though, I guess. it could've been raining and a strong headwind. let's all be grateful the weather held this morning.*

okay, back to business. though I didn't love the course, this race was actually pretty good for me. I told peter before I started that this was my game plan: relax. and cruise. yesterday I had made three goals for how I wanted the run to turn out. you know, the super awesome goal time I'd be totally stoked on, the good goal time I'd be totally happy with, and the everything-went-wrong-but-I'll-take-it goal time. they were respectively: 1:40, 1:50 and 2:00.

I'm happy to report that I made it directly in between my first and second goal times. 1:45. I couldn't be happier with it. this has definitely been a confidence booster on this whole road to boston thing. I mean, I am on track to actually being able to keep the pace I'll need to qualify! it could be a reality if everything goes alright on race day. and that makes me happy.

if I remember correctly, I came in 63rd overall and 16th for females. something like that. who knows.

one thing I will say for this race was that it probably closely resembles conditions I might be facing in north dakota. a mostly flat course with wind and chillier temps. (I'm praying for chillier temps! if they have some sort of freak heat wave on may 17th that will totally be uncool. no pun intended.) let's just hope that I don't have to run over any overpasses. I was not expecting it, and my heart sank when I realized I had to run up and over it.

oh, and one more thing I will say about this race was that the tech tees were pretty cute!


* so yesterday afternoon someone told me it was supposed to rain all morning. maybe even snow. yep, all the weather reports confirmed it. so can you imagine how hard it was to dress for the run?! I think peter was thoroughly annoyed by all my questions and indecision. I just didn't want to be overdressed and I didn't want to be underdressed. that's a tight line to tow. but don't worry, the weather abated (except for the wind) and nothing ever really came down on us. my outfit decision turned out okay in the end as well. except for pete's watch. remind me never to wear a huge man-watch in a race if I have not trained with it for a while. I was not used to the weight and it started making my whole arm hurt! so I took it off about mile three and stashed it in the vest pocket where it proceeded to bounce around for ten more miles. annoying!

and it went a little something like this:

monday: ran on the tready before work. I did four miles. for a recovery run, I think I pushed it a little too hard for part of the run. my right hamstring hated me the rest of the day. that evening I had another massage, which seemed to work a lot of the kinks out.

tuesday: I ran two miles on the treadmill and then did some plyo. the ten minute jump rope routine. this time I was able to do it on the floor with the big mat, so it was easier on my joints, etc. and my calves weren't tight afterwards. bonus. afterward I did about a half mile cool down on the treadmill, I think.

wednesday: I had planned on going to early AM masters, but opted out of that to go with my cute husband instead. well, we both slept in too long and he wasn't feeling well anyway, so I ended up going after work. bad idea. there was a high school water polo game going on. which means fewer lanes to lap swim. which also means the girls warming up for the next game will swim in your lane. but they won't swim full laps. they'll just do these half lap things or just sit at the wall and generally just get in your way. now out of all three lap swimming lanes did they have to choose mine? I will never know. . . here is what I remember of the workout I made up in my head as I went:
500 warmup
some pull buoy action (until I noticed my left shoulder hurting... then I stopped and stretched)
200 reverse IM order (50's of each stroke)
100 (25 hard, 25 easy, 25 hard, 25 easy)
100 (50 hard, 50 easy)
100 (75 hard, 25 easy)
100 (hard)
100 (75 h, 25 e)
100 (50 h, 50 e)
100 (25 h, 25 e, 25 h, 25 e)
200 IM
cooldown

thursday: ran around liberty park. I was starving, but I had to go. so I did. I felt pretty good for literally running on empty. I ran the perimeter of the park.

friday: well, I haven't really done anything today and I think I'll keep it that way. I'm taking it as a rest day. I've got a big race tomorrow. the provo city half marathon. yep, I decided to do it and registered yesterday. I figure I might as well pay someone else to plan the course, place the water + gatorade and give me a tshirt! you can never go wrong with that.