my hammy

I was more disciplined this morning. Instead of stuffing my face with some breakfast, I ate a small piece of toast and was out the door. I did the usual run: liberty park. I need to get out of this rut I'm in. but it's just so easy to run the same route, and not to mention the fact that it's flat (I'm trying to take it easy on my hamstring). maybe I'll break up the monotony tomorrow.

while I was running my hamstring didn't really bother me at all. but now post-run it certainly is. I even stretched and iced when I came home. blast this certain large muscle group of mine! *shaking fist* I just need to get it under control. good thing I have nine months to prepare for my next race. . .

3 miles; liberty park dirt trail

swimteam

pete and I are trying to get back on the swimteam wagon. we went tonight and just did our own thing. we left right as master's was beginning. (I didn't want to face them... yet.)

my first length of the pool felt fantastic. when you don't realize you're already at the wall, that's a good thing. on my way back, after my flip turn, I started feeling it. but that's to be expected when you haven't been swimming in a few months. overall, though, it felt great to be back in the pool tonight. my right hamstring was kinda feelin' it on the breast stroke kick. and while I was doing some freestyle my left shoulder started hurting for no reason at all. fun. like I said, though, overall it was a great workout.

we only swam for about forty minutes, though. we were hungry and cafe rio was calling our name. it's a post-swimteam guilty pleasure of ours.

joint swimteam; steiner

cross country

I really like how it's cooled off lately. at least in the mornings. I was able to go running a little after nine o'clock yet again today. I really should just go right when I wake up, but breakfast lures me in. I'm surprised, though, that I'm able to only wait about an hour or so after eating and it hasn't really affected me too much. (I usually have a three hour time frame after eating for any physical exercise. maybe I've just learned to eat less and my body can digest it easier/quicker)

I ran the usual loop. this time taking the faint dirt path on the perimeter of the park. it adds a little more distance plus you get the feel of running cross country. because I think only cross country runners (not that I would know, maybe I should ask my husband) actually run on grass. I picture rolling hills in the mud and rain: what any good cross country race should be. everyone else tends to stick to the road, sidewalks, or trails.

instead of heading back the way I came, I ran up 13th to 8th east. I was headed that direction anyway since I wanted to get a drink at the water fountain on the south-east corner of the park. and it's good to change things up every once in a while; you never want to run bored.

my legs held up well. nothing major. I stretched and iced when I got home.

3+ miles; liberty park

just so you know

QUALIFYING STANDARDS*
Age Group	Men	Women
18-34	3hrs 10min	3hrs 40min
35-39	3hrs 15min	3hrs 45min
40-44	3hrs 20min	3hrs 50min
45-49	3hrs 30min	4hrs 00min
50-54	3hrs 35min	4hrs 05min
55-59	3hrs 45min	4hrs 15min
60-64	4hrs 00min	4hrs 30min
65-69	4hrs 15min	4hrs 45min
70-74	4hrs 30min	5hrs 00min
75-79	4hrs 45min	5hrs 15min
80 and older	5hrs 00min	5hrs 30min

*qualifying times for the Boston Marathon; any qualifying race must be USATF certified

run + weights

today I went running around nine o'clock. it was basically the same temp as yesterday, but felt hotter for some reason. oh well. you can't win 'em all.

I only went two miles today, but when I got home I did some weight training for my arms.

on the run I felt generally okay. my right ankle was having some weird, random pain. but it came and went, so I'm not too worried about it. the outside of my right foot hurts too. if I remember correctly, I was having this problem when I first got the shoes. maybe I have to re-break them in since I haven't been running in them as of late.

currently I have four bags of frozen corn placed under key areas of my legs. hurrah for icing!

2 miles; liberty + weight training (arms)

run!

it was nearly ten o'clock in the morning and I was in my kitchen doing the dishes. usually by this time of day it's already too hot to go running. as I scrubbed and rinsed I was thinking of what I could do for my physical well-being. swimteam? a ride? I had almost convinced myself to pull on that spandex and head up emigration canyon to see how far I could get when I looked over at our sweet indoor/outdoor temperature gauge thing. thanks again, eliza and paul! it was only 69 degrees. 69 degrees! maybe I could pull off a run, I thought to myself.

so I abandoned the dishes mid-soak, pulled on some running digs, laced up and was out the door.

it was fantastic. the temp outside was very reminiscent of running mid-day in autumn. it made me happy. the air was cooler, and even with that hint of heat, completely bearable. especially in the shade.

I ran the dirt path on the liberty park loop. I took it easy--my goal is to slowly build up mileage and pace. I want a good base below me for my next marathon training push. it was a great run. my hamstring didn't even really bother me!

okay, now I have to go finish the dishes. . .

3 miles; liberty park

what it takes

the four key areas I will need to focus on to get to boston:

• diet
• weight training
• rehabilitation/recovery
• safe/smart training plan
  

the rundown

2009|the marathon of life!

2008|Valley of Fire Marathon|Valley of Fire State Park, NV

2008|Fargo Marathon|Fargo, ND

2007|Famous Idaho Potato Marathon|Boise, ID

2006|the marathon of love!

2005|St George Marathon|St George, UT

2005|Salt Lake City Marathon|Salt Lake City, UT

2004|St George Marathon|St George, UT

2004|Salt Lake City Marathon|Salt Lake City, UT

2003|Lake Tahoe Marathon|Lake Tahoe, CA

2002|Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon|Anchorage, AK

another saturday run!

I woke up at 6:30am, just in time for the big event, laced up and headed out the door. for about the first ten minutes the temperature was actually pretty nice. but after that it just started feeling hot and muggy. I cannot wait for the day that autumn crisp is in the air.

I felt tight in my right hamstring. the outside of my right foot hurt as well. I'm a super thin sock kinda girl, and maybe these socks are too thick. or my shoes shrunk. I mean, I do follow the standard half to full size bigger running shoe paradigm. I love a lot of room, especially in the toe box. but today they just seemed to fit snug. it was bizarre. I did stretch and ice when I got home; hopefully I can finally get my hamstring under control.

I'm proud of myself, though. I've hit the streets for the past three saturdays. and now that I'm practically unemployed and don't have to be to work in the seven o'clock hour I'll be able to start going weekday mornings. hurrah!

4 miles; baby pug tree run: west and east

guts 'n glory

I woke up early on saturday morning to go running. something I haven't done in a long time. well, except for last week. I ran the sugarhouse loop 2.25 times. it was the dash for donations five k. we were team guts 'n glory*.

I made eliza warm up with me a little before the race started. I didn't want to be completely cold going into it. we ran back and forth in a parking lot a few times and then stretched for about a minute. I don't know if you could say I was warmed up, but it was good enough.

I didn't have a real solid plan going into the race. I figured I'd take it pretty easy since I'm slightly out of shape and not to mention the fact I was up until almost one o'clock in the morning the night before, eating junk food right up until the moment I laid my head on my pillow, and my legs are always so tight. but after that gun went off I knew I had to at least give it my best shot. I mean, it was only three point one miles. I can endure almost anything for three point one miles. so I tried to run it at a good pace. I definitely wasn't used to hills, but I tried my best to power through them.

I came in around twenty-five minutes. which isn't a super amazing five k time (though it might be around my fastest five k time--I don't run very many five k's) so I was a little surprised to see that I had come in second place in my age division. I was 52 overall, out of around 700'ish participants. I was excited. it is quite rare that I place in the top three in my age division (the lava to downata triathlon I took first place, the rail trail half marathon I took second place).

it was a fun race; we even stayed for the raffle! eliza was the first ticket called and won a gift card to jamba juice. fun!


3.1 miles; the dash for donations five k; sugarhouse park; 25 minutes and something seconds


*the roster:
becca, team captian and tissue donor recipient. oh, and walker extraordinaire!
eliza, runner
paul, runner
anna, runner
my mom, walker and baby stroller pusher
my dad, walker
peter (the baby), rider
nuno, rider
(me, eliza, paul, my dad, peter and nuno were the guts. my mom was the 'n. and becca was the glory. go team guts 'n glory!)

maybe it's time

a couple of weeks ago my favorite mag came in the mail (along with my favorite catalog. it was a definite good mail day!) and as I was flipping through it I started to get a little sad inside. I hadn't been running in months. a dark cold weight sunk to the bottom of my heart, was I not a runner anymore? I paused there in that place for a moment and then quickly brushed the thought aside. as soon as the way-too-hot-for-doing-anything-especially-running summer temps started to cool off, I'd be back on the road. besides, after running a marathon in may, can't a girl take a break for a while?

I woke up this morning sometime around four o'clock. I could feel my left IT band acting up. my legs were restless. I knew I needed to run. Somewhere around five o'clock I woke up again with the same feeling in my legs. I got up and looked outside; it was too dark to go running. so I went back to sleep. around 6:45am I woke up again, dragged myself out of bed (by this time my legs had calmed down and it would've been so easy to let myself sleep in), put my running clothes on, kissed my sleepy husband goodbye and was out the door.

I decided to run the usual loop around liberty park and back. it felt good to be out there in the cool morning air. by the time I got to the park I was warmed up and ready to go. I started the loop a little too fast and regretted it later on. though I did stick it out and even added another loop (this time the longer dirt path around the perimeter of the park) to increase the distance. by the time I was done with both the loops it was getting hotter and I knew it was time to go.

it felt good to be out there again. I am a runner.

~4 miles; liberty park
a training run for the upcoming big race.

idaho

I forgot to mention that pete and I went on a ride, a real ride, when we were on vacation in idaho. it was about sixteen miles of lovely country side and picturesque farm goodness. we rode from lava over to caribou county. the temp was perfect. it was fabulous ride.

look for that ride (or will it be the run route? we're still not sure) in the future lava monster triathlon, hoping to make its debut to the public in july of '09.

resolutions

last week peter and I discussed our health and nutrition goals over a basket of fries and some shakes. we made a resolve to exercise at least one day the following week. (it's so easy to slack off in the summer when you're held hostage by sunlight and heat) here was my week:

monday: joint swimteam with peter. hurrah! it felt good to be back in the pool, as it always does. we only lasted a half an hour, though. I was too hungry. and you can practically taste that crappy air out there. no good.

tuesday: yoga.

wednesday: I rode my bike to work.

thursday: yoga. I was the only person who showed up for the class, so I had my own private lesson.

friday: hiked up to timpanogas cave. with kids. exhausting!

peter went swimming on monday, rode his bike to work on most days, and had a two hour ride on saturday.

good job both of us!

beginner's luck

...Each day I take to the roads as a beginner, a child, a poet. Seeking the innocence of the beginner, the wonder of the child and the vision of the poet. Hoping for new appreciation of the landscape, a new perspective of my inner world, some new insights on life, a new response to existence and myself.

There are times, more often than the good times, when I fail. I never do pierce the shield. I return with a shopping list of things to do tomorrow. The miraculous has gone unseen. The message has gone unheard. I have had one of those loveless days on a lovely day for love.

Still, there is always the chance I'll have beginner's luck. And this run, this hour, this day may begin in delight and end in wisdom.

Dr George Sheehan, Running and Being: The Total Experience

the pocket schedule

ever since camp started I feel like I've totally abandoned my exercise routine. I was going to be so good this summer, too. I had it all mapped out (come and look at the schedule on my fridge, or for your convenience I have the updated pocket version just waiting to be laminated for your easy perusal). It went something like this:

monday:
AM swimteam (fairmont)
PM ride

tuesday:
AM run
(ride to the train and take it up... or just ride to work)
PM yoga

wednesday:
AM ride (to work)
PM swimteam (steiner)

thursday:
AM run
(ride to the train and take it up... or just ride to work)
PM yoga

friday:
AM ride (to work)

saturday:
AM ride or run

sunday:
rest

well, I've been doing my yoga diligently (I did pay for it, after all), but not so much the other things. I am a slacker! I've ridden my bike to work probably all of one time in the last few weeks. I haven't been running (well, except for the mud run, of course. more details and a race report to come). swimteam? haven't done that in over a month!

today after work I went over to steiner to have my own swimteam. I felt I needed to get back in the pool and see if I still had it in me before joining the real team again. it felt good to be back in the water (mostly because it was one-hundred degrees outside) even though my body was having a hard time remembering just what it was it was supposed to be doing. I didn't last too long. that's why I go to masters swimteam--it forces me to do an actual, effective workout. I also didn't reapply the sunscreen, so I didn't want to do too much skin damage. a short little thirty minute pool workout was good enough.

so stay tuned to see if the schedule is put into effect any time soon. . .

saturday AM run

pete and I went running on saturday morning before my staff training. the plan in my head was to do six miles. we only did three. pete just wasn't fealin' it. and to be honest, I didn't really mind. we have the mud run in a couple weeks, and it's all right to ease up to that mileage. yeah. but I am proud of marta and dan, who busted out a six mile training run yesterday. way to go!

in other news, I just read that my sis-in-law, stie, just got into the st george marathon. way to go! it definitely got me all excited; I want to run another marathon right now! whoot! but not st george. (I've done that two times already!) maybe the valley of fire? I've been thinking of doing that one for the past three years or so. maybe it's time I actually did it. but that means I would have to train through the summer. . . yikes.

another lazy week. . . sort of.

I haven't gotten back into a full blown regimen yet. though it's not like I've been completely sitting on my butt or anything.

early saturday morning pete and I went on a hike with katie and bj. we did grandeur peak up millcreek canyon. it was a lot of fun. bj couldn't get over the fact that I was out hiking a week after my marathon. I couldn't get over the fact that his very pregnant wife was out hiking with only six weeks to go! she is very hardcore like that, though. it was a fun hike.

tuesday I had yoga. I never realized just how inflexible every muscle in my body was until this class. it makes me really sore. I'm hoping eventually I'll release and my muscles will begin to lengthen. I look forward to that day.

wednesday I rode my bike all the way to work for the first time ever. I was so proud of myself. it takes a little less than 25 minutes. I think it's actually quicker than riding over to trax and waiting for the train. it is uphill the whole way, but I can power through it. maybe by the end of the summer it won't even be that bad!

thursday I biked to work again. hurrah! I also had yoga. again, I am very tight and inflexible. I realize I have to be very patient with the yoga, though. it took me my whole life to get me to the state I'm in now, it will take a while to remedy that. I'm just amazed at how strong you have to be to do yoga. it seems like you think of yoga as being this totally easy (if you're flexible), relaxing thing. you have to be so strong to hold some of those poses! I admire the yogi's.

friday I rode my bike to work, walked up and down three flights of stairs several times (it was moving day for club u--camp starts next week! whoot!!) carrying heavy boxes (okay, so I didn't have to do this as much as everyone else because I had to go back up to the office to sort out counselor groups), and tonight we're going to hike to the living room (aka the furniture, aka the couches) up behind red butte. it should be good times!

and tomorrow maybe I could get a run in before going to the ropes course for staff training? we'll see.

the post-marathon week

the week after the no-post-race-soreness miracle run has been good. pretty much I've just been taking it easy.

monday: pete and I did a very short run to stretch out the legs. it was probably only one mile. it felt kinda good to get back out there. and it was perfect running weather. cool, grey and overcast with the threat of more rain in the air. perfect.

tuesday: yoga.

wednesday: just took it easy.

thursday: yoga.

friday: ran my errands on my bike. I rode up to steiner(which isn't that bad if you go up 17th south to 15th east and then over to guardsmen) to drop off some flyers, and then over to fairmont to drop off some more flyers. it was kinda fun!

I'm thinking riding my bike to work in the summer won't be too terribly bad. it took about twenty minutes to get up to steiner, and it's not far to campus after that. now I just need to get a bike lock...

the race: a visual account

potatoes!

marathon number seven/state number four: the famous potato marathon in boise, idaho.

we drove up friday afternoon. we got to boise with plenty of time to pick up my race packet which included my race bib and timing chip(I was thrilled to see the prison style ankle bracelet of a timing chip--that thing was huge!), cheesy idaho potato pin, and various coupons and brochures for random things. you gotta love the race packet. we had a carbo-loading extravaganza at macaroni grill, I ordered the twice baked lasagna with meat balls. perfect blend of carbs and protein. afterwards we headed up to nampa to stay with my aunt and uncle.

we woke up early saturday morning to drop me off at the start line. the race started up at lucky peak state park, where we hopped on the green belt and ran our hearts out!

it was hard at first to adhere to this run/walk thing I had set my mind on. the first few miles I didn't really walk that much at all. then every eight minutes or so I'd walk for either a minute or a minute and a half. I was fairly diligent with that until the later miles.

my legs didn't feel tight at all for the first six or eight miles. it was like a dream! even in training they'd feel tight from mile one most of the time. I was still feeling pretty good through mile 13, then on through mile 20 or so. after mile 21 (and the short loop around the riverside elementary parking lot--they weren't kidding! you should've seen this thing! it was a few cones set out in a very small semi-circle that you just had to run around. it was barely past the entrance to the parking lot. it made me laugh.) I had a complete breakdown. imagine the whole lower half of your body cramping up. then imagine trying to run (or even walk!) like that. it was miserable. my legs were done. finished. dead.

I pushed past those remaining miles. I ended up doing a lot more walking after that. seriously, it hurt to run but it also hurt to walk. I couldn't decide which was the lesser of the two evils. the interesting thing was, though, I never once had the thought "why in the crap am I doing this? I'm never doing this again!" (I usually have that thought at least once during that last 10K) I knew I would finish eventually, and that it hurt, but it wasn't really that bad.

I did eventually finish. {thank you peter, for pushing me along.} and once I stopped running my legs completely seized up on me! they were so tight! I did go sit in the boise river for some 'ice bath' fun. I lasted about one minute. it was really cold.

I was also very pleasantly surprised with how pretty boise, idaho is. at least on the marathon route. the green belt along the river is beautiful. it reminds me of the jordan river parkway trail, but so much better! (I wasn't worried about finding any dead bodies or being attacked by a homeless person) it runs for a very long time too--I think someone said at least 25 miles.

and I had the best support crew out there. pete on the bike (and running along side me the last few miles) and my mom and dad with the flip-chart signs. all the other runners were jealous. if there had been an award for best spectators/cheerleaders these three would have gotten it, hands down. so many people appreciated it so much--mom, you were popular at this event!

I would definitely recommend this marathon. if you're not expecting a big race (thousands of people) and you're okay with running alone for half of it (after the half and the full marathon split, it's basically just you out there for miles.) and you don't mind really watered down gatorade, then I think you'd love this. it's a beautiful course with friendly volunteers. if I wasn't on the run for the fifty states, maybe I'd even consider doing it again one year.

my time was around 4:44. definitely not even close to my best time, but I'm okay with that. I didn't expect to PR or anything, just finish. and I did finish. plus there were potatoes at the end. so I'm happy.

ps: I'm not even all that sore! it's a potato miracle!!!