recooping + emergencies

I forgot to mention that last wednesday pete came home and took me on a little run. which was nice of him. because I wasn't going to go. due to the fact that I was getting sick, I didn't think I had the energy. it turns out I did. and I got to show pete some of my racing strategies as we passed people at sugarhouse park. now all he needs is a race.

I didn't do anything active the rest of the week. my cold hit me full throttle, and we're lucky that I can actually talk again.

this morning I was feeling well enough to get back out on the streets. unfortunately, though, I had one of those bathroom emergencies midway through. yikes! I made a b-line to the nearest park bathroom and all was well. I pretty much just took the run easy since I'm just recooperating. it was a nice autumn run.

3.5 miles

bike + swim

bike to work: it's only about a three mile roundtrip, but man that ride back up the hill seemed hard today. I don't think it should really feel hard; I need to get on my bike more.

joint swimteam: pete and I hit the pool tonight. it was pretty awesome. we should never swim in the same lane. nothing but shenanigans from that boy. and we only lasted a little over thirty minutes. it was a good reintroduction to the water, though. {it's been months for both of us} I am happy to say that I could bust out some butterfly. though I'm not saying it looked pretty. because I'm pretty sure it didn't. but I was just happy that I could make it to the other end of the pool.

oh, and btw, they have closed the outdoor pool for the season. now we all have to adjust back to the yard pool.

some of my thoughts

the weather is starting to cool off considerably around here. and I think that's going to be really good for my running. it seems the best time for me to run is right when I get home from work in the afternoons, right before I have to make dinner or other obligations take up my time. this is when I'm most consistent. so now that the temperature isn't going to be a factor, I just might get back into a routine. finally. {and can I tell you how much I love cold weather running?!}

my run today was pretty good, other than the fact that I was pretty hungry. nothing too major happened. I tried to make myself go easy, cut the run short a little bit as to not overdue anything--I've been a little sick the past few days + I haven't really run in a week + I already walked about 2.5+ miles today. but of course I went the full route.

my left ankle is feeling a little weird now, post run. it's reminiscent of the early stages of the pain I felt in 2006 {that pretty much sidelined me for the whole season} I think it's from over stretching it. like from folding over on my ankle, if that makes sense. but I haven't really done anything that I can think of to make it feel this way. very weird. but what's even more weird is that random pain I sometimes get in my right big toe. you know that feeling when your toe just needs to pop? and you do and everything is okay? well, I can't get it to pop and it just keeps hurting. it feels like it's broken or something. but then the pain pretty much goes away. this has happened a couple of times recently and it's totally bizarre.

I've been reading around the blogs lately about all the people doing their fall marathon... I'm kind of bummed + jealous. but let's be honest, even though I've been telling everyone I'm going to run one, I'm not. a) I haven't been training at. all. and 2) a good friend of ours is getting married that weekend. so good excuse to bag the whole idea.

and do you think if I did the utah grand slam, I'd actually PR in one of the races? you know, if most of these marathons were just training runs. and if I had one {or two?} key race, like st george? because I think to train for something like that you get a really good base under you, but once the season starts you're not running as much because you're busy recovering from races. maintaining. reverse tapering. it seems like at the end of the season people are really strong. I don't know, it's just something I've been thinking about. maybe the slam + the BQ could go hand in hand and I could cross them off the list at the same time.

morning run

well, it looks like I haven't gone running for a week. sucks to that.

I headed out the door today in shorts + a long sleeve tee. such great running weather.

I was feeling a little tight out there. I don't remember any notable aches and pains, though. so that's good. my ankle held up. oh, I think I had a cramp on the way back. I blame that on the honey nut cheerios I had eaten earlier.

3+ miles

how it is

ack! I haven't posted in a while. I know I worked out last week, but who remembers what I actually did?!

I know I did a four mile run, woke up ridiculously early and went to a spin class with a friend, ran a couple three mile runs. and maybe that was it. oh, and moved several heavy boxes.

as if the moving of several heavy boxes doesn't tip you off, it's true, we've moved. which is exciting because now I get to explore different running routes.

today's route took me on the bike lane of 17th east all the way up to 17th south. then back down to sugarhouse park. one lap around the perimeter (seriously, was I meant to be a cross country runner or what?!) and then back home.

it was good, other than the fact that my ankle/heel was bugging me. which I should've just followed the thought of cutting the run short (aka - no park loop) but no, I have to be stubborn. once I was on the grassy trail, it didn't feel so bad so I just kept going. but now? yeah, it still hurts.

maybe tomorrow I'll wake up ridiculously early and hit the masters swim. or the spin class. or I'll just end up sleeping in. whatever.

4 miles

finding my groove

despite severe dehydration and being a tinsy bit hungry, I felt really good on my run this morning. I felt strong. I only had a few random pains come and go. nothing lingered. it just felt so good to get out there and move.

4 miles

it was just me, the january 2007 issue of trail running, and cnn on the tube

since I went in to work this morning, I decided to take my gym stuff and walk over to steiner afterward. I really like my community rec center. as I was upstairs, ellipticalling my face off, I looked around and noticed no one else was there in the cardio machine area. no one. I had the place to myself! I love it. I love that this place has everything I need without that trendy gym feel.

45 minutes; elliptical

the morning run

ran around the park again. on the dirt path. it was nice. not too hot. I feel slow these days, but I know it's because I'm still just getting back into the groove. I'm okay with that.

3+ miles

eight miles

I took it to the streets yesterday. I did my long run via the baby pug tree route. I felt pretty good. my ankle was feeling okay, my muscles were feeling okay. the weird thing was that I couldn't breathe. not in the I-have-asthma-and-will-surely-die sort of way. more the my-sinuses-must-be-clogged-and-my body-isn't-getting-the-quality-oxygen-it-desires. it felt like my whole upper body was sleepy. like I really wasn't getting enough oxygen to my blood or something. and my right ear felt a little foggy as well. kind of like that feeling of water stuck in your ear after you swim. sort of. I need to neti pot. maybe I'll go do that right now...

8 miles

status

monday: 3 miles

tuesday: 4 miles

wednesday: 30 minute elliptical

thursday: 3 miles

I've been feeling a cold coming on for the past couple of days. I'm happy to report I've been successful at staving it off so far. I think I might just take today as a rest day {though I thought that about wednesday and thursday as well. we'll see how much will power I actually have} and hopefully do something awesome tomorrow. you know, like a long run. or even a fun ride with the hubs.

the rest of the week

thursday: run. 4 mile loop.

friday: nothing. ran around getting birthday surprises ready.

saturday: went on a short ride (like 6.59 miles short) and then went horseback riding.

swim + run

pete and I woke up early and did a joint swimteam. the problem with joint swimteam is we kind of play around a little too much. it's a lot of fun, but not as great of a workout. we need more discipline. or seperate lanes.

after the swim I decided to run home from the pool. I don't know why I hadn't thought of this sooner. especially if I have a short/easy pool workout. it's probably only about 2.5 miles, which was perfect this morning.

a recap

tuesday (august 26): I went running in the morning. the same route as the day before. 3+ miles.

tuesday - sunday were meant to be a backpacking trip in the wind rivers, but our plans changed when we noticed the area we were headed for was on fire. so we tried to salvage the trip by car camping in grand teton national park. it wasn't quite the same, but we did go on a hike around jenny lake and happened upon a small black bear a few feet off the trail. yeah, we got out of there quick! we ended up driving home thursday afternoon. it was pretty sad.

saturday: went on a seven mile hike up big cottonwood canyon. kinda steep. very dry out there. but it was pretty fun and I didn't have to worry about seeing bears on the trail, which is always a relief. we came home tired + dirty. you can't ask for much more out of life.

monday: did the short 3 mile liberty park loop (as opposed to the longer three mile loop I usually do) with peter. it was kind of a struggle because we pounded some serious cafe rio earlier that day.

tuesday: did an hour of elliptical at steiner. it was kind of low key. I was more interested in the magazine I was reading than keeping my heart rate up, I guess.


and that's pretty much it.

the good life

ah, my job is over and life can begin again. I can run when I want to and have the time to do what I want creatively. it's a good feeling.

so this morning, at the time I would have had to have been at work, I went running. it was 7:30am and nearly 70 degrees. a little hotter than I would have liked, but definitely not bad. especially in the shade. the kids were all lined up at the bus stop waiting to go to their first day of school. I love this time of year.

I probably started out a bit too fast. I think I was just so excited to be out there, with the prospect of routine, daily runs. I could feel my right hamstring and near the end of the run my left IT band was starting to bug a bit too. when I got home I rolled out my legs before and after stretching. I may or may not ice. we'll see.

3 miles

the peter + anna duathlon

bike:
man, biking up 17th south can be hard. especially when you actually haven't biked in a very long time. and your legs are already feeling dead for some reason. my hamstrings were feeling it early on. but the ride wasn't too bad.

swim:
whoah. my first 50 meters was like a shock to the system. my shoulders felt very tight. my arms were dead. it felt like a long, slow, painful crawl to the other side of the pool. the return 50 was about the same. the next 100 meters felt considerably better. I still felt pretty slow out there for most of the workout, but it got better as I went. I did some kicking + pull buoy. I did some breast + back. and a lot of freestyle. pete and I did some 50 meter sprint races. I blew up in the freestyle race; halfway through I had nothing left in the tank. I paced myself much better in the breastroke race. afterward I helped pete work on his flipturn.

bike:
the bike home I had a few problems with my chain. but otherwise it was pretty uneventful. it was a fun ride down the hill to our casa.

voting for my sister is good karma

okay, no I have not exercised. this isn't even anything exercise related. it's about my sister. see, she's in this photo contest and is currently in second place (well, the last time I checked anyway) and would totally love some more votes thrown her way, I'm sure.

so if you have time, please check out the summer fun photo contest and vote for #15 mary elizabeth.




if it makes you feel any better, my sister just rocked a half marathon about a month ago. she even ran a marathon once with only, like, three training runs under her belt. she's cool like that. now go vote for her!

okay, now back to your regularly scheduled programming. {that is if I ever workout again}

sorry for the non-kenyan post.
I just wanted to hit my whole demographic.
it's for my sister, afterall.

saturday run

I went running last saturday morning. the temp was pretty cool and quite windy. I did five miles or so. I wish I would have written about it shortly after the run, because I'm having a hard time remembering much about it.

I still haven't gotten into a routine yet. next week, when camp is over, I'll finally have time to reclaim my workout self (along with my housewife self) and I can't wait.

5 miles

run + bike

I forgot to mention that I went running last tuesday. I took advantage of a storm that was trying to rear it's ugly head, so it was slightly cooler. (slightly.) it was while we were house sitting moxie, so I got to run in a new neighborhood. I think it was around three miles. and then later that evening I went and played in a pool with my mutual kids. that's not necessarily a workout per se, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway. we did play some killer marco polo. and we had a treading water contest. tough stuff.

yesterday pete and I went on a ride. I don't think I've really been on my bike since the triathlon (for an actual workout, that is). we were up in the oakley area at my grandpa's cabin and had some friends meet us up there. it was a fun 21'ish mile ride through the oakley/kamas valley. very scenic. I really do need to ride more often. it's just fun being in the saddle.

and I need to get back into the swimteam habit.

and the running.

{thank goodness for the olympics -- how inspiring and motivational!}

in training

I had my first "long run" this morning. it wasn't very long. just four miles. but I'm going to ease back into things slowly in light of my recent (and recent being last spring) injury and lack of running as of late. so over the next few weeks I'll do some 4's, 6's, 8's before hitting up any double-digit runs.

my ankle/heal was hurting slightly in the beginning. I was running up a hill, which might be partly to blame for this whole mess anyway. (that's just a theory) my body felt tight and slow. my shoulders/arms wouldn't relax--they were sore from carrying a giant tube up along side a river all day.

I came home and stretched, rolled out the muscles, but no ice. I probably should've iced the ankle/heal. oh well.

4 miles

undone.

I feel like I haven't been exercising lately. which is untrue, because I did some hiking over the weekend. but the regular schedule has been left by the wayside. I can only blame the heat. or my laziness.

but something strange has happened. I've lost my love for the pool. and that was the main activity that was pulling me through these hot summer days. and to be honest, I don't think I've really lost my love, I've just lost my motivation. I go through these cycles with the PM masters swimteam. I love it, but I hate it. sometimes I just get home from work and want to eat dinner and have a normal night with my husband. so I skip masters. and once I've skipped it's easier to not go back. especially because going always makes me a little nervous each time--which is silly, because it's always fine; I can keep up. so I just need to get back in the water, I guess.

and running? I crave it. I think I am going to start ramping up the training again. a fall marathon is calling my name. this time no time-specific goals. I am just going to run and take what comes. no boston qualifyer. that will be saved for another year, another race. right now I just want to get out on the roads and run for me. to feel my body move.

I haven't been on my bike since the triathlon, I don't think. I keep meaning to, it just never seems to happen. I really need to get back out on that bike.

supposedly I'm doing another triathlon later this summer with a friend of mine. from the looks of my training, it seems like that might be crazy. {not that I trained all that much for the first one} maybe I'll just do a sprint and enjoy the day. pound it out as hard as I can and see how my body holds up to the stresses. it might be a fun experiment.

I'm dreaming of the days I can do my workouts when I want to. when I'm not held hostage by heat and time. come august 23rd it will be a lot easier to run in the mornings when I want to and not have to worry about being back by a certain time. that sounds like a dream to me now.

I want to get into a structured training program. have the time to do it. I want to see how far I can push myself. reach some of my athletic goals (i.e. boston + ironman) I want to become that endurance athlete deep down inside. but now is not the time. my training might seem like it has unravelled, but cutting back in these hot summer months is okay. I have time to build a base, a solid foundation. my goals will come to me all in due time.