Training Logs

Woohoo race week has come and gone already! I’m still way excited about the way everything went! I can’t wait to recap it all for you, but until then, here’s my last week of taper/race log:

Monday: 4 miles roads.

Tuesday: 6 miles roads. Another easy run before work. This run finally calmed me down about the race and took my mind off of it. Afterward, I felt relaxed and totally ready!

Wednesday: 4 miles roads. This was my last run before the big day! I ran watchless and just enjoyed being out there.

Thursday/Friday: Rest!

Saturday/Sunday: 100 miles! I finished my first 100 mile race at Mohican AND placed third overall female! I’ll have the full details soon!

Total: 114 miles!

I was getting back into the swing of things pretty well for a while there.  By the end of May, I was back up to 50 miles a week.

That was fantastic until I smacked my noggin on Memorial Day and got sidelined (yes, I am still a bit embarrassed about this by the way)…

Then my husband started approaching a 2 week trial and my own work started to blow up.  I love being busy, but we hit the perfect storm of crazy.  I won’t bore you with my personal details, but I will share my training (derailment) log:

Week ending 6.10.13 – this was supposed to be my first official week of training for the Columbus Marathon.  I was scheduled for 7 hours and 10 minutes with 3 hard workouts.  I did not come close.

Monday is my rest day.

Tuesday I ran 60 minutes easy – 6.6 miles (9:11 pace).  Still slow, but I was trying to go super easy with my sore noggin/headaches.

Wednesday I ran 45 minutes easy – 5 miles (9:05 pace).

Thursday and Friday I threw in the towel and decided I needed a few more rest days.  I was having dull headaches all day after my runs and I knew I had to run my season-end 5k with one 5th grader who had a specific goal.  I couldn’t let her down and I knew extra miles were not going to help, so I took a couple of days off.

Saturday was my season-end 5k for GOTR and is was FaBuLoUs.  My and my running partner ripped it up (26:15) and our whole team did awesome / had a blast.

Sunday was a rest day as my husband and I were both slammed and had to work.  The good news was that my headache seemed to be gone.

Total: 14.7 miles.   Yeah, not quite the 50ish miles I had scheduled….

Week ending 6.17.2013 I knew was going to be rough.  I had things scheduled almost every night of the week, my husband was gone with trial and it seemed like new fires were popping up daily at work.

Monday-Wednesday – off.

Thursday I got out for an hour and it was glorious to be back at it.  60 minutes / 6.8 miles (8:57 pace).

Friday I needed to rest to get work done, but was also wicked sore.  What?!  No clue why, but my hamstrings and calves were killing me.

Saturday I ran with 2 of my GOTR girls in a local race I help direct.  They were slower than usual, but it was super fun.  I believe I was 27:25 or thereabouts.  After the run, my feet, calves and hammies were killing me.  How is this possible after 3 weeks of almost no running?

Sunday was Father’s Day and a work day for both my husband and I.  The boys and I did manage some fun though.

Total: 10 miles

So there you have it. Complete derailment.  With my schedule, screaming calves and scheduled vacation set to commence on Friday (in National Parks with Grizzly bears), this girl is likely to stay off track for another 2 weeks.  See you on the other side and please send well wishes that my life and body cooperate a bit more after a much needed vacation.

We spent a happy Fathers Day at the beach! (Yes, my son is at the beach in Batman pj’s!)

The week that was had its good times and its bad. I returned to my group track workouts and ran with some good friends. However, I also felt frustrated at the track and in retrospect went about my return all wrong. I also struggled with back pain and came down with the crud.

As I told you in my last log, I went to the track on Tuesday and was torn between two workouts and groups. I started with the faster group, but ended up with the slower group. With the slower group I mostly stuck to the prescribed workout, but ended up pushing the last couple of 800s faster than I was supposed to. That’s all fin, maybe, but what bothers me more than the actual paces I ran, was that my attitude was all wrong. No matter how much I know better, I wanted to go back to the track and be the runner I was a year and a half ago. My expectations were off. I am planning to head back this week and when I get there my goal will be to enjoy the company of friends and get back into the swing of things. Period. No overdoing anything, no trying to prove to myself that I still “got it.” None of that. Go, have fun, do the workout and go home.

I ended up not running on the Wednesday after track because we had a busy day and my husband worked late on top of it. Normally, I’d insist on a post-track workout shakeout on the Wednesday after track, but such is life now. Also, besides the time crunch and general stress, I hurt my back lifting my older daughter in a weird way last week. It usually feels better after running, but it’s been up and down.

I also didn’t run yesterday because it was Father’s Day. I have a new firm, no running on family holiday rule.  Plus, I came down with a nasty cold which made the rule a lot easier to deal with. Family stress, back pain and sickness mean life is telling me to take it easy. I have no reason to push myself physically or mentally with running right now. I keep telling myself that doesn’t mean I’m not dedicated or that I’m a wuss. I am in this for the long haul and as hard as it is swallow, sometimes to reach our big dream goals we have to ease off the gas pedal.

Mon: 6 hurried miles on the treadmill at the Y and home before the A/C guy’s window of 10:00 – 2:00. Averaged 8:20′s.

Tue: 9 with track. 1 x 600 @ 2:15 (6:00 pace); 1 x 400 at 91 (~6:05 pace); 1 x 1200 @ 4:55 (~6:38 pace); 1 1600 @ 6:34; 1 x 800 @ 3:10 (6:20 pace) and 1 x 800 @ 2:59 (~5:58 pace).

Wed: off

Thu: 8 easy on the Y treadmill (8:40 pace)

Fri: 8 easy on the Y treadmill (8:26 pace)

Sat: 14 slow, sluggy, hot and sick miles averaging 8:05 (with good friends, so fun though!)

Sun: off

Total: 45.

Let’s face it: at this point, the gestating is more exciting than whatever running I’m doing. So you’ll be getting weekly updates on how that’s going as well as whatever exercise I’m managing to get.

New this week: the belly got serious. It was sort of showing before, but this week I felt like I could just about watch it get bigger. I’m guessing it’s because the baby finally popped up and over my pubic bone instead of hiding behind it, a theory confirmed by the fact that my pubic symphysis pain essentially disappeared overnight. Which I was completely overjoyed about.

17 weeks

Beyond that? I feel like there’s not much to say about it. My energy level took a bit of a dip this week and I rediscovered naps with a vengeance, but I’m waking up in the morning feeling pretty well-rested. I’m not having any crazy cravings, although I am still noticing a preference for salty, friend and/or processed foods. As far as food aversions go, seafood is completely off the menu. (Which is nice, as it makes the fact that I can’t have sushi right now a lot easier to deal with.) I’m also still stuck with Bell’s Palsy (which showed up last week), which continues to be a gigantic pain in the behind.

The log:

Monday: 3 mile walk – running just wasn’t happening today

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Prenatal yoga

Thursday: 2 mile run/walk

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 2 mile run/walk

Sunday: Rest

Total for the week: 7 miles

The week started rough – I’ve been working with my coach on my form, and it’s making my ankles and shins sore. The new form (midfoot strike) is already helping my speed, but I think I embraced it a little too much, and put in too much mileage, too fast.

After a sports massage Monday, and some cross-training, I was ready Thursday for a great run. Turned into an amazing training week, and I’m stretching my way to almost no pain. Great news.

The stats:

Sunday: 2 hours spinning (calculated as 20 miles) and weight training at night (arms).

Monday: 5 miles, hills (9:18 pace). This was my roughest run of the week. So hard, and couldn’t maintain my target pace at all. Definitely my low point of the week.

Tuesday: 5 miles, easy (8:54 pace). I ran to shake things out, and was pleasantly surprised by how I felt after.

Wednesday: Spinning (15 miles), swam 1900 yards. Felt good and recovered.

Thursday: 10 miles (9:00 pace). Felt really strong, almost no ankle pain. Hooray!

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Epic brick workout. Swam 2000 yards, biked 15 (spinning), ran 5 (8:36 pace). This took me around 3 hours with transitions. Loved this. Felt amazing after.

Totals:
Run: 26 miles
Bike: 50 miles
Swim: 2.5 miles

It’s a big week at work, but I’m hoping to get some good training in and some more yoga! I’ve got to focus on dynamic stretching to stay injury-free while I’m adjusting to my new form.

Only a few more days until my race! I can’t believe race week is already here!

But first, I have two weeks of taper training logs to catch up on:

Monday: Rest!

Tuesday: 6 miles trails. I met up with my friend Kirsten to run our usual loop around North Chagrin after work. It was warm and stormed a little, but so nice to go watchless and run with a good friend.

Wednesday: 5 miles roads. I got up early to do a short road run and then spend the rest of the day with my boyfriend who left for Army training the next day.

Thursday: Rest! Boyfriend left in the morning before I went to work and I was just tired/emotionally drained after work. I’m tapering anyway!

Friday: 10 miles trails. I ran a nice, slow trail run at North Chagrin by myself in 2:07. Slower than I’d normally like, but my mind was everywhere.

Saturday: 11 miles roads. I closed at work so got up in the morning to run roads before it got too hot outside. It was a really interesting run too, I got hit on a few times by passing drivers, saw a kid being punished by his mom for stealing (she made him hold up a sign on a busy street corner that said, “I will not steal. Please honk to teach me a lesson.”) and almost got hit by a kid taking his driver’s test that didn’t use a turn signal.

Sunday: 3.1 miles roads. I ran the annual Race for the Place 5K that starts and ends at the mall where I work. I’ve always had to work that day, but this year, my manager let me run before my shift. I wasn’t expecting much, I just wanted to take it easy. Well, taking it easy meant I ran a 23:11 (one second slower than my PR!) and second place in my age group!

Total: 35 miles.

Monday: Rest!

Tuesday: 5 miles roads. Squeezed in a quick five miles before work and wished I had time for more.

Wednesday: 10.5 miles. I ran/hiked 7.5 miles of trails in the morning with a friend and made it back to my Wednesday night running group for a short 3.2 mile run that evening.

Thursday: 5.5 miles trails. I got up early and met my friend Sandra at North Chagrin to run before she went to work. It rained almost the entire time.

Friday: Rest.

Saturday: 12 miles trails. It was my final double-digit run before the 100! I chose to run the trails alone so I could have some alone time and I really needed it. It felt great to be alone.

Sunday: 6 miles roads. I got up early and did my last Sunday run on my usual “before work” loop. I really wished I could have kept going at the end.

Total: 39 miles. I only have three more short runs left and a four more days of work until I leave for Mohican on Friday. I can’t wait to get through this week and on the trails this weekend!

My last week of recovery was hot, exciting and wet.

All thanks to Tropical Storm Andrea.

My work trip to Orlando was less tropical paradise and more storm chaser paradise, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find it at least a little bit exciting. I must be some kind of adrenaline junkie.

I also got in some great workouts:

Sunday: Back-to-back spinning classes (counted as 30 miles); strength training at night

Monday: 5 miles, 8:33 pace

Tuesday: 5 miles, 8:34 pace; unplanned 20 mile bike ride to get Perfect Foods bars at an Orlando Fresh Market. I’m addicted to those bars.

Wednesday: 4 miles, 8:30 pace; 20 minute swim of unknown distance in the hotel pool.

Thursday: Off

Friday: 10 mile run, 8:40 pace

Saturday: 55 minute swim, 2000 yards; training with coach, speedwork and one mile at 7:57 pace (hot darn it hurt!)

Totals:
Runs: 25 miles
Bike: 50 miles
Swim: 2000 yards

Next week, training for the SoJo marathon begins in earnest! At least ice baths feel better in the summer…

Finally – a week with running. Sort of. Between back and home and having enough energy to do something more than sit on the couch all day, I was able to get out for a good couple runs…. or what I’m calling runs these days.

Finally able to do more than this all day (Photo credit: stewickie)

Yeah, it’s slow. And I walk up anything that even resembles a hill, which in my neighborhood means I’m walking for about half of the time. But I was blessed with perfect weather last week and it just felt good to get out and do something, even if that something is at a 15-minute per mile pace.

Monday: Flew back from Rome. Ugh.

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: 30 minute run/walk (2 miles)

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 30 minute run/walk (2 miles)

Saturday: No running, and not much sleeping, either. Kind of a horrible day.

Sunday: Rest, including the sleep that I didn’t get on Saturday.

Total for the week: 60 minutes run/walk (4 miles)

Heading out on our 25-mile adventure – and yes, I took the Salty Challenge in spite of some small discomfort with my current (non-racing) weight!

The weekend of “floating my boat” down in Lauderdale was such a wonderful, relaxing break – in spite of all the running.  It just felt so good to put it all down for a few days, with the exception of the ten minutes I spent preparing and doing my shots.  DB and I got to spend some quality running (and relaxing) time together, getting excited for Badwater, gearing up for this final cycle, and looking ahead to our plans if this one, too, is a bust.

That includes what comes next for my running.  We agreed that I would go ahead and write up a “quickie” training schedule for Burning River NOW, before the cycle ends, so that it’s ready to go if that’s the decision I make.  But that’s not a guarantee.  I may decide to take a month of high-mileage base-building instead, and run the Hallucination 100 in early September.  I’m not particularly of the course (or the cold drenching rains the past two years), but it’s a fast course and I have some unfinished business there.  We may do some additional treatments as I discussed in last week’s training log, and then gear up for Rocky Raccoon.  Oh, and don’t forget – there’s always the chance I could be pregnant, and all of this “what if” would be purely hypothetical.

Heh.

Saturday, May 25:  25 super-hot miles with DB in Lauderdale.  I floated that boat all over A1A, Las Olas Boulevard and some huge Florida bridges, and it felt AMAZING.  I know I’m still an ultrarunner, and I know I can still go the distance, but wow it felt so good to actually DO IT.  We unwound – literally – with popsicles on the floor of our hotel room, followed by slushy drinks and huge bowls of French fries at the pool.  Major headache, but I’m theorizing that had more to do with the heat than the Bravelle.  150 iu’s of Bravelle.

Running for hours feels really good. So does stopping.

And eating French fries for a post-run lunch.

Sunday, May 26:  11 miles with DB in Lauderdale.  I was originally to do eight, but I felt great and he was struggling on this, his third consecutive 25-mile run.  We were running about a 10-minute pace, so it was truly nothing taxing.  Got back from the run to the news that my wonderful friend and gym buddy Sara had had her baby girl the day before!  We celebrated the successful conclusion of the training weekend and the new baby with our final cocktails at the pool before heading home.  I went with a mudslide, since that seemed a more appropriate beverage before noon.  150 iu’s of Bravelle – we got home in the early evening, so no airplane shots!

75 miles in three days for DB, a baby girl for Sara and a final contraband mudslide for Clove. Cheers!

Monday, May 27:  OFF.  It was Memorial Day, so there were no classes at my gym.  I had put in a lot of miles over the past several days, so deliberately called a day completely off.  It felt right, and it felt good.  First bloodwork and scan of the cycle.  In spite of it being a holiday, I am psyched to find that Brad(!) is working, so my blood draw is uneventful.  I get the female doctor, but she’s actually quite kind today and FINALLY remembers me.  We’ve got a dominant follicle on the right at 10 mm, and three stragglers that haven’t decided what they’re up to yet.  I’ve definitely got several more days of shots; she tells me to stick with the 150 iu dose through Thursday night, and come in for the next scan on Friday.  150 iu’s of Bravelle.

Tuesday, May 28:  8 early morning miles with the neighborhood group, immediately followed by Pilates/core class.  Single spin class in the afternoon.  Biggest news of the workout day is that my Pilates/core instructor is back – he was out for the month of May.  I’m a routine kind of girl, so this is a really good thing.  150 iu’s of Bravelle – now that I’m used to the new drug, it’s really not a big deal.

Wednesday, May 29:  8 early morning miles with the neighborhood group, 80 minutes on my bike(!) in the afternoon.  That’s right, my BIKE!  I actually went riding on the path on my bike, and it was awesome.  150 iu’s of Bravelle – just rolling along here.

Thursday, May 30:  8 early morning miles with the neighborhood group, single spin class in the afternoon.  150 iu’s of Bravelle.  Had to pick up a new box today – the 20 vials they started me with weren’t enough.  That pinches the wallet, but when you’re this far in, there’s not much to be done for it.  Also, you would think I was a rookie with a syringe.  I somehow misfire, then slip, causing two surface punctures before I actually get the needle IN and do the injection.  And believe it or not, the surface puncture is the part that hurts the worst.  Plus I’ve given myself an awesome bruise.  Nice.

Friday, May 31:  OFF.  I’ve got solid miles in this week (60) and I’m getting close to the end of the shots in this cycle.  Definitely want to play it safe.  Second bloodwork and scan of the cycle, and there are no less than 20 women signed in ahead of me!  This is pretty common on Fridays and Mondays as they’re trying to get women booked in around the weekends.  I spend 45 minutes waiting at the lab, but once my blood is drawn and I’m checked in for my scan, the entire process takes less than 15 minutes.  I get my personal doctor, which is fantastic, but the follicles are just doing so-so.  We’ve got one that wants to be a 17mm, but that’s stretching it, and a couple 14′s and 15′s, which we could kind of use.  So, “we’re getting there,” but I’m also getting frustrated because I’m worried it’s going to be a never-ending cycle again.  I get the call from the nurses later in the day – I have two more nights of Bravelle at the same dose, trigger on Sunday and IUI on Tuesday.

At 5:17 pm, I wake up in a cold sweat from my nap with DB and the dog.  I realize that two more days at two vials per day equals FOUR vials – and I only have three.  Yeah, I was not a math major.  The specialty pharmacy is closed, so I get to make the embarrassing, pleading call to the on-call pharmacist and make arrangements to meet her on Sunday to get ANOTHER box of Bravelle, at the whopping price tag of $490, when I only need one of the five vials in the box.  Ugh.  The life of the infertility patient …

Weekly totals:  60 miles (weighted in the weekend, when I was allowed to go overboard.  I pulled it back to my normal running upon arriving home), 2 spin classes, 80 minutes cycling, 1,050 iu’s of Bravelle, one really stupid math error.

As I mentioned last week, I spent the week on vacation. Most of it was on a cruise ship, and we returned to Rome yesterday for a couple of extra days before flying back to Seattle tomorrow.

Was there running? Nope. Partially because our luggage wasn’t actually on our flight to Italy, and by the time we got it on Tuesday afternoon any motivation I might have had to work out had flown straight out the window. Instead, I enjoyed being lazy and did a fair amount of walking as we explored the various ports along the ship’s route.

Then yesterday we spent several hours wandering around the Vatican, and today we walked all over Rome seeing spectacularly cool and old stuff, and that was good for me.

Yes, the weather really was this nice the whole time.

I’ll see about getting into a better routine next week once I’m back home. For now, I’m just trying to wrap my brain around the 16 hours of airplane time it’s going to take us to get back home. Ugh.