Training for a Belt Buckle

Did an enjoyable 5 miles last night.  It was nice weather to run in (even if my legs did get a little cool in shorts).  

Did another 5 miles this afternoon between work and my temple night.  Beautiful weather out.

My son is spending the night. Put my name on the prayer roll and had my neighbors give me a blessing.  My sister will be over after 11 to also spend the night.  She is driving me to my surgery at 7:30 tomorrow over at the U.

No miles today.  I had planned on getting up at 5:30 to get a run in, but my son spent the night and I visited with him after working at the temple, then waited for my sister to get here. It was after midnight when she arrived.  I decided I needed sleep most.  

Had my eye surgery and was home by 9:15 this morning.  I have spent a lot of the day resting and visiting with my sister. I am most comfortable laying down with both eyes closed.  3 types of medicated drops - one has to go in every hour today while I am awake.  About every 6 hours the pain gets really bad and I have to take a lortab.

I hope to run tomorrow, but if I am still taking lortab - might not be wise.

After laying in bed for 3 hours in this morning resting my eye, took Twilight for a much needed 1 mile walk.  She and I both needed to get out.  Worked on getting her training/listening sharp again.  She got lazy these past few weeks between her injury, visitors, and my surgery.

Had some delicious cream soup and chocolate cake for breakfast.  Kelli dropped off leftovers that Michelle packed up for the party.  It was nice to visit with Kelli.

Tomorrow - get my dieting back in gear and start lifting weights again. I'm worried about coping at work, but hope when they remove the medicated contact lens tomorrow night that it will be less irritated.

2 miles warmup run with the dog, followed by 3 miles running.  Hard to run with a patch over one eye - but much less painful than not wearing the patch.  The doctor says the pain should go down a lot by Thursday.

Really tired from work today.  Think my body is still stressed from recovering from the eye surgery.  Walked the dog 1 mile as a warmup.  Went to the gym and did 2.75 miles running on the treadmill. At that point I needed a potty break and was exhausted, so called it good.

Day 2 of eating healthy.

Managed to slip in 4 miles of running between work and my shift at the temple.

1/4 mile walking the dog as a warmup.  5.3 nice miles running.  1 mile walking the dog as a cooldown.  It's beginning to get cold out.

6 miles in the snow with Leslie this morning on the JRP.  Brrr.  Bought some healthy food at Costco.  (Les - I stayed under $65) Ran into Steve Ashbrook at Starbucks and had a nice visit with him.

Trying some heart rate training for a while.  

.5 mile warmup walk with dog.

6 miles running - keeping heart rate between 75-80% of maximum.  (avg 11:59) 11:32/12:10/11:55/12:08/11:29/12:40

1 mile cooldown walk with the dog.

20 minutes stretching.

Went to bed at nine and couldn't wake up at 5 this morning, but did go into work early so I could run later.

PM - half mile walk with the dog.

Ran 1.3 miles to Gold's Gym

Pickups - 4 x 30 sec. with 60 sec. rest (2 & 4 slight uphill) max speed - 6:07/6:03/5:41/6:17

Did a leg workout in the gym.

30 minutes on the stationary bike.

Ran 1.3 miles home.

Went to bed and nine, but couldn't fall asleep until after 11.

Good thing today was an easy day, because I was really tired while running.  The plan was 30 minutes at a very easy pace, so I took the dog along for the run. 2.25 miles. 

Trying to figure out my weight today - LOL.  After my first pit stop of the day I was 148.8.  1/2 cup of water and a #2 pit stop and a run later, I was 149.6.  I'll go with the lower one :)

I had great plans to do my 6 miles yesterday.  Got up and went to the office at 6 a.m. since I had an eye doctor appointment after work to get the contact out.  After that I would get my run in, eat, shower, then head to New Moon.

Sat at the stupid eye doctors for 2 hours.  They were way behind.  Then, when he took out the contact he told me that when the numbing drops wore off, I would have a whole lot of discomfort and needed to keep the eye rested that night.  Running was not allowed.  Made it to New Moon, but I was miserable and in pain.  I was in bed by 11:30 and couldn't fall asleep until 2 because of the eye pain.

It is less uncomfortable today.  After work, Twilight and I ran 2.3 miles at a nice easy pace and then walked home after our 30 minutes were done.

Tomorrow I have 8 miles on the schedule.  Need to determine my pulse ranges for miles 1-7 and mile 8.

Caught up on sleep last night, so was awake before 6 this morning.

Plan was for 7 miles with heart rate between 60-75%, followed by one mile at marathon pace.  

This heart rate training is tough - mainly because I felt like I was plodding to try and keep my heart rate that low. Ran to Draper and back on 7th East.

Miles 1-7 14:11/14:31/14:42/14:32/14:48/14:04/14;35

Mile 8 10:34

Drank hot chocolate with protein shake mixed in while my daughter called to wish me happy birthday.

1 mile cooldown walk with Twilight.

Then Kevin took Twilight away and brought her back in a coat he bought her for my birthday.  It has a skull and crossbones on it and a fauxhawk.  Hilarious.  Plus he got her a life jacket.

Walked 3 miles with the dog.

I just can't seem to force myself to get up early and run in the dark, so get up less early and go to work a bit earlier instead. RHR 52. (Need to get it back in the high 40's!)

6 miles this afternoon at 75-80% mhr.  I'm getting better each time at figuring out how much to speed up or slow down to get my heart rate to where I want it to be.  Ran down and then along the Trax trail and back.

The right ankle has been bothering me for a couple of weeks. I think it might be the Achilles.  Will work on the balance board and icing it at nights. 

11:33/12:29/12:52/12:15/11:52/12:24

1st mile has some good downhills and I had to force myself to slow down. Mile 3 I took the last half at the lower part of the range on purpose because it is a net downhill and wanted to save myself for the return uphill. It is a gentle grade, but goes on for about 3/4 of the mile.  First 3 miles felt really good. Mile 4 my legs and lungs felt tired - but net uphill and pushing the top part of my range.  Mile 5 the legs felt easy again and I had to hold myself back on mile 6 even though there are 2 good uphills in that mile.

Drank 4 oz Ensure, 4 oz. milk and a scoop of protein shake. 1 mile cooldown walk with the dog.

Time to stretch!

Was exhausted last night and fell asleep at 9:30. Woke up right before my alarm.

RHR 49 (better than yesterday)

Felt the nagging piriformis issue in the left hip first thing in the morning. Then it quit bugging me.

Did the same 6 mile route tonight as I did yesterday.  The first mile was a struggle because I had not warmed up yet. After that, the remaining 5 miles felt pretty easy and I had to reign myself in to stay under 80%. 

11:34/12:42/12:58/12:59/12:16/13:33 - didn't feel any slower than yesterday, but obviously it was.

Last quarter mile the legs felt tight - but I think it was from cold and not being tired.

Drank my ensure/protein concoction.

Left knee (behind) started bugging me a bit while standing around and then during the first half mile of the 1 1/4 mile walk for cooldown with Twilight.  Will stretch good.

RHR 48

Was wide awake at 5 this morning, so finally dragged myself out of bed at 5:30.

Went to bed with a scratchy throat. No surprise - sore throat this morning.

Did a 2.25 mile recovery run/jog down to the Trax and back.  Too lazy to turn on my watch, so let Twilight pace me.  She never broke out of her fast walk and had plenty of time to sniff and do her favorite tightrope act on curbs.

RHR 49

Probably a mistake to run today as bad as I felt, but I was tired of paying for races in 2009 and not running them.

Did 1.75 mile warmup, including part of it with Odee and then passed him back to Harold and Leslie as they started their walk of the course.

I knew that I would not PR because this is a tough course.  Battled nausea during the warmup, so decided to hope to break 30 minutes and do a tempo run instead of racing.

They asked walkers and people with strollers to stay near the back. Of course, no one listened, so a lot of the first mile was spent trying to gain some position.  Easier to do on the uphills when even more people were walking.  However, at that point I also knew I had no energy and wasn't going to break 30. The body was just too wiped from being sick.  Did what I could to push on the downhills, but by the end I was totally out of energy and couldn't even sprint the last .1 mile.

31:17 total      10:14 (uphill), 10:16 (mix of uphill and down), 9:58

Better than a couple of years ago, but not a race time I am very happy with.

3/4 mile cooldown including part of it with Rachel.  Leslie gave me some wassail to drink on my way home.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

RHR 48

Just got back from a recovery run of 2.25 miles with the dog.  Nice to be able to run in shorts and shirt with no gloves. :)

Lingering traces of being sick - but overall am doing much better. Recovery from illness is more like I experienced prior to 2009.

RHR 48

Still a little tired from being sick, but feeling pretty good.

My right ankle and both knees were pretty achy and sore today, so took the day off without a long run or workout.

PM - ok, I decided after cleaning my entire townhouse and reading 2 books today that maybe the pain in my legs was from running hills in the race the other day.  I have been avoiding them with my tendonitis.  So, at 5:30 I headed out for a 2-4 mile run.  I probably did everything wrong tonight - but I had a lot of fun.

I still had my heart rate monitor set for 75-80%, so went with that.  After about 5 minutes, my legs were feeling great, so thought I might do a little more than 4 miles.  The legs were loose and I was relaxed and the pace felt good. I have not yet looked at my mile pace, was running based upon listening to beeps on the heart rate monitor on one wrist and the garmin on the other.  At every mile beep I did a 25 stride pickup and then settled back down.  At my normal turnaround for my 6 mile run, I kept going.  I turned around at 10600 South.  Where I normally quit following the Trax trains, I kept going, then up 80th South to 7th East, down to 7200 S and back home.  Quit doing strides after 7 miles.  Mile 9 I let my heart rate drop below 75%. I was getting pretty cold since I only had dressed for a couple of miles.  Pushed the pace as much as I could in mile 10, but it is a gentle uphill, so don't think I got it as fast as I wanted.

Total time: 2:03:05

Miles:12:21/12:37/12:30/12:07/12:20/12:11/11:49/12:43/13:4710:39

Not bad time for a 'short' run.  Maybe there is something to this heart rate training after all.  Runs like this make all the tough runs worth while.

Longest run I have been on without hydrating or 'gu'ing.

Protein shake down.  Time to stretch.

RHR 49

Had a hard time falling asleep last night because of the late run and woke up several times. Don't feel too rested this morning.

Took the dog for a one mile walk and the hamstrings are a little tired.

PM - took a nap to make up for last night's crappy sleep.  Walked the dog another 2.5 miles this afternoon. Hamstrings feel fine now - the quads and left calf were a bit tired.

RHR 47

Another restless night with lots of bizarre dreams.

Wanted to do hills this afternoon.  Lot harder to do and stay in heart range of 75-80%. Ran down to 8600 S, then up to 13th East, and up again to the top of the Quarry, then down to 7th East again.  I tried to keep my heart rate down on the biggest hill, but it went up to about 143-145 no matter how slow I plodded. Took short strides on the downhills to keep stress off the tendon in the right knee.

12:16/13:43/11:36/11:15/11:26/12:16 (legs a bit heavy on the last mile)

1 mile cooldown walk with the dog.