12K fartlek - new PR!

We're having a great time in New York City!

I should back up a bit, huh? Yes, we're in New York City for a photo shoot for Weight Watchers online Success Stories. We arrived Thursday afternoon, and when we got here I got on the elliptical at the gym first thing. Then we went to Bobby Flay's restaurant, Bar Americain, where we enjoyed a wonderful dinner 4 years ago when I was here for the Today Show segment I did. The restaurant was every bit as good as the first time. Good thing I like to racewalk, because I ate a very large piece of German chocolate cake (my favorite!).

Today I slept in a bit and then made my way over to Central Park for a good hard 12K fartlek workout. I racewalked/walked over there, stopping as needed for pedestrians and traffic lights. It was about 1.7km, and I got in a few bursts of speed and felt warmed up by the time I arrived at the park. The weather was pretty darn nice - 41F (4C) and sunny, though with a pretty strong breeze.

Central Park was lovely this morning - gorgeous flowers on many of the trees, and new bright green spring leaves as well. Lots of runners, fast and slow; some passed me, and some I passed. However, Central Park was not ideal for a hard workout. It's not even close to being flat! It was much hillier than I remembered. OK, none of the hills are really bit, but it is gently rolling hills all the way around. What this means is that my splits were a bit crazy! Sometimes my medium effort 500s were faster than my hard effort 500s, because I was going downhill on the medium and uphill on the fast. My first 1km was pretty slow (about 5:50) because of the hill I had to go up. It did make things interesting - I had to really go by effort and not by pace, that was for sure. But I did feel strong and fast today! I was worried after last night's German chocolate cake that I might pay with GI issues, but thankfully I had no trouble whatsoever. I just felt good, and it was so fun to be out there, even though I was doing a hard workout. New scenery is a wonderful thing!

I got to 5K in 29:01, which was pretty fast for all the hills, I thought. Then I stayed strong and made it to 10K in 58:17, and to 12K in 1:09:55, with an average HR of 160.1. Nice! My previous PR was on a day at the track when I didn't feel so great, and I did a 1:10:50, so this was quite a bit faster.

It felt good to get this one done...next week is my easy week, and I'm glad for the rest to come.

Lots of park photos here.

Garmin data here.

***

After the workout, I walked back to the hotel via a bit of a circuitous route and took pictures at Columbus Circle and Times Square. I showered and dressed and it was time to go to the photo shoot! That was great fun - nothing like getting all made up and fussed over and having one's picture taken! Then after dinner and some souvenir shopping, we took in a Broadway play ("Other Desert Cities" - fantastic!) and dessert. What a great day :).

Photo shoot pictures here - just quickie photos w/my lousy camera. The real ones will be on the WW website later this year.

15K

I did 15K this morning. I was worried I'd be really slow after the very hard effort at the track yesterday, but I was OK. My legs were tired, yes, and from 6K onward it was a bit of an effort, but it wasn't too bad. It wasn't a death march, and I wasn't as slow as I'd feared.

The weather was great - 52F (11C) with a gentle wind.

Total time: 1:35:01 for 6:20/km with ave HR 145.

Garmin data here.

3x2K, 3x1K

The weather was much more cooperative today. It was 38F (3C) and slightly breezy this morning. Much better than yesterday's weather - though it was warmer yesterday (54F or 12C) it was so windy that it was impossible to do speed work. I did 2 laps on the track yesterday before calling it quits and doing the elliptical instead. Every time I came around the back stretch, the wind almost blew me over. It was gusting to 60mph (100kph) and was pretty steady at about 30mph (50kph). Not conducive to a good workout at all. Fortunately, it's not often that windy here; right before a storm it is, but usually I don't have the misfortune of having to do a track workout right when a storm comes in.

The running club was back at the track today. I didn't know they'd be there, and it's a bit of a hassle to share the track, but today it wasn't too hard. My boss is a member of that club and was at the track and we said hi. They were doing 400s, and they were kind enough to just go around me in lane 1. I also saw a former weight training instructor there; the longer I live here the more I run into people in different places.

I warmed up for 1600m w/strides in 9:59. I did some dynamic stretching and then got started on the main workout. 3x2K and 3x1K with 2 min rest is a tough workout, but I felt up to it. My body finally feels 100% again after my various viral illnesses.

I felt good today but not great. I did well, but not spectacularly well. Basically I got out there and got the job done. I worked comfortably hard on the first two 2Ks, and pushed it quite hard on the last 2K but still slowed a little. Despite that, I felt much stronger on the 1Ks this week than I did last week, which was good. I was able to keep a pretty consistent speed, though it took a very hard effort. The last two 1Ks, my legs felt a bit like Jell-O, but I was able to will them to keep going.

Here are my times and ave HR: 11:23.2 (167 - but that is not right, as the HR monitor was spiking - probably more like low 160s), 11:23.4 (164), 11:29.8 (164), 5:37.5 (162.5), 5:37.5 (161.5), 5:39.9 (162). My max HR was 169-171 on all 6 of the intervals, so I was definitely working it hard. Now my legs are pretty tired. My right IT band is acting up a bit; I'm hoping it's not from the racewalking. I did some figure skating yesterday but usually that doesn't bother my IT band, so I'm not sure. I'm a bit worried that because I've been neglecting my weight training that my right hip is weak. I need to hit the gym more but it's been so hard to fit everything in lately.

Speaking of that, I have to go and get some stuff done!

Garmin data here.

20K

Finally a good workout. It got a bit dicey in the middle, but I recovered well and was able to finish strong.

The weather could not have been nicer. 54F (12C) and sunny and only a little breezy (now it is much windier in advance of rain and snow Sunday night). I wore shorts and a T-shirt and enjoyed the warmth.

I started off feeling pretty darn good. The first 500 was more like 600 - my watch did not beep at all in the right spot. It does this sometimes. So I figured I'd just do 19.9km instead, which is what I did :). The first 5K is a gentle downhill, so it was nice and fast. Then I struggled a little from 5K-10K and had some slow 500s. I stopped at 9K to take a gel and have a drink and give myself a pep talk. Apparently it was successful, as I was able to move along a bit faster after that. I felt pretty good until 15K, and then I did tire a bit but was still able to stay strong on the slight uphill home again; my legs were feeling it but they still had something left. Here are my 5K splits (well, 4.9, 9.9, 14.9, and 19.9 on my watch!): 30:30, 1:02:20 (31:50), 1:33:30 (31:10), and 2:05:10 (31:40). Ave HR for the walk was in the upper 140s; my HR monitor was acting up a little so it's hard to know but that's a good approximation. At the end it was in the low-mid 150s.

Garmin data here.

10K w/2x5' @15K pace

I felt great for 7 km today, and the last 3km were really slow. Oh well! It happens sometimes. Guess I was a bit tired from yesterday's workout.

The weather was gorgeous - at 6:15 am I wore shorts and a T-shirt and felt fine. It was about 55F (12C) and breezy.

I started off well and felt really good, but when I accelerated for my first 5' at 15K pace, I was surprised that my first 500 was only in 3:04. I think my Garmin must have been off - my HR was high and my pace felt faster than that. My next 500 was 2:56, and that was with the slower part after I finished my 5 minutes fast, so who knows? My next 5' burst seemed better, including one 2:50 interval.

Total for the 10K was 1:03:30 for 6:21/km with ave HR 144.

Garmin data here.

10K kickdown

Yesterday's workout: 30 min elliptical, core work with Lisa, then biked to work (gorgeous weather).

***

Today I originally had a 12K kickdown. But in light of my recovery from illness, my coach cut it down to 10K. I wasn't going to complain about that! I also was not going to complain about the weather, which was lovely, especially since I walked later than usual, at about 8:30 am.

Backing up a day, yesterday I was up really late at work for a 36-hr time point. I was there from 10pm-11:45 pm, and so I got permission from the boss to come in late this morning. After taking the kids to school and getting ready and driving to Liberty Park, I started in on the workout. By then, it was a nice warm 43F (6C). It was sunny, and there was a slight breeze, and it was just gorgeous. Some of the trees are just barely starting to leaf out with that bright green characteristic of early spring.

I felt good but not great this morning. I started off nice and easy, doing 2.5km in 15:43.6 with ave HR of 145. The next 2.5km was faster but still not too hard; 15:23.8 with ave HR of 150. Then began the real work...15:02.2 with ave HR of 160, and I was really feeling it today. Like I said, I felt good but not great, and so the last part of this workout really hurt a lot. The final 2.5km was really good though - 14:18.3 with ave HR of 169. Yeah, my HR was really high, but I was pretty fast too. I have only done that last 2.5km faster once; 14:08.5 about 2 wk before the 50K. Total for today's workout was 60:27.9 for the 10k, my 2nd fastest.

I'm encouraged that I might be improving. Hopefully my workouts the next few days and weeks will be better as my body recovers more and I continue to train hard.

Garmin data here.

***

Oh, and after my workout, I got ready for work, ate breakfast, and then rode my bike to work :). A little extra cross-training never hurt, and the weather was SO beautiful today, sunny with a high around 70F. So very, very nice for late March! I'll take it!

~12K

This morning 20K was on the schedule; however, I knew that Jim would not want me to go that far. I figured he'd want 15K or so, and I would have done that but 1) I got up late and was in a rush, and 2) my legs were definitely not up for 15K after the skiing and the track workout.

The weather was chilly, at 31F (-1C) but at least it wasn't windy. It had snowed a bit last night but the snow was mostly on the grass, cars, etc. and not so much on the roads or sidewalks, as they held the heat from the day longer.

I did make it through the 15K in OK shape though. My legs were definitely heavy, and unlike yesterday where just my quads and calves were sore, today my quads, calves AND my glutes and hamstrings were sore. Sore does not keep one from walking, but it does tend to slow one down. I knew it would be a tough one, but it really wasn't that awful. I was tired for sure, and it's not like it felt great, but it wasn't a death march either.

I ended up having to do just under 12K because I had to get the kids to school. Total: 11.65 km in 1:15:39 for 6:30/km with a low average HR of 139 (because my legs were the limiting factor today, not my lungs!).

Garmin connect data here.

3K/2K/4x1K

Weather: 35F (2C) with a slight breeze. The track was wet from snow but not icy. My feet got wet pretty quickly though.

Warm-up: 1600m with strides. I felt a bit stiff to start; quads and calves are sore from xc skiing. But my pick-ups were nice and fast so I figured it was OK.

Workout: 3K/3 min rest/2K/2 min rest/4x1K/2 min rest each. Slow but not too bad. I felt a little stiff and sluggish at the start of each interval, and this got worse throughout the workout. The last 1km, I was very stiff and found it hard to move fast at all...my legs were just dead and I barely got under 6 min. Oops. I felt OK on most of the other intervals. I expected the slow part, given my vigorous x-training yesterday and my continuing recovery from illness (on that note - my ears had a very hard time equalizing the pressure coming down from Solitude yesterday - I'm obviously still a bit congested). Times for the intervals were 17:10.6 (ave HR 160.6), 11:33.7 (163.5), 5:45.2 (162.5), 5:49.0 (161), 5:47.1 (160.5), 5:58.0 (159.5). HR was slowing down at the end - because my legs just died, probably from the xc skiing. Oh well! It was worth it to have fun skiing. I still got this workout done, and that is what matters.

Niggles: My right IT band is bothering me quite a bit today - it started hurting during the last 1km, and all day it's been touchy going down stairs. I'm 99% sure that's from the xc skiing and that the RW exacerbated it. My quads and calves are really sore tonight. Tomorrow will be interesting...hopefully I can crank out some km despite the niggles.

Garmin data here.

optional day - cross-country skiing!

This was really fun :). I am pretty sure I overdid it for an optional day, but Alex, my friend and fellow racewalker from California, was here to ski with friends and I really wanted to join him for some cross-country skiing. We opted for classic skiing instead of skate skiing, because there was a lot of fresh powder and it was not groomed. I own my own pair of classic skis (gift from my grandma - they were hers, and then she got too old to do it any more), so all I had to pay for was the trail pass.

We went to the Nordic Center at Solitude, because it's been such a warm spring that there was unlikely to be much snow at Soldier Hollow or Mountain Dell golf course. There was plenty of snow at Solitude, at 8700 feet (2600 meters) in elevation. It was snowing pretty hard the whole time we were out there, and there was a lot of fresh powder - probably a foot or so (30 cm).

We only went 7km in 1 hr 54 min moving time (about 2.5 hr) but that is because we were breaking trail the whole way in the fresh powder. In fact, we were slower going DOWN hill than coming back up, because we had to break trail on the way down but on the way up we could follow our tracks. There was fresh snow in our tracks on the way back up, but it was still lots better than a whole foot of powder!

Here's the Garmin data if you're curious about where we went, elevation, etc.

15K

Today Jim said I should go however long I felt was good. I really wanted to do 20K; however, I knew that 15K was probably more realistic. I started off with the intention of 20K, but after 7.5K I realized that 15K was a good distance for today. I could have done the 20K, but it would not have been helpful, I don't think.

I started off feeling pretty good; it was very warm (60F, 15C) and quite windy. A storm is blowing in and it's going to rain tonight and then snow on Sunday night and Monday and Monday night. I've enjoyed our brief nice warm spring week, and yes, the snow is coming, but it won't last too long I hope, and it's typical weather for spring here to alternate warm with snow. I enjoyed wearing shorts for my walks several days this week, and I can't complain about that.

Anyway, I felt good through 5K but was very slow, coming to 5K in 32:03. My legs did get tired between 5K and 10K, and my 10K split was even slower at 32:40 (1:04:43), but then I was able to pick it up a bit for the last 5K, surprisingly. I finished the final 5K in 32:21 for a total of 1:37:05, or 6:28/km (don't know my ave HR as the monitor went crazy...time to wash the salt off...I'd guess upper 140s). For me, that is still quite slow and indicates my lack of fitness and/or recovery from illness. I know I still have 2 months until the 15K, but I'm starting to be a bit anxious about getting in shape by then. Jim says I have plenty of time, and I should trust him, but it's hard when my training is so lackluster/unpredictable. Last Saturday I did 10K in 1:01:37, and today...yeah, not so fast.

Well, I can't control it, and all I can do is get out there and do the training, so that's what I will do.

Garmin connect data here.

10K fartlek - slow, but it's done

Today I was to do a 10K fartlek. I woke up feeling decent, health-wise. I still have a touch of a cough but the sore throat is gone and the fatigue is slight. The weather has been terrific this week - lovely spring weather that we hardly ever get here in Utah (usually it's either snowing or raining and cold in the spring!). This morning as I went to the track it was 46F (8C) with a good breeze, though not enough wind to slow me down on the track.

I was glad that I got to do this workout today, and that I felt good enough to attempt it. I knew it would be slow, and while that part was a little disheartening, I know I'm faster than I was last spring, and that once I am fully recovered and training again for a few weeks I will be faster again. It's hard to take steps backward in fitness, though.

After a brief (1200m - running late again...sigh...) warm-up with strides and some dynamic stretching, I got started. The first km was a bit slow in 5:35, and I knew then that it really would be a slower day. During the workout my legs did get pretty tired (and they were really wasted after about 8 km), but I didn't feel like death warmed over, and felt strong enough to push a little. My fast 500s were 2:50-2:55, with one 2:56, and my medium 500s were 2:59-3:10 - pretty slow. Total time was 59:38, with average HR of 161, so it's not like I was taking it easy. I guess I should just be happy that I was able to be out there and get it done. Hopefully I still have time to improve my fitness significantly before the 15K in May.

Garmin connect data here.

feeling a bit better: 8K

I felt terrible yesterday. I woke up and fully intended to do my assigned 15K. I made it to 3.25K before realizing that it was just not going to happen. I just did not feel good at all. I quit racewalking and walked about 1K back home, and decided that I really didn't feel good enough to work a full day either. I debated calling in sick, but remembered that I had some fish that I had to finish genotyping because they'd been off the system for too long. Grrrrr. So I went in and did a few things, then left and took the kids to school, and went back to finish up.

I also called the doctor for an appointment to get a throat culture, since I've had a sore throat for so long. The throat culture was negative, so I left with Rx for rest. Bummer. I did rest for a good bit yesterday and I think it did help.

Garmin connect data for 4K yesterday

Today I felt pretty tired when my alarm went off, so I ignored it and the 10K that I was supposed to do. I went to work a bit early, right after dropping the kids off at school, and I brought my racewalking gear so that I could walk if I felt better later in the day. Turns out that after being at work a few hours, I perked up and felt like walking. I only had about 50 minutes to walk, but that was better than nothing.

My Garmin couldn't find the satellites right away (probably due to the tall buildings) and so I walked a while before it kicked in, adding probably 0.4-0.5km to my walking distance. I am not 100% sure of the total time, for the same reason, but it was a good walk today. Most of my 500s were 3:00-3:06, with the exception of one in the middle and the last two, which had uphills (and the first 500, during which the Garmin wasn't tracking yet). My average for the 500s where the Garmin was tracking, not including the last two (uphills) was 3:04.6, or about 6:09/km, so that is pretty good. I'm happy with that, and I know it wasn't 10K like I was supposed to do (with the 5' fast segments), but it was what I could do today given the circumstances.

Tomorrow I think I will be able to do the 10K fartlek that I've been assigned :) I hope :). I might be really slow, but hopefully I can do it.

Garmin connect data here for 8K today

3x2K

Yesterday was a rest day. I didn't feel well at all (sore throat, fatigue) so I was glad for it and spent most of the day doing as little as possible, including a 2 hr nap. That didn't help me adjust to daylight savings time.

This morning I was supposed to do 3x2k/3x1k with 2' rest. I wasn't sure how it would go since I'd felt bad yesterday, but when I woke up I felt OK so I figured I'd give it a try. However, I woke up late because of daylight savings, etc., and all I had time to do was 3x2k. I decided that was better than nothing. I did a short warm up of 1200m w/strides; the weather was really nice - it was 42F (6C) and breezy but clear. So warm for a March morning!

The workout went better than I thought it might, given how I felt yesterday. I did 11:33.1, 11:29.3, and 11:27.8 for the 2Ks. I didn't feel great doing them, but each one was a little faster, and when I finished I was a bit disappointed I didn't have time for the 1Ks, because I felt that I could have finished the workout had I had more time. But maybe it's better that I didn't do it, as I'm still not feeling 100%.

Garmin connect data here.

***

I have to confess I felt really unmotivated this morning and wondered why I cared about doing the workout. I'm still glad I got out there and did it. While I was warming up I thought about things, and I know at least part of the problem is that my eating habits have been terribly out of whack lately and I've gained about 4lb (2kg) since the 50K. Add in being sick twice in February, my grandma dying, my dad being in the hospital, and the usual over-busyness of my life, and I'm a bit overwhelmed with it all. The place to start is with the one thing that I can control - the desserts. Time to cut back. It will make me feel better, and that is important right now.

10K

I actually felt good today on my walk! Yay! I'm still coughing a little bit, but mostly I feel decent. I did hack and cough some on the walk this morning, but it wasn't too bad.

The weather was pretty decent; 28F (-2C) and clear and calm. We're going into a warming trend this week and will maybe have some nice spring weather! We had a very mild winter and for that I'm thankful. Hopefully spring will be mild as well.

I started off pretty quickly, feeling good, and made it to 5K in about 30:30. The first 5K is a slight downhill and the 2nd a slight uphill, and so I was pleased to do the 2nd 5K in 31:07 for a total of 1:01:37 for the 10K. My average HR was in the upper 140s but I'm not sure what it was because my HR monitor went a bit nuts at the end of the walk. This HR monitor isn't as good as my previous one that came with the Forerunner 305; it's more comfortable to wear but it has issues if you don't rinse out the chest strap frequently, and even then it still sometimes doesn't work so well.

Garmin connect data here.

cross-training

I am feeling better yet. I am close to feeling 100% again; I have a slight residual cough and hoarseness but it's barely noticeable now, unlike earlier in the week when I sounded like a frog :).

Today I did 7.54 miles on the elliptical in 55 minutes, which is a bit slower than usual, but I felt good. I have 10K tomorrow, which will be a better test of my health. I'm glad this was an easy week so that I could rest a bit and be ready for next week - it's a tough one with intervals Monday, 15K Tuesday, 10K w/5' fast segments Wednesday, 10K fartlek Thursday (I think ...this is from memory), cross-train Friday and 25K on Saturday. Whew.

***

Tonight - birthday dinner with my husband :) and a movie - John Carter of Mars. I read the books as a kid and LOVED them so I can't wait to see it on the IMAX in 3D!

4x2km

I woke up feeling better than I have in a while; I'm still coughing a bit but my congestion is less and I'm feeling more energetic. Still, I wasn't sure how this would go. It turned out to be hard, not surprisingly.

The weather was cooperative; a bit chilly at 28F (-2C) but with just a slight breeze and clear. Yesterday's snow had melted and the track was dry. There was a beautiful moonset just as I left for the track - big, yellow moon right on the horizon. Lovely!

I warmed up with 1600m in 10:02, including 2x100m strides on the last 400m. I didn't feel very smooth or fast on the pick-ups, so I was a little concerned. Rightly so. I was not fast today. I started off at what I thought was a very conservative pace: 11:23.9 for the first 2km. I only had 2 min rest today between the 2Ks, but still, I was way slow. I knew during the 2nd one that this was going to be tough today. I was working too hard for the pace I was moving at :(. The 2nd 2km was 11:32.7, and then I knew the other two were going to really hurt. Darn it! I had tried to be conservative, but due to illness perhaps or the altitude (my 5x2km where I was 11:14-11:19 on all of them was much lower, in Mesquite, NV) I was much slower today. The 3rd 2km was 11:39, and I was really hurting, but hey, there was only one left. The last one I mustered all my strength for and surprised myself with 11:33.6. I was truly working harder than I did in Mesquite - my HR was up to 167 and 168 on the last 2 intervals, but I just had no speed. My legs didn't feel THAT tired, and I think it was really my lungs that didn't have it today.

After the workout I did have some GI trouble for a few hours :(, but it cleared up by 11am. Whew.

Oh well...it's my birthday, and I gave a good journal club at work (at least people said it was good and I felt like it came off well), and I enjoyed working out hard even if I wasn't that fast. How many people are out there doing a track workout at age 42? I'm just happy that I can do it, and that I'm in great shape and enjoying life. Now I get to enjoy pizza and ice cream cake with my birthday twin Sarah :).

Garmin connect data here.

cross-training

Today was a cross-training day, which I enjoyed. I intended to do an hour on the elliptical, but the kids and my residual illness conspired to cause me to sleep in a bit later and then get delayed getting to the gym. So, I only managed 35 min. However, I did crank out 7:02/mile pace, which is pretty close to my normal pace when I'm not ill, so that was encouraging. Lately I've been much slower on the elliptical!

Tomorrow I have a 4x2km track workout, so I truly hope I'm really feeling better. I'd like to nail it!

***

We are taking another session of figure skating. I'm in adult level 4 now, and I was working on 3-turns last night. I fell twice, but I practiced more this afternoon and I think I'm starting to get them. The kids are both doing well - Calvin is in Basic 2, and Michelle is in Basic 1. Loren is taking Hockey 1!

***

Just for fun - spring is trying to poke its way through the snow:

tired 8K

I'm still not 100% better from my cold. I was coughing a lot this morning and blew my nose a million times before I went out.

Still, I started off really well, at a 6:05/km pace and kept that for about 3km. But then my legs got tired. Pathetic! It's amazing how much a cold virus can zap you. 8K is a little nothing workout, and though I finished, I was pretty tired at the end. Not as tired as for Saturday's 10K, though.

Total was 8K in 51:45 for 6:22/km with ave HR of 147. Slow, but the nice part was how WARM it was this morning. Warm and windy, which means snow is on the way for tonight, but this morning it was 51F (10C) and I wore SHORTS for the first time in a while here at home. That part was wonderful :).

Garmin connect data here.

easy week

Thank goodness it's my easy week. I need it to recover.

Yesterday was an optional day but the weather was SO nice and warm - it made it to 56F (13C) and it seemed like the whole city was out enjoying the sun and the warmth. I was inwardly chuckling since my friend Nyle from New Zealand had just complained that it was "bloody cold" there at 12C :).

So, because the weather was great, I went for a nice bike ride up Emigration Canyon. It was awesome. I didn't go all the way to the top, just up past Ruth's Diner a bit and then turned around. I did just under 18km in 48 min; it's quite a hill so don't laugh at how slow I was!

Garmin connect data here if you want to see the elevation change.

***

Today I was to cross-train, and I overslept my alarm. No problem, I thought, I can just go while the kids are in Mad Science (a NASA program that they are doing on Mondays from 2:45-3:45). Well, I left work a little late, and then 25 min into my workout, Michelle called me on her teacher's phone and said she was hurt. She did not or could not explain what was wrong, so I left immediately and drove to her school from the gym. Turns out she was totally fine...she'd fallen and bruised her elbow. Oh well...so much for my workout. At least I did something.

10K

Originally I was to do 25K today...um, yeah right! Jim said to see how I felt, with 15K as my maximum if I felt good. Well, I didn't feel very good. Not that I'm feeling sick again, but I just am not 100% recovered yet. This 10K was pretty hard for me. I slogged through it and felt pretty tired the whole time, yet it was nice to be out again.

I finished in about 1:04:30ish - I missed about 0.5km after stopping my watch briefly in Liberty Park, so I'm not 100% sure of my time. No matter. I was pretty slow, especially at the end. Now I'm really quite tired, so I'll take it easy the rest of the day as much as a mother of two can.

feeling better

Yesterday I felt terrible. I did not do the scheduled 10K kickdown, nor 10K, or anything else besides working and sleeping. OK, so I did put dinner in the crock pot (an easy soup) so that it was ready when I got home too tired to eat it. I fell asleep on the couch and the kids pestered me to wake up so we could eat dinner! I went to sleep early and slept soundly.

***

Today I actually felt semi-decent when I woke up. I went to the gym and did 30 min on the elliptical! That made me feel even better. We'll see how it goes today, but I think I'm on the mend.