Hot 6K

By many standards it wasn't hot this morning. But it sure felt hot to me. It was 27.2C (81F) at 6:30am. Yep. I think that's the hottest morning I can ever remember here; the cloud cover last night prevented it from cooling off much. Add in 39% humidity (quite high for here; cloud cover again) and it was pretty miserable. I'm sure it slowed me a little, but not too much I don't think. More significant might be my tired legs from yesterday's hike. They didn't feel too awful, but were definitely a bit heavy.

Add in tired pooches and it gets more interesting. As usual, Powder was lollygagging and I was practically dragging her at a few points. I might have to give up on taking her on training walks. I hate to do that as she needs the exercise, but she has to learn to keep up or she'll be relegated to slow walks with me or the kids or Loren later in the day.

I also messed up my Garmin when stopping in the park to pick up after Powder, who decided that the park sidewalk would be a nice place to do her business. Sugar is never that untidy. Sigh... but I lost about 2.5 minutes that way. My total time was approximately 39:30 for the 6K, which isn't too bad at 6:35/km, considering the conditions and my slightly heavy legs.

The fatigue overall seems to be a bit better and now that the big anniversary weekend is over, I'm hoping that I can get back to training hard, if my body will let me. We will see.

Garmin data here (for what it's worth, given the error).

cross-training bonanza!

Sunday: rest day

Monday: elliptical 30 min, then hiking! Took the day off work (will work Friday instead; Friday is the observed Independence Day holiday) and hiked with my uncle, his wife, and my mom. Awesome. We hiked from Alta ski resort base up to Secret Lake, which is at 3011m (9878ft) by my Garmin; the start of the hike was at 2647m (8684ft), so while it wasn't a huge elevation change, it was a good amount. We did go very slowly, since I am the youngest by 17 years! We saw amazing scenery, a mama moose and her baby, lots of wildflowers, and of course the lake. Total distance was about 8.4km.

6K

Yesterday: was going to cross-train, but family activities and stuff I had to do for my parent's 50th anniversary celebration this weekend kind of took over. In addition, I played a wedding in the morning - fun way to celebrate our own 22nd anniversary (yes, we got married on my parents' 28th anniversary). Busy day.

Today: I was supposed to do 12K, but I woke up a bit late (stayed up late working on more 50th stuff for the big dinner tonight) and so I allowed myself to sleep a little later. Well, then it was hot. Quite hot. It's supposed to get to 102F (39C) today; it was 75-80F during my walk (24-26C). I'm not used to that at all (Nyle - insert laughter here) and so I was dragging. Plus my legs felt heavy and tired. I decided that 6K was enough given the conditions, and the fact that I want to get better again not worse. I am OK with this. Baby steps, I guess. Thanks, coach, for being patient with me for a bit as I navigate getting out of the relapse.

Totals: 39:09 for 6:31/km with ave HR 148; I did take a few water/stoplight stops and a couple other brief rests.

Garmin data here. 

Wedding photos:
My parents, married June 26, 1965

Our wedding, June 26, 1993

cross-training; 3K fartlek

Yesterday: 25 min elliptical and bike ride up to work for 35 min hard cardio and 15 min easy.

Today: 3K fartlek. Went to the indoor track and did a 5-lap (each lap = 292.608m) warm-up. Felt really, really tired and sleepy. Ugh! Too much going on this week - it's been completely insane. But...the warm-up went OK and my legs were feeling decent, so I did the fartlek. On the indoor track I do 10 laps, 2 fast, 2 medium effort, 2 fast, 2 medium effort, 2 fast, for 2926m. I did 17:08, which converts to 17:34 for the full 3km. That's faster than my 3km race last weekend...sigh...but it is also flat, and Liberty Park is not flat. Regardless, my intervals of 2 laps convert to 500s of 2:48.7, 3:03.5, 2:49.6, 3:06.7, and 2:50.0. That seems decent enough. BUT also of note: my average HR was very high at 168 and my max was 182. Yikes! Plus, after 2 min my HR was still 136; usually it is more like 120ish after that time. Just data, but a bit alarming.

I've been very tired the rest of the day, but it's impossible to know whether this is from my breakneck pace this week or the mystery illness or both. I need some rest. Hopefully after this weekend it'll happen. Until then...well...I'm hanging on.

Garmin data here.

8K

Sunday: rest day.

Monday: rest day....was up until 3:20am working on an important project. So let's just say that racewalking didn't happen yesterday. I did make it through the day at work OK, but crashed out at home for a couple hours. I know in my current state of tiredness that this was a bad idea, but I didn't really have a choice, as there was a hard deadline on this project.

Today: 8K. Stopped my Garmin to chat with a friend in the park (met Henry, who introduced me to Brant (Brent? Geez I'm bad at names!) and Norma, who I've seen before - she's a cute ~70-80yo woman who carries doggie biscuits in her pocket to hand out to canine friends at Liberty Park on her morning walk/run) and then forgot to start it again. Oops. Missed about 750m, so when I got to 7.25km on my watch I called it quits.

My walk went fine; I was nice and fast to start on the slight downhill to Liberty Park, and then evened out at about 6:30/km, but then about 4.5km Powder (new dog) got tired and I had to pull pretty hard on the leash to keep her going...needless to say, my pace slowed a lot. I stopped to let her rest for a bit at 5km, then got her going a bit farther, then had to stop again. Oddly enough, I think she knows which way home is, because when we turned for home she perked up a bit and I was able to go faster again. So my walk was a bit slow, but it would have been faster w/o the dogs (I'm guessing about 6:25-6:30/km w/o the dogs?). Hopefully I can get Powder in better shape, or I will have to circle back home mid-walk to leave her so that I can go the pace I want with Sugar, who is a good endurance doggie.

My pace was 6:36/km with ave HR 150. Garmin data (missing 0.75km) here. 

I'm feeling OK now, though I am quite sleepy. I think I'm not all the way back on my normal sleep schedule, so if I'm tired that shouldn't surprise me. Hard to say if it's the mystery illness or not. Legs feel fine, thankfully - no weird soreness. I will have a better idea of how this affects me tomorrow, I suspect. A good night's sleep tonight will be critical, so I am going to make sure I'm in bed earlier.

adventures in fatigue...but getting better?

This week started out lousy, but has improved. Sunday = tired, tired tired. Monday = so tired and brain fogged (like jet lag, almost) that I called in sick from work and took a long nap. Tuesday = tired; left work an hour early. Wednesday = felt a little better; managed to do the elliptical for 30 minutes; got brain fog around dinner time, which is better than morning or midday. Thursday = rode bike to camp with kids then to work; felt decent.

Friday I felt like doing some racewalking, so I did 5K in 31:56 with the dogs. It was nice to be out, though I could tell I was a bit rusty, especially in the first km. It felt awkward.

Today: club 3K race (photos: judges, at right; participants, below). Last thing that I wanted to do, honestly. I didn't want to suck, was afraid of how bad I'd be, and was/am afraid of possible aftermath of a hard workout even if it was short. But it went OK and I'm glad I did it because it was fun to see everyone, and though I was slow it could have been lots worse. Liberty Park is NOT perfectly flat, and I figure I'd have been 15-20 seconds faster on a track, so I'm OK with my slowish 17:37. My heart rate averaged 168, and it was a whopping 181 at the finish, so I know I was pushing it hard. Garmin data here.  The 500s are NOT accurate; the only accurate splits are 1km and the finish, which were both measured on this certified course. Somehow I missed the 2km split so that's a guess too.

Someday, maybe, I'll be able to train again and will be back in shape. I am glad I'm feeling a bit better the last few days and am hoping maybe the fatigue will go away? We'll see.

Utah Valley Half Marathon

I've wanted to do this race for a long time, and finally signed up in March...before I knew I'd feel fatigued and have another relapse of the mystery illness. Add in that I promised my friend Alex from NYC that I'd do the race and drive him down there with me, and I was doubly committed. Fortunately, though I've been fatigued, I was still able to finish the race. It's too bad I haven't been feeling good, because this would've been a great full marathon to do. Nice downhill but not too steep, great scenery (canyon, forest, waterfall), well-organized, nice finish area, good medals. 

The one down side of the race was that we had to get up really, really early. It's a 50-55 min drive to Provo, where the buses were loading to the race start, and I had to be there by 4:30am; Alex had to be  at his start by 4:15am at the VERY latest. We decided that arriving by 3:45ish would be good, so we left at 2:55am, which meant getting up at 2:30am. I drank a bit of coffee thinking that'd work OK since I'd have time to use the ports-potty before the race, and that worked out well. It was a bit chilly at the start, up the canyon - maybe 50F? (10C). I found a couple friends, Diane and Marj, who were doing the race, and enjoyed chatting with them for a bit. They are in their 70s and still doing half-marathons and marathons - I love that! 

Pretty soon we threw our gear in the truck for transport to the finish, and the race was on. I tried to start off really easy and kept my HR in the 130s for the first nice downhill mile. I kept it a very easy effort until 7km, and then allowed the effort to get a bit harder until about 15km. Then, my legs pretty much gave up, and though I kept going, I stopped pushing the pace and kept my HR about the same, slowing to the finish. My last 5K was a quite slow 34 min, but I'm OK with that; let's face it - I wasn't at all trained to go more than 15k and I was just happy to know I'd finish. I tripped during mile 11 and almost went down, which scared me a bit. My right shin was very tired and I think I just didn't keep ground clearance well with my right toe. Thankfully, I didn't fall, just was off-balance for a few steps and recovered. It frightened me into being a bit more careful for the rest of the race. 

Recovery has been good so far. I haven't had any weird soreness, just the usual post-race stiffness. I have been tired, but not devastatingly so (yet). I took a 90-min nap this afternoon and that refreshed me quite a bit. Hopefully after a good night's sleep I'll feel pretty good tomorrow. We'll see!

Total time: 2:19:09.6 (official, from website). Yeah, that's slow, but most of the slow was the last 5K, so I'll take it. I'm just glad I could finish today. Average HR was pretty high for that speed at 156, but that just reflects being a bit out-of-shape for the long ones right now, I think. At least I'm not signed up for anything long for a while, so I can recover and maybe start some serious training again. Next race is a 3K on Saturday, then maybe a 3K in August in South Lake Tahoe, and then Portland-to-Coast in August. 

Garmin data here. (12th mile marker was off so that split is wrong).

cross-training...tired...

Yesterday: rode bike to work, slowly, after riding bikes with kids to summer camp.

Today: Was supposed to try 5K fartlek. Overtired. Woke about 30 min late and only had time for 20 min elliptical; besides, was so tired I couldn't imagine a fartlek. Discouraged. Annoyed. Wanting to give up, but also realizing that I might feel better soon. Can't imagine that as I'm so tired right now. After 20 min elliptical I rode my bike to summer camp and work. Legs heavy and tired, but no weird soreness at least.

Half marathon on Saturday? Hahahaha. Well...maybe I'll feel better by then. I can hope.

cross-training

I was in a bad mood last night. I was so very, very tired, and a bit discouraged. I know I'm getting better overall and that my relapses are not as bad, but when I'm tired it's impossible to keep perspective. Well it feels impossible, anyway. So...yeah...I ate stuff I shouldn't have eaten, and allowed myself to pout and feel sorry for myself, which is silly because I have a good life and ought to be grateful.

This morning my pity party was over and I had to figure out what to do next. Rest up, and hope I can do the 1/2 on Saturday. I rode with the kids to summer camp on the new-to-them bikes I purchased for them this weekend. They had outgrown their old ones and were ready for the new ones, which they were so excited to ride this morning! I got out my husband's bike, because it has lower gears than mine, rode with them, and then up to work from there. The hill from camp to work is much steeper than home to work, hence the lower gears. I took it so very, very easy on the way up here, using the granny gears to ensure than my legs were lightly used. I didn't wear my HR monitor but am sure it was pretty low; probably 110-120 most of the time.

Tomorrow or Wednesday I'll do some speed work, and then not much else until Saturday besides light cycling and elliptical. That should be OK.

10K ... tired... :(

Friday - took a rest day because I felt "off". Sleepy by 2pm; hung in at work until 4:30 and came home and crashed. Napped for 45 min. Then of course had trouble falling asleep and woke at 6am Saturday with a bad stomach :(.

Saturday - was supposed to do 15K but between lack of sleep and bad stomach opted for 40 min elliptical instead, which felt great, actually.

Sunday - excited to do 15K this morning. But...my legs begged to differ. I just felt "off" and could only manage 10K in 1:06:40 for 6:40/km. I *could* have gone to 15K, but felt I would end up paying later, so I stopped. Don't know if that was the right call but it probably was. Was tired by 2:30pm and felt horribly sleepy from 4pm onward until now. Going to bed soon.

Now I'm worried about the fact that I'm signed up for a half marathon on Saturday :(. I am very worried I won't be able to do it.

Garmin data here. 

5K fartlek

Yesterday: I felt good, so I did 50 min elliptical. Legs felt quite recovered from the 12K on Tuesday. I did feel a bit sleepy by about 5pm-ish, but that's better than last week when it was more like ~2pm. The fatigue is still there but it's better, I think.

Today: I woke feeling refreshed and ready to go. It was extremely windy this morning and I also didn't feel like working out on the street, because it's not flat. Picky, picky! So I went to the indoor track at the U (292.6 m/lap). I did 5 laps for a warm-up, felt good, and did some dynamic stretching. I felt a lot better today during the warm-up than on Monday, when I abandoned the workout. I was about 20 sec faster on the 5 laps and my body just felt good rather than tired.

When I was ready, I got going on the workout. 17 laps is 4974m, so I did (2 laps fast, 2 medium effort) x 4 and finished with 1 lap fast. My times started off pretty fast, but got slower and my HR was extremely high for the effort this morning. I felt like it was a very hard effort, but didn't feel like it was THAT much effort - ave HR was 166 instead of the usual ~160-161 for this workout. My max was 179 (!) and that seems quite high. I felt reasonably strong, though I was tired for the last ~1.5km or so; I don't know what to make of the high HR, since I felt decent enough and have had no weird soreness at all today. I am a bit fatigued/sleepy tired and hoping to make it through lab meeting without nodding off :) but otherwise feel fine. In addition, I let my watch keep going for 2 min after the workout, and my HR only got down to 133 after 2 min. That also seems high for 2 min recovery, even given my current fitness level.

Total time: 30:04.2 adjusts to 30:13.6 for 5km - slow for how high my HR was. Intervals were 2:49-2:55 for the fasts and 3:07-3:14 for the medium effort, adjusted to 500m. So it was an OK workout overall, and I feel pretty good now, but I am a tad concerned about my heart rate. Seems like I'm not back to feeling good yet, but at least I could do speed work :).

Garmin data here. 

12K

I wasn't sure I had 12K in me, but I did :).

At first I decided I'd go for 6K with the dogs, and then stop by my house to drop them off and re-evaluate how I felt. My dog Powder, the new-to-us-dog, is still not super good on a leash, and she also gets tired after about 6K, so I figured that'd work well. I also woke up a bit late, so I knew I'd also have to check on the kids and make sure they were good to go for school.

I opted for a hillier course because I love SugarHouse Park and really wanted to go there this morning. It was a gorgeous, sunny morning with temps about 16.1C (61F), which feels so warm to me right now. Good thing I don't have any hot races coming up! I decided to just go slowly and not worry about it and just get some distance under my feet. The first 6K was at 6:40 pace but with the hills that seems OK; I did the same course in 6:31/km just before the 15K race and given how I'm feeling this week 6:40 seemed reasonable.

When I got home from the first 6K I dropped off the dogs (Powder was indeed ready to quit!!!) and checked on the kids. Grace needed some help with her outfit for school; they are having a chalk party and are going to get their clothes all covered with dust (something like the Color Run) so she wore an old shirt that had a hole that needed to be safety-pinned :). Calvin needed help restarting the computer because it had crashed during his morning Minecraft time (we allow him 30 minutes before school if he has eaten and made his lunch). After I took care of the kids, I headed out again.

I decided to do the last 6K around Liberty Park, and hit both parks in one morning. Lovely :). I still felt good when I started; around 9K I got quite tired and it was a bit of a slog getting home, but not too awful. It wasn't a death march, and I was so happy to be out doing 12K and enjoying the morning that I didn't mind the tiredness too much. Actually, my last 6K was faster than the first 6K, as I finished at 6:38/km overall.

I had some GI distress for the last ~1km or so but it wasn't too bad. Could have been those cherries I had last night in my protein shake :).

Total time: 1:19:40 for 6:38/km with ave HR 150. No weird soreness after, though my legs are tired and I'm a bit sleepy.

relapse; The Great Inflatable Race

Saturday: not good. Legs off from just riding my bike casually with Calvin to and around SugarHouse Park on Friday night; only 6K with minimal hills (by bike standards). I managed 5K racewalking at a 6:35/km pace and called it quits. I had intended to do 15K. NOT. Then at least some fun awaited; Calvin and I did a 5K called The Great Inflatable Race, with bouncy house type obstacles. It was pretty entertaining, and Calvin absolutely loved it!

Garmin data here 5K RW
Garmin data here TGIR 5K

Sunday: rest day. A bit of DOMS from the inflatable race, but very minor. My triceps are sore, haha! Took a nap, which felt great.

Today: Jim said to try 5x1km if my legs felt good. I did a 5-lap warm-up at the indoor track (~1.5km) and they did not feel good. They felt tired and heavy. I don't think I'm having any weird soreness now, which is good, but I decided it wasn't worth trying it today. So after warming up I did the elliptical for 20 min to get 30 min total of cardio. Have to do SOMETHING or I will gain back the weight I lost. It's a battle.

I'm a bit irritated that I'm having a relapse, but at least it's not as bad as the last one in November. It's been 6.5 months since then, which is longer than I went last time (by a few weeks?) but the relapse isn't as bad. I'm not as sore as I read that I was in November (it's hard to remember so it's good I wrote down how I was feeling).

Oh well. I just need to get good sleep and eat right and hopefully it'll be gone soon. I might try the 5x1km tomorrow if my legs feel better. Or something else if Jim thinks something else is a good idea.

I just want to feel better. Soon.