workout updates

June 25: Easy 5K at Zermatt Resort; 33:12, 6:38/km, ave HR 145. Felt a bit tired, but not bad.

June 26: 45 min elliptical at Zermatt. Felt good.

June 27-29: recovering from huge anniversary party on the 26th (25 years!) and prepping for vacation to Indiana. Stupid busy and stupid tired. Did nothing. Also, feeling pretty ill from not taking the escitalopram; have had to take 2.5mg every few days to just manage, but don't really feel great.

June 30: easy 5K in Grand Junction, CO, where we were camping on the 1st day of vacation. 34:05 for 6:49/km with ave HR??? Forgot my HR monitor :/. My Fitbit says 123 but that's not right...that must include a stop or 2 for photos/rest at 2.5km point.

July 1: rest day - camped in Salina, KS and thunderstorms kept us up much of the night. UGH! I felt lousy.

July 2: easy 6K in Indiana at Laurie's house. SO HUMID. 40:30 for 6:45/km with ave HR 147 according to my Fitbit. Seems close anyway.

July 3: Cross-training - rode Matt's bike outside for 45 min, and went about 19km (11.8 miles). Much more comfortable than walking in that humidity.

July 4: easy 6K in Indiana. Still SO humid. 40:55 for 6:49/km with ave HR 140 according to Fitbit.

July 5: felt lousy. Took another rest day. Just couldn't face the humidity!

July 6: Drove to Peoria, Ill., and met Ollie for lunch. Did 10K at his pace (1:20:53, 8:05/km), which was fine given that it was 27.2C (81F) and 54% humidity, which is high for me (and for Calvin, who tagged along). It was definitely cooler than normal for there in summer, but felt pretty hot to me. I have to do some heat training....(ugh). Maybe when I feel a bit stronger. Then we drove to Keokuk, IA to meet up with my family members (aunt, cousins, etc).

July 7: Finally some good weather! Did 9.5km at 6:54/km and ave HR 131 according to Fitbit, for what it's worth. It was 17.2C (63F) with 77% humidity. It felt really nice out. My legs got really tired at the end, and it was a bit hilly (60m elevation gain along the route), but so nice to do a bit of a nostalgia tour of where my grandparents used to live, and where my parents went to high school. Then we drove all day and camped in Ogallala, Nebraska.

July 8: rest day - driving home! Got home about 6pm and made dinner. Felt very nauseated/headachy/dizzy so took 2.5mg escitalopram. Felt better later in the evening.

July 9: Legs were really off from being in the car so much, but went out for a walk anyway. It was warm at 23.9C (75F) and quite humid for Utah at 54%, and my legs were definitely annoyed with me, and I felt sluggish. 6K at 6:58/km with ave HR 139. In other news, signed up for WMA 2018 in Malaga, even though I'm deathly slow. Maybe I'll feel better by then. Maybe I won't. I won't be last, so I'll probably compete. I'm having trouble getting excited about the trip to Spain, and sorta wishing I hadn't bought the tickets, except that my kids and hubby are super excited to go. Sigh....I was hoping this mystery illness thing would be better by now.

July 10: Knew I had to do some speed work, and am finally feeling semi-human from decreasing the escitalopram (though not 100% by any means). Jim had tasked me with a 5K fartlek at 85% effort for the previous day, but because of vacation did it one day late. Wow, was I ever slow, but hey, I'm just grateful I could do it. 33:30 for 6:38/km with ave HR 152.

July 11 (today): Cross-training. Rode my bike to work, uphill...about 25 min of good cardio. Then home (flying!).

cross-training; 5K fartlek

Yesterday: elliptical, rode bike to work. I also did this on Monday, and my hamstring was totally fine with the biking uphill. But yesterday it was bothering me a bit during the bike ride, which I thought was a bit odd. It's not like hamstring is the #1 muscle you use while bicycling. Hmmm. The good news is that it felt 100% fine last night and this morning before my 5K fartlek, so I am pretty sure I didn't aggravate it.

Today: 5K fartlek. Went to Taylorsville High track to meet Kelly. Track was LOCKED. ARRRRRGH. So we had coffee, and skipped the workout. The end.

Not really! We had coffee, and afterward I went home and got ready for work and took the bus to campus and worked out at the indoor track, showered, and walked to work. I did the 5K fartlek.

The warm-up was fine and I felt very good. Pain was limited to 1/10, and my legs felt energetic this morning. I did a few PT exercises and some dynamic drills and got going on the fartlek. I did about the same as I did 2 weeks ago when I did the 5K fartlek, speed-wise, only today I had less pain. It was consistently 1/10 with only the occasional 2/10. Yes to that! The speed will come. I gotta keep believing that!

Total time was a slowish 30:19.8, which = 30:29.3 for the full 5000m. Splits were 2:53-2:58 adjusted for hard effort 500s and 3:07-3:13 for medium effort 500s. Yes, slow, but I am trying not to care about that. Just getting it done.

Garmin data here. 

hamstring relapse

Yeah, well, it's still not much better, so I guess it's a relapse. But I'm feeling OK about it. Not much I can do to change things at this point!

At PT on Friday I told my PT about the increase in pain, and he advised x-training on Saturday instead of 18K. After consulting with Jim, we decided to do 8K instead. That was all right I guess. No way I would've made it 18K - the 8K was definitely uncomfortable, with pain 2/10 and occasionally a 3/10 - I should have stopped sooner, possibly, as this is the worst the pain has been in a while. But it felt better on Sunday after some anti-inflammatories and resting, and I rode my bike to work on Sunday afternoon with no ill effects, enjoying the good weather before the snow came today. Spring snow...oh yay! Oh, and I was slow on Saturday as you might have guessed - 6:39/km for the 8km; I started much quicker but had to slow down because of pain, not because of fitness.

Monday: did elliptical and PT exercises, felt OK.

Today: tested the hammy out with 6K on the Jordan River Parkway with Kelly (!). Yeah, Kelly actually came with me! She's working this week which made it even nicer that she made the effort. She ran, and I racewalked. My pain was better than Saturday; 1-2/10, probably more 2 than 1 but no 3, and afterward it feels OK. I forgot to wear my Garmin, but Kelly had hers. We did 39:38 for 6:36/km. The weather was lousy! 4C (40F) with wind and rain - starting with a drizzle but turning to pretty steady rain by the time we got back. But I was dressed for it and so it was OK.

cross-training; 3x800/200

Yesterday: rode bike to work and also did a brisk casual walk to and from coffee with a friend in SugarHouse.

Today: met Kelly at the track for 3x800/200 (she was just doing an easy 45 min). I warmed up a bit sluggishly in 10:26; had only 5 hr sleep so maybe that had something to do with it :)? Also, it was SO VERY VERY WINDY. Garmin website says 18kph but I am sure it was more than that, from the east. It was insanely windy. Normally I'd have taken it indoors, but this workout doesn't work on a 292m track with no markings, and Kelly would've had to pay $6 to get in, so I just did it outside anyway. At the end of the workout I took a picture of the flag - see? It was WINDY.

I did some dynamic stretches and then some bridges to activate my glutes and off I went. The workout went pretty well, I thought. Some speed is coming back, though I have a ways to go to get back to where I was 2.5 years ago (feels like a lifetime ago) before I got sick. Still, baby steps!

The 800/200s work like this: 800m, rest 30 sec, 200m, rest 2 min, repeat. Simple, but good for the fast-twitch muscles.

My times were as follows: 4:34.2, 59.0, 4:32.8, 59.2, 4:32.7, 59.8. Very consistent and decent speed. I was glad I only had three, though. My legs were kinda tired after that!

Garmin data here. 

8K, 14K

Thursday: cross-training; rode bike to work and did 30 min elliptical too.

Friday: 8K easy with Kelly on the JRP. My legs were tired to start, but perked up after 2k. I was pleased with the workout and felt good when we finished. I did 6:24/km for a total of 51:18 with ave HR 143. Garmin data here.

Today: Was to do 12K, but I still have delusions of grandeur and want to do the 20K on October 25, even if it's at an easy pace. So when my legs felt good, I added another 2km and did a total of 14km. Plus I was nice & fast and my heart rate was very reasonable at an average of 146; however, I did have to stop a lot for the dog (pooped THREE times!!! - apparently she's been saving it up since we moved?) and for drinks at the water fountains, and because I ran into a work friend on the JRP, so my HR would've been a little higher if I'd gone continuously. Regardless, I felt very good the whole time and pulled off 6:16/km for 1:27:51. I'm super happy with that. Garmin data here. 

My toe is still sore and tender, but it only bothers me a bit when I racewalk. Otherwise, things are going very well. My hamstring seems to have improved.

3K fartlek - struggle

Monday & Tuesday: bike to work; elliptical.

Today: Was to do an 8K fartlek. I woke up feeling great (really!) and well-rested, and was happy to go to the track. Calvin came along because he says he actually wants to learn to racewalk, which I am very excited about :)! Kelly met us there for a workout, as she was going to RW for about 45 min or so. I warmed up, and felt very sluggish on the warm-up. I was slow, and my legs just wouldn't move. They didn't feel tired at all - it was weird - they just didn't have any get-up-and-go. I don't know how to explain it. My warm-up was a slow 10:23, though I did do a couple 32-33 second 100m strides, which is pretty normal for my warm-up. 

I stretched a bit and did bridges to activate my glutes, and got going. I figured I might do well - you never know - sometimes you have a bad warm-up and everything goes great. And sometimes, well, sometimes it's like it was today. I had NOTHING. My times were 2:57, 2:57, 3:12, 2:57, 3:17 (!), and 2:56 for 18:16. Yeah...really bad. No sense in beating a dead horse, so I called it quits. You have to know when to not beat your body, and if it's just not responding, sometimes the rest is better.

Garmin data here. 

I'm VERY disappointed though, and frustrated with my body. I did so well last week on the 6K fartlek, and to have this happen is a real bummer. There's nothing I can do about it though. I have been pretty relaxed and taking the stress of the last week in stride, and my resting HR has been nice and low - consistently 50-51 according to my Fitbit. Despite all the work being done on the house in preparation for closing, I've felt decent and not too anxious. But I guess the physical strain on my body from dismantling the garage, moving a whole bunch of stuff, cleaning up the yard, packing, etc. etc. etc. has done a number on me. SO ANNOYING. I really want to train hard. I might not be able to do the 20K on Oct 25, and might have to do the 5K instead, which would really be disappointing. I'm going to wait until the end of next week to decide, though. Maybe once we move I'll perk up? Meanwhile, I'm just going to do what I can. 

Good news, though: we closed on the house (old home) this morning :)! Friday we close on the new house :). Friday & Saturday we are moving stuff, and Monday night we get to sleep there for the first time (the seller needs until Monday to stay there). Exciting stuff!

news, news, and more news

I've been absent from blogging-land because 1) I severely bruised my toe last Tuesday moving a bookshelf to our new house when a shelf fell out and landed on my toe, point side down (we had to move our stuff out of our garage to the new garage so we could demolish the old garage), and 2) we have been completing repairs/upgrades to the house necessary for the contract to go through.

So...what have I been up to?

Wednesday: rode my bike to work, and my toe was sore but manageable. Got it x-rayed and it was NOT broken! YAY! It sure looked ugly though:


Thursday: rode bike to work and did the elliptical.

Friday: rode bike to work; too busy to do anything else, and too tired, after demolishing the garage on Thursday AND moving ALL the stuff out of the kids' rooms so that new carpet could go in on Friday morning.

Saturday: Felt like it might be possible to racewalk, so I met Kelly at the Jordan River Parkway for an easy 45 minutes. We did 7K and it felt mostly fine - a bit sore, but totally tolerable. Pace was 6:28/km and it felt a bit hard; my legs were tired from demolishing the garage Thursday. Garmin data here. 

Sunday: Kelly was going to do 60 min easy, and I agreed to go along. She wanted to be able to go slowly, so we kept it relaxed and didn't push, which was fine with me because my legs were still very tired. We did go slowly but that's OK, and my toe was doing all right. Again, some pain, but not bad. We did 9km at 6:39/km pace. Garmin data here. 

Today: biked to work and did elliptical. Toe still lightly sore. It looks a lot better though.

Tomorrow: 8K fartlek on the schedule. Here's hoping I'm up to it :).

6K fartlek

Sunday: 45 min elliptical at Kelly's gym.

Monday: 35 min elliptical at the U, then biked to work.

Today: 6K fartlek. Kelly met me at the East High track. The normal entrance was locked, but fortunately the west entrance was unlocked. I hope they continue to let the public use the track; now that they have upgraded the football field they might be afraid that it will get damaged. But I have noticed that the public is very respectful of this facility, and I hope they keep it open.

The weather was quite warm this morning for this time of year, and it felt really nice. It was 13.9C (57F) and calm and clear. I did a very easy first lap and then sped up a bit, doing the usual 1600m warm-up with 2x100m strides in the last lap, in 10:23. Then I stretched (dynamic stretches) and then Kelly ran me through some bridges and clamshells to activate my glutes. It's really nice to have one's own personal PT!!!! And as a bonus, I had very little trouble with my hamstring; it was a bit touchy on the warm-up, but didn't bother me too much at all on the fartlek. My left foot was a bit sore yesterday, but it was totally fine on the workout as well.

Kelly warmed up with me, jogging, but then jogged slowly while I did the fartlek and cheered me on. She is just working on getting back in shape and racewalked pretty hard on Monday, so she needed a break today.

The fartlek went really well! My fast 500s were all 2:50-2:52, and my medium effort 500s were 3:05-3:13. I'd like the mediums to be faster, but that's coming. I made it to 5K in 29:45, only 17 seconds slower than my race last Saturday. Obviously I was feeling better today, for whatever reason. Total time was 35:52, and I'm quite happy with that, as it's 45 seconds faster than last week :). Splits below.

Garmin data here. 

1	02:52.5	02:52.5	144	155
2	02:52.7	05:45.2	158	163
3	03:05.5	08:50.7	157	163
4	02:50.5	11:41	164	166
5	03:08.8	14:50	161	166
6	02:51.4	17:41	166	168
7	03:10.5	20:52	162	168
8	02:50.6	23:42	168	171
9	03:11.4	26:54:00	164	171
10	02:51.6	29:45:00	169	172
11	03:13.5	32:59:00	164	172
12	02:52.7	35:52:00	169	173
Summary	35:52:00	35:52:00	162	173

6K fartlek

Sunday: biked to work. Worked for an hour, biked home, went to church, came back to work for several hours. Lots to do! Was extremely fatigued in the evening.

Yesterday: biked to work & did elliptical. A bit tired in the evening but not like Sunday night.

Today: 6K fartlek. Kelly met me at the track just as I was finished warming up (1600m plus strides in 10:13, with bridges before, during, and after warm-up to activate glutes). It was warm at 20C (68F) and very, very windy. Garmin says 19kph steady (12mph) but I think it was more at the track than at the airport, plus it was gusty. Ugh!!! If it had been just me I'd have taken this one indoors, as the wind was definitely a hindrance. It wasn't as windy as it was on my last leg of Portland-to-Coast, though, so that was a relief.

The fartlek went OK; not as good as last week, but the wind totally explains that. I was pretty slow on the "fasts" and on the recoveries. Total was 36:37; here are my splits (below) and my accumulated times as well as average and max HR for each split. Garmin data here. Given the weather, I'll take it.

1	02:53.7	02:53.7	146	156
2	02:55.0	05:48.6	159	163
3	03:09.6	08:58.2	158	163
4	02:54.0	11:52	165	168
5	03:14.5	15:07	160	167
6	02:55.6	18:02	165	169
7	03:14.8	21:17	162	168
8	02:57.1	24:14:00	166	169
9	03:13.7	27:28:00	164	169
10	02:58.9	30:27:00	168	171
11	03:13.8	33:41:00	165	171
12	02:56.3	36:37:00	169	173
Summary	36:37:00	36:37:00	162	173

My hamstring was bothering me a bit but definitely not as much as last week, so I'm happy about that. Iced it and massaged it with tennis ball after the workout. I thought A LOT about my form, about using lower abs to keep posture good and tuck my rear end under. I think it helped, along with the bridges to activate my glutes.

Oh, and the stress is going to be better now I think: came to an agreement with house buyers on repairs/upgrades to be done. Now to just do the work and get on to our move!

cross-training; 3x1km

Yesterday: cross-training. Biked to work and did the elliptical.

Today: 3x1km. Nice weather - 59F (15C) calm and clear. I did a warm-up for 1600m with strides in 10:14. For lack of better words, I still have a pain in my left butt :(. It's not better, but not really worse either. It got better as I warmed up but was still bugging me a bit even on my 3rd 1km repeat. I'm getting more worried about it, but...not sure what to do. It only bothers me when I racewalk, at least.

The workout went fine. Not fast, but good enough. My 1km repeats were in 5:43.0, 5:44.9, 5:44.7, with HR maxing out at 171 on the last repeat. Recovery HR during the 2 min recoveries were about 115 each time, which is great.

Garmin data here. 

Tomorrow: 14K!

Thursday-Sunday: rest, x-train, 5K, 14K

Thursday: was supposed to do a 6K fartlek, but work on the house had kept me up late, AND the kids brought home some stomach virus on Tuesday that made me nauseated Wednesday night and weak on Thursday morning. I bailed and took a rest day, which was a good decision.

Friday: cross-training - biked to work and did the elliptical at the gym at the Student Life Center.

Saturday: was going to do 14K, but took Calvin out for the first 5K and my legs and body were really tired from the week's accumulated house stress, work stress, etc. I'm not going into detail here about everything but let's just say that a lot of physical labor and related stress does bad things to one's body. The 5K was laborious but it was nice to be out with Calvin. Garmin data here (though the satellite didn't kick in for 100m so it says 4.9k but it was 5.0k); 33:01 for 5K - sloooooow but done.

Sunday: after feeling mad at myself for not doing the 14K, I determined that I would do it today. And I did! And it went all right! It wasn't fast, but I felt pretty strong until about 12k and then that last 2km uphill was tiring but I still had some spunk left in me to kick it in gear, and I finished well I think. I made myself NOT think about house stuff, NOT think about work stuff, NOT think about whether or not I'd be able to train and go to Perth for WMA next year. Just stay in the moment, and enjoy the crisp fall weather. We had a cold front come through and it was so nice and refreshing out this morning. Saturday morning it was 22.8C (73F) for my 5K, but this morning was a huge contrast at 8.9C (48F) for my 14K. It was delightful!!! Calm, clear, and beautiful. I tried to really enjoy it, and mostly succeeded. Total time 1:31:33 for 6:32/km with ave HR a nice low 142. Garmin data here. 

tired 8K; cross-training

My legs felt good and recovered after Portland-to-Coast; Sunday there was some muscle soreness of the garden variety but by Monday I felt good and did the elliptical and biked to work.

Yesterday I ventured out for 8K, and it was warm out at 72F (22.2C). My legs felt tired and sluggish, and I was slow; the last km was particularly heavy and tired. Well...it's done. 52:59 for 6:37/km with ave HR only 138. Garmin data here. 

As part of work yesterday I had to drive to BYU in Provo to pick up a plasmid we need from a lab there. I really don't enjoy driving, and there's a lot of construction on I-15. The drive went fine, and my legs felt totally fine (yay!) but I think it wore me out some more.

Did a bunch more stuff on the house yesterday after work, and stayed up too late doing it. Feeling it today, but still managed to bike to work and do elliptical on the way up. I have a 6K fartlek tomorrow and hope to do it well, but I confess am concerned that my body is a bit worn-out from the race, the travel, and the house stuff/stress. I'm doing pretty well with the stress management compared to a week ago, but it's still not easy. Hanging in there.

10K

Sunday: rest day

Monday: was supposed to do 6K + 5x200 but mixed up the workouts in my head and woke up a bit late so I cross-trained instead (biking, elliptical). It's been busier than usual around here because we might buy a larger home a block away and we've been crazy looking at homes, talking to realtors, etc. etc. etc.

Today: got up on time and did my 10K, darn it!!! I was to try for 6:10-6:15 pace, but I only managed 6:18. I tried really hard, but just didn't have the legs for it today. I was at 6:15 at 7.5km but then slowed down and just couldn't hold it. However, 6:18 is still pretty good. I left my heart rate monitor chest strap at work so I just had my Fitbit and manual HR counting, but it was mostly in the mid to upper 150s and even low 160s at the end, so I was trying plenty hard. I am obviously feeling the effects of various life stresses upon returning home from vacation, and am working to manage it better, but it's a skill that is going to take some time. Work is insane because we are moving the lab this Friday, and there's a lot of pressure to do experiments because we have two papers under revision. Home is insane because of the whole possible house purchase. But I'm actually holding up pretty well and don't feel too anxious most of the time. I'm trying to stay in the moment and just go with things.

Garmin data here for the 10K.

learning from mistakes

Yesterday: biked to work (~25 min) plus 40 min elliptical on the way up at the Student Life Center. Then work was crazy; lab move postponed most likely until next Friday because they cannot get the occupancy permit before then as they are running behind schedule. But of course they couldn't be bothered to tell us that until we'd already packed half the lab. Grrrrr.

Last night: had a very nice dinner out with Loren at Fleming's. Drank some wine and ate a bit more than I probably should have. Then stayed up too late watching TV with him. This was all relaxing and excellent and probably OK in itself....but....then the dogs barked a lot last night and I had to get up in the middle of the night to put them downstairs so they'd stop, and I had terrible, restless sleep. My Fitbit said that I was restless/awake for 30 min, and 16 times. I believe it.

Today: I woke up feeling just awful. Decided I'd try to walk anyway. It was ugly...I was to do 15K, but I started out with 6K of hills around SugarHouse Park and I just had nothing in the tank. I was very slow (~6:45) and when I got home I wisely chose to listen to my body and stop. My resting HR was up a bit this morning (probably because of the crappy sleep) and though I am 95% sure the crappy walk was due to poor sleep plus overeating a bit last night (plus the wine?), the 5% uncertainty that maybe it's not just that made me stop. That was a good call. I'm really sleepy now...had to go in to work a bit this morning, and I think I'm going to nap later. My legs feel fine. Will talk it over with my coach and see if I should try to do 15K tomorrow instead, or just stick to the schedule.

8K; cross-training

Yesterday: A nice fast-ish 8K. Was supposed to do that on Thursday this week, but my legs felt really good, so I just went with it. 8K in 50:34 for 6:19/km with ave HR 142. This is really good and makes me feel more optimistic. However, later in the day I was super tired; I have this feeling it's more work stress/home stress than the workout though. It's been a bit crazy here. Nothing bad, just busy. Garmin data here. 

Today: Woke not feeling right. Stressed and just feeling off, so decided to do the planned 5K fartlek tomorrow instead. I think I am learning to be more flexible with myself when I need to be; if nothing else, my illness is teaching me how to slow down when I have to. Unfortunately, life doesn't slow down for training. Not when you're a lab manager with 2 kids. So, I did a warm-up of 3 laps, wasn't feeling it (glutes a bit sore-ish?) and switched to elliptical instead, and rode my bike to work.

10K

Sunday: biked to church; otherwise, rest day.

Monday: 20 min elliptical + biked to work (hard uphill).

Today: 10K racewalking. Nice weather!!! Finally cooled off a bit and was 68F (20C) when I went out this morning. It felt pretty good; a bit warm, but didn't impair performance. My legs felt decent, getting a little tired around 8km (was 6:29/km by 8km) and getting to 10km (slight uphill for 2km) at 1:05:20 for 6:32/km with ave HR 151. I focused very hard on my posture. I knew I wasn't going to be fast today and was tempted to get upset about it, but remembered that I need to 1) stay positive, and 2) be less anxious. So I set a goal of getting to 10km with good form and to heck with the time. That worked out pretty well. I had a bit of a scare at 1.5ish km, tripping on a sidewalk crack, but I caught myself and didn't fall. Then I slipped on some wet plant material in a gutter, but again caught myself. Crazy. All in all, I'm glad to be feeling good and hopefully training hard again soon.

Garmin data here. 

cross-training

I was supposed to do 3x1km today. I felt OK, but I'm still recovering from the weekend and woke up late and grouchy. I managed to do the elliptical for 20 min instead, and also biked to work. Overall my fatigue levels are much better, and my resting HR appears to be trending down, according to my fitbit, but I'm just being cautious. I will do the 3x1km tomorrow and then I have a 5K race on Saturday to get in some more speed work.

My motivation has been low - I'm afraid of feeling worse, and heck, even when I'm feeling good, I'm not that good. Of course I tend to compare myself to the best women my age in the world. But I know some of them, so it's hard not to. I'm trying to just feel my way back right now. Today, the elliptical was all I had the mental energy for (kids were horrid this morning...there was a party last night, which always wears me out...etc.). But I haven't given up.

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.

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.

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.