6K + 5x200

This morning I did 6K plus 5x200. Took the dogs for the 6K and the first 200 and then tied them to a tree while I did the remaining 4. They are just NOT into speed work (more on that later).

The 6K felt fine, with my legs feeling a bit fresher than they did yesterday, which isn't surprising considering my activities on Monday (hiking & 10K race!). I did it at 6:32/km with ave HR 145.

Then I started on the 200s. It makes sense to take the dogs with me on the first 200m since then I go back and forth on the street and end up where I tie them up. However, they (especially Powder) really don't like to go fast, especially after 6km. I ended up half dragging Powder down the street - it must have been funny to watch - and only did 1:07 on the first 200m. The others were faster, and I did all 5 in 5:26. I have to get my fast twitch muscles back in gear, because that's pretty sad! But I'm OK with it. It was nice to be out this morning; a bit warm at 23-24C (73-75F) but dry and calm and clear.

My hamstring bothered me a bit at the end of the 6K and especially on the last 50m of each 200. It was all right at work despite some prolonged sitting at the confocal microscope, so I'm not too worried, just noting it. I'm happy that it's continued to improve.

8K w/5x200@85%; 10K kickdown

Yesterday: 8K w/5x200m @85%. Legs felt tired from all the weekend landscaping/home improvement. Got out there anyway and did the workout. Weather was amazing at 13.9C (57F) and calm and clear. Calvin came with me (yay!) and regaled me with snippets of funny YouTube videos. We brought the dogs, but regretted bringing Powder, as she was totally lagging. She did that last time too...I guess she's not a distance dog. We are both so annoyed with her that she might be relegated to casual walks.

Other than that, the walk went well. I did 6:25/km for 51:22 with ave HR 142. Then I did the 200s. Calvin did them too :). I did them a bit harder than 85%. It took me 5:28 to do all 5, which was decent I guess. Calvin did his in 3:59!!! He's getting to be a good runner.

Garmin data here and here.

Today: I woke up with tired legs. I think they were tired from the weekend's yard work/house work plus from yesterday's walk, especially the 200s. I was apprehensive and definitely thinking too much. Calvin volunteered to come along to encourage me; he was worried I'd go too fast for him but I told him that even my fastest would not be a challenge for him and that was true. At least the weather was very, very nice. It was 12.2C (54F) and calm and clear. Perfect.

I started off and my Garmin was off on the first 500m, as it sometimes is. Annoying! It had me down for 3:45 and I am sure it was more like 3:15 pace. No matter. I kept going and though my legs were slow to warm up, I did the first 2.5km in 16:56 (though I'm guessing it was really more like 16:30...darn the track for being closed!).  Then next 2.5km was in 15:59, and I wondered how I'd go faster - thought my legs were pretty dead. But I turned off my brain and found another gear. Calvin encouraged me a lot especially on the last 2.5km :) :) :). The next 2.5km was in 15:32 and the last in 15:08. OK, that's kinda slow, but we're starting where we are starting, and that's what came out. I was working SO hard and my HR was 168 at the end, so I was really burning it. Total time was a very slow 63:33 (63:03???? Not sure about that first 500m) but hey, I got it done. Next time it'll be easier.

Hamstring: felt good except afterward I walked the dogs, and Powder stopped suddenly to sniff a dead bird; I fell over and pulled it a bit :( :( :(. It was sore at work but not too awful and I think it'll be OK. I am really annoyed because I made it through the whole weekend of yard work keeping it safe. Oh well.

Garmin data here. 

8K fartlek

Today was a little too interesting. I planned to go to the track at 6:10am with Calvin. At 6:08, Calvin reported dog poop upstairs. Oh yay! Even better, when I investigated, it was 5 puddles of diarrhea. Even more oh yay! So I got out the carpet cleaner (2 dogs + 2 kids = a necessity), and cleaned up. Of course, by that time it was 6:30 and too late for C to come along. Just as well, since when I arrived at the track I saw this:

The bottom photo has a sign that says "Track Closed For Resurfacing". It needs it badly, but it sure would have been nice if they had given some warning to the public, and I have no idea how long it'll be closed. Oh yay again. 

So I went home, and executed plan B. Go to work, start my experiments, then go work out, and go back and finish up. Plus the late-night part where I get to go in tonight because there's more to do. 

I ended up at the indoor track by 8:45 am, and did my 8K fartlek: 3 laps hard, then 2 medium/2 hard until lap 27 = 7900.4m. It went about as well as it probably could have, which is the very good news. I was very consistent and paced it better than I thought possible at this point. My splits were pretty good - see below - fasts were 500m equivalent of 2:56-3:00 and mediums were 3:09-3:15, which is lots better than the last couple weeks. Total was 48:27 which works out to 49:03 for the full 8km had I been on the outdoor track, with the typical average HR of 160. I was pushing very hard at the end and it averaged 170 on the last split. Not bad.

Hamstring? Very little pain. Mostly no pain, but some intervals it was 1/10. No foot pain. My legs did get pretty tired but I was able to keep the pace. I'll take it for now. Still slow, but improving. 

Splits	Time	Cumulative Time	Avg HR	Max HR	878/585m	1k/500m equivalent
1	01:40.0	01:40.0	137	153
2	01:44.0	03:24.0	153	156
3	01:43.9	05:07.8	157	159	05:07.9	05:50.7
4	01:50.9	06:58.7	155	159
5	01:50.2	08:48.9	155	156	03:41.1	03:09.0
6	01:43.9	10:33	160	163
7	01:45.0	12:18	163	164	03:28.9	02:58.5
8	01:52.2	14:10	159	162
9	01:53.3	16:03	155	156	03:45.5	03:12.7
10	01:43.9	17:47	160	165
11	01:44.6	19:32	166	167	03:28.5	02:58.2
12	01:51.9	21:24	160	167
13	01:51.6	23:15	159	161	03:43.5	03:11.0
14	01:43.4	24:59:00	165	168
15	01:43.3	26:42:00	168	170	03:26.7	02:56.7
16	01:50.2	28:32:00	159	170
17	01:53.0	30:25:00	162	163	03:43.2	03:10.8
18	01:44.2	32:09:00	166	170
19	01:45.9	33:55:00	168	170	03:30.1	02:59.6
20	01:53.4	35:48:00	162	168
21	01:52.7	37:41:00	162	163	03:46.1	03:13.2
22	01:46.4	39:28:00	166	169
23	01:44.3	41:12:00	169	171	03:30.7	03:00.1
24	01:53.3	43:05:00	160	169
25	01:54.6	45:00:00	161	163	03:47.9	03:14.8
26	01:44.9	46:45:00	166	169
27	01:42.7	48:27:00	170	172	03:27.6	02:57.4
Summary	48:27:00	48:27:00	160	172		49:03:39

10K; improving?

I think I'm improving :).

Today I did 10K on the Jordan River Parkway (JRP) with Kelly and Sugar. Pain levels were mostly 1 with sometimes 2, and not increasing during the workout. Yay! Legs felt fine all the way to the end, unlike on Saturday when the last km was quite tiring (which is why I stopped; tired + possible resultant bad form = possible injury aggravation). Now, I was very slow today, but I started off slow and not feeling great mentally, and picked it up at the end - we barely negative split the workout. Besides, I'm OK with being slow because I did the distance and the pain wasn't bad. If I can train again hard soon, speed will come (I keep telling myself that).

I'm proud of this workout because I really wanted to quit in the first 3-4km. Kelly and I were both feeling mentally blah, and somehow kept each other going. I am getting to the point with this injury that I'm almost like "Why bother?" because RW is just going to hurt and I will be very slow because I can't train hard enough to get faster. So it was critical to get through a workout in good stead. I told myself this one was critical because I need to do 15km on Saturday so I can do the SL 1/2 on the next Saturday. Now of course if my injury had bothered me I'd have stopped, but endurance-wise I knew I needed to find a way to make this work. After about 4km though I felt better and got my second wind. I tired a little at 9km but it wasn't bad, just a little bit. 1:07:21 for 6:44/km with ave HR 142.

We celebrated with a trip to Mimi's Cafe for breakfast. I was well-behaved and ate steel cut oats and some turkey sausage and lots of COFFEE :). Mmmmm, warm tasty goodness. The weather was nice outside (7.2C = 45F) and calm and clear, but it was still chilly in damp clothing after stopping, so the coffee was awesome.

Got back to the car after breakfast to see this, which made me laugh out loud, literally :). I wish she could've driven me home :)!

16K! (10 miles!)

OK, so I was slow, but I made it 10 miles for the first time since my hamstring injury in early December. I'm inching my way back, bit by bit.

 The weather was gorgeous this morning - so unusually warm - just enjoyed it for all it was worth, since it's pretty much guaranteed to snow several more times. It was 52F by my iPhone but Garmin says it was 55F (12.8C), so I dunno. But either way, it was shorts and T-shirt and no gloves weather! YAY! Calvin came along and planned to do 10K with me and the dogs, but then he was feeling really good and talked me into changing our route and we ended up doing 11K together, leaving only 5K for me to finish alone. Nice! I am very much enjoying his company as he actually loves to run and loves being outside. His commentary on everything cracks me up and entertains me as I train. Plus he's pretty silly - here's a photo of him climbing the railroad ties at 600 East at the S-line (~2500 South); I had stopped there to put Powder's poop bag in a trash can, turned around, and then he was up there. Haha!

I felt pretty good this morning. My pain was 0-2/10, mostly 1, some 0, some 2. Kind of the usual as of late. It felt better than last week's 15K, probably because I didn't do as much sitting the day before? Though I did some sitting last night, but it wasn't too bad. My legs held up pretty well until about 13.5K when they got kind of tired, but I was still able to push a bit until 16K. And yeah, I was slow, but was faster than last week. That counts for something right? 

I don't think I got as tired as the dogs. Powder went 11K and Sugar did all 16K. Now they are really not interested in moving much (photo at left) :).

1:45:55 for 16K (6:37/km) with ave HR 144. 

decent 8K

Yesterday: Yoga for runners, the hard version, followed by lounging at Seaport Village and Coronado Island. Tough day ;). Flew home last night and managed to get to sleep by 11pm, which isn't too awful, but it was later than I'd have liked.

Today: when the alarm went off at 5:50-ish I wasn't at all ready to get out of bed (darn time zone thing - that is 4:50-ish in San Diego!). But I managed to get up and get out the door for 8K with Calvin and the dogs. That part was awesome. I love having company, and since Kelly isn't training with me much with all her wedding preparations, it is nice to have Calvin along (and we put on the SAME shirt, coincidentally! (our Cold Turkey 2014 shirts)). The weather was great too - warm! 6.1C (43F) and calm and cloudy. My legs were feeling a bit sore in the glutes from the yoga (good!) but it didn't seem to hurt my workout at all. In fact, Calvin noticed I was speedier today, and I was. Not that I was fast, but finally I did 6:30/km again! I did the 8K in 52:04 with ave HR 144; however, the HR would've been higher had I not had to stop FOUR (yes FOUR) times for dog poop pickup. Geez. Stupid dogs! It was like they saved up all weekend for me to come back and take them racewalking or something.

Oh, and some good news: pain level today was frequently ZERO, though it was also 1/10 for a good part of the walk. Still, it's better. I am working hard on technique every time I'm out there.

Garmin data here. 

cross-training; 10K

Yesterday: cross-training, coach's orders. I did 45 min elliptical.

Today: 10K. Not even 500m into the workout I tripped (over the dog? over my own feet?) and went down, hard. I put my hands down (duh! - but in my defense it happened SO fast) but thankfully was wearing gloves (which didn't even rip - yay!) and also hit my right kneecap pretty hard. I didn't rip my tights though :) and the only residual problem is a bruise, amazingly enough. I got up and shook it off and was able to do the whole 10K, no problem.

Calvin came with me for the first 8K, as he is training for the Canyonlands 5-miler in March. I'm doing the half marathon (easy pace), assuming that my hamstring is up for it. I think it will be. I hope it will be. We brought along both dogs, and they were super well-behaved. We did have to make a pit stop for Calvin in Liberty Park, and I nearly froze waiting for him to use the porta-potty. It wasn't unusually cold, but after you've been working out for 20 min your clothes are sweaty and stopping makes you more cold! It was -2.2C (28F) with a little breeze, and my face was very cold. After you've been out a while in that weather your face muscles get a little numb and you slur your words a bit at times. It's amusing :).

A bit past 5K we found a sandwich, purchased from a store and wrapped, right in the middle of the road. Bummer for the person who lost it! The dogs thought it was super interesting and Calvin tortured Sugar a bit with it, but then I made him throw it out in a nearby trash can. Our dogs tend to get overweight so we can't feed them that much people food.

Good news: other than my knee, nothing hurt too much. My hamstring was a lot better today, and pain was 0-1/10. Sometimes it hurt a little bit, and sometimes not at all. I worked hard on my technique and continue to do my PT exercises. I thought a lot about stance width, cadence, using my glutes, and keeping my posture upright using my abs. I think it helped.

Total time 1:06:27 for 6:39/km with average HR just 144.  Not fast, but I'll take it, with the pain levels better :).

6K

Good news - we are now under contract on our house. One step closer to moving :). It's been crazy, and there is still more to come, as the house has to be inspected and negotiations with buyers over what should be fixed follows. Hopefully the buyers will be reasonable people and we will get through all of this with a minimum of stress.

***

This morning, I did 6K. Portland-to-Coast is this Friday & Saturday, so I am taking it easier this week in preparation. The 6K went fine; I felt much more relaxed than I have because I was less worried about the house business :). I took both dogs, though, and Powder was dragging her feet as usual. I probably would've been 5-10 sec faster per km if not for dragging her part of the way when she got tired. I should quit taking her, but she needs the exercise, so I try to take her on shorter walks.

Total time was 39:20 for 6:33/km with ave HR 143.

***

Oh, and today was the first day of school. Such cuteness on my FB feed from lots of friends. Here's my kid spam...

15K

I felt so-so on my racewalk today. Not great, but not terrible either. When I started out I could tell that my legs were a bit fatigued from all the activity this week; by 3.5km I was thinking that it could be a long and painful walk. However, I rebounded a bit and felt more or less just fine until about 11km when my legs started to feel much more tired. By 14km I was really glad there was just 1km left!!!

Total time was an unremarkable 6:27/km for 1:36:44 with ave HR 139 (low? my watch said 148 when I was done w/the workout..not sure what is up here) and 988 calories bye-bye :).

The best news for the week? Yes, not only did I do FIVE workouts racewalking, but TWO of them were speed work, and one was a long day. My total number of km is still relatively low at 48km for the week, but it is significant that I could do even that many with the speed work and the long day. Assuming my legs continue to feel good, I think that maybe, just maybe, I'm on my way back!!! I am pretty sure that the last time I was able to train this hard was over TWO years ago, in January 2013. Wow. I am very grateful to be feeling better.

I wore a new pair of my favorite shoes today, the New Balance 1400s. I either wear a men's size 9.5 or women's 11 (my usual size is women's 9.5 for everyday shoes, but I like my RW shoes roomy). I prefer the men's because I have pretty wide feet, and they are cut just a bit better for me. Anyway, my new pair is a women's 11 and I was giving it a bit of a test drive because I've mostly been wearing the men's. The shoes were totally fine - I didn't notice them at all, which is just how I like it. And wearing a size 11 means I can find them on clearance more easily, and who doesn't like a bargain?

The weather was glorious today at 8.9C (48F) when I started and 14.4C (64F) when I finished, but it was windy. The Garmin website says it was 8kph but there is no way that is right. It was quite windy, almost to the point where it was hard to walk into at times. The national weather service website shows that when I finished the wind was averaging 15mph, which is 24kph, not including gusts. Yikes! But on the positive side, it's spring here, and it was warm, and since it's Saturday I was able to wait until the sun was up to go walk. I'm thankful that my kids are old enough now that I can walk later in the morning. It used to be that I had to go at the crack of dawn so that my hubby didn't have to do too much while I was gone (he is NOT NOT NOT a morning person!!!), but now they are capable of amusing themselves while I'm gone and not disturbing Loren until he's more awake. This morning they played Monopoly while I was out walking, and they did get in one fight that necessitated them calling me, but fortunately they called right when I was finishing up.

Oh, in other randomness, I took my dog Sugar with me today and she loved it. Lots of other dogs on the trail to see, though she's very well-behaved on the leash and doesn't pull much, especially if I remind her to heel. I got a collapsible canvas-type bowl for her and she carried it in a fanny pack around her neck, and that was awesome. I stopped to give her water at 7.5km and ~11km, and she drank eagerly from the new bowl, which was a relief as she can be quite choosy about these things. The weather's warming up and she is a Pyrenees/Lab mix which means she has a lot of fur and will heat up quickly, so she needs to drink often.

The photo is a spring photo of SLC that I borrowed because I forgot to take any photos on the Jordan River Parkway this morning. It really is this lovely here in the spring, with all the flowers, when it's not snowing! It did snow earlier in the week, though fortunately it was on a day that I was cross-training.

feeling a bit better; casual walk

I woke feeling better, but not ready for a serious workout yet, at least not if I am being super cautious. Last year at this time I pushed it after my half marathon and paid in relapse. I am NOT doing that this year. I probably could have worked out hard this morning, but I'm just scared to. Tomorrow, if I am feeling good, I will try something more.

For today, I took Sugar on a long walk around town, at a brisk casual pace (8:45/km). Did a few hills, focused on my posture, stopped at Walgreens for some B12, and went to SugarHouse Park. Here are some photos below. Spring is here - the trees are budding, and it was a beautiful morning.

Garmin data here. 

elliptical; 20K at last!

Yesterday: 20 min elliptical in the morning (got up late before breakfast date with dad, so squeezed in what I could), and then another 40 min elliptical in the afternoon. Walked over to the Student Life Center from work; it took 10 min to walk over there, which isn't bad. That's pretty convenient for a workout during the workday, if needed. Unfortunately I don't usually have time to fold that into my workday except on Thursdays & Fridays. Because I work 30 hr/wk, I work only 5 hr on Mon-Wed and then a longer day Thursday & Friday. My 5 hr days are always packed full with no flex at all. I might be able to leave home early and work out on my way in to the lab, but that is tricky with making sure the kids get off to school OK. Ah, the life of a working mother is complicated - in a good way.

Today: At last, I made it to 20K again. The last time I went that far was the Canyonlands Half Marathon last March (not counting the SLC Half Marathon in April, because I didn't racewalk that - mostly just fast walking and casual walking). It was good to go the distance, and I had moments when I glimpsed my old self again - times when I felt fluid and fast and good, like everything was clicking into place. Those moments were all before 15K though :). After 15K I was just really, really tired, but I didn't end up as slow as I thought I might have. It went pretty well even though I did want it to be over! 5K splits were 31:44 (slight downhill), 32:15 (mostly flat), 32:10 (mostly flat), and 32:30 (slight uphill). Very consistent. Good job (pats self on back). Total time was 2:08:38 for 6:26/km with ave HR 147. For my first 20K of the year, that seems pretty good. Now I just have to stay healthy and feel good and maybe my old mojo will come back. Garmin data here. 

Side notes: I took Sugar with me (photo at left a while after our walk), and she made it the whole 20K! At first I could not get her to drink at the doggie water fountain at Liberty Park, but then I realized she was scared of the dripping water, and so I pulled out the dish for her to drink and she greedily sucked it down. Poor thing! At least we have it figured out. I need to get one of those portable water dishes for dogs for my longer walks so I can take her to the Jordan River Parkway, which is where I really wanted to go this morning. In another note, the weather was absolutely stunning this morning. It was 8.9C (48F) when I started out and by the end of my walk I was too hot in capris and a long sleeved shirt. Oops. It wasn't terrible though, as I wore a white shirt. It was sunny and beautiful, and it seemed like half the city was out enjoying the weather. Once it's above 60F (15C) around here, people start wearing shorts and flip flops, and today was no exception.

knee is OK; 5K easy

My knee was OK when I woke up. It's still a bit sore, but better than yesterday and racewalking was no problem this morning.

It was really warm again this morning, at 7.8C (46F), so I wore capri pants and a long-sleeved shirt. I thought it was 50F so I didn't wear gloves, but I didn't really miss them even though it wasn't actually quite 50F. Calvin came along with me for the 5K, and he walked Sugar (holding her leash in his hand just in case!). She was really well-behaved though, and I'm sure what happened yesterday was a total fluke. Anyway, Calvin and I had a great time. We ran/walked (he ran, I walked) 5K in 32:20 for 6:28/km and my legs felt really good. No problems. We enjoyed chatting and I'm sure he'll run with me again soon. He's "training" (lightly) for a 5-mile (8K) race in Moab in March, when I do the half marathon there.

I screwed up my watch and somehow pressed the start button again later on the bus up to work, so the Garmin data isn't worth considering, and I don't know my ave HR for my 5K but looking at my splits it was probably ~150.

Tomorrow is 12K. Gulp. Nervous about that, which is completely ridiculous as it's historically a very short distance for me, but what can I say? I haven't gone that far in a while, so I guess it's normal to be a bit nervous.

6.5K and mishap

I only made it 6.5K today. At 4.16km, my dog FREAKED OUT for no apparent reason (no dogs visible, nothing else going on) and jumped and twisted, and took me down. She has never done anything like this before so I am still shocked. I lost my balance (I RW with her leash around my waist so I don't have to hold it) when 90 lb of dog suddenly lunged, and I flipped around in the air and somehow stumbled to the sidewalk strip and fell on my back in the grass. I was initially relieved that nothing hurt...but when I got up I noticed that my left knee was hurting a bit in the front and on the left side. I managed to racewalk home slowly (I had already been going slowly - legs quite tired from yesterday's cycling), with only a bit of pain. I had Loren examine my knee and nothing big is amiss - all the ligaments are OK and now at lunch time it's just a bit sore. I think this might just clear up in a day or two, but it does have me rather upset. Grrrrrrr.

Here's my data...if you care.

Total 6:49km in 43:50 for 6:46/km with ave HR 146, and one very upset Tammy who still hopes to walk 5K tomorrow. I iced the knee when I got home.

8K and doing a bit better today

I did 8K today. I'm really happy about it for two reasons:

1) It was my FIFTH racewalking workout this week. Now, admittedly, the workout yesterday was very short (3.6km including warm-up), but I haven't done five workouts in one week in a very long time, probably since before the mystery illness started in spring 2013 (though I haven't looked).
2) My legs felt good; a bit tired the last km, but good overall. I wouldn't have wanted to go 10km today, so the distance was right for this week, but I feel good. I recovered well from yesterday's brief speed work.

So - onward and upward!

More details - weather was good for January, at -2.2C (28F) and clear and calm. It was sunny; I waited until 9am to go because I wanted to walk in the sunshine instead of the dark, and now that the kids are older that is an option on Saturdays :). I brought the dog, and we had a great time together.  Sugar is SO happy that I'm racewalking again, because that means she's getting lots of exercise, and she loves it too.

Totals: 8K in 51:13 for 6:24/km with ave HR 150. I'm very happy with that! My toe hurt a tiny bit for the first km and then settled in and was maybe a 1 of 10 on the pain scale for the rest of the walk. I'll take that. It's continuing to improve gradually. 

rest day; 8K

Yesterday: rest day. I didn't sleep well Friday night, and had a garage sale early Saturday morning. I was wiped, and still not 100% over the bug from the week.

***

Today: 8K with Calvin and the dog! Calvin wasn't sure he could go that far, but I knew he could, and encouraged him. He could easily have done 10K. For that matter, I felt I could have done more if I'd had to. I am probably ready for 10K next weekend, assuming that I continue to get over my cold. I only hacked and coughed a little bit today while we were out. I felt quite decent, and the weather was lovely - about 57F (13ish C) and overcast with the occasional raindrop, which couldn't even be called a light drizzle.

Otherwise, my walk went well today. I had very little (none?) of the weird soreness, and no problems at all afterward, even with sitting at the piano and organ at church for an extended period. I feel I'm on the mend. From what, I have no idea, but I am glad I'm feeling better.

Now training begins in earnest for Portland-to-Coast in late August, assuming that I continue to feel well. With that comes a renewed focus on eating well :). Day 2 and holding strong on that front. Gotta start somewhere…and I have a ways to go now, due to forced inactivity and comfort eating. I started off well last week but the illness got me down and I had low resistance. Sigh. Now that the cold is almost gone I feel stronger and hopefully will have a bit more willpower to deal with all of it.

Oh, and my total for today's walk? An average (for me lately) 6:27/km for the 8K for a total of 51:35 with ave HR 145.

Garmin data here.

6K

I felt OK this morning and decided to racewalk. Yesterday, I didn't, so I took a rest day. But today I was determined to do it. It was chilly (30F, -1C) with a breeze, but it was sunny and beautiful anyway. I started off and knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I didn't care. Well, I did, and I didn't. I desperately want to feel better, and I really wanted to RW, no matter what. If it got too ridiculous I'd stop, but I wanted to get out there. Below left, how I felt at the 3.5km point, when I knew it was a rough one:

I took lots of small rest breaks and trained the dog to sit (with treats I brought along), which seemed to help me get through OK. I wasn't fast but it wasn't awful either. Of course, I have a half marathon entry for this Saturday, and I would not have been able to racewalk that this morning. I have decided if I feel suspect on Saturday that I will walk it slowly with Diane, and stop at my house (at the 8.5 mile point) if I feel too tired to finish.

Anyway, this morning I did my walk at 6:39/km pace in 39:56. Slow, sore, a bit tired, but done. I have some residual soreness now (at 3 pm) but really not bad at all. Hoping I will feel better on Saturday.

Garmin data here.

6K and feeling better

I felt decent this morning so decided to do 6K with the dog. She's getting lots better on the leash, though I did have a few stops to make her behave :).

The weather was gorgeous at 45F (7C) and calm and clear, so I was very grateful to get outside.

Legs a bit tired and sore from 3k on, but not bad, and I didn't have much soreness later (it's lunch time now). Hoping that after an easier week I will be up for a half-marathon on 4/19 - I have a race entry for the Salt Lake 1/2.

Total: 6km in 38:49 for 6:28/km with ave HR 143.

Garmin data here.

Not much else to report… just some cuteness as the kids and I walked to school with the dog. Calvin did a great job walking her!

still resting up

Yesterday I decided to stretch my legs for a bit and took a short racewalk. We adopted a dog on Saturday, so I brought her and the kids along. Calvin ran, and Grace rollerbladed, and the dog ran alongside me. It was a bit tricky since she's not used to the whole leash thing, so I went slower than I'd have gone otherwise. However, my legs were definitely NOT up for this sort of thing yet, so I'd have been slow anyway. I thought before I went that they felt good, but the racewalking made them hurt. Fortunately, they didn't hurt the rest of the day. I did 3km at a 6:50/km pace and mostly enjoyed it, when I wasn't worrying about how slow I was and if my legs would ever get better again.

Today I took a rest day, though I did walk the kids to school and back twice (with the dog); 1km
each way for 4km. Add in a side trip to the dog park (another 1km total) and I walked 5km casually.

I am going to try again to racewalk tomorrow morning, alone, if I feel good. (Or maybe with the dog…?).

***

More about our new dog: Labrador Retriever/Great Pyrenees mix, female, 2yo, about 70-80lb. Super sweet and calm temperament. She was picked up as a stray with an injured leg, but after antibiotics she is doing well. Looks like she may have had a litter of puppies at some point. We adopted her from Furever Buddies Dog Rescue, with all her shots and spayed. Her new name is Sugar, and we are loving her!

5x1km

Yesterday: 45 min elliptical. My legs felt tired.

***

Today: Weather was chilly (38F, 3C) and breezy (about 10 mph, 16 kph). It wasn't raining when I started, but it began sleeting (snow/rain mix) right after my first 1km interval.

I warmed up feeling so-so in 10:03 with a couple 100m strides. I could tell it wasn't going to be a great day but I thought it might go OK. I had a lot on my mind as our dog was much worse this morning and I knew we'd have to take her in to the vet to have her put to sleep, and I was trying to figure out how to make all that work schedule-wise. I wasn't in the mood to do a hard workout, but I figured it was a good mental toughness workout regardless. Add in the sleet, wind, and the fact that my legs started to have some of the weird soreness in the 3rd km, and it was a sure-fire recipe for generating mental toughness. I figured if I could finish the workout then I would have gained something even if it wasn't a physical benefit.

My first two 1K intervals were all right. 5:45.1, 5:47.7. Then on the third my legs started to hurt a bit but I still did 5:49.5. The fourth and fifth weren't pretty but I did finish and under 6 min/km so it was probably beneficial to do them. The fourth was 5:53.6 and the last a gritting-my-teeth-giving-it-all-my-washed-up-legs-had 5:58.4. Ouch.

My legs have hurt a bit since then but not terribly, and I did do a fair amount of sitting at the microscope this morning. I will admit that I was a bit worried that whatever my mystery illness was is returning, but logically it's probably just the stress we've been under this week.

Garmin data here. 

***

We did say goodbye to our friend Sahara today. That was really hard, but it was clearly the right thing, as she was obviously suffering this morning. The kids said goodbye before they went to school, and honestly I think they are taking it better than we are. Calvin wanted to know when we are getting another dog. Geez, kid, let us process this one thing at a time, OK? But I'm glad that he is not dwelling on it and is able to move on.

I'm tired and sad. I took this afternoon off work and I'm going to take a nap.

Goodbye, Copper

Our dog Copper made it much longer than the pathology report predicted; 18 months ago the diagnosis was malignant fibrosarcoma, median life expectancy 4 months. We got a lot more time than that. Still, it was really hard to let her go.

We picked her up from the kennel yesterday after our vacation, and the staff noticed that in the last day or so her abdomen had swollen up. Sure enough, she didn't look good - sunken eyes, dry mouth and nose, general signs of dehydration plus the swollen abdomen. Uh-oh. I called Loren right away...our vet was closed for the Pioneer Day holiday. He said she'd be OK until he got home in a couple hours, and when he looked at her he agreed it wasn't good. However, he thought she'd be fine overnight, and we really wanted to take her in to our own vet who knew her history, etc.

He called first thing this morning to get her in to the vet. Meanwhile, the kids and I said our goodbyes, knowing this might be the last time we'd see her. I took the kids to day care & summer camp, and Loren took Copper to the vet. The vet took one look at her and knew it wasn't good. He tapped her abdomen and it didn't look good, and he felt a large mass on her liver. He discussed it with Loren and they agreed that euthanasia was best at this point.

It's been hard on all of us. I couldn't focus much at work, and Loren didn't even go in (maybe he was the smart one there...). We'll be OK, but we miss her.