Canyonlands Half Marathon 2015

Thursday: rest day

Friday: elliptical, 40 min

Saturday: Race day! I love this race - the scenery is amazing and it's always a great time. It is hilly by racewalking standards, but a great course meandering along the Colorado River and with so much red rock. Awesome.

I woke up feeling great and ready to go. It's cold at the start (probably 40F, 4C) and I had a coat and hand warmers and gloves and sweats, so I was OK. You have to wait around a while after they bus you up there (about 90 min) but I had put some Kindle books on my phone, so I was entertained. Usually I go with friends and have someone to chat with, but this time I came with just my family, and Calvin was doing the 5-mile race, so I was alone at the start (Loren and Grace spectated).

I didn't warm up. I was just going to do easy pace, so no need. My toes didn't thaw out until about 2 miles (3.2km) into the race, though! By the time the race started at 10 am, it was 12C (about 54F) and perfect race weather; by the finish on the highway into town it was warm but not too awfully hot at about 66F (19C). It was sunny and beautiful, and unlike last year there was just a slight breeze and not a horrid wind. Perfect.

I have done zero hills, though...and so while I felt fantastic through 15-16km, after that my legs just quit. They were DONE. Finished. Tired. No weird soreness, but I just felt like I hit the wall. The elevation increase along the course is 347ft, and the decrease is 424ft. Not too hilly by runner standards, but hilly by RW standards. Jim pointed out that this is probably why I felt so crappy. No matter. I had a great time anyway. Yeah, the last 5km was not too fun, but the rest was awesome, and I am enjoying getting away for the weekend with my family. Course profile here.

I was at 5km at about 31:30, and 10K by about 1:03. After that it got slower :). The course does have a lot more downhill in the first half, so this makes sense. I'm pleased with how I did, even though it was a minute slower than last year, because I am feeling OK (minus the achy/restless legs from overdoing it - but no weird soreness!) and I felt a LOT better in the first 15km than I did last year. Of course, there wasn't the wind, so it's hard to compare.

Total time 2:17:14 for 6:30/km with ave HR 158.

Lots of pictures below! I took photos while RW :).

Garmin data here. 

tutu guy haha!

race selfie - yup, taken while RW :)

inspirational!

Taiko drummers just after the big hill at mile 9

finishers!

recovering well; cross-training

I'm recovering well from yesterday's fartlek. No pain, no soreness, just feeling fine.

I rode my bike to work this morning and did the elliptical for 30 min for x-training, and that felt great. Nice to be outside on a beautiful day. Getting ready to ride home now, and it's lovely out - 60s and sunny :).

elliptical; 8K fartlek

Sunday: rest day. After the 20k my legs felt quite good with no weird soreness on Saturday. I had a *slight* bit of soreness Sunday morning sitting at the piano at church, and I only mention it because I'm trying to notice anything and everything even remotely suspicious.

Monday: 45 min elliptical. Was pretty stressed out over a bunch of stuff - busyness at work and at home :/. Legs felt fine.

Tuesday: 8K fartlek. I did a quick warm-up of only 1200m because I was running a bit late (what else is new?). My legs felt quite good prior to arriving at the track, and good on warm-up. I knew I'd be slow but just wanted to finish. OK, that's not completely true. I didn't want to be slow. In fact, I couldn't get my mind to stop ruminating on all the reasons that I shouldn't bother doing this. I admit that I'm mentally weak and that I need to change that in order to be more competitive. But I'm just being honest here about how I was feeling. I thought about how much faster many of the ladies in my new age group (W45-49) are, and about how even if I'm trained up as well as I can, I have no hope at beating many of them. In the U.S. that's not true so much, but I'm talking internationally. I know I shouldn't let that get to me, but it's hard not to think that, especially right now when I'm already lacking in motivation. Anyway, enough whining. Now that it's later in the day and I've had some time to think about it, I realize that I enjoy the competition no matter what, and I also know that winning is  definitely not everything. Being fit, enjoying the wonderful people I've met doing this sport, and having the chance to travel and race is fantastic. Winning really is the icing on the cake. Icing is very good though :).

OK back to the fartlek. My coach reminded me that this is just like starting all over again, and it really is. I looked back and in the last two years I have done exactly TWO 8K fartleks. In 2013, I did one in January. In 2014, I did one on March 3. That's it. Wow. I have been REALLY really OUT of the game. I knew that on one level, but on another level, I had chosen not to think about it because it was too painful.

I started off conservatively on the fartlek, knowing that 8K was a long way for me right now for speed work. I did 2:53.2 and 2:56.5 for the first 1km, hard effort. Here are all of my splits:

02:53.2

02:56.5

03:07.8

02:56.0

03:11.3

02:57.6

03:12.8

02:58.2

03:09.1

02:57.6

03:13.3

02:59.0

03:14.1

02:58.5

03:14.0

02:57.1

The hard effort 500s range from 2:53.2 to 2:59.0, and the medium effort 500s range from 3:07.8 to 3:14.1. Pretty slow, but it's a start I guess. Total time 48:56.0, with ave HR 160. I was working plenty hard. In 6-8 weeks I'm hoping this will be at least 1-2 min faster, hopefully two, assuming I can train hard. After this weekend's half marathon (easy pace), we are going to change things up next week and do a bit shorter long day (15K-ish) and add in a day of speed work. I think that's a good plan, as my legs have no speed whatsoever right now. I appreciate my coach and his good advice in that regard. 

Garmin data here. 

Oh, and the weather is glorious today. It's an amazing spring day; it was a very nice and warm 11.1C (52F) at the track this morning, and it's in the mid-70s now. Ahhhh. Here are some of my cheerful flowers that I looked at this morning after my workout to try and improve my mood :).

Edited to add: NO weird soreness at all today. YES!!! I'm VERY happy about that. Really, that's the best news out of all of this. I'm healthy and can train. It's been a LONG time in coming.

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.

8K and feeling fine

I did 8km this morning with Calvin (well, until 6.83km when he got too tired). It was really warm out for March, at 8.9C (48F), but it was raining lightly, then more heavily, then more lightly. It wasn't that bad though.

My legs felt great, but a little tired. I was sluggish at first, then felt a bit better later on. When Calvin quit I did a very fast 500m downhill in 2:59, and it felt good. Still not fast overall - just a bit slow at 6:33/km for 52:28 with ave HR a low 141. My left leg gave some twinges in the latter half of the workout but otherwise no problems, and no soreness at all later in the day. I feel like I could do it again tomorrow.

Garmin data here. 

Feeling much better! 5K fartlek.

My left leg is feeling SO much better today. I woke up and knew it would be OK to do some speed work. Still having a bit of trouble getting out of bed early since the time change on Sunday (ughhhh hate going to Daylight Savings), but it was a little better today. All the same, I got to the track a bit later than I planned on, so I only did a 1200m warm-up with strides, in 7:29. It was gorgeous weather at 7.2C or 49F - a warm morning for March, and just a little breezy, and no snow on the ground so I could use the outdoor track. Yay!

I started my 5K fartlek and my legs felt really good, but I was slow. My first 500m was 2:53 but my second only 2:58. SO ANNOYING. I mean, I know I should be focusing on how happy I am that I can train again (I am) but I am also frustrated with how long it's taking to get back in shape. I know I need to do more speed work to see more improvement, and that has been necessarily slow in coming, but it is still frustrating to see very little improvement. My other "fast" intervals were faster, at 2:56-2:57, but still... that's a joke. I used to do my medium effort intervals at 2:57 when I was in good shape.

Well, at least I didn't get slower this week. I was 30:25 for the whole 5K (that is so embarrassingly slow.....) with ave HR 160 (working hard enough!), one second faster than last week. Still, that is just NOT OK. But it has to be, for now. I was worrying a bit when I left the track that I will never get back in good shape. I don't really think that is true, but I did think about it for a few minutes. Consistent training will eventually pay off, but it may be a while. It beats the alternative by a LOT though. So later in the day when I got to work and reflected on things it seemed a lot better.

Garmin data here. 

rest day :( and :)

I'm a bit bummed :(, because my left leg muscle is still hurting from Saturday's fall. It's better than yesterday, but it still hurts and I just didn't want to chance it. So I'll do my 5K fartlek either tomorrow or Thursday, depending on what my coach thinks. I am hoping it'll be better by tomorrow.

It was nice to have a day off, anyway...I thought about doing elliptical instead but after yesterday (it hurt a bit after 20 min) I decided that just rest would be good. I helped the kiddos more with getting ready for school and sat around and drank coffee and read the paper. I can't complain about that :).

dang sidewalk crack... sore

I'm quite sore in my left hip/upper leg from Saturday's sidewalk crack trip. Not sure which muscle but it really pulls today. I got on the elliptical instead of doing my 8K racewalking, and even after 20 min elliptical it was bothering me and I had to switch to the stationary bike, which didn't hurt. Darn it.

I am hoping it feels better tomorrow and I can do a 5K fartlek. But I know it was the right call to cross-train today. Grrrr. The offender is pictured below. I took a photo on my second loop because I was so annoyed :(.

5K; 18K in Mesquite

Yesterday: 5K easy; all went well. 31:46 for 6:21/km with ave HR 150. Garmin data here. 

Today: 18K in Mesquite, Nevada. My friend Sara and I are taking our annual birthday weekend retreat. Last year we just stayed downtown at the Little America, but this year we decided to get warm and get some sun. So we made the 5-hour pilgrimage to Mesquite, Nevada yesterday, and it's truly lovely here, with a forecast high of 81F today. Ahhhhhhhh.... sitting poolside now with the girls (we brought our daughters Grace and Alle) and blogging with coffee and books at hand. Super.

This morning it was a balmy 52F (11.1C); contrast that with yesterday morning's 30F (-1.1C) and you understand why I'm here. I did my workout in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, and no gloves :). Lovely.

I felt really great for the first few km. Then, at 3.57km, I tripped on a sidewalk crack and fell. Fortunately, other than a few bloodless scrapes, the worst injury was a hamstring pull. My left hamstring at the top got a real good yank and caused me pain at the top for the rest of the walk. Grrrrr. I was worried I wouldn't be able to finish, as it kept tightening up, but I made it OK, and even in a reasonable time. But I know I'd have been faster if not for that. Oh well. I think it should recover fine, but if it needs a little extra time I can always cross-train on Monday. We'll see.

Otherwise, my legs were pretty good through about 13km, when they started to get very tired. I was still able to keep up a good clip, but it was a lot more effort. I was very glad when I finished...whew! Total time was 1:56:59 for 6:30/km with ave HR 149. The terrain had slight ups and downs, especially at the start (downhill) and finish (last km uphill). But all the inclines were slight and ideal for maintaining good RW form.

I took a Gu at 10km and drank 24 oz of water while I was out. By the time I finished it was getting warmer (55F) and I was glad for the water. I'm such a heat wimp! (Nyle, I could never train in the Gold Coast! I'd die!).

Garmin data here. 

8km and 3x200m

My legs felt great this morning. Seriously! And even after the 8km they felt really good - no problems at all. I wasn't fast, but then, I was just taking it *really* easy, and didn't care. It was nice to be out; though it was cold at -2.8C or 27F, it was clear and calm and pleasant.

The 8km was unremarkable. Sugar and I enjoyed our walk, and in Liberty Park someone said, "Hi Tammy!" and I'm not sure who it was - it was a guy, and he had blonde hair, but I didn't recognize him as I barely got a quick glimpse of him. Well, maybe he'll identify himself later.

Total time 52:20 for 6:32/km with ave HR 144. Garmin data here. 

Then 3x200m sprints, and I felt decent on these too. I have a bit more leg speed than last time I tried these; last time was pathetically slow and this time was merely a bit slow. Total time for the 3x200m was 3:08.5, which isn't bad after doing 8km slow. Garmin data here. 

My broken toe is a lot better but still whines now and then. It whined a lot after my 14km a couple weeks ago in San Diego, and now and then this week it's been a bit painful, but it's clearly improving. I can wear shoes that are NOT sneakers now to work!

5K fartlek

I wasn't sure this workout would happen. Last night at dinner and in the evening, I could barely lift my legs to cross them while sitting. My hip flexors were SO SO SO sore from x-c skiing. It was worth it, though!

This morning my legs still hurt, though not as much. I went to the indoor track at the new Student Life Center at the U, because we had a couple inches of snow and more forecast. The snow wasn't sticking that much to the roads and track just yet, but it was supposed to, and besides, I had been wanting to try the track out for some speed work. In addition, I didn't want to be cold. The only problem was parking...the meters by the building were all full, of course, but I lucked out and scored one about 5 minutes' walk down the street. Perfect.

When I got up to the track (it's on the top floor) I warmed up. After 3 laps not managing to crack a 6:30/km pace, and legs that hurt every step, I thought maybe today wouldn't be my day to do this. But I tried a 4th and 5th lap (292.608m/lap) and sprinted the 5th lap in 1:44, and decided maybe I could do it after all. I did really want to do the workout, and didn't want to have to postpone it.

I felt better during the fartlek, forgetting the leg pain a bit in favor of the pain of hard exertion; my piriformis acted up a bit, too, but I focused hard on technique to try and use the proper muscles. No weird soreness resulted today, and afterward I felt fine except for needing a good massage for the left piriformis.

Jim said to alternate 2 laps fast/2 laps medium for 16 laps and then to do the last lap fast to make 4974.3m total (17 laps). My splits were: 1:39.3, 1:42.3, 1:47.4, 1:49, 1:42.1, 1:44.9, 1:47.3, 1:52.3, 1:43.9, 1:45.6, 1:52.7, 1:51.8, 1:44.7, 1:45.9, 1:53.0, 1:52.4, 1:42.7. Total time was 30:17, which works out to 30:26 for a full 5K fartlek. Slow...but... I'm happy with it anyway, because 1) first 5K fartlek in a while, 2) my legs were very sore and I did it!, 3) I can only improve on that later, 4) I got in 30 minutes of good speed work, and I need more speed work if I'm going to get faster.

Grace is demanding my attention so I must go :).

Garmin data here. 

8K racewalking

This morning I was to do 8K easy. It was threatening rain and/or snow with a slight drizzle for the last 3-4km, but it didn't amount to much, thankfully. It was nice & warm at 3.9C (40F). My legs are a bit sore (normal DOMS) from the x-country skiing yesterday; mostly hip flexors, which are quite tender. My glutes are a little sore, possibly with some of the weird soreness but I'm not 100% sure. I was on the microscope for a while this morning at work and it was bothering me. Hopefully it's nothing...but who knows.

Anyway, the 8K went fine. My legs were tired about 4km, especially the hip flexors. I think the x-country skiing was a bit vigorous :). However, I still did an average of 6:31/km even with sore legs, so that's good. Total time 52:07 with ave HR 155 (that's high, but the HR monitor went nuts at the beginning of my walk; it wasn't damp enough and was picking up static, probably because I did a quick grocery run before my walk since Calvin needed Cheerios for breakfast!).

Hopefully my legs won't feel worse tomorrow since I'm to do a 5K fartlek. Well, it was worth it. I had a great time skiing.

Garmin data here.

a little cross-country training ;)

Today I went cross-country skiing with my racewalking friend, Alex, his girlfriend Melanie, and his friends Murali and Chris. We went up to Alta and skied up a fantastic trail that was groomed and very cross-country friendly, and FREE to boot. YES! Since I own a pair of skis and boots, I didn't pay a cent other than the gas to drive up there.

It was uphill on the way out, and then downhill on the way back. I got lots of good cardio - about 50 minutes' worth - and had a great time too. I only fell twice, going slowly, and it was no biggie. Snow is soft. I did use a lot of unfamiliar muscles; I can tell I'm going to be a bit sore tomorrow. Oh well...it was worth it! I really need to do this more often.

Garmin data here.

16K and feeling good

I was a bit apprehensive about 16K. Haven't gone that far in a while, and this past week has been iffy with my piriformis problem (probably due to the car ride...grrrrr...) and general fatigue due to lots of extra appointments (financial planner, attorney, therapist, parent-teacher conferences). Running a household is hard work.

Anyway. The weather was lovely today; it was windy at my house, but when I drove to the Jordan River trail, it wasn't so windy there - just a little breezy. It was 1.1C (34F) and felt pretty good. I wore a long-sleeved shirt and jacket but ended up taking the jacket off after 6K, as I warmed up and so did the weather. Snow is predicted for later today, and now that I'm done with my walk it can snow all it wants :).

I started off with a slow 500m as the walkway near Arrowhead Park was slippery with frost - it's elevated above a swampy area and the plastic boards get very slick. But after that I was consistent and kept a nice moderate pace. Haha...speaking of pace, a man and woman ran past me and said, "Nice pace you've got there!" clearly appreciating that I was walking fast. Also, a Good Samaritan stopped me for a second around 1 hr 10 min into my walk - she said, "Do you drive a white Toyota Rav4?" Um, wow, she is pretty good, I was thinking. She had figured it out because of my license plate "RACEWLK" and watching me walk. She had found my pepper spray on the ground near the car and wanted me to know she'd put it on the hood. I was VERY grateful! I forgot to stop my watch during our 30 second conversation, so my time overall is 30 sec faster than on my watch.

I stopped at 5K for a brief drink and piriformis stretch, at 6K to tie my jacket around my waist, and at 10K back at my car to roll out my piriformis on my medicine ball and eat some Jelly Belly sports beans and have another drink. Then I went back out for 3K, stretched briefly, and walked back to the car. My legs felt really quite good; they got tired around 12K but not horribly so. I have no weird soreness now, 3 hr after my walk, but I am a little stiff, which is normal for being a bit out of shape :).

Sugar was a good companion today (photo above taken yesterday...but you get the point), though I admit that human companionship would have been nice. I imagined my friend Nyle walking with me and that helped a bit. I also saw my good friend Sarah out there; she was doing 17 miles as she's training for a marathon. She was with the Galloway run-walk group, though, so I couldn't join them (run-walk is great for some, but it's not my thing). I also saw another friend, Cyndie, and high-fived her as we passed the second time.

Total: 1:43:13, subtracting the 30 seconds I was talking to the Good Samaritan with my watch running. That's 6:26/km with ave HR 148. I'm happy with this, mostly because I am not having pain or fatigue :). Garmin data here. 

5K

Easy 5K this morning. No problems. Piriformis feels fine; am working hard to keep upright and make sure my knees are coming through straight and that I am using my flutes more. Still...need to do strength training...no time...have to figure it out. Weather was decent and seasonal at 30F (-1C) with a slight breeze.

Mood isn't good. Not enough sleep last night after staying up late to do something at work :(. Then I ate a big piece of cake :(. Ugh. Feeling a bit bleak. Oh well. This too shall pass.

At least it's Friday. But I'm anxious about 16km tomorrow. I want to do it and want it to go well but worry it won't. I really want to be able to go long again without being so afraid.

Garmin data here from this morning. 32:20 for 6:28/km with ave HR 142.

cross-training; 8K

Yesterday: I took it really easy. I was afraid of two things: 1) increasing any piriformis problems and 2) mystery illness relapse. I slept in a little and then only had time to do 21 min on the elliptical. That was enough; I am working hard on my eating and was quite careful. It was a co-worker's birthday and I did enjoy a very small piece of carrot cake (that I made for him) but had a very modest dinner of turkey soup to compensate. I feel good about how the eating is going now that I'm back from vacation.

Today: After going to bed early last night, I woke feeling better than I've felt all week. That's not saying much, but I did feel good. I went out for my 8K, and it was reasonably warm for February, at 36F (2.2C) and calm and overcast, with rain predicted. Well...they got that one wrong, as it's been snowing since about 9am! Glad I got my walk in early. The 8K went well; my piriformis felt OK, no weird soreness resulted, and I wasn't fast but wasn't slow either. It took me 51:44 for 6:28/km with ave HR 152. Sugar, my dog, sure enjoyed getting to walk with me again after a hiatus due to vacation and then bad weather on Monday.

Other minor items - I'm still a bit concerned that I could be having a little relapse of the mystery illness. It's hard to tell minor weird soreness from the piriformis issue; they are different, but there is some overlap. Also, I've been a bit fatigued this week but that could easily be attributable to 1) the time change from CA and 2) being back from vacation. Finally, I have lost a bit of the weight from vacation; probably some water, but hey, who cares? Scale's moving in the right direction. 162.4 this morning, down from 164.0 on Saturday. Hopefully it's a trend. I'm working hard. Need to get to a reasonable number by May to improve my 15K speed. Of course, being able to train will help equally. Hopefully we can increase the speed work one of these days. Seems like there are lots of roadblocks at the moment. I'm trying to remain positive and enjoy my workouts stress-free, but that's hard given that I'm worried about mystery illness and piriformis trouble.

Garmin data here. 

Below, snow as seen from work today.

ugggghhhhh

I hate coming back from vacation.

Yesterday: couldn't wake up (time difference). Had to go to indoor track after work because of the cold and wind - super windy. Left work late and so had a limited amount of time and only managed 21 laps on the track for 6.145km instead of the 8km I was supposed to do. Piriformis was nagging a bit but otherwise OK. Did 6:17/km for 38:37 with ave HR 152. I felt strong. Garmin data here. 

Today: went to track a bit late (again...time difference) and there was construction there and I had to park on the side and then couldn't figure out how to get in. Grrrr. Finally figured it out and warmed up. Then while doing drills after warming up (just dynamic stretching) my piriformis was really nagging badly. It hurt. I decided that I did NOT want to push it by doing speed work. Obviously I need to strengthen my left glutes so my piriformis is not so overworked, but of course that requires time. Time I maybe don't have, but had better find or I will be back to spinning because of injury. So I skipped my 3K fartlek and went home. My kids were grumpy. It was a lousy morning. Work wasn't so hot either (so far). Oh well.

Not sure what to do now, but definitely no speed work today. I might go do the elliptical later and tomorrow as well, and then RW again on Thursday. I have to do some strength exercises. Used my new ball for massage, which helped. I also have a bit of delayed onset muscle soreness from yesterday's workout on the indoor track; I think the 90 degree turns are rough on my body.

Coming back just sucks. I'm not sure I can do this.

5K; good solid 14K

Yesterday: unremarkable 5K with Calvin (fun!) on Fiesta Island in San Diego in 31:46 for 6:21/km. I had a little soreness afterward for an hour or two; felt that it might be the weird soreness from my mystery illness. Not 100% sure though...it was fairly mild, so that's good. I was pretty concerned, but after today not as worried.

Today: Lovely weather as usual...about 63F (17Cish?) and overcast and breezy. Wind in my face going south (the first 7km) then at my back going north (last 7 km). Felt nice to have the wind at my back for the last part. My legs were pretty good until about 11km, then quite tired the last 3km but was able to finish strong. It helped that I ran into Miranda Melville & Emmanuel Corvera at 12.5km or so - they were warming up for their speed work (Miranda had a total of 14km of speed work...she's looking good and in fine shape!) and we chatted for a minute before I continued on; they had parked at the same place I did on the Silver Strand at Fiddler's Cove. That part was not a total coincidence, as Rachel Seaman had told me on Facebook that was a good place to park for walking on the bike/running trail on the Silver Strand. It was indeed quite lovely, though state highway 75 is adjacent so it's not quiet. Still, good asphalt surface and great views! When I finished my 14km I chatted some more with them and with Tim Seaman, who was there coaching them and had his very cute daughter in the stroller.

My total for 14km was 1:29:39 for 6:24/km (subtracted 2:13 that I was stretching but forgot to stop my watch at 10.5km). I have no idea what my average HR was, but I was taking it pretty easy and when I did stop to stretch at 7km and 10.5km I checked my HR manually and it was about 150, which seemed quite reasonable.

Afterward - so far, no weird soreness (it's now 11:35 and I finished about 3 hr ago); stretched a lot and massaged piriformis with a firm ball I bought for this purpose at Target. The box also included a more spiky ball for doing feet, etc. The balls are a little smaller than a tennis ball and very hard. SUPER for massaging piriformis. Highly recommend.

Garmin data here. 

8K and feeling good

This morning I happily went out to do 8K in San Diego. It was the usual perfect San Diego winter morning, at 15C (60F) slight overcast, and a little ocean breeze. Calvin accompanied me to Mission Bay, near Mission Beach, and we enjoyed running (Calvin) and racewalking (me) along the oceanfront. Wow. So amazing. Seriously, if I were a professional racewalker, I'd live here, as Tim and Rachel Seaman do. Great choice for always having the perfect weather to train in, which does mean a lot when you're doing that many km.

Anyway, today's walk went well. I'm having a little left piriformis issue that began with the 14K on Saturday and worsened with the car ride down here, but it's not bad. I initially thought it was some of the weird soreness, but I'm now convinced it was not, and that it's just my old piriformis friend acting up again. I know what to do. It's time to break out the PT exercises and the yoga for runners. Maybe not this week while I'm on vacation, but definitely when I return.

Today's 8K went well. My legs initially felt a bit heavy (maybe from the fartlek yesterday?) but settled in quickly and I really did feel good, other than the occasional niggle from the piriformis. Calvin wimped out at 6K and so I left him in the car with my phone playing games while I did the last 2K out and back near the car. He's doing well with his training though, and should be easily up for the 5-miler (8K) in Moab on March 21 when I do the half marathon. Now will I be up for the half marathon? I think so. We'll see.

Anyway, I was fast today and felt good. Total time was 50:22 for the 8K for 6:18/km with unknown average HR. Garmin data here. 

cross-training; 3K fartlek

After Saturday's somewhat disastrous 14K, Jim decided that I should have an extra day of cross-training. I'm too smart (? or something?) to argue with my coach, and besides, he's usually right. So I did the elliptical 30 min and the bike 15 min each day on Sunday and Monday. My legs were a bit sore on Saturday and Sunday, and it was possibly a bit of the weird soreness....i.e. the mystery illness. But we also did a long drive Saturday and a shorter drive Sunday, and sitting always does bad things to me, so honestly I think it was the drive. So does Jim. But just to be safe, an extra day of cross-training.

Today I got to do a track workout :). I was kind of psyched for it, weirdly. Maybe it's because I'm in San Diego and at sea level and it's not cold at all. In fact, it's lovely here. I mean, we're having a warm winter in Salt Lake, but it's nothing like a San Diego winter. I lived here in San Diego for 6 years (undergrad at UCSD and two years after that, working for Invitrogen back when it was a small company), and I've missed it ever since. We have settled into life in Salt Lake City now and I don't really want to move to San Diego any more, but I have to admit that visiting here for a week now and then is very, very nice.

But I digress. The track workout. I did a short warm-up of only 1200m because I was worried about parking (it's free only until 7am and I was pushing that; I probably left at 7:10am and fortunately I didn't get a ticket). I felt OK on the warm-up but a bit intimidated by the large number of people at the track. There were probably 20 runners there doing workouts, and a lot of them were pretty good. But they were quite nice, and didn't seem to mind me using lane 1 when I actually started my fartlek. It looked like they were a lot of triathletes (some of them were spinning by the start line) and many of them were middle-aged or older, though some were younger. A nice crowd; I heard one of them say "speed walking" and smiled inwardly.

My fartlek went really well this morning. I felt strong and good, and my recoveries were better than they have been. I have to say that track workouts at sea level always feel easier. In any case, I was almost 20 seconds faster than last week, which was great. My times were 2:50.2, 2:54.4, 3:06.4, 2:54.7, 3:06.6, 2:49.8 (yes, I really worked that last 500!) for a total of 17:42. I left my HR monitor in Salt Lake by mistake...sigh...but I was working hard and felt good. I'm glad that I felt good today and that I'm improving, though I will admit that I'm a bit worried that the increase in speed was all due to altitude. Ah well, you can't have everything. I enjoyed the workout and am fortunate to be healthy enough to do it, and that's what matters.

Garmin data here. 

Photo of me at the track - it's really a nice track!

14K slog

Well...I did it. It was ugly and slow, but it's done.

The weather was good at 2.8C (37F) and calm and clear. My legs? Not so good. They were heavy right from the start, and when I arrived at 5K in 32:20ish, I was tired and knew it was gonna be a tough one. By 7K I was counting down the km eagerly. By 9K my legs were just really tired. No weird soreness, though. Just heavy and tired. That's the good news. The bad news is that the last 5K set a new record in pathetic-ness, and my overall time was so very, very slow. Ughhhhh. I really hate when workouts go this way. I know in my head that it's OK, but it just feels so NOT OK when I'm out there.

Total time 1:33:11 for 6:39/km with ave HR 145. Garmin data here. 

Next week will be better. I just didn't have it today. Sugar, my dog, did fine... :).

Easy 5K

Today: Easy 5K in 32:23 for 6:28/km w/ave HR 145. Felt good. No problems. Weather seasonable at 1.1C (34F) calm and clear. Calvin came along and we had a lovely chat :).

Garmin data here. 

8K + 3x200 @85% effort

I don't know what it is about Thursdays. I was slow today, and slow last Thursday too. But I'm still feeling good: no fatigue, and no weird soreness, and as long as I can train I'll eventually be faster. So Jim says, anyway. I have to be patient.

The weather was pretty nice: 36F (2.2C) and calm and clear. I took the dog and did the 8K without incident, doing my technique exercises after the first 2km. Other than being slow, I felt OK. My legs were a bit tired, but otherwise fine.

Total time for 8K was 52:47 for 6:36/km with ave HR 141. The 3x200 @85% was pathetically slow (at 500m I was at 2:55...ughhhh!) but I got them done.

Garmin data here for 8K and here for 3x200.

***

Edited to add: yesterday I cross-trained 30 min on the elliptical in the morning and 22 min at night - took Grace to Steiner for a swim after I did my elliptical, and she loved it.

3K fartlek

I usually don't relish speed work, and today was no exception. But I am more than willing to do it since I know I won't get fast again without it, and I really want to do a fast 15K in May, 50K again in December, and go to Perth for World Masters in October 2016. So...speed work it is.

The weather was cooperative this morning, as it has been all season :). 39F (3.9C) and clear with a light breeze. Perfect. I headed to the track in my warm tights, long-sleeved Portland-to-Coast shirt, gloves, headband and headlight (yeah, still dark when starting workouts). I did a warm-up and my legs felt a bit stumpy/off from the DOMS from playing basketball/skating, but that was to be expected. My warm-up was good, though - 1600m with 2x100m strides in 10:08 with ave HR 140.

I waved hello to a couple I frequently see walking (casual walking) on the track and then got started. The first km felt pretty hard, and my 500s were 2:53.4 and 2:57.5. I was pretty sure then that this wasn't going to be good, but it actually ended up OK. My 500m medium was 3:08.9, a bit faster than they have been, which encouraged me. My next 500m fast was 2:55.8 (haha not that fast...but I'm coming back so it's OK), and the medium effort was 3:10.3. The final 500m fast was a very hard effort but I did 2:52.6, my fastest 500 of the day, so I'm pleased with that.

Total time 17:59, and average HR 160. Faster than last week with a lower HR. I'll take that. And I'm finally under 18 min, which is less humiliating. It's still slow, but at least it's not embarrassingly slow. The best part is that so far nothing is hurting. No weird soreness. No fatigue. I can train! Yay!

The sunrise and clouds post-workout were great, and I took a selfie at the track, too :).

Garmin data here. 

cross-training; 8K on tired-ish legs

Sunday: weather was amazing for early February - low 60s and sunny - so couldn't resist some basketball with Calvin. Loren and Grace came to the park, too, and we all played HORSE for some shooting practice, and then Calvin and I played one-on-one half court for about 45 min. It was great exercise and a lot of fun, too! I'm a dismal shooter, so even though I am double Calvin's weight and a foot taller, he actually did pretty well against me. We were really breathing and worked up quite a sweat - Calvin's face was all red when we were done. He actually laid down on the grass and crashed when we finished. I regard it as a supreme accomplishment to have worn out my 10-year-old. I felt fine...yesterday...but today I'm quite sore :) (and Calvin is NOT!). 10-year-olds have some advantages!

Then last night the kids' youth group went ice skating and of course I couldn't resist coming along for the fun. I skated a lot and practiced all the moves I remembered from my classes. It was good to be back on skates again. My toe was very sore after the basketball and a bit sore after the skating as well; I iced it after each event.

Today: still nice weather. It was 54F (12C) and windy this morning. Not too windy to racewalk outside though. I wore lightweight tights and a long-sleeved shirt because of the wind; normally at 54F I'd wear short sleeves and shorts, but not today. I took the dog and tried holding the leash by draping it over my left arm and then holding the end in my fist, but it was too hard to RW that way, so I went back to tying her around my waist. I just hope she doesn't freak out randomly again.

My legs were pretty sore from yesterday's basketball and skating, and by 5km I was very tired. However, I still managed a decent time, and besides, time still doesn't matter. I just need to get out there and get back into it. I did the 8km in 52:20 for 6:32/km with ave HR 145. HR was lower than it has been - that might be a good sign.

Garmin data here. 

In other news, my boss got into the Wasatch 100 in the lottery. I think he's insane, but I admire it all the same. Our lab might set up some aid stations for him and cheer him on to the finish.

And finally, can't remember if I posted that I lost 1.6lb last week. I'm doing a bet on stickK.com, and welcome your support. I want to be at a decent weight for the 15K in May :).

12K indoors

This morning it was really, really windy. It was warm, and maybe I could have gone outdoors, and maybe that would have been OK, but maybe it wouldn't have been so great. I decided to try the new indoor track at the brand-new Student Life Center at the U (floor plans of the facility here). I have a membership there through campus recreation, because I had a membership at the Field House (the old gym at the U) so I could use their 211m track in the winter. The new facility is amazing and beautiful, and has a 292.608m track (the track is 320 yards...um, yeah...can we get metric already? Appalling!). I was quite excited to try the new track, but with my broken toe, and with so much nice weather, I just hadn't gotten around to it yet, even though the new facility has been open for at least 3 weeks now.

The verdict? The indoor track is beautiful, but...well...has WAY too many turns. Who designed this @*&$# thing?

I mean, it's really a nice surface and a nice big indoor track, but it has EIGHT turns. Sigh. I don't know how useful this will be for speed work; as you can see above many of the turns are very sharp 90-degree angles, and the turn by the #1 is an even greater angle. It's annoying. It was fine for an easy 12K workout, which is good. I'm just a bit anxious about doing speed work on it. It might be fine. It might not. If it's not fine, then this is not good, since the old Field House 211m track worked great for speed work with its FOUR turns and oval shape. Then my next best option for winter speed work is the Olympic Oval's 442m track, which is wonderful, but a 25-min drive, which adds 50 min to my already very busy weekdays if I have to do speed work. Grrrr.

It was great for 12K though - I did some technique drills as I've been doing recently, one per lap, and five different drills. That helped me count laps and not get off, and kept my mind engaged. The views from the windows in this facility are simply stunning - WAY better than the Field House, which was also super helpful. I did enjoy working out here, for sure. 41 laps went by pretty quickly (with brief stops at 20 and 30 laps for water), and the workout went well. I will admit to pushing fairly hard, harder than I should on an "easy" day, but I really wanted to have a good workout under my belt. I completed the 12K in 1:17:08 for 6:26/km with ave HR 150 (weird...on my watch it said 154, but on the website once uploaded it says 150 - it FELT more like 154 - was pushing it pretty hard; many laps were 160 average HR - see splits and Garmin data here). My legs were pretty tired from about 9km onward, but I dug deep, enjoyed my music (I allow myself music if working out indoors), and tried to channel my inner Maria Michta :) (our fastest US woman; was reading her blog this morning and she actually has a photo of me on there with her after the 30K in 2012 - we are both in science, so we have a lot in common).

After I finished the workout, I walked a lap to cool off and took photos of the place for you, my readers. Then I changed into my swimsuit and enjoyed a soak in the very large hot tub before heading home. It felt wonderful. The pool is AMAZING. If I were a swimmer, wow, I'd be there all the time. There is an INDOOR 50m pool that can be divided into two 25-yard pools (as it was this morning). I have photos of that, too.

I took so many photos that I just put them in an online album - you can see them here. But my favorites I'll put here. Me in the hot tub, and some of the views from the facility.

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.

Cross-training

Today was my cross-training day. It was bizarrely warm here yesterday (59F=15C!) afternoon, and it rained last night. Weird. This time of year it should be snow, not rain, not that I'm complaining. Anyway, it was warm this morning too, and so I got up a bit later, did only 30 min on the elliptical at the gym, and then rode my bike to work. In February!

Total of 52 min of good cardio :). That plus a large steaming mug of coffee made my morning a lot better. In addition, I've really been focused more on eating well, and that's made me happier and more optimistic. I know the weight loss will come when I have that kind of focus, and I need it to happen so I'm ready for a great 15K in May.

3K fartlek

I've been working hard on my technique. I mention this now because I was a little sore this morning - the usual delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) that follows unaccustomed activity. I think the fact that I did a bunch of technique exercises while doing a moderately hard uphill (the uphill was gentle, but the effort moderately hard) yesterday made my muscles sore. Calves and left glutes were definitely noticing it; I'm glad the left glutes were sore in particular because I know they are weaker and I was really working to get them engaged.

These are the exercises I did while walking; I'd do them in order for about 100-300m, picking a landmark to stop at and to start the next one.

1. Squeeze glutes as I walk, focusing on engaging gluteus medius in addition to gluteus maximus.
2. Walk with a wider stance.
3. Walk focused on keeping pelvis tilted upright so I am not "sitting". I tried to imagine my pelvis as a bowl full of water that I was trying to keep from sloshing. I also thought about straight knees while doing this, as the two go together.
4. Focus on arms - make sure they are driving straight back (no "chicken wings") and that they are not in front of me too much ("playing the piano").
5. Focus on toe-off - allow fluid hip rotation and push all the way through my toes.

I also did these on Saturday during my 10K, and will continue to use them to focus on improving technique. I want to come back faster than ever, and this will be a key element of that.

Today's workout went well despite the soreness, which surprised me. OK, my fast 500m were a bit slower, probably due to the soreness, but my medium 500m intervals were much better this week. Maybe I'm starting to get fit again.

The weather and the air quality were very good this morning. It had showered during the night and the track was wet with small puddles, but it was warm and not raining when I went. At 44F (6.7C) it was almost surreally warm for early February, but hey, I'm certainly not complaining.

I did my 1600m warm-up in a relatively slow 10:19 with my usual 2x100m strides. I felt quite sluggish to start but by the time I finished the warm-up my legs actually felt pretty good. Strong, and no weird soreness at all.

The 3K fartlek went decently. Here are my 500m splits: 2:56.5 (pushed watch a couple sec late, so this interval is faster and the next slower), 2:58.6, 3:11.4 (medium), 2:58.1, 3:11.0 (medium), 2:57.6. I wish my fasts had been faster, but I'm OK with it at this stage. Total time was 18:13, which is a good bit faster than last week, and considering my soreness today, I'm happy with this. I mean, I'd like to get back under 18 min (heck, I'd like to be a LOT faster) but one has to start somewhere, right? My average HR was 163, 2 beats slower than last week, which is good; max was 171.

Garmin data here.

elliptical; 8K

Yesterday: optional day, but I decided to cross-train. I need to lose weight, and sitting around on my duff all day eating and watching football is not good for that. So I made sure that I got to the gym and did 45 min on the elliptical. I did watch football, and I did eat snacks, but I was careful.

Speaking of weight loss, please follow me on www.stickK.com to see how I do and to encourage me with my commitment to lose 8.6 pounds by May 9 (the weekend before the Riverside 15K). I want to be in prime racing shape!

Today: 8K. I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning, so decided to go in to work an hour late and then stay an hour later. No biggie; I'm 30 hr/week so there's some flexibility built in there. I got the kids off to school and then went for my racewalk. It was raining lightly (very light drizzle) but enough to get a bit damp; however, as it was a nice warm 42F (5.5C) I didn't mind too much. Sugar didn't seem to mind either. She enjoyed getting out and whining at all the other dogs on the route :). My legs started off very sluggish and the first km was about 6:45, but after that I started to feel better. The route I chose, along the new S line in SugarHouse, was a slight downhill from 1km to 4.1km, then slightly uphill back to 7km or so. That's reflected in my relatively fast splits (just over 3:00) from 1 to 4km. Legs did pretty well until maybe 6.5km, when I got tired. My toe was rather grumpy for the last 2km as well :(. Hopefully I won't have to back off because of that.

Totals: 8km in 51:34 for 6:27/km with ave HR 153.