slogging along

This week has been +/-.

Monday night: dug up some weeds. Think it aggravated the hammy a bit.

Tuesday morning: elliptical.

Tuesday night: mowed very long grass in yard. Definitely aggravated the hammy a bit.

Wednesday morning: 5K fartlek was the workout. I made it to 3K; legs were heavy, and hammy was more sore than I thought it should be, and I was very slow. Got to 2926m (~3K fartlek on indoor track) in 17:54 and HR was only 157 average. Yeah. Slow. I called it quits, which I think in retrospect was definitely the right call. No sense beating a dead horse. I think it was just a minor setback due to the yard work, because today was better.

Today: 6K on JRP with Kelly and Sugar. Nice weather, 52F (11C) but pretty windy as a storm was blowing in. The first 3K was slower (into the wind) and then the last 3K felt better. Total was 39:59 for 6:39/km ave HR 143. Then I did 5x200m @85%...well, more like a nice hard effort :). Harder than 85%. But I wasn't fast; the fast twitch muscles still need work. I did 5:29 for the km.

Hamstring felt OK the rest of today. Tomorrow is PT and Saturday is the Salt Lake 1/2 marathon. I think it'll be OK for that.

I'm going to have to decide in the next couple months whether to go to Perth or not. Right now it's hard to know if I'll be able to train, so I'm trying not to get discouraged and make a pre-emptive decision. Hopefully things will improve soon or it'll be a no-go.

rest day; 10K

Yesterday I took a legit rest day. Did absolutely no exercise, not yoga, nothing. Even took a nap! It felt good. I ate well too :).

Today: 10K with Kelly (OK, she did 6.8 with me, then I did the rest with Sugar!) on the JRP. Gorgeous morning. 48F by my car but Garmin says 54F (12.2C). It was nice :). No wind, dark when we started but light when I finished, and the alpenglow on the mountains was awesome. I love living here (when it's not snowing...).

We started off very slowly (7 min km for the first km) but I felt pretty tired and my legs were definitely heavy - though I rested on Sunday, I had done a LOT of heavy duty yard work on Saturday, including digging 6 very large holes for rosebushes and hauling the dirt around, so I'm not surprised my legs were a bit tired to start. I picked up the pace as I went though, and my hamstring did OK. It was also a little sore to start, sometimes 1, often 2/10 pain level, but by the end of the workout it was running 0-1/10 and wasn't bothering me much at all. Whew.

So the summary is: slow but done. The usual lately. 6:40/km for 1:06:48 with ave HR 144.

Some pictures from my walk and also of my tulips :). Spring is here :)!!! (It'll probably snow again, but I need to enjoy the good weather while I can).

16K

Yesterday: elliptical & resisted urge to bike to work, since last time my hamstring didn't like it.

Today: 16K on the JRP; first 10K with Kelly and Sugar and last 6K with just Sugar. I ran into Sarah out there at a bit shy of 13K and it was nice to see her. The weather was amazing and my workout was great, too. Yay! Plus all the flowers are blooming and it's just gorgeous right now. Of course, this being SLC, it could snow tomorrow (and who knows, it might!). It was 13.9C (57F) and breezy, but not so windy that it messed up my walking.

Pain levels were quite good. They started off at mostly 1/10 with some 2/10, then as I went it was more 1/10 and even some kms with no pain. Yes!!!! This after sitting a lot at dinner and the symphony last night, so I'm quite pleased.

I didn't try to go fast. We started slowly and I didn't want to push anything. I got to 10K in about 1:06:xx and felt good. Happily, my legs felt good all the way to probably the last 500m, when they started to get tired. But that bodes well for next week's half marathon, and also for next week's training. Maybe I can ramp things up.

Weight Watchers: Um, yeah, I have had a lot of problems the last few weeks. I only gained 0.4lb from 2 weeks ago, but...yeah...it's time for some soul searching. Kelly and I talked about it and it was very helpful to have her support and her perspective, plus I went to my meeting today and also my church small group has been helpful. I am in a good frame of mind right now and realize that I need to 1) slow down a little so I can sleep a bit more, 2) focus on treating my body well. I'm feeling a second wind here; it probably helps that racewalking is going better this week.

Perth, here we come (I hope!).

Garmin data.

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. 

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 :)!

6K; gentle yoga

Today: Did 6K easy, and pain was a bit better than yesterday. 1-2/10; sometimes 1, sometimes 2, always tolerable. Slow, but that was OK. 6:39/km with ave HR 144, and legs felt reasonably fresh. I could've gone farther (not sure HOW far) but don't want to push things too much. I feel like right now I need to be conservative for a little longer.

Then I did yoga with Sarah, the hard DVD, but omitting any exercise that even began to feel like it was stretching my hamstring. Super conservative. It felt good.

Then hot tub for 20 minutes and relaxing in the sun :). Ahhhhh....

Now to drive home and go back to reality!

Easy 10K

Yesterday: elliptical and PT exercises.

Today:

I hoped I could go farther today, but I'm so darn de-conditioned, endurance-wise. Sigh....

I'm in Mesquite, Nevada, with my friend Sarah for a girls' weekend away. It's awesome :). It's usually about 20 degrees warmer here than in Salt Lake, and right now it's so lovely. It was definitely shorts weather for my walk at 50F (10C) but rapidly warming to 55-60ish, calm, and clear and so much sun :).

The drive down here was surprisingly OK on my hamstring (5 hr drive) at the time, but this morning it was sore, probably from the drive I assume. I was very apprehensive about RW. I started out and the pain was probably a 2/10 and I was very concerned, but I thought I needed to give it a few km, and the pain lessened to 1/10 and didn't really bother me much. Whew. The bigger problem was that my legs got really tired around 7-8km and so at 10K I knew I should call it quits before I did strain something trying to go longer. Geez. :(. But since I still want to do the SL Half Marathon in a couple weeks, I knew I needed a bit more work, so I did 33 min on elliptical + bike. Would've done longer but the hammy started to hurt on the bike (?what?!?) so I quit. It feels totally fine now (after a shower and breakfast) so I don't know what was going on. I got a total of about 1:40 of exercise so that's something.

The 10K was slowish at 1:06:38 for 6:40/km but my HR was nice and low at 138. Haven't lost all my fitness, just some endurance. It'll come back.

I saw 3 very cute cottontail rabbits, a bunch of quail, some cattle, chickens, and BABY goats -
very very cute! Here's a photo of the goats and also one of some giant concrete Lego blocks.

P-DTR, rest day; 3K fartlek

Yesterday: I was just really tired, and a bit down, plus really busy, so I tried to respect my body by giving it a day off except for my PT appointment. My regular PT, Shane at the U Orthopedic Center, had suggested I go see Bonnie who is a PT at the women's clinic, to rule out any pelvic floor dysfunction or problems with muscles in and around that area, given that I was having a hamstring relapse. I agreed, because while I didn't think I was having problems in that area, I figured it wouldn't hurt to get it checked out.

So yesterday afternoon I saw Bonnie and she was very thorough. After examining me she didn't think I had any pelvic floor problems, and thought that basically the problem was my hamstring coupled with some possible lingering dysfunction from my ACL reconstruction 23 years ago. She felt that my popliteus on the left side and some of my back muscles on the left side were a little dysfunctional. I had told Shane last week that I thought I did have some lingering weakness stemming from the ACL surgery, and while I had rehabbed it very well, it wasn't quite the same as the other side. That was all fine and well.

But then Bonnie did something a bit unusual and I'm not 100% sure how I felt about it. On the one hand, I felt that last night it improved my pain level and my functioning quite a bit, but what she did struck me as a bit "woo-woo" and now that I've done some research I can say this much: "P-DTR" or "Proprioceptive Deep Tendon Reflex" therapy is not peer reviewed or evidence-based - YET. Having experienced it and seen some definite short-term benefit (though obviously n=1 and this is anecdotal!), I wouldn't write it off. I thought it was helpful. I'd love it if someone would do some research and show whether it is actually effective or not. Basically, the theory is that some pain results from poor proprioceptor functioning and that using a variety of techniques one can "reset" the mechanosensory feedback that the brain gets.  It seems possible to me that this could have some truth in it; our brains are complex and respond to quite interesting therapies, for example, the mirror box treatment for phantom pain.

Today: 3K fartlek. I went to the gym and did a warm-up on the indoor track. My pain level was a bit better than last week's 5K fartlek, which is good. It wasn't zero, and it was still more painful than before my relapse, with pain 1-2/10, mostly 2/10, and afterward it bothered me quite a bit for maybe 5-10 min before settling down and not hurting any more. I took some naproxen and though I was sitting quite a bit this morning doing injections of zebrafish embryos, it didn't bother me at all, so that was good. Now, at lunch time, it feels pretty much fine, which is an improvement on last week I think.

My fartlek performance was OK, and was about what it has been the past few weeks. Hopefully I can start training more soon and make some real fitness gains. All this waiting is frustrating, but at the same time, I should relax and go with it. My total time for the 2926m was 17:35 which is 18:02 for 3000m. Ave HR was only 157, and my intervals were ~2:55 for the fast and ~3:10 for medium effort. OK I guess. It is what it is...and I feel like I've been saying that for several years now, but what are you going to do, y'know?

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; cross-training; 5K fartlek

Tuesday: cross-training & PT

Wednesday: cross-training & PT, because I wasn't feeling so hot. I'm fine now, but I wasn't up to a 5K fartlek.

Today: 5K fartlek on indoor track. It went OK. My hamstring was much more tender than last week; about like Saturday's 16K and Monday's 10K - pain 2/10. I don't like this trend and am watching it but suspect it's just irritated from the PT and yoga? I need to take some more anti-inflammatories; had stopped because I didn't need them but I need to get this calmed down again.

My fartlek was 30:25 equivalent for 5000m, which is slower than last week by a little bit; perhaps because I was a bit more conservative because of the pain? But it's basically the same speed: too slow, but it'll do for now. I have to be patient, and I'm not good at that.

After my workout I went on the balcony to cool off and took this cool moon photo:

yoga; 10K

Yesterday: yoga, the hard DVD. Then was just sooooooo tired that I had to take a nap. There was no stopping it.

Today: 10k this morning, and I felt OK but was slow and somewhat sore in the hammy; pain was 2/10 but never more. I think the PT from Friday plus some of the yoga stretching is to blame for the sore hammy, though it wasn't *that* sore and feels fine now. Time was 6:41km for 1:06:58 with ave HR 144. Brought both dogs along and they were pretty good though Powder had some lagging/potty issues at the end.

After a busy work day and taking the car to the shop (routine inspection, oil change) and then taking Grace to violin, grocery shopping, and making dinner, I'm thrashed. Low energy tonight, with a pounding headache. I think I'll go to sleep early. My resting HR is nice and low so I doubt this is a relapse of the fatigue; maybe I have a virus of some sort? More rest should help.

PT; 16K

Yesterday: elliptical; hard PT session wherein my PT put me through a boot-camp-like workout. It was tough, but very good. Everything was a bit sore this morning as a result.

Today: 16K. I was sore, and legs were heavy from 5km onward. My hamstring bothered me quite a bit (it was aggravated a bit yesterday in PT, go figure!) but only for the first 1-2km (pain 1-2/10), and then it settled down and didn't hurt much. The heavy legs worried me and I wondered if I'd finish, but it went OK. Not fast, but not a death march either, which is good considering what I did yesterday. It was cold this morning (27F, -2.7C) but not much wind, and the sun was out once it got light. It was still semi-dark when I started.

Total time: 1:45:35 for 6:36/km with ave HR just 143 - happy about the low ave HR. I'm getting fitter, slowly!

Garmin data here. 

10K

It's been a good week for workouts. Today was the third day in a row that I've racewalked, and I'm happy to say that it went well. My legs were definitely tired from yesterday's 5K fartlek, and I had to push pretty hard for the last 3K to keep going at a good pace, but I did it! And with very little pain! I'd say that today might be the first day since my injury that I basically walked pain-free. Not to say that I didn't notice the injury site, but it was more awareness rather than pain, for which I'm grateful.

It was pretty nice out this morning, at 3.9C (40F) and clear and calm. Calvin and the dogs came along, and we met our friend Thomas at Liberty Park for a lap around the park and then we walked by his house before heading back toward our house. I left Calvin at the alley and went back out for my last 3.25km, since Calvin didn't want to do the full 10K; he opted to go home and play a little Mario Kart Wii before school :).

Totals for today: 1:05:41 for 6:34/km with ave HR 145. I'm every so slowly getting faster, I think. Progress is slow, but it's still progress.

Edited to add: my 2.5km splits were remarkably even at 16:18, 16:28, 16:28, 16:26.

I'm glad tomorrow is a x-training day; I have PT in the morning as well. That'll keep me busy :). But I need to rest up a bit before Saturday's 16K.

5K fartlek

Woke up feeling OK but in a grumpy mood, for no particular reason. Sometimes this happens to me; I get full of self-doubt about racewalking or start dwelling on some minor problem in my life and start ruminating. Thinking too much is definitely not good at times! I made myself dress and go to the indoor track anyway. Stopped at East High to see if their outdoor track was open (it wasn't...need to call the school and find out what the new hours are), and then drove to the U. Did some PT exercises to activate the glutes, and then I warmed up for 5 laps with some strides on the last lap (1:42.7; pretty good!). Then I did some dynamic stretching.

I still wasn't in a good mood, but it was a little better. I at least wanted to try the workout; was a little nervous about GI trouble after last week (which was silly since I didn't eat crap like last week), but everything was fine.

I started the workout and it felt pretty good. By 3K (well, 2926m, at 17:34, which would be 18:00 for 3K) I knew it was a decent workout, considering the shape that I'm in, and that it didn't totally stink like last week did (though of course last week would've been fine if I hadn't had GI issues). I also knew I wouldn't get under 30 min for 5K, but I know that'll come soon enough. I finished in 30:10 for 4974m, which works out to 30:19 for 5K. I'll take that. Season's best (haha...have only done this one 5K fartlek this year). My fast intervals were 2:53.1-2:56.9, and my medium effort intervals ranged from 3:08.0-3:11.8 (500m equivalents). Not fast, but not the worst I've done lately. I'll take it.

My pain level was mostly 0-1 but with an occasional 2/10. I sat a good amount this morning injecting at work and had a little discomfort but it was pretty minor, so I think things are good on that front. Luckily I don't usually sit around much at work haha!

Oh, and it was a beautiful though cold morning here (photo at left taken from our living room) so the outdoor track might've been icy anyway; I fell on some ice on the sidewalk on my way to the bus stop :( but landed on my backpack and so was well padded, and my computer is fine. Geez.

After the workout I felt a lot better, mood-wise. I didn't feel super awesome, but decent. I have to say I do love racewalking for that if for nothing else.

Garmin data here. 

8K; misc.

Sunday: I did the hard yoga DVD - all of it :). My muscles were VERY tired from the half marathon, and I could feel it when I did the yoga; I'm pretty sure much of that was because of the hilly course. Then we did some light hiking; probably about 2 miles of easy walking on trails in Arches National Park.

Monday: elliptical, and some PT, including jumping rope. My PT thinks that explosive calf strength will help, and I agree. The jumping rope is hard though - it's not just jumping rope, but also doing one-foot jumprope, alternating feet every 2 touches. It requires a lot of coordination; I'm still working on it. I had a lot of delayed onset muscle soreness, and was glad for the x-training.

Today: 8K with Sugar (no Calvin, no Powder). It was about 36F (2.2C) and snowing very lightly but the roads were essentially dry with a few puddles. I felt fine, and well-recovered - the muscle soreness is pretty much gone. I focused a lot on technique and enjoyed my walk. Total time was 52:17 for 6:32/km with ave HR 143, which is pretty good of late. Hopefully I'm going to turn the corner soon and pick up some speed. Pain was 1/10 at most - very well controlled and hamstring is feeling good.

Garmin data here.

Canyonlands Half Marathon 2016 edition

Pre-race: we got here late last night, at about 9:45pm, because Grace had skiing lessons at Snowbird until 4:30pm. But the drive went well, and we arrived feeling good. I discovered that if I leaned the front seat back quite far that my hamstring was much happier, and Grace (sitting behind me) did OK with that, for which I was very thankful.

This morning: My hamstring felt good, and my legs felt rested and ready to go. We picked up our packets at the late packet pick-up, got Calvin on the bus for the 5-miler, and then Diane and I (we drove my friend Diane down for the race) walked to the half marathon buses. The scenic drive up the canyon next to the Colorado River on highway 128 is great, and even better, we got to traverse that route for the race :). Have I said yet that I love this race? All except the last 2 miles, on highway 191 back into town, which is hot and noisy, and by then you're tired! 

The race: The weather was amazing; it was calm for a while when we were waiting for the start (they bus you up there 1.5-2 hr before the race), and it was the warmest it's been pre-race. It was 13.9C (57F) at the start at 10 am. Lovely! The wind picked up and was 16kph (10mph) but it was swirling and wasn't too much of a factor as it wasn't a headwind most of the time, only occasionally. 

I felt great and quite strong for almost the whole race. I focused a LOT on my form and keeping my pelvis properly aligned. I did get quite tired at about 18.5-19km, but hey, with how little training I've had, to only have the last 2-2.5km be difficult was terrific. 

And yes, I was slow - slowest I've done this race - but it actually felt better than the last two years when I really lost it the last 3-4 miles. This time I felt much stronger. I'm pretty pleased with my slow time :), especially because the hamstring only bothered me a bit - pain was mostly 0-1/10, with occasional spikes to 2, but easily controlled with form adjustments. I think I'm finally pretty much better!!!

Oh, and I got a fun compliment about mile 11. A runner passed me, and she said, "I think you are SO bad-ass for walking this whole thing" :). 

2:18:58 for 6:35/km (hilly race, so this is pretty good I think, compared to recent workouts), with ave HR 155. 

***

Best of all, Calvin did the 5-miler and got FIRST PLACE in the 11 and under age group!!!! I am so proud of him!!!!!!!! :)

6K

Everything felt OK today. I was slow, but no slower than I have been lately. One of these days I'll get some leg speed back, I hope. Hopefully before too long, or I'm going to worry about Perth!

Calvin and the dogs came along, and we met our friend Thomas at Liberty Park for him to do a lap with us, which was quite enjoyable. The weather was really lovely, a bit overcast and 7.2C (45F).

My hamstring was OK; pain 0-1/10.

I've been very, very tired this week - feel like I haven't slept well or enough. Been going to bed a bit late; need to keep an eye on that or I'll risk fatigue problems again.

Total was 39:42 for 6:37/km with ave HR 147.

5K --- nope, 3K ---- fartlek; GI distress

Dang it. Just not meant to be.

Went to outdoor track with Calvin at 6:35am; it was LOCKED. GRRRRR. Came home. Changed into shorts. Went to indoor track. They wouldn't admit anyone under 18 because it wasn't "family hours", which are very limited at Friday after 5pm, Sat & Sun all day. Geez.

Calvin and I had doctor appointments this morning at 8:50 and 9:30, so we had to get dressed and get going to those. That all went fine; everything good so far - had some blood work done and my cholesterol is nice & low with good HDL:LDL ratios (big surprise there, with my diet and exercise - NOT!) - CBC good, with hematocrit at 40.0 the best I've seen it. Waiting on B12 and serum ferritin, but expect those to be normal with the oral supplementation I've been doing after having deficiencies in B12 and iron.

Anyway, had to head to the track at 2pm because work was busy, including a birthday lunch for me and for the PI in the next-door lab (her birthday was today, and mine yesterday). I didn't eat much, but I had eaten a lot yesterday, and something caught up with me. At the track, by 9-10 min into the fartlek I was nauseated and having some intestinal rumblings. By 3K I was worried and had to call it quits after one extra lap. It was ugly, and I'll spare you the details, but at least I made it to the restroom.

I was slow, too - as you might expect given the GI distress. Geez. Can't catch a break.

Total time 18:01 for 2926m, which is 18:28 equivalent for 3000m. Terrible. Garmin data here. 

Hamstring: felt decent during at 0-1/10 pain level, but bothered me a bit afterward; sciatica.

Hopefully next week I can actually do the 5K fartlek and it'll be better.

not-quite-10K

Don't worry, I'm fine. I just 1) ran out of time, and 2) had very heavy legs. I almost made it but had to stop to get the kids to school.

First, yesterday: Yoga for runners, the hard DVD. Plus a whole lot of planks and PT exercises. Wore my legs out a bit...

Today: My legs were, unsurprisingly, tired and heavy after the DVD and the PT. So, yeah, I was slow, but I am not at all worried about that. I know in the long run this will make me much stronger and less injury-prone, so I'm totally fine with being slow for now. Because I was a little slow, and because I brought Calvin and he was slow getting ready, we had to cut it a little short to get him to school. As it was he was very nearly late.

The good news? My hamstring felt very good - pain was mostly nonexistent, and sometimes 1/10. Yay!

It snowed last night and was seasonable this morning at 1.1C (34F), and the roads were (thankfully) clear and wet but not slippery.

Total: 9.54km in 1:04:27 for 6:45/km with a nice low average HR of 142. 

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.