the last few days

I was in GA for the last few days so there wasn't much to report running wise. I ran 4-5 miles on Thursday on Friday in the Georgia mountians and trails...which was fun. It was a good rest for my knee and a better rest for my body overall. I was in GA for a youth minitry retreat so I had some great opportunities to rest, reflect, pray, etc. I'm really thankful that I had the opportunity to go.

This morning I went out for 14 miles. I didn't want to go for a long run today because I figured my legs would be kind of sluggish since I didn't do much the last few days. I ended up at about 7:15 pace for the run which was faster than I needed to go...but I was kind of in a rush because Brian and I had other things we needed to get done today. I think I made a good choice to get that run on my legs before the long run tomorrow.

pluses: great time in GA, glad to be back

minuses: friend with cancer

ML run

It was hot and sticky out today. I started out running pretty easy but picked it up as the run went on. My knee is so so...just all of the stopping at the lights that was making it get pretty stiff. I ended up with around 16 miles. I didn't get my watch started so I'm not really sure what the pace was. I'd guess it was around 7:00. I ran with Kevin for most of it. I am sure it was super easy for him...and the good news is these paces are getting easier for me as well. Off to GA today so I think a few days rest will be good for my knee.

pluses: covecrest

minuses: weather

1/26 run in lakeway

I met up with Cindy today to run in Lakeway. I don't really run there much so it was a nice change of scenery. Cindy's mom and sister live out in Lakeway so she knew the roads pretty well and made up the route for us. We ran mostly on roads with a bit of trails mixed in. I really enjoyed the run and catching up with her. We didn't stop at all so I didn't have any of the problems I had on Saturday as far as starting and stopping. That was when my knee was getting the most stiff. It didn't feel bad today and the swelling was minimal. I think the day off yesterday was a good choice. I'm looking forward to getting another good run in tomorrow before I leave town for teh rest of the week.

pluses: productive at Church

minuses: still haven't finished thank you notes :(

rest day

I decided to listen to my body today and take the day off. Brian and I had planned on getting in about 5 miles on the trail for a shake out...but it didn't end up happening. He was out late last night and I was exhausted so neither of us moved before 9am. We thought about running when we woke up, but decided against it. I woke up a couple of times last night from moving my knee the wrong way...so that was a sign for me that I needed a break. I really wanted to hit the 80 mile mark this week because I haven't run that much in a week before, but I know it's more important to give my body a break than it is to chase a number. I ended up having a really good morning with Brian and then a good night with the teens...so all in all I'm satisfied with the day even though no running was involved!

I'm hoping I am ready to go tomorrow because I have plans to meet up with Cindy for a 10 miler in Lakeway.

pluses: good time with teens last night, good turn out tonight, record w/ mileage

minuses: Brian's out of town

1/24 long run

I went out for my longest run since SA today. I met up with the crew at 6:15am for an 8 mile route before joining up with the Austin half group at 7:30am for another 14. Overall, it wasn't a bad run. It was pretty windy which got tough at times but I felt relatively good for most of the run. We averaged 7:15 pace for the whole thing. I was pushing a little more than I maybe should have been for most of the run but I have kind of gotten used to doing that on long runs. When I was training for SA I ran my long runs significantly slower than MGP. I was hoping to run 7:18 as mgp for that race...and my long runs were probably about a minute or more slower than that. Now I'm hoping MGP is somewhere below 7 (maybe 6:45ish) and so I'm trying to keep my long runs within 30 seconds of that. I'm not sure where that plan came from...but for now 7:15 pace seems to be a pace which feels like an effort but I can hold it so it isn't bad. Anyways, now I just need to take care of my knee. It started to hurt after a few miles and tightened up at every water stop. Then it just starts to swell after I run which isn't a good sign. I'm going to talk to Mark again on Monday and see if he has any suggestions.

pluses: good run, time with teens today

minuses: not enough sleep!

1/23 recovery run

I went for a 2 mile out and back for a little recovery run today. I wasn't sure how far to go but I figured if I got 4 in today that would mean a shorter run on Sunday. My left knee has been acting up and I was pretty sure it was because of my IT band. Yesterday I went to South Congress Athletic Club to have Mark take a look at it and see if he could figure out what the issue is. Basically he thinks it has nothing to do with my IT band because the top insertion point of my IT band is loose as can be. He said my left ankle is really stiff (I didn't know that) and he did some work on that. It's funny how I could be totally clueless about a joint being that stiff but as soon as he started to poke around on it I realized how tender it was. He also said there was a slight imbalance in my hips so he yanked on my right leg a bit to try and fix that :) So I was hoping that today's shake out run would take away some of the problems. When I started running today it was just my ankle that felt stiff, but not bad. My legs felt really heavy but I was kind of expecting that. Then my knee started hurting after about a mile :( It finally loosened up and felt better when about 3.5 miles in to the run. As soon as I stopped it stiffened up and it's already getting swollen again which sucks. I really want to do the long run tomorrow so I'm going to just suck it up and see how it goes. I'm leaving for Georgia next Tuesday so I keep thinking I should suck it up until the trip where I'll have some recovery. Now I'm sitting in bed with a bag of frozen peas on my knee and I just popped some anti-inflammatory pills, so we'll see.

pluses: cupcake date, Dominican Joe's w/ Tim, dinner tonight

minuses: funeral, sore knee

1/22 rollingwood

We ran a new route this morning which was pretty hilly. From the second my alarm went off, I've been kind of all over the place. Physically, emotionally, etc...

My knee is still bothering me but I'm going to get that worked on after lunch today so that should help. I started out the run a little behind the pack. I'm tired. Probably due to the increase of speed and mileage, but I think it has a lot to do with the lack of sleep. I've been getting 5-6 hours a night and that just isn't going to cut it. Last night I didn't get home from Emmaus until 10pm so that makes it hard to get in bed early for the 5:30am workouts. Anyways, I let up on pace a little and ran with Keith and John for a bit. They were cruising too...but I didn't want to run by myself. Then they turned back at 10. My original plan was to go 14 but I saw that fading fast. So I was on some random dark road by myself for awhile when Ken, Bruce, Mike, and Jason appeared. I cut the route short (only by about a quarter mile I think) to turn around and run back with them. I'd rather be short on mileage then run in an area I'm not familiar with. I'm a big baby when it comes to running in the dark. They continued to run a little faster than I wanted to. Finally on the way back in Mike and I cut over to the trail for some actual easy pace running. That was nice. I had our overall pace at 7:38. It's weird how today felt just as hard as Tuesday where I averages sub 7's. Maybe my body is trying to tell me something...

pluses: time to take a nap today; time with 5th graders

minuses: a lot to do around the house

1/21 recovery run

my post just got deleted :( so i'll keep it short. I ran 12.5 miles. Ken was ready to jump in front of a car for me. My knee is sore. Good recovery pace.

pluses: coffee with a friend

minuses: $375 to fix my car; unproductive staff meeting

random thoughts and scenic loop

I started out this morning not even wanting to run. The death of one of the kids I know yesterday left me with a "this doesn't even matter" feeling about running and some of the other things I deem important in my life. Death always changes my perspective on things, and this time is no different. It opens my eyes to the way I have prioritized my life, and as usual, things aren't were they need to be. Yes, running is important, but it is not the end and all be all of who I am as a person. It is more important for me to be a wife, sister, daughter, youth minister, friend, and faithful person right now than it is for me to be a runner. That being said...I made it to the 5:30 workout. I was a little bit late because of an accident on 35 but Steve was nice and waited for me. The down side of this was that we played catch up the whole first half of the run. I was struggling with the erratic pace. We started with Kevin, he dropped us, then we worked hard to catch the train. We took a few wrong turns somewhere but ended up catching them at a water stop. Then, of course, they picked up their pace. This is when I started falling off the back a bit. My left knee is pretty sore (IT band issues) and it was hurting to take a normal stride. I started to finally fall in to a pace on the way back towards the lake on Lake Austin Blvd. Then on the lake Ken started to pull away for awhile. I don't know why, but I wanted to make today's run mean something...so I decided to try and catch him. I figured it already was not going to be an "easy" day so why not end on a good note? I was partially thinking how the rest of the day probably won't be too good for me (have to go to the elementary school to talk to the girls who's classmate died) so I wanted to at least make the running part end well. Steve took off with me and we closed on Ken pretty quickly. I was mostly content to just pass him the settle back in to a normal closing pace, but Steve kept pushing. He said I can't throw down the gauntlet and then let up (which was my plan). So we kicked it in all the way back to Waller. On Waller I wanted to slow up big time but Steve suggested just letting up a bit to get my breathing under control instead of slowing completely. It worked. I felt pretty strong on the finish and am pleased with how the run ended up. I need to roll my IT band diligently for the next few days...fun fun.

pluses: positive end to the run

minuses: unanswered questions, the week ahead

1/19 greenbelt

I met up with Mike, Jo Dee, Bruce, and David today for 10 miles on the greenbelt. My legs felt a little heavy to start. I didn't run the last two days but for some reason that didn't really yield a "fresh" feeling. I felt more tired than last week. I didn't get much sleep over the weekend and ate pretty badly, so that's probably part of it. After we got going I loosened up and really enjoyed the run. It's awesome weather out and I like being on the trails. I'm getting more comfortable on them and I think it's a good way to build strength and prevent injury from all of the road miles. After the run I went to the gym to do my core/lifting. I'm glad I got that in today. I also got a phone call with some really bad news...but it's not really something I want to talk about at this point....

pluses: nice day and weather

minuses: life cut short

easy day in waco

I'm in Waco for a huge youth conference for most of the Catholic Churches in Central Texas. The final count we got on registration was 1322. Wow. I came up early to help set up the convention center which involved getting on a 50ft lift to hang stars from the ceiling, setting up fog machines, stage props, etc...I'm really not in to arts and crafst so it wasn't really my idea of fun...but I think the finished product is a good one. Yesterday I snuck away from my duties to go for a shake out run. I ran 5 miles or so around the Baylor campus. It wasn't really a pretty run. The weather was overcast and their campus isn't too scenic. My legs didn't feel too bad. They're really tired and my left IT band is tight...but not too horrible. I am taking today off for sure. Yesterday completed 15 straight days of running for me. I think that a PR. I will be short on mileage if I don't get a run in tomorrow...but I think I'm ok with that. We have to be up in the convention center at 7am and my guess is I'll be up late tonight with the teens. Tomorrow is Brian's bday so I soon as I get back from Waco I'll be with him and most likely won't get a run in. I think this weekend is coming at a good time though because I need a few days off. My goal will be to hit 80 next week then I'll have another down week due to travelling. Back to the teens!

pluses: great turn out

minuses: nutrition, lack of sleep

1/15 long run

I had to get in my long run today because I'm about to leave for Waco for our Diocesan Youth Conference. My original plan was to run 12 with the crew and then when I got back to rogue, turn around and run back to the trail for the 7 mile loop and then head back to the store. That would have put my at 21. When I learned that we were finishing the route on teh trail and Waller, I decided to change plans. I had no desire to run up the trail and Waller to the store and then turn around and run back....just think it'd be kind of hard mentally. It turns out Kevin and Chris were going 16...so I just ran with them and then when I got to the Mopac bridge I did an out and back on Lake Austin Blvd to the boat docks which should've added 4 miles. I'm still waiting to get some confirmation on the route distance and if it was accurate...because if so I was flying on the back half. Ruth said that she's almost positive it was accurate distance wise (I'm in Progress, so is she...so I just asked). So my total pace for the run was 6:48. I knew I picked up on the out and back on LAB and tried to close on the trail. When I got to Waller I thought about slowing but realized I was on pace for a pretty quick 20 miler so I kept up the pace. I tried out some of Meredith's nutrition advice on today's run. I added a banana to my morning routine and then took two electrolyte pills before the run. I took one Gu at 1:20. I was planning to take it at 1hr but we were still kind of far from a bathroom and I had to pee really bad so I didn't want to drink a lot of water to wash down the Gu. So the first Gu came at the Mopac bridge water stop after a bathroom stop by the tennis courts. I took another electrolyte pill then. After about 5 more miles I took one more Gu with some water by the 1st street bridge. I think the Gu made a difference because I felt pretty depleted before the run. I am SO ready for a day off. I may try to run out some soreness tomorrow and then take Saturday off, just depending on how things in Waco go.

pluses: time today would've placed well at Georgetown 20 miler

minuses: have to drive to Waco

1/14 HILLS!

I bailed on the early morning run again today and went for the mid-afternoon sunny run. My car said 60 when I started. The weather was awesome. I had a meeting with Meredith today to talk about some nutrition so I decided to run in her neighborhood. I used to live in an apartment pretty close to there so I was familiar with the area. I put together an outer and inner loop that added up to 12.5 miles of basically all hills. I hadn't really intended that many hills...but that's how it ended up. I was pretty tired by the end of it but was able to hold 7:28 pace which I was happy about. I tried lowering my hands a little when I run per Steve's suggestion. On the flat parts it made me feel like I was running more on my toes...maybe that's what it's supposed to do, who knows. On the uphills it felt really uncomfortable so I just kind of ran in a rhthym that felt good and decided to worry about form some other day. I'm tired. Tomorrow will be my 14th day of running without a day off. Because I'll be gone all weekend tomorrow will be a long run. I'm not sure how I'll hold up for 20+ but we'll see. Good news is that I'll have most of the weekend off from running. I'd like to get a few miles in here and there but it'll depend on how my responsibilities shake out with the 1000 teens we're hosting for the conference in Waco.

pluses: great weather, positive mtg with meredith

minuses: tired legs and not enough sleep

yesterday and today

Yesterday Tim and I met at 2pm for a ten mile loop around the lake. We always meet at Barton Springs, so we end up a mile over what we plan just because of the out and back from the springs to the trail. My legs felt a little heavy to start, and I'm sure that's just leftover from Bandera. We were settled in at a good pace pretty quickly, but ended up picking it up a bit on the back side of the lake. Tim doesn't like getting passed on the lake, so anytime we hear someone coming we inevitably pick it up. Sometimes it doesn't really bother me, but on days where my legs are dead it's not quite as much fun. We ended the run at 7:30 pace. Not exactly "recovery" but my legs felt better afterwards. The weather was awesome and we saw three to four people smoking pot on the trial..ha ha.

After talking with Steve last night I decided to back off my mileage today and do a long run on Thursday. I was basically just going to frontload this week since I'll be gone over the weekend. I'm still doing the same thing, just distributing the miles differently. I ran with Steve this morning for the 14 mile loop. We were chasing Kevin and Andrew at the beginning of the run but then settled in to a slower (but still fast) pace behind them. I knew I'd pay if I tried to run with Kevin today. We ran the last few miles we Kamran and he added a nice positive attitude to the run. I think Steve may have woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Andrew said his garmin had our mileage at 13.4 so we were a bit short, but our overall pace was 6:58. I feel really positive about this. I'm already comfortably running at or below my last marathon goal pace which was a 7:18 for a 3 hour and 10 minute marathon. I think that runner faster in the build phase will pay it's dividends come race day. I just need to make sure I do take some recovery so I don't run too much, too fast, too soon.

pluses: feeling positive about long term goals

minuses: handling volunteers (not you C Hall)

1/10 & 1/11 Bandera and Recovery

Bandera was much better than expected. Brian and I made the decision to run the race together. Neither one of us have ever done a trail race and Brian hasn't done much running since the 08 Austin Marathon, so I thought it may be a little rough. The weather was great which made the camp out the night before quite pleasant. We started out towards the back of the pack so we had a hard time settling in to any kind of pace. We ended up walking/jogging the climbs and then on the downhills Brian would pull away a bit. He had no fear going fast down the trails, and I was scared of falling. Then when we got on the flats I'd take off :)

I did like the race and would interested in actually racing it some time. I need some more trail training to build confidence on the downhills. All in all, it was a fun experience. I was glad to get to spend the time with Brian and it was a nice contrast to the usual long run on the road.

Today I went out for an easy 6 recovery. I had planned to do 8 but was short on time. Had a late night last night so I slept in later than I should have today. For the week, I'm at 71 miles. That's a new record for me. My body feels fine. My legs are kind of tight from the trails yesterday but nothing worse than expected. I'm feeling really positive about how training is going so far.

pluses: great birthday weekend

minuses: nutrition

review of the 25th year of my life

In general, I'm not a big fan of new years resolutions or evaluating the past year, but last night Brian and I were talking about this last year of my life and I was really struck by how many things happened. Some were amazing, and some not so amazing. I usually just write about running stuff in this blog, but I thought I'd take it a step further today and hit some of the highs and lows of some of the things that I experienced this last year!
In the 25th year of my life I
-got engaged
-got married
-became a homeowner
-became an aunt (by marriage)
-travelled to Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Italy, and Jamaica
-made hard long term commitments and decisions
-went to a funeral of a teen
-did not touch a basketball
-was transformed
-met goals only to determine that higher goals were still to come
-ran three marathons ranging from 3:42 to 3:08
-lost ten pounds
-starting sitting on an exercise ball at work
-cried because I was scared
-changed my last name
-moved
-joined Rogue
-fell in love with running for the first time
-made new friends
-was celebrated

I am sure there are a lot of other things that happened in this last year but those are the things that surfaced most quickly. I had a wonderful year. I am looking forward to seeing what God has in store for this next year. I am blessed!

1/8 team run number two

Today was an awesome running day. The weather was great...much more pleasant than the Tuesday run. The plan was to run 12.5, but I think the course was closer to 11.5 because I'm pretty sure we weren't running sub-7 pace the whole time :) The pace felt comfortable. I am still having some tightness in my left calf, but I think some attention to hydration and some TP rolling will take care of that.

pluses: awesome weather, didn't get a speeding ticket

minuses: Mile 48 isn't on itunes

1/7 recovery run

Brian and I went out for an easy out and back on Slaughter today. My goal was to get in 8 miles but we ended up a little bit short of that because we were slow getting out the door. We ran a total of 7.14 miles at around 9:20 pace. I think it was good for me to get a slow recovery run in because I need to learn to go hard on hard days and easy on easy days.

We had happy office hours last night and I didn't go with any intention of discussing too much about running...but after Roger brought out the lydiard build schedule I realized I actually do have some questions. My whole approach to running since San Antonio has been to run the mileage of whoever I am running with that day. Steve basically said that is a cop out because I'm not committing to anything. I agree to a point, but I always end up doing more miles then planned, not less. It usually just seems easier to go with the flow of what the group is doing. So today if I had run with Mike and company at Barton Springs, I would have gotten 10 miles in instead of 7. That extra three miles would have been a lot easier for me than trying to figure out where to cut the course short and running part of it by myself in the dark. I think we finally settled on the fact that putting in these extra miles is fine as long as I stay below 80mpw. Right after SA my goal was to build back to 60 miles because that was more than I had been doing the in the summer and fall. Now I'm learning that if I run with people on Monday thru Thur and then do a long run on Sat, I'll get in 60 miles without even trying. I'm just going to keep doing what I am right now and see how it goes...and listen to my body. Right now everything feels good except a slight knot in the top of my left calf muscle. I think some TP roller time should take of that!

pluses: possibilities at SCAC; brunch with CHall

minuses: house is a mess, again, already....

1/6 first day back w/ the team

I started out a little bummed when Angie called me at 4:45 to ask if I was going to practice because it was cold and raining. I knew it'd be cold, but I hoped it wouldn't be raining. I decided I'd go ahead and get my run out of the way early, despite the rain. I was excited to see everyone on the team and knew I had a lot to get done today so I figured an early run would be best. I started out the run with Kamran, Larry, Chris, Steve, Ramon, and head-phones girl (sorry I don't know her name!). We were going at a pretty good pace but I felt really comfortable the whole time. Eventually we got a bit spread out and people took there own courses since not everyone is going the same mileage now. For most of the second half of the run it was me and Kamran. The wind started blowing harder and the rain came harder too, so I was glad for the company. Overall, we were at a 7:20 pace for 14 miles. I felt good. I'm having a hard time figuring out what is making me feel good on certain days and horrible on others. I ran almost a minute per a mile faster today than yesterday and but in 6 more miles and felt 100x better. I thought today would actually be a rough day because I got <4 hours of sleep and had pizza and woodchuck for dinner last night...so sleep and nutrition were at a D-, but then I felt fine today...definitely can't figure this one out!

pluses: i have a nice warm house to come home to

minuses: sleep, or lack there of

1/5 8.5 miler

I went running with Tim at 3:30 this afternoon. I didn't want to wake up early and run in the super cold weather since I had a pretty free schedule today. I am still feeling pretty lethargic which is annoying. I'm not sure what the deal is but I hope it goes away soon :(

pluses: time w/ friends tonight

minuses: still not feeling 100%

1/4 trail run

I ran on the greenbelt this morning with Meredith, Paul, Mike, Bruce, and Larry. We were going for 8 miles and I was a little nervous because my trail experience is limited to say the least. I have run on greenbelt down by 360 and mopac but I guess that part is a little bit less rocky and hilly. This run was good, but I am still not too comfortable on the trails. I felt better the longer we were out there, I am just worried about falling (which I only did once). My legs didn't feel bad considering how wiped out I felt yesterday. The weather was a little cool and the scenery was great. I think I will like trail running at some point, but I just need a little bit more experience!

pluses: hit 60 miles this week, it's sad but that's a record high for me :)

minsuses: stabbing pain in my ear canal...think it's finally time to go to the dr. tomorrow

1/3 long run

Mike was right...today sucked. I met up with Ken and Angie to run 18 today. Last minute, Steve decided to join us. I felt pretty good for the first 10 miles. We were kind of going a random route that Ken was making up as we went but it was nice weather and nice company...so I was feeling pretty good. We went up Mt Bonnell and some other hills and ran up Mesa...and then I started feeling kind of tired. We weren't running fast so it seemed like the miles were going by pretty slow. Finally we got to Shoal Creek and Steve and I picked it up a bit...I don't know what the pace was, but I was out of my comfort zone. My biggest issue now is my breathing. I am still really congested so I can't breath in through my mouth when I'm running. This means I feel like I'm huffing and puffing out of my mouth the whole time and I can't settle in to a rythym. It's just really annoying because I feel like in general I am a rythym runner and it's just not something I can do right now. Anways, with about 3 miles left Steve and I both started to crash. It was a REALLY hard finish. And not because we were running fast..we were just struggling to make it. I guess it's a combo of a later start, hot weather (84), no electrolytes or fuel, congestion, and not much water....it wasn't a pretty finish to say the least. I'm glad I suffered and survived though.

pluses: relaxing afternoon and evening ahead

minuses: body is angry with me :(

1/2 First Run of the New Year

I hope this run was indicative of how the rest of the year is going to go. I went out for an easy 6 recovery...and it wasn't easy. I felt like crap pretty much the whole run. I can't figure out if it's my inability to take in oxygen efficiently, my poor nutrition, or poor hydration that caused me to feel so bad. It was probably a combination of the three. I wasn't wearing a watch, but I'd guess was at 8min pace. I just felt really lethargic the whole time and my legs felt really heavy. Hopefully I got that out of my system before the long run tomorrow. I'm going to join Ken for a later run so Brian and I can go to the REI garage sale at 8am. I'd rather get the run over earlier but I know Brian really wants to go to REI so I'm trying to be a good wife and compromise :)

pluses: booked flight for Boston

minuses: lethargy