2017-02-06

Back on schedule today after my "recovery week" last week. I did six miles today and it felt slow. My legs felt good, but the rest of my body just felt drained. This was run #2 with my new Ultimate Direction Ultra Vista Jenny vest. I'm not going to lie, I was kind of hating it for a while today until I realized I had it on too tight. Since the cross-body straps in the front aren't stretchy like the Nathan ones I think out of habit I pulled it snug and it was just too much. I couldn't breathe or take a deep breath to clear my throat, it was digging in and then a mile 3.5 I completely unclipped it during my walk, and WOW! it felt so good, so when I clipped it back I loosened it A LOT and I didn't have any bouncing or shifting but I could finally breathe. After that my run went so much better, my splits got faster too. Today I also used the bladder in the back instead of the bottles so that felt different than my first trial with it. Overall, I think it's worth using until next week's 1/2 marathon. But I'm already considering the Adventure Vesta instead for more capacity, and more easily adjustable side straps. Nathan is sending me a whole new vest to replace my Vapor Shadow with the small hole in the pocket, got to love that customer service. That really is outstanding!!

2017-01-31

Back when I was in high school, running cross country, we didn't have things like GPS watches and smart phones with RunKeeper and Strava. We just ran whatever route our coach told us to that day. I do know our cross-country meets were 2 miles, and one time I decided to run the 8-mile Turkey Trot in Dallas, instead of the 5k, because "I was a runner." I don't know any of my PRs, VO2 max, or cadence, we didn't have iPods to drop a beat to drown out the pounding footsteps or labored breathing, it felt like we ran forever sometimes. I don't have any knowledge of a run that I did in my teenage years that exceeded the 8-mile Turkey Trot. I remember that day well, I remember running across a really long bridge that seemed to go on forever. I remember my feet, knees, and ankles hurting like they have never hurt before. I remember finishing, I don't have any idea what my time was, and thinking "ouch that really hurt, why did I run that far?" I'm sure for the rest of the day I sat around doing absolutely nothing except eat Thanksgiving food and complain about how sore I was. 

Since having D and deciding to do TransRockies, I have run 8 miles, or more, a handful of times and I always think back to that 8-mile Turkey Trot and how miserable it made my teen self. Today was an 8-mile day, and adult me got up early, got D's stuff ready for school, went to work, ran 8 miles, rushed through a shower, picked up D, did the family night thing at Chick-Fil-A, did an hour commute, watched half of Trolls with my 2-year-old while we sang and danced, did the whole bedtime routine, and pretty much kicked teen Angela's a$$. That's always a little ego boost, to know that you're stronger mentally, and physically than you were 16 years ago, I think it's common to think that we decline from our physical capabilities of our teenage years and it's exciting when we defy that.
If I'm being honest, today's run was hard, I was really hurting, my calf was tight, my knees were achy, and it wasn't just the typical "warm up through the first mile and it will get better," it hurt the whole time and even got worse as the miles went on, but I got it done. I feel like I hobbled through it, but I got it done. I decided to skip stairs today, even before I started, I've been more sore than usual and the weekend sinus crap kind of kicked my butt so I decided for the sake of time and conserving energy on an 8-mile day that I would do stairs again next week. I had some Facebook correspondence through one of the Facebook groups after my run about recovery and what works for them. One guy recommended that I rest some, I explained my plan to build my mileage and told him about my progress for the month of January and he advised that I pull back by 5%-8% this week and then resume as originally planned next week. He said every 4 weeks you should decrease by 5%-8% for one week to recover before moving forward. I think that sounds fantastic, so instead of the 7, 8, 6 that I had remaining this week for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I'm "just" going to do three 5-mile runs. It amuses me that I say "just a 5-mile run," before 2016, I would dread a 5-mile run, it would be a necessary evil in tri training. Now it's one of my short days. I love it!!

2017-01-30

I think Monday morning runs are starting to become my favorite. I'm fresh from a rest day, but on Sundays I spend the day solo with D, and let's be honest, they're a little trying on my patience. So, heading out in the dark for a quiet sunrise run on a rested body feels nice. I've been feeling sickly since Saturday, yesterday was probably the worst of it. So, I was feeling a little puny today but I got my seven miles in anyway. No PRs or anything fancy, just a steady 11:23 pace. I combined my 4.6-mile loop with my 5.4-mile loop for one big loop that was supposed to be 6.4, so I did a little out and back on one of the turns. I know it's just geometry math, but it's weird that you can add a 4.6 loop to a 5.4 loop and only have 6.4 miles. This afternoon I drove a couple more routes to use as my mileage increases. Everything looked good, it seemed the further out I got the hillier it gets, which is a good thing, I'm training for a mountain race in the flats of Texas so if I can't train for altitude at least I can train on some small ups and downs.

Not stopping at the sign today, less than halfway done!

My Nathan Vest is getting a hole, time to contact customer service.

2017-01-28

Today is C's birthday and he still encouraged me to run anyway. He has been so supportive of all my running and I don't thank him enough. I even feel a little bad that I gave him grief about fitness for so long and felt "betrayed" by all the hours he spent at the gym and now I'm doing the same thing. On one hand, I feel guilty, and on the other, I'm glad that I have this now so that it seems a little more balanced. I'm glad that I can relate to his strict schedule, need for sleep, and healthy eating choices. I'm sorry for the time we lost being at odds about it, but grateful for the understanding now. Sometimes he says things like "this is your year to do these things" and it makes me a little nervous about next year. I'm a goal oriented person and I need something to train FOR. My own health and well-being just isn't enough to get me out of bed and outside for a cold morning run. So, when next year comes, do I sign up for another extreme race to keep me on track or do I say "well, my running days are over" and return to my pre-2017 way of life? Can my body and my family weather another year of ultrarunning? I guess it's silly to worry about right now, THE race is still almost 7 months away. Who knows how I will feel in August? I just feel a sense of peace, and accomplishment that I haven't felt in a while. It's such a contrast to the restlessness and blah-ness I've felt since becoming an adult.

About my run today - nothing too exciting, just another loop at home, 6 miles. Oh, and another 10k PR; o). The 10k PR at home is kind of exciting because most of my fast runs happen at the school, not on the dirt roads where footing is a little loose and there are more variables. Although it's not trails I'm happy to have the dirt roads to do a lot of my running on, I think it has so many advantages over the pavement, especially for my end goal!

2017-01-23

Rise and shine for a 6:00a six miler. Yesterday's rest day was fantastic, and there was no small group at church so we stayed home all day. Anyone who knows much about me knows I am not a homebody, I like being out and about but right now I am so content just staying home. Maybe it's all the running, maybe it's the back to back weekends of traveling for races. Whatever it is, I just want to chill at home in my sweats. 

The Duel - Wichita Falls, TX - 10k Training Race

2017-01-21
The Duel offered 10k, 13.1 miles, and 26.2 miles and runners could choose either paved or trail. Many areas of Texas got a lot of rain this week so the trail course was impacted and they had to do some re-routing mid-week or cancel the race. The Duel sent out an email saying that the 10k route would be closer to 6.4 miles, the 1/2 marathon would be 13.8 miles, and the marathon distance would be close to 26.2 miles. It also explained that the 10kwould turn around at one point and the 1/2 would run one full loop + one partial loop, and the marathon would run 3 full loops. The course was well marked with orange tape (to keep on the right) but the instructions on where to turn around and where loops started and stopped were bad. They had volunteers placed at transitions on the course but they were useless. They were pretty involved in themselves and if they did look up and acknowledge you, it was just to mumble a "good job." For the record, the aid station volunteers were fantastic, but many of the teen volunteers seemed a little more like they were "voluntold" to be there and they would rather be anywhere else.
Sorry for all the backstory, but necessary for the next bit.
I wanted to try the "set a target" feature on my watch so I chose the 10k distance and a 1:15 finish time. I had a good pace going for about 2.5 miles but then I started tripping, three times in about .25 miles, so I decided it was time for some GU and a walk. I did my usual .2 mile walk and then decided I would do that at the beginning of every mile for the rest of the course, when I got to mile 4 though, one of my jams came on and I postponed my walk by .5 miles. When I got close to the finish line, my watch said I had only gone 5.88 miles, that's nearly .5 miles shorter than what the email said the course would be. So, I asked one of the non-helpful teens about it and she said she thought I was ok because "it's just supposed to be like 6 miles or something." I opted to run back across the bridge and down to the gate and back up before crossing the finish line. That put me at 6.37 miles. When it came time for awards it looked like I would have had 3rd place in my age group if I wouldn't have turned around, but I wasn't out there to win anything, I just needed to get my trail miles in. Sometimes it's difficult to keep my sights on the big picture instead of the competition. Today I had to tell myself "you have many more miles to run and bigger goals than this 10k, so just get through it, there's nothing to prove."
I am so glad tomorrow is a rest day, my lower calves/Achilles area is tight on my left leg and I need some R & R after 17.6 miles in 3 days.

2017-01-20

The wind is such a mind-screw. I went for my 5-mile run today in 20mph winds. Ugh suck!! When I got to the part where I had to run into the wind I couldn't even do my .35 run interval. Instead, I did electricity pole intervals. Walk to one, run to the next, repeat, repeat, repeat. I'm sure there will be some times at the Leadville Marathon and TransRockies when we get up above tree line and on top of a pass that the wind could be very brutal. So, I just remind myself that I should train through it, because come race day, the weather could be very unfriendly. What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, right? I didn't die today so I must be a little stronger :)