Consolidation

Think I will do most of my blogging over at my "real life" blog - Life is Beautiful. I had initially started this blog to track my P90X journey, then my Half Marthon training, then Insanity. I felt that I didn't want to annoy people that just didn't care about my training.

Sad.

Since my husband is a runner and cyclist, and there's even a group at church that runs, training permeates 75% of my life. At the beginning of this year, I decided to stop focusing on the last 15lbs I wanted to loose, and start enjoying my training life!

So - this blog will hang out and wait for me to change my mind again. For now, one blog will do - and it will probably be a little boring for those that don't train, have a bazillion kids running around, or home school, but it will be all about me. :)

I feel the sanity sinking in already!

What's Worse?

No workout today again.

My initial goal was to rest until Sunday, but I'm not going to make it. I may die. Don't laugh. You'll see, I won't post forever, and you'll think that I'm just being lazy, or that I got a life and I will be dead.

I don't know which is worse - fatigue from overtraining - or the utter and complete insanity that IS - my life without endorphins. I make every attempt to put honey on all things that go down my throat, there's that good old "Mac Truck" feeling during the day, and my inability to delegate authority while shouting "nobody does anything around here," and my constant thoughts of running.

I think I'll run a slow 3 tomorrow and see how it goes. Regular rest day on Saturday and then plans for my usual bike ride on Sunday. Three days is enough rest - right?

Not Enjoying It

I decided to take the rest of this week off of workouts.

My attitude about things has been suck-ish lately. My hamstring has been a big baby and I haven't ran in 10 days. I've been riding the crap out of my bike, but it's not the same. I've been rolling my eyes at my Yoga practice and skipping weights days. I just feel burned out.

Workouts off until Sunday. Then...time to hit it. Races coming!

Sunday Cycling

Cycling 12 miles / 48:00

MUCH better ride today than Friday morning. I was a little scared to get on my bike this morning, in light of the sheer terror of the pitch black obstacle course I faced then. I don't easily scare - but all alone at 5am in the pitch black tree cover did it.

My husband bought me a new light for my bike. The one I had was okay but it didn't fit well and had a tendency to slip down. This one is super bright. I don't see very well in twilight/darkness. He's part bat, so I'm not sure he gets it, but at least wants me to be comfy and safe. It worked very well.

I took my good old standard city commuter trail. It's a little slow-ish with the intersections, but well lit and totally clear of debris. At the end of that trail, I headed south on a 4 lane arterial street. At 6am on a Sunday, our city of 250,000 doesn't have much street traffic. I stopped half way, had a little water and soaked in my free time. The sun came up and burned off the haze as I was heading home - what a nice ride.

Even made it home before the family woke...made some coffee and had a complete thought!

More Miles

Stationary Bike 11 miles / 40:00

I wanted to make up some miles that I missed this morning. I really wanted to come close to 25 miles for a longer ride. The boy had football practice, so I took the kids over to the Y and let them play while I listened to music and spuuuuuuuun away. Keeping the RPM's in the 85-90 range.

Long Bike

Cycling 16.5 miles / 1:25

Well, this wasn't what I had in mind today. It stormed in the night and besides keeping me up, causing one of our daughters to visit us, and making the neighbors scream and hollar (??), it made a mess of the trails.

The first 5 miles were spent picking my way over small tree branches that had fallen on the trail. At one point, what I thought was just water on the trail ended up being mud. I nearly lost the bike - thank the Lord I didn't.

There's one portion of the trail that is called The Tunnel. It's build from abandoned rail road tracks, so it's way down in a gully and covered over by...trees. A whole big limb was down in my way and I barely had enough room to go under it. It was at that point that I switched to city streets. At 5:30am on the south edge of town, there wasn't much traffic.

I had intended to ride 2 hours, but at the 1 hour mark, I was 10 miles from home and there was lighting on the horizon. I got rained on just a little bit and cut my ride short by going around Holmes Lake. Riding on those city trails in the pitch black is NOT for me. I'll take my chances on the streets on the way out, and ride trails on the way back after the sun has a chance to come up!

Wednesday Bike Ride

Cycling 11.25 miles / 50:00

I don't remember much about this run...except that it WASN'T a run!! I do love my bicycle, but am quite tired of the running interruptions. *sigh*

More Cycling

Stationary Bike - 12.5 miles / 45:00

I tried to ride in the rain this morning. Despite a serious case of "I don't wanna," I suited up and got out on the wet roads. The Lord had different plans for me - I rode to the end of our block to get on the paved city trail and the sky opened up. The wind started blowing and the cold rain soaked me quickly. I was done.

This evening, our son had football practice. Due to scheduling, I had to take the other three children with me - so why not drop them at the YMCA child care and have a spin on the bike? It worked out well, though, not having dinner before we left made getting home without eating something inanimate a challenge.

I had made dinner and fed whomever wanted to eat at 4:30 and left the rest on the stove for the inevitable, and for hubby when he finally made it home. I ate too much of it - but it was good for me...ground chicken, brown rice and green beans...and 3 Stork Chocolate Riesen's for dessert. :)

Sunday Easy Miles

5 miles / 58:00

Slow and easy recovery miles in the Vibrams. Not sure what's up - but I had to convince myself over and over that this run was a good idea. The epitome of "not feeling it." I had to walk some around mile 3, my hamstring injury is giving me trouble again. It did loosen up and I was able to finish - but I paid for it all day. Pretty sure I will be on the bike this week. I'll try again to run this weekend.

Four weeks till the Bill Seymour Half Marathon!

Long Run - Not

Cycling - 12.25 / 56:00

My hamstring was still bugging me off and on yesterday. I figured I'd ride my "long" day instead. I wanted to do a 2 hour, 25 mile ride - city trails. However, our 2 year old was up until midnight and off and on from there, so at midnight, I re-set my alarm from 4:45 to 5:45.

Pouring rain the whole time. My first ride in actual rain versus just sprinkles. Not bad - refreshing, really. I had zipper-top baggied all my un-wettables, so no worries.

Took my bike in for the 30 day tune up. I haven't ridden it all that much but did have close to 100 miles on it. I promptly set out for another ride this evening and got caught in a torrential downpour. Due to decreased visibility, I ran over some glass and shredded my front tire. I was trying to get to the bike path and had to follow a mile of city streets to get there.

God bless my hubby for the emergency pick up!

Wednesday Nakey Run

4.1 miles in 47:00

Just a slow, easy run in the cool of the morning. Yes, this particular morning actually had a cool part. I ran in my Vibram's again - really love those. My right hamstring (the one I hurt in June) started talking to me after the turn around. I walked for a minute or two and drank some of my nuun. Felt good and finished strong.

My average pace for this run was 11:35. This was a a pace at which I could carry on a conversation, possibly even breathe with my mouth closed. The cool part is that this pace was unattainable for me a year ago. I was running every run at about a 13:00 pace, and really struggling to even complete a 5 mile run. It was SUCH a long way back from my 4th pregnancy. Partial bed rest and excessive weight gain nearly squashed me.

Feeling great. Wondering what I will be rejoicing in a year from now...goal - triathlon!

Yoga

Yoga practice / 45:00

I used a rare opportunity to do some poses during nap time, and what do you know, it worked out to a whole workout! I decided to bring my mat upstairs where I could use it intermittently and get more done. I haven't done Yoga for 2 weeks, because I have it scheduled for evenings. Between baseball, and social events it just hasn't gotten done.

Today I used the written version of the P90X workout and put on some soothing music rather than doing the DVD. It was nice to concentrate on taking 5 breaths for each pose, rather than listening to the instructor to make the change. Darn it, my downward dog was sad after all this time not practicing! It felt good to get my sweat and my stretch on.

I normally do upper body weights on Tuesdays, but have decided to focus solely on running and Yoga until my half on 9/3. So far, so good!

Speedwork Monday

4.25 miles / 48:00

I ran a progressive speed workout this morning. The heat and humidity were awful (75/90%) and I knew that I was going to have trouble on the faster pushes.

10 minutes each:

Warm Up

10k pace

5k pace (only made it 7 minutes and almost threw up, walked it off)

10k pace

Cool

Sounds like fun, huh? Glad I did the bulk of my Monday housework, last night. I think I'm a little wiped out, now.

Recovery Sunday

4.5 miles / 54:00

Nice slow recovery run. Did this one in my Vibrams as well. I am 75% sure that I could handle 10+ miles in them. Shoot - I ran 13 miles in them this week. Speaking of miles...I ran 23 miles this week! Yay!! I haven't had a decent training week in a loooong time. I'm very encouraged that my knees don't ache. My hips have been a little tight and my quads really took a beating on my long run...but other than that - feeling strong!

Long Run Friday

9.75 miles / 2:00

Today was a day of "firsts." On a longer run, I try not to do anything out of the ordinary. I wear clothes that are tried and true, footwear that has been adequately broken in. I make sure to bring the same type of fuel and hydration that my tummy likes. But there's always room for improvement, and you don't know til ya try!

1. Extra Hydration. I carried an additional 20oz bottle full of electrolytes in my hand. With the oppressive heat and humidity of late (even at 5am) my 20oz bottle in the hydration belt has been barely enough for my shorter runs. I've looked at hand held units, but didn't want to buy until I try. It went well - I was eternally glad that I had the extra liquid. I made it a point to drink it all by the turnaround, and found a trash can close by to throw it out. That worked well for me. I wouldn't have been happy carrying it the whole way, but knowing I could pitch it in a trash can at any time was great.

2. Cool Drink. I froze my liquids halfway the night before. Then I poured room temp on top. By the time I needed it, I had COLD fluids on a HOT day! Awesome.

3. Emergency Pit Stop. Yep, just what it sounds like. I've long been a "Squat Scoper" and look around for coverage along the trail just in case I have an emergency. I knew that, eventually, I would have need. Note to self: take a few squares of tissue with you next time.

4. GPS Fail. ARG!!! I used the miCoach application for the 3rd time, today. Before I had run a mile, it had given me two. I just took the earphone out of my ear and let it jabber away. After the EPS - see #3 - I wrapped up the headphones and just left it running in my pack. I could hear it yammering away incorrect mileage and pacing cues. Unfortunately, this also meant that I turned around just short of 5 miles (4.85)...man. You just don't mess with the long run. UNINSTALL.

All together, this was a great run. I finished with a little spring in my step and don't feel totally wrecked. A 12:20/mi pace isn't what I want for the race on September 3rd - but if it's not 75 degrees with 90% humidity, I may be able to pace a little faster. Either way, I'm proud of my run. I'm blessed with a strong, healthy, capable body and am learning how to endure things mentally and physically. Beyond that, there is no average pace, 'cuz who cares? :D