4/29/06: 4 Relaxed Miles in New Braunfels!

SO I do not have a ‘good track record’ for running when I am ‘on the road,’ if you know what I mean, lol. Usually I make excuses out of it or get too lazy and get mad when I get back home. Not this time!!!!!!! I ran a nice 4 miles at the high school I was staying at (to teach, I mean)…a nice cushiony track, at 9pm at night, with no one else around…it was nice. And the humidity was low too so that was cake! I didn’t run for speed, but I did run nice negative splits (without trying). I’m glad I am mostly over my bummed ankle…now it’s up to me to take care of it for good this time!

The STATS:
4 miles
37:42 mins total running

Mile1: 9:51
Mile2: 9:30
Mile3: 9:21
Mile4: 8:54

Heart-rate: n/a
Weather: high 60’s. low humidity.

4/27/06: A 3 Mile Neighborhood Jaunt!

Sometimes, it is more fun to not worry about the watch and how far I ran. Today was another one of those days. I just used my watch to time how long I was gone. It was actually nice that way. And it never seems to fail, when I run for time only, I am miserable that first mile and then I enjoy the next two miles so much, I don’t want to stop, lol. Oh well. That happened today too, but there isn’t a whole lot of places to run in my neighborhood without running circles (ala hamster style) so I just called it a day after 3 miles!

The STATS:
about 3 miles
30 mins total running

Heart-rate: n/a
Weather: high 60’s. low humidity.

4/26/06: PIM Running About-Indian Lines!

After yesterday’s tough tough trail run, and another twisted ankle, I am taking it easy today. Trail running def. makes me sore in ways that road running does not, I don’t know quite how to explain it. Dirtrunner, do you know what I mean? Anyhow, I ran a more ‘lesiurely’ pace in my Indian line. I pushed myself, but enough that I was in pain. That left leg just wouldn’t losen up! Oh well. A nice 3 mile run…it was probably a little further then that, but I don’t really care.

The STATS:
about 3 miles
about 30 mins total running

Heart-rate: 167 ave, 223 max.
Weather: cool, mid 60’s. low humidity.

4/25/06: I'm Back! Stage 4 of the Tour de Bayou!

And possibly...my last one ever...more on that later. Anyhow, this is my first run since I went out of town last week. The reasons why are simple: I needed a recovery, I didn't have time (honestly!) and I was running around on my feet SOOO much as part of my job, I actually had blisters on the bottoms of my feet! Ouch!!!!! Needless to say, despite the fact I felt i stayed active, I gained 3 pounds and I didn't eat very healthy (I don't think I even ate dinner one night!)

Anyhow, I knew I was going to be hurting on this run. First of all, it was hotter then Haites, lol, and I was not properly hydrated. Add to the fact I didn't wear a watch (to gauge time and how long I was running) and I didn't bring my own water. This equaled close to a disaster for me on the Ho Chi Min trails. this BY FAR is my least favorite stage of the series. I enjoy trail running, but this stage really wears me out.

Add to the fact it was two loops (ugh) and a total of 4.75 miles. And I just wasn't ready for it. I finished the first loop closely (again) by Strider Barry in 23.20, who may I add is an excellent pacer. However, I lost him but found him after I somehow shortcutted (again?!) through the trails. I was a little dissapointed that i 'cheated' not knowing any better, but I was right behind Strider and fellow HBR Steve, who is also an excellent pacer. He kept me going through the last tough and hot part of the 2nd loop. He kept me going and actually allowed me to finish in front of him! (And on top of that, just for Rick aka Dirt Runner-I chicked about 10 guys!!!)

The finish felt fantastic, but sure enough, I knew my breathing was too out of control and I was about to pass out. I quickly began spinning around after I stopped running and began to hypervenilate. If it wasn't for fellow Houston Blogger, Bob, I am certain I would have passed out. He told me to put my head between my knees. I have never been so scared before after a run-but I think I was more scared I would pass out then the fact I wasn't getting any air. It was soo terribly hot it wasn't even funny, and no air. Pretty scary.

This event just confirmed several things for me. #1: This summer is going to be tough unless I try to train well and smart. #2: I need to take a step back in my training and have an 'off season' consisting of lower milage (20 miles a week running max until July) and biking/swimming as cross-training. #3: No more trail/x-country running for me. Ever. I twisted my ankle again and it's hurting worst then ever. I am not sure my poor ankles can take much more punishment. I would like to think I have strong legs, but the trail running is taking it's toll...and I think I just can't do it anymore, as much as I love doing it...stay tuned and I will let you know how the healing goes.

Onward though, and I am staying positive about everything. I have a couple of short workouts left for the week and then a long run on Sunday. I am looking forward to swimming but it looks like I may have to wait until June to start that since the Memorial pool doesn't open til then! Maybe I will start swimming at the Y? But most importantly, I am glad to be running again as I missed it dearly and I feel good about training again. Now, to get ready for my next 10k!

The STATS:

about 4.75 miles
47.40 total running

Heart-rate: n/a
Weather: humid. upper 70's/lower 80's.
no breeze in the woods! the worst weather to run in!! :(

4/17/06: 13 Slow Miles by/around my House.

I am not going to lie...I am not very happy about this run, other then being happy I got it done. Mostly, it was hot. I carried my own water but I ran out after about 10 miles...Also, I got bad stomach cramps around that time too. And finally...I just hurt everywhere in my lower body. The last three miles were brutal. I walked more then I ran. I was sad and I wanted to give up every step I took.

I am not proud of this run. It's one I want to bury in my running journal. But I didn't. Why? Because, most importantly, I finished. I didn't give up. This ran taught me humility and how to perservere. Those are two fantastic things to know and learn, running or in life. I hope I have more runs like this, simply because they make me a stronger runner and person.

The STATS:

about 13 miles
2:25:59 total running

Heart-rate: n/a
Weather: humid. 70's.

4/13/06: 3 Mile Recovery Run!

Okay, okay, I am back in town, getting caught up...sorry for the delay. And FYI, i didn't drink any margaritas up there, I heard they weren't too good, anyhow...

So i did 3 miles by my house this day...nothing exciting. I was slow...and sore. But it was a great recovery run and I enjoyed it, nevertheless. Onward to the following week's recovery week!

The STATS:

3 miles
about 30 minutes total running

Heart-rate: n/a
Weather: humid. 70’s.

4/12/06: Track Ladders at the Park!

This is probably one of least favorite track workouts. #1: It FEELS long. #2: it’s hard for me to focus through each of the reps. #3: I was still tired from my last two days of running. Coach Steeeeve gave me the ‘kudos’ for 3 consecutive days of hard running though. But…urggh, it’s too much for me I think. Right now, anyhow…I don’t know. I definetly need to recover smartly in the next week or so.

Anyhow, I am happy that I made it out to this workout. Yes, my heart wasn’t into it, but I still pushed every rep like I wasn’t the least bit fatigued. I had to run hard…because I can’t do the track the injustice of just ‘half-assing’ it. (You tracksters know what I mean).

The workout tonight? I scaled it down to only 4 miles (well, it should have been 5-6, but I took the extra time to stretch well since I was so sore from the previous day). ½ mile warmup, then all at slightly faster then 5k pace: 400m, 200 rec, 800m, 400m rec, 1200m, 400m rec, 800m, 400m rec, 400m, and ½ mile cooldown.

Although I don’t have any of my splits (stupid girl at the office reset my watch!!!) I do remember that I faired well on all segments…under 2:00m (1:58?) on first 400m, under 4:00m (3:59?) on the first 800m, and my last 400m was 1:47. I was pleased with my efforts, although still not 100% happy with the workout. I think I really just need a few days to recover, clear my head, maybe bike…arghh. No watch…just motion…Anyone ever felt this way?

On the soon-to-be future horizon: 3 slow miles Friday, 13 miles (EKK!) on Sunday, 6 miles Monday and 4 more at some point next week, up in Dayton, OH. This will probably be my last update til…next Sunday or Monday, April 24. Business traveling calls! Don’t miss me too much…and don’t worry, I’ll drink a margarita for everyone:)

The STATS:
about 4 miles

37:32 total running

Heart-rate: 174 ave/197 max

Weather: humid. 70’s again. arghh to summer.

4/11/06: Tour de Bayou, Stage #2!

So despite wearing myself out with yesterday’s 11 miler, I felt ready to tackle what would hopefully become a quick 3 mile x-country run at Spotts Park. I vividly remember this run from 10/15/05…which doesn’t seem that long ago. But wait, that was 6 month ago almost to the day. And most impressively-I shaved nearly 4 minutes off my time from then today! Wow!

The run was hot…right away I knew I couldn’t let the heat get to me. But, it did. And sadly, I didn’t warm-up well enough so I felt pretty low energy-wise, despite a small Cliff Bar before the run. However, these are just excuses. I wanted to run for IT ALL and competetively…especially considering that I was standing in 13th place in the open women’s standings. Not toooo shabby.

Today wouldn’t be the day to hold my spot though…my legs cranked through the 3 miles and I was passed by a girl in the first mile that I had beaten very strongly last week. Oh well, I guess I will have to get her next time (which won’t be next week since I will be out of town!) I felt slightly sad…I know I put in a good effort…BUT NOT good enough this time…

I did a mile cooldown with Coach Steeeve, and Strider’s Barry and Helen Grant afterwards in which we chatted about multi-sport events and top runners in the area and other assorted business items…it was nice to get my mind off of the run that just occurred. I was not happy overall with my effort, but I ran hard?? What gives with that?? Well, next time, next time. And tomorrow? Speedwork at the track…I am worried my body is going to protest but I HAVE to do it…I can always have next week as a recovery week anyhow…

The STATS:
about 3 miles

24:36 total running
ave. 8:12/mile

1st loop: 12:26
2nd loop: 12:10

Heart-rate: n/a
Weather: humid. Maybe 70 degrees or so.

4/10/06: 12--Opps, I mean 11 Miles--Up and About the Park.

I couldn’t get in my long run on Sunday (more on ‘why’ later) so I had to get in 12 miles on my least favorite day of the week for running-Monday! I think I have mentioned the reason why I don’t like doing my long run during the week before-it really wears me out for the rest of the week and the trails are always more crowded during the week! Ahh well--I sure slept great last night. THAT alone made it worth it.

Since the 2.9 mile trail was sooo crowded and I felt no inspiration to do loops like everyone else was doing, I ended up deviating from my plan to do 4 loops and did my favorite run ever to the Polo Grounds….ah it was so nice and…uncrowded. I saw 3 runners the entire route once I got off the loop. Then, after getting that nice icy-cold water and turning back around towards the loop again, I discovered a new trail that Jen had mentioned over the weekend. I HAD TO CHECK IT OUT!

The trail (which is parallel to mile 1-going counterclock-wise) around the loop was just laid down, and what a treat; It was so nice and cushy, I turned around and ran it again. Total amount of others using it: one biker, one dog, two walkers and two runners. Oh man…how great it this! I almost ran it a third time to be obnoxious…but decided to finish off with two loops of the park.

Since I was running more of a ‘lesuirely’ pace before I got to the loop, I decided to push it a little and get my legs moving. My first mile around the loop: 8:35. Not bad, I thought. But I still felt like I wanted to fly…hmmm one more ‘fast mile,’ so low-and-behold when I ran another mile and looked down at my watch and saw 7:38! No way, I thought, no way. Did I cut the mile short? But, there was no way I had.

Of course, I slowed down right away to have enough ‘go’ to run another 3 miles. I did two ‘recovery’ miles (although they were still faster then my first 6 miles to/from the Polo Grounds) at 9:10 each. Then, I knew it was time to finish strong, I still had some energy in the legs (God Bless that Olive Garden Alfredo I had for lunch!) so I put it on the line…7:32. 7:32? 7:32? Lol…okay maybe I cut this mile slightly short, but I can’t lie…I ran the hardest I could in the last 200 meters-just like I would finish a race…and it felt sooo good. And of course I could hardly walk until I stretched for about 30 minutes…

SO I felt very good about this workout, and as I finished my stretching, I looked at my watch and realized I only ran 11 miles instead of 12! Oh well, it’s a recovery week for me anyhow. Plus, I am still sore from Sunday’s biking effort…when I rode my silly-little bike for 40 minutes in the morning…and convinced myself biking isn’t thatttt hard…that is until I tried to sit down later that day! ahhhH! And my calves are still sore too, lol…I need a new bike…but a road bike is going to put me back about $500…arggh! Maybe I can be the one dumby that rides a mountain bike for my first tri…oh well.

Up for Tuesday? Maybe the 2nd Stage of Tour de Bayou (come on, you know I’m stubborn, and it’s ‘only’ 3 miles!)

The STATS:
11 miles

1:38.15 total running
ave. 8:55/mile

mile 1: 9:16
mile 2: 9:26
mile 3: 9:16
mile 4: 9:19
mile 5: 9:25
mile 6: 9:26
mile 7: 8:35
mile 8: 7:38
mile 9: 9:10
mile 10: 9:10
mile 11: 7:32

Heart-rate: 169 ave/194 max
Weather: cool. 60’s low humidity.

4/8/06: Almost a Minute PR at the Trolley (what Trolley?!) 5k!

I did it, I did it, I did it! After several hard months of training (well, my last 5k was in December) I ran what I consider my 'most confident 5k' ever and had an almost minute PR! The funny thing? I think I could have ran it faster. Who knows...but I ran hard, smart and most importantly-relaxed.

Two factors paid off in this effort I think...excellent and beautifully cool weather (race time temp: 55 degrees!) and my confidence in my training since my last 5k. Yes, the speedwork is paying off...I can't stress it enough to anyone who wants to get faster-speedwork: the way to go! But it just gave me such an...aire of comfort in my running. I never felt labored and I felt super relaxed in my efforts throughout.

It helped while I was running to think of my 10k at the Bayou City Classic with Coach Steeeeve and how he helped me stay comfortable and relaxed despite the horribly hot weather we were having that morning. It also helped that I paced off of none other then the HRB's Lisa! Woohoo, it was a good feeling to keep her in my sight the entire race and know that she was running very consistantly at a 7:45/pace and she ended up PRing too!

In fact, I think all the bloggers that ran (Jan, Steve, Jen, Joe and maybe Sam?) ended up PRing...I mean, when the course is bone-flat and the weather is nice and cool, it makes you want to run faster! It was such a good feeling, believe me. I think I have another 5k PR in me this sping but will we be Blessed again with this nice of a race day? Hmmm...maybe that PR will have to wait til the fall! Dumb Texas weather!

So my only goal for this race was to run sub-8:00 miles which would get me the PR...I talked to Steeeeve about it later at the Strider's chili cookoff, he told me he knew I had it in me, and who knows what the future holds for me. This race just really makes me feel really good about my efforts and training thus far, even JUST in last 5 months, and I totally agree with him. My legs still want to go...faster, stronger, further...I think the only thing that is going to hold me back at this point with my running growth is myself...

13 miles tomorrow at the Park in the evening and a hour of biking (yes, I am actually going to ride my bike!) in the AM!

The STATS:
3.1 miles

24.21 total running
ave. 7:50/mile

mile 1: 7:51 (started too far back, but got 'on pace' by 'feeling it')
mile 2: 7:59 (dumb wind!)
mile 3: 7:47 (hammering it home...passed a slew of guys here!)
last .1: .43 (probably one of my strongest finishes ever!)

Heart-rate: 180 ave/197 max
Weather: 55 degrees at start, windy...very pleasant weather though!

4/7/06: 3 Slow Miles and I am Ready to Race!

I wasen't sure how my ankle was going to hold up for the race tomorrow so I ran a slow 3 around my neighorhood...I was suprised by how taking a few days off made my body feel so full of energy and ready to run...but I held back and listened to what my body was telling me and kept it to a 'jog.'

I still felt a little tenderness in the ankle, but nothing NOT manageable, it will just have to be 'touch and go' tomorrow, take some anti-inflams, get plenty of sleep, a nice warm shower...and I will be ready to run the best I can tomorrow as I attempt to get that lucrative 5k PR...yeah!

The STATS:

about 3 miles
30 minutes total running

Heart-rate: n/a
Weather: warm, kinda humid, but it was 10pm at night!

4/4/06: Stage One of Tour de Bayou!

So it’s back to cross-country season for me…well at least for a month and a half. Sponsered FOR FREE by RunSport and HARRA, the Tour de Bayou is an excellent oportunity to hang out with the city’s best trail runners and x-country kats…hardly any of which I know since I confine my running circle to primarly Memorial Park…Despite last season’s Practice for the Tour and me not really enjoying the Ho Chi Min Trail Stages, I made the most of a new course (for me) today.

After yesterday’s good effort on my long run, I had no plans to run these 4 miles tough. I was still a little sore and fatigued, but luckily the weather was cooler today so it would help-at least a little. The only Striders I saw were Barry and Yong Collins, who had both posted awesome efforts in Sunday’s Big-D Marathon. Yong even won her age group! Talk about some great efforts with the horribly hot weather they had up there-way to go, guys:)

Since Barry and Yong planned to run rather ‘conservative’ (their words, not mine), I ran the first loop with them (2 miles). I managed to stay with them pretty much through the last ½” mile of the end of the first loop. But, the big reason why I slowed down so much in the second loop—I twisted my ankle!!!!! I KNEW, I KNEW something like this was going to happen…I even had that ‘bad feeling’ before the run started that I shouldn’t be doing x-country before this weekend’s Belliare Trolley 5k!

Oh well…I ran through the pain like a dumby, despite my ankle telling me to quit. I used the pain to push me to finish the run…I’m not a quitter and I’m not letting anything stop me from finishing strong. So, I did. I ended up finishing 97th overall…which is better then most of the Practice tours I did last year. It felt good to finish, and even better to get off my ankle…now I hope I can heal it up before Saturday…we’ll see.

BTW-way to go Jen for finishing strong too. And I have ran into Sarah TWICE this week at two different sporting events-the Houston Dynamo’s opening season and the Astro’s 3rd game of the season. What a sport nut! I was joking with her that I have seen her more this week then I have seen her out running:) But I think the joke is really on me since I think we are going to try to do a Tri together coming up soon…ah that means I better get going on it!

The STATS:
4 miles
38.32 total running

ave. 9:38/mile
mile 1-2: 18:55
mile 3-4: 19:37

Heart-rate: n/a
Weather: warm, not as humid as yesterday.
Breezy from the Bayou though-nice.

4/3/06: 12 Miles at the Park During the Week…

I normally dislike doing long runs during the week…they take a lot out of me and I feel like it takes me twice as long to recover from one then if I ran on the weekends, I don’t know. Anyhow, got in 12 steamy hot miles. My tech shirt was sweat-soaked by about 5 miles into the run. Never a good sign. I also stopped for water about once every 3 miles.

My knees were a little sore and I had some cramping issues, but other then that, I felt like I handled the humid and hot weather fine. It’s going to be a hot summer, I get this feeling, so I better adjust to the heat as soon as possible. Eager about the race this weekend…hoping to PR but we will have to see how the rest of the week goes.

The STATS:
12 miles
1:54.24 total running

ave. 9:32/mile
no mile splits today…

Heart-rate: 170 ave, 211 max.
Weather: humid, hot. Texas.