On This Day I Can Run...So I Will!

Speedwork did not go as planned today. I went to the college and the gates were shut tight ... and locked.  So I went to the local high school and found the same thing.  I was disappointed and tired of driving around so I went to the rail trail.  Everyone and their mother, uncle, brothers, and sister was out.  And so was I.

Did a warm up then ran spurts at 8:40 stopping my watch while I recovered.  I did this until I reached a total of 1 mile at 8:40.  Ran an easy mile.  Was going to do more but felt an uncomfortable feeling in a tendon in my ankle (not something I would call pain).  Decided not push it since I lost momentum by driving around so much.  I also missed the nice spongy surface of the track. 

Next week is my easy week.  No long run or speedwork.  Think I'm ready for it.

2 miles in the hood. Need new batteries for the headlamp. They were a little dim.

Early spin class. Start at 5:30am now. Liked it. Nice to have more time to shower afterwards.

5 easy miles on the trail. Felt great today. Cool weather ... loved it.

AP: 10:05

4 easy miles in the hood.  Mornings are getting darker.  had to put new batteries in my headlamp.  

My hubby is out of town so when he is gone my kitties take liberties.  When my alarm went off at 5:30 to get up for my run I realized there was one kitty on my right and one on my left.  I was pinned down.  Didn't take much for me to decide to stay in my kitty sandwich.  Met my daughter at 9:30 and we went to the Rennnaisance Festival.  Great people watching!  

After the festival I ran in my daughers neighborhood (around 4pm).  Lots of hills and lots of fun. I had more energy than I thought I would after a day of fried cheese, fried pickles, pretzel dogs, pretzels, fried mac and cheese, and caramel apples :)

3 in my daughters hood again.  Will be doing lots of driving this week.  Not sure how my workouts are going to go.

5:30 am spinning.  I like the earlier class time.  I actually liked my instructor today too :)

My husband had a medical procedure this morning so I went with him in lieu of my long run.  All went well.  Grateful for a good life.

My grandson had a medical procedure today so I went with him in lieu of a run.  Everything great with him too!  Happy days!

Ok.  All this driving and not much running has left me feeling like a sloth.  I feel like I'm jiggling everywhere.  Need a good core routine.  Any good ideas?

Race in three weeks ... worried and excited.

I hate hate hate the fact that I have to worry about my safety when I want to be outside.  I wanted to go hiking sooo bad today.  The only interesting place to hike around here is Cedarville park but its not safe alone.  Settled for grabbing my mace and heading out in the hood.  At least if I scream someone can hear me there.

  Ran 1 ... walked 1 ... ran 1 ... walked 1.  I wanted to see what a fast walk mile looked like (15:27).  Ended up with a 12:58 AP.  At least I was enjoying the outdoors, not like I wanted, but atleast I could be outside.

I've given up on finding a track for sunday speedwork. I figured I wont be running on spongy ground for the race so get over it.  I ran on Rosewick road.  I am not running with water so I can simulate the race.  I plan on using the water stops (every 2 miles) at the race.  I ran 1 mile out warm-up (10:40) then ran back at a fast pace.  I didn't look at my watch, just pushed but tried to find a comfortable form and breathing.  I was surprised to see my pace was 8:42 for mile 2.  Happy!  Stopped for water then decided I wasn't going to stop my watch anymore because the race clock doesn't stop for me.  If I want to make my goal I have to plan for it.  

I ran easy for the next 1/2 mile then tried to find out what my tempo pace felt like.  I did the next 1.5 miles at 9:41 (good for me lately).  Stopped for water again without stopping watch and ran last mile easy 11:55 (not good).  

I can see I need to speed up my water stops and work on keeping my tempo run around 9:30 to make up for the stops.  9:30 for 13.1 seems a little daunting right now.  Gonna give it my best.

QP ... Wanna do some planks?

3 miles in the evening around my daughters neighborhood.  She has some serious hills.  Downside is a prominent slope on both sides of the road.  There are some roads with sidewalks but they are concrete which is a very hard surface for running.  I would switch off from slopey road to flat but hard sidewalk.  Thats the only downfall ... the rest is great.  Love the neighborhood and friendly people I see out walking.  I found one section of road that has a speed camera and flashes your speed.  It picks me up so I I see a "6" flashing as my mph as I run by.  I think I could have some fun with that.

17 mile spin.  Still enjoying the 5:30am start.  Enjoyed the instructor today too.  He acted kind of normal.

13 on the rail trail.  I was worried I wouldn't make it out there today.  I got home late last night from class and had a 10:00 doctors appt (totally messes up my morning).  I have to leave my house at 2:30pm for another evening class.  I set my alarm for 5:30am.  When it went off ... I turned it off (didn't get to bed till 11:30, not enough sleep for me).  Got up at 8am :)  Went to dr appt early and they saw me early 9:45.  Was done by 10am :)  Went directly to the trail and enjoyed this simply beautiful day.  Finished my run at 12:45,  back home to shower, eat, blog, then back on the road.  Life is good.

Got a nasty bra rash ... owie.  

Ran 5 miles in the hood.  Then walked 3.6 "Out of the Darkness" walk in memory of my friends son who took his own life back in April.  Tough day.  Lots of memories of loved ones lost recently.  Hug each other. love each other. no matter what.

Did speed work this evening on the rail trail.  Beautiful temps :)

Ran two miles above projected race pace (9:45)

Mile 1 warm-up, mile 2 (9:02), mile 3 recover, mile 4 (9:20), mile 5 recover.   Can't help but remember when I ran 20 miles with an AP of 9:30.  Don't know if I'll ever see those days again although they weren't that long ago.

bought new inserts for my shoes today.  Hoping these will relieve some sore ankles.

Spinning   17 miles. One of these days I gotta get a bike

Ran 13 on the rail trail. Saw two big wild turkeys. Autumn is here!  Last long run before the race.  Yeah!!