Addendum to Post Half Marathon Plans

Okay--here's some changes. Basically my days are going to stay the same, but I'm going to be a little bit more hardcore to see if I can get my speed down.

Mondays: Easy run (3-4 miles). No fancy watch. Just going and not worrying about mile splits. I'll probably do the Lake Point run (if the weather is clear) or the Stansbury Tri run. Weight training afterwards (just using dumbbells right now until the basement is finished. Then I'll bring out the big guns.)

Tuesdays: hard swimming in the morning and spinning in the evening.

Wednesdays: Tempo runs
September: 9:30 pace (week 1: 3 miles, week 2: 3 miles, week 3: 4 miles, week 4: 5 miles, week 5: 3 miles)
October: 9:00 pace (week 1: 3 miles, week 2: 4 miles, week 3: 5 miles, week 4: 3 miles)
November: (start training for Painter's Half Marathon goal: 2:00-2:10)

Thursdays: lite swimming and weight training unless too tired and need a rest day.

Fridays: Long runs
September: 10:15 pace (week 1: 6 miles, week 2: 7 miles, week 3: 8 miles, week 4: 6 miles)
October: 10:00 pace (week 1:6 miles, week 2: 7 miles, week 3: 8 miles, week 4: 6 miles)
November: (start training for Painter's Half Marathon goal 2:00-2:10)

Saturdays: Long bike ride or Stansbury Tri bike/run course or races.

I'd also like to lose 20 pounds before we start training for the marathon. And I'd also like to take a ride on a unicorn. Both have about the same likelihood of happening.

I'm going to update the blog once a week, maybe Sundays, during the "off" training time so I hold myself responsible for these grandeur plans. I'll send you a link like I did before when it's updated. Of course, feel free to update it yourself too. :)

All Done...Not!

So on only four hours of sleep I headed to the race. I was glad that Christina was driving. I couldn't kick that feeling of being exhausted. I love to watch the dynamics of everything going together for a race. (I can only IMAGINE the stress. I'm sure I felt it when I had to do the ward road show in Cali....little did I know that LOTS of people worked for movie productions, drama companies, etc... Anyways I'm going off on a tangent.)

Of course I was glad to get on our way after standing around. We started off and I heard Sandra say, "We are at a 9:15 pace.) I knew I couldn't start the race off behind. So off I went. I had wrote mile 3, 5, 8, 10 , & 12 on my wrist. It was a good idea. My 3 I hit and was under. My 5 I was pumped up realizing I could actually be able to succeed at my best time. It made me feel like I couldn't give up. Mile 7 I realized that my sleeve from my shirt was rubbing my skin raw! Oh how it hurt! I couldn't figure out how to fix the problem. (Next time I will be wearing a tank top.) It was a beautiful run and I kept having to remind myself to enjoy the beauty. By no means was I having a leisurely run. It was work. I remember thinking too that there was no way I'd be able to run a marathon at this pace, but it's a year away, I could get faster. Mile 10 was the hill. It wasn't by any means as big as I thought it would be. It did pull a lot of my strength out though. I was still under after I hit mile 12. I couldn't believe my goal was within reach. I think at this point I started getting emotional. I had to stop myself from crying. Even now my eyes are getting teary. It's tears of joy. Of hard work. That for months we worked so hard. All those miserable work outs weren't for nothing. Some were enjoyable. But most I would've rather stayed in bed. Especially the ones I had to do by myself. I was glad that I was healthy. That I had bounced back from being sick. I felt emotional too because I knew my friends had invested a lot of time with me. I believed they would be proud of me. I thought of the tri and the joy it brought me to see them cheering me on! This is what it is all about. So I did get a little emotional.

The last mile was the hardest. Especially when I hit 13 and started wondering how come the finish line wasn't there. Then I remembered oh ya .1. I ran across the grass to the finish! I made it!

I about passed out waiting for food. My sugar level was really low. I will have to figure out what to do in the marathon and the next half. It was a lot of fun....and yes I will do it again.

I kinda have that after Christmas feeling. Taking down the calandar, it's over. It's a weird kinda let down feeling. I guess the good thing is I will be getting my next "fix" soon enough. Yes I'm becoming addicted to races. I enjoy watching the people, being with friends, doing my best, improving, and sometimes the rare shock of getting a ribbon.

THE Race Report

Can you believe it's over?

So, Friday we set off for Education Week, where we caught two sessions. Hillary and I slept a little bit through the first one--on communication--and I don't remember much about it because the rest of the time was spent trying NOT to fall asleep.

Our second session was about giving more praise to our husbands and was taught by John Bytheway. I thought it was a good lecture, but my legs were terribly uncomfortable in the chair.

After the sessions, we left to go pick up our race packets. And then we went to dinner at The Brick Oven. I had a great dinner of salad, garlic bread, and pizza, but I totally overate. I usually eat late, and it was 5:30, so I wasn't concerned about the next day's race. We were going to go see a movie, but there wasn't one playing that we were interested in seeing, so we just went to the hotel.

We went to check into our hotel which was a complete mess. They didn't have our reservation. The check-in lady was an idiot. Yada, yada, yada. But, we finally got our room. After we checked in, we went to find where we needed to be at 5:15 the next morning and then stopped at Wal-mart for some last minute supplies.

We got back to the hotel, got a few things ready and then it was off to bed. Hillary and Christina shared a King size bed while I got the sofa pull out--all part of our "suite" deal. The bed was soooo uncomfortable. And I was awake every hour to see if it was time to get up. Finally, it was time. We all got ready and then headed to the buses.

The bus ride up the canyon took FOREVER. I thought, on more than one occassion, surely we've gone too far. But, finally, the bus pulled over and we all filed out. Then we had to walk 3/4ths of a mile to the starting line. That was weird. Couldn't they have found 3/4ths of a mile somewhere else to add to the run? But, whatever.

So we waited in line for the porta potties and then sat on the road. Hillary and Christina had to use the bathroom again, and so we all trooped over to the campsite bathrooms. Against their posted signs saying not to use the bathrooms, Hillary and Christina used them anyways. I would've too, but I didn't have to go. Grace and Trevis were behind us in line so we gave them some of our food that we weren't eating. Then it was back to the starting line and waiting some more.

Somewhere around 8 am, 45ish minutes after we were suppose to start, we were off.

Christina and I ran together for the first 3 miles. Maybe a little longer. I remember we hit the water station together, but then my mind got a little fuzzy afterwards. At mile fourish, the most overwhelming need for a NAP came over me. It was really weird. All I could think was "if I just went and laid down for 10 minutes, I would feel so much better." The thing is, my rational brain was saying "you can't lay down. No one lays down in the middle of a race. Especially when they still have nine miles to go." But my irrational part kept urging me to just go off into the woods, lay down, and everything would be okay in 10 or 15 minutes. It was a really weird discussion going on in my head.

At about 5 miles, I saw Christina veer off towards some bathrooms and I thought, oh, I'll walk until she catches up. Because that's what friends are for. :) Actually, it gave me an excuse to walk and she caught up a lot faster than I thought she would. We ran together until the next water stop, I think, but then she was off again. Maybe I just thought we were together that long. Anyways, I took one of the energy packs they were handing out because I was so drained. I took the water. Drank the water and then opened the energy pack and ate that. Which was a mistake. I should've grabbed another cup of water to wash the energy pack down with. So for the next two miles all I could think about was how dry my mouth was. Finally, there was a water station and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

I'd say miles 4-9 were the hardest. I was exhausted, but I knew I had to keep going. At mile 9, all the downhills were extracting a price from my left knee (NOT the knee I've had two surgeries on!). Every step was excruiating. I briefly considered pulling out of the race, but I really wanted my t-shirt, which only went to finishers. I walked for a long time deciding what I should do and evaluating my running. Clearly, a t-shirt is not worth ruining your knee over, but when you've spent all summer training for this race, it's really hard to throw in the towel. I wiped away some tears and started back up running. The pain wasn't as bad when I was running, but it was still there. I was also aware that Hillary should be closing in on the finish and I was sad I wasn't closer to the finish as well.

Mile 10, we ran down a big hill and then up a big hill. It was the one we were all prepared for. And it didn't seem that hard. Then it was just the last 3 miles to go. It was slow trudging with a lot of walking and pain, but I FINALLY made it!

Only to find out that they were out of shirts, out of food, and basically the finish line SUCKED. But at least I was done running.

One of my friends from Provo came down and cheered me in at the finish line. That was fun to have someone there.

My official finish time was 2:26:08, averaging 11:09/mile. Not bad considering how bad my knee was hurting. I was able to stay on our Training pace until mile 8 and the Slow pace until mile 9. Then it kinda went downhill from there.

Of course, Hillary blew not only her TRAINING time out of the water but her BEST time out of the water as well. She finished in 1:55:51, averaging 8:51/mile. That is INCREDIBLE. I can't believe how good she did. I was so happy to see how excited she was at the finish line when she told me her time. Christina came in below the BEST time of 2:10 as well and finished at 2:09:22, averaging 9:53/mile. And that's with taking a bathroom break too. That's 13.1 miles below a 10 minute pace. Remember the first time we ran 3 miles under a 10 minute pace and thought we were going to die? The last half marathon Christina ran, she ran it in 2:21:30, so she shaved a full 12 minutes off. I ran the same half in 2:50:22, so I shaved 24 minutes off. YAY!

Here are my thoughts on where I went wrong:
(a) I knew I was starting out way too fast. I ran the first 5 miles anywhere from a 1:15 to 30 seconds faster than what I was "suppose" to run them in. I knew that it was going to catch up with me and that's why at 4ish miles I told Christina to go ahead because I was going to slow down a bit to try to rein myself in. In hindsight, I probably should've slowed down at least 30-45 seconds to save some of my energy for the latter part of the course.
(b) My chosen energy thingie was CRAP. I was unbelievably tired at four miles. I mean, I was fighting myself from taking a nap. While I was running. And then I remembered that the same thing happened at the 10k at four miles as well. I felt incredible the first three miles and then I just crumped. I figured it was because I didn't get enough sleep beforehand, but I think it's the energy stuff. I need to find something new. I feel good afterwards, but I don't think it's meant to help with these athletic endurance.
(c) I didn't eat enough beforehand. The oatmeal tasted like crap. Everything tasted like crap and I didn't eat hardly anything. That probably didn't help. I need to force myself to eat, even if I don't feel like it.
(d) I was sooooo hot. I wish I would've had a tank top, but probably not as much as Christina wished she had a tank top.
(e) I had to stare at jiggly thighs and butts all the way down the canyon. You should put on your chosen outfit and then run in place in front of the mirror and check out your backside to make sure that you see what the rest of us are seeing. I don't particularly like skirts so I've never been drawn to the running skirts, but now looking at a plethera of them, I realize that most of them are unflattering because they aren't long enough. Of course, I don't have a lot of room to talk because I am wearing spandex shorts. But at least I try to keep my shirts long enough to cover the jiggly parts.

24 hours later, I'm still a little tired since I didn't get a nap (because apparently Wade didn't think I needed one. Seriously, as soon as I walked into the door, Wade went downstairs and worked on the basement, and then kept asking me to come and hold things. You know, because he can't do anything when he has both kids, but it's perfectly fine for both kids to be upstairs unsupervised if I'm home? I don't get it.) And my knee is still a little sore, but I think by the end of the week, it will be good to go. I need to work on building the muscle around my knees during this "off" season and I'll be good to go for our next race. :)

I'm so happy that both of you guys did so well! You guys were awesome!

The countdown

I honestly can't believe we are less than two days away! I just read an e-mail that said we are suppose to take a bus at 5:15 a.m. Are you kidding me?! The race doesn't start until 7:30! What are we going to do for that long! That pretty well means NO sleep too. Plus I'll have to pump! Oh what a nightmare!!

Today we biked. We went at a leisurely pace. I enjoyed the bike ride. I really need a new helmet. It was chilly out. I didn't wear a jacket thinking that it would be warm. I was wrong. Anyways I'll our work will show on Saturday. This will be the farthest I've ever ran. (I climbed half dome, which was farther, but by no means ran up it.)

Good Luck Sandra and Christina! I hope everyone feels good and does their best!

Quick report

Quick note. Yesterday I ran for about 20 minutes. Today I did the two miles on the treadmill. Well...I was WAY over pace. It took me 26 minutes. I don't know why I struggle when I'm on the treadmill. I hope this isn't a sign of the weekend! I'm a little nervous, excited, anxious, hoping for the best. I also heard the news about Hobblecreek. If it did get canceled I think I would have to make up a race!! Oh and I'm excited the results are finally out on the race. It feels like book club. You do it, than discuss it afterwards. Mike B. said,"This is going to make up for some good conversations." Oh the joy of having a whole year to think about it!

Results Analysis

So we got the results for the triathlon today:

Hillary was ONLY a minute and a half behind Jenifer. She beat her in everything but the bike. But here's the thing. Either Jenifer or my swim time is off because I KNOW that we hit the starting line at the same time on our bikes. I got a little hung up, but not 3 minutes worth. But I'm not sure it was me they messed up on, because Christina was way gone when I reached my bike. So I say Hillary came in first place. YAY!

Swim: 10:33
Bike: 46:14
Run: 26:40

Total Time: 1:23:27

Christina did awesome as well. In the hardest age group, she took 12th out of 20:

Swim: 11:47
Bike: 53:15
Run: 28:35

Total Time: 1:33:37

I placed 6th (maybe 5th. Depending on the swim) out of 11 in the age group:

Swim: 13:54 (I think I fell asleep in the pond)
Bike: 49:13
Run: 33:28 (and on the run)

Total Time: 1:36:35

Only Hillary completed our secret mission. Looks like he was training on the side or something.

Overall, I think we did really well. I would like to figure out that discrepency on the swim though. But, it won't catapult me onto the medal stand, so I'll leave it be. For this year. But I can beat Jenifer next year. I just need to speed up my bike and my run. No problem, right? :)

So what's the secret in the swim? Do you start in the front on the side and resist the urge to migrate to the middle? We definitely need to explore this further, because I don't want to get kicked in the face next year if I can help it. Once the results get posted online, I can run some more analysis.

Anyways, good job Hillary! Take some time off the bike and maybe speed up the run a little and you're in contention to win next year. If not the whole thing, then at least place in the age category.

Can't wait for the next one.

Speedy Speedy

Day 52
2 miles at 9:57/mile

Why is it that 2 miles seems so much harder than, say, 10 miles?

Christina met me at my house and since I didn't have my watch juiced up, we had to run a 2 mile route around the neighborhood that I'm familiar with. The goal was to run and make sure we hit the finish before 19:54.

The first mile, we had to run up Stansbury Parkway, which seemed a lot easier today than on Saturday during the triathlon. Granted, it wasn't raining, I wasn't wearing wet socks and shoes, and I hadn't just biked 12 miles. But it was bordering on pleasant. For me anyways. Christina mentioned that she was struggling.

We crossed a mile at about 9:25, well below pace. We turned around at the top of the neighborhood on Stansbury Parkway and ran back down and around the neighborhood to the top of Harvest Drive. It's exactly two miles (I measured on Google Earth when I got home). I'm good, aren't I? :) We finished in 17:54, which means we AVERAGED 8:57/mile. Woot! But since I know we did the first mile in 9:25, we did the second mile in 8:29. Hello? I couldn't even run my fastest mile two months ago that fast. And I just did it as the SECOND mile in a two mile run? How awesome is that? The best part was that I felt like I could've run another mile.

In other news, KSL is reporting that Hobble Creek is currently on fire. I don't know where the fire's at or if it's going to impact our run, but pray that we'll be able to still do it. Because I freaking trained all summer for this. And I'm not going to be very happy if some stupid fire cancels it.

Oh, and I'm now up to five pounds lost. 5 measley pounds from working out six days a week for an hour or more. The injustice.

Confessions

Day 54
Uh...I guess we weren't suppose to do anything...

So, like 2 weeks after we started training, I lost my calendar. I think Josh stole it and ate it (don't ask) and so I've just been looking online and whatnot. Occassionally, I'd call you guys.

And, originally, I guess I figured we would want another day of recovery time from our stellar performances in the triathlon and so I scheduled our track work out for tomorrow.

But, naturally, I forgot that part. And so when I talked to Hillary at church yesterday and she said we weren't scheduled to do anything today, I didn't question why I would've changed the schedule like that. I figured she was mistaken.

And so I set up a track workout with Christina at 9:30 last night, and then called Hillary and set it up with her answering machine.

Showed up this morning and Christina was there and casually mentioned that we weren't scheduled to do anything today. And then I had to confess to having lost the calendar like 7 weeks ago.

So Hillary, I am SO sorry that we totally left you in the dark this morning with no warning whatsoever. That was very rude of me. I should've made a new calendar or something.

But, the intervals were not very exciting. 4 x 400's. We did them in 2:00, 2:05, 2:04, and 1:58. It was cold. A lot colder than you think it should be for mid-August.

Tomorrow, we're running 2 miles at 9:57/mile pace and then Thursday we're going to do a mild bike ride to get our legs working. Saturday is the big day!

Here's the Run Down...

So race day morning I was very nervous. But not nervous for the race as much as I was thinking, "Where is my MOM?" I called my Dad at 7:00 p.m. and he said, "I thought she would be there by now." I was anxious. My mom got to my house at 7:15. I had already sent Jer over to set up our bikes. I got to the race at 7:20. It was pouring. I was hoping they wouldn't cancel the swim, since that is my best event. I was a little disappointed to not be in the second heat. So I lined up. I decided to jump in the water and test it out. I yelled out to the crowd, "Don't worry I'm just getting a head start!" It was a mistake because it then took about 8 minutes before we did get in and I was freezing. Off we went. Hands, legs, everything kicked me. It was quite annoying. I think last year went a lot smoother. This year we were all bunched. There is no doubt I could've done better had it not been for people swimming right on top of me. But I got out of the swim and didn't feel like I was going to die. (Last year I wouldn't have made it any further. But that was due to the fact I had only swam twice before doing the race....)

My hands were shaking as I put on my socks and shoes. I realized I forgot to untie my shorts and their was a knot. I took a drink of water and got on the bike. The rain was pouring. I did the first lap and wanted to quit. I kept telling myself to go on. Heading towards the second lap Amy passed me. I couldn't keep up. Lots of people passed. I was expecting Jer any time. He never passed. Craig passed me and yelled, "Don't worry you'll pass me in the run." I knew this would only be possible if I kept him in my sight. (Advice I'd given myself in my first tri that I didn't follow) So I did that. I got off the bike and wished I had dry socks. Mine were squishing everywhere. I wanted to take off my shirt too. (Don't worry I had a swim suit underneath) It seemed I had too much material hanging on me.

I started the run and off I went. I caught Craig behind the hospital and asked where Jer was. He didn't know. I headed to Stansbury elementary. A few paces before I reached the school I started to have anxiety and could hardly breathe. I told myself to calm down. I stopped and walked. (Yes I had to walk...) Finally I calmed down and started to run again. My legs felt good. I was in a good pace. I passed Jer. One of the highlights was passing my buddies and have them cheering me on. (Thanks guys!!! You're the BEST!) I passed a few runners at the end. I sprinted to the finish line!!! To the roar of my own crowd. YES!!!! I made it!

It was a great race! I was excited to finish second. (Which in this race might be near impossible for me to ever achieve again.) Thanks Sandra for the great training and Christina for being a great training partner. Now onto the half. I look back and look at the many "little accomplishments" that we've all made. We're faster. We run farther. I never thought I would run 7 miles by myself!! and most of all I have two friends that I ENJOY RUNNING with. I never thought I would ENJOY running! Wow! I said it! I enjoy running.....well sometimes.

Sandra's Post Half Marathon Plans

Okay, here's what I plan on doing until our next big adventure. This is by no means a set schedule that you have to follow. I thought maybe it'd be helpful for your own exercise schedules if you knew what I was doing:


Monday: Easy run (3-4 miles) and weight training
Tuesday: (lite) swimming and Spinning (I have a pass to the magna rec center so I can hit it on the way home from my mom's while Wade's in school)
Wednesday: Tempo Run (4-5 miles)
Thursday: Swimming and weight training, or rest day. Depending on how I feel.
Friday: Long Run (alternate between 6, 7, 8, 6 miles)
Saturday: Long bike ride or races or Stansbury Days bike/run course.


Once a month I would like to do the Stansbury Days bike and run course on a Saturday and time myself. Unless it's snowing of course. Then I'll just have to settle for biking indoors. My biggest problem in the tri was the transition from biking 12 miles to running a 5k, so I definitely need to work on that.


I really liked having a pace to try to keep instead of running and then calculating the pace afterwards, so after the half, I'm going to adjust my pace, depending on my finishing time. I'm suspecting it will be (a little) faster than what I've been running this summer.


Once we settle on our next half marathon and start training for it, which will probably be the Painter's Half in January, I'm going to drop one biking and one swimming session and add in another rest day. Probably Thursdays. I'm also going to cut out the weight training during active training periods.


Hillary and I (and I hope Christina) are set to do the Turkey Tri. Since I'm not in any position to win the thing, I'm just going to use the "maintenance" program as my training. I think I'll do well, especially if I keep biking and swimming. Basically, I'm doing it to get more triathlons under my belt. And for the challenge. And to be with friends. but I think my "premier" event in the triathlon arena will be the Stansbury Days. I would really like to medal in my age group next year and to do so, I'm going to have to pick up my pace. Which means I'm going to have to do more than one triathlon a year.


If we do the marathon, I'm going to adopt a similar training plan to this summer's, but with one more rest day incorporated. I would also like to incorporate specific workouts to do in the pool and on the bike instead of just "doing the exercise" so we can say we did it. Intervals and hills and what not. The goal is to get better, right?

In September, we're going to have a "team" meeting and decide if we're doing a marathon for sure next year. Then we can go from there. I'll have some sample training plans ready to review.

Other things I'm going to work on during the "off" season: getting 8 hours of sleep a night, drinking more water, eating nutritional meals, and not losing my patience with the kids.

If at any time you want to change your hobby to needlepoint or crochet, let me know. I'm all game. :)

Kidding.

Let me know so I can talk you out of it.

Do you like how I've totally taken over your training lives and dictate what to do and when? If you EVER have a suggestion, please let me know. I'm just making this stuff (mostly) up as I go. And, if you don't ever want to train with me because I'm crazy, let me know so I can feel bad and get over it (or change to be less crazy) instead of wondering if you're making up excuses as to why you can't go out with me. :)

But I think we did really good this summer, except for those couple of weeks where we were all in burn out mode. Most everyone I've talked to that runs these longer races say that's common. I remember being in burn out mode for the marathon training, but I was doing a training program that had us running 5 days a week--PLUS training for a triathlon. I really can't say enough about the 3 day a week training program. And the fact that I'm doing it with FRIENDS, and not basically alone (though Kandiss did the marathon with me, I was trying for a much faster time than her and so we basically trained by ourselves.)

I'd like to do another triathlon or two sometime next Spring before training for the marathon begins. And of course, the monthly 5ks. With soccer season, it's hard to get out to the organized ones on Saturday mornings. So maybe we could set some up around here and invite some of the neighborhood out to them. I really want to hit 25 minutes by next year. Hopefully, BEFORE the Tooele 4th of July 5k, so I can get a pretty ribbon for my age group too.

Hobblecreek Race Plan

Race
Hobblecreek Half

Date
Saturday, August 22, 2009

Time
7:30 am

Place
Springville

Note: For this race, I'm giving us each three goal times to complete; a BEST time for those races that everything is going perfect and you feel great, a TRAINING time, which is the time we trained for, and a SLOW time, to account for anything that goes wrong. Of course, there is no humilation in coming in even slower than that time. Finishing is the biggest goal.

BEST Time Goal

Hillary: 2:00:00 (9:05/mile
Christina: 2:10:00 (9:55/mile)
Sandra: 2:10:00 (9:55/mile)

BEST Mile Splits
Hillary
Mile 1: 9:09
Mile 2: 18:18
Mile 3: 27:27
Mile 4: 36:36
Mile 5: 45:46
Mile 6: 54:55
Mile 7: 1:04:04
Mile 8: 1:13:13
Mile 9: 1:22:23
Mile 10: 1:31:32
Mile 11: 1:40:41
Mile 12: 1:49:50
Mile 13: 1:58:59
Mile 13.1: 2:00:00

Christina and Sandra
Mile 1: 9:55
Mile 2: 19:49
Mile 3: 29:45
Mile 4: 39:40
Mile 5: 49:35
Mile 6: 59:30
Mile 7: 1:09:25
Mile 8: 1:19:20
Mile 9: 1:29:15
Mile 10: 1:39:10
Mile 11: 1:49:05
Mile 12: 1:59:00
Mile 13: 2:08:55
Mile 13.1: 2:10:00

TRAINING Time Goal
Hillary: 2:05 (9:30/mile)
Christina: 2:15 (10:18/mile)
Sandra: 2:15 (10:18/mile)

TRAINING Mile Splits
Hillary
Mile 1: 9:30
Mile 2: 19:00
Mile 3: 28:30
Mile 4: 38:00
Mile 5: 47:30
Mile 6: 57:00
Mile 7: 1:06:30
Mile 8: 1:16:00
Mile 9: 1:25:30
Mile 10: 1:35:00
Mile 11: 1:44:30
Mile 12: 1:54:00
Mile 13: 2:03:30
Mile 13.1: 2:05:00

Christina and Sandra
Mile 1: 10:17
Mile 2: 20:35
Mile 3: 30:53
Mile 4: 41:11
Mile 5: 51:29
Mile 6: 1:01:47
Mile 7: 1:12:05
Mile 8: 1:22:23
Mile 9: 1:32:40
Mile 10: 1:42:58
Mile 11: 1:53:16
Mile 12: 2:03:34
Mile 13: 2:13:52
Mile 13.1: 2:15:00

SLOW Time Goals
Hillary: 2:11:00 (10:00/mile)
Christina: 2:18:00 (10:30/mile)
Sandra: 2:18:00 (10:30/mile)

SLOW Mile Splits
Hillary
Mile 1: 10:00
Mile 2: 20:00
Mile 3: 30:00
Mile 4: 40:00
Mile 5: 50:00
Mile 6: 1:00:00
Mile 7: 1:10:00
Mile 8: 1:20:00
Mile 9: 1:30:00
Mile 10: 1:40:00
Mile 11: 1:50:00
Mile 12: 2:00:00
Mile 13: 2:10:00
Mile 13.1: 2:11:00

Christina and Sandra
Mile 1: 10:30
Mile 2: 21:00
Mile 3: 31:30
Mile 4: 42:00
Mile 5: 52:30
Mile 6: 1:03:00
Mile 7: 1:13:30
Mile 8: 1:24:00
Mile 9: 1:34:30
Mile 10: 1:45:00
Mile 11: 1:55:30
Mile 12: 2:06:00
Mile 13: 2:16:30
Mile 13.1: 2:18:00

Notes
Every half marathon record has been broken on this course. It's a gentle downhill course that is suppose to be gorgeous. Check out this link: http://srcevents.com/hobblecreek/phototour.php It shows a picture of each mile with a little bit of description. It looks like the first seven miles are downhill and then there's a little uphill at mile 7 and then a long uphill at 10:30. My strategy is to run a comfortable pace the first 7 miles and not worry about how under time I am as long as I'm feeling good. Then I have some time banked for those uphill sections.

My goals are to (a) Run the entire thing and (b) Come in under 2:15. I know we can do this. We've been training all summer and we're fitter than we were just two months ago.

I'm way excited. Can't wait!! Then we can talk about our next adventure.

Race Day

Day Whatever
Stansbury Days Triathlon

Oh man. It was awesome. As in rain-lightning-craziness awesome. And I had a BLAST. Though, that's not what I was thinking during the second lap of the bike portion. But when it was all over and done with, overall, I had the time of my life. I LOVED it. Even if it took 15 minutes in the hot shower to finally get my teeth to stop chattering.

My parents arrived bright and early and I set off for the clubhouse at about 7 am. I think all three of us were a little harried. Christina didn't have her bike. But she did have a son sans one shoe who was a little perturbed. Hillary's parents were late getting to the house because of an accident which made her a little nervous about getting to the starting line. I didn't feel like I put as much thought into the my prerace routine as I did when I did the triathlon two years ago. If I would've been thinking, I would've put my dry clothes in my backpack to save for after the race. But I wasn't really thinking. It's been a long week with Wade being gone.

My mom informed me that there are certain activities that warrant her to ruin her hair for. She's still of the old school generation that goes and gets her hair done once a week--Thursdays--and if she stands outside in a torrential downpour on Saturday, she's hosed until the following Thursday. This, apparently, did not warrant her getting her hair ruined for, so she and my dad sat at home with the kids while I braved the elements.

I really thought they were going to call the swim judging by the thunder and lightning, but they didn't. The first heat went out and I saw Hillary get pushed to the back of the pack, but I know she pushed right back to the front. I'll be interested in seeing the results.

The second heat went out and as the siren blared, I looked over and saw the most gorgeous rainbow. Followed shortly by a bolt of lightning. It was a little scary, but we were underway.

I felt good in the water, as far as my swimming went. I wish there was a lane set up for people insistant on doing the back stroke FROM THE BEGINNING. One lady was going the same speed as me and kept pushing me under. She was literally on top of me. I finally had to move to get away from her, but then I got clobbered in the face by someone's wayward foot. It was crazy! Word is that the first heat wasn't much better. I think I needed to start in the front instead of the back.

By the time I got to the bike racks, Christina was gone. I started off and it was a downpour. The rain was dripping off my helmet. I felt A LOT better on the bike this year than 2 years ago. Though I was passed, I passed a few people and I didn't feel like I was riding in mud the entire time. The biking portion of the race wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The turns were clearly marked and as long as you didn't try to take them too fast, you were okay. I forgot to hit start on my watch until I was a mile in, so, I think I did the biking portion in 50ish minutes. It took me about 5 miles to catch up with Christina. We talked for a little bit and then I took off. I knew she'd catch me in the run anways.

The best part of the entire race was that I beat Malisa (the spinning instructor at The Difference and Gold's) on the bike. She passed me, but at the last bit down to the clubhouse, I totally blew right past her. Of course, she passed me on the run, but I still consider it a small victory.

When I got back to the transition area, my legs were really shaky. I had a hard time walking my bike to the rack and then hefting it up there. Then I had even a harder time getting going on the run. Part of the problem was that my feet were soaked! I probably had a quarter of an inch of water in my shoes. That's one advantage to having biking shoes. The other problem is that I didn't do a lot of training with the transition from biking to running. I tend to go out too fast and then have the beginnings of an asthma attack. Then I have to walk to catch my breath. I ended up walking most of the hill up Stansbury Parkway. Then, I started running again, but I was still going too fast. I had to walk some more. Christina caught up with me and we ran together for awhile, but she found someone she knew that came along and left with him. Good for her though. We were running at a sub-9 minute pace, so she was flying.

I walked again at the water stop and then again up the hill by the elementary school. I was surprised at the number of runners who were still coming the other way. Made me feel a lot better than two years ago, when we were closer to the end. I made sure to tell everyone good job that I passed by going the other way because those are the true inspirations.

I finished the last half mile really strong. I wasn't too winded. I still had some energy. I didn't feel like I was going to die, which is hard, because then it means that I could've pushed myself harder. But, I did my best. I finished the run in 33:25, which is on par with two years ago. But I sure felt a lot better. And I blew my bike time, hopefully, out of the water. I even think it was a mile shorter in 2007.

However, overall the best came when Hillary took 2nd place for the age group. She did AWESOME!! Congratulations!!

Can't wait until the results are posted and we can see where we were at so we can work on it for next year. :) I definitely need to improve on my running. Since I'll still be in the "easier" age group next year, I want to medal. So, things to work on over the winter.

Man, that was awesome.

Winding Down

Day 48
3 x 800 at 4:57/2 laps

I was up late helping Wade get ready for scout camp and then I was up early trying to get him out the door. I laid down for just a minute and the kids woke me up at 9:30. I guess we all needed the sleep. But I missed our workout at the track. Hillary called to say they did really good though. So GO GIRLS.

Day 49
3 miles at 9:57/mile

Christina met me at my house and I dragged the two kids out the door and into the stroller. The very stroller that had a flat tire. Grrr...these tires are driving me CRAZY. It wasn't completely flat, but I had pumped it up before we left, so there's a hole somewhere, but I decided I'd just do the run anyways. We ran three times around the neighborhood. 60 pounds of kid coupled with a stroller with a flat tire didn't make for an easy run. We adopted a run/walk regimen for the day. We'd (read: I. Christina was just following my lead. She would've ran the whole thing) run a half mile at below a 10 minute pace and then walk a half mile. Mostly, we walked up the big hill. I know. I'm a wimp. But I did make it the whole 3 miles.

Day 50
Swimming

I was in Idaho with my mom, and I didn't get out of bed early enough to do anything. I had thought about dragging my bike up with me, but I then I figured I'd probably only bike for an hour or two the entire trip and that was a long ways to drag a bike. Originally, it was going to be my road bike and then I didn't want something to happen to it on the freeway or someone take it. So then I was going to take the mountain bike, but I figured, 300 miles one way was kinda far for an hour bike ride. So I left the bikes home.

Day 51
Biking

I was at my grandma's house in Downey, Idaho, population 613. The town is so little. But, after the morning train came by at 6 am and proceeded to blow it's horn at EVERY intersection, I was up and at 'em.

I ran 3 miles at below a 10 minute pace--no problem. YAY! This summer must've paid off, if not in age group wins, then definitely in lowering my 5k times. Which, I guess, is a start.

It was a little hard to wind my way for three miles through a town that is a mile square, but since I haven't really explored Downey since I was a kid it was interesting. The houses are all SO old. No one has really come in and built anything new. The yards are all run down. Main street holds a small grocery store, a western wear store, the library and the post office. There's a smallish park and an elementary school. Also, there's an assisted living center that was once the old elementary school. Apparently, all the Downey runners were on vacation, because I was the ONLY one out there. It was pleasant and nice to run somewhere new and have new things to look at.

When I got home, I found out that Amy was, indeed, doing the triathlon this year. I wish I was in a position where I could hum and haw my way through an entire summer and then decide in the last week to do the triathlon. Instead, I've been training for 6 days a week at bizarro hours for the entire summer. There goes my age group award. :( Oh well. The most important thing is that we have fun, don't finish last, and complete our secret mission.

Day 52
6 miles at 10:42/mile pace

We opted to take the day off because of the triathlon TOMORROW. I can't believe it's here. There's a lot I need to do today to get ready for it. But, as far as I know, we're all lining up at the starting line feeling pretty good. Which is a marked improvement for Christina from the last two years.

Good luck ladies and I'm sure we will do just fine, if not really well.

Pool

I forgot to mention that I made it to the pool today. I cut my workout short. (Only did 30 laps) It was good I did because Tessa had an accident in the Day Care. Thank goodness it was only #1. Nothing exciting about the workout. Although I did have the thought that life as a mom couldn't be better. I was working out, sitting in the hot tub, it was great. (It QUICKLY changed when I went to the grocery store with 4 kids! My dream life turned into a NIGHTMARE!!!!)

Sandra- M.I.A. & Running a race Pace

So Monday, Yesterday, I rolled out of bed after a very short night. 11:30 p.m. went to bed and fed Belle. 12:00 Tessa wanted toothpaste. 3:30 Fed Belle. 5:00 Hunter had a nightmare and got in bed with us. 6:00 Jeremy woke me up because he couldn't find his comb. (I'd finally fallen asleep and was in the dream state!) So I wasn't too excited to be running at 7:30 a.m. I dragged Belle out of bed. Found the stroller. Was late to the track. Sandra was missing! Christina was patiently waiting. So we started. I figured Sandra had to help Wade with scout camp and overslept. Christina and I accomplished the run in well under the time. We blew it out of the water.

Tuesday
I had to run early so I joined Amy and Sharayne. I hardly spoke a word while running. I decided I'd rather keep my energy for running. It was really dark outside. I think if Jer knew how dark he would buy me a glow in the dark outfit. WE WERE RUNNING FAST! I'm not sure how fast, but I know it was faster than I run practice runs. I might as well of been doing a race! I think I might have to borrow Sandra's watch sometime to see what pace they are running at. Of course Amy wasn't running her fastest!

P.S. Since I wont be seeing you for a few days, I wanted to tell you this tid bit of info. It's crazy I've been married to Jer for 10 years and didn't know this until tonight. I actually didn't believe him when he told me, so I looked it up. I know he is fast. But I didn't know that in High School he ran a 4:50ish mile. (The high school record now is 4:20ish!) THAT IS CRAZY FAST!!!! It's good he isn't near that pace for Saturday's triathlon.

Stansbury Triathlon Race Plan

Date
August 15, 2009

Time
7:30 am

Place
Stansbury Clubhouse

Goals
(a) Complete secret mission
(b) Don't come in last

Notes:
We've been training all summer long for this, so I don't think we have anything to worry about. Try to not freak out in the water (Sandra) or on the bike (Hillary) or during the run (all of us) and we'll do fine.

I found it useful to bring a bottle of gatorade for the bike ride in addition to water, but you may want to try an energy shot or what not. That bike ride is tough and especially with running the three miles afterwards. Also, you're running a lot faster at the beginning than you think you are, so don't try to go too fast at the start of the run. You'll get winded (especially up that hill) and then you'll struggle the rest of the run. It will feel slow, but I promise you're going a good pace.

I can't believe the day is almost here. Big prizes will be in store if we complete both of the goals. :) Especially goal #1.

Scaredy Cats

Day 47
Biking

Christina called this morning as I was lamenting the alarm. She said it was freezing cold and looking like it was going to rain. So we bagged our ride this morning and I climbed back in bed for another few hours.

Of course, a half hour later, people on facebook were talking about what a perfect morning it was to be out running and Christina called back at 9:30ish to say that she felt like a wuss for not just going out.

But, it's SO close to the races and we don't want to get sick or hurt if we can help it. Of course, we haven't really been on the new bike course and I'm starting to get a little nervous. But I think we'll do fine.

T-7 days until the triathlon. Oh man...I get nervous just thinking about it.

The Nitty Gritty

Day 46
12 mile run at 10:42/pace


First off, before we go further--we did AWESOME. Beyond AWESOME. So good that even Wade went wow. And it takes a lot to make Wade go wow.


So, Hillary joined us for this week's long run. I don't think the three of us have done a long run together the entire training plan. It was nice to have her along. :) It was decided that we'd do 11 miles instead of the 12, because Hillary had to get a babysitter and though Wade had graciously agreed to go into work later, he didn't have a chance to get any work done last night because the freeway was closed until 6:30, and he had left work at 3:00 to make it up to see the house in Draper. But that meant that I had to be home as close to 8 am as possible because he had a lot of work he had to make up.


We got kind of a late start--10 minutes--so we loped off another mile down to 10. The run was getting better by the minute. We started off towards Erda, and I felt a lot like I did last Friday. I started off nice, it was pleasant, not too taxing. Sooooo much better than Tuesday's run. The weather was a little chilly to begin with, but it was perfect about 2 minutes into the run, and stayed that way.


We ran to Cimmaron Way so we wouldn't have to loop around Christina's neighborhood for the last mile. It's a little more uphill after that big uphill, but we were keeping a pretty good pace. I felt great. All the way down to the highway and to the first water stop. And then, not so good after. I was fine running-wise, but after swigging some of the propel that Hillary had left out, I got a stomachache.


When we hit Bates Canyon, I was prepared to tell everyone that we'd gone halfway, when I realized that we had, in fact, gone six miles. Wahoo. One less mile than I thought. But my stomach was not feeling any better. We looped around Rose Springs and on to the frontage road. I was hoping I'd start feeling better or that I'd be able to finish the run, but it was getting worse every step I took. I figured I'd have to stop at the bathrooms at the clubhouse, but, ew...and so at the corner of Country Club and the frontage road, I decided I'd just head home from there. Good thing too, because I BARELY made it. In fact, I almost lost it at McMullen's house (so close to home...that would've sucked) but by sheer determination and a resistance of the urge to sprint (that's where you get in trouble) I was able to make it home.


I had 10 minutes before Wade had to leave, so I decided to run one more mile. I ran around the neighborhood, so I actually made it 9.50 miles, which isn't bad for the circumstances.


Now, for the time. We averaged 10:16/mile. I'm going to assume we would've averaged about the same for the last two miles, because I'm sure you guys did and the last mile I did in 10:11. So, for all intents and purposes, I'll say 10:16/mile. Which, as you know, is almost 30 seconds FASTER than our pace. In fact, it's 2 seconds faster than our target pace for the race for a 2:15 finish. I know for sure, barring no unforeseen incidents, that given the downhill course, all of us will come in under 2:15. In June did you think it was possible? At the time, I thought I was up in the night. But, look at what a difference 2 months makes.


To put our time in perspective, last week we averaged 10:34/mile on basically the same course. Tuesday, we averaged 11:01.


Here are our splits:


Mile 1: 10:12
Mile 2: 10:19
Mile 3: 10:29
Mile 4: 10:26
Mile 5: 9:50
Mile 6: 9:59
Mile 7: 10:30
Mile 8: 10:21
Mile 8.5 (Sandra): 10:30
Mile 9.5 (Sandra): 10:11


So, I ate dinner at like 11:00 last night. And it consisted of a "jam" sandwich--two pieces of bread jammed together. I ate Taco Time for lunch and a muffin at about 6 pm. I'm sure that's what contributed to my problem this morning. I also ate a peanut butter sandwich this morning, but I usually don't have problems with that. So, maybe it was the 44 ounce Orange Bang I drank, and the pink lemonade and the two icees on Wednesday. Ahhh...I'm seeing the problem. :)


Anyways, good job girls. Have a great day and in a week, we'll be gearing up for the triathlon.

Sleeping In and Lightning Strikes

Day 44
Swimming

After yesterday's trudge through the Sahara desert we decided to take today off. It was nice to sleep in--until 7 am. Because I was wide awake at 7 am. Grrr...

Day 45
Biking

Got my tire fixed. And it's flat again. I swear, these people are idiots. Don't go there. Taylor's Bike Shop. I'm going to make them fix it. For free. Because this is what happened last time, and I told them that. But did they listen? No.

So Christina and I were going to do the course on our mountain bikes. I got all ready to go and went outside and the lightning was coming down. I figured my greatest chance of making it alive to the triathlon and half marathon would be to not put myself on a big metal object in the middle of a lightning storm. So I drove over to the clubhouse to tell Christina this plan. She was there, riding in the middle of the parking lot.

She headed home. I headed home. Everything was great until I got a message from Becky (across the street) on Facebook (dang that facebook) saying that she ran into Chrisitina riding her bike and that I had scrapped the ride because of...thunder. Thunder?!? It makes me sound like a wuss. Which I'm so not. Usually. It was the LIGHTNING.

So, I called Christina and gave her a hard time. But, secretly, I wish I would've just bucked it up and gone. Because that's two days without exercise and I can definitely feel it. In my body and my mood.

The moral of the story: There are no secrets in Stansbury Park. Just like when I tried to sneak out for that ride on Monday...

Give me a B.I.K.E.

Bike bike I'd rather hike. Well I'd rather leisurely ride. I'm not trained on the bike. I'm out of shape when it comes to riding. I rode 7 miles today and thought I was going to die. I don't think I got above 17 miles per hour. I was usually riding around 10. My gears had a problem towards the end. No flat tire though. I was kinda expecting one. It's okay if I get one though during the race, I'll just take the spare tire I have around my waste and put it on.

The most eventful part was getting honked at. A car was driving towards me and I pulled into the turning lane. He honked. I couldn't figure out quite why, except he might have thought I was going to turn in front of him. He looked really angry. You know it makes you wish you could say something to them, but you just have to drop it.

This is one of the things that bugs me most about Stansbury Park. There are no good riding, jogging, walking, skating, etc...paths!!! I got home and ran .5 miles on the treadmill. Almost a week away! Oh one more note, I was ready to throw up the end of the bike ride. I was feeling motion sickness.

yesterday's post

bytheway I accidently posted yesterday's post on traveling down luke lane blog. I'm too tired to fix it. So this is a reminder to myself that it is on there.

The dreadful treadmill

I don't know what was worse- looking at the scale and realizing I weigh 123 pounds or thinking about running 8 miles on a treadmill. Well Jer had to go to work very early so I didn't have a choice. I was going to run on the treadmill. I decided to split the run. run 4 miles in the morning 4 at night. I have a T.v. in the treadmill room that doesn't work. so I listened to country music as I ran. It's annoying that their are so many commercials! It took me 52 minutes to run 4 miles. (A lot slower pace on the treadmill) I was pretty impressed with myself. I usually can't make it past 30 minutes because of boredom. My mom trained for a marathon on the treadmill. She would run for a few hours. I've never figured out how she did it. (She did a 4 hour and something marathon too) Well today I had a primary meeting with everyone in primary. It was at the church. I was planning to come home and run. Well it didn't happen. I came home and fed Belle for about an hour!!! It will make life a lot easier when I quit nursing. Tonight I was looking at the pictures of Sandra and me at the 10k and I was getting excited to do another race. (Maybe not too excited about a half, but the 10k was fun.) The sad part is that summer is almost over!

Burn Out Too

Day 43
8 miles at 9:57/mile pace

So funny that when I checked the blog, there was Hillary's entry with the same title I was going to use.

Yeah, I've reached burned out point as well. I'm not eating very well (as in, hardly at all because my appetite is gone) and I'm tired. Yesterday, I took like three catnaps. I couldn't keep my eyes open. It's like I look at some people and they exercise an hour or more a day and don't seem to have a problem. And others of us can hardly keep it up for two months. Isn't the recommendation to get an hour of exercise a day? I wonder if Christina feels the same way because it could be the age of Hillary and my babies that are keeping us down. Especially since Hillary is still breastfeeding. Christina, how are you feeling?

So, yeah, with that being said, today's run kinda sucked. Like big time. We left at 6 am and I had a new route all mapped out from my house. It took a lot of effort to find 8 miles, but with some creativity, I did it. But, I forgot all about water. I figured we'd be okay and left two bottles where we looped around at the top of the street at about 6.5 miles.

Within the first quarter of mile, I knew I was in trouble. My mouth was SO dry I could hardly muster the energy to keep going. Every step it was like "need water. Need water." I ran through some sprinklers hoping that by cooling down, I could make it. I don't know what I was thinking, though. We were only at mile 2 and 6.5 miles was a ways off. The weather was also really humid too. How do those Texans and southerners do it?

We started at the top of Water Wheel and then ran down to Village. Then took Village to Bayshore. It was finally at Bayshore that I gave in and tried to drink the water from the church sprinklers. I couldn't catch the water and the spray was too powerful to sip from, so I barely got any, but at least it was something.

Then my mouth dried up again. Christina reminded me there were drinking fountains at the clubhouse, to which we were headed, and so that gave me a little spring in my step. We made it there, but the drinking fountain wasn't working. There were sinks on the other side of the bathroom that we scooped water from. It was nasty tasting, but, at least it was wet.

We headed over to Delgado and then down by the townhomes, needing even more water every step I took. We continued down through the Ivory development. We had hit 5 miles by then, and I could hardly take another step. It was so hard, so I slowed down. We came up to the highway and then down to our neighborhood. We ran around, but I had to have more water, so I tried to scoop more water again at the church sprinklers. It was about as successful as the first time. I cut through the parking lot to meet Christina at the street and then I was done. I couldn't run another step. I told Christina I had to walk the rest of the mile (about .15). So we walked. And then we ran to the top of Water Wheel where I had set out our measly bottles of water. We ended up walking all the way over to the street where you turn to get to the clubhouse. Then Christina convinced me to at least run to the bridge. We ran to the bridge and, though I was no longer thirsty, I was wasted. We ended up walking through the parking lot. We started running down the parkway and into the neighborhood. We circled the small block on Water Wheel, and FINALLY hit 8 miles.

It was such a miserable run because I was SO aware of where we were every step of the way. Though I check my watch all the time, I'm usually not paying attention to how far we've gone, or how much longer we have, until the last two miles. But today, I knew every step of the way. And that made the run feel like three hours.

Also, I totally overdid it yesterday. I swam, did an incredibly hard track workout, and then biked. I wasn't going to bike but I had to get out of the house. I figured I'd just do one loop of the triathlon course so I could get a feel for it and let you guys know any potential pitfalls. As I was coming up by the school, I noticed my tire was flat. I don't know if it had happened just then or if I had been riding on a flat tire for a while (I'm hoping that latter so I can blame my dismal time on that), but I ended up having to walk my bike the mile home. I ate very little for breakfast and hardly any lunch or dinner. Certainly not enough to sustain energy for all three activities, plus running after a four year old and an 8 month old, plus clean the house. And I didn't drink nearly enough water, which probably added to my problem this morning.

And to make myself feel better, I treated myself to an icee and chocolate Hostess cupcakes at 10 pm. I'm sure that helped too. I usually weigh myself before I head out and then again when I get home so I know how much "water" weight I lost so I can make sure to drink up. Today, I lost 2 POUNDS. That is A LOT of water weight to lose. And then drink back up.

So yeah, today sucked. But only the last three miles. Here were our splits:

Mile 1: 9:52
Mile 2: 9:48
Mile 3: 9:45
Mile 4: 9:53
Mile 5: 9:54
Mile 6: 12:20
Mile 7: 15:14
Mile 8: 11:23

We did AWESOME the first 5 miles. And then I crashed. I was even thinking during mile 4 or 5 that I could do the half in under 10 minute miles. Yeah. I think I was verging on very dehydrated and delusional.

The point of this blog was to track where we were having problems, and so next time--because there will be one, right girls? :)--we know what to do differently. Definitely, we need another rest day in there. It was a man who came up with the training schedule and I'm sure he didn't take into account having children. Or being at-home moms.

It's a learning process, but I'm so glad we're almost done.

Burn out

Honestly I'm feeling very burned out. It's not just because of the workouts, it's trying to juggle everything. It's hard to keep up with Jeremy always gone. Christina makes the 4 kid thing look so easy!!! Tonight he is enjoying running. (As much as you can enjoy running) The thing is He doesn't have to worry about having a 14 month old with him. I should've said, "Sure you can go running, but you have to take Belle!" Good Luck!!!! I rolled out of bed this morning thinking for sure I would be the latest to the track. I got there and Sandra and Christina hadn't arrived. I decided to start without them wondering if they were going to make it, or if Belle would make it in her too little car seat. Twice around and Belle was ready to go. I realized too that thinking I could run 10 miles in 9 to 9:30 was a little crazy! Why shoot for something that is impossible. I thought I was going to die when Christina and I ran over a 10 minute pace. Anyways, here's to swimming at Gold's tomorrow. Hip hip hurrah! I really should just take a book and read. I'd enjoy that a whole lot more.

Thwap, Thwap, Thwap

Day 42
Swimming
4 x 1600's

I met Christina at 5:15 and we headed to the pool. So excited that I only have to swim one more time before the triathlon because Wade will be at Scout camp all next week.

The laps were pretty uneventful. I think I might have even dozed off somewhere in the middle.

We picked up our kids and met back at the track at 7:15ish to run our intervals.

Thwap, thwap, thwap is the sound of my thighs hitting each other. I swear they didn't do this just two years ago. I could wear running shorts and they didn't ride all the way up and cause major chafing. But, today, that's exactly what they did.

Hillary had beat us to the track and had already done her first interval by the time we started up.

We ran the first interval and it sucked. And then Belle was done playing so Hillary left.

Christina and I pressed on with our workout. After the second interval I told Christina that I could not go another step. We walked around the track and I felt a little better. So we did the third one. Then we did the fourth one because I wanted to say I actually finished this stupid workout. But I was only about a quarter of the way in to the first lap when I was done. I had no desire to finish, but I pulled it out of somewhere and finished.

Our splits were dismal. We actually got slower as we progressed. This was definitely not a good workout for me and I'm glad that I don't have to run mile repeats anymore. I've been completely knocked out by this workout. In fact, it's taken me 2 hours to write this because I keep drifting off to sleep.

Mile 1: 8:57
Mile 2: 9:22
Mile 3: 9:29
Mile 4: 9:38

Pathetic. Anything has to be easier than this workout. 12 miles? Bring it on. * miles tomorrow at a below 10 minute pace? Yeah, baby. More mile intervals? NEVER.

The Bird

Day 41
Biking

I haven't flipped anyone the bird in a long time. I've thought about doing it on occassion, but actually doing it, for all the world to see, I haven't done in a while.

Until today.

Today, we were coming back from our leisurely ride over to Erda. We turned on to Village and I was waiting for this red car to pass so I could cross the street, so I was riding on the wrong side of the street. I might have been riding next to Christina, talking to her. But still. The street is plenty big for all of us to fit on it and be happy. But no.

Mr. Crappy Red Car was not going to move over and instead, laid on his horn as he was approaching me. Like he was going to be late for work because of me.

So I gave him the bird. Because he deserved it. And I'm only human. And I've been working out for an hour six days a week for two months and I've only lost four pounds and I'm in constant sleep deprivation. So Mr. Crappy Red Car, don't mess with me.

And that's it. That's the most excitement that today's ride brought us.

If you read my email earlier, I sent a link to the NEW bike course. I drove it today and it looks to be a ton easier than the original course. But I'm a little mad I've spent all summer riding the other course. Oh well. Made me stronger, right? I hate how we're going to have to ride it twice.

Have a good day off.

Running at Joes Valley

Again the scenery was beautiful to be running. Friday I got up and ran with Natalie Griffith. (She hasn't been running lately so it wasn't super fast.) We did 5 miles. Saturday Natalie and Jeremy stayed in bed. (Jer keeps saying I am the reason he isn't working out. Ha! His parents would've babysat! He just wants to blame it on ME!) So I ran about 7 miles. I would've ran more but I didn't have the time. My biggest concern is my knees. I've been having pain in my knees. I'll have to ask Sandra what it felt like when she ended up having to have surgery. I'm a little worried. It would be just my luck to do all this work and in the end not be able to do it. I felt good after about the third mile. It takes me a bit to warm up. I'm glad to hear Sandra is excited for this run! Hopefully we'll all be able to taper well.