Pavement is the place for me

Another few days off. Not really much I can do about it lately- track meet all night again, then April's birthday was Saturday. This week I should be able to keep on track. Last year after the school year stopped I pretty much quit running- the change in schedule always messes things up. This year I know it shouldn't be an issue, but the past two weeks have been pretty tough. The train should be back on the tracks now.

Am- soccer complex 7 miles at comfortable pace. Bruise on the rib hurts on the downhills, but the toe is feeling much better- hasn't hurt at all really, but if I push on it a little bit I can still feel some pain. Trying to avoid injuring it further- a few low weeks definitely can't hurt.

 12 miles soccer complex.

A few miles on the track. These were not fun as the track just seems too soft. Ran on the pavement along the outside lane for the last mile.

Decided to stop the nonsense short and run when i got home. Back to the soccer complex for 9 miles. 

2 hills on the HH. Not a bad run overall, felt good to get a taste of anaerobic in.

got out too late for a longer run. This morning the cat woke me up at 4 and I didn't feel like getting up when the alarm went off. I'll probably do a tempo tomorrow night.

7 miles, easy.
 

crazy night, no running

sectional track meet. Had some nice performances, more kids than I thought made it into state. We were really close on a lot of races. Times of note were our 4x8 boys- 2:01,2:03,2:07, and 2:00. We actually slowed down at the end since we only needed to place 4th to qualify. Still those are good times except for our "worst" leg. He just isn't quite there yet. Qualified in the pole vault.

In the mile our girl qualified with a 5:20. I had talked to her mom earlier and said she would probably do better in the mile than the 2 mile. She disagreed, but we had her running both anyways. 7th in the 2 mile, 3rd in the mile. Not that I'm an expert, but I know my kids pretty well now. Our 800 girl ran a 2:20 which is good, but she had already run the 4x8 and something else before that. At this point she could qualify in any event- I would put her in the mile, but our other girl is equal in it and not as much in the 8. Our hurdler girl qualified with a PR and our 800 guy ran an easy 3rd place finish in 1:58- his PR is 1:57, but he had already run the 4x8.

We have a young team, and the girls who are doing well are only sophs/juniors so next year is looking good. We had a lot of 5th place finishes too so there is plenty of talent, but we still lack sprinters who can compete.

So that was my day from 5 a.m. to now with 4 hours of riding the bus. Unfortunately there was no time as I was the babysitter- taking the kids to the mall and out to eat after the meet, while the other coach drove themself and didn't have anything to do with the kids. Not that I'm complaining, today I felt closer to my team than ever before. I think they have a lot more respect for me because I am there for them. The only bad thing about track is that it takes away from my running, but it is fun and I enjoy just being in the atmosphere of track meets.

Nice morning, but didn't get to run in it. Yesterday's all day meet took a lot more than I thought out of me, plus I got to sleep late. So I got up and just didn't have much energy to run, went back to sleep after reading for a little bit.

This afternoon I got a run in at the soccer complex. Things didn't exactly go as planned, partially to the heat and the other part to bad pacing. I started off to what seemed slow, but it was faster than I needed to be- I had planned on warming up for a few miles then running a tempo. The warm up mile turned out to be a tempo itself as I had not run for a few days and just felt too good to go slow. So I just turned the first part into a tempo. This was a hard 3.5 and I was half dead after that little bit. Legs and lungs were hurting already. I figured I could go farther but it just wasn't worth it. I took some water- which I brought along with ice luckily and then got back into my cooldown miles. These were just as hard as the tempo and I had to take another water stop halfway through before finishing up with a little acceleration.

This one was definitely up there on the toughness scale, but I attribute it to the afternoon heat with low humidity. It was just stifling compared to my normal. I guess it's good though and I'll start getting used to it the more I get out in the heat of the day.

Afterwards I helped April move half our front yard to the back yard. It took just about all I had just to stand up and my breathing was heavy whenever I had to shovel even a small amount. I felt sort of light headed too and it wasn't till after dinner a few hours later that I started feeling normal again. I suppose that means I put in good effort, but it made me feel weak and I'm not too excited about that feeling.

easy run, although considering the wind and the two HH's it wasn't easy at all. Was breathing hard to maintain normal pace. I think I'm lacking consistent training the past few weeks and a longer long run. Other than that the left ham was sore today. Seemed to be muscle or tendon in the middle of the left leg. I could sort of feel it working yesterday as my footfall was a little weird on the left foot. I may have been overcompensating and worked it too much. I think it's fine though.

Planning a long run T, Thursday or Friday hills, and Sunday a few timed miles with easy running before and after.

Best run in a while. Did a mile at the track while the kids going to state did their workouts. The track really made my calves and everything feel it- even after just a mile. I will have to start doing more work there.

The other 9 miles was at home- started off backwards so I would only have to do the hill twice. This worked quite well as I had a few miles before tackling it. This run felt very relaxed and smooth, but at the same time relatively fast. It probably felt that way because of the first two things. Either way it was nice and I haven't had a run where I felt good the whole way in a while.

super-migrane attack, night off.

Soccer complex after school, then at home. Legs turned over nicely for me.

A fast mile at the track, with cooldown/warmup miles.

 Took it rather easy today- more fast tomorrow.
 

4 hill sprints in the morning with 7 miles of running.

8 miles at the soccer complex. 

5 recovery on the treadmill. We have a gym membership and this treadmill is very nice compared to the one i bought this winter. Looking forward to using the pool and weights to get stronger.

two fast 10ks, with a short rest inbetween. Felt fast and was good to get the heart rate up. If I can do two pretty much back to back, one on Saturday morning shouldn't be a problem.

bleah. This week is always the worst. Last week of school, finals, finishing up, getting contract stuff ready, planning for the state meet, going to the meet, spending all day at the meet, etc. It just didn't work out for me.

After driving back last night at 11 pm, which was one of the worst trips I've ever taken, I got some food and went to sleep. I really wish this race was next week, but it doesn't really matter since the state meet took all my training away so I guess it's fine. I would have liked to get some more sleep though.

State Meet went well btw. 1600 girl 7th, 800 girl 4th, and 4x8 boys 6th with an alternate. Alot of stuff happened that was bad, but it's over so I'm not going to worry about posting that.

 Todays race went as good as can be expected. Training has been lacking as of late, mostly due to track, but all the same I could be in better shape. Started off well. A 5:52 first mile was good and felt pretty easy, 12:06 at 2 miles. I knew I would never hold that pace though. Not in the shape I'm in. I'm just not ready yet.

So I pushed through to mile 4 (25something). At that point I thought I was going to die and was just fighting to breathe and maintain pace. At 5 I heard 31:30 or something and knew I could pull of a sub-40. So I started increasing pace. I had a guy right with me, and in the end he got me, but I gave him a run for his money. It was nice though because we pushed each other. I sprinted to the finish, but there wasn't much left. All in all it was a great run. I think I could have went a little faster, but I'm happy with the effort. A few of my track kids ran a 37 and a 38. I'll be able to check exact times tomorrow.

 Whoohoo! School is out, track is over and I'm freeeeee.

treadmill at the gym