Fuel SMART,Train HARD, Run FAST.

The start of the new year means back to work. It seems that most of my "New Years Resolutions" are focused around running- mostly times this year. I am excited to see what the year holds for me.

Today I went to the gym and ran some short intervals, 8x200m at 5:00 pace with 200m jog inbetween. 4 miles total. Afterwards did 15 mins easy on the elliptical.  

Today I ran in my new hot pink running skirt and loved it! I may be converted over to skirts.

Today's workout was on my home treadmill. After a 1.5 mile warm-up, I planned to run 5 miles at 7:00 pace. After the first mile I felt pretty good so I increased the pace. When I got to 5 miles I still felt good so I decided to make it a 10k. Ran the last mile in 5:50 and finished 6.2 miles in 40:50. I was surprised how well I felt and that makes me excited! I hope to take off 3 minutes off that pace this year. I have never really focused on the 10k, so I have some room for improvement in the PR area. Today was a good bench mark to see where I am at. 

Although a good run, it came at a high price. The last few minutes of my workout, my 21 month old pushed over the barrier I created to barricade the treadmill and he went flying. He has two large bloody goose eggs on each side of his forehead:( Did I mention I stepped on him and didn't get a scratch on me? Waaaaahhhh!!!

Today's workout:

30 minutes of spin class

15 min elliptical

10 row maching

3 miles of run/walk with hills and stroller

15 minutes in steam room:) 

Motivation is lacking, I really don't feel like running. Procrastinated all day and drug myself to the treadmill then decided to do something different. Did 30 minutes of alternating stairs and high knees on small tramp. Need to stop being a  Fatty McButter pants and get running!

1 mile warm up with 6 miles at 7:34 pace with incline ranging from .5-3% incline. Averaged 1% however. Towards the end did 2x200 at 6:00 with 5% incline. Jogged 400 between each at 7:30 pace. Then did 2x200 at 5:50 with 400 jog and incline at .5%. Need to get my legs moving fast again. Felt fine, except for the incline was more challenging with the faster pace 200's.

Started off with bigger plans than what actually took place, but glad for the effort.

I started my warm up and felt tight off the get go with a side ache. Surly it would pass after a good warm up. After .5 I wanted to quit:) Made it to 1.5 warm up then made myself start the intervals. Plan was 3 mile repeats at 5k pace. I did the first in 5:52. Felt pretty tired, but always do after the first and the rest are usually better. 800 jog in between with a quick water break. Jumped on for the second one and did it in 5:49. That one was harder. I was even tighter than before and my side ache was unrelentless. So, taking a lesson from my body, I ditched the last one and never looked back.

I'm assuming the tightness is from being the first week of speed work. Next week will be better. I have definitely lost some fitness over the past two months, which I expected. Can't go against the laws of this sport. You reap what you sow, sometimes that is good, sometimes not so much. I'd like to work up to 5 mile repeats before next months race. We'll see if I can make it through at least 3 next time.

Happy Running 

Good run with  Andy  and  Kam  early this morning. COLD and icy but felt good to get out. I had to cut my run a little shorter due to needing to get back. Finished at home with some strides.

Woke up extra early this morning in hopes to beat the snow. Only snowed for last mile but lots of stop and go with icy patches and slowing and stopping for traffic. It was sort of unreal this early in the morning, but there was no getting around the ice.

I wanted to do some slightly faster miles so ran on Davis due to the smaller rollers, but hindsight, the stop and go was worse than if I would have just endured the hills on Main. Tried to average around 7:00 AP but got off with the frequent obstacles- regardless happy about effort and felt great today. 10 total, with 1 mile warm up and down. Overall AP at 7:13. For my records.. splits were 7:38, 7:23, 7:31, 7:31, 7:08, 7:11, 7:00, 6:30.

3 mile run, 3 mile elliptical, 2 mile bike. Hopefully 8-10 miles tonight if Steve can get off before dark.

The weather was awesome today! I was confused with all the hype about the winter storm warning that never occured, except in a few canyon areas. When I woke up this morning it was warmer, around 40 degrees at 6am with a light sprinkle. All of the ice and snow had almost melted. The only down side is that there were some pretty impressive puddles throughout the run that were deep and cold, but still fun!

Easy run for about 6 miles then did a 3 minute pickup followed by 3 minutes at regular pace all the way back for 36 minutes. Totaling, 6 pickups total. I didn't get the pace for these, just went by minutes but likely averaged 6 min pace on the downhills and 6:30 on the uphills=6:15 AP. 

Okay, let me see if I can get them all. Ran a 14 long run/tempo  this morning with Allie, Kam, Cam, Andy, James, Jake, Andrea and Mark. Yep, that's who was there.

The plan was 14 miles with a 2x2 mile tempo at marathon pace at the end, with a 1 mile rest. The wind and the rain in the beginning were making our 7:30 pace look like 9 minute pace, but felt like 7:00 pace:) Did you get that? It was still fun. When the time came for the tempo, our pack split up more. I ran with Andy, Kam and Allie for the 2x2. The first two miles were pretty flat, the second  two miles were a little more hilly, but in comparison with the hills around here Overall pretty flat.. Spits were 6:50, 6:42 and 6:42, 6:30.

Good workout. I was a little nervous in the first few miles, I had a weird sensation of a dead leg for some reason, you know the kind you get from being punched in the leg, not the kind from sitting funny. That left, then a "GU-less GU gut poked it's head in for a short visit, but was shortly lived and didn't effect the important tempo part of the run luckily. Overall felt great today and was happy to run with amazing runners.

Afterwards we went to Kam's for some yummy waffles! So good to meet FRB'ers in person!

Easy 8.5 on Davis. Lots of slip and sliding, stop and go.  Twisted my knee and ankle, but compression sleeves helped. Why do I keep running up there in the Winter.

7 miles around 7:30 pace with women's running group. It's been a while since I've ran with them, good to catch up. I have pain in my right foot in the arch and on the top of my foot since yesterday's run but worse today.  Maybe my shoes are getting old buy just nearing the 300 mile mark with them. Maybe it's the light I attached to the shoe that made the laces tighter there...I hope that's it. Iced after run- maybe some cross training tomorrow with a long run on Saturday.

18 miles with Andy and Kam down Legacy Trail, to Freedom Hills and did some switch backs and hills climbing. Andy and Kam made me look like a crawler. Came back down Main street with a little pickup the last couple of miles. Cold.

LOL. This morning was a joke for working out. I woke up to run outside before work, but thought I would run on my treadmill and watch a show instead. That was a mistake. I ran/walked 2.5 miles then got bored. Then did some crunches and pushups and high knees on the mini tramp for 50 mins total. Nothing taxing, I was too enthralled with the show. I'm sure my HR was below 140 bpm:) Intervals tomorrow.

I need do better on my diet, I think it is making me feel sluggish during my workouts. That is a no brainer though. Today I went to the gym and did a warm-up followed by 10x400 all at 6:00 pace with a 200 jog in between. These were not too hard, just felt sluggish. I felt like I should have done a few more, but decided not to after reading a few articles about  going to about 85% exhaustion and 100% for racing. I think  Ed Eyestone said that in an article and then there was an article in RW this month about that too- running at the pace you want to race and not much faster. I usually do intervals till I want to barf so today was refreshing. If I were more fit, I could have probably done more till I hit that 85-90%, but the good thing is that it true for where ever you are at. Right or wrong, I don't know. We'll see next week for the season opener 5k. Aside from theory, I wasn't in the mood either, so this was even more enticing to go with. I know one thing, I sure loved walking out of the gym refreshed for once.