Fuel SMART,Train HARD, Run FAST.

Somehow I forgot to run today, sort of. When I planned to do it, the time slipped by and I lost my chance. Sort of didn't mind but that certainly piles the miles on later in the week!

Just got a new sponsor from Honey Stinger. I love thier fruit smoothie gels. Yum! "Gels" and "yum" don't usually go together in the same sentance for me, usually "doable", but this was actually yummy! I'm excited to get thier other products in the mail soon and gobble them up! Buzz.

Dragging at PF. Breathing like I was running a 5k for 8-9 min/mi. Dead legs.

AM- City Creek with Scott

PM- Easy miles at PF with Steve

Picked up another sponsor today. Rudy Project! They make specialty sunglasses for running as well as other eye wear for other sports. Helmets too!

2 mi wu to Davis Blvd.

9x1000m/ 400 jog @6:35-6:40

1 mi cd

Kept my HR at 80% for the duration.

Some were harder than others depending on if there was a hill or not. Felt like I gave a good effort! HR averaged 79%/max for entire duration.

7 mi @ 7:05ap for Davis Blvd. Almost to my goal of averaging 7:00 on that darn course!! 

10 mi total= 7:39ap

Ave Twin Peaks sunrise with The Lloyd brothers and Scott. Had to leave the group and hustle down the last couple of miles since I was running late. Felt surprisingly good today considering yesterday's workout!

I'm also trying out new fueling strategies during my workouts so I can avoid getting dizzy at the end of every single race! Learned some great tips from Craig today that might just help! Salt caps and tums...

6:00am- long run+ workout combo on Main Strret to Farmington and back. Felt the hills today.

4 mi wu

3x2x3mi tempo (7:07, 6:51,7:07ap) 800 jog

2 mi cd

15mi-7:53

My heart rate was a bit elevated during the warm-up. Garman recovery advisor said I was only "fair" recovery wise, instead of the usual "good." With my My legs  tired going into the workout, I made an early decision that I would just get the miles and without any workout if it got bad enough. Luckily my lega held out better than expected... but now they're shot again and that's okay:) Garmin says I need 3 recovery days now. I wish. One time it said I needed 5 days after a workout, so I guess I'm making progress. On the bright side, the race predictor has me at a 3:00 marathon finish. I could see a 5 mins variance there. Good to see I'm on the right track.

Afterwards I felt like I was in a Tri having to force a transition. My in-laws are in town and were waiting for me to get home so we could all go out to breakfast. I showered and got ready in eight minutes. I forgot to shave one armpit.

walking and running to get 8.25. My knee has been niggling all weekend, but it should be good for this week or I'll supplement for an elliptical workout.

A rollerblader stole my Strava course records on LPT. I'm going to go get a horse and steal them back!

In other news...

2 mi wu

4x1.5 mi @6:48/ 800 jog

1 mi cd

Knee felt great:)

=10mi @ 7:21 ap

7 easy miles

30 mins of upper body and hip exercises

Tomorrow's workout has me super duper scared. 10 mi @ mp. I'm scared it will be hard and then make me dobut my pace for Boston. I guess it's good to test it out and see if it's doable. The most I have gone is 8. I can't decide if I should do it on some rollers (Davis) or flat like LPT. I think if I can do it on the rollers then I'll be more confident. Hummm...

FYI- Shoebuy.com has a 20% off promotion going on now. It seems rare you can get a discount on some of the more popular running shoes. Free shipping and returns.

1mi wu

1 teaser mi @6:56

20 min break drive home and jump on TM

10 mi @ 1:08:35 (6:51ap)

1mi wog cd 

I get psyched out, but not often. Today was a challenge.

Today's workout had me psyched out, because I was so scared that the pace was not going to feel comfortable enough for a marathon. If I can't run 10 miles at marathon pace, but magically expect to on race day, I'm in trouble!

I drove  down to LPT to avoid traffic since I was doing it late morning. The forecast said it would rain, and it started to. After a couple miles, it started to rain more and I could not get myself excited to run a 10 mile tempo in the rain nor did I want fun shafing patterns on weird parts of my body. 

I decided to take it inside after mowing through ideas of where I could possibly run outside and stay covered. It occurred to me that a 10 mile pavilion did not exist. So I took it inside to the most boring Treadmill of all, the one in my basement, pushed all the way up to the wall,  facing a window with the blinds stuck down.  I stared at white blinds for over an hour. That was the hardest part of all. 

So it began, 9 tempo miles at marathon pace. There was no way I was doing 10 since I had already done one tempo mile on the trail. I jumped off twice to quickly swallow a gel and kept going. I decided to make the time go by faster by cutting it into three blocks of 5k's. They all were 21:00- 21:24. It turns out nothing was exciting about that and every 5k was predictable since my pace hardly varied. I also knew my pace on the treadmill was not going to be a true reflection, so I sped it up in the 6:40s, and averaged  6:51ap overall. I was not about to turn up the incline today! Nope.

When I finnaly got to 9, I made myself go one more to 10. Cause I knew it would haunt me all day if I didnt! Overall it was okay. I was a bit concerned about my heart rate, it stayed near 85% for most of the run, higher than most of my other comparable efforts have been. I'm going to be in trouble if I plan to keep my heart rate at 85% of its max for the duration of the marathon! I knew I was just really tired and had the whole "cumulative fatigue" thing going on.  

I'm so glad this one is over!! Next week I have a 12 mile race simulation and then slowly taper from there. These last 3 weeks of training have been so draining. C'mon Boston!

Shake out run.

Pearl Izumi sponsored fun run on JPT with a fun group. Untimed and not a race, just a group run with a raffle. I got a hat and a cool shirt that I'm going to wear everyday. ~8:07ap

4 easy and lazy

Davis blvd. rollers. One of these days I'm going to average sub 7 on this course! 

2 mi wu/cd

2x3mi tempo /mile jog

(6:52, 6:57, 6:50) =6:53 ap

8:33 jog

(6:55, 6:53, 6:30)= 6:43ap

=7:03ap

Nice downhill on last mile, tried to hold back without looking at my watch. Whoops! Otherwise, happy with the splits. The workout was supposed to be ran at 6:50ap.  I figured for this course anything 6:55-7:05 would be a comparable effort. The ups and downs made the effort feel harder to gage pace. Started to feel it on mile 5 but eased up with the last mile downhill. 

Nice jaunt in the dark with Karen on Davis.

Runch with Scott on the Twins. I was breathing harder today than necessary. Only slightly alarming since I'm apparently well rested. I love my PI shoes!

8 stroller miles with Landon to plant water. Stopped many times to look around and watch the fields burn by LPT. ~10:30ap

It turns out pushing a stroller is hard for me.

These were pretty much all hard miles for me. My legs were like lead from the start. 16 mi with Kam, 8:19ap.

Today was meant to be a 12 mile race simulator but I made a few mistakes leading up to it, which I will document for my own records- that will otherwise be boring.

Right-

Mentally prepared myself and felt ready, again mentally only. 

Planted water.

Declined a challenge on Thursday to race from Peak to Peak w/ Scott and just watched him do it, when I really wanted to. I was proud for saying no. Okay that sums up anything I did right.

Wrong-

Ran on Wednesday when it was a rest day.

Ran the Twins on Thursday when it was supposed to be an easy 10. It made me a little sore. I'm out of trail shape!

Friday I pushed my five-year-old in a stroller, in the sun and felt exhausted. I haven't pushed that stroller in years, nonetheless with a five-year-old inside! Plus I was only supposed to do an easy 6 mi shakeout.

Came home and took a super hot bath. Should have been an ice bath:/ I think this caused soreness to linger and not recover well.

Then ran around later in the heat of the day w/ a bunch of boys at the park playing obstacles- for my sons birthday party. By 5:00 I was dead and my legs were like lead. It was clear that I would not be ready nor tapered to run any quality miles the next day. Instead, I dragged for 16 miles with Kam down Main to Farmington and took LPT back. Glad for the company.

Day off to prep for tomorrow's tempo.

 12 mi simulator run today. I drove down to LPT this morning and began after a 2mi wu. The pace was supposed to be marathon pace. I decided to go by feel and not watch my pace.  I ended up averaging 6:55 overall (aimed for 6:55-7:00). I took a quick GU somewhere in the middle and resisted the urge to stop and stretch, but instead hurried on to quickly get back on pace. Felt good, but it was boring to slowly suffer by myself. I feel good about this one today!

Splits: 6:46, 6:59, 6:55, 6:52, 6:51, 6:53, 6:49, 7:11, 6:57, 6:57, 6:56, 6:54

12mi= 1:23:01, 6:55ap

recovery 5 miles

Easy 5 on Davis

Progression 10 miler down Main. 7:35ap for 12 miles +1.5cd

1.5 mile hike with kids to Centerville waterfall.

Quick lunch Mueller Park run with Scott. I was breathing like a maniac for the first 1.5 miles while he talked. I could barely give any verbal indications I was listening. The first mile always makes me feel super out of shape!

  Unintentional rest day.