Fuel SMART,Train HARD, Run FAST.

We came home from our trip last night from Twin Falls. I never got a chance to run due to a hectic schedule.  I found myself taking occasional deep breaths to catch my thoughts and sanity over the weekend. Steve has been traveling for perspective jobs around various hospitals. The recruiter had put some time in the iternary for a tour of the area school district. The "tour" ended up being a meeting with the school district super intendant, principal, and district HR manager for a Q&A. We had nothing but we tried with deferred attempts, so we deferred to the kids. They had great questions like, "Do you have fun play ground equipment?" "Is your school lunch good?" "Is it healthy food or good food?" How many kids would be in my class?" "Where's the bathroom." And finally, "Are we almost done?" It's alway's fun traveling with kids. Anyone know much about Twin Falls?

Easy miles with Andy and Becky this morning on LPT. It was cold and dark, I could even see my breath. Came home and ran 10x20 secs @ 5:00 with 30 sec jog. Nice to get legs moving again since Saturday. I've caught some mild cold symptoms. I wonder if most of it is from racing on Saturday morning in the cold. I've been coughing ever since, but it seems to be dying down. Should be fine with some Emergen C.

I received my STG bib #5014. I was glad to see the number where it was. It seems mentally there is less pressure to bring that number down than to be ranked high and not let it slip. I think top 20 will be pretty competitive this year. I even think the top 6 will be under 2:50. Something that has not happened since that weird year when like the top ~20 women were under that. Anyone else notice that?

Easy cross training. 30 mins on elliptical and 30 mins on recumbent bike, all while playing on my phone. I feel like such a slug today.

Last night was rough. I put the kids down to sleep and got into bed myself around 9:00. I really thought I could warn off this cold, but it's getting worse. My head wants to blow up and I can't stop coughing. This is also true for the rest of the clan in the house. I think stress brings it on. I was sick before Ogden (although that was the flu.) I clearly bring it on myself! One thing I'm not going to let it do, is use it as an excuse when I'm hurting on Saturday. It would be easy to tell myself to ease off because I've been sick. The good thing these sort of bugs can turn around pretty fast.  I still think I can reve up my appetite today. The menu calls for lots of fruits, veggies and carbs. I'm ready to bring down my time on Saturday- that or I'll die trying.

I plan to get a couple miles in, maybe a few short intervals at mp.

We leave tomorrow, so packing today!

The Saint George Marathon. All of the elements were there for a great race today. Cool weather, a tail wind and a fast course. For me personally, It seemed everything was going wrong before the race even started. I contemplated dropping out of the race the day before coming down to St. George because my throat was on fire. I couldn't stop coughing and I felt wiped out. I decided to do it anyway since we paid for the hotel, had the entry and a gracious babysitter. The silly cold was the least of my problems today.

Steve and I left for St. George on Friday after we dropped off the kids at my sister's house. We had a great drive down and headed straight to the Expo as we arrived into town. I dropped off my water bottles and stopped for the  pasta dinner since we were given comps. The food was good and we enjoyed a stress free night.

We stayed in a hotel nearby (thanks Rye) and tried to get some sleep. I had a rough night of coughing and feeling hot, but was able to get a few hours of sleep before morning. I woke up at 4:00am and felt somewhat rested and calm. I got ready and strapped on a 2:53 and a 2:54 pace band and headed out the door to catch the bus. It was go big or go home, despite how I was feeling.

Our bus made it to the top and I was one of the first women in the elite corral. The fire was nice. I sat next to Mark P and visited until the start. I ran a couple strides and felt good. I was surprised my throat stopped hurting and wondered if the cold air was helping. It seemed a lot of people had caught something this week, too.

As we lined up to the start, there were a TON of fast women. I heard them all talk about going 2:50's and knew I was in a good crowd to go out with. I lined up with Jasmine and Stephanie (a girl we ran with at HC from Washington) and off we went!

Miles 1-6 (6:38, 6:52, 6:35, 6:24, 6:36, 6:20) These miles felt effortless. It was dark so it was hard to gage pace. It felt slow, so I was surprised to see the 10k time at 40:38, however, I was close to pace. It seemed the first two miles were flat, then some down hill for the next couple of miles. Nothing too jarring. I could hear groups of other ladies talking, but I wasn't quiet as comfortable carrying on conversations and laughing either. A few words here and there is all I offered. I really wanted to focus and not let the upper crowd get too far away (aside from the top 4) but it didn't matter, it was so dark and there were tons of people all around. There was no way to assess any sort of placing at this point. Maybe top 20ish? 

Miles 7-12, hill miles (6:30, 7:54, 7:08, 7:10, 7:18, 7:25) My first drink was at mile 7. I really screwed up the whole "elite bottle thing." For some reason, I could never get it right. I could never find my bottle and had to turn around to get things that had dropped off of it. All my fault. The gester was kind, but something I won't use again because It's just easier to grab a random cup in passing.

As I approached mile 8, I remember seeing Veyo and felt shocked. I had no idea it was going to be that big. I was nervous. I was about half way up the hill when I unexpectedly fell UP the hill. I fell flat on my face and laid there like a dead person. I hit mostly my right knee, but my shoulder and head took some of the hit as well. A few people stopped and tried to help me, but I motioned them on. I was too scared to look at any of the damage because I knew it would discourage me. I limped for a minute, then picked it up a bit to get to the top. The pain was bad but not horrible. At least my darn ankle wasn't hurt! My plan was to get to the next aid station to re-evaluate the plan. With each mile, it felt better, but my pace was suffering and my breathing was completely frantic. I couldn't seem to calm it down. I was panicking and everything felt off. People were passing me right and left at this point.

Miles 13-18 (6:50, 6:44, 6:27, 6:33, 6:40, 6:39) Some downhill finally! I took a 5 hour just before the halfway and started to feel my pain dissipate. Although I crossed the halfway mark at 1:30:4X, a few minutes off my plan, I decided to just keep following my pace band. So I tore off one, and focused on the other. I felt I could easily negative split at this point. My legs felt good, but they had taken a beating from the up hills. Now looking back, I did not adequately train for uphills at all and my legs paid for it. 

Miles 19-24 (7:09, 7:01, 6:31, 7:00, 7:14, 7:39) I've heard others talk about wheels coming off. I think I get what they are talking about. While I wasn't dying here, the pain was definitely returning and my right side was stiffening up. Despite the large amount off downhill in these miles, my body was struggling. Allie had sent me a kind message the night before with inspirational quotes. I was reminded of Hal Higdon's words of digging deep beyond my limits. I kept digging and felt that despite how I was feeling, I was mentally still in it. I kept doing the math and knew that if I could pull off 7:00 miles for my last two miles, I could still get 2:55, so I went for it. At mile 23, that plan went south. I approached the aid station and stopped at the table to find my drink. As soon as my legs went still, all the pain came back and my body felt like jello. "They" always say to never stop because it's hard to go again. Yup. For the life of me, despite the best mental tricks in the world, my legs said no and would not go.

Miles 25,26, and .2. These were the crazy miles, literally. (11:15, 11:57, 8:38 for .2!) See? These were also a blur that lasted FOREVER. I watched the time slip away and felt so sad. I had some helpers who had seen the blood on my body and took it upon themselves to personally walk me through those last two miles. Two officers and one middle aged woman who kept putting jelly beans and popsicles in my mouth (bless her heart.) I won't forget another officer who was riding to the side of us. He suddenly crashes or falls off, I can't remember, and in response to all the gasps he announces, "Well, motorcycles aren't made to go that slow!" LOL!  My legs were doing all sorts of cramping as I approached the finish line. Here's a visual  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKhkvSRQZYo.

Afterwards I wasn't acting quite like myself. I hope none of you saw me. Let's just say I suddenly turned a tiny bit paranoid:) My husband was there and a great support throughout. After I caught my breath and came back to reality, I really struggled with the results, because in my head I had thought I had PR'd:) I also thought I was at the Chicago Marathon, but that's another story:)

It's been a rough recovery all the way around. Aside from marathon soreness, my knee is stiff and swollen. I have the flu, lost my voice and woke up with dime sized cold sore on my lip. I'm quite the sight and need to be locked up in my basement for a few days:)

Hopefully when I re-emerge, I won't have a hump on my back and I can start to shuffle again. I don't feel my time is bad. I referred to myself as a bad marathoner, but infact was referring to my execution. I can't seem to get it right for the life of me. I am only sad that my body was not able to tolerate the stress at the end and deliver the time I had worked so hard and hoped to achieve. There will be another, I'm sure. In a positive light, it's a PR for the year.

I am so grateful for all of the support I have received in training, leading up to the race, and especially afterwards. Thanks to Andy and Kam for showing up for Tempo Tuesday's each week. Also, to Andy for the Smart Pace Bands. It was so helpful in my training to pace for Walter's American Flyer's Race Pacer's group to get some long downhill runs and use a pace band. Thanks to Allie for encouraging me by giving me great insight and mentorship. I especially appreciated her words after the race about her personal "come back" after similar hardships in the marathon. Thank you all for your continued support!

"You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming." - Frank Shorter

30 mins of easy spin and some weights. Didn't feel well.

I can't believe it's been one week since SGM. For lack of better words, it's been a rough week in recovery. My legs have been the least of my concerns. This bug I have, is mean. The cold-turned-flu-sinus infection-turned-stomach flu might be a new strain. I expect my face in the news, next to a bird and a swine- warning of a new outbreak. Isn't that dramatic? Yes, it is. I'm at about 65% today. That's 15% away from being half dead, so that's an improvement.​

I've thought a lot about the race. A little fire has started under me to comeback to SGM in 2014 and improve on my performance.

I'm also registered to run a half in a few weeks. I can't decide if I want to end the season or finish off with that race....Time will tell if my body is able to move again by then, at least the way I need it to.

I'm looking forward to a winter of easy runs (Tempo Tuesdays maybe?) and more lifting.

Fun Tara will be back soon.

9 easy on LPT with Andy, Kam, and Becky too, for a bit. New asphalt down an even creepier trail in the dark was available, so we took it.

First run since marathon. Everything works. I was breathing slightly more than I needed to, but maybe because it was cold. I had no desire to run fast at all. AP was likely around high 8's. But good news, fun Tara is back.

 45 mins of spin. I hope I can find some mojo to last for a couple more weeks until my next half is over. 

Some ladies in the area invited me to run up MP. I couldn't turn it down, even though I am meeting up with Allie and Angie in the morning on the same run. I hope they don't feel like I cheated on them. It was a pretty but cold morning. I fell going up and banged up my right knee again. What is the deal with me falling up hills lately? Ugh. Tried not to act like it hurt, so I sat there going, "haha, ooooo, hahaha, oooo." The funny thing is that the girls followed my verbal ques, too. You know when you laugh when someone gets hurt, but then you find out they are really hurt so then you act sad? Then they start to laugh, so you do too? It was one of those moments. 

7:45AM- Mueller Park run with Allie and Angie. This time of year is beautiful, however I think we looked more at our feet, at least I did. Angie not as much. She about dismembered her toe on two separate occasions. We did catch this nice pic on our way out. Someone doesn't have a reverse camera on thier phone.

Someone learned how to insert hyperlink texts today. Enjoy the visuals.

Run for your lives 3k-ish in NSL. I came to support a friend of mine who put on the race. The course runs along BST, gradually climbing the first half, then a hairpin turn back down to the finish. The trail was narrow and rocky with uneven footing. I need to run trails more often.

The race started and from the beginning I knew I was in trouble with my choice of wardrobe. My skirt did everything it could do to fall off, so I held it in place and used my other arm to drive me up the the trail. I bought it the night before STG and almost wore it for the marathon. Ah! So I tore out my hair tie and secured the skirt. That meant my hair was all over the place. Next thing I know, the band comes undone, and I'm back with a loose skirt and untamed hair! Thank goodness for a short race!

Early on I could see no one was going to come out with me (most people did it with their families.) It gave me a good chance to relax the pace into a tempo effort. Things started to get interesting at the turn around. I headed back on the same narrow trail I had run out on, but now against all the other runners and walkers. I jumped on and off the trail into the weeds for about a half of a mile, but the Go2's survived.  

I must have looked hardcore coming into the finish with my hair all over the place.... except one guy came in wearing pair of jeans...

I walked off with a hand full of candy, personally delivered from a boy scout, 2 tickets to Nightmare on 13th, a fun T-shirt, and a photo shoot with the Mayor in a Sylvester costume. Best $10 I've spent today.

Splits: 6:42, 5:46 (6:34)

8 miles on 400E/Main Steet.

Met up with Andy today on LPT. The underpass on Pages Lane was under construction. There wasn't much work going on, aside from this guy. I maneuvered my way to Parrish Lane, then ended up on the other side of Bountiful on 500 S. Dear Andy knew better than to give me verbal directions on sides streets in the dark, so he ended up meeting me on the 500 S trail head instead. It was nice to run on a part of the trail I've never been on, for some variety. None of that is important for anyone to know, not even worth documenting for archival purposes, even. Guess there's nothing too exciting to blog about today except an 8.66 miler on LPT with a good sport! 7:47ap. 

Later in the morning, I met up with Jake at Liberty Park to wear test the new Saucony 7's. Awesome shoes and a different feel from the other models. I also got a glimpse of the Kinvara 5's, which are something to talk about. 2.5 miles, 7:39ap. Also, how about those wood chips at Liberty Park?! Old to the city, new to me. Loved it!

Cross training at Gold's today.

30 mins on the elliptical while watching DOG the Bounty Hunter. Mrs.Dog slightly freaks me out.

2x failure ~12 Hip abduction (200lbs!)/adduction (110lbs),

2X10 hamstrings curles (30lbs?)

1x10 military press (70lbs)

2x10 shoulder flys (15/20lbs)

2x18 pyramid pushups-military 

2x8 assisted "dead hang" pull ups (25%) These were discouraging.

1x10 curles (25lbs)

3x 90 second planks

1x10 balance squats on boso ball + 10lb weights

20 mins in dry sauna afterwards

I really felt directionless in the weight room today. I didn't push myself, but get familiar with weights again. On paper looks more aggressive than the effort really was. It's been so long since I have regularly weight lifted.  I need a lifting partner.

Also, I really wanted to add a hyperlink in today's post, but I realize I've gone overboard lately.

6:00AM- ​10 miles/7:11ap. I ran up to Davis Blvd this morning. The temps was warmer than usual!  I ran easy to the end of the Blvd., then decided to do some faster intervals since it's been almost three weeks since SGM. I wondered if I would be sore from lifting yesterday, but felt no effects, except from a little soreness on the sides of my pectorals when I pulled open some blinds this morning:) I also feel a little tender in my lower abs. The overall lack of soreness only further confirms my suspicion that I wasn't doing anything correctly yesterday. Oh well, there is hope in the horizon.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 mins (1/2 active recovery.) My lap function was not working properly for some reason, so most of the splits were combined with my recovery, which means they are lost. I also never stopped my watch, so it messed with the AP a little, oh well. No heads fell off over the matter.

The first interval was uphill, 2-5 were rolling, and 6 was mostly downhill. I felt like the effort was generally around 5:10-5:50, with the last 6 min showing at 5:50ap. The 5 min was a bit of an outlier due to a few "slow and go's" at busier intersections, ~6:10ap)

The rest of the day will be spent making Minecraft toys and trinkets for gifts this year. Tedious but filled with love. Keep calm and craft on.

I've been  debating back and fourth about my base training. I decided last night not to run in the morning and to take some days off to get rid of this 5+week cough/cold once and for all. I know the cold temps especially aggravate my throat. Maybe I need to move indoors for a while. I also had an early meeting to be to this morning, which was more reason to ditch today's run. However, the internal clock went off and I sacrificed washing my hair for a four mile run instead. Came back with a hack, but happy legs. Clearly my motivation going into the half next Saturday is next to nothing. It's kind of a relief to not be on any sort of a structured running schedule after a 8 month training cycle. Many can relate! Ahhh:)

I entered a contest of sorts for a free 6 week training program at FireHouse Fitness. I know several people who train there and have had amazing results. It appears to be similar to Cross Fit, but with more cardio. I've wanted to train there for some time, but could never commit to the monthly price tag. The commitment requirements are:  5lb loss or gain of muscle, attendance 3x week, follow an individualized nutrition program, display their sticker on my car and 3 measurement checks. Last night was orientation. The facility looks hardcore. There are giant tires everywhere. My friend Jasmine is one of the trainers and she pulls cars for fun.  The timing seems perfect!

6AM: Cold, dark, rain, hail and wind. These elements made showing up for Tempo Tuesday a bit harder today, but so glad to be expected somewhere or I would have otherwise stayed in bed. Tempo Tuesday will continue to hold its name, even though lately we've just been doing some easy miles since none of us have anything on the calendar for the next while. Kam's been out for a bit due to rigorous nights with his newborn.  Andy has consistently showed up, so I have too.

We headed south on LPT. The first mile was touch and go. It seems we almost called it quits a couple of times because the hail and rain were starting to sting. I was especially a baby, even though I was the only one wearing a hat, gloves, and a wind vest ( wind vest, lol!). It eventually let up about half way. I made Andy stop way too many times! At first it was my watch, then my jacket, then a bathroom stop, a shoe adjustment, then I had to sit down and take off my shoe to remove my sock. Any reason to stop, I found it. 8:00ap.

First day at FireHouse Fitness. Unfortunatly, there was a lot of this going on from my end. So glad Andy and Becky were there to give me some direction!