Novice or Expert? Eh, I run

No, i did not run 23 miles today. that's my estimated mileage for the week. not much but better than nothing and pretty good for spending two entire days in the car and being on vacation with people who don't understand my need to run (except my sister, who understands me and ran with me even though she really didn't want to on friday--good thing we both hate volleyball and that's what our friends were doing for a while). as i had to promise my dad i would not run alone in mexico (yes, he still makes those kinds of demands on me), i was very grateful for my sister.

running with my sister is interesting. she is much slower than me, so i run out and double back, run away from her and then turn around to catch up again. running was ok this week. we got more tired and more tired and more tired as the days passed. we weren't playing terribly hard all day and got plenty of sleep. and finally made the correlation. dehydration. i don't know that i've ever been dehydrated for such a length of time. by thursday we could barely finish our run. friday was better and my legs only felt as though i'd run a hard downhill race the day before (i had hiked a mountain. maybe the steep downhill lingered. maybe dehydration lingered. probably both).

but the vacation was a blast and you should all be jealous. snorkeling (at night too! that was fun and not even too cold), sea kayaking, running, hiking, swimming, deep sea fishing, exploring, and best of all...the food. 

ten miles. warm up 7:30, mostly ran at 7 or lower (down to 6:40, i think)

it's gonna be a low low mileage week. i tried running today but my body didn't like it. i was going to run for another hour after my classes but during the last one i started shaking uncontrollably (again. did that yesterday too), but i wasn't cold.  hot, rather. so i'm gonna lie low.

half were in the pool. i attempted to run hard but mustered a medium-hard effort. afternoon was easy. felt better all day until i started shiver after a shower (the hot water ran out). 

pool and a bit at the gym. all super easy. i may try for a few more easy tonight. i hate, abhor, can't stand, and am tortured by not running.

my body is still unhappy-ish. my dad is convinced i got a bug in mexico. i'd rather be in the mind frame of some more regular sort of ickyness passing through my body. but i'll probably see a dr tomorrow (or monday if i can't get in).

boo to this! 

Aha! Success! I ran! slowly but it wasn't even in the pool and not too bad. i just have to run early in the morning if i want to run on land, it seems. (I am feeling a bit better but i generally feel better in the morning that afternoon-evening).

the bad part of this is that i hate running in the dark (especially by myself. don't worry, i have a vest and light and don't anticipate this business to last too long). and i also hate the temperature (or lack thereof) at that time of the day but if i run early, i can run!

(note on the !: i don't generally write with a lot of ! because i had this creative writing teacher who hated them. really they should be used for shouting in dialogue, not for emphasis, but technology has broken our language and grammatical normalities, so everyone uses them to show emphasis. claire said we can use three exclamation points in our literary lifetimes. i tell this to my students as well and they laugh at me. notice that i used exactly three here. while my blog is in no way literary, i do try to refrain from overuse. however, i was just that happy to run today and to not feel too icky during my run. imagine me shouting and doing a little jig).

 will try for a few more miles later (probably in a pool). 

blarrggggg

pool running (of course, my body...well, i'm feeling lots better and getting my energy back. i tried to push it harder in the pool but wasn't p to the sprinting aspect of intervals, so i gave up on that and just ran a consistent pace (still counting laps as if i was doing intervals. gotta keep sanity somehow). i wasn't asthmatic but breathing hard, though that could be due to the fact that i have been taking new asthma med. and maybe it's working. yeehaw!

 will try for more working-out-age later. 

yeah! i ran! and it didn't feel icky or weird or anything. hard stuff in the pool and an easy afternoon run. do a jig for me, i'm happy.

i love waking early and running. of course, it was in the pool. i'm transitioning back to just land running but i really hate running just 3-4 miles in the pool (doesn't feel like a workout), so i may pack on a few extra miles in the near future a i run more and more on land.

 i expect another run this afternoon 

slow days are generally boring, especially when it's nasty air outside and i have to spend all together too much time at the gym. i did pool work this morning, as usual and kept a good steady but easy (though not too easy) pace. this afternoon i ran on the indoor track, on the treadmill and back on the track again. helps break the monotony.

having said all that  negative, i must say something positive.

i feel as though i'm returning to a former--more favorite self--that i lost somewhere amidst vacation and illness. ahhhh...it felt good to run a few miles fast. i actually only meant to run about 2 fast but couldn't help it on the track. i love passing people when i'm in the outside lane. i did get passed by some rotc guys who must have just been running 400m or so, but i sped up and passed a few just for about a lap (i think one of them is a student but i'm not sure. i don't think he recognized me. he wasn't having much fun so i doubt he noticed anything other than the sting in his lungs and legs. still, i'm kind of a brat sometimes to do things like that.)

anyway, it ended up being a good hour or so at the gym.  

Ahhhhh, I'm back. It feels like I've just been languishing in "blahs-ville" and unable to work hard or even try to work hard. But I feel much better about running today. Finally!

The treadmill and I, we were good ol' buddies today. Started at 6:40 and down to 6:35, :31 and then spent much of the run around 6:21-ish i think (don't remember) but I ran progressively faster in the last few miles with the last mile at 6:00 and under (down to 5:13 for the last few seconds. sometimes i think i'm addicted to pushing the faster button).

 ...just got done running in the pool (heaven forbid i don't run in the pool everyday. i think the life guards would faint if i didn't show up). twas lovely and easy. 

ahhhh, the haze of winter. da na na na na na na na gym time.

I feel as though all I've been doing lately is complain but I all I want to do is run outside in the fresh air. Not in the pool, not on a treadmill and not around a small (and poorly designed) indoor track. My body craves the ease of running outside. It feels best out there, but as it is...it'd be like smoking. 

Yucky air! Couldn't really see the mountains on the far side of the valley yesterday.  Not supposed to storm til Thursday. May not clear up 'til Sunday.

 More this pm. 

so i had this plan. 1m warm up, 4m hard (6:27, :24,  21, :18) then 2m easy then 4 m hard (same paces but increase the elevation with each mile. I wanted to test my new asthma treatment against hills--already works with speed. and since it's nasty outside, this was my option).  anyway, i warmed up and did 6:27, :21, :18, :15) then did 2m easy and during my first hard mile of the second round my achilleges started burning worse. i'd felt it a little before but not much. so....i stopped. i could have pushed thorugh the workout but decided that in the long run, three more hard miles wouldn't be worth the risk of another injury. lately it seems i'm a walking injury--though not bad a bit perpetual. frustrating. sorry it's a bit depressing to read this. it's also depressing to write it too (blarg!) anywho--one of these days my achilles will recover fully and I will run run run.

good thing i'd been planning on only pool work tomorrow anyway (the treadmill seems to be hard on my body so i wanted to give it a break for a day).  

Utah officially has the worst air in the nation (according to the trib). and thus i was in the pool again. intervals (first time this week, tom. i'm cutting back). it was a good workout. there's another girl who sometimes runs in the dive tank w/ me and i like to see how many times i can lap her (to be fair, i wear a belt and she doesn't but i'm not just trying to keep my head out of water. anywho...). apparently i'm a competitive person (well, when it comes to running anyway) because trying to catcher again and again really got me running hard. great workout. even after she left i was able to push it pretty hard. hard enough that even w/ my new asthma meds i was able to give myself and attack from spriting for laps and one of the life guards came to ask if i was ok. i said yes and when i got out thanked her for her consideration of me. so jon, cody and joe...you're not the only ones who've been suprised by the sound of my lungs.

easy easy day. rain-snowish. maybe clear the air a little.

The air quality is going to change this weekend! Yellow tomorrow and GREEN on Sunday!

You know, the St. George Marathon (2008) was not a beautiful day, but today was a beautiful, gray, sodden day.  The difference perhaps may be that there was no particularly strong headwind (which may in fact be a miracle itself because sometimes South Jordan has a head wind every direction you run. I tell you Mary Poppins would only stay five minutes here).  

I think, though that the beautiful difference between today's somber palette was not the wind but perspective.  See, the views from any point in any of the major valleys in Utah have been limited, smoggy, smucky and down right frustrating. But today, ah today you can see. Well, I couldn't really during my run because my eyes ahve been reacting poorly to my contacts and i just didn't feel like running in my glasses, so it was a fuzzy vista, but even so, i could tell it was clearer. And the rain.  I ran in the rain! It pattered on my face and my hands and wetted my shirts. I had to run in soupy mud where there was construction and my spankin' white shoes are happily stained with mud. It was a good run. (despite the fact that it was a bit shorter than I wanted, but for a first real run back after my achilles bugged earlier this week, 8 miles isn't too shabby. and it didn't really bother me too much. a bit tight at the base of my calf but i'll try to work that out later).

 Will workout more later. 

Landsakes! what's wrong with lisa? she only ran 6 miles today. not even an hour.

oh, nothing. nothing is wrong with me. i ditched my routine, drove two hours south to meet my little sister and had such a time skiing that if life was a musical, you'd get sick of me and turn down the volume. 

i'm enjoying this whole 'running outside' thing. yesterday was a bit chilly (as i run in the early evenings on tues/thurs and it's snowing right now, but i'll run anyway. want 12 this afternoon--working my way back to all miles on land. also want 16 outside on fri. wish me luck.

12 outside. lovely weather. 

again. no excuse to cut down on the miles like skiing.