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.

Blast it all! I was gonna run hills today to see how my inhaler works. Another red air day! I can't wait for summer. Will have to try hills on the treadmill

 I officially need to work on hills a bit more. this may be a consequence of spending so much time in the pool, but...at least i know where there can be improvement. yay (as my sister would say) 

all nice and easy. body feels great though i am a bit tired. definitely ready for dinner. (oh, multiple workouts not one)

Did you hear heavenly choruses this morning?  

i wanted to run some hills today to better test my new inhaler. Did a half mile warm up around the indoor track then a half mile flat at around 6:30 (on the treadmill)to get up to speed, then I slowed down to do the "variety" option but after a half mile it hadn't given any variety so i decided to take control of my workout and started the machine over on manual and ran hills.  Most of the hills were .25 miles some were .5. I "rested" at the same speed (6;58).  After a couple of miles of this I felt that I wasn't working hard enough and I was breathing fine, so I increased the speed gradually to around 6:45 or 6:40.  This was a bit harder, but still, I could breath. So, I tried harder hills at this speed and felt the workout a bit in my legs, but oh--I am a blessed woman because my lungs, my esophagus was relaxed. At mile 8 (6.5 of hills) I decided to finish out running harder but flat. So, I spent the next half mile at about 6:30 and my last mile increasing speed from 6:30 to 5:30-ish(?).  It felt great. I checked my heart rate a maybe 30 seconds after I finished and was at 175. It runs fast but it likes it. Cooled down a half mile around the track still hearing those angels sing.

Will run a few more in the pool this evening. 

did a few more in the pool. i prefer morning hours in the pool because i don't have to deal with people who are playing around and jumping off the diving boards (heaven forbid!). 

multiple workouts. was stretching at the fieldhouse (indoor track) and saw a friend run by so i ran with him for a few miles. that was nice. then when he left i went up to the treadmill for variety and a girl asked how long i ran usually (she saw that i'd been downstairs and then came up) and we had a little conversation for a while. that was nice too. i like people, running with people.

two runs. should have probably run hard on the treadmill this morning but i went to school w/ nothing but my bathing suit in my locker at the gym so i couldn't. then, i just felt like running easy. probably a good thing. knee is bugging again. need to figure out how to fix this. bugs in the pool too sometimes. such a bother, such a bother.

BUT I RAN OUTSIDE!!!!! YEAH!!! 

i seem to have a hard time getting the miles in when i ski.  legs were trashed today from skiing. but moreso from cutting a path while snowshoeing straight up a mtn. last night. ahhh, the burn.

8 mile run this AM. good ol' soggy so jo. and 8 this PM in the pool. accidentally ran hard at the end. oops.

eh, another day another few miles run

I totally biffed it while running today. stuck to canal roads and grass to save the ol' knees and didn't see a big ol' root or stem of something sticking out. but on the upshot, my run was mostly all quite soft.

ps- i went skiing in hip-deep powder again this morning. i love my life

ahhhh, 3 miles at 6:15 (warm up easy and warm up at 6:30 to gear up for it). felt good. hardly breathed at all. would've done more but i'm planning on a little 5-miler in st george so i held back the amount of hard miles today.

easy pm run. 

feel lame with all these easy miles but i hate a 5mile race tomorrow.

I liked this race. small, scenic, nice weather. nice guys even. i started out with this pack of a few guys and a mile or 1.5 into it or so was blocking wind for them. i said something about it and 'chivalry'--joking w/ them and one took the wind for me for a while. i thanked him (but was really going nuts because i hate running behind people). he was running a titch slower than i was, however, and another guy passed so i went with him. he surged after a while and got a short way ahead of me, but i caught him and beat them all.

incidentally, a fastrunningblog guy also won. but he had a jersey. i should have a jersey too. (hint  hint anyone?)

5 miles isn't enough (oh, and a bit warm up and then after i ran back to my sister and my dad).

so, i'm going running again. 

i ran more than i thought i would today. i got up at about 5 and headed to the gym. see, it's my sister's 21st birthday and all she wanted was to ski all day. we leave the house at 7:30 (though Alta doesn't open til 9:15...dad likes to eat breakfast up there and Kt and i wanted to demo skis). so, that meant i had to run early. i ran about 8 on the treadmill and was home with plenty of time to spare.

sadly the snow was...awkward. so, we stayed til 1 and came home with plenty of time for another jaunt outside before dinner at the Bombay House (i am excessively grateful that my sister and i have similar tastes. it's like my birthday too). 

i love days like this. i meant to run shorter--both in total distance and distance of hard miles. but less than a half mile into it i found that contrary to my plan i was already running hard, so i just followed my stride and kept going. i altered my course to take advantage of the canal roads (still in so jo and will be tomorrow as it's snowing pretty bad up north, so i hear. my car, which i affectionately call Tainted Love, does well in the snow, but alas, she has only the drive of two wheels. thus i sit by my parents' fireplace to grade papers and write this).

Well, despite the fact that the bit of snow we received this morning has already melted, today's canal roads weren't nearly as mucky as yesterday's.  there was muck, but not much. Anywho, the run went well though i wish i would have pushed it a little harder. i'm in better shape than i thought. great discover. Yay (as my little sister spells it). i've also discovered that i might want to increase my dosage of inhaler. Boo. (as everyone spells it).

 So there you have it. I'm ready to rock and roll. 

first time i've run 16 all at once in quite a while. nice and slow and mostly on grass (that needs a good cutting) or soft canal road that was often quite soggy and even goopy in a few stretches. but, 'twas a lovely run. 

two workouts. should have run hard today but my hammies were tight and sore and i thought i'd do a long run w/ hard miles tomorrow.

good hard miles in the middle of a nice long run. i love that many of the roads on the west side of the valley have a foot or so of dirt next to them. only way to run long in logan. hammies still pretty tight

slept in this morning and had to run all my miles after 4:30 when i got back from a good friend's wedding. was gonna do 16 but it was getting dark and i didn't feel good about crossing a busy busy road so i shaved a mile off the middle. ran harder than i meant for a while. hammies still tight.

good hard run. didn't really want to do all 12 hard but i managed to do it without much difficulty.

wow, did i run slow today. still sore from yesterday's 12 hard. glad i did it yesterday. good to work my body like that every now and again. good to not push it the next day too, eh?

i was out on the west side of the valley today. 34th west? i don't remember. anyway, mapmyrun.com had shown a road at 18th north that i wanted to use to return to the school so i didn't have to go down to the valleyview highway (2nd north, which is actually 5th north where the two meet, but does cut down three blocks to 2nd). anyway, i've run the road before and didn't remember anything being there, but it has a few dirt roads between fields listed elsewhere in the valley so i figured it was probably one of these.  

anyway, my legs are still recovering from monday's dozen hard miles but i did a good 5 miler hard and was in a bit of "recovery" miles before a smaller set of hard miles (3). i neared the spot where 18th north should be. there was a water plant or something there, but i was still a bit south and i could see a turn off or perhaps road up ahead so i kept going. i must stop to say something about premonition.  i really need a more positive premonition because as they say in that cheesy (but horribly true) book/movie the secret you get what you ask for. anyway, in return for my negative premonition asking for no road to be there, there was one--even paved. and i could see it bend right where mapyrun.com said it would. but ahhhh, my negativity. it was locked up. i often ignore these things. i frequently climb a fence in south jordan whose gate reads 'beware of bulls'--there are never any there. but, this...this was close to that water plant and i was afraid of being hauled off to questioning by some blind-sighted government authority figure hopped up on a power trip and lording his authority over me, a nearly defenseless (i had pepper spray) girl running on a deserted road.

so...i kept running and lost the umph for my 3 more miles hard. i don't know why the addition of one single mile killed me. 17 miles is significantly harder than 16 but i don't know why. it's' just a mile, right? kills me. kills me. monday i added and easy mile--an easy one and had a time of it finishing (ok, not really, but it did feel a lot harder than 16 would have).

ok, it's time for bed. you get the picture. i ran longer than i wanted. 

multiple workouts. by the time my afternoon workout came (after finishing my last class), it was chilly and a bit snowy. i was TIRED. my legs have just not recovered well this week, though i keep trying to push it on days that are supposed to be hard because i'd like to build endurance and speed. still, i just couldn't do it. i thought i'd give some miles in favor of rest.

(wrote this friday before running. last night i went climbing and thought it's be awful since my legs were so tired. maybe it was giving up those few extra miles but i climbed quite well. makes up for a poor running day!) 

I think i let down a nice lady who said my determination to run was something to the effect of inspirational. today was supposed to be a hard day and as you can see i accomplished only 1 hard mile. i was going to do 6 x 1 mile hard. i would say six mile repeats but then it sounds like i'm running intervals that are six miles a piece and i tell you what, i may daily run  more miles than most americans do in a week, but i don't run that much.

anyway, about half way or two-thirds into my first repeat i felt the sluggish-ness hit that i'm not supposed to get until about repeat 4. sooo, i wussed out and decided that since i'm "trying to build speed and endurance this week" i'd be better suited to do so if i could really push hard. likely excuse, i know. i just tried to reason through my laziness, but it makes me feel better. at any rate, i sought out some soft-ish ground and ran easy miles. hard miles tomorrow, which may mean that i could miss running with the guys up here. would have been the first time in months. they already think i'm a flake. this won't help 

i do rather enjoy running in smithfield canyon. haven't done that in a while.

good thing i decided to be a wuss today. my legs were tired. four miles hard was barely manageable. asthma too, bleh. i just upped the meds i'm on so i hope they begin to really control it better. but, i ran at about 7 this morning, which i haven't done for quite a while because i loath running in the bitter cold air. but it was WARM!!! ah, i know it's supposed to snow again, but i loved it. so fabulous.

great workout this morning. i treadmilled it. yeah, i know, with as warm as it is, i was in a gym? let me explain a moment. i lost my watch again. last time it took me maybe four years to buy another. so you can easily imagine that i've given up the search and purchased another. so, my goal today was speed and i needed a way of checking it accurately...hence the treadmill.

i wanted 9 miles at roughly 6:15 pace. after a short warmup on the track i "warmed up" at 6:27, 6:22 and 6:18 for roughly half mile or 3/4 mile each and then settled into 6:15 for quite a while. it felt easy enough and i kept wanting to hit that faster button but held off. after a while though i upped the pace to 6:12 and then maybe 1.5miles or 2 miles later 6:07. half mile i began to increase speed every .25 miles and then the last .5 miles i hit the faster button every .1 and then .05 (last  .25) just to work the fast twitch muscles when i'm good and "tired". ended at 5:30.

was a good workout and though i do get addicted to hitting the faster button, i verified my goal that 6:15 is "easy". 

IT'S GORGEOUS OUTSIDE. GET OUT AND RUN. I KNOW I WILL AFTER MY CLASSES. 

afternoon run. nice running weather 

ah, the wrestling match of seasons in utah...how delightful. heat, snow, heat, snow.

been coaching the mtn crest distance (girls. and just assistant coaching). ran with the slower girls today for motivation. not exactly what it's like to run w/ a slower spouse but rather a child or niece maybe 

easy easy day.lovely running weather

after an easy warm up (and two days of easy running) my legs were still beaten tired by my run on tuesday (good run, eh?) anywho, just a half mile into it and i thought i'd not be able to do my intended workout, which i didn't do. 13m hard was what i wanted...even modified the route i often take to allow 2m warm up and cool down without having to wait at any traffic lights during my hard run. but, seriously, my legs were beat. so i thought i'd do some intervals and thought about where i'd like to run easy and kept pushing to that point, but at that point i didn't feel like stopping so i ditched the small bit of water and gel pack that i'd been carrying in my...um, pocket. and kept going. thought i'd do two sets of 4m hard and calculated where 4m was. interestingly, though, every time i really wanted to stop or slow down, there was downhill, so i kept on and decided for 8m. then i thought i might as well do 8.5 and get at least half my miles in hard. but my legs were super tired by the point of that decision (7 m and just after a bit--i mean a bit) of uphill. but the road that i was looking for--to modify my route wasn't there. i really hate it when mapmyrun.com shows a road that i can't find. in all actuality it was probably there but in my lack of intellectual ability and non-sensical-ness, i didn't see anything but an old barn. anywho, i was sure i was done w/ my 8 miles because i know how far i can run in a song and my songs said i was done, but the address said i wasn't so i kept going and then i was eventually close enough to the T in the road that i just went there and ended up with 8.5m. (i checked later). 

but just as i was finishing, oh the last 150 meters or so, three dogs (two large and a scotty dog) chased me. i bellowed and they backed off. after catching my breath when i got to the end of the road i hunted down their owners (knocked on a wrong door) and it turns out they belonged to someone who i'd already spoken to about training their dogs to not chase people. those guys really have lots of dogs. i didn't recognize these ones. anywho, i feel bad about it but told the teen to pass on a message to his (then absent) parents to keep their dogs trained--however nice they are--as passers by don't deserve a heart attack from being chased by three dogs while on a public road.

does that seem an unreasonable request? 

that was way too long. glad it was sunny out.

it hasn't stopped snowing all day. my eyelashes didn't have snowflakes on them but balls of ice caked, stringing across them. my eyebrows were those of a withering old man, white and larger than my dry eyebrows. one thing is fortunate, however, my hands were lovely and warm. somebody (allie?) had mentioned cold hands last weekend and loads of people have given advice on which gloves or mittens are the best. perhaps i live in a warm place compared to allie (don't remember where she was from. sorry), but my hands prefer not to have gloves on them.

i am a blessed girl. i had goo with me and it really helped. i was pooped again (this is getting to be a pattern that i don't like) and it really helped. just at the right moment--thank heaven--it was like cruise control, painful cruise control, but it wasn't as hard to run that pace after it kicked in. but...good run.

the dirt on the sides of the road is coming out again. (this is where i would sigh and smile if i was video-blogging not typing). sigh, smile.

i missed salt lake. so warm here. wonderful

well, that's half a day's workout. will run more later and more tomorrow but i'm off to st george and i don't think we have wireless at the condo yet so i doubt i'll post again 'til tomorrow night. i expect that i'll run abou 100.

we're going down for a race. i'll run my sister's pace as i've got the moab half marathon next weekend and i don't want to have a hard time recovering from pushing hard this weekend (mostly i'm supersticious about a 10k and then half marathon two wks in a row). and i can't run a race not at full pace unless i'm purposely running with someone else and refuse to cross the finish line etc etc.

will also stop by the st george runnng center probably. wahoo!

ran w. my sister later. super dehydrated. not good 

st george is beautiful. snow canyon--gorgeous. i love running in the desert in the mornings

nice run. i'm cutting down the mileage for a "mini taper" this week.

nice little run this morning and finished off w/ a one mile "hard" run (6:15) to verify that it's not a "hard" pace but something i can  hold for a while. will run more this pm. i'm breaking up my runs this wk as part of my taper. easier on the legs.

i am in love with this nice weather 

7 this morning in so  jo (yay canal roads) 

4 this afternoon in provo canyon. beautiful day 

i had to write on this because the blank thing kept bugging me

snow. bleh!

easy again. hoping to do some speedwork tomorrow

ran hard today for the first time this week. felt really good. a confession though, i ran inside. i just didn't feel like the weather was conducive to running hard the way i wanted. so, 2 mile warm up on the indoor track and then i headed upstairs to the treadmill. yay! i got my favorite one. yes, i have a fav. treadmill at the fieldhouse. i did 6x1mile hard w/ an easy mile between each. pace: 6:00, 6:00, 5:56, 5:52, 5:49, 5:42. i recovery runs (about 8:49-ssssssuuuper slow) felt soooooooo good. made me ready for more fast stuff each time.

then, 2 mile cool down on the track. one of my favorite students ever ran those last two with me. i really appreciated that. saved me mentally. i was getting bored of the same walls by then.

oh and for all those who think i'm going to suddenly chat about last week's race, too bad. it's not that i'm mad or even upset or anything.  i'm just past it. i ran poorly and what i need to do now is move on and be positive, train hard, etc etc.

ran outside this morning. was chilly but very nice. i quite enjoyed it

another easy day. 8 miles toward and up (and back) smithfield canyon. then, ran 3 w/ a few girls at mtn crest's track practice and then a few more later.  high school girls are funny. i love em

ah...the loveliness of running hard without meaning to. i'd have done it longer but had to head off to the track meet. my girls ran pretty well.

was going to put it off and not run this morning before i left for school but my legs felt the necessity of 'running now' so i assuaged them. lovely, chilly but nice.

more this pm. after mtn crest track practice. hollow road. 

bit of snow. bit of wind. bit of running

lovely easy run this morning. i was freezing (becoming a wimp as we've had some warm days this month) and finally warmed up as i was...oh maybe two miles from home. figures.

 anywho, ran 5 hard on the treadmill this pm at 6 min pace. last week i did six mile repeats at or below 6 so i thought this week's wouldn't be that bad. it was a bit tougher than i thought but not completely draining. i could have run farther. will add more to that pace next week or maybe on friday. 

as a side note this was the phone call i got today

Lisa: hello

Beth (older sister): hi, Addie wants to tell you something. (turning head away from phone, Addie, come tell lisa)

Addie (4 yr old niece): laughing/giggling uncontrollably in the background. no you tell her. laughs more. (after a moment of banter between mother and daughter my sister continued to me)..

Beth: addies says 'all the race tracks are broken'

lisa (confused): oh, i'm so sad

Addie (in the background and giggling) April Fools!

Beth: april fools. she made that up herself.

I love my niece.  she later told me her parents had never got married, told my mother (a bookworm) that barnes and noble was closing and told her mother (beth) that the toilet over flowed. she also put syran wrap on the toilet (but missed the point of it because she attached it there with postage stamps). what a hoot. 

i'm having a hard time concentrating or even wanting to grade my papers. bit tired today, but that's expected. may go to sleep early.

i know, i know, another easy day by lisa. slacker slacker me.

but, on the upside, i got a job! weber high. looks like i may be moving again (though probably bountiful or layton not ogden or pleasant view--no offense. i need a good social circle of single people my own age) 

no. not at once. i got up and did 3, thinking i might not get enough time between conference and grading papers today.  i just haven't graded as much as i maybe should have.

 7 miles at 6 min pace. true, it was on the treadmill so i couldn't slow down, but...i wasn't dead tired afterward.

what i thought was funny is that the 10k in this was faster than my college 10k pr. college wasn't a fast time for me (obviously). i also had enough umph to pick it up a little in the last half mile. twas lovely.

ran up smithfield canyon after the track meet (go mtn crest!)...ahhhh, so lovely 

today was one of those day i had to squeeze running around the rest of life. i don't like that. i like running to be central. oh well. got my easy miles in. actually, ran harder than i otherwise would have because i was worried about time.

every day my little sis and i exchange "grati-texts"--we text three things we're grateful for. today, i am grateful i ran in the morning. sooooo so much warmer than the afternoon. this afternoon i had to pity the kids at the track meet racing in glorified nothing-ness covering their young bodies. this morning i was warm and hampered only by the wind, which actually felt somewhat nice (could have been softer, that's why only somewhat nice) because it cooled me off. (i have a habit of running in two long sleeved shirts. haven't kicked the habit this yr yet).

anywho, i did a pseudo fartlek thing. 9 blocks hard, 13 blocks, 13 blocks, 9 blocks all w/ easy running in between. strange that's how the roads on the west side broke it up. not 8 and 12 blocks but 9 and 13. oh well, got in an extra .5 miles that way. i was still a bit tired from monday's workout and because i should have run slower yesterday. so i didn't run all out but i did push it. it wasn't easy and i was tired by the end of each and grateful that i didn't do the full 5.5 hard all at once.

one more thing. yeah, that notion of 17 being harder than 16. like more than a mile harder (because for some reason that one mile matters a lot)....it's still true for me. 

thought of just exercising in the gym this morning but it was so nice outside. cool, drizzly, with just a bit of wind...pulled a sweatshirt on and my running tights and thoroughly enjoyed an easy morning run.

afternoon was lovely too but i was tired. 

came down to so jo for the weekend. no one's home but me for a while. i'll probably fall asleep in front of the fire (one of my favorite things about my parents' house) and revel in the fact that no one will look at me like i'm weird for it (you all may think i'm weird, but i can't see you so i don't care so much. hee hee).

anywho. enjoyed the canal roads.

i know i know, more easy miles by lisa. but tom told me to back off the hard stuff, that i was running too many hard miles.  good excuse, hey. anywho, i'd like to do a nice hard run monday so i thought i'd just long a whole slew of miles and then rest up on sunday like i always do. this was two runs, not one. again, on canal roads, which although they feel great on my body are a bit boring after i've run them over and over and over again in just a few days. there are a few different sets of canal roads new my parents' but 38 miles of them in two days is ...plenty.

so i'm a wuss today. you should expect it by now. 6 miles hard instead of 10. but, it was more than the 0 i felt like doing and more that the 5-ish i'd settled on. decided to run to the next road that intersects the canal road instead of the first of two cattle gates i have to climb on that particular canal rd.

anywho, the wind was blowing something fierce today and i suppose 22 was a few too many miles on saturday. but i'll run hard again in a few days. have no fear, i'm not always a pansy. just when i have spaghetti legs.

rain rain rainy day.

sported a gigungus (i love made up words) sweatshirt to keep from feeling like a drowning rat. nice easy miles. but i'm getting a knot in my shin. must have my roommate rub it out for me. 

yesterday i managed to avoid looking and feeling like a drowning rat by donning a sweatshirt.

today even my inside shirt (not the sweatshirt) was soaked through and clinging to my skin. i was hardly more wet during this evening's scuba lesson. i cut my run in half this morning due to the rain and that i could ever so slightly feel where my roommate rubbed some knots out of my shins last night (bless her. she enjoyed the pain it caused me. though winced a few times with me. ahhh, some compassion). anywho, it was wet this morning but at least it was prior to the snow. true, i would have been less wet but i'm just annoyed as all get-up that it's snowing in the valley. can't it stay in the mtns? i don't mind skiing in the stuff, it's running in it that i' sick of.

 anywho, ran inside for my second run. i could tell myself it was to ensure a good workout despite the weather or that in case my shin started acting weird i could stop whenever i needed, but really, i was just too tired (menatlly) to deal with the snow.  good run. 6.5 at 6 min pace. meant to run 6.25 but i didn't check the time until i'd already run 6.5.  i thought i had at least a mile left and actually checked it earlier that i was planning because it was driving me crazy and i was starting to get tired and worried that it would take more effort than i'd been planning on just to finish but i was done. shoot, though, i was gonna push the last bit harder. but i stopped. wussy me again.

 i have this former student who i sometimes see in the gym. one of my fav. students ever. love the kid. anywho, a year or more back we decided we needed to race 3 miles...loser had to do something awful and embarrassing. i forget all the details but i didn't want to lose. there is a chance of it, he's a decent runner for a guy who doesn't run much. he's got good form. anywho, (wonder how may times i've written that one today), i saw him at the gym and chatted a moment before hitting the treadmill. he came up to me  about half way through or so and peaked under the magazine covering my time/distance to check my pace. told him to run a 10k at that pace. he laughed at me and said 5k. i'm impressed. he not only did it but sped up to 5:13 and 5 flat for the last bit. good ol' david. i still finished first. 

tired today. strguggled to have the umph to finish

i was finishing my run today and my older sis was pulling out of the neighborhood. she came back and rolled down the window and asked if i'd been running "that whole time"..."yes"..."three hours" (to which i thought, that didn't take three hours did it, then i realized she didnt know when i left.) "i didn't go 'til you went outside" "still, two hours?" "i run two hours every day." " you do?" "yup"...she drove off

I came in, my dad asked the same thing "you been running the whole time?" "yes" "really?" "i always do. you know that."

i think my family is out of their minds. i've been running this much for months and they just now notice?

started my hard run 2 miles sooner than i planned. it really helped. not the spontineity of it but just the placement in the run. much better run i think.

nice smooth running. good day. oh wait. i lied. i tripped for the second time in two or three weeks (apparently i don't pick my feet up much). anywho, a few scrapes on my hand but it was on the concrete this time and my left knee is smarting from it. kinda bugged on the afternoon run (fell in the morning)

was going to run in the pool if my knee still bugged (a bit sore going to bed last night) but it was fine so i ran. bugged the last few miles. should have run harder.

ahhhh. um. easy run. again. lovely weather.

lovely weather. two runs. i always forget how long hollow road it.  even when i've just run it one way...forget how long it will be on the way back

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so the reason i didn't post for a hwile was that my knees were bugging. see, i was runing without my contacts the other morning and tripped and thudded on the concrete (was running on the grass but crossed the rd and was heading up the sidewalk to the grass just beyond...yeah. landed smack on my knees i think. my hands got bruised and cut too but my poor knees.)  anywho, my left knee's been unhappy since. so i've cut the miles a smidge and broken my runs up. today's has been the longest (14 all at once)...yesterday's was the 2nd longest. didn't bug until the last couple, which  means ran more than 10 without it being ornery (is that how ya spell it? dunno). anywho, bought new shoes yesterday so i'm sure that helps. mr ossine feels bad for me, i think and didn't charge the taxes...an extra few boxes off.  i keep telling him he should sponsor me but he just kinda laughs at me and gives me free socks or a few bucks off. 

went on a 4.5 mile walk this evening w/ my roommate's dog. good pace. the dog did well. she's kinda old. my roommate was shocked when i told her.  sage had already gone running w/ her for 45 min and was dead then.  that explains why she never pulled on the leash. but she stayed up w/ me pretty well. 

lots o miles. two runs. knees felt ok. better.

8.5 easy in the morning.

went to mtn. crest high early so i could run on the track before their practice. just 3 by 1 mile hard. first mile 5:59. second mile 5:49. (ran a bit fast on the first lap, held aobut  6 min pace for next two laps and then finished up strongish). third lap 5:45. took off strong, kept the pace. sped up significantly on the third lap and had the mother of all asthma attacks. air sounded like a train going in and a scream going out. had to slow down w/ 500 to go or so. finished up strong though. lovely day on the track. i just wanted to confirm that i could run those paces off the treadmill.  yea. i did.

bleh! track meet in the rain. i ran between my distance runners' events. sopping wet when i finished.

second run that evening after.  nice weather. 

decent pace. nice and comfy but not too easy. did back off a bit up smithfield canyon but picked it back up when i turned around. part way down two horses walked off someone's property...loose. i stopped to try to find someone. but a dog was wandering around the property and i didn't want to explore too much.  looked like somone should be there.  nice truck sitting around. didn't find anyone so i left. i dislike dogs i don't know.

you know those days that a few miles into the run you just want to cut the run in half and finish it up later in the day....congratulate me, i repressed the urge

perfect weather for a jaunt outside.  i was actually in town and wish i had emailed the guys back about running with them. ah well. ran some little canal road, the bonneville shoreline trail, river trail and on people's lawn back to my place.

i'm trying to remember monday's run (it's currently wednesday)....hmmmm two runs. a twelve and a four, which was meant for after track practice but as our state athletes (distance) were sick, i ran during practice.

hard run today. i think i'm low on protein and water.  made me a bit light-headed. stopped to shed a layer but that didn't help. (it was morning. still cool)...anyway, don't know how impressed with my new asthma med i am (ah, that reminds me. i need to take it again. two puffs, twice a day. i feel like an addict).

my legs were tired, sore, burning all day, right until the evening until most fabulously, they felt fine for a lovely game of ultimate frisbee. well, it would have been lovely had i not just eaten and subsequently felt my dinner the entire two-plus hours we played. yech! 

woke a bit early (5:50 instead of 6:30) to get a bit in before this assembly at good ol' bingham high.  all the past state champ teams were invited back to honor the school (though mostly the baseball program, which was undoubtedly good w/  19 state titles, but most of them occurred in the '30s and '40s and they've never won a national title or broken a national record like another team i know of). anyway, the morning run was lovely and cool though i am starting to get sick of those canal roads.

after the assembly i drove south (bluffdale? or the edge of riverton) and ditched my car for a while.  so very nice to run on diff canal roads. in fact, i ran a little long (i underestimate my miles) and was a few minutes late getting back to mtn crest for track, though that's also due to the fact that i got sleepy and had to pull over for a few minutes...safety first. 

rest of the mileage for the week. was at state track for the most part...and i ran on a canal rd by my parents place (well, in bluffdale not south jordan). quite lovely to get some diff. scenery in but a dog came out of a backyard and kind of chased me. i threw rocks.  i have irratic aim when i'm scared, but it worked.  i still don't like dogs much.

no i did not run 57 miles today. that's the mileage for the week. pathetic, i know but i was on vacation and that's what i could handle w/ the alloted time and not get up at 5. mostly, 9 was all i could take mentally anyway because there wasn't a a big area to run. seemed like every direction i went i ran into another freeway entrance in a couple of miles, and although i was running on the grass and not the road, i didn't want to run on or even next to the freeway. call me crazy.

lovely run in the florida keys. got the the beach ohhh, sat. afternoon so this was my first run in siesta key. ran mostly on the grass next to the road but went to a beach called turtle beach...great view. and then i finised my last couple of miles on the beach by our hotel (cute little thing). great sand (not for running...i stayed on the still wettish hard-packed stuff).  felt like powdered sugar, great for walking around bearfoot.

yes, i know i haven't run hard for about two weeks but i wanted one more day's recovery from vacation. split it into two runs (12, 5). later i rode my dad's bike 10 miles (mtn. bike on the road) because ultimate frisbee was cancelled. would have been a sin to sit inside.

mile repeats today. i wanted 6 at 6 min pace. usually this is no big deal. i can pop out mile after mile at 6 min pace. whew. i don't know what the deal is. maybe i lost a lot at sea level and am still acclimating. i wasn't down there all that long but if i'm not mistaken, you start losing elevation acclimation after a few days...or it could be my asthma med. still taking the same one but in a diff. way than my dr said (i think more goes in this way). wasn't as bad as last time but  i wasn't running that fast. first one was right a 6 min pace, second at 5:56, third--well, i kept trying to speed up but kept slowing down. 6:05. i then felt as though i could collapse so i stepped it down to 800m instead, faster, i know but shorter. 3:05. it crushed me because i was so tired and ran a 3:05.  then 3:00. i was done after that. i'd concented to not do six of 'em after t he 6;05 and do two 800s instead, hoping to pick things up a bit with the shorter distance. no go, but i finished them and waddled home.  i'll go out for a few miles  this afternoon.

not much to say today split my mileage again today. just didn't feel like 16 at once but the runs weren't that far apart. visited my grandma for her birthday in the interim.

went on a bike ride again. not only is it allergy season (bye bye contacts), it's bug season. i'm covered. they magically find there way into my ears, behind my glasses and down my bra. i've always been puzzled by this

running in moab! yay!

new canal roads. yay!

good run. i was tired when i finised the hard part and had about 8 left. phew. anywho, i was about half way out on my run and i see this dog ahead (oh no, not another dog story by lisa. actaully second dog story of the day. a couple other dogs barked at me just a half mile or so before but didn't come off their property. still weary of them though). so i saw a dog wandering around way ahead of me so i stooped to pick up some rocks in case i need them. (note to self: buy more pepper spray). but i got past where the dog had been and i didn't see it anywhere so i chucked the rocks. a while later i hear the dog just behind me and it runs past me. then a truck came by and it starts chasing the truck and meanders away.  all over the place. it was having a lovely ol' time...but it came back. it always came back. chase something, explore a yard, run through a field, run up to someone else, stop traffic...it always came back. i knew, after a couple of miles, that i wouldn't be able to get rid of it. i was too tired to run hard and hope it couldn't keep a fast pace for miles on end, and when it had been about 4 miles, i was hoping it would stay with me so i could call its owners when i got back. it's not a very bright dog, i think. stopped traffic on main street when i was waiting to cross. i had my back turned away from traffic and then heard a truck slow down. light was still red. and the dog was in the middle of the lane. stupid thing. i had to keep calling it back to stop it from chasing trucks. 

 it's currently in my backyard. i hope its owners come soon. oh well, at least it's friendly (and has had its shots) 

grr asthma

yeah. not much to say. i'm sufficiently tired at the moment.

lake powell

lake powell.  ran down my friend. ha ha

sopping wet this afternoon. grateful for another pair of shoes to run in tomorrow. i loved it though. even the bit of hail. good run.

I lost my sunglasses yesterday. Tom thinks we mainlanders are weird for wearing them all the time but I told my sister yesterday that I almost feel blind without them...they are practically an appendage.  Luckily I do have a back-up "girlie" pair that are just a bit tight on my head.  They look fine but i've never worn them much and never to run but they weren't bad today.  may be running in them for a while.  can't wait to show up to the race on sat and have all the guys laugh at my styling shades that are ever-so-practical for running. but hey, they keep the sunshine out o the eyes so that's what matters.

ahhhhh rain. my clothes looked like i'd been through the washing machine by the time i finished running today. clean, true. but wet.

SOOOOOOOOOOO ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!!! so annoying indeed that i used exclamation points. multiple exclamation points. i'm an english nerd and we don't do that, but i hate this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i want to run OUTSIDE.  Two steps. left foot, right foot. that's all it took. 

i'd been hoping for a little jog. nothing fast. nothing much. 

if you need me later, i'll be in the pool. 

pool and elliptical. grrrr. they restricted the large square dive tank to a "running lane" and now i have to turn twice as much. 

still....no running on land.

estimated mileage (cross training) for the rest of the week.

i tried running today. on land, not water (i know i can do that...plenty of that last week).

i'll be in the pool in a while. 

estimated mileage (cross training) for the week. 

rough mileage (cross training) for the week.

i ran two miles today! and it didn't hurt! didn't feel a thing.

been doing at minimum 2.5 hours of cardio a day. hard days in the pool. easy on my bike. 

i could feel it just a bit at the end and stretched it. feels good now. will run again tomorrow

rough mileage (cross training and running) for the week

90

really, it was the equiv. of that on the bike