Getting back to it

hiking and biking while up camping at Washington Lake.

Just a short little run today to warm up for tomorrow's 14 miler.  This is the long run we were supposed to do last week but put off because I was camping.  My fellow runners are so nice to accomodate my crazy summer.  I drove a route this morning after our run mapping out where to go tomorrow.  Hopefully it will be a good one.

today went much better than when Jenny and I did our 13 miler - just the 2 of us.  Today it was us two and leslie and Desiree were with us.

It was a good loop with some gentle up and down with one big uphill and one major downhill but not too steep.  I learned a lot from the 13 miler - when I start to feel the nausea coming on, stop and walk and it's okay.  This run was a good one for me mentally.  I felt a lot better and kept the pace a little slower so I could at least finish running this time.

Here's the stats:

14.25 miles in 2:56/ 12:44 avg pace - I felt like we made pretty good time considering we did a little more walking and had two bathroom/water stops.

My only problem now is I can barely walk.  I've had ice on my knees for almost an hour.  Now I'm going to go shower and crash.

Didn't get up early today - slept in until after 8:00!!  I was beat all day.  did take the kids swimming for most of the afternoon.

Went out running with Jenny this morning.  We took it very easy and slow.  Still recovering from the long run on tues and gearing up for another one on Sat.

Jenny and I just went for a power walk this morning.  It takes so much longer to cover the distance when you're walking.  It does feel good to stretch the muscles, though.  

We're trying to gear up for a 10 miler tomorrow.  We're both feeling beat still from the long run on tues. 

What a great run today.  I've decided 10 miles is my favorite distance for a long run.  I felt great today and even had some fast paces miles in there.  Unfortunately I forgot to plug in my garmin yesterday and it died 4.5 miles into the run.  I do have the stats from leslie's garmin - we did the run in 2:15 with an avg pace of 13:32.  We took it real easy and I think that's the secret for me.  I was kind of dreading the run today and didn't know if I could do it so soon after the 14 miler on Tues.  I was pleasantly surprised with how I did and how I felt.  I finished pretty strong and felt great and not wasted.  Yeah!!

Did a great run with Jenny.  Felt good.  did a 20/1 interval.

Arrived in Sitka Alaska in the afternoon.  We went on a walk through Sitka National Park.  It was an amazing  rain forest.The trails were groomed through there and all I could think was what a great place to run.  There is a river running through the forest where you could see tons of salmon swimming upstream to lay their eggs.

Went on a whale watching tour in the morning.  Great activity.  We saw a few whales, otters, seals, lots of bald eagles.

Went for a walk around town in the afternoon.  It's beautiful here even though it has rained most of the time and it's totally overcast.

Went out for a 3 mile run this morning.  It was gorgeous.

our activity today was going on a kayak trip.  We were gone for 4 hours and the guide figured we went about 8 miles - that was paddling most of that time.  I shared a kayak with one of the other wives on the trip.  It was raining and overcast in the morning and we had some pretty big waves to paddle through.  Then the clouds finally started to break up and we actually had some sunshine and saw blue skies.  Hopefully I can move my arms tomorrow.

I'm afraid to step on the scale when we go home.  WE have eaten so well while we've been here.

What a great run today.  It's beautiful up here today - sunny and warm.  It's great to get out and exercise because I want to and just because I feel like I should.

Went with Jenny.  48 min / 13.11 avg pace

It's really hard to get back into the routine after being on vacation. It was a tough run and slow going.

Today seemed even harder to get going than yesterday.  Was up way too late and not recovered from the traveling yet.

Went with Jenny and started out with a 10 minute walk just to wake up but then the running felt good and we did a good route.

58 min / 13.11 avg pace

I went with Leslie to do a trail run up Millcreek Canyon.  It was great!!  It was beautiful and pretty flat for the most part.  I felt much better today and ran most of the time without stopping.  The scenery was beautiful and it was a great change of pace.

1:09 /  13.49 avg pace

Met with desiree and Jenny this morning in the Willowcreek area.  It was fun to run a different route.  It was pretty chilly to start out.  I'm sad to start having to wear a jacket to start out the morning.  We're heading for a 16 miler tomorrow morning - yikes!!!

WE DID IT!!!!

We did the 16 miler this morning and for me it went great!!  I went with Desiree and Jenny.  when we started out it was dark and cold.  Had a long sleeve shirt but just for the first mile and then took it off to my sleeveless running shirt.

We did the  Wasatch Route and then added on the Porter Rockwell trail and The Draper Canal Trail and then ended up running on the Bangerter Parkway and part way out the frontage road and then back to the Harmon's that is right there by the freeway. 

I felt really good and could have kept going and probably should have but we were having my dad pick us up and had already told him where to meet us.

Details are:  3:21 time / 12:27 avg pace

This time we did a 5 min run/ 1 min walk interval and I think that was the key for me feeling so much better and like I could keep going.  I think that is going to be my plan for the marathon.

Had to go a little earlier than usual today since it was the first day of school!

Jenny and I went and followed the schedule and just did a 30 minute run with walking warm up and cool down.  felt good and not the typical really tough Monday.

Tomorrow we need to go even earlier and in the dark. I'm really going to miss the wonderful summer morning runs.

Went running early this morning with Desiree and Jenny.  We were surprised how warm it was - 80!

Did a kind of new route - didn't really like it.  too much on the busy roads and not enough shoulder to run on.  Don't think we'll do that again.

This morning we tried something different - intervals on the track at Brighton.  It was eye opening to see how out of shape I still am.  It really took it out of me to sprint.  After 2 miles on the track I did start to feel better and get into it.  It always takes me a couple of miles to warm up.  It was fun to see on my Garmin report that I ran mile 2 in 10:31 and mile 3 in 9:52.  after the marathon my next goal is to work on my speed and this is a good way to do that, I guess.

This morning we tried another new route - it was okay.  For Leslie's benefit I'll list it:

North on 2700 east from Jenny's, east on 7000 south up to Wasatch Blvd, south up the hill on wasatch (BIG, BIG hill that we walked), then west on Bengal and north again on 2700 east back to Jenny's.

It was really dark in spots and I felt like I was running blind.  Another problem was not enough shoulder on wasatch and too many cars.

We did have one fun thing - another runner joined us for just a little bit.  She's here on business from Nashville and we told her some routes she could take that would get her back to the Residence Inn in Old Mill area.

I loved running down Bengal and actually did a 10 minute mile there.

Jenny, Desiree and I just did walking this morning - taking a break and also stretching our muscles in prep for tomorrow's 18 miler!!  We're trying to decide on a route, any suggestions??

Three weeks  from today is the TOU!! I can't believe it.

18 was doable but our group kind of traded places today - I had a tough run and Desiree and Jenny both had a really good day.  That was good though so that they would decide to sign up for the marathon.  We met some nice people on our route today - almost everyone out there seemed to be doing 18 in prep for the fall marathons.

Mandy and Rachel ran with us for a little bit.  They are both doing marathons with fall - mandy is doing San Francisco and rachel is doing SGM for the first time.  Mandy told us she did SGM last year and ran a 5/1 interval and felt so good and had so much in reserve that she ran the whole last 8 minutes and sprinted at the finish. That was so encouraging to hear and gave us a lot of hope.

The best thing about the run today was that our good friend, Erica, did a SAG for us.  She used to run with us but had some previous injuries from a car accident (herniated disk) and then sprained her ankle so she hasn't been able to go.  So this morning she started out with us at 5:30 and did aid stations for us about every 1.5 miles for the first half of our run.  She had a little table out with water cups and then a little garbage can for our cups.  She'd made cute signs to encourage us and played inspiring music from her car.  It was a blast to have her out there with us.

I had a tough final 3 miles and really had to slow the pace down and then had to stop for a big bathroom break.  Des and Jenny kept going and ended up probably doing 19 miles.

We had another good friend, Julianne, come pick us up.  Thank goodness for all the support we get from friends.

Here's out stats:

18 miles / 3:36 / 12:02 avg pace - We felt like we improved a lot over the last long run - faster pace for a lot of the miles.  I think that might have something to do with how tough it was at the end for me.