Midwinter running, week of January 10-17

[Grog]

Lovely 5km run, without walking, this morning. I broke the mental threshold of a 30 min 5k so that makes me happy. It was 6 a.m. and still very dark of course. I saw two cyclists and only one car.

[Wahine]

OK, I apologize for not keeping up and I really have no idea what everyone has been up to, well except that I read about Grog signing up for a mary!!! Yay!!!!

I ran for the first time today since my Ironman in November... it was interesting to say the least. I need to get out there more.

Keep running ladies.

[colby]

I lied, I actually had another run today. I guess it was wishful thinking that yesterday was Thursday, not Wednesday. Today was hill repeats. Hiiilll reeeepppeeeeaattssss is how they actually felt. 8 of them, 60 seconds, rawr. The first 40 seconds, oh, okay... the last 20 seconds, OH THE AGONY. The first 6 repeats, oh, okay... the last 2 repeats, OH THE AGONY. I describe it to my husband as you do as many as you think you can do, and then you do two more. You go as far you think you can go, and then you go 25% more. It probably sounds mentally unstable.

Now I really don't have to run until Sunday, but I may skip it and go snowboarding instead - have to enjoy the winter months while they last.

[Aggie_Ama]

I had an awesome run at the kick-off party for my half marathon. Doing a women's race is really energizing. Everyone was excited, friendly and not all of us were super fast and fit. We did about 2.5 miles in the gross drizzle but I left feeling like I had a big shot of happiness! Didn't win door prizes but got two tech tees and samples of Body Glide.

[yellow]

Thought I'd drop in to say hi!

I'm running a little, tentatively training for a couple of things (end of March and end of May). I'm at decision time re: back surgery, and am thinking a lot about that at the moment. The recommendation is to fuse L5 and S1 and possibly also replace the disk between L4 and L5. I'm intermittently ready to have it and never going to have it, depending upon hormones, number of calories consumed the day before, angle of the sun, alignment of the planets...you get the idea.

I have a discogram (sounds like a singing telegram delivered by the Bee Gees) next week to help us understand the L4-L5 contribution to the overall pain level. The results of that should indicate whether replacement of that disk would really do anything. And then I need to make a decision about what I want to do overall. Scary stuff. I have a great complement of docs and other folks (my PT and all the medical assistants) at the University of Utah orthopaedic center. It's been a long haul.

Even if I choose not to have surgery, I'm thinking that both the March and May events are incredibly optimistic. But I've given myself permission to stop if it gets too bad. I loves me tylenol+diclofenac+tequila (and occasionally + neurontin) cocktails!

[Wahine]

(((((((Yellow)))))))

That's a lot to deal with. I'm thinking about you. Take care.

[Veronica]

Oh Yellow, tough stuff. Hang in there kiddo.

Veronica

[Blueberry]

Hang in there Yellow - very tough to deal with and decide, I'm sure.

PSA Time - I'm sure you were joking, but PLEASE, PLEASE don't mix tylenol with alcohol. Bad news.

[eclectic]

Intervals..on a treadmill (ha! just fixed a typo- orginally I had typed "internals..on a treadmill..nice visual!!)

6x 2min intervals at 6% grade. (2min rest in between) then
2x2min @5%
2x2min@6%
2x2min@7%
10 min Zone 2 (160)
CD

ouch!!

Good work! and OUCH is right. I think Internals on the treadmill would be an apt statement once I was done something like that

[eclectic]

9.4 miles yesterday morning in 1:39. Nice steady 10:30/mile, which seems to be the pace I always settle into on my longer runs. I wore my HR monitor, which I usually don't on long runs, but coach wants the data. Avg HR was 145. Which was cool to see because it confirms the Vo2 max testing I had done which calculated my AeT (aerobic threshold) at 143.

Susan - that is INCREDIBLE. I haven't been on for a long time and am thrilled to see how far people have come.

[OakLeaf]

((((((Yellow)))))) Hang in there and good luck whichever way you decide.

My dad gets out of the hospital today from his 2-level lumbar fusion. Results TBD...

One of my riding buddies had L4-5 fused a couple of years ago and is very glad he did. He said it was a solid year after the surgery, before he reached maximum recovery. But I don't know how long he'd been dealing with it and how much the nerve roots needed to recover from.

Take care.

[Urlea]

((((((Eclectic)))))) So happy to see you back & posting again!

Been slow to post my runs this week because starting up Tri training on top of the 100miler training & BJJ doesn't leave much energy at the end of the day for writing. Thankfully even though I feel tired & hungry often my body is still feeling strong.

My runs this week have played out as so...

Monday, it was 15 above & the VFFs were calling my name again. I answered. Snowplows/blowers were clearing sidewalks as I was running, at one point I had an industrial snowblower throwing snow over (at) me on the sidewalk & a snowplow 20ft behind me to clear the snow the SB was spraying. Talk about being between a rock & a hard spot, couldn't turn back & reroute truck was right there, couldn't cross to other side of the street, snowblower was right there. All I could do was pull the hood over my head & block the ice/snow spray with my arm and run faster than both. A remix of Beethoven came on the ipod in the last mile & I ran hard. 7:25 that mile, possibly my fastest mile to date. Awesome! Really great 6.2miles.

Wed, after one tri training brick the day before I wasn't feeling the most energetic setting out for the 8-9miles I hoped for. So I sent out a request for encouragement on Twitter & a few miles later received txts to my phone from other runners. Just the encouragement I needed! Pace picked up & I got 8.5 miles in.

Today, We have company over all weekend so my long run for the week got pushed up a day to accommodate. Yesterday I had a shortish bike/run/swim brick followed by BJJ class, I've never done this before. Golly gee Bat-man that's a lot of training for one day! Woke up this morning feeling surprisingly good, but knew my mileage needed to be less this long-run so I scaled it back to 14miles. 20-25 above was a nice change from last wknd's -15F but made the sidewalks in town really really icy. Takes a lot of energy to keep from falling. Some good sections though. (Video will be up on blog shortly).

Discovery- at these temps snowbanks make the ULTIMATE icebath.

Now I take Sat & Sunday off to rest up and start back at it again Monday. Let the fun begin!

Good job this week ladies, lots of runs logged. Keep it up!

[colby]

Hang in there, yellow. It's a tough decision, but I'm hopeful that the answer will present itself.

[Jolt]

Even if I choose not to have surgery, I'm thinking that both the March and May events are incredibly optimistic. But I've given myself permission to stop if it gets too bad. I loves me tylenol+diclofenac+tequila (and occasionally + neurontin) cocktails!

Be careful with those "cocktails". Mixing acetaminophen with alcohol is really not good for your liver!

Edit: Didn't see Blueberry's post until after posting this--looks like she beat me to it!

[kacie tri-ing]

10 miles with the last 3 at 8 min/mile. It was really tough!!! Happy running!