Last week of March runs

[kacie tri-ing]

Way to go with those biceps! Keep safe!

[roadie gal]

Urlea, thinking good thoughts for you. You may be missing your training, but you're certainly getting exercise!

I ran 30 minutes on the hill program on the treadmill and then went for a half hour swim. It was too nice to pass on the swim. It's supposed to be very windy here for the next 2 days.

[Crankin]

I got in a 2.2 mile run up and down my hill at 5:30 AM this morning. I forgot how nice it is to be out at this time of the morning. It was already 41 out, the birds were chirping, and the only thing I saw was a deer running across the road.
I got to wear all my geeky commuter accessories, even though not one other person I have seen walking or running in this town wears any reflective gear. It's a serious problem.
I didn't wear my Garmin, so I have no idea of my pace. It's the first time I ran the whole way up the hill, though.
Off to class. Rest tomorrow, last day of this class for another month.

[Urlea]

Hey Ladies,

Things are looking good here. I am missing my long run today, but am thinking I might try to talk DH into going for a walk with me. We are still camped out at his parent's place keeping an eye on the sandbag dikes here. So far so good!

Hope you are having great long runs this Saturday! I am excited to hear about them.

[eclectic]

Urlea- glad to hear things are finally looking up for all of you

Crankin' Nice out @ 5:30 am? I assume you were running in the dark (another ) But good for you on getting out there and getting it done!

For me it was another day on the Y track. The streets are somewhat better but I don't know if I will ever want to run on the street. Sidewalks are still bad.

I am still doing a modified program. It was supposed to be long intervals today.
I walked .75 mi @ a 14 min pace then did a 2:1 ratio run/walk for another .75.
For the intervals I did a 3:1 on the run leg I was doing about a 10:30 to 10:00pace! that is a definate improvement for me.
On the cool down laps I was able to comfortably run my 12 min mile pace.

Even w/ the walking I did I was able to do all 7 miles at less than a 12 min mile! I had to check the math about 4 times to make sure that is what I had done!

The run felt like agony at the start but I stopped after the warmup laps and stretched then the rest went better.

[yellow]

Well, I did my 25k race today. It was a gorgeous morning (after lots of snow this week and a prediction for more tomorrow) out on Antelope Island, which is an island in the Great Salt Lake. Here I am before the race:




And here's the start...the arrow is pointing at me and my skinny-looking arms (I don't think they are really that skinny...)




And here's the "pack" running through the big flat; we ran up into those li'l mountains in the background:




And here's a view of the mountains from the island.



I have no idea how I placed. I had some bad calf cramping (spaced on taking my normal once-an-hour endurolyte) so had a slow half hour towards the end but otherwise just put one foot in front of the other; I'm happy with how it all went. I think my time was 2:27 or thereabouts. This was 100% trail (some of it pretty sketchy) but it only (!) had about 2400' of climbing. Hubby missed my finish as he was off riding his bike, so no finish pictures.

OK, now to focus on the 50k in May. What the he11 I was thinking....

[Urlea]

Yellow- What a beautiful race!! I am so jealous you have terrain like that to run on. I'm sure it's challenging with the elevation, but you did wonderful. Congrats!

Electic- Glad things got easier towards the end of your run today. Sometimes you just have to get past that first hump and everything starts working as it should.

[salsabike]

Gorgeous pics, Yellow. Looks like you had a good day.

And Urlea, glad to hear your voice. Sounds like maybe-maybe it's crested. I so hope things ease up.

[kacie tri-ing]

What awesome pictures! I am jealous!

8 mile run last night....one more longer bike ride, and then I am all taper! AHHH!

So glad that you are safe in ND!

[Susan Otcenas]

This morning, I ran the Fort Vancouver 10K, so named because the route took us through the historic Fort site just east of downtown Vancouver, WA.

This is the 1st time they've run this event, and I'd say they need a little more practice. We were all milling around the finish area, saying to each other "where's the start??". As the race clock ticked down to less than 5 minutes to go, the gal who was leading some stretching exercises was still merrily chirping away on the loudspeaker... The clock got down to less than a minute and someone comes on the loudspeaker and says "OK everybody, we've got 15 seconds to get all of you onto the OTHER side of the finish line arch!". Um, Ok then! We all herd ourselves into the chute and eveyone bunches up for position. That was OK, though - it's a small event with just 165 finishers in the 10K distance.

The first 3 miles were an out and back along the waterfront. At the turn around, I got a chance to see how many people were still behind me, and it didn't seem like very many! I tried not to let that de-motivate me. I was glad I checked the course map ahead of time, because the organizers did not put out mile markers on the course. I was roughly on track with the pace I wanted when we got past the 3 mile point.

I definitely started to tire around 40-45 minutes in. I was wishing for some water, but to this point there'd not been an aid station, which surprised me. My right calf started to feel tired. Yesterday after my bike ride, I had a charlie horse in my right calf, which is very unusual for me. But fortunately, I did not cramp up today. (I really need to be more diligent about stretching...)

Eventually, we met up with the 5K course (and an aid station for water!), which at this point only had walkers left on it. Having people in front of me to work towards catching and passing, was a good thing. It kept my mind off me being tired.

With just 2/10ths mile to go, I picked up the pace, knowing I had kept just a little bit in reserve. I crossed the line at 1:03:11 for a 10:10 pace overall. I was a teeny bit disappointed that I'd not managed to hold a 10:00 pace overall, but that just gives me something else to work towards, eh?

The results have already been posted. I was 58th of 82 women, and 13th of 20 in my age group. 5 months ago I was 30 pounds heavier and could barely run a minute without needing a break. For me, this result represent a huge accomplishment. I feel pretty good about that.

One last thing - just as I was approaching the finish line, a gal who had already finished came back to encourage and run with a friend of hers who was right behind me. The gal behind me said something to her friend along the lines of "This was so difficult - there's no way I'm going to attempt that half marathon!". Which was funny, because *I* was thinking "Ya know, this wasn't bad! Another loop around would almost be a half marathon. I can see myself doing that!".

Susan

[eclectic]

Yellow - Thanks for posting the pictures! You are very lucky to be able to do trail runs - I would love that. And great job on "Gittin' 'er done!"

Susan - thanks to you too for posting your race report. WOW you have come a long way in not too long a time. And to finish w/ reserve and good attitude

Urlea - hopefully things have settled down there and all will be safe and the old Red won't rear her ugly head and surprise anyone. Are you able to get back into your training routine again?

kacie - it is coming up fast! soon you will be having a race report

Today was spin class day. I was actually looking forward to going.
I was scheduled to do a 2mi back to back run so thought no time like the present to do a brick.
I did the 2 miles on a 2:1 ratio and was able to do about an 11:30 mile - which is faster again than I have been doing BUT what was exciting was that I was able to do it the day after a longer run!

My calves don't feel as bad so I think maybe the walk/run is working and I am not losing any speed so it is all good.

I am down 6 lbs so that is probably helping some too. Now only about 20 more to go (10 to fit back into my wetsuit

[emily_in_nc]

Yellow and Susan, congratulations on your events today! I am impressed and envious that you both can run that far. Good for you!

I did a trail run today on our woodland trail. It was absolutely gorgeous here in NC -- blue skies (finally -- we've had a very rainy month), breezy, low humidity, low 70s. I haven't gotten in many trail runs this year so took it very easy and only did 32 minutes of running, plus 5 of walking. I don't know the exact mileage, but the running part was probably about 2.5 miles, considering how slow I am on rolling trails (plenty of roots too). Bad weather, injuries, and winter laziness have definitely taken their toll on my endurance, but I am glad I got out!

Editing to add: My DH took a couple photos of me running today - maybe the first pics I've ever had of me running, so here is one of them:

[Urlea]

Great reports this weekend ladies and thanks for the pictures!!

Susan Congrats on an awesome race! That is an exciting accomplishment. Celebrating with you! 10 seconds of your goal pace isn't bad at all, don't beat yourself up about that. Glad you finished strong knowing that your upcoming 1/2 is going to be doable. You can definitely do it!

As for me, thought I would give you a visual since we are sharing photos this week. This is the path I run on that goes throughout the neighborhood...



The picture on the right I took today when DH & I got home. Needless to say I wont be running on that for a while, but some of the sidewalks are getting cleared by residents so I'm hopeful that will be an alternative.

The gym I go to is right across from the river so I'm skeptical if it will even be open tomorrow as most of the city is shut down until the middle of the wk. Their sister gym isn't far from here so I can at least get back to my routine & get a ride done on the trainer there. No pool though.

I'll let you know what happens, really anxious to get back to a routine. I had a 6wk stretch there of not missing a single training session and then this flood happened. Boo!

[kelownagirl]

More pictures of Fargo...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregnes...7615998628529/

[OakLeaf]

Yellow, great job, and such a beautiful place to run!

Susan, way to go!

Urlea, glad you're getting a bit of a break - sending lots of levee-holding thoughts and prayers! My sister forwarded me some pictures her friends in Solen had taken - looks pretty much the same as yours. Everyone's okay and property damage is minimal at this point - just hoping their (only) bridge is undamaged, they're not really sure.

Emily, that looks like home.


Well, I'd been totally unmotivated all week, hadn't been for a run since Monday. Our club ride this morning got rained out - which we desperately need the rain, but it was disappointing because Mr. SR500 was planning to join us. Hopefully he'll get his bike out some time this week now that he hauled it all the way down here!

But anyway after the lightning let up, I took the opportunity to get in a long run - 12 miles, out on pavement/sidewalk and back on the beach. Man, my legs are tired. I don't know if it's just that I'm out of shape from slacking off, or the first few miles of beach being pretty soft, or if I've just finally found a distance that challenges me. The latter would make sense, since it's about the same amount of time as the club rides - two hours' hard cardio and then I'm fried. I need to carry more water than the 24 oz. capacity of my belt - I've been putting off ordering that Nathan pack but I think I'll just do that.