Superbowl through Mardi Gras and Games Opening week of running!

[Grog]

Cool runs ladies!

I am happy to report that I ran 23.6 km in 2 hours 30 minutes - on very flat ground for 2/3 of it - and I feel pretty good. My toes are bummed (they always are when I increase mileage), my left hip is a bit sore (I am getting massage on Thursday and it's going to hurt) but other than that it's all good.

Very happy runner!

Now it's time for a well-deserved rest week. I'm just going to have gentle runs this week and most likely a 16 km next weekend. Then it's preparing for my half-marathon race on the 21st.

Yay!

[Aggie_Ama]

Kacie I am so jealous! I bruised my knees two weeks ago and still feel it some running. I bruise easily and heal slowly, guess I am just lucky like that.

[Urlea]

Wow Indi & Kacie, great times for both of your races! Very nice.

I'm a little late on the posting, but I got two runs in last week despite still being sick with a cold earlier in the week!

DH brought home an adapter to get my old Ipod shuffle working (yay!) so now I can use Cardio-Coach workouts during the bike/run bricks again. Turns out I had a lot of "Let's go run" music on there so that prompted my first run of the week. 3mi in the VFFs, lungs weren't quite 100% yet but it was a decent run.

Being healthy enough for Saturday's long run was my focus. Thankfully I was feeling more normal & good to go by then. Three inches of snow fell Friday night & with the warm temps mid 20s-30s that snow turned to slop which made getting footing a huge challenge. There are bench mark runs for me in training that I remember as being really hard character building runs & this was definitely edging it's way up there. At mile 20 we almost called it quits, but pushed on old man shuffle style walk/run for the final 3.5! Glad I did it. Body recovered better than expected too which is encouraging because I need these 20-25 milers to start feeling easy leading up to the 100 in August. It's a process. I'll get there eventually.

[limewave]

Wow Indi & Kacie, great times for both of your races! Very nice.

Double thumbs up.

Urlea--what's the longest run you do to train for your 100 miler? You ultra-marathon runners are a little crazy

Got in my 8 miles on Sunday. I'm starting to get into the running groove again. I averaged 10:43m/mi. Still pretty slow compared to my times from 2 years ago, but it's feeling good. And the best part, I had negative splits! Yay!

On a fun side note, my brother and DH are training for the same marathon. They are the both very competitive. It's fun watching them try and out-do each other. But, I have to say, I think my brother is going to come out with the best time and a boston qualifier too. I don't think DH will be so lucky.

[Urlea]

Lime- Negative splits? Woohoo!! Are you training for a race now or running for the fun of it?

To answer your question, the longest training run prior to the ultra will be 50miles. The plan is to do that late June hopefully after my HIM. Next month I'll join up with the ultra crew for a back-to-back marathon weekend. 26.2 on Saturday & 26.2 on Sunday. We're playing around with the idea of doing the first marathon throughout the night Friday, but haven't decided yet. I have to get used to running in the dark for a long time w/ a headlamp. Then there's the 50k race in May, which will be like a long tempo training run more than anything to test out pacing & fueling. I have a hard time considering myself an ultra-runner at this point with only one 50k under my belt, but within the next couple of months that should change.

[limewave]

Lime- Negative splits? Woohoo!! Are you training for a race now or running for the fun of it?

The negative splits are partially b/c my running partner started to feel sick at mile 6 and started walking. I was able to speed up since I wasn't wasting my energy on gabbing.

I am training for a 25k in May. After that I plan to focus on mntn biking. I have two races I want to do this year, one in August and one in November.

But, I think there may be another marathon sometime in 2011 . . . maybe.