OK. I love my God, my husband, my kids and St. George, UT. We're here vacationing for the week and I can't stop praising the place. I'm out in the sun on the back porch listening to my little boy laughing in the swimming pool playing with his Dad. Does life get any better????? I can look up and see Green Valley Gap, snow covered mountains and red rock. No, life does not get any better. I'm ready to go home, load up the moving van and set up house down here. It is SOOOOO wonderful. If only the place came with a running babysitter I think I'd spend the rest of the year my husband will be away right here in this bastion of warmness.
I'm going to have to figure out some running routes though. This morning I kind of wove here and there trying to find something I liked but it was either roads that were too busy so I felt like I was eating exhaust or dirt roads that led into a remoteness that I don't do anymore now that I'm married and have kids. I have to keep living and all...can't afford to be kidnapped....who would get the kids their chocolate milk? I'll try to do some good looking around today - I'll try hard to avoid the temptation of using the treadmill to do my mile repeats tomorrow.
Just an easy run. The final half-mile to our condo is pretty doggone steep and my legs felt it after getting worn-out yesterday.
Here is another thing I love about St. George - all the folks I see out biking, running and walking. This town is motivated and it seems like they appreciate their scenery. If a place like this is going to exist and I don't get to live here, at least I can know there are people treating it like it should be treated.
1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1 minutes hard with 1 minute easy in-between.
6:31, 6:24, 6:40, 6:37, 6:49, 6:41, 6:34, 6:16
Again, it was the final hill up to the condo that really kicked my trash. I didn't feel very excited this morning about moving, but after the first interval, things got better.
I had fun watching my little boy climbing up and over rocks with a big smile on his face - although I really had to work against the Mom in me that kept saying, "be careful," "careful, ok?" I know I didn't work hard enough against it though because my daughter parroted me on most of our hike today.
I'm not sure the pace on the 8 miles but it was at a good clip. I wish I knew, but I'm counting it as maybe a 6 mile tempo run. After the first couple of miles I realized I was really buzzing along to get back to my sister's. Her two kids were going to a friend's house so it would have been just her home alone if it weren't for the fact that my three kids were breathing in her face. I got back just as her boys were getting ready to go to their friends so she should have had a relaxing, quiet home to herself, but then I started talking...and talking...and talking. And she did what she does well as a sister and listened to me and told me I was ok and right. I like that in a sister.
So the husband went back to work again for the next six months. We had the best 15 days ever with him while he was here. It really was a happy, easy, wonderful, idyllic little time for us. Now I get to count down to him being home for a good long time and hopefully we never have to do another year where we only get to hold hands for fifteen days of it again.
I was hoping for higher mileage, but I couldn't get out to my sister's in time what with the unexpected's that kids and husband's checking in by phone can throw at a gal. This week has been completely off kilter.
16 at 8:09 or something like that. It felt pretty good although I did realize at the last few miles that I was getting a little whoozy. When I got back to my sister's house she needed to run to her older son's school to do their valentines party so I said I could watch her little boy along with my kids while she was gone. And then, whammo, I got hit by dizziness and nausea that about had me on the floor. She rushed and got me a glass of water and after drinking a couple of glasses I started to come around. I got a few bites of a sandwich down which seemed to hurt more than it helped at first, but as soon as my body got the energy all transposed like it needed to be I was much better. I really, really, really need to remember to take water and a little pick-me-up on these long runs. I know I have a camelback somewhere around here - or in our storage. I'm really afraid it is in our storage which means it is lost until September or October and I have a lot more nausea to go through.
It was such a lame week of running. I just didn't find the time or babysitters to run. The babysitting thing is getting tough. I might have to join a gym but I'm not sure how my kids would like the daycare. I'm going to go a couple more weeks post-husband being home to see what goals are really practical for me.
2 mile warm-up and cool-down, 6x400 hills - hard up, easy down
I totally messed up using my watch today. I forgot to start it again after a light. I realized my mistake when I got close to the hill where I was going to do my workout. I started the watch for a quarter mile and then paused it to stretch right before the hill. I thought the beep sounded unusual when I pushed the lap button after every rep, but I'm really not one to get too worried about unusual things. It wasn't until the fifth repeat that I figured out I'd never restarted my watch. Darn. Oh well - it would have been slower times anyway. I wasn't really feelin' it. But it felt good to at least be pushing myself.
5 easy miles. I think I want to do the Rex E. Lee 10k that's coming up in March. I'll have to see if I can find a babysitter. I'd be interested to see where I'm at.
1.5 mile warm-up, 1.5 mile cool-down, 6x1 mile with slow 1/4 mile between
6:46, 6:32, 6:46, 6:46, 6:48, 6:18
So these times seem totally weird to me. The odd miles were uphill and the even miles were downhill. I wasn't ending up at the same spot everytime so my watch must have been off a little bit - probably by enough to make a 10 to 15 second difference - I just don't know in which direction or on what repeats. Anyhow - I worked hard and I guess that is what is important. This workout completely inimidates the HECK out of me. I'm always so proud of myself when it is over. I was thinking as I was running home that maybe in a month or so I should do 8 repeats. I wish I wouldn't have had that thought because I tend to follow through on that sort of a thing and I really don't want to.
So the babysitting thing continues to be a struggle. Talking to my husband tonight I realized that I need to let go of being as ambitious about my training as I was on the last marathon. Last marathon he was home and able to give me an hour-and-a-half a day when he'd be home from PT and getting ready for work to run in. And then I could wake up early on Saturdays and get half my run in before anyone else woke up so we didn't have to sacrifice too much of our Saturdays to long runs. So I hit every workout exactly like I wanted to - well, every workout but one - with little to no stress on anyone. This time I'm missing things right and left and I'm more fatigued at finding a babysitter than I am at running. Quite frankly I'm the type of person that would rather NEVER ask anyone to do anything for me - one of my many personality flaws. So this is just killing me to do it on a daily basis. The fact that I've asked for help consistently for the last 5 months alone is testimony of how much I love to run. But I can't keep it up - its getting too stressful and I'm putting the stress onto other people. So from this day forward I'm going to keep training, but I'm committed to being flexible about what I can do and what I can't. If I'm not getting enough miles in by the time June comes around, I might switch to the half-marathon, or even the 5K if it comes to that, from the marathon. And I'm promising myself right now that I'm not going to be disappointed. I think for this "in-between-pregnancys" I'm going to just make sure I stay healthy and in shape. I'll see what the future brings. Maybe someday things will gel like they did when we lived in Arizona - life always has its times and seasons.
Fewf, I'm glad to get that off my cheast. Now for some sleep.
7 miles at something like 7:50. It was kind of a blah day on the legs - but I couldn't be more grateful that I was able to get a run in. It was a little snowy today but the temps stayed in the 30s so I'm not too scared of a return to the deep dark winter that was December and January. Every once in a while in the last couple of weeks I've smelled spring creeping out of the grass. I know I'm being a little premature - like I'm getting ready for Christmas before my kids have even gone trick-or-treating - but its just so dang exciting. There are even some daffodil shoots poking out of my sister-in-laws garden. I love daffodils. It makes me a might bit giddy.
I got in over 40 miles this week which I'm happy about. I'd love to get a long run in next week if it is possible. My parents will be in town so it might happen. Well gotta go - my 2 year old is asking for her 4th helping of chili. The girl takes after her Mom - she can really pound the food.
I did a 2 mile warm-up and cool-down with a 4 mile tempo run at 6:58. I'm hoping to be able to speed that up some in the next few months, but we'll see. The first mile-and-a-half were uphill into a freezing wind so they were slow, but after that I really can't think of any excuses, dang it. It felt good to push myself today. Whenever I have a speed work-out planned I try to think of ways to get out of it just before it happens - its always nice to conquer that feeling of not wanting to work hard.
My garmin was taking forever to find satellites so I took advantage of it being an easy day and left the watch at home. I love that "who cares what my time is" type of feeling. It wasn't a warm day but there was blue sky and lots of sun. My body gulped down the Vitamin D like it was chocolate milk. It was fantastic.
2 mile warm-up, 1.5 mile cool-down, 1x2x3x4x5x6x5x4x3x2x1 minutes - I'm worn out just typing that. I ran a minute easy between each interval. Times were: 6:32, 6:37, 6:55, 6:41, 6:24, 6:23, 6:39, 6:57, 6:34, 6:44, 6:50.
I definately worked harder for the first half and faded in the second half of the work-out. And then the big difference in the times can be accounted for on whether I was going uphill or downhill. I did this run out at my sister's were flat land DOES NOT exist. It's good for me. The only part of this work-out that I'm disappointed in is my last minute. I did turn up-hill to do it, but I think I forgot what I was about or how short a minute is because I never really started working and then all of a sudden it was over. It really surprised me.
When I started out today I was running agaist a wind that was rude enough to blow snow into my face. My eyes started stinging after 1 1/2 miles and I thought I was going to have to bag the work-out for the day. Maybe I was hoping that I had my excuse. But I pushed through it, and as usual, I'm glad I did. After the first 2 minute interval I turned out of the direct wind and then by the time I had to turn into the wind again it had died down or my eyes had toughened up. Who would guess that running could lead to having tougher eyes. I'll take it.
Just a nice easy run today. I felt a little tired from yesterday's effort so it was nice to just relax. My parents will be out here tomorrow so they'll be able to watch my kids on Saturday during my long run. I'm excited to be able to get a long run in again.
There is something about coming home to a baby that is crying for me after a long run that helps me to realize I'm not that tired and I'm ready to get on with life. My watch was all out of power when I started it this morning. Luckily I ran 16 miles out at my sister's just a couple weeks ago so I remembered the turn around spots. Also I got lucky on my potty spot today - I ran by a church where the Saturday cleaning was going on - I was able to sneak in in the nick of time. Sometimes life is so good.
My hips are pretty tight. I'm going to watch the BYU basketball game with my kids and get some good stretching in now.