I Probably Should Make My Blog Public again

I damaged my eye, I think it is a scratch, but yesterday I couldn't stand being in the light and didn't trust my eye to go out in the dark.  So I gazelled and watched another Illini loss.

Got to get to the eye dr. today.  This eye is killing me.

I'm finally back...used Euchre on Wednesday as my excuse, then laid down with my eyes closed starting at 5 on Thursday.  That helped.  My eye wasn't so angry today.  Saw the dr., no infection.  Scratch is healing, though my eyes are both dry.

But getting out today felt good.  It was overcast and on the warm side.  Probably about 50 when I first started and dropped a bit throughout the run, though it did reach 60 today.

My garmin died at 4.25 miles, so I had to guess at the distance, but I was on a well worn path and I made sure that I did at least 7.  I doubt I went over by much, but I know I didn't go under.  It's nice sometimes to run without worrying about pace.  I think I kept pretty steady at about 9:15 pace or so.

This run was hard, not just for the length, but for the wind.  It was intense.  But now I'm on the way to getting some endurance again :)

I decided that I have to do at least a little speed before my half coming up at the end of April, but I really don't have a time goal.  But since I would like to PR in a 10K a couple weeks after that, I do need to actually train instead of just running some leisurely miles.  So I'm on a speed work Tuesday, tempo work Thursday, long run (slightly faster than I've been currently running) on Saturday type of schedule.

I really have no desire to be a slave to a program and it was hard to convince myself to just do the 6 x 400s that I had planned (or thought I had planned, I was actually supposed to do 4 x 800, but I'll do that next week instead, whoops).  But I did and I was happy.  I ran all 400s at a 1:45-1:50 pace and it was comfortable.  I probably could have gone a little faster, but since this is my first "speed" workout in a looooooooong time, I went for conservative instead.  I need to get a little more confident in my abilities.

I did a little over 2 for a warmup, my 400s on the track with 400 in between, and then a bit over a mile home.  Didn't wear the garmin (no batteries) and I think it was a bit over 6, but not quite 6.5, so I'll just call it 6.

Just an easy 3.  Nothing remarkable.

This week has been a little hectic.  Caleb was sick Monday and Tuesday, and when I got back to school, my sub had not really followed my lesson plans (which makes me a little mad, but they were complicated).  So I had to reteach some stuff and it throws my whole schedule off. 

I need some advice from anyone who has it:

My SIL has been battling breast cancer since last April.  She finished chemo last month and is currently cancer-free.  However, she still has to have her ovaries removed, wait a month, then have 6 weeks of radiation and then have reconstructive surgery after another month or so.  And all this has been delayed because she currently has pneumonia. 

And for some reason, she has latched onto a statistic that isn't accurate anymore, that she has a 50% chance of surviving over 5 years (except I think she views it as a 50% chance of dying).  No amount of talking can convince her that the statistic is not correct.

She's fighting depression.  Don't know if she's doing anything for it (or even if she can right now), but that's beside the point. 

I'd like to extend a nice gesture towards her.  My brother intimated that just taking her to lunch would be enough to help cheer her a little, but I was trying to figure out something else to do.  I'm not one for grand gestures, but lunch seems to fall flat. 

Anyone who has been in her situation or mine have any ideas?

An easy 4.  Caleb's still sick.  Poor baby.

I did a little bit of tempo running today.  After a 1/2 mile warm up, under 7:45 pace felt comfortable for the first 2.5 miles, and agony for the other 2.  The wind added to the agony. The whole run averaged 8:22, which seems respectable, given the fact that I haven't been doing anything fast lately.  Two of my fast miles were a bit over 8 min, 2 were under 7:45.  I'll blame the wind.

I had to switch up my runs because of stuff at home (but Caleb is feeling much better).  So no run yesterday, but I'll run long tomorrow instead.

I'm very happy about this run.  Except for the first mile (9:12), every mile was well under 9 minutes.  Although this run wasn't what I would consider "easy," it felt good to do it.  By Carolyn's 8:30 and under as fast designation, only 3 of these miles (one mid run and the last two) would be considered fast.  Whole run averaged 8:38, which was actually faster than what I was shooting for. 

It was windy, but not nearly as windy as yesterday.  Wind was maybe 10 mph (at least according to the weather channel), but colder (in the 30s).

Now Eli's sick (who couldn't see that coming?).  My mom came down to help (she's the best).  I didn't run yesterday, but I did my 4 x 800s today (all in 3:42).  Ran a warm up and cool down too.

I'm hoping Eli's feeling better tomorrow.  There has been a flu bug making its way through Caleb's school and I hope it doesn't make its way to me...

An easy 4 miles.  

When I left work (we had a 1/2 day), it was rainy, windy and cold.  So when I got dressed for my run, I wore long pants and 2 long sleeve shirts (one an underarmor cold gear shirt).  So stupid.  I was WAY overdressed.  But in my defense, it warmed up while I was running and the sun came out.  Too bad the wind didn't go away...

Anyway, I did a little over a mile warm up, then started picking up the pace as soon as I crossed a busy street after the first mile.  I did 5 miles at just under 8 minute pace (7:55, 7:54, 7:56, 8:04, 8:02).  I altered my route because of the wind.  After my second fast mile, I went south for a 1/2 mile so that I didn't have to do the last 2 miles completely into the wind.  I did, though, have more wind in the last 2.5 miles because I was going more north and west, into the wind, but I didn't have any long stretches headlong into the wind.

Then I did 1.6 miles easy, real easy (about 9:25 pace).

I'm feeling pretty good about running lately.  I was really afraid that I wouldn't be able to sustain 8 minute pace for 5 miles.  It's kinda sad to think that last year I did a half at that pace.  I'm just not as fit as I was last year, which is okay.

A nice and easy pace.  I tried to concentrate on my form throughout the entire run.  I was overdressed again. You think I would have learned from yesterday but I swear before I went out that it was in the 30s.  The sun made it feel warmer.  I think I just need to stick with shorts.

I planned on doing 10 today, then when I realized at about mile 7 that I would be going over 10, I decided to make it a round 11 instead of 10.something.

I started relatively slow (I think around 9:21, but my garmin didn't pick up a satellite right away, so I had to guess a little) and then hovered around or under 9 minute pace for the next several miles. 

Around mile 4 a little dog followed me for a couple minutes, barking like crazy.  I  wasn't scared of him, but I was scared for him if he was going to follow me, so I tried to chase him home.  I couldn't exactly figure out which house he came from, though, and I chased him back once only to have him follow me again.  Finally I backtracked to where I thought he came from and rang the doorbell.  No one answered, but the dog stayed on the porch and didn't follow me again.

Then I tried to pick up the pace for the next few miles, just to about 8:50.  Mile 9 and 10 were a bit under 8:30 and mile 11 (my bonus mile) was a slower cool down (about 9:20, right where I had started).  While it wasn't as fast as it was supposed to be (I was shooting for 8:45 average), I also wasn't working that hard.  Pace felt good.  The wind was pretty fierce.

This time I didn't overdress.  When I first left the house I thought I was under-dressed (shorts and two long-sleeved t shirts).  But wearing gloves and an ear band helped keep me warm.  It was probably somewhere slightly under 50 degrees, but I was glad I just went for shorts.

Ran at my mom's house.  Planned on 5 but then went longer.

Took my brother's dog for a run today.  His limit is 4 miles, apparently.  A little past 4 miles, he sat down and tried to run the other way (like that was the direction of home).  I decided to walk him the remaining mile home because I didn't want to kill someone else's dog.  When we got closer I ran him so that my watch would hit 4.25 because I didn't want to log 4.07.

Then we waited and waited and waited for my brother's baby to be born.  She finally was on Wed. night.  Mom and baby are well.  I saw them today (Thursday) and then we headed back home.

Took my SIL out to lunch on Tuesday.  She's struggling mentally, but she is seeing a therapist, which is good.  She had her ovaries removed Wednesday.  She is doing well physically..

An easy 6 after a day of waiting and traveling.  I skipped my planned workout on Wednesday because I opted to run with the dog and didn't think he could handle intervals (though he did make me run faster than I wanted to, at least in the beginning).  I thought about doing it instead of an easy 6, but then didn't for no particular reason.  We'll see if it gets done on Friday.

Ran to the track (2.1 miles) for some 800s.  Then did the 800s progressively faster.  First 3 were 3:45 (whoops, too slow), 3:40, 3:34.  I figured after the first 3 that I should aim for 5 seconds faster.  Then I accidentally hit the stop button instead of the lap button, so I don't have my time.  I'm fairly confident it was at most 3:30, maybe a little under, but I will never know...

Then ran home.  I find that my pace after a little bit of speed is slower than normal, but I can't make myself hurry when I am running back from the track.  Whatever.  I try to concentrate on my form when I find myself running slow.

Woo hoo!  I'm over 40 miles this week!  Just an easy run.  Tomorrow I do tempo.  I'm mixing it all up this week.

I'm getting tired of the cold, BTW.  I thought March was supposed to go out like a lamb.

Missed my tempo run yesterday because I was grading :(

 I hate running on Mondays.

I'm having a problem lately (that I know I've talked about before) where the time that is convenient for me to run is not compatible with my stomach.  When I get home from school (at about 4:30) I am STARVING.  My body just wants dinner since I eat lunch at 11:15.  I try a little snack, and if I can get out the door before 5, I'm usually okay.  But if I have to wait longer for my husband to get home (and I usually do), I get too cranky.

That's what happened today.

When I got out (at 7), I was still cranky.  I ran to the track at a slower pace, trying to convince myself to do the workout I had planned.  I was still trying to convince myself when I got to the track, but when I started my first fast mile, then I felt better.

I ran 3 x 1600 with a 200 in between each mile.  I got faster with each mile (7:53, 7:43, 7:30), so that was good.  Then I ran home faster than I have the last few weeks after some speed. 

Yay for me.

5 easy miles.  Then it was on to Euchre night, where I lost.  There's always next time.

When I was getting ready to head out, I found that my garmin was running out of battery.  I frantically searched for my charger, but couldn't find it (I think it's at school).  I ALMOST decided to scrap the tempo part of my run, but I knew that if I didn't do 6 miles tempo, I would be mad at myself.  

So I charged on!  Because I run all my routes a lot, I have all the mile splits memorized (for the most part), so I decided to run  4 miles into my usual tempo/long run route and then turn around.  Splits are approximate and I couldn't quite hang on to 8 minute pace, but I think mile 3 and 4 were 10-15 seconds long (the mile split is along  a string of light posts that are about 10-15 seconds apart, and I couldn't remember which one was the point, so I went one past the one I thought it was in case I was wrong).  Splits were 7:45, 7:59, 8:24, 7:54, 8:15, 8:07.  Then I ran one mile home.

I do not have the endurance that I had last year, so I'm not looking for a PR in the 1/2 I'm doing (4 weeks left, I think), but I am looking for a respectable time.  I feel confident that if I had one more month to work on it, I could probably PR, but alas, I did not get my butt in gear as far as building a good solid running base early enough.  And there's no way I'm doing a 1/2 in late May.