I can do it!

I went to the lake with a friend this evening, and to make it worth going, I did a short swim. I think it was about a half mile. Good times! :D

I am OH so low energy these days!  I don't know what the deal is...

So I didn't exercise this morning, but this evening I forced myself to go to the gym.  I tried running, but my leg started acting up after the first few minutes, so I quit at 1/2 mile, and ended up doing a HIIT on the recumbant bike instead.  I feel like such a pansy....  :(

Exhausted today. Taking a day off.

I ended up going on a little excursion last night with some friends.  We went to Cedar City to the Shakespearean Festival and saw "Pride and Prejudice" - yay!  Then we drove up to a friends cabin on the mountain, and I was able to get a solid EIGHT hours of much needed sleep!  I got up just before 9, spent some time reading, and then had a killer workout running up and down a pretty steep and rocky trail three times, with some strength training exercise in between runs.  19:31 of the 50 minute workout was running 2.02 miles.  It felt really good to be out and moving around in the cool mountain air!  After that, we had breakfast, showered, and headed back to Cedar City to see "Great Expectations" at the Festival.  It was such a fun and relaxing outing, and a much-needed mini-vacation for me.  :D

I didn't exercise today. Instead, I spent the day in fasting and fed my spirit.  :D

I did an hour of Zumba to justify going to the sushi buffet....probably not nessecary, since I have had no appetite lately.

I was a little worried about this race, since I have really done very little running the last week and a half, and since I literally had to force feed myself yesterday because I just don't feel like eating.  Not only that, but this is a brutal course of mountain terrain on a graded dirt road...some pretty steep inclines and declines the entire 15 miles.  Three of my children ran the 5K, and 2 others joined me for the 15 miler.  We ended up getting there slightly late, so I had to run to the start, and we were still 4 minutes late getting going, and the race wasn't chipped.  So I got my time off my garmin, instead of off the clock.  I decided that because of my shins and with an upcoming 70.3, I'd better not "race" this run...and being late only solidified my decision.  So I ran the first 9 miles with my friends at a very slow pace.  It took 1:42 to get that far.  Then I went off by myself, because they were getting really tired and doing too much walking.  BRUTAL course!!!  I still tried to keep it easy, though, and finished the race in about 2:41, fighting not only the steep uphills, but a nice headwind and an occasional burst of rain.  It was about 12 minutes slower than I ran it last year.  After that, I decided to run back to meet the girls, but about 3/4 of a mile into it, I was suddenly hit by a nasty cluster headache, so I went back to the finish and forced myself to drink water and gatorade.  This headache was a bad one, leaving me totally nauseated and with cold chills.  By the time we made it home, it was all I could do to keep from vomiting and I was all wrapped up in blankets and was shaking like a leaf.  I forced myself to drink some mineral-spiked water, then rinsed off in a warm bath, and went to bed.  After about 90 minutes, I woke up feeling better.  But I am WIPED OUT.  Those headaches take a lot out of me.  I went and bought some pizzas at Costco for all my little racers, but I could only eat one slice.  I had a scoop of ice cream, but I didn't even really want that.  So I think I should probably try to eat more, but it just doesn't sound good.  Weirdness.

Anyway, I ended up with about 17 miles of running, and the race itself was fantastic - I felt really good the whole time!  My legs didn't give me ANY problems, which is such a relief!  I'm looking forward to feeling better tomorrow, and starting next week with a good run.  :D

I spent the whole day registering my six school-aged kids in the public school system.  Yes, we shocked and surprised a lot of people by this unexpected action, including ourselves!  What a nightmare.  Now I remember one of the reasons I've been a homeschooling mom for the last ten years...

This morning Ben and I had to get up super early to drive our 18-year-old son to Las Vegas, so we could put him on a plane bound for Honduras.  He'll be having a seven-week adventure down there.  I hope Honduras survives the visit...

When we arrived back home, we headed over to the gym to get in a quick run on the treadmill, before heading off to all the back-to-school nights and to do a bit of school shopping before they start school in the morning.  I did a 3.1 mile run in ladders, finishing in 24:49.  I felt surprisingly good, and now the day wasn't a total waste of a training day!  Yay!  :D

My running partner (my daughter) didn't get up this morning, since she was awake all night in anticipation of the first day back to school in ten years.  I decided to be lenient with her, so I left her in bed and laid around for awhile until it was light enough for me to go by myself.  I had a great run!  I did 5 miles in 43:37, including the three 50-second walk breaks I took.

Then this evening, we went to the Reservoir and swam the length of the dike with the tri club.  Since I waited for everyone to start, I ended up being almost late to the show, so that was a little stressful, but it was worth it.  I swam 1.1 miles in around 30 minutes.  :D

I woke up early this morning (what was I thinking?!?) and went for a bike ride with my friend Kim.  It felt like I was starting over, and I was SO tired from the short nights and all the running around over the last few days, so we took it REALLY easy.  We rode along the road to Gunlock, just having a great conversation the whole way.  The ride took us 1:10:34.

When I arrived home, I actually took the time to SHOWER and then headed out the door to finish some more school shopping...but Ben called me and said he wanted a lunchtime run, and was willing to push the kids in the stroller, so...THIS IS WHY I DON'T SHOWER!!!!  Just kidding.  I get at least one every day - haha!  Anyway, we ran at 12:30, just a 5K around the neighborhood, but even though it was an "easy" run, it was HARD!  It's been a long time since I've run in the heat.  It was about 90 degrees outside.  It took me 29:39 to do the 3.1 miles.  Now I need a nap!

Friday is Zumba/sushi day! And that's all I have to say about that... :D

What an incredibly fantastic morning for a 20 mile run!  I felt absolute joy as I watched the shooting stars, saw the sun rise over Snow Canyon, listened to the rhythm of my own footsteps, and shared in the energy of other runners.  On days like today, I’m elated to be a runner. 

We met up with a group from the Saint George Running Center at 4:30 AM to run the marathon course.  I took it pretty easy, since I'm in the middle of a cluster cycle and wanted to avoid having to run with a headache.  So I never really picked up the pace, even on the downhills.  I took all of my walk breaks, every 6 minutes, and concentrated on keeping my heart rate down.  I successfully made it to mile 19.8 before the headache started!  The next 2.5 hours were pretty harsh, but the joy of the run made it all worthwhile!

I was excited to finish the run in 3:07:46, since I knowingly kept it slow and I still look good for a 4 hour marathon!  Maybe, just MAYBE, I can pull the 3:50 I need to qualify for Bosten...although I'm not going to focus on that right now. 

I thought about getting up to run this morning with the tri club, but a late night last night and the general feeling of exhaustion from nursing a headache yesterday convinced me to sleep in.  I only had a short bit of time once I woke up to get in a quickie workout, so I did 40 minutes of P90X core synergistics until my voice student showed up.  I keep thinking I might go run on the treadmill later, but I really am a little nervous about the headache sneaking in on me...so I probably will take the rest of the day off.

40 minutes of P90X Core Synergistics...then I ran out of time.  What a wimpy workout day.  :(

I ran 5 miles this morning in 46:42.  My heart rate average was 148.  I felt hot and tired, and my head was throbbing for the entire last mile.  An hour and a half later, I started a cluster headache that lasted for four hours.  What a bummer.  I'm debating over whether it's worth it to try to work out tomorrow...  :(

I took it easy today...wanted to avoid the headache. So I slept in this morning, then did an hour of Zumba and an hour of Yoga this evening. :D

I talked Ben into doing a "long" run of 10 miles with me this morning, except that he was super-sore and I was afraid of getting the dreaded headache.  So we ran really easy.  I finished 10.5 miles in 1:44:11, and kept my heart-rate average at 140, but it was still too much, and I spent the rest of the morning in bed waiting for the headache to pass.  I have NO idea how I'm going to survive the half-ironman next weekend...

This afternoon I went to the pool for a long-overdue swim.  I've been missing my open-water swims, so I wanted to make sure to get something in.  I swam 80 lengths in about 42 minutes.  It was nice to have a workout that didn't leave me with another stupid headache!  :D

This morning we woke up at 4:30 and Ben and I met Craig and Breanna out at the reservoir for a bike ride.  We planned on doing 2.5 hours on the bike, and I was hoping to get 40 miles in...but since I'm slower than the others, I mostly rode by myself.  I ended up with my 40 miles in 2:37:54, and was happy to be feeling well, so I jumped in the lake for a swim right after the ride.  I had gone about 1/4 mile when the headache started, so I headed back to shore before it got too bad.  I swam a half mile, then sat in the car while the others finished their run/swim.  Luckily, it wasn't as bad a headache as it could have been, and after a couple of hours, I was eating a huge hamburger at Carl's Junior feeling ALMOST as good as new!  I was really grateful to get a good ride in, and a little bit of open water swimming done.  It's been a good day.  :D

Five mile run this morning...46:34. I started to get a headache a couple of hours later, but I fought it with peppermint oil and some accupressure points, and VOILA! 15 minutes later, it was gone! YEESSSS!!! It tried to come back on me, but my superior tactics scared it away again. Too bad it doesn't work every time. But today was a GREAT day!

So to top it all off, I went to the gym this evening with Ben and we did the Power Cycle class...I did 8 miles on the stationary bike in 30:50, then we did strength training for the last half of class.  Now I'm having ice cream....yummy!

I started the morning with a trip to the gym for a quickie run on the treadmill.  I just wanted to do a little speedwork, since it's been awhile and I wanted my legs to remember what it feels like to run fast.  So I did 2.5 miles of ladders in 19:37.  Then I went to meet some friends for a bike ride up and around Snow Canyon, but I guess I was speeding, and I got pulled over.  I used my powers of positive thinking to work my magic on the officer, and he let me go with a warning.  But I promise I will try to be more cognizant of what the speed limit is, and only try to break it on my bike.  :D

Anyway, we did the Canyon and down Highway 18 for 17 miles on the bike in 1:10:31.  It was much easier this week than last week, and my heart rate stayed at a nice low 129 bpm average.  Consequently, I had NO HEADACHE today!  That was cause for much celebration, and I ate a bunch of junk food all day.

But I did finish off the day with an hour of yoga, so all in all, it was another great day!  :)

I went out to the lake tonight with the tri club to do a swim/bike ride.  It was nice to have the night off at the theater so that I could actually go out and do the ride with everyone...it's been months since I last was able to do that!  I swam a mile first, REALLY slowly (but it's okay...I'm tapering - haha!) and then followed the swim with a 15.1 mile bike ride in 58:06.  I took it pretty easy on the bike, too...as easy as I could with that monster of a hill.  I got a cluster headache afterwards, but it only lasted 15 minutes, so it was another awesome day!!!

Wow!  I've been sneezing and super-sleepy all day long!  I woke up early because my daughter needed to be at school by 6:00...so I was able to get a run in.  I thought about doing 5, but then I figured since I was supposed to be tapering, why not just do 3?  I ended up with a 5K in 26:37...and felt pretty good the whole time.  And the bonus is...no headache!  Yay! 

This evening I went to the gym and took it really easy doing an hour of Zumba and and hour of yoga.  I have felt really tired all day, so I'm looking forward to sleeping long and hard tonight.  :D

Rest day for the big race tomorrow....  :)

What a day!  I felt like I was coming down with a sinus infection or something on Thursday, so I was a little worried about how I would feel on Saturday.  I literally wanted to sleep all day on Friday!  Unfortunately, we were traveling, so I couldn't.  But I at least thought I would sleep like a baby the night before the race - WRONG!!!  I fell asleep around ten, and then about 12:30 AM some very rude person out in the hallway of the hotel was talking and laughing really loud outside our doorway, and it woke me up...and that was all I slept for the rest of the night.  I just laid there for hours, getting more and more anxious, until the around 3:45, when I fell back asleep just in time for the alarm to go off.  Not a good start, but so it goes.

We were really lucky to have good weather.  The forecast had predicted storms, but we only had a bit of rain that hit me just after I hopped on the bike.  The temps were actually not too bad...I was worried about being cold on the swim, but the water was just right!  The only downside was that visibility was nil...you couldn't see a thing in that water, not even your hand in front of your face!  I had an easy swim, knowing that I had a long day ahead of me.  The only other tri I have done had only 16 women participants, so I haven't had the experience before of people crawling over me in the water, so that was new.  The women started after the men, but when I caught up with some of the slower men, I kept feeling like they were grabbing my ankles!  Funny.  But I got out of the water feeling really good, and after the 1/2 mile or so distance we had to run to get back to the transition area, I finished the 1.2 mile swim with a time of 48:47.

I took my time in transition, making sure I had everything I needed for the long bike ahead.  The course is pretty much FLAT, which was different for me, since we have zero areas that aren't hilly here.  Flat has its pros and cons...the pros being I never had to really peddle hard the whole race, except for during a bit of headwind that hit me about mile 22.  The downside is that I was spinning the entire time...no coasting on a flat!  It was really fun, though, and I was thoroughly enjoying myself until around mile 40, when the cluster headache started.  I had to stop after mile 41 to apply some essential oils and give myself a quick massage.  But that headache stayed with me for the rest of the race.  I did the 56 miles ride in about 3:14, not counting about 3 minutes of stops.

After that, my head was throbbing, but I figured that no matter what, I knew I was going to finish!  So the run was basically just a test of endurance...enduring the pounding headache for a couple more hours until I could get that finisher's shirt and medal!  The course was interesting...an out-and-back on the jetty, another out-and back along a trail, and then a small loop through the state park...then repeating the whole course again.  The nice part of it was that there was plenty of shade along the course.  After the first mile, I stopped in the bathroom for a couple of minutes, unsure of if I was going to be sick, but I felt okay, so I kept plugging away.  It was fun to do all the out-and-backs, because I was able to see a lot of other people I knew along the way, so there was extra cheering for each other, which is always a nice distraction.  I drank water at every aid station, and had something to eat at each one, too.  My body actually felt pretty good for the whole run, with the exception of a little stiffness in the knees and ankles, probably due to running carefully so as to limit the pounding on my head.  I finally crossed the finish with a 2:12:39 on the 13.1 mile run.

After crossing the finish line, Ben was there to catch me and help me over to the food area.  I immediately felt like I was going to vomit.  I forced myself to drink a couple of bottles of water, but I couldn't eat anything.  My headache was SO bad, and I just wanted to curl up and sleep somewhere, but I had to clean up all my gear and load it up.  Ben was TONS of help!  Overall, my only goal was to finish before the cut-off time of 8 hours.  Realistically, I thought I would get about a 7-7.5 hour finish.  I was really surprised to finish the race with a time of 6:31:33!  I was 9 out of 12 in my division, and 42 out of 64 women overall.  Kind of on the low side, but on the other hand, not bad for less than 4 months of training and being the new kid on the block!  I'm pretty happy about the whole thing.  After a shower and a short nap, I felt almost as good as new, so I guess I'm pretty capable of doing a half-ironman after all!!!

This was supposed to be a recovery run, but the weather has cooled down here, and I felt so good I ended up doing my 5K in 25:26!  I guess doing a half-ironman didn't affect my body as much as I thought it would.  We'll see...I'll take the rest of the day off, just for good measure.  :D

We did speed work on the track.  I warmed up for a mile, then started with four 100s, then did four 200s at about a 0:44, and finished with a couple of 400s at 1:40.  By then my quads were acting like they might break down, so I decided to be smart and call it a day.  After all, I AM supposed to be in recovery!  I did a 1/2 mile cool-down.  While I was waiting for Ben to finish, I did a couple sets each of push-ups, tri-dips, and Pike's push-ups, so now my ENTIRE body feels like jello - haha!  :D

Tonight Ben came home from driving to Salt Lake and back today, and wanted to go for a run...why not? I'm a little sore from this morning's track work, so we took it pretty easy. We did another 4 miles in 38:07.