I did P90X core synergistics this morning...abbreviated, of course.  I was able to get my heart rate up a little, but not as much as I would like.  I'm excited, though, because I've decided to take the next three months that I can't run and do Bill Phillip's Transformation Challenge!  Might as well do something productive, and it will give me a positive goal to move towards while my back is healing.  I'll be starting the program on Monday.  I'm tired of being a skinny flabby girl.  I want to be a skinny, muscley girl!  Yeah!  :D

I actually got in a "long run" today!  Yay!  I spent 80 minutes water running...I even did some speed work.  I had to quit the speed stuff after about an hour because I felt like I was getting shin splints - in the water! - who knew?  Overall, I feel pretty good about what I accomplished.  Next weekend, I will try to do 100 minutes, and 120 the week after that.  Hopefully all this time in the water will actually help me not to lose all my run-ability....

I've decided to count my water running as running miles...seems fair to me.  Sooo...I started today with an upper body workout.  This time I recorded everything I did and notated where I need to increase weights so that I can actually get stronger - what a concept!  This afternoon we took the fam to the rec center and I walked two miles on the treadmill and then did some ab work and stretching.  After that, we went to the pool and I did 50 minutes of water-running.  I figure I'll count each 10 minutes of water-running as a mile.  I'm also going to count elliptical miles as running miles, at least on the horrible elliptical that is SO much harder than REAL running at the rec center.  I promise NOT to count walking miles as running miles, though...

As a side note, I started eating BFL style today.  I am already accustomed to eating 6 meals a day, but I've been carb-counting for so long, I forgot how my body reacts to carbohydrates.  I felt like I was STARVING all day!  Stupid blood sugar spikes.  The carbs I ate weren't even simple carbs, except for maybe the fruit, I guess...but grains make my insulin levels go crazy.  I wish I knew more about what was going on here.  Ah, well...it's my body, the great science experiment.  :D

Today was a cardio day. I did 24 minutes of the dreaded elliptical, covering only one mile and burning only 50 calories (such lies!) and then did a 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike.  I was already sweating a ton from the elliptical, so I am not sure I got my intensity up high enough on the bike.  I'll lower the level and peddle faster next time....

I started the morning with a lower body workout - quads, hams, calves, and abs.  The weights I used felt pretty easy...I guess all the running has actually made me stronger!  Who knew?  :D  This evening I did my water-run for 62 minutes.  I was planning to do 50, but I thought, "What the hey?"  So I kept going.

Today was what is soon to become a typical Tuesday or Thursday workout for me.  One mile on the treadmill of doom, and a 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike.  And that's all I have to say about that...

Upper Body Workout this morning - Chest, Shoulders, Back, Triceps, And Biceps.  :D

103 minutes water-running in the pool.  That's all there is to it.  Simple and straightforward.  :D

EXCEPT....I noticed that there came a point in my water-running where I stopped breathing hard, stopped sweating, and was able to just phase out and go.  I had to start doing sprints just so that I could keep warm in the water!  I didn't know you could get a runner's high while water-running...

I did a lower body workout this morning.  I still didn't get the weights high enough.  That P90X must have really made me stronger!  I was going to do my water run, but couldn't get to the pool, so I did a 4.5 mile power walk instead.  It is really hard to not be able to run.  :(

Cardio day.  20 Minute HIIT on the recumbant bike, for starters...I did GOOD!  Then this evening, I did a mile on the elliptical devil, which took me 22 minutes to do (and I was being SPEEDY!) then switched to the "easy" one to finish up another mile, which took me 12 minutes to do.  What's wrong with this picture?  :D

Upper body workout today.  I followed it up this evening with 60 minutes of water running at the pool.  Wow.  My workouts lately are really boring to read about.  Oh, well...  as long as I get results.  :D

I did a 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike today.  Then I was filmed for an infomercial!  It's a brand new company specializing in nutritional drinks.  Watch out!  My face might be plastered on your internet in a few short weeks - heeheehee!  I had planned on going back to the gym this morning to do some elliptical work, but I was called in to do more filming instead.  As a side note, my hip flexors were really sore after my water run last night...but after drinking the magic juice I was promoting, I have no discomfort....interesting....

Lower body workout w/ab-ripper!  And that's all I have to say about that.  :D

I take it back.  Sometimes, I AM going to count walking miles as running miles.  Like today.  I wanted to find out how fast I could walk a 5K, since I'm going to register to do one on February 6th, and I'm still not allowed to run.  I was pleasantly surprised to finish in 42 minutes exactly!  (Well, there WERE those 2/100 of a second, but who's counting?)  I think if I train for it, I can shave off another two minutes.  What is funny to me is that two years ago, that was my RUNNING pace!  HA!  I love getting faster.

Then this afternoon, I did two full hours of water running.  It was a little tricky, since I had my two babies with me, but I discovered that, when neccesary, I CAN water-run with a baby strapped to my back.  And THAT is one heck of a workout.  I was "running" like crazy, just to keep my head above water!  Good times.  :D

I had an interesting Upper Body Work Out this morning.  For some reason, all the weights that were difficult to do last week were super EASY this week!  It's like I had a burst of strength!  :D  It will be REALLY interesting to see how it feels on Friday, when I increase all the weights...

I wrapped up the evening with a 60 minute water-run.  Boring, as always, but I got the job done.

This morning I started out with a 20 minute HIIT on the recunbant bike. I'm really working on getting my intensity levels up higher. Then this evening, I did a mile on the dreaded elliptical, and finished up with a half hour of yoga stretching.

Lower body workout this morning.  I think I finally have the weights where they should be to give me a challenge.  This evening I did 60 minutes of water-running at the pool.  I was seriously tired, but I forced myself to do it anyway.  :D

I started out this morning with a HIIT on the recumbant bike. I'm getting down to that weight where I start feeling dizzy. Weird. My energy levels are high, though - for the most part I feel pretty good. I just have to be careful not to stand up too quickly. This evening I went back to the gym and did my one mile of torture on the elliptical, then cooled down with another mile of the recumbant bike. Good day.

I found out last night that I'm scheduled to work the half-marathon tomorrow, so it kind of screwed up my plan to do my own half-marathon in the pool in the morning.  So I decided to do it today.  But first, I did my upper body workout, and I made sure I did it hard, since Monday was so easy.  I was shaking at the end.  I thought, "There's no way I'm going to be able to spend two hours in the pool."  But then I did it anyway...because I'm cool that way.  One hundred and thirty-one minutes!  Yeah.

Well, I did the bulk of my training yesterday, so that I could work as a volunteer for the Saint George Half Marathon today! It was fun...I got to hand out "blankets" at the finish line, so I was in a great position to see Ben and the three kids come across!  What a great, inspiring day.  I sure do wish I could have run it, though...

I DID manage to get to the gym before the race to do a 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike.  My legs were tired from the workouts yesterday, so I lowered the resistence levels and pedaled my buns off.  Well, not really, but it's nice to dream.  Later on that day, Ben wanted to run some more (crazy!) so we went back to the gym and I walked a mile and a half while he ran four....hmmmm.

Ahhhh!  Lower body workout this morning.  Then this evening an hour of water-running.  Geez.  My entries are getting so...BLAH.

HIIT on the recumbant bike this morning. This evening, I went back to the gym to do the elliptical-of-death, and after 5 minutes and .25 miles, I was done. (But I decided to count it anyway!) So I ended up going to yoga instead. I was very careful not to do anything that might injure my slowly-healing back, but I found that I am much stronger in many ways than I was the last time I did yoga (YAY!) and that it felt great! So I'm glad I skipped out on the tortuous elliptical and did yoga instead. :D

I THOUGHT that I had a meeting to go to tonight, so after my upper-body-workout early this morning, I went over to the pool and did my 60 minutes of water-running. As it turns out, the meeting is TOMORROW night, so my extra efforts were in vain. Oh, well, at least I had a night off...until Ben came home and started dressing for the gym. I thought, "Why not?" And I followed him out the door. I did a 3.1 mile power-walk on the treadmill (not going to count it this time) in 43:33, then added another couple of miles. I spent 76 minutes total on the treadmill. Then I thought, "Three hours of working out is enough for one day," and called it quits. :D

All I did today was my 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike.  Afterwards, I thought about doing the elliptical - as a matter of fact, I actually got ON the elliptical...but then I thought, "Nah.  Not today."  And I got off and went home.  I feel a little like a slacker.  But not really.  My body needed a rest.  :D

I did a lower body workout this morning.  It was good and hard, and left me sweating.  When I went in to the doc's to get my B-12 shot, I weighed in at the exact same weight as I did two weeks ago, but my body fat % dropped by 2%!!!  YES!  I'm glad all this weight training is actually doing something.  Cuz it's NOT my favorite.  Maybe when I actually get around to running again, I'll be lightning fast because I'm so strong.  Yeah.  That sounds pretty good right there.  :D

Ahhhh....last entry of the month! I did my 140 minutes of water-running this morning. It was surprisingly easy, and equally surprisingly not as boring as it usually is! I had a great time, but felt like I needed a little something extra to get my heart rate up....so I went to the gym this afternoon and did a 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike. I left there sweating like a pig and feeling fantastic! Good day. :D

I started out the morning with an upper body workout.  Ben was still running when I finished, so I chased it down with a few assisted pull-ups, some torso rotations, and some ab work.  Then this evening, we went to the rec center and I decided it was time to try out cycling again.  So we went to the cardio spin/weights class, and I did 10 miles in 30 minutes, plus ANOTHER upper body workout!  I finished off the night with a 60 minute water-run.

What is up with my weight being...up? I've been so good for a month! But I'm definately putting on some muscle. I took pics at the beginning of the month and at the end of the month, and I can totally tell a difference! I'm excited to finish my 18 week challenge, to see what kind of muscles I've got hiding beneath all the fluff. :D

I guess I had a good workout yesterday, because I'm pretty tired today. I did my 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike this morning, and my legs were shaking like leaves when I was finished! So I took it easy the rest of the day, and just did an hour of yoga this evening. I am SO ready for sleepy-time!

I did my lower body workout this morning, but I decided to do a little warm-up on the elliptical-of-death first, just to shake things up.  So I spent 5 minutes on there, and it felt so good, I almost RAN!  But I restrained myself, and went to work lifting weights.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it seemed so much easier today!  Was it the warm-up?  Or am I just amazingly strong?  Or both?  :D

Tonight I did 65 minutes of water-running in the pool.  That, and the .21 miles I did on the ellipitcal (yes, I'm counting it!)  makes my total miles for today 6.71.  :)

This morning I did a 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike.  This evening I did an hour of yoga.   ZZZZZzzzzzzzz......

I did an Upper Body Work Out this morning and followed by a 2 1/2 hour water-run.  It was a very good morning.  Now I'm tired.  :D

Well, 40 minutes may seem like a long time to run a 5K in, but considering I can't run and had to WALK the whole thing, it's not too bad!  :D  I don't have my official time yet, but I'm pretty sure I did it in under 40 minutes.  That race was SO crowded!  Ben and I were the last ones to cross the starting line, but we had to weave like crazy to get around all the people, their strollers, and their dogs.  How irritating!  Still, it was kind of fun to get to pass so many people.  I was hoping to do the walk in about 40-42 minutes, so I feel pretty happy about the race.  Oh, how I MISS running, though!  Walking fast is SO much harder!  :D

This morning was a lower body workout. I'm getting bored with my routine. So starting on Wednesday, I've decided to try out some P90X a couple of times a week, and see how my back does. This evening I went to spin for 23 minutes, and did 6 miles. I don't know if it's because of the weight training or because of the water-running, but I can move my legs SO much faster than before! I used to HATE sprints, but now I can KILL them! :D After my short spin class, I went to the weight room and did more assisted pull-ups, some hip adduction/abduction, and some torso rotations. Just mixin' it up a little. :D

I had to make up for missing my water-run last night, so after I did my 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike, I headed over to the pool for an hour of water-running. This evening I will go do an hour of yoga. :D

Well, as promised. I did my P90X Shoulders and Arms routine this morning. It was fun - I worked out with Ben in our basement home gym, and with the mirrored wall I was able to see how much progress I am making in my strengthening and toning.  It is FUN to have muscles!  I had tendons popping out in places I didn't know I had tendons!  Not that I'm all muscle-bound or anything, but showing a little definition sure beats looking at flab.  :D

I followed up shoulders and arms with ab-ripperX.  Then, because I was so starved afterwards, Ben and I went out to lunch at all-you-can-eat sushi.  I had planned to only eat enough to fulfill my usual portion size, and I stayed away from the rolls and stuck with sashimi, but I was so hungry I probably ate twice the amount I should have!  For "dessert," I let myself have a small piece of orange chicken.  I know, it's silly, but I'm getting such fantastic results with my meal plan that I don't really even WANT to cheat!  My weight has stabilized, but my fat % continues to decrease and is being replaced with muscle mass.  It is a glorious thing.

This evening, to work off all that delicious sushi, I went to an hour of spin class and then finished off the evening at the pool for 65 minutes of water-running.  I'm thinking I earned those extra calories.  We shall see if all that food affects anything tomorrow.  I actually ate according to plan all day long, except for the sushi....

Boy, oh boy was I TIRED this morning!  It was a weird night last night.  I kept waking up every few minutes because I thought someone was in my room.  Then my 4-year-old woke up just after midnight screaming in a panic for no apparant reason!  But after that, things seemed to settle down.  Still, I had to content myself with less than five hours of sleep, since the alarm goes off at 5:15 AM.  I made it to the gym for my HIIT on the recumbant bike, but I don't think I pedalled as hard as I usually do.  My mind was tired from too little sleep, and my body was tired from the hours of workouts that I did yesterday.  Still, I got the job done, sweat like crazy for a while, and felt pretty good about my workout overall.  This evening I did an hour of yoga, then decided I needed to sweat some more, so I revisited the elliptical-of-doom, and, despite STILL feeling tired, ran my tail off to get a mile in!  It only took me 20:50, which is pretty good for me.  That machine is HARD!!!  After that, I took a half mile walk on the treadmill to cool myself down.

It was a P90X morning.  I did legs and back, minus the back.  But I DID use weights this time...something I haven't done before.  We'll see if it makes me sore or not!  Then I did some ab-ripper.  I thought about doing something else this evening, but....nah!  I'm good.  :D

I started out this morning with a 2 hour and 41 minute water-run.  I fiured it would take me about 40 laps to get the time in, so I dedicated each lap to a year of my life, and spent the time on each lap thinking about the events of that particular year.  It made the time pass more quickly, but I kept noticing that I wasn't working as hard, so I would have to try to exert myself more.  In the end, I decided that I needed to make up for my lack of exertion, so I went to the gym this afternoon and put in a 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike.  I then did a 10 minute walk on the treadmill, and a mile on the elliptical that I hate, and cooled down with another 10 minutes on the treadmill.  Then Ben and I went to the local BBQ and stuffed ourselves like piggies.  Maybe I should do some P90X, to chase all that food down.  But I probably won't....  :D

This morning I let myself sleep in until 7:00!  It was awesome.  I wasn't actually sleeping, just laying there thinking about how nice it was that today is a holiday, and my hubby is home, and I had no commitments to make me have to get up early.  But finally I got out of bed so I could get my workout in.  I did P90X Shoulders and Arms, and followed it up with ab-ripperX.  After that, I did my physical therapy while Ben was out running.  When he came back, he wanted sushi, so I gave in and agreed to go, as long as we biked there and back.  I rode my mountain bike, since I'm not ready to bend over my road bike yet...not for a couple more weeks.  We did about 22 miles in a total of about 90 minutes...with a *nice* lunch break in between!  I allowed myself to eat as much as I wanted of the good sashimi and veggies, until I was satiated but not "full."  It lasted about an hour and a half, and then I was hungry again.  But I made myself wait another hour before I ate.  I'm going to be playing with my food intake until I can figure out what my body needs.  My own personal science experiment.  :D

Actually, my plan was to take it easy this week, and give myself a little recovery time.  So much for that.  Just in case any of you really think I'm crazy, let me just tell you what Ben has done so far today.  He did P90X in the basement while I was doing mine upstairs - except he did chest and back and ab-ripper.  Then he ran 9 miles while I did my physical therapy.  Then we biked 22 miles on our mountain bikes.  Now he's headed to the gym to get a few more miles in on the treadmill.  And then we're going to the pool so he can swim 100 lengths.  See?  See what I have to live with?  We were comparing abs today, and I was trying to show him my teensy bit of definition, when he lifted up his shirt and put me to shame.  How come I never noticed those sweet abs on my husband?  I swear they weren't there a month ago!

Anyway, I'm having a blast doing my thing and feeling good about myself.  I've never felt better in my life!  I didn't realize that getting fit could be so fun.  Yes, it IS hard, but SO worth it.

5.32 miles on the recumbant bike this morning for my HIIT.  Then this evening, an hour of yoga.  :D

I got up this morning and did my P90X legs routine w/ab-ripper.  Then I realized i couldn't go water-running tonight due to another engagement, so I headed over to the pool after P90X to get 63 minutes in.  I missed running on Monday, so I couldn't bear to miss it again!  Only three more weeks until I get to actually run on the road again - hallelujah!!!!

Today started with a 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike.  I was feeling pretty good, so I tried to out-do what I did on Tuesday, but I ended up doing the exact same amount of miles!  Ha!  Tonight I went to ZUMBA for the first time in months, and it was FUN!  But not anywhere near as hard as it was the last time I went.  I love that I'm getting stronger.  After zumba I went to yoga class, and it was easy, too.  :D

Today I celebrated my 39th birthday by getting up at 5:00 AM and heading straight to the pool for 2 hours and 52 minutes of water-running.  Yay.  But I ALSO celebrated by taking a short nap this afternoon!  YAY!!!  Actually, I'm going to REALLY celebrate tomorrow, when we baptize my little girl and then stuff ourselves full of all kinds of good food and a variety of cakes....ahhhh.....  :D

I brought my 18-year-old son with me for my workout this morning.  We wanted to see how well he could keep up with his ole mom.  We started with a HIIT on the recumbant bike.  I had him start at the exact same time as me, and up the resistance at the same times so we coupld have a perfect comparison.  I was pedaling faster than him the whole time, so I kept ahead of him on the miles.  I was working!  Then, suddenly, at the last moment, he pulled ahead of me!  I could NOT figure it out!  I finished at 5.38 miles, and he was at 5.41...and I KNOW I was pedalling faster than he was at the end.  Finally, we figured out that he didn't lower his resistance as far as I did on the cool-down, so that's how he pulled ahead.  Still, I was happy to finish 0.6 miles ahead of my usual mileage.  :D

We immediately followed up the bike with a full upper body workout.  I did pretty good, but at the end I bonked a little, since I hadn't eaten breakfast and I needed fuel.  Joshua couldn't lift the weights that I was lifting - they were too much for him.  HA!  HAHAHA!!!  Well, if he tried it a few more times, he would probably kick my trash, but in the meantime...BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

My plan this morning was to do P90X legs, but Ben woke up to do it with me, and since he has it downloaded on his laptop, we were able to actually do the workout in our GYM instead of in my office!  And THAT means that I had a pull-up bar to work with...so instead of doing JUST legs, I was able to do legs AND back!  I'll admit, I looked like an idiot trying to do the pull-ups, but Ben said that he could see the muscles in my back, so I tried evern harder to do them.  :D  Boy oh boy, did I work up a sweat!  It was a great workout.  And we topped it off with ab-ripper X.  I'm loving watching the definition appear in my abdomen.  I don't believe I have ever had ab definition before, but maybe I was just not paying attention when I was a youth.  Oh, well, it doesn't really matter to me.  I'm just glad to be a 39-year-old mother-of-eight-babies with AB muscles!  Yes!!!

This evening we went to the pool, as usual, and I did 63 minutes of water-running.  This weekend I will have built up to my three hours of water-running, and then - back to the road!!!!  Actually, I promised myself that I would try to stay off my legs until eleven weeks had gone by, so I have to wait until March 9th, but that still gives me a couple of days to try out real running before I run the Dallas Rock-n-Roll Half on March 14th.  I guess I will have to keep water-running for another week, but at least I will be finished with the REALLY long runs.  Oh, so BORING.

I did my HIIT on the recumbant bike this morning with Joshua again.  I was NOT going to let him kick my trash again, so I pedaled like a maniac and didn't lower my levels as quickly as he did.  In fact, on the cool down, I kept my resitance up by quite a bit!  But he ended up coming in almost 2 tenths of a mile higher than me!  I think the machines lie.  So I covered up my shame by doing an hour of ZUMBA and an hour of YOGA this evening, just to show the boy who the boss is.  :D

This morning I did P90X shoulder and arms, and, of course, finished off the workout with ab-ripperX.  Then this evening I did an hour of water-running at the pool, afterwhich Ben wanted to go put some miles in at the gym, so I did 22 minutes on the elliptical-of-doom (1.01 miles) and cooled down with 22 minutes on the treadmill, walking (1.13 miles).  I went a long way between meals, so I was HUNGRY this evening!  :D

I started out this morning with my usual HIIT on the recumbant bike.  I felt like my heart wasn't in it, but I tried to do my best anyway.  My milage was a little lower than it has been recently, but not too bad.  I DID work up a really good sweat!

I decided to take a free day on food today, because I really wanted sushi buffet and because I had to travel with a group of friends to an audition.  So I gorged myself on sushi and followed up our audition day with a trip to Dairy Queen for a medium-sized peanut-butter-cup-cheesequake blizzard!  Yummy, yum yum!  Then I drank water like a crazy woman, because I had totally forgotten to drink all day, and it made me feel very bloated.  I was later getting to the gym in time for ZUMBA, and I really felt too full to do yoga, so I decided to try doing something cardio to help sweat it off.  Nothing sounded appealing, so I started walking on the treadmill.  That wasn't doing the job for me, so, in a moment of extreme weakness, I RAN.  Yes, it's true.  It felt SO GOOD to run again...I can't even express it.  This is a week and a half earlier than I had planned, but I was surprised at how easy it felt.  I was only going to do a teensy bit of running, but once I got started, I couldn't help myself, and I just had to find out how conditioned I was.  This is what my workout looked like.

1 mile walk at 3.0 MPH

1/2 mile run at 6.0 MPH

1/2 mile walk at 3.0 MPH

Then I started running at 6.5 MPH, and every tenth of a mile I upped my speed 1/10th of a mile faster, until I got to 7.5 MPH.  I did 2/10th there, and again at 8.0, 8.5, 9.0, 8.5, 8.0, and 7.5 MPH.  I finished with 1/10th of a mile at 7.0, 6.5, and 6.0, then cooled down with a 4/10ths walk at 3.0 MPH.  My total time on the treadmill was 63:04, and I did a total of 5 miles.  I figure that the 5k I ran was approximately 26:30.  Not bad for 9 1/2 weeks off!  I'm still going to try to be good for another week and a half, but I may sneak a run or two in before then...we'll see how/if my back reacts.

Easy Friday - only ONE workout today!  And it was a Lower Body Workout.  I went back to the gym to do the weight machines for the first time in a couple of weeks, and I was SHOCKED to find out how easy it was!  Good ole P90X!  I started out the workout with a 10-minute warm-up on the dreaded elliptical, then moved over to the machines.  I finished my last set of leg extensions at 92.5 lbs., and it was just right - everything else needed to increase a LOT.  When I started this in January, I was only doing 67.5 lbs. on my final set!  Every weight I did felt easy.  I wrapped up the session with some ab-ripperX.  I weighed in this morning at 123 lbs, the day after a VERY free-food day, so I figured that wasn't too bad.  :D

This morning was my LAST long pool run - hopefully!!!  I'm so happy I think I need to have a party!  I did a full three hours.  Monday I'm going to hit the road, Jack.  :D

I ran on the road today...TWICE!  And I LIKED it.  :D

This morning I ran with my good friend Gail who recently had a baby.  We did 4.05 miles in 54 minutes...pretty slow for me, but I'm trying to see how my legs do after so long off of them, and I want to be careful not to overdo.  I knew I still needed a good workout after that, so at lunchtime I did P90X Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps with Ben, and followed it up with Ab-RipperX.  It was my first time doing that particular workout, but it was fun - LOADS of push-ups!  Then the running bug got to me, and I hit the road again.  I decided to run for thirty minutes, just to see how far I could go in that amount of time.  I gave a good effort without pushing too hard, and ended up doing 3.57 miles.  I thought for 2 seconds about swimming tonight, but decided against it.  I'm pretty tired now...think I'll go to bed.  :D

Today was a HIIT day, so I started on the recumbant bike and did 5.32 miles in 20 minutes.  That is becoming a very familiar number to me.  I finished the evening at the gym, doing an hour of Zumba and an hour of Yoga. 

This morning I ran with Gail and Jenna again.  We ran for 1:06:41, and did 5.35 miles.  We were taking walk breaks after every three minutes of running, plus we had a couple of stretch stops that I didn't count.  I would love to go out and really try out my legs, but I'm also trying to be prudent about easing back onto the road.  It's hard to be patient, but I'm glad I have some people to run with who will keep me from over-doing at first.  I'm really looking forward to the Dallas Half Marathon on the 14th!  It's going to be fun to see how fast I can go!  I read an article that said that for every 5 pounds gained, you increase your running time by approximately 5%.  If the opposite is true, I should be able to run a sub-four marathon just by virtue of my weight loss alone!  Of course, I have to take into account my lack of training for the last three months...but maybe the increase in strength will make a difference, too.  :D

Today was also a lower-body-workout day, but I was running short on time...so I had to resort to squats, lunges, and calve raises.  I used the BFL method, doing 5 sets of 12, 10, 8, 6, and 12 again, followed by a set of a different type to mix it up.  I kept my weights between 8 and 15 lbs., but it felt SO easy.  I was sweating when I finished, but probably more because of the temperature of my room than because of the weight training.  I finished off that workout with P90X ab-ripperX.

Later....

Ben came home from work early to get a run in, and I had a piano lesson cancellation, so I decided to join him for an "easy" run.  We ended up doing 4 more miles together.  He said he didn't want to go over a nine-minute pace, and it felt really easy.  I would have run faster if I was alone, so it's a good thing I wasn't!  I had a little bit of a pull in my left inner-thigh...probably from the squats and lunges.  We'll see how it feels tomorrow.  On the last mile, we nearly were run down by some punk kids in their daddy's jeep, so Ben shot a well-aimed loogy onto their car as they drove past us.  Well, the kid driving wasn't about to look bad in front of his friends, so he peels out and backs up to try to pick a fight with Ben.  It was hilarious!  After that, of course, Ben was all fired up and began to pick up the pace.  We ended up doing our 4 miles in 37:13, and that includes the little "discussion" we stopped to have with the boys.  I thought about going to the pool to swim, but after all that running, I'd better spend some time on my traction machine, just for good measure.  :D

I did 5.33 miles on the recumbant bike this morning for my HIIT.  Due to the slight strain I feel in my inner thigh, I'm planning to take it easy for the rest of the day, so I don't cause any kind of damage a week before my race.  But you never know what the afternoon might bring...

I got up early today to run with the gals.  We did 3 slow miles in 37:46.  My legs felt tight, but not in pain, so it was probably just what I needed to loosen them up.  After that, I came home and did P90X Core Synergistics.  I haven't done that workout since my diagnosis in Decemebr, so it was fun to try it out again - especially since it was SO easy!  I felt pretty good about those things for my workout, and was planning to be done for the day, but...

This evening I decided that if I didn't do my Upper Body Workout, I'd probably end up skipping it, which would throw off my plan for weight training for next week.  With the race next Sunday, I didn't want to mess up my schedule.  So I went to the recreation center to get it in.  Joshua came with me, and we worked out together.  It's fun to be stronger than my 18-year-old son, but he is a good sport about it.  He knows he could kick my can if he wanted to.  :D  Also, Ben wanted me to meet him at the pool so that he could run there.  I wasn't going to swim, because I hate getting the chlorine in my hair, but...

I eneded up deciding I would do about 40 lengths, since I haven't swum at all since December.  I thought it would be like starting over.  But as soon as I got started, I could tell that I am a different person than I was three months ago.  I swam 80 lengths at a faster pace than I used to swim, and it didn't even feel like I was working out!  Getting stronger is fun.

Even though we stayed up until 1:00 AM like the fools we are, I got up at 6:00 so that I could go try out my legs for 10 miles.  I ran with the gals for the first eight miles, which was probably good for me, since the left adductor is still feeling funny.  It feels like it's going to pop at any time, so I guess I need to be really careful this next week to let it rest up.  I'm not good at being careful, as is evident by my previous behavior.  We ran/walked the first eight miles in 1:40:14.  Joshua and Hyrum were with us, but Hyrum only did 5 miles.  At the end, Joshua and I ran the last two miles in 18:30...no land speed record, but I didn't want to pull a muscle.  I promised Ben that I wouldn't do anything else today to workout, so I'm going to try to keep that promise.  Instead, I'm going to eat candy and junk food like there's no tomorrow!  Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.  :D

I wonder if there's a way to kinesiotape the adductor muscle?  Hmmm....

Ben and I went on a nice, recreational bike ride this afternoon on our mountain bikes.  We did ten miles, so I might as well count it.  It was a very enjoyable ride.  We meant to do it slowly enough to NOT get all sweaty, but there was this one, big hill...  :D

I woke up at 4:50 AM this morning to go running with my girlfriends, but I got a text a few minutes later saying that it was raining outside, so they weren't going.  Well, I can run in the rain, but I can't run in the rain all by myself at 5:00 in the morning!  So I went back to bed for another hour of sleep, which is probably what I needed most, anyway.  At 7:30 I decided that I should probably get to my day, so I ate some breakfast and decided it was time to run.  I wanted to do the 5 miles I was going to do with the girls, but I also needed to hit the gym for a lower body workout.  So I decided to run the 5.5 miles to the gym, and have my son pick me up later.  I talked my daughter into running with me, and told her NOT to let me go too fast.  We ran at a very comfortable conversational pace, and I forced myself to take walk breaks after every five minutes of running.  Even at all that, we ended up doing the 5.5 miles in 52:46 - about the same pace that I was running before I had to quit for ten weeks!  This felt SO much easier than it used to feel.  I don't know if all that water-running made me a better, faster runner, but one thing is certain - it didn't hurt me at all!  And certainly all the weight training I've been doing must be making a difference.  If only I wasn't nursing this tight adductor - I'd really like to find out what I can do!

Anyway, when I arrived at the gym, I decided to jump on the treadmill to play with my speed, just a little - and I ran one more mile in 8:38.  It was really easy.  I was so tempted to do more at a faster pace, but I restrained myself.  I don't want to sacrifice my race this weekend for a few minutes of pleasure now.

Then I did my LBWO - leg extensions, lying leg curls, calve raises, and Ab-RipperX.  My legs felt good and tired when I finished.  That is the only leg workout I plan to do this week, other than running and maybe some biking, so I can rest them up for the race.  I think I'm good for the day.  I might do some swimming later tonight, just for fun.  :D

Later....I ended up going to the pool with Ben.  I started swimming, but wasn't feeling it, and I considered quitting at twenty lengths.  But then I thought I might as well do 40, and by then, 50 sounded doable, so I kept going.  I ended up doing 70 laps - almost a mile.  Ben and I celebrated by going to Bajio's for huge ensaladas.  :D

It was raining again this morning, so I took two of my boys to the gym so they could get their runs in.  Hyrum did 3 miles (he's new to this) and Elijah did 4 miles (he's my 12-yr-old marathoner!).  I did 3.1 miles easy in 28:40, then went immediately to the recumbant bike for my HIIT.  I thought about doing it on the treadmill, but I have to run pretty fast to get my heart rate up high enough, and I don't dare do that yet with the half-marathon this weekend.  I felt a little tired on the bike because I had just run, so I don't think my levels were as high as they should have been, but my mileage was the same as usual...so maybe I did better than I think I did.  :D

This evening I did an hour of Zumba and an hour of yoga.  I'm starting my "carbing-up" for the race this weekend, but I'm planning to just add extra fruits, veggies, and whole grains, and keep the fat to a minimum.  I plan to avoid junk food altogether until after the race - then...FREE DAY!  :D

I did a five mile run this morning with Gail.  We did it in 1:00:51 - she's getting faster!  Then I followed it up with P90X Back and Biceps and one final round of Ab-RipperX before the race. I had planned on eating good, but I have been starving again all week - I'm hungry before, during, and after every meal! So I got sick of that, and decided I needed a free meal. I guess there's really no such thing as that, but I took one anyway. It feels SO GOOD not to feel hungry for a minute, but I know I'll need to eat again in an hour or so. Ben and I went to the sushi buffet, and even though I ate MOSTLY clean, I ate in LARGE portions. I did eat some chocolate-covered almonds at the end, but I'm calling it "carbing-up" and will go with it. My plan for Dallas is to pack in the majority of my food, and add extra fruits, veggies, and whole grains to build up my glycogen stores. Ben laughed at me and said "You're CARBING UP? It's ONLY a half-marathon!" Thank you, Mr. Ultra-marathon. Anyway, that is my plan...we'll see how good I am at actually DOING it.

I did my 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike this morning, finishing 5.35 miles.  Then when I arrived home from the gym, I took two of my boys out running.  We did the first 1.88 miles together, with walk breaks, in the first 21 minutes.  Then I semi-ran home, opening up a little more on the throttle, and finished another 1.27 in 10:54.  It felt good to increase my speed a bit.  After the race, I want to implement just a little bit of speed work.  I'm undecided as to how much to give to this race, since I've only been on the road for two weeks, and I DO still have a marathon to prepare for in May.  We shall see.

I've been experimenting a bit with eating some carbs prior to working out, because of an article I read on active.com, which said that you can get more out of your workouts by fueling up with some carbohydrates about a half hour before your workout.  The article said you can work out much harder, thus burning more fat.  I tried a bit of raisen bran yesterday, and about halfway into my workout, I started feeling really nauseated.  So today I tried some homemade granola, and I felt great for the bike, but about a mile into the run I felt like I was experiencing a little hypoglycemia.  I'm thinking I do better NOT eating before I workout...maybe my crazy blood-sugar issues can't handle the carbs without some balancing protein.  I'm going to play with it some more, and see what I discover.  :D

I spent 22 hours in a car to get to Dallas...does that count as exercise?  Yes.  An exercise in patience and long-suffering.  :D

I only had time today to get in a quickie warm-up for the race tomorrow.  I did a little running on the treadmill, starting out slow and gradually increasing my speed.  I ended up doing 2.15 miles in about 19 minutes.

Yay!  I feel like a real runner again!  I was unsure how to approach this race, knowing that I have only been back on my legs for a couple of weeks, and also knowing that I have a full marathon to run in only a couple of months.  I went back and forth on the issue, because I really feel stronger and think that I could push it harder, but also knowing that my body is unaccustomed to the impact.  Luckily, I met a fellow named Matt at the convention I was attending who was shooting for a sub-two-hour half, and I decided to run with him, to help pace him, and to help pace myself.  His previous race time was 2:11, I think.  We started out with our group, Bill Phillip's Transformers, at the very end of the 9,000 runners.  Needless to say, we did a LOT of weaving!  We ran the first couple of miles in about 18 minutes, and then I told him I was going to start taking walk breaks after every five minutes of running.  He said, "Good, because you're kicking my butt!"  I think I worked him pretty hard, but I felt great the entire race, and was able to converse naturally, even though my pace consistently increased throughout the run.  Poor Matt had to break out his inhaler around mile 10, but I dragged him along until the last mile.  We had about 1.4 to go, and 12 minutes to do it in.  I said, "Do you want to get your sub-two, or do you just want to finish?"  He said, "I just want to curl up and die right now...but whatever."  I could tell he was struggling, but we continued along at an 8 minute pace, until the last 0.4 miles, and then I just had to sprint!  I ended up crossing the finish line with my garmin reading 13.2 miles at 2:00:41.  My official chip time was 2:00:38.  Overall, I placed 2520 out of 9229 runners, was 970 out of 5783 women, and placed 229 out of 1186 in my division.  Not too shabby for two weeks of training, methinks!  I know I could have gone faster, but I think I did the right thing.  We DID take a 2.5 minute potty-break, but sometimes running on an empty bladder is SO much better than sticking it out!  Anyway, Matt decided that if he subtracted the potty-break, he still reached his goal of a sub-two...so I think as soon as he forgives me for running him so hard, he'll be pretty happy with his race.  He finished about 20 seconds behind me.  Maybe I should have waited for him.....nah.  :D

It was a rock 'n Roll Marathon, so we had live bands every mile or so, and only a few cheerleading squads.  The course was nice...some light up-hills in the first 8 miles through some beautiful neighborhoods, and then mostly gradual down-hills in the last 5 miles.  Just enough of a change in elevation to keep my legs fresh.  I haven't had any soreness...so far.  It was a great race!  I loved it!  :D

I was in the car from 2:30 Sunday afternoon until 3:00 this afternoon...alll after running a half-marathon!  With only two weeks of training!  Miraculously, I feel very little soreness - only some very slight tightness in my hip flexors.  So this evening I did a light try-out-my-legs run.  Britnee and I did 2.5 miles in 24 minutes...but we did have a rather long stop after 1.35 miles.  Whatever.  The legs feel good.  :D

This morning was a HIIT on the recumbant bike.  I did 5.33 miles.  I thought about running, but figured I ought to get a day of rest after the race.  So this evening I did an hour of Zumba class, and then followed it up with an hour of Yoga class.  I'll run again tomorrow....

Wow!  Is it Wednesday already?!?

I ran with the girls this morning, but I dragged along my daughter, Britnee, as well.  We did the 5 mile loop, but Britnee and I decided to go ahead and run the last mile by ourselves at a quicker pace.  So we did the first 4.04 miles in 49:02, and then we did the last .96 mile in 8:09.  It felt good to open it up a little.  When I arrived home, I had some breakfast and warmed up, then did P90X legs and followed it up with ab-ripperX. 

This evening, Ben and I went on a bike ride.  Yes, after all these months, I dusted off my lonely road bike and tried to remember how to use the clips without falling on my face.  I am happy to report that my face is still intact.  We rode to and from the Ironman meeting in town, and ended up doing 15 miles in an hour.  When we got home, we pulled on our running shoes and ran a gentle 4 miles in 36:50.  Now I'm going to go strap myself on the traction unit, since I haven't done my physical therapy in a week!  :D

I woke up this morning with my legs and body feeling SO tired!  I guess I DO need a little recovery time after the race...whatever.  I tried to do my 20 minute HIIT, but it was a little weak, as is reflected in my lower numbers.  I thought about taking the rest of the day off, but Ben wanted to go to the lake and try out the frigid water.  I stuck a toe in, and decided it was NOT for me!  Maybe in a few weeks...or months.  :D  So instead, I put on my running shoes and did a slow, short 2.5 mile run in 23:10, just to keep it loose.  Oh, My!  Those legs are STILL tired!  We'll see how they feel tomorrow.  I'm planning to do 15 - 16 miles on Saturday.

I ran with the girls this morning...a slow 3 miles in 34:54.  I think I'm going to continue to run with them, because I love the company, and I can increase my weekly mileage without killing myself off from going too fast.  Spped work will have to come later, after I've had some more time on my legs.  :D

After the run, I did P90X chest, shoulders, and triceps, and then topped it off with a little bit of ab-ripperX.  I didn't get the entire workout in, because I ran out of time.

This evening Ben and I rode our bikes to the recreation center to pick up the packets for tomorrow's race.  Our time for the 13.4 miles, with all the traffic delays (we hit every light!) was 50 minutes.  I ate sugar like it was going out of style to make up for the easy workouts.  :D

It’s been a great day so far! This morning was the Spectrum 10K race. Ben and four of my children registered for it, but I never did, because of the half-marathon last weekend…I wasn’t sure how my legs were going to do, racing after 3 months without running. Anyway, I needed to do a 15 mile run today, in order to continue to prepare for the Ogden marathon in May. So I decided to run 9 miles down hwy 18 (St. George Marathon Route) and then jump into the race in Snow canyon, and “bandit” the run along with my kids. Well, Ben decided that since I would be running so slow, he would join me, and we drove out to Veyo and started the run right on everyone’s favorite hill – one mile up a pretty steep grade, and then two more miles of hill climbing before you FINALLY get to run down!

I really tried to run slowly, taking my walk breaks after every 5 minutes of jogging. When we finally arrived at the race start line, we realized that we had miscalculated the distance, and had already gone 9.86 miles in 1:36:47. I was kind of glad, because I wanted to do 15-16 miles, and now, just to get to the finish line, I would HAVE to do 16! My friend Katie wanted someone to run with for the race, so I agreed to stay with her and chat. We started, and Katie and I went along for about a mile-and-a-half, when I came across my son, Hyrum. He’s 14, slightly asthmatic, and was running his first 6 miles ever. He was walking along the side of the road, acting like he was going to throw up or something. So I sent Katie on, and told her I’d better stick with Hyrum. Well, that was probably a bad idea, because he really turned on the “I can’t do this” act, and after walking a half mile with him, I decided that even though it might hurt his feelings at first, he would do MUCH better using all that energy to run without me, than to continue with the drama. So I told him to walk until he felt better, and that I would go on ahead. I saw a tear forming as I took off, but sometimes you gotta do the hard thing, because it’s right for your child.

I sprinted for awhile, to see if I could catch back up with Katie. Since I was in the back of the pack, I felt like I was flying! I’m sure I scared more than one runner when I came screaming though – but it felt really good to do a little sprinting, so I didn’t care! I caught back up with Katie around mile 2.5, and I ALMOST finished the race with her. It wasn’t her day, and she was struggling. So the last half mile, I took off, and sprinted to the finish, completing the 6.2 miles in 57:04 minutes. My total miles for today – 16.06 in 2:33:51. I guess all that water-running was effective, because I didn’t feel like I had just tacked three more miles onto my long run – I still felt fresh and could have easily continued.

So as for my family – Ben finished the 10K in just over 43 minutes. He said it was easy, and he probably needs to start racing harder, since he PR’ed the race after already running 10 miles and without even trying. My son Joshua (18) surprisingly kept up with his Dad for the whole 6.2 miles, and placed 6th in his division. I was shocked that he can run that fast! My daughter Britnee (17) ran alone and finished in 51 minutes, taking third place in her division, and came home with a lovely new medal for her collection. Hyrum ended up finishing in something just over an hour (not sure yet) but the important thing is that he found his strength and willpower, and finished the race strong and felt really proud of himself afterwards! I KNOW that wouldn’t have happened if I had stayed with him. My son Elijah (12) came in at 46 minutes and took 1st place in his division, which won him a medal, a gift certificate for $20.00 off running shoes, and a free smoothie at Orange Peel. Guess which gift he’s most excited about? Yep. The free smoothie.

I didn't exercise this morning.  It made me feel a little bit like a slacker.  But my adductor muscle was really bothering me again after that long run on Saturday, and since it was a lower-body workout day, I didn't want to mess with it.  I slept in until 7:30, and it was NICE.  This afternoon, Ben came home and invited me for a bike ride.  We did 17 miles in just under an hour.  It was a good pace for me...working, but not TOO hard.  Then we went to the pool, and I did a little bit of water-running (31 minutes), since I didn't dare trust my leg to the road just yet.  I guess it has been a while, because it was a GOOD workout - not like the last few times I went, and hardly felt like I was doing anything!  :D

Well, I missed my morning workout today because I had to make an early morning trip to visit my accountant. So this evening, I did my 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike, getting in 5.31 miles.  After that, I thought I'd try out the treadmill for a couple of miles, just to see how the adductor was feeling.  Ooooo!  I felt it right away.  Such a bummer.  I ended up running only one mile, then deciding that I'd better quit and save the muscle for another day.  Plus, my shins were SOOO tight!  I guess all that downhill running affected me more than I thought it did.  I'm going to try to be smart, and skip my early morning run with the ladies tomorrow.  I need to heal, so that I can do 18 miles in 11 days.  Maybe I'll try another mile or two tomorrow.  Anyway, after that, I went to yoga class.  I only lasted 30 minutes.  I couldn't figure out why my upper body felt so tired, and then I remembered yesterday's bike ride!  It's shameful that I felt so tired because of that!  I need to start building up my miles on the bike again, I guess.

Today was an upper-body-work-out.  I used the dumbells to work chest, shoulders, back, triceps, and biceps.  I thought I might try running again, or some sort of cardio, but getting ready to leave town took all my time, so I never got around to it.  :(

After spending 7 hours in the car, I finally made it to the gym of the resort I'm staying in and had myself a nice cardio workout!  I did my 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike, finishing with 5.45 miles.  Then I hit the treadmill for a 3.1 mile run in 30:43.  I started the run at 5.0 MPH, and worked slowly up to 8.0 MPH.  Near the end, I really started feeling that adductor muscle pulling, so I backed off and called it a day. 

I took an easy run along the beach this morning - LOVE IT!!!  It's GREAT running at sea level.  :D  I kept it slow and easy, taking my walk breaks after every 5 minutes, and finished my run in 41:06.  The leg felt fine the whole time.  Tomorrow I'd like to try doing 10 miles, while Ben is racing.  :D  Later, we took a 2.5 mile walk along the beach.  Absolutely beautiful!  I love being on vacation.  :)

Today was the Oceanside Ironman competition.  Ben did awesome!  I was able to see him several times during the competition, since we are staying at a resort right on the harbor, where the competition started and the transistion area is.  Elijah and I took an 11.50 mile run during the bike portion of the competition.  We found a trail and followed it up a canyon.  It was slow and easy, with walk breaks.  My legs felt fine the whole time - no adductor problems at all.  I'll be ready for 18-20 next weekend.  :D

We spent all day at Disneyland.  I wore my sketcher's shape-up shoes, and my feet were KILLING me at the end of the day!  Other than that, I ate granola bars all day long and didn't get any exercise...  :D

Ben and I went for a run along the coast this morning.  We decided to run the first loop of the Ironman run.  It was REALLY slow going at first.  My shins totally locked up after about four minutes of running, and I had to stop.  I tried again, but had to sit down for a while.  I think it was the walking all day in my sketchers.  I thought I'd have to quit after a couple of miles, but by the end of the third mile, I was feeling better, so we kept going.  I took my walk breaks after every five minutes of running, but was able to finish the 7.05 miles in 1:12:23.  My legs actually felt better the longer I ran.  What a relief!  Tomorrow we're supposed to be at another amusement park all day - I think I'll wear my running shoes instead.  :D

Later on, I hit the gym for a mild HIIT on the recumbant bike - I did 5.07 in 20 minutes.  Then I did a little upper body work out - a set each of chest, back, biceps and shoulders.  I finished with a little bit of ab-ripper.  I'm trying to eat a little better today, but vacationing is tough on the nutrition plan.  :D

Ben and I did another run along the coast this morning.  I was hoping my shins would be feeling better, but they were doing the same thing as yesterday.  I ended up doing 4.2 miles in 42:01.  I'm thinking I'll have to take it pretty easy from this point on so that I can get my 18-20 miles in on Saturday.  :D

Tonight I did a 20 minute HIIT on the recumbant bike.  I did 5.27 miles.  I'm not sure if I'm sweating so hard because I'm hitting a "10," or if it's because it is so stinkin' HOT in the gym here!!!  Well, at least my sweat glands are getting a good workout....  :-)

We spent all day today at Knott's Berry Farm.  Then we drove home all night.  It was exercise, all right...but not the reportable kind.  :D

After arriving home at 2:30 this morning, I ran around all day long doing "rcovery" errands.  All I had time for was a quick 2 mile run here in the neighborhood before I had to be at my first appointment at 9:00.  Sleep was too valuable to get up any earlier.  Then by the evening, I was just too tired to do anything else.

Ben was a sweetie and agreed to do my 20 mile run with me today.  Since I was extending my last long run by 4 miles, I needed to take it really easy.  So we started with one minute walk breaks after every three minutes of running.  We did that for the first 7.5 miles uphill, at which point we took a potty break at the nearby McDonalds.  I adjusted my garmin to give us four minutes of running for every one minute of walking, and then it was four more miles of uphill before we finally hit the downhill side of the run.  But by then, we were pretty hungry, so we stopped at Del Taco and had break-fiesta egg wraps.  This, of course, made the whole run worthwhile to Ben.  :D  Two miles after that, we took another emergency potty break at town square, where the art festival was taking place, so we had to wait in line.  Then it was smooth sailing the rest of the way home.  We finished the 20 miles in 3:18:37, not counting the three stops.  My legs feel pretty good, but my feet are a little tired.  I did the whole run without my kinesiotape - first time since my injury over a year ago.  Progress! 

This afternoon, we went to the rec center so I could do my upper body workout that I missed yesterday.  I was tired, but I think I made it a good workout.  I am SO ready for bed now.  I'm probably still pretty sleep-deprived.  :)

I woke up at 4:40 AM this morning so that I could go do a 5-mile run with my kids. I felt surprisingly good, especially after the junk-fest last night for Easterand the 20 miler I did on Saturday. We took our walk breaks, but I got in a couple of good fartleks, too. We finished the run in 49:28.

When I arrived home, I did a lower-body work out - squats, lunges, calve-raises, and P90X ab-ripperX.  Now I'm off to go back to San Diego for a funeral, and then off to the Caribbean!!!

This morning I woke up to a beautiful San Diego morning and ran 4.01 nice, easy miles with my sister-in-law in about 52 minutes.  Then we attended a beautiful funeral and drove to Las Vegas to hop on a plane to the caribbean.  :D

Our plane ended up being delayed for FOUR hours!!!  So we didn't fly out of Vegas until 3:00 am.  Ben and I arrived in Punta Cana around 2:00 in the afternoon, and were checked into the Moon Palace Resort by about 4:00.  We ordered room service, took a much needed shower and a short nap, then discovered that the plumbing to the sink was disconnected, and we flooded our bathroom.  So we walked around the resort while they fixed our bathroom, then enjoyed an incredible mexican dinner and attended a Caribbean show.  When we got back to our room, we realized that our door didn't latch unless slammed, our television was gutted, and when we tried to go to bed, the smell of the mattress was horrendous!!!  So we asked for a new room, and at midnight, we finally were able to get transferred to a new room!  The only problem there, was that it had two double beds in it, instead of a king.  But we were so exhausted, we squeezed into the tiny bed and went to sleep.  Needless to say, we had a busy day.  :D

This morning we transferred to another room, this time with a KING sized bed!  Yay.  Other than our flight and room disasted, we are having a fantastic time in the Dominican republic!  This morning we woke up at 6:30 and ran around the resort, to get a better feel for it.  We did 3 miles in 29:35, then did a little more running on the treadmills in the gym.  We argued about the mileage, since the treadmill said it was in kilometers, but I was positive that 7.0 FELT like i was running 7 MPH.  When I finished another mile in just over 9 minutes, I kknew that no matter WHAT the treadmill said on the display, I was measuring in MPH, NOT KPH!  I was happy to be proved right when I finished, since the final readout showed MPH.  We had a fantastic breakfast - I ate an ham and egg-white omelet loaded with veggies, and fresh caribbean fruit for my carb.  Then Ben and I went back to the gym to catch the spin class.  I rode for 50 minutes, sweating like crazy in this humidity.  Tonight we are having dinner at a Japanese Teppanyaki grill...soooo tasty!  Then we plan to go back to the gym for some weight training.  :D

Something I ate did NOT agree with me last night, so I spent an uneasy night with all sorts of stomach pains and cramps.  Dang it.  I slept in, then decided to try out a run, to see if I could do it without doubling over.  So I walked over to the gym, and di a 3.13 mile run in a little over 31 minutes.  I felt pretty good while running, but felt pretty badly afterwards.  So I took it easy for the rest of the day, and Ben and I went on an excursion through parts of the Dominican Republic, touring a tobacco making place, the hill country near Punta Cana, and a typical Dominican residence and coffee/chocolate plantation.  I drank the BEST hot cocoa of my life!  And we bought some pretty souveniers - yay!  When we returned to the resort, we went back to the gym and I ran another 2.2 miles in 20:30, then did a short lower body workout with some squats, leg presses, leg curls, and some ab-ripper.  We ate dinner at a Brazillian barbeque, but my appetite is still somewhat weak.  When we returned to our room, I filled up the jacuzzi with some extra hot water, sweat like crazy for awhile, then we went to see an awesome show with a Michael Jackson impersonator!  It was a good day.  :D

This morning I woke up later than planned.  So when I headed outside to run, the sun was already high and hot, and, being the caribbean, it was humid.  I ran around the resort twice, logging 3.06 miles in 30:18.  By the time I finished, I felt like I was running with leaden feet, and I was sure I was dehydrated from the sweat that was coming off of me.  It was like someone was pouring water on top of my head.  So I went into the gym, hopped on the treadmill, and walked for a half mile while guzzling water.  I felt head-achy and exhausted.  I wanted to do a 20 minute HIIT on the treadmill, so I started running again, made it a tenth of a mile, and gave up.  I grabbed another bottle of water and began walking back to my room.  But after a couple minutes outside, I thought "I can do hard things!" and I walked right back into the gym and started up the treadmill again.  It was my first HIIT on the treadmill.  I'll admit, it turned into a 22 minute HIIT, because I let myself take a 2 minute walk break in the middle of the run, but I still logged 2.5 miles in the 22 minutes.  I started at a 6.0 MPH pace for my level 5, and finished with a 9.0 MPH pace for my level 10.  I know I can go a lot faster in the future, but for today, I know I hit my "10," because I was praying the last minute "PLEASE let this moment pass before I DIE!"  :D  I walked for three more minutes after that to cool down.  It was a great workout.  I ended up doing a total of 2.74 miles on the treadmill.

I decided to attend the resort Zumba class this morning.  It was...different.  Zumba, Dominican style!  Anyway, I did an hour of it, then decided to hit the treadmill for a short run.  I started at 6.0 MPH and gradually increased to 7.5 MPH.  I ended up doing 2.2 miles in 20:04.

We were going to get up early and run around the resort this morning, but when we woke up, it was raining like crazy outside.  So we opened up our sliding glass doors, went back to bed and slept to the sound of the pouring rain!  Tropical life is good.  We spent the majority of the day on a snorkle cruise around the reefs off of Punta Cana.  We had a little bit of rain, but the sun was shining high when it came time to snorkle.  This evening, although I REALLY didn't want to, we decided to go to the gym.  I committed to running two miles, just to say I did something.  My shins are still bothering me, and I was so tired from the day in the sun, that I would have gladly skipped my workout in favor of a nap.  But....I started on the treadmill at 6.0 MPH, ran 5 minutes, then walked for a minute.  After that, I alternately ran for four minutes and walked for one.  Each interval after that, I changeded my speed.  I did 6.5, 7.0, then decreased back to 6.0, and increased from there.  6.5, 7.0, 7.5, and 8.0...then my last two intervals I did at 6.5 and 7.0.  I ended up doing 5.06 in 50 minutes, so I felt pretty good about the workout.  When I get home, I'm really going to have to work my legs over to get those muscles to relax.  I'm looking forward to running on the road again, in NON-humid conditions!

This morning I went to the Dominican version of Zumba class again.  I tried to keep my legs and feet going and put a little more bounce in my step, so I think I got a little better work out than last time.  The Dominicans seem to be very laid back, so often when the teacher would change songs, class would stop altogether for a few minutes while he fiddled with his Ipod.  So I just jumped around a lot.  I had a good time.

After class, I hopped on the treadmill for another HIIT workout.  I started level 5 at 6.0 MPH, took a one minute walk break in the middle to drink some water, and topped it off at 9.0 MPH.  It's funny, because I did the same workout as last time, using the same levels, but with one minute LESS of walking, but I logged an extra (almost) quarter of a mile!  Go figure.  I finished 2.43 miles in 21 minutes.  Yay, me.  :D

I had food poisoning and was SICK and awake all night. Then I was sick and laid in bed as long as I could, until it was time to pack and head for the airport. Then I was sick all afternoon and evening on the plane, but was finally able to stomach some food by nightfall. Needless to say, no running or exercise of any other sort took place. :(

After driving home and arriving at 3:00 AM this morning, I slept in until ten. I needed it after not sleeping at all the night before!  My stomach still felt a little quesy today, but I was able to eat, so I tried to fuel up for an afternoon workout.  This evening, I went to the gym to do what was supposed to be a HIIT on the treadmill, but my body is still tired from the sickies, so I took some extra walk breaks.  I ended up doing 3:11 miles in intervals, finishing in 28:07.  After that, I immediately went over to the Zumba class and did an hour of fun dancing.  So I got in a decent workout, considering the circumstances.  :D

I did a two-mile run this morning as a warm-up to my workout, but then I was so tired that the two-mile run ended up BEING my workout!!!  I honestly have no idea how I'm going to manage doing 16 miles tomorrow.  My right leg feels totally locked up.  I could barely run this morning.  It took me 22:57 just to do the 2.05 mile loop.  Ouch!!!  :(

Ben and I drove up to Diamond Valley this morning to start our run.  I was pretty worried after yesterday, especially since I woke up feeling a lot of tightness in my right calf, and was practically limping when I started running.  We started on a really steep downhill grade, and I came very close to calling it quits...I was at that point when you think, "Am I being stupid here?  Maybe I should just NOT run today!"  But I ran anyway, and after the first 4-5 miles, it seemed to work itself out.  My feet were hurting by the last couple of miles, but I finished them anyway.  I finished the 16.6 miles in 2:34:22, with the first 12 miles at 1:50:53, and 13.4 miles right at 2 hours, then I slowed up a bit for the last 3 miles.  When I arrived back at home I rolled out my soleus muscles right away, and that took the pain out of my arches. 

Ben wanted to ride his bike up the canyon to pick up his car, but we were both hungry, so I decided to join him on the bike so we could stop to get some food.  Bad idea.  My legs were already tired, and I was starving to boot, so I could hardly pedal up the hill.  It was 7 miles to Albertos, and it took me almost 32 minutes to get there.  But the breakfast burrito I ate made the trip worth it.  It only took 24 minutes to do the same 7 miles back home.  :D

This afternoon, we stopped at Costco for some pizza, and ran into some friends of mine.  Ben had never met these people, but I knew Mike was an avid cycler, so we started talking about biking, and he and Ben hit it off.  The next thing I knew, Mike was inviting Ben to ride up Snow Canyon with him and his son this evening!  Of course Ben said yes, and, like a sucker, I agreed to come along.  I felt somewhat silly after the first few miles of hill climbing, as I fell way behind everyone else.  My legs were just DONE.  I ended up doing another 24.5 miles, most of it uphill, before it got too dark and I got too tired...and I finally called my son to come pick me up. 

I am SOOO glad tomorrow's Sunday!!!!  :D

I ran this morning with my girl friends.  It was exactly what I needed, since my legs are SO tired and sore from Saturday's workout.  We did a 5K in 36:59.  I came home after that and did an Upper Body Work Out.  This evening, we went to the pool, but on the way there, my baby touched a hot light bulb and burned his finger to a blistery crisp, so he refused to let me put him down, and I missed out on my swim.  I didn't feel too badly about that though, because I was tired and just wanted to go to bed.  :D

This morning Elijah and I did a five-mile run.  We finished in 48:19.  I feel like it's been a long time since I've had a really great run where I felt like I was very fast and feeling really good.  I think I'm just in a weird funk since I was out of town for so long.  I hope it gets better before the Marathon! 

Anyway, this afternoon I had planned to get to the gym for a HIIT on the treadmill, but I was late getting out of my piano lessons, so I ended up just having enough time to do a mile before Zumba class.  It took me 9:10 to run the mile.  Then I went straight to an hour of Zumba.  I felt pretty good for the first half of class, but then I must have run out of fuel, because I was just dragging the last half.  I quit 5 minutes early and downed a Zone bar, then went to an hour of yoga.  Yoga actually felt pretty good.  I really needed the stretch!

I've been trying to keep my eating really clean since Sunday, because my four weeks of wild abandon with my meals has cost me ten pounds.  Ben has been making fun of my extra love.  But I was down two pounds this morning, so I think if I just eat properly, it will be gone within the next week or so.  I do feel so much better when I eat what I'm supposed to!  It's nice to look good, too.  :D

Howdy folks!  This morning I ran 5 miles with my friends.  Actually, we mostly walked the last mile.  It was slow and easy, and just what I needed.  I've been really tired lately!  My legs are so sore...I'm not sure why they are taking so long to recover.  Whatever.  The run took us 1:03:40.  When I arrived at home, I did a full lower body work out followed by ab-ripperX.  Then this evening, I joined my daughter's youth group for a half-hour of hip hop dancing.  I think I'm not too bad for an old lady.  :D

I woke up at 4:45 this morning so that I could run with Britnee and Elijah.  We did 4 miles in 40:42.  This evening I had planned to do a HIIT on the treadmill, but I ended up having a change in my schedule, so I incorporated another road run instead.  I ran to the college to see a friend's play, and did another 5.2 miles in 48:49.

Ben and I registered for the Saint George Marathon today, along with three of our children.  Yay!

I did an upper body work out today.  I'm keeping it low-key in preparation for my long run tomorrow.  :)

I did a long run with Ben today.  It was the last long run before Ogden, and I was hoping to put in at least 22 miles.  We started out pretty easy, running 3 minutes and walking 1 minute.  After the first 9 miles, we stopped off at home to refuel, and when we started out again, I switched to 4/1 intervals.  But for some reason, I was totally winded when we started out again.  It probably didn't help that it was all uphill for the next 8 miles, but I felt totally wiped out.  I was feeling pretty worried about the upcoming marathon at that point.  I realized that my upper body was so tired from yesterday's work out that I was having difficulty swinging my arms.  Also, in thinking about my last Saturday work out, I realized that a 16.6 mile run and 38 miles on the bike was probably equivalent to running a marathon, so it was like I was doing two in a row.  At least, that's how I rationalized my intense fatigue.  Anyway, at mile 17.5, we stopped off for a quick breakfast burrito at Del Taco, then I finished my run.  I thought about stopping at 22 miles, and again at 23, but since I needed to be home and didn't have time to walk, I ended up doing 24.2.  The time, not counting the 2 stops, was 4:02:55.  So if I had continued another 2 miles, I would have come in around 4:20.  I decided that I am going to be delighted with 4:20 as a marathon time, and, most likely, I will do MUCH better in Ogden, since the course is mostly downhill, and I should be quite recovered between now and then.  So...whatever!  A finish is a win for me at this point.  There's only so much you can do to prepare for a marathon in 8 weeks!  :D

This morning I ran with the girlfriends, 5.02 miles in 1:01:14.  Then I did a lower body workout, complete with a session of P90X ab-ripperX.  Then this evening, just for fun, Ben took me out cycling and we did an easy 32 miles in 1:54:26.  Based on my calculations, at the rate of speed I was going, I should be able to do the 56 mile bike portion of the Utah half in 3:20 or so...maybe a tad faster.  The question is, will my shoulders be able to handle it?  Darn weak girlie upper body!  This is a problem I will have to rectify ASAP. 

I was so tired today, I almost convinced myself to stay in bed this morning!   My body felt like it was exhausted from the workouts of the past few days, and I began to think that maybe I was just a LITTLE bit insane for getting out of bed and heading to the gym anyway for a HIIT.  In fact, my quads are still spasming - they've been jumping around since yesterday morning's workout.  So when I arrived at the gym, I gave myself permission to try out the treadmill, and then quit if anything felt too funny...I definately don't want to damage anything with a marathon on the horizon!  I started with a nice slow jog for a mile (10:43), then hopped off and stretched for a minute.  Everything was still working, so I jumped back on the treadmill and started the HIIT.  I gave myself permission to stop for a walk between intervals, but as I got going, I thought that maybe I could do two in a row, then three, and before I knew it, I was finished!  It was my first complete HIIT on the treadmill, without my cheater breaks!  Now that it is over, and I survived, I'm quite certain I need to up the speed.  I had started with a 6.0 MPH as my warm-up, then went from 6.5-9.0 MPH for my levels.  I probably should shoot for 10.0 MPH, but I'm always afraid of doing too much and pulling or tearing something.  That's why I've avaoided doing my HIITs on the treadmill to begin with!  But 9.0 MPH was definately NOT a "10" for me, so I'll have to rethink that.  I'm taking the rest of the day as a rest day, not because I wanted to, but because I have to go to a meeting tonight.  I probably need a mini-vacation for my muscles anyway.  :D

Oh my goodness!  I think something is seriously wrong with me.  I only exercised ONCE today!  Second day in a row!!!  :D

After another night of little sleep, I woke up at 4:50 to run 5 miles with the girls.  We did it in 1:00:10.  Then I followed it up with an upper body workout.  And then...I stayed home all evening and watched AVATAR for the first time!  We bought it when it first came out, but I never found three hours to plop down in front of the TV.  So I sacrificed my planned swim and stayed home instead.  And now...I'm going to go to bed at a decent hour!  And sleep in tomorrow until 7:00!!!!  I'm giddy just thinking about it.  :D

I did another HIIT on the treadmill today.  Yay!  I did a warm-up run of 1 mile in 10:04, then stopped to stretch.  Then I started the 20 minute HIIT, but this time I warm-ed up at 6.0 MPH, and topped off at 10.0 MPH.  It felt great to do a good sprint!  After the HIIT, I continued cooling down for another .16 miles, making my total miles for the day 3.6.  I want to do more with burst training, since the pro athlete we had dinner with the other night (Matt Lieto) said that interval work is ALL the training he does.  :D

Ben and I woke up at 4:15 so that we could do our last long-ish run before Ogden Marathon.  Tomorrow is the Ironman, so we didn't want to get up uber early to run and then have to be at the venue all day until midnight.  I'll probably still try to get in a HIIT on the treadmill tomorrow, and maybe the LBWO I'm missing today.  Anyway, we had a great run, doing 15 miles in 2:23:19.  My legs felt SO much better today than they did last week!  I think the treadmill intervals are really going to make a big difference in my running strength and speed - exciting! 

I did my HIIT on the treadmill this morning, beginning with a 1.01 mile warm up in 10 minutes, and then doing the 20 minutes with levels beginning at 6.0 MPH and topping off at 10.0 MPH. This time, I increased my levels just a bit so that I could do a full minute at 10.0 MPH. I ended up doing 2.49 miles in 20 minutes.  My friend Leslie told me that she does her level 10 at 11.0 MPH...I'm going to give that a try next time and see how it feels...scary!!!  I did a 1 minute cool-down at 6.0 MPH, for a grand total of 3.61 miles in 31 minutes.

We spent the rest of the day at the Ironman venue, running around and supervising all of our volunteers.  It was SO MUCH FUN!!!  The aid station ran like clockwork, and then we spent another couple of hours cheering for the last of the finishers until we were hoarse.  What a fantastic, inspiring day!  :D

Today is day ONE of my new training program, which includes my 17-weeks-until-half-ironman-triathlon schedule, and my 21-weeks-until-saint-george-marathon schedule, combined with my 4-weeks-until-becoming-a-fitness-bootcamp-instructor schedule! I was a little freaked out when I realized all that I would have to do this summer, but once I had written it all out on a calendar, it really wasn't much more than I'm already doing. So I started this morning with a 50 minute run, doing 5.6 miles total. Then I went to bootcamp training, where we ran another half mile jog, then did a great arm and ab workout, and followed it up with some stabilizer strenthening exercises with the bands. After that, I did my 60 minute bike ride, taking along my trainer friend Kim, and we did 15 miles of hill work. But when I got back home, Ben wanted to go out again, so I did another 51 minutes on the bike, finishing 15.6 more miles. Needless to say, food is tasting really good right now. :D

Today I started the morning by hitting the gym for a HIIT on the treadmill.  I warmed up with a mile in 9:28, then played with some higher levels of intensity.  I added a few walk breaks so that I could recover a little more, and ended up doing 3 miles in 24:58.  Immediately after the gym, I headed over to the park for bootcamp training.  Then I did another .5 mile jog at bootcamp.  I've been getting my arms worked over, so I was a little worried about the open water swim tonight at Sand Hollow Reservoir...I should have been more worried about freezing to death and/or drowning!  I ended up swimming about a half mile, but it was so cold I had trouble breathing, and then on the way back to the beach, the swells were timed just perfectly so that everytime I came up for air, I got splashed.  Fun, fun.  That swim made me feel both hopeful and discouraged about tri training.  But I felt better after Ben told me that he had a hard time swimming as well.  :D

I got to sleep in until 6:00 this morning!!! It wasn't enough.

Bootcamp started at 6:30, and I ran a bit for a warm-up.  We did MORE arm stuff (And I'm FEELING it!) and then I had some breakfast and headed out on the bike.  My plan was to take it really easy, since I'm supposed to be tapering for Ogden.  I rode up through Ivins, picked up my friend Kim, then headed out towards Gunlock for a little ways, turned around, and went through Santa Clara back to my house.  I ended up with 32.5 miles in 2:07:52, which I figure is okay for all the hills we did.

My body is wasted!!! So much for tapering...

I woke up at 5:00 to do intervals on the treadmill at the gym, but I was literally struggling just to finish a one mile warm-up.  It's not so much that my muscles are fatigued, just that the rest of me is exhausted!  I've actually been falling asleep while teaching music lessons - very bad.  I probably should have stayed in bed, but...

Anyway, I did a couple of high intensity intervals, but not the full workout.  All together, I ended up with 2.7 miles in 25:12.  Then I headed over to bootcamp training, where I was supposed to mostly watch, but they put peppy music on, and the next thing I knew I was doing plyometrics.  Ben would shoot me!  I'm seriously going to have to start tapering.  But first, I need to get a swim in.....

LATER....

Fighting against much negative inner dialogue, I finally made it to the pool this morning and forced myself to swim.  I figured I would have to wash my hair anyway, so I might as well get in the water.  I told myself I would do 20 lengths, and then...whatever.  I ended up doing 60 lengths.  It was a bit short of the 45 minutes I was supposed to do, (actually a LOT!) but I am happy about it anyway.  Yay!

I showed up for bootcamp training this morning, but no one else did, so Kim and I got our friend Helen and did a 19.5 mile bike ride in 1:22:17.  Just for fun, I made the girls switch to their running shoes and do a quickie mile after the ride, just to get our feet used to it.  It took 10:49 to do 1.12 miles, but we did a lot of walking, and the loop we ran was pretty hilly...so all in all, it wasn't too bad a run.  :D

I was feeling like I was about to get really sick when I went to bed Friday night. I think maybe it was because I am just so completely exhausted! I've been having a hard time getting enough sleep lately.  So I decided to skip my morning run and jsut take an extra day of rest.  After all, I AM supposed to be tapering!  Unfortunately, my inner alarm clock didn't cooperate, so I woke up at 5 anyway.   But I forced myself to stay in bed and at least pretend to sleep.  I think that helped a little.

My bootcamp buddies had to be in Washington at 8:00 AM for a parade we were marching in to promote our business.  I ended up doing sprints for most of the parade.  Then we went up to Zion's Canyon to hike the Observation Point Trail - four miles up, climbing about 2000 feet in elevation, and then four miles back down.  I headed up most of the way with an 18-year-old exchange student from Belgium, and we beat everyone else to the top by 45 minutes.  It took us about an hour and 20 minutes, even though we stopped several times to let some others catch up.  We finally just ditched them the second half of the hike.  I ran part of the way up some switch-backs, but I was going at a decent rate of speed all the way up, so I know my heart rate was nice and high.  I'm calling it a high intensity interval day.  And even though I can't count the miles as running miles, I know I got a better workout in.  I'm going to say I ran one mile, just for fun.  :D

So this is my "official" taper week...yeah, right.

Seriously, I'm going to do it. On Wednesday. Maybe I'll regret it. We shall see.  :D

I got up early to do a 40 minute run, but it turned into a 43:28 run.  I did 4.8 miles, and felt pretty excited when I did the math and realized that if I had run a full 5-miler, I would have come in just over 45 minutes - which cuts at least 3 to 4 minutes off my standard 5 mile time!  Wow, those HIITs really DO make you faster!  I was even taking it easy, thinking about tapering and all.

After the run, I went to bootcamp training, where luckily today was a stretch day.  So we did some yoga on the top of a huge rock overlooking Saint George.  It was beautiful, and exactly what I needed.

After bootcamp, I needed to get my bike ride in, so my friend Kim met me for an hour of easy spinning on a local trail.  We did 15.6 miles in 1:01:58.

To wrap it all up, I went to the pool this evening and swam 80 lengths, nice and slowly.  I really tried to focus on my technique...what little I know of it.  Ben said I looked like I was gliding, and I guess that's a good thing.

I had planned to do a swim, bike, and run today, but the weather didn't cooperate, so we had to skip the lake.  I did a little bit of interval work on the treadmill...1 mile warm-up at 5.0 - 7.5 MPH in 10:04, then walked for 2 minutes.  After that I did two intervals, starting at 6.5 and increasing a full MPH every minute until 9.5 the first time and 10.5 the second time.  All together, I did 2.5 miles in 22:43.

Then tonight, since the lake trip was cancelled, I went to an hour Zumba class and an hour Yoga class.  Funny how that feels like tapering after the workouts all the I've been doing this last week.  :D

Guess what?!?  I'm tapering!!!  Hahahaha!

I haven't done a single form of exercise today.  And I don't think I'm going to, at all!  BUT I DID get some pics taken for my post-18-week-challenge, and also got myself a Body Composition Analysis in a Bod Pod...pretty cool.  So since the first of the year, my weight has gone from 126.6 down to 121-ish and up to 131-ish and now back to 124.2 as of this morning.  But my bodyfat % has dropped from 23.8% down to 18.2%...not bad!  I've noticed that I've added several pounds of muscle mass and I'm feeling like this may be a good, healthy weight for me to be doing all the endurance training I'm doing.  Much lower and I start to starve.  I'm going to play with it more as I progress in my training.  I love the scientific experiment that is ME.  Hahaha!

This evening, I made it through a half-hour of yoga, but I was feeling really light-headed and dizzy, so I decided I would go out to the car and wait for Ben.  During the half-hour I was out there, I fell asleep FIVE times and woke myself up!!!  No wonder I'm sleep deprived.  I think I'm going to go visit a sleep clinic....

Ogden Marathon!!!

We were pretty worried when we pulled into Ogden yesterday afternoon, and it was raining and hailing!  The weather forecast had said that it would clear up by Wednesday, but two days later, it was still bad!  But it turned out to be a beautiful morning.  They bussed us up the canyon at 4:45 am, even though the race didn't start until 7:00 - not sure why.  It was much warmer than we had anticipated, even though the skies were clear.  We waited by fire pits in the middle of some farmer's field, so we had to be careful about the "cow pies."  The course was absolutely spectacular, especially coming down by pine view lake.  Even though the course was advertised as downhill, there were some rollers and one small-ish uphill section that took me by surprise.  I felt absolutely FANTASTIC for the first half of the run, and was trying to carefully pace myself so that I would have plenty of energy and strength to finish strong.  I felt certain that I would be able to come across the finish line easily under four hours.  But at mile 18, my legs quit!  It was strangely reminiscent of the Mesquite Marathon!  What a bummer.  Mile 18 was where we hit the steepest of the downhill section of the canyon, and all I could do was shuffle along to the finish line.  I'm not sure what went wrong.  Both of my soleus muscles locked completely up, and my bad foot was cramped.  Other than that, my energy levels felt great, and the rest of my legs were fine.  But I could NOT get more than a shuffle out of my legs.  So....I crossed the finish line at 4:07 - enough for a new PR for me, but far worse than I had anticipated.  My garmin said I did 26.46 in 4:07:32, but my chip said 4:07:15.  I placed 900 out of 2137 total, 301 out of 951 women, and 93rd in my division of 230.  I would really like to do this race again, and hopefully figure out what went wrong, so I can remedy it!

I slept in today...for real!  It was so nice.  Then I puttered around all day, and totally neglected my workout.  So this evening, I had a half hour rehearsal out at Tuacahn, so I decided I'd make it worth going out there by riding my bike.  I had just over an hour to kill, so I rode for 1:06:15, and covered 16.09 miles.  Then I sang for awhile at rehearsal, and hopped back on the bike to ride to the pool.  Ben had met me there, so we did another 7.45 miles in 24:02.  We did an interval workout at the pool, swimming a total of 2500 meters, and then jumped back on our bikes to head home.  That was another 9:06 miles in 31:33, giving me a grand total of 32.6 miles in 2:01:50.  Not too bad for a recovery workout, says I.  :D

I got to teach my first Bootcamp today - it was so fun!  But since I was teaching, I wasn't working out.  Heehee!

I made up for it tonight at the lake.  I did a half-mile swim (actually it was more like a half-mile near-drowning!) and then hopped on the bike for the 15 mile out-n-back on those horrible rollers and steep grades.  Oh, how my body needs rest!  I celebrated with Ben afterwards at Del Taco Taco Tuesday, and then topped it off with a bowl of ice cream.  I think I'll go to sleep now....

Nothing but a lousy 2.5 miles this morning with my daughter. We ran it in 24:03. I feel like such a slacker...

I got up this morning thinking I would try a HIIT seesion on the treadmill, but I guess it's too soon after the marathon. My legs were NOT wanting to go!  So I did a warm-up run for 15 minutes, increasing in tempo from 5.0 MPH to 8.0 MPH, then I walked for a minute, and then did a short interval starting at 6.5 MPH and increasing to 9.5 MPH.  Then I jogged for a minute to cool down.  I ended up doing 2.33 miles in 21:00.  I may have done more, but I ran out of time, and had to be at bootcamp.

So for bootcamp this morning, Stephany taught plyometrics.  I was trying not to do too much, but I think I still did, anyway.  My body is really tired.  Stupid recovery!!!  How long is this going to take?!?  :D

I had this brilliant idea to do my "long run" today instead of tomorrow, since we're thinking about riding the Gunlock loop on our bikes tomorrow.  My regular training schedule has me doing eight miles tomorrow, but it doesn't take into account the fact that I just ran a marathon and am supposed to be in recovery.  So I decided I would just run the 6 miles up to bootcamp this morning, and call it good.  I talked Britnee into joining me, and we left an hour before bootcamp was supposed to start.  Well, first I forgot to close the front door when I left, so we had to go back and close it...which cost us an extra .55 mile.  Then I realized that my legs were SO tired, I couldn't make them go faster than a 9 minute pace!  Plus, the entire way there is uphill, with a STEEP hill at the end of the run.  I could barely walk it by the time I got there.  And it was a tiny bit farther than I had anticipated.  So in the end, we ran 7.35 miles, and it took us 1:22:49....WAY longer than I had planned.  I have no idea how I'm going to pull off a 50-mile bike ride tomorrow.  :(

Whew!  That wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be!  Ben and I got up at 5:00 this morning, and were out the door on our bikes by 5:50 AM.  We met up with a group of friends and proceeded to do part of the IM bike course...including the Gunlock loop and the dreaded "wall" into Veyo.  I was pretty scared about the whole thing, but gave myself permission to call home if I couldn't make it all the way.  Little did I realize that I couldn't get any reception on my cell phone, or I may not have gone - hahaha!  Anyway, I really took it easy on the ride, because Ben had warned me that the hardest part about doing the wall is all the rollers before you get there, that tire out your leg muscles so you have nothing left to climb with.  What a surprise when I reached the wall...it wasn't the monstrosity that I had always imagined it would be!  In fact, except for the last couple hundred feet, it was a relatively easy climb.  Now I never have to be afraid of that silly thing again!  :D

I ended up doing about 60 miles total, in about four hours, not including stops.  I was a little negligent with my garmin, but that's my closest estimate.  When I got home, I decided to try out a transition run, so I immediately put on my running shoes and headed out to try my legs.  I did a 5K run in 29:05 - surprisingly not too bad considering I had just finished 60 miles on the bike!  I feel much more confident about doing the triathlon next month.  Now if I could just conquer the swim....

I was supposed to teach bootcamp this morning, but it was a no-show day. So I ran around the track a few times to measure it out, doing 1.11 miles, and then drove home to finish up my run with Britnee.  We ended up with a total of 5.5 miles in 52:20.  Then I had just enough time at home to eat and shower before heading out again to run a couple of errands.  After that I came back home and jumped on my bike, and headed off for the day.  I had rehearsals and another appointment, so I ended up with 30 miles and a total of 1:49:35 on my bike.  I arrived home in time to cook dinner, decide NOT to swim, and do some logins before bed.  Ahhhhh......!

I slept in today, and I liked it.  :D

So I had to get all of my workouts in this evening.  We went out to the reservoir with the tri club, and I once again tackled the open water swim.  It wasn't as choppy today, and I guess the water must be getting warmer, or I'm getting more used to it, because it didn't feel as cold as it usually does.  Anyway, I felt really good the whole time, and I think I may be ready to try going the full mile - yay!  As it is, I finished a half mile, with only very short stops at the rocks.  It was a MUCH better experience than last week.

After the swim, I hopped on my bike and did the very hilly loop around the lake and back.  I rode with my friend Gwyn, and we decided to add a few extra miles to the 15 mile ride, so we ended up with 20.25 in 1:21:22.

After we got back to the parking lot, I quickly changed shoes and took off for a transition run.  It was already late, so I told Ben to pick me up as soon as he had the bikes loaded, and I ran down the road.  I managed to get two miles in before he caught up to me, and I finished them in 15:49...a most pleasing time for me in general, not to mention after having ridden 20 miles of hills.

So, all in all, it was a good day.  :D

Tonight I met the tri club out at the high school track fro some speed work.  It was my first time doing this, but there were a bunch of other first-timers there, too.  Wow!  It kicked my trash - I loved it!  We did a bunch of sprints, accelerations, gliders, etc. and we had a coach there, Dennis, who helped correct our form and taught us about running technique.  I learned so much.  He said I had beautiful form - yay for me!  Now I know what my form is supposed to look like, I'll be concentrating more on keeping it that way.  All together, I ran a total of 5 miles in 39:08...clearly, it was in short bursts of speed - haha!  But it was fun to see those numbers on my garmin.  I'm pretty sure my legs are going to be very angry with me tomorrow... :D

I slept in...again!  Probably my last chance to do it this summer, so I took advantage.  This evening I went to Zumba class, and that "off limits" cinnamon roll I ate at lunchtime must have powered me up, because I felt FANTASTIC!!!  I was a dancing fool.  Then I went to Yoga class, and even though my muscles are sore, I felt really strong, and had no problem holding any of the poses.  Then Ben and I topped off the evening with a quickie trip to the pool, where we swam 50 lengths, just to keep it loose.  We celebrated our accomplishments by eating BBQ sandwiches at Q4U.  :D

Ben and I woke up bright and early at 4:15 AM, and were on our bikes an hour later, headed for Mesquite, NV.  We met up with a group of tri-club members and had a fantastic ride!  I wasn't sure how far I was going to get, knowing that doing 100 miles was a pretty big stretch for me (my longest ride to date has been 62) but we had my son as a support vehicle, and I knew that I could hop in the car anytime I wanted, so the pressure was off!  I made it all the way to Mesquite, and decided to push it just a little bit further, thinking that if I got 70-75 miles in, it would be enough.  When I got part of the way up the backside of Utah hill, with the sun beating down on me, I had reached 68.4 miles, and I had had enough!  So Joshua picked me up and drove me the remaining 10 miles to the top of the mountain.  I figured if I rode down part of the hill, I could get my 75 miles in, so I got out of the car and proceeded down the hill.  When I reached the bottom, I thought, "why not?" and I finished the rest of the ride to our meeting place at Sand Hollow Aquatic Center.  So I logged a total of 85.1 miles on my bike today, spending 5:25:44 on two wheels.  I feel so accomplished.  :D

Then tonight, after a huge late-night meal, I felt it nessecary to do a little running so that I could be justified in eating my Ben and Jerry's ice cream at 10:30 at night....since 5 1/2 hours of working out is not enough...and I ran 3.1 miles in 28:04.  Legs are tired.  :)

Some friends of ours were camping at the lake, so we went over this evening to visit them and BBQ.  While we were out there, the water was nice and smooth, so I thought I'd give NICE open water a try.  Holy Cow!  I had no idea how much I could LIKE swimming!  What a beautiful revelation.  I swam about 3/4 of a mile, and I could very easily have kept going.  Yes.  I like swimming when there is no fear of drowning in the waves.  :D

Ben and I woke up early this morning so that we could get a run in before our planned bike outing.  We ran the Bloomington Loop, and I tried out my new CEP compression socks.  I don't know if it was the socks or the chocolate chip cookies I ate last night, but apparantly I was running pretty fast for a Monday, because Ben was hating me.  He kept saying I was running a 7:40 pace.  Of course, I took my usual walk breaks so my overall time wasn't that fast, but I still did 5 miles in 44:46, which is decent for me.  My quads are still pretty sore, but I felt strong anyway.

The bike plan was to start in Saint George and do the Veyo loop, but when I could barely go up the hill to the Gunlock Reservoir, I knew I was toast for "the wall," so I called it a day after I biked through Gunlock.  I did 20.5 miles of uphills and rollers in 1:32:54.  My shoulders and back were screaming at me, and what I really wanted to do was lay down on the side of the road and take a nap, so it was a mental challenge today - especially the last few miles.  But I can do hard things!!!  And I shall live to bike again tomorrow!  :D

I missed my workout yesterday, because I was planning on doing a trial triathlon at the lake last night, so I didn't work out that morning.  When I arrived home from bootcamp, I logged onto my callboard at Tuacahn, and ended up with a call from noon to midnight!  And I was already committed to voice lessons from 9:30 on, so I had barely enough time to pack food for the day and instruct my poor orphaned kids in their daily chores before I left for the rest of the day.  I got home at 12:30 AM, showered, and hit the hay at 1:00 AM so that I could get up at 5:45 AM for today's bootcamp.

Today at Bootcamp I decided that since I wasn't leading, I would try to get a bit of a workout in.  I tried to only do the upper body stuff, since I knew I had speedwork at the track tonight, and I wanted to save my legs.  So I was pretty excited about doing some track work tonight.  I did a warm-up of about a half mile, then we started with some sprints.  I made it about two steps into my sprint, and BOTH my quads went "pop pop!" and I was done for the night.  Dang it!  I tried to jog it out, doing a couple more miles at a slow pace, but I think I'm going to need some recovery time for this.  The coach told me to just jog lightly a little each day until I felt recovered, but it sure does mess with my plans.  I hate not being able to work out!!!  :(  Anyway, I ended up with 3.45 miles in 32:58.  Sigh.

I was a little late getting out of Bootcamp this morning, so I needed to eat as soon as I got home.  That postponed my run until 9:30 - pretty late in the day for Saint George!  Luckily it's still below 80 degrees, but warmer than I prefer for running.

Anyway, Coach told me yesterday to lightly jog everyday until I broke a sweat...no longer than 30 minutes.  Well, I broke a sweat the minute I walked out the door, so I just decided I'd jog for 30 minutes or 3 miles, whichever came first.  I ended up with 3 miles in 27:36, which is about my average time...so much for "light" jogging!  :D

I did my "no more than 30 minute light jog" again today, and did 3 miles in 26:35.  If I keep this "light jogging" up, I'm going to be super-speedy in no time!!!  :D

I did 3.2 miles at 5 AM w/Ben in 29:11, then did 2.25 miles of intervals at bootcamp in 22:18. along with pushups, squats, tricep dips, etc.  After that, I rode 20 miles on my bike in 1:12:20.  I think that's all I'm going to get in today, since the rest of the day will be rehearsals, and then our first preview at Tuacahn for "Tarzan."

This evening was a trial tri - yay!  I've missed the last couple, so I really wanted to get one in, just to get a feel for it before the REAl triathlon on June 19th.  So we went out to the lake and I swam a mile...and I LIKED it!  What a surprise.  It was semi-smooth at the start, and didn't start to get choppy until the last half.  But I wasn't freaked out about the waves like I usually am, so it was a very good swim for me.  I took it easy, and never got tired.

After the swim, I hopped on my bike for some hill climbing fun!!!  My quads are still a little angry with me, so I held back and tried not to work too hard.  It was also ridiculously HOT outside, and I didn't want to overheat.  I finished with 16 miles in 1:05:52.

Then came the run...super hot!!!  I ran with Britnee, and we went REALLY slow because I hadn't eaten in 7 hours, I was overheating, and feeling dehydrated.  Plus we were running across the dam, which is gravel-covered, and we just never really increased our speed after that.  We did 3.1 miles in 32:07.  But I finished, so I'm happy about that.  :D

I started the morning at bootcamp.  Since I wasn't leading, I got to work out!  We did intervals on the track and some strength training.  It was fun.

This evening, I joined the tri club for speed work at the track.  It was blazing hot! Over 100 degrees!  But I am surprised at how well I am adjusting to running in the heat.  I used to never show my face outside in the summer if the sun was up.  Of course, we were running intervals and I didn't go very far, but I still survived.  I was a little overheated by the time I finished, or I would have done more, but...wisdom and moderation in all things.  :D  I did 3.5 miles this evening in a total of 27:55 minutes of running.

Even though I was up late last night at a performance, I managed to pull myself out of bed at 5:00 AM to go running with Britnee. It had to be an easy run, because I am SOOO tired, and because I did speedwork last night.  So we ran 5 minutes and walked 1 minute for the duration of the run.  I did 4.5 miles in 45:04. Then I went directly to bootcamp, where I taught my first yoga class...it was a great choice for me today.  I really needed the stretch.

This evening I went to the gym to do Zumba for an hour.  Even though I physically could do it, I am literally so tired that I can't think straight, so I was having a hard time following the dance moves.  Consequently, I had a so-so workout. 

I've noticed that I've been reaching for a lot of foods that I know are NOT good for me (sugary stuff, mostly!) and I think it's because I'm getting so little sleep that I'm trying to compensate for my low energy levels.  I have really tried to eat clean today, and have been fairly successful, but I also felt the sleep deprivation today more than ever.  I'm really excited that tonight I am actually going to be able to go to bed at a decent hour!!!  I hope I can sleep...

Haha!  It wasn't really anything, but I DID run 3/4 of a mile this morning at bootcamp for a warm-up!  I'm going to count it, because it bugs me when there's no entry on my calendar.  :D

After bootcamp, I went over to the pool to get a swim in.  I did 100 lengths in about 56 minutes without stops.  It felt pretty easy.  I'm beginning to understand why people prefer the open water.  Hitting a side wall every 25 meters really DOES mess with the flow!

I wanted to do an easy "long" day, so I got up early and ran 7.75 miles to my friend Gwyn's house. I took walk breaks after every five minutes of running, and I tried not to push it.  I can safely say that at least 80% of the run was uphill.  It took me 1:18:45.  Then Gwyn joined me for an additional 4.5 miles, which we finished in 50:12...it was her longest run so far!

After our run, we hopped on the bikes and did a 20 mile hilly course through Santa Clara and Ivins.  For some reason, I was NOT feeling good.  Could it be the lack of sleep?  Or maybe it was what I ate...or didn't eat.  I had some protein powder in skim milk before the run, then ate a boiled egg and a couple of baby red potatoes before the bike.  About 10 miles in, I stopped and had another egg and potato.  I was thinking it would be nice to eat "real" food instead of all the packaged stuff, but I was feeling completely depleted.  Finally, around mile 14, I ate a power gel, and then I felt a little better.  Or maybe I just felt better because the rest of the ride was about 80% downhill!  Anyway, I ended up with 30.3 miles in 1:56:31.

Just an easy ten mile ride on my mountain bike with Ben.  Funny how after all these weeks of riding my road bike, suddenly I feel unsafe riding the mountain bike!  :D

Britnee and I ran an easy 5 mile loop this morning.  Both of us are tapering for races this weekend, so we purposely held it back and took walk breaks.  We finished in 51:10.  Afterwards, we did bootcamp.

This morning I climbed a 35 foot rock...and then I went to rehearsals all day!

Today I did resistance work at bootcamp.  Then I went home and slept as much as possible.  I need to get caught up on my ZZZs after so many weeks of sleep deprivation....

I taught yoga for bootcamp this morning...it was nice to get a good stretch in.  Afterwards, Kim, Katie and I did a nice, easy 18.2 miles on the bike. 

This afternoon, I went to the track for speedwork, but I overheated pretty fast, so I ended up only doing 3 miles with more slow jogs than actualy speed.  I ended up finishing in 26:51.  Then I met up with Ben, and we went to the pool for a few laps of swimming.  I feel nice and loose for the triathlon on Saturday.  :D

At bootcamp I took one of my clients out to run a mile on the track.  She did it in 12:43, then i did a short sprint...just because I wanted to!  :D  That's all for me today.  I'm resting up for my tri!  And I will probably sleep a bit more today as well.  Yay!

Swim 25:57

T1 4:55

Bike 1:30:46

T2 2:46

Run 1:01:46

Clearly, I need serious help with my transistions....  :D

It was a great race.  I had planned to just relax and enjoy myself, calling this another "training" run, but you know how the race energy gets into you and you can't help but push....well, I probably just need to start pushing more on my training runs!  I felt pretty good about the swim, except that I turned in towards the dock one buoy too early, so I had to backtrack a little on the swim.  My first transition was terrible.  I couldn't get my wetsuit off, my bike shorts on, my socks and shoes on, or my food in my pockets.  My sunglasses wouldn't go onto my face!  I even had to go back once to pick up things I had dropped.  So it was slow going in transition.  Then on the bike, the course was marked poorly - actually, it was marked WRONG - and I ended up doing an extra loop up a very nice, steep hill, which didn't help my time.  Still, I felt pretty good about the bike.  Another campout in the transition area trying to get my gloves off and my helmet unstrapped, and then I was off on the run.  By then, I was beginning to feel a bit head-achy from the heat.  They were completely out of water at the first aid station, which didn't help, but I drank some sticky gatorade, and kept running.  I decided at this point that I wasn't going to run full-out at the expense of heat exhaustion, so every time I began to feel the head throbbing, I took a short walk.  There was a LOT of walking!  When I got back to the first aid station, they were out of everything, including gatorade, so I had to be careful climbing the last hill into the finish area.  I finished the race in 3:06:12...plenty of room for improvement, but okay for a first triathlon.  I really enjoyed myself, and am looking forward to doing another!

I missed my run this morning because Britnee wouldn't get up and it was too dark to go out by myself.  So I slept a little longer then did an upeer body workout at Bootcamp. 

Today I had a cast party out in Gunlock that was a BBQ/Swim, so I convinced Ben that he should take half a day off and go for a bike ride with me.  It was 26.5 miles out to the ranch, and it was HOT outside!  But it was a good ride, and we got to cool off in the pool and have some good eats while we were out there.  We ended up with 53 miles total and 3:08 on the bike.

After bootcamp, Kim, Katie, and I did a nice easy bike ride through the Southern Parkway.  I ended up at 22.7 miles in 1:33:00.  My legs are still a little tired from yesterday.  :D

This evening, I decided I'd better try to do a little running, so I hit up the treadmill for a couple of intervals.  It's been a while, so I only did two, after a one mile warm-up.  I finished 2.5 miles of ladders in 22:40.  Then I went to an hour of yoga class.  :D

I started ou the morning with bootcamp, where we did an upper body workout with intervals.  Then I went over to the track to do some speedwork.  I warmed up for a mile in 8:29, the did quarter-mile intervals at a 7:30 pace.  For the last one I decided to run at a more challenging pace, and I did it in 1:23.  I maxed out at a 5:17 pace.  The total time spent running with warm-up and cool-down was 27:21.

This evening we went to the lake to swim  in the open water.  I did a mile with the "fast" guys, and finished around 5 minutes behind them...I figure it was about 34-35 minutes.

Kim and I skipped teaching bootcamp this morning so that we could ride our bikes out to Zion's National Park.  We left my house at around 6:20 this morning, then picked up our friend Helen and continued out to the park.  I ride faster than the other two gals, so I had to stop at the tops of the hills to wait for them.  Or sometimes I would double back to pick them up.  By the time we reached the park, I had done almost 50 miles, and it was hot and I was hungry!   So we stopped for lunch and then headed back home.  By the time I'd done another 11 miles or so, it was blazing hot and we had run out of water, so we called it a day.  I ended up with 60.1 miles, and 4:10:54 logged on my bike.

To wrap up the evening, Ben and I went to yoga class for an hour.  :D

I started the morning with a 3 mile recovery run, just to see how the ol' legs were feeling after the 60 mile bike ride yesterday.  So far, so good!  I ran it easy and finished strong, finishing in 28:55. 

Later this morning, I went to Zumba class for an hour.

And that's it for my rest/recovery day.  :D

I went running this morning with Kim, Helen, Amber, and Joshua.  What started as a "long run" of at least ten miles ended as a three-miler after my shins went crazy going down the steep hill. Helen's hip went out at about the same time, so we walked a little further, then decided it wasn't worth risking injury, and we walked 5 miles up the mountain to the car.  Eight miles done, but only three on the run.  :(

Ben and I went out to the lake on a whim tonight, and swam 2.2 miles! It took me about 76 minutes. Needless to say, I feel pretty cool. :D

I did an easy recovery run with Britnee this morning - 5 miles in 52:11.  We had a nice talk.  It was a good morning.  :D

The first thing I did this morning was drop something out of the freezer, twist to grab it, and strain my lower back.  Brilliant.

Then I did a 20 mile bike ride this morning after bootcamp with Kim, Katie, and Helen.  We started at Pioneer Park and then went halfway up Snow Canyon before we ran out of time and had to turn around.  I finished the ride with 1:15:05 on the bike.

This afternoon, I went over to the gym to do a little running. I started with a warm-up of 1 mile in 9:11, then did 2 HI Intervals from 6.5 to 9.5 MPH.  I finished the run with 2.2 miles in 18:30 total.

After the run, I went to an hour of Zumba, where I sweat like a beast since I was already warm from running.  Then I went to yoga class, but only made it halfway through, due to the weirdness in my lower back.  :(

It has been a LONG day... I woke up early and took Elijah out running for the first time in months!  We only made it 2.1 miles, and we did it in 20:56.  I guess that's all right for the first run.  We are running low on time to get him re-conditioned!!!

Then Britnee and I went to bootcamp, and straight from there met up with a fun group of people and hiked all day in Zion's National Park - the subway hike!  It was only about 9 miles, but it took us six hours to get through, including jumping off rocks, repelling, swimming through dark pools of ice cold water, and some of the most beautiful scenery ever!  What a fun day.

We made it back to town in time to hit the lake with the tri club for an open water swim, but by then I was so HUNGRY for real food, that Britnee and I decided to bag the swim in favor of eating sandwiches at - of all places - SUBWAY!  Now it's off to the theater for me...  :D

Oooooeeeeee!!!!  I'm SO sore today!  This is somewhat exciting to me, since I very rarely do anything that gets me sore anymore...nice to know that I am still capable of challenging my muscles a bit.  Maybe I need to add "hiking" to my repertiore more often.  :D

So, I told my husband that I was going to take a rest day today, and only bike 20 miles.  he said that didn't sound like a rest day to him....which is funny because HIS rest days usually consist of a 20 mile bike ride and some P90X, just for fun!  I'm trying to remember when it was that I became as crazy as HE is...

I "slept in" until 5:45 this morning, then got up to teach bootcamp, which today consisted of a half hour of really good stretching and a half hour of pilates.  After that, I met up with my friend Helen and we did a very slow 20.2 miles on the bike, keeping to the bike path so that we could stay on flat ground, and we finished in 1:13:55.  It was purely a recovery ride, so no "pushing it" was allowed.  I really think I'm done for the day, since I took a nap this afternoon and now I feel like the tin man from the Wizard of Oz...all rusted over.

I still felt like I needed a recovery day today, but I wanted to find out if my legs were going to work for a long run tomorrow...so I hopped on the treadmill to do a mile run, and ended up being just fine - yay!  I ran the mile starting at 5.0 MPH and gradually increasing to 9.0 MPH, finishing in 8:35, then cooled down another 0.1 mile, finishing my treadmill work in 9:18.

Then I went to an hour of Zumba!  :D

I was thinking about copping out on my long run today by just doing 7 miles with my friend Helen, but then I remembered that I have a half marathon in two weeks, and I haven't run any real distances since Ogden marathon!  Luckily for me, my friend Katie called yesterday and wondered if I would run 13 miles with her today, with the understanding that I HAD to go her pace...she needed the company.  It was actually a relief to hear that I would be forced to go slower, since I've had a tendancy lately to run too hard on tired legs...consequently, there have been no long runs in a while.  We decided to run 10 miles, then finish up with a 5K race that my neighborhood was sponsering for FREE!  I invited my whole family to run the race with us, and even the babies were able to participate, since Ben did HIS long run after Tarzan last night, running from the theater to home in the middle of the night!  So he was willing to "run" with the small ones, even though we were both pretty sleepy from being up until after 1:00 this morning.

Katie, my daughter Britnee, and I left just after 5:00 AM and did an 8.6 mile loop, then ran to the start of the race, where we met up with my family.  We casually ran the 5K, except I got a sprint in the last half mile, then we had to run another 6/10ths of a mile to get our 13.1 in.  I finished my half-marathon distance in 2:07:30, which was perfect for an easy long run...plus I got to see all of my children cross the finish line and get handed a medal!  My 5-year-old said, "Mommy!  I WON!!!"  He only ran about a mile before he jumped in the stroller with the baby, but Ben said my 8-year-old ran 2 full miles wothpout stopping!  Not bad for having no running training at all.  I guess I may need to actually start taking my kids running....they've been begging for quite a while.

The great thing about today was that I felt fantastic after the run, which, in my opinion, is how a person should feel after a long training run...I really helps add to my confidence for upcoming races.  Today, I feel just a little bit like I'm a runner again - LOL!  What an awesome morning.  :D

We decided at the last minute to drive up to Enoch for their Freedom Run...a low-key, small race in a great little town!  I wanted to do a brick workout somewhere where the weather was a little less HOT, so we talked our friends Ryan and Helen into joining us, loaded up our bikes, and registered for the 10K.  My plan was to RUN, not RACE, and I'm happy to say that the field was so small, I wasn't even tempted to push it!  So it was a great, easy run for me.  My garmin said 6.41 miles when I crossed the finish line, and my time said exactly what my garmin registered...56:42.

After the race, we hopped on our bikes and headed back to Saint George via the Beryl Jucntion route.  At first, I felt so tired that I didn't know how I was going to make even 20 miles.  I kept stopping to eat more food, knowing that most of the time, my fatigue is nutritionally based.  Well, it took about 20 miles for me to feel "normal," but I finally found my energy, and felt really good the rest of the ride.  I made it 56.3 miles in 3:41:24...the last 12 miles or so fighting a headwind the entire way.  My goal was to do at least the distance of a half-ironman...so....mission accomplished!  I'm feeling really good now.  Time to take a nap. :D

I ran 5 miles with Britnee in SLC.  We did it in 47:41.  :D

I did the same 5 mile loop as I did yesterday, but I had to run by myself, since Britnee wasn't feeling well.  It took my 43:22.  :D

I ran 5 miles with Britnee and Elijah this morning.  We took walk breaks and finished in 48:06.  Then I went to bootcamp and did an upper body workout.  I feel great!  :D

I taught a plyometrics class this morning for bootcamp, which was really fun and got my heart-rate up quite nicely. :D

After class, I jumped on my bike and rode the Snow Canyon loop...the first time I have done the entire canyon in two years!  Wowie!  That was steep!  But it sure was fun to come down the other side!!!  I did 21.3 miles in 1:28:13.  My heart-rate average was 140, max rate 164, average speed 14.5 MPH, and max speed 37.7 MPH.  I got a little over-heated, so I ended up fighting a headache for the rest of the day...but I have survived!  I had planned on going to Zumba and Yoga tonight, and maybe getting a couple of miles in on the treadmill....but then I decided NOT to be completely crazy today, and call 2.5 hours of high intensity training enough for one day.  :D

I had a very late night last night, so I decided too skip out on bootcamp and sleep in.  I stayed in  bed until 9:30, which was LOVELY.  But I also missed a morning run, which was...not so lovely.  I thought about hitting the treadmill at the gym, but then figured that since I was going to the lake anyway, I might as well do a short run there, and just get directly in the water afterwards to cool down.  Bad plan.

I made it barely two miles before my head was throbbing from the heat.  The car said it was 109 degrees outside!  I thought getting in the water would cool me down, but instead, I just felt dizzy and couldn't swim in a straight line to save my life!  So...I only swam a half-mile, and called it good.  Anyway, I'm tapering....yeah, that's it.  :D

I don't know what's up with me, but I have NOT felt well since Tuesday.  I think I'm depleted from getting so HOT on Tuesday's ride, and running at the lake last night fifn't help, either.  I was teaching bootcamp this morning, but only one person came for class, so we ended up having a VERY mild yoga day, mostly consisting ofstretches (Oh, my muscles are SORE!) and a few easy poses.  Luckily, there were no complaints - haha!  I guess an easy bootcamp day every now and again is a good thing.

After bootcamp, Kim, Katie and I went for a very slow, easy, flat bike ride.  We did 18 miles in 1:05:40, and I never took it over 22 MPH.  I have felt "off" all day long, and I'm hoping that I'll feel better tomorrow, since we have the Bryce Canyon Half on Saturday.  Feeling "off" stinks!  Phooey!!!  :P

Since I've been feeling poopy all week and haven't gotten the runs in, I thought it would be a good idea to loosen up the legs a bit. I started slow, then picked it up...felt really good. I think I'm ready to race tomorrow! :D

I plan to go to Zumba class for an hour this morning, then hit the sushi bar to carb-up for tomorrow's race!  Yay!  :)

Fun Race!  It was one of those races where I felt really good the whole time.  I didn't set out to PR, but I think I did anyway.  The first 1.5 miles was slightly uphill, then we hit 2 miles of 8% downhill grade.  I had to take it easy so that I wouldn't stress out my shins.  I think I only hit an 8:20 pace on the steep downhill part.  But the rest of the race was mostly downhill, and by the time I hit the last couple of miles, I was running between an 8;00 and 7:30 pace.  What was interesting to me was that I hit my max heart rate of 181...not sure when, but I sure don't remember trying that hard.  My average HR was 144, average pace 8:46, and best pace 5:19.  I feel fantastic, and don't think I will have any soreness or stiffness after this one....which is exactly how I like to feel after I race!  I live to run another day - yay!  :D

I decided to run a 5K this morning as a recovery run.  Elijah joined me for a little while, but I got ahead of him after the first half mile, and didn't see him again until we arrived home (since he only ran 2 miles).  I have a teensy bit of stiffness from the race, but really not bad...it didn't affect my run very much, although I started out slower than usual.  I finished in 27:49.

After the run I went to bootcamp and participated in a weight/interval day with some ab work.  I thought I'd take it easy, but I felt better than I had anticipated, so I went all out.  :D

This evening I went to the pool and swam 80 lengths.  It took me 42 minutes.  I felt really good.  :)

I decided to try a HIIT on the treadmill this morning before bootcamp, but my legs decided otherwise.  So instead, I did a warm-up for 10 minutes, gradually increasing speed, just so that my shins would cooperate, and then I ran another mile, increasing at intervals from 6.5 MPH to 9.5 MPH and back down.  I finished the 2 mile run in 17:16, then I "ran" out of time - LOL!

After bootcamp, I did a 20.7 mile bike ride with my friend Katie.  I had a hard time getting in the groove, so we stayed pretty slow for the whole ride.  It is just so blazing HOT!!!  We finished the ride in 1:20:36.  I'll probably spend the rest of the day recovering from the heat.  But if not, I'll hit the gym for Zumba and Yoga this afternoon.  :D

I was WIPED OUT today!  I had to teach plyometrics at bootcamp, but I felt like I hardly had the energy to move, let alone jump around.  So it was a pretty bad morning, and I skipped my run.  I thought I might try to get a short one in on the treadmill this evening, but I didn't get the job done.

I did make it out to the lake, however...Ben and Craig wanted to swim the dike and back, which is 2.2 miles, but I was pressed for time with a Tuacahn performance afterwards, so I only swam about 3/4 of the way and back.  I figure it was around 1.5 miles total.  The wind was crazy, so I had to fight the current and the whitecaps going out, but coming back was a BREEZE, so it was totally worth it.  :D

It was another really low energy day today. I thought about doing a HIIT on the treadmill, but I couldn"t make myself get up after my 1:00 AM bedtime last night.  So I just got up at 5:55 AM for bottcamp, and I taught a very relaxing yoga class.  Then I went back to bed until almost 11:00!  I thought about taking the day off, but then I started thinking about when I could get a long run in this weekend, and I realized that even if I get up at 3:00 AM, I would have to run in the AWFUL Saint George heat...so I decided that I needed to go someplace else to run.  And since Friday morning is out because of bootcamp, and Saturday we have a bike ride planned, tonight was the only night available!

So the bottom line is...I talked Ben and Joshua into joining me for a trip up to Pine Valley, where we started at the reservoir at 8:00 PM in the nice, cool, 80 degree weather, and ran down to Veyo - 16.5 miles - getting in some good downhill training for the Saint George Marathon, and finishing fast and strong!  I surprisingly completed my run in 2:29:50, far better than I had anticipated considering my total lack of energy this week.  I had almost talked myself out of going in favor of an early bedtime, but I'm really glad I did it now.  It was one of those runs where everything just feels right - not without the typical aches and pains of running, but where everything INSIDE just feels right, and my gratitude for a healthy, strong body is in abundance.  It was a very good run.  :D

after the ride last night, all I got in was an hour of Zumba...and that was enough.  :D

I was going to do a ride with the tri-club this morning, but when the alarm went off at 5:00 AM, and Ben didn't get up, I decided to sleep in. YAY!!! But when we got up, Ben and I decided to go ahead and do a bike ride anyway...so we drove up to Central around 11:00 AM, rode up to Pine Valley, then turned around and rode back to Saint George. We ended up with 53 miles in 2:56:00...or something like that. My garmin died around mile 48, so I had to use Ben's numbers. It was blazing HOT when we finished, but I felt pretty good about doing a long ride anyway. I CAN DO HARD THINGS!!!

I started out the morning with a 5 mile run at 5:00 AM. I ran with Ben, Britnee, and Elijah, but Elijah was going pretty slow, and I had to double back a bunch of times for him. I sent Ben on with Britnee so she wouldn't be alone in the dark. So my 5 mile run turned into a SIX mile run, by the time we finished. It took me 56:20. Dang! It's HOT in Saint George! By the time I got home, my head was throbbing. I'm a little unsure how I'm going to do a 10K race this weekend when it's NOT still dark outside, and the temps are higher. :S

After the run, we went to bootcamp and did weights and abs for an hour. I didn't want to, but I kept thinking about earning some sculpted arms, so I made myself do it anyway. It was worth it.

After bootcamp this morning I did a 15 mile bike ride with my friend Kim...even though it wasn't as hot as usual, we felt sluggish...so we just took it easy around the neighborhood, and finished in 58:26.

This evening, I went to the gym and hopped on the treadmill for a few intervals.  I warmed up starting at 5.0 MPH and adding 2/10ths every 30 seconds until I reached 8.5 MPH, and finished a mile in 8:59.  Then I did some intervals, starting at 6.5 MPH and increasing 1 MPH every minute to 9.5.  I repeated it 3 times, and on the last one I tacked on 30 seconds at 10 MPH and 30 seconds at 10.5 MPH.  Then I cooled down at 6.5 MPH.  All together, I did 3 miles in 23:50...no walk breaks.  :D

This morning I woke up at 4:45 to do a 5-mile run, but none of my training partners got up, so I ended up not running....something silly about being alone in the dark.  :D  For bootcamp we took our clients for a hike...it was pretty low-key, but about all that I wanted to do anyway - haha!

So this evening I decided to try to get a short run in on the treadmill before heading out to the lake.  I have some sort of weirdness going on in my right shin/soleus muscle, so it may be just as well that I didn't run in the morning.  I ended up doing the same warm-up as yesterday, then did 30 seconds each at 9.0, 9.5, and 9.0 MPH, followed by a minute each at 8.5, 8.0, 7.5, 7.0, and finishing it off at 6.5 MPH.  The two miles were finished in 16:35.  Then I went to the lake and swam approximately 1.2 miles in about 40 minutes.

This morning within 5 minutes I received a text from every single one of my clients, telling me that they would not be able to make it to bootcamp this morning...so I decided to sleep in. UNTIL TEN!!! When I got out of bed, I felt just a twinge of guilt, knowing that if I had gotten up, I would have already finished a good pilates workout and done 15-20 miles on my bike. But I also realized that I NEEDED to sleep...sleep is as important as any workout, and MORE so, when your schedule keeps you up late every night and requires an early morning wake-up call. So I had my wonderful morning breakfast shake, and I got a text from my hubby asking if I would join him on his lunch hour at the gym. Perfect!

I ended up warming up with a 2.5 mile run on the treadmill in 20:48. I still have that weirdness going on in my right leg, so I will probably take tomorrow off from running, and hopefully I'll be good for the 10K I'm doing on Saturday. It feels like a muscle spasm in my shin/soleus, but it may just be because of the speed-play I do on the treadmill...we'll see. So Ben kept running, and I decided to do an UBWO - 3 sets on each muscle group at a higher intensity level. I finished that, and still had some time, so I did some ab work, and then Ben and I had lunch at Great Harvest, and I ate that WONDERFUL Grilled Chicken Salad that they serve - soooo tasty!!!

My plan for the rest of the day is to guzzle tons of water, eat some clean meals, and maybe make it to Zumba and Yoga at the gym tonight. If I don't it will be okay, but I love Zumba, and every extra hour I spend doing cardio work helps to condition me for the long-distance endurance training I'm doing. Plus, I need the Yoga stretch.

All I did was go to Zumba class for an hour today.  I don't know where my energy has gone!  It wasn't as bad as yesterday, but I still felt wasted.  I thought about skipping it, but I felt obligated to get SOME form of exercise in before hitting the sushi buffet!  :D

Due to a power outage, we started the show late last night at Tuacahn, making my bedtime well after 1:00 AM. So I opted to skip the morning bike ride/10K race in favor of some much needed sleep. I thought about just taking another rest day. My body seems to be wanting more rest lately.

Instead, I decided to take my bike out to my 5:00 PM voice lesson in Ivins.  There was some cloud cover, which was nice, but I still got overheated by the time I arrived, and ended up with a not-so-nice headache while I was out there.  I have been SOOO tired!  It has been hard for me to summon any energy.  All the same, I ended up doing a total of 27.76 miles in 1:39:30.  Ben was kind enough to come riding with me, giving me some time in the draft to cool down a bit.  :D

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!!!