Still running!

I'm still running (some!). I just don't have time to write about it. Med school keeps me busier than I imagined and I am slowly learning how to survive on 6 hours of sleep or less. I really love it though and would study non-stop if I had the chance (it's a good thing I have a family so I am forced to take breaks). The kids are doing well and I am managing to spend all evening with them and some time in the morning as well. My runs are limited to 25-30 minutes or so during the week (on the treadmill to I can study anatomy powerpoints) but I am still getting out for a longer (10-12) on Sundays. Anyway, I wish I could be running more but am happy that it still fits into the day (at least most days).

Half marathon :: 1:29:27

The race went well this morning. I tried to be more conservative at the start than I was for the half in Fargo. It seemed to work much better! Here are the splits:

6:48 | 6:44 | 6:57 | 6:47
6:51 | 6:49 | 6:57 | 6:49
6:46 | 6:54 | 6:49 | 6:53
6:40

It was definitely a challenging course with a lot of rolling hills and one big one right after mile 6. I am really happy with the way I raced today... I let a lot of the women get away from me at the start and spent the last few miles chasing them down. It made the race a lot of fun. I caught three within the last mile and may have had a chance at 3rd place if I would have started my kick a little earlier. I ended up in 4th place (10 seconds behind 3rd) but she was really slowing at the end. I was pretty excited to see the finish clock was still under 1:30 as I was approaching the line =)

12 miles :: 1:30:26

Things have been a little crazy lately trying to settle into a routine with school, daycare, family-time, study-time, etc... I've been trying to fit in 4-5 miles each morning during the week and then longer on the weekends. It seems to be going ok although I would like to be running more miles.

My run went well today... 7:34 average with the last 3 being 7:11, 7:05 and 7:04. I felt good with the exception of a little soreness in my left knee... I haven't been taking the time to stretch before I run... apparently not a good idea.

It's time for bed... 3:00 comes pretty quick most mornings!

Busy

Sunday - 8 miles
Monday - 4 miles
Tuesday - 4 miles
Wednesday - 4 miles
Thursday - 5 miles (35:20) did 4 mile progression run 7:30, 7:06, 6:54, 6:52 and a cool down mile.
felt really good.

should get a long run in on saturday

10k :: 39:17

Today was a pretty fun day. I can't spend too much time on blogging though because I have lots of studying to do! The race went really well. I felt fantastic and the course was pretty fast (it was just a tad short.. it came up on the garmin as 6.17 miles). It was a little tough mentally because it was just a big square out on country roads (1.5 miles worth of gravel) so that meant no spectators and just a lot of open road to look at. I was happy with how well I was able to stay focused. Here are the splits:

3:49 (179) | 3:57 (190) |3:58 (195) |
4:05 (196) |4:10 (196) | 4:02 (195) |
4:01 (196) | 3:55 (196) |3:52 (197) | 3:30 (197)

(~60m short +15 seconds = 39:32 = NEW PR - ed.)

The 4:05 and 4:10 splits came on the gravel which was also into the wind and the last 1k was .o4 short. Otherwise it seemed to be a pretty consistent effort. I won the womens' division (and 75 bucks!) and took second overall. The guy that beat me was a real jackass. Too bad I didn't know that while we were racing... maybe I could have gone a little faster! He came up to me after the race to say good job and then proceeded to tell me that he could have beat me by more if he hadn't slowed up at the end. He looked back and saw that I was far enough away so he slowed down... and if I would have tried to catch him he "would have just blown me away". Congratulations buddy... you beat a girl. (barely - ed.)

It was a well-organized race and one that we will do again (next year Eric will run too... hopefully that guy shows up again so he can get his ass handed to him). (affirmative - ed.)

6 miles: Speed

Did a little speed work before the race on Saturday. Didn't have a lot of time to run so I made it short. 1 mile warm-up, 2 miles at 7:00 pace, 1 mile at 8:00 pace and 3x800 in 3:15 starting every 5 minutes.

Here is how it went:

7:45 (144) warm-up
6:58 (169)
6:55 (172)
7:46 (161)

3:00 (180) 130 in 1:10 and 120 in 1:20
3:10 (no data) 130 in :48 and 120 in 1:09
3:08 (176) 130 in 100 and 120 in 1:15

I felt great and obviously misjudged pace on the 800s. I backed off after the first one but was surprised at how I kept creeping down to run around 6:05 pace. It felt really comfortable.

6 miles

Felt really good today. 7:46 pace for 6 miles.

12 miles

Felt absolutely fantastic today... makes me wish that I had run the race yesterday. It was as if I could not feel my legs at all and they would have gone as fast as I wanted them to go. I averaged under 7:25 pace for the run with the the last 2 miles being 7:10 and 7:02. Fun run. I am hoping to do a little speed this week and then race a 10k next weekend. It is a small race about 25 miles from town but they have 75 dollars worth of gift certificates for first male and female. It sounds like the overall winning time isn't usually under 40:00 so that might be a good goal.

6 miles

Easy 6 miles today. Felt good to get out for more than 45 minutes!

Getting Adjusted

It's been a bit of a crazy week and it is nice to be done! Med school is definitely going to keep me busy and I am a little worried about fitting in my runs. It will just have to be whatever I can manage, I guess. Once we settle into a routine I am sure things will be much better. This week was extra chaotic because our schedule included extra in-class time as we were drilled with orientation activities on top of our regular schedule.

We had our first case study this week which was a ton of fun... just like playing House. But it also meant researching two different topics and giving presentations on Wednesday and Friday. I spent 5-6 hours on each topic which really cut into my running time! I didn't get a run in at all on Wednesday and only ran 3 on Thursday and Friday. But I will figure out a schedule soon and hopefully get back to being able to run more miles again.

Sunday - 13.3
Monday - 7
Tuesday- 7
Wednesday - 0
Thursday - 3 (with speed)
Friday - 3

I am looking forward to watching the half marathon tomorrow and might race a 10K next weekend depending on how the week goes. Daycare is going well for the kids... they are a little extra tired in the evening but seem to enjoy it. I am hoping that we all catch up on a little sleep this weekend =)

13.3 miles (1:45:00)

Felt great today. Wish I would have felt this way yesterday =)

Bad Day

Today was an odd day... there was a small 5k down in the park this morning (the local high school cross country team hosts the meet every August). It is usually a pretty small meet with mostly the high school runners and a few of the regulars in town. This year they changed the course so that it was completely on grass through the frisbee golf course which meant that it was pretty rough. I thought I felt ok at the start of the race although it was getting pretty hot already (it didn't start until 9:00 so it was high 60's, 89% humidity and 60 something dewpoint).

Pretty much as soon as we started racing I knew that I didn't feel good. It was really hard to find a rhythm which could have been due to the rough course but I just didn't feel like I had any go in my legs. I came through the first mile in 6:14... bad sign as I ran the first mile of the 5k a couple of weeks ago in 6:03 and felt fantastic. I gave it a little more time thinking that sometimes it just takes a little while to get going but it just kept going downhill... before I knew it I was running close to 7:00 pace and just felt like I was running through mud. I eventually dropped out just after the 2 mile mark (something I have never done but it really felt pointless to continue slogging on). It was interesting to see the HR data as it showed that I had averaged 194 for the second mile (which only ended up being a 6:59). Not a fun time!

And so it begins...

The kiddos started daycare yesterday. I don't start school until Monday but am bringing them this week for a few hours/day to hopefully make it a smoother transition. Other than a few issues (including watching a mommy and daddy show... Elle's description), it seemed to go ok. We are really careful about how much and what type of television that Elle and Owen are exposed to so to hear that they watched a show (and not even a cartoon) during the not quite 3 hours that they were there didn't make me too happy. But sometimes Elle doesn't describe things as they really happen so I will have to wait to hear Laurie's version before I get too upset. It was my understanding (and one of the reasons why we chose this particular provider) that the kids only watched a cartoon as they settled down before lunch/nap... which is how we structured our day at home too. It was really crazy when we were looking for providers how many of them allowed the kids to watch 2+ hours of tv a day. But enough of that...

6 miles today with a few ~200m strides. Legs felt really good.

3 miles w/speed

I could give a number of excuses today why I only ran 3 miles but it really came down to just not wanting to run. It has been a long time since I have felt this way so I figured there was probably a good reason for it. I did 1x1:00 and 2x:30 at 15 minutes.

9 miles

Felt much better today (7:50 pace). I will be happy when the weather starts to cooperate a little more =)

7 miles

Easy run. Felt ok but overall just not a good day for a run.

12 miles

Planned to run 1:30 today... stayed out for an even 12 (1:31:51). Legs felt really good today but HR was a little higher (in the 160's toward the end). It was pretty hot and humid again today though. Finished with a 7:00 last mile... felt really smooth and easy.

8 miles w/ speed

Legs felt really good today after the first set of speed. Average pace was just under 7:30.

7 miles w/ hills

7 miles with a few hill repeats at the end of the run.... getting ready for the big hill next weekend during the 5k.

7 miles w/ speed

7 miles on the treadmill this morning. 2 minutes of speed every fifteen minutes... 2x1:00, 1x1:00 + 2x:30 and 4x:30. Felt good.