It's been a nice recovery/cut back week

I had a pretty good week of LOW miles and easy running, in combo with some good cross training. Here's my activity.

S: 7.5 miles, including a 5K race (at 6:59/mi avg)
M: 2.2 miles recovery, deep tissue massage
T: 4.45 miles and CrossFit workout, yoga
W: 5.86 miles with 6 x 200 shake-out strides (avg pace for the strides was :48)
T: 2.3 miles recovery and CF workout
F: mini-brick: 16 mile bike (1:13) followed by 3 mile shake out run, yoga
S: Rest (pretty sore from the CF workouts and the bike ride).

Total run: 25.31

My body feels better with the supplementary workouts (i.e. cross training, yoga and crossfit/core strengthening). But I'll be back up to 40 miles for this coming week and then adding more running from there. I will continue to do all the supplementary work though. I feel stronger. If doing the extra stuff prevents me from getting injured again, I'm all for it!

Happy Sunday!

5K Photos are so unflattering

Here are some pics of me at the end of the Zippy 5K. I also watched the race video of the finish line and it looked like 90% of the runners had a tough race. Glad I wasn't alone. Not sure what was happening with my hands or my face in the last photo. Haha, nice.

Zippy 5K

Hey there! Super hot here and I can't wait to have another beer.

TODAY: I ran 8 miles total with a 5K sandwiched in there somewhere.

Mini race report:

Zippy 5K. The course was by the Conservatory of Flowers and Stow Lake in GG Park in SF. Gorgeous day, NO WIND! A women's field of just under 200. My fear was that I'd actually finish in or very near last place. The course had very minor rollers... the good kind that give your legs a break rather than tire them too much. I loved all the fast turns and blind curves. It made the race more bearable to not see where the next mile marker was. I ran without a watch and without a Garmin. I wanted to run this race based on true effort only. Nobody called out mile splits, it was perfect.

Mile 1: I felt pretty good; I felt smooth and fast. People were passing me though.

Mile 2: I started to feel like I was working hard, and mentally I felt like I was racing.

Mile 3(.1): I passed ONE person, and one person only, but did not get passed here. I was huffing and puffing, and lactic acid was taking over my entire upper body (not my legs). The effort felt so hard. This was where I said, "Do not let go of that group ahead. Just hang on to them 'til the end." I finished in 21:42 and last place on my team (but thankfully not in last place)! I was so, so, so glad when that race was OVER! I think our team finished 3rd.

The good news is I raced my butt off (even if it wasn't a PR). I know what my current fitness level is and now I can start working on improving it. The bad news is I am :30 per mile slower than I was when I raced a 5K this time last year. But this 5K really lit some kind of fire in my belly that hasn't been there for a long time and I am so happy and ready to work. I am going to enjoy my journey to get back into fighting shape! It's gonna be a long journey, though.

Thanks for reading. Have a great Sunday afternoon.

BOSTON

To all my fellow runners who are making the trek to Boston to run on Marathon Monday, have a safe trip, enjoy every single second of your visit, and smile at as many people in the crowd as you can. The Boston Marathon is like no other! Cherish the experience, whether it's your first or your 15th. I'll be thinking of all of you on Monday and trying to track everybody I can from home. Have a blast!!!

Here's a kiss for you from the course (last year). Hugs!

Night Before Easter

As I look back on these weeks between Ash Wednesday at the end of February and tomorrow, Easter Sunday, I ask what I have learned by observing Lent. I've learned to pay more attention to my relationships by spending time with the people close to my heart. Over this Lenten season I spent more time with Jesus by reading the New Testament, which is something I have done before but never gets old or boring. The story is so smooth, easy to read and intriguing to me. I learn something different every time I read it. I spent more time with my husband and children and feel I have grown closer to all of them. I love being around them. I spent time with old friends and recreated bonds that were forged during childhood. This time before Easter has been special and I'm thankful that my eyes and heart have opened to some things.

Happy Easter!

Confession

Not the religious kind.

I confess that I've had a Yoga DVD for athletes (by Rodney Yee) for over a year now, and I've never once done it. I've never actually done yoga before, ever. I watched the DVD and thought, "Dude, way too boring for me. Forget it. I need to sweat." But today I needed to do something to get my body moving; I needed to do something to elongate my muscles, and I needed to do something at home because my daughter is home sick from school. So I broke out the Yoga DVD.

I went right into the "Combination Workout" of opening, strengthening and integration. Wow! The poses were hard for me because my hips are so tight and my hamstrings are a mess, not to mention that my balance is not the best in the world. But I focused on exactly the things Rodney told me to (as he narrated the video), and by golly, the stuff works. My entire body just opened up and the different ways of bodily movement were amazing. I loved the cues he gave to remind me keep my shoulder blades wide and relaxed, my feet broad and my toes wide, release my back, open the heart, etc., etc. Perfect.

At the end of the workout while centering my body but before the "Namaste," I felt beautiful. I felt that the world was a beautiful place and the only word that kept popping into my head was "BEAUTIFUL."

How weird is that?!

I think I just found another way to use my body, and I love it. Freaking beautiful, man!

Cross Training & need some encouragement

I've been forcing myself to cross train over the last nine days, and will continue to cross train through the end of the week. I have run just a couple of times in the last 9 days, very easy running. I've been using the elliptical for hard workouts, riding the bike and swimming for general aerobic stuff. I've done some light drills here and there, and a couple of CrossFit workouts. I'm feeling good, physically. A little sore believe it or not, but that's probably from using muscle groups that I typically neglect. I will tell you that swimming felt so easy yesterday. I was in the pool for about 20 minutes after doing over 50 minutes at a tempo effort on the elliptical, and the lap swimming was a breeze. I think the water will be my friend at least once a week. And also the elliptical, and also the bike. I can use these resources in lieu of a second run, and still reap the same benefit.

My problem is... I'm literally afraid of running right now. Just afraid of feeling another pull or strain and then giving up on running again. Isn't that stupid?

What happened to fearless me who had no trouble lacing up the shoes and just getting out there to run already? How long will she be gone? Will she ever be back? God, I hope so. I pray so.

Okay, thanks for listening to my rambling. Keep moving! And if you have any words of wisdom to help me get over this fear I have of running... please leave me a message. Thanks.

Please say a prayer for the Pittsburgh, PA Police and...

...especially for Eric Kelly, Paul Sciullo III and Stephen Mayhle. May the three officers rest in peace. I'm so sorry to their families and loved ones for this tragedy. This is just getting to be overwhelming.

Dreams 'interpreted'

I had two strange dreams last night. In one dream, I was being held hostage and chased wherever I went.

Hostage:
To dream that you are a hostage, indicates that you are feeling victimized and powerlessness. You may also be feeling limited in your choices or physically immobilized. Perhaps this dream is paralleling some situation/difficulties in your daily life or relationship. Alternatively, it suggests that a part of yourself is not be fully expressed.

Chased:
To dream that you are being chased, signifies that you are avoiding a situation that you do not think is conquerable. It is often a metaphor for some form of insecurity.

In the other dream, I was constantly running uphill and getting tired. I kept trying to go but it felt like my feet were bricks and the hill was getting steeper.

Running:
To dream that you are trying to run but cannot make your feet move as fast as you want them to, signifies lack of self-esteem and self-confidence. It may also reflect your actual state of REM paralysis while in the dream state.

Interesting.

A quote for all of us

“I wanted you to see what real courage is... It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” ~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 11, spoken by the character Atticus

See it through. Whatever happens happens, but SEE IT THROUGH.

I am not running this week. I had some real problems with my running over the weekend and was also fighting sickness on top of it. I took Monday and Tuesday completely OFF of any exercise. For the rest of this week I am cross training on the elliptical and the stationary bike. I might also use the stair climber but that depends on how my knee and butt feel in the first few minutes on that thing. My ankle and foot are better, but I'm still feeling some twinges here and there and I do not like that at all.

Turns out that I am running "mostly healthy" but I REALLY need to be running completely healthy. By running mostly healthy, I'm slowly weakening what is already weak. Next week I will be running VERY EASY miles and cross training for the harder workouts, still doing my ancillary exercises and stretching.

I am going to be using the rest of 2009 for what I had originally intended... a year of building a good, solid base of miles the Arthur Lydiard way. Let me just sum up Lydiard by saying it's NOT long, slow distance running, it's running at a steady state for long period (say, an hour to two hours) so that your steady state gets faster over time. Later on, it also includes hill resistance work, anaerobic and speed development, and sharpening (during race training seasons).

I'll still be working with a coach through the rest of the year and he'll guide me back to strength. He knows my long term goals in this sport of running and he believes my goals are attainable, provided I get healthy, and not just "mostly healthy." He also said that at some point I may have to find a more seasoned coach to get me the next level. I truly appreciate his honesty. The guy is solid. A stellar runner and competitor who knows his limits as a coach.

I spoke with my husband about my goals and he's on board as my support crew. My kids kind of look at me with curiosity when I tell them my goals... and that's okay. I think they'll begin to understand more as time goes by.

But for now, it's all about 100% health, not 90%. I'll still be racing very short distances and possibly a Half Marathon later this year, but as of now it's just short stuff on my calendar.

See it through no matter what.