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This week:Sunday:60minutes at a snail paceMonday: 73 minutesTuesday: 2 mile w/u, 4X60/45/30/15 sec @5:10-5:15 pace, max of 60 sec recovery. + 20 minutes marathon tempo (6:20, 6:21, 6:20)Wednesday: 60 minutes on the trainer & abs (achilles)Thursday: AM:40minutes easy, PM: 15min w/u, 4X 1 mile on the roads @ 5:43, 5:32, 5:38, 5:21, 3 rest, 15min c/dFriday: 10 miles w/ Micah (6:55-7:30)Saturday: 20.0 miles in 2:18.04 (6:54 avg)7:50, 7:22, 7:17, 7:03, 6:55, 7:04, 6:45, 6:55, 6:47, 7:00, 6:33, 6:31, 6:39, 7:17, 6:47, 6:41, 6:30, 7:00, 6:29, 6:31,
This week of training was a mixed bag. I hate a great tempo run last Saturday that shot my achilles for most of the week. I also got a massive chest cramp that hung around until Wednesday..both the chest cramp and the achilles caused me to cut both my work outs short.
Tuesday's workout was suppose to have a five mile tempo on the end, and I had every intention of finishing that. I clicked off a couple of 6:2o's that felt more like 7:00 pace...until about 2.8 miles in when my chest cramped up again. I don't know if it was dehydration, or the same muscle that spazed out during mile 8 of last weeks tempo but I could not get any air. Houston warmed me about trying to run through that... "It can hang around for days if your not careful." I tried three times to stretch it out and start again, but it just wasn't happening. I jogged the last few miles home to call it a day.
Wednesday I decided to take the morning off and run at lunch. We ended up so busy preparing for an awards ceremony the next day that I totally missed it, and then did not getting home till almost 9PM anyway. So the 50-60minute spin I did (which I don't even consider to be real exercise because I'm a compulsive-exercising psycho) was all I really got in that day.Thursday morning I got up again before 4:00am to finish writing my speech for our awards ceremony, but still ended up getting in a 40minute morning run.
Houston was wonderful enough to agree to time my workout that afternoon on a road loop, so I was really excited for that (Maddy waited "patiently" for me to finish in the car with Daddy). The goal was 5X a mile with 3 minutes in between. My legs felt heavy on the first one, but the rest of my body felt fairly relaxed. I had planned on running the last two miles at 5:20, but my achilles really started to ache about half way through the 4th mile. I wanted to keep going, I knew I had another 5:20 in me at that point...but the question was asked, "If you do this last mile, will you be able to run tomorrow?" And at that point, I honestly did not know the answer. Houston made the decision to quit, I concurred. I jogged a mile or two before heading home.
Calling it quits on these two workouts was probably the only reason I was able to get my twenty miles in Saturday. Call my crazy, but I was waiting all week for this run. Houston, again amazing, agreed to drop Maddy off at the sitters by 5:30 AM so I could drive out to the whites and get 6 miles in before the group started. My achilles was hurting at first and my legs felt tired but I ran relaxed until my garmin started registering a sub 7min effort. Micah and Nathan joined me by the first water stop...which I added on again at each one...except the last one which we just grabbed the water at anyway. I am happy to say that the mile I felt the best on was 18. It ended up being my fastest of the day...6:29. I felt fantastic.
That changed quickly once my garmin finally registered 20.0. Walking back to the house my legs just died. My quads and calves felt heavy and I had a hard time walking up the gravel. This feeling was then accompanied by massive cramping in my abdomen... a common thing post-pregnancy...and I ended up sitting on the couch with a pillow pressed against my back for most of the morning.
Because the cramping usually causes a loss of appetite, I quickly shoveled a few slices of bread and some death by cookie combo in my mouth and washed it down with some gatorade. I spent the remainder of the morning feeling like I was going to vomit..and this carried on until the late afternoon. Then, I managed to stomach some chocolate, banana, and some other random stuff after taking half a dozen advil.
This stomach problem concerns me because it happens after most of my runs. I talked with Houston about it and he assured me not to worry until it starts to affect my health.
I am not sure if it is just because I still have some weak muscles post-pregnancy, or if it is just from running hard....but it feels almost like a mild contraction. I don't know what to do to make it go away and none of the coaches at State have any experience coaching females post-partum. I guess I will just continue to workout on my ab ball and let it runs its course...
I am racing another half marathon next weekend. Mostly because the weather is going to start getting hot which means slow times. It wold be nice to get a Canadian Half Marathon Championships qualifying time if at all possible. In prior years, Ridgeland was at the very end of June and I bombed it twice. It would be great to finally run a good time...if possible.Bought Maddy a new toy this week! She is truly posing for this picture as she was in a terrible mood at the time.

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