Running Yoga Mom

I was planning to just do a totally easy run but ended up picking up the pace after the first mile. Pulled off the last 2.2 in 8:45/miles. Felt great. Still pretty warm, but that's ending this week. 

Foremaster loop. I rocked it! I pushed myself to keep my pace up, even when I was feeling sluggish. I let myself relax into the downhill and recover while still running quickly. It felt great. My lap times were great! Happy! :)

I averaged 8:46/mile! That's great, for me. :) I was up ridiculously late doing homework, so I slept a bit later, this morning. Fortunately, Ben has the day off, so I could run later. The cloud cover was perfect. The temp was nice. A fabulous run! I totally needed it after the rotten, failing night of homework I experienced.

It was cold, this morning! But, I had a great run. I ran a very hilly 10, and my legs were feeling it on the uphills, but they recovered nicely on the downs. I was grateful for that since I've had runs where my legs gets beat and I can't even relax and speed up on the downhill. It all feels like work, then. This was a good one!

My hands were freezing about half the time. Guess I need some better gloves for running.

Easy run. I enjoyed the sunshine.

This was a rough one. My legs felt wasted 1/2 mile in. Probably due to fasting, yesterday. And, my blood count is a bit low, again. I wanted to make it shorter, but pushed through to five. Now, I need to eat some meat and spinach. :)

Mid-terms have thrown off my running schedule. I was up late, Monday night, working on homework and studying. I chose not to get up early to run, yesterday. Thus, this morning, I ran further than normal. 

 I ran a different side of Foremaster, the longest one. It was pretty slow, but not killer.

 I had a Dr. appt, yesterday, to get the results of some blood work. Everything was normal, except my blood count was a little low. I guess that explains the sluggish legs. I've got to up my iron intake so it doesn't slow me down.

 Now, I just need my legs to recover from that and low iron so that I can conquer my longer run in just two days. 

Ran with my old running partner. She's working her way back into running after healing from a very sprained ankle/torn ligaments. 

It was nice to visit, again. We didn't fast or far, but I fully enjoyed it.

12 miles, tomorrow. 

Headed out for twelve, but went 12.5. Don't know why that extra 1/2 mile makes me feel so tough. :) 

Since school is out, I didn't have to leave quite so early. Loved that! Although, the roads were a lot busier. Didn't love that.

I wasn't fast, but I did it and did well.  

Nice, easy three. Beautiful morning.

Ran the usual 5-mile loop. Took the first three miles very easy, but decided I needed to get some tempo miles logged before the race. So, I just ran as fast as I felt I could keep up for the last two miles. I didn't have a specific goal in mind, but I did want them to be under 8:30. I ran an 8:17, then an 8:08! The 8:17 was pretty much entirely downhill, but the 8:08 was about 1/2 flat. I was totally stoked when I saw that. I don't know that I've ever run that fast for an entire mile. I'm not a fast runner, but that felt like a strong, fast mile. Completely happy with this run!

Easy, relaxed seven. I felt good. Didn't push for really fast times, but tried to keep a comfortable, not slow pace.

I initially planned on running three, but wanted to go a little further to make up for not running, yesterday. I didn't plan to go over four, but I felt great so the extra bit was good. I thought about making it five, but didn't want to wear my legs out too much before I ran fourteen. 

Ugh. This was a rough one. I don't know what's the deal, but my legs felt like I had run 10 hilly miles right from the start. It made it rough.

The second half actually felt better than the second half. None of it was really fast, but it was pretty good. I never felt great; but compared to the first half, I felt much better. 

This was supposed to be a good confidence builder for my race in two weeks. That didn't turn out to be the case, so much. I've got to feel better than this. 

I spent the weekend fairly sick, so this was a run to see how I would do. I felt okay, but got tired pretty quickly. Ben ran with me, and I enjoyed that aspect of it. Felt good getting my legs moving, again, but it was kind of hard.

Tuesday was a late night, working on homework, so I slept in and went to the gym. Running on the treadmill is getting easier. I actually enjoyed it, and I enjoyed not being out in the cold, windy yuck that was outside.

I did some speed and tempo miles to make the time pass, more quickly. I ran one mile at 10:00 to warm up. I then ran one at  9:30, one at 9:00, 1.5 at 8:15, and 1/2 at 7:30. The last half mile was a cool-down. I was pretty excited about the fast miles. I need to do this more often. 

Easy, relaxed. Nothing to shout about. :)

I got my first flu shot, ever, on Thursday, and it really threw me for a loop. I felt AWFUL all day Friday and Saturday morning. I was supposed to run 10 in preparation for my half, but my entire body hurt so much. I opted to skip running on Friday and just do a bit on Saturday. I'll do eight tomorrow and finish my taper for the race. 

Not a good mileage week for me. I'm just hoping that my previous preparation will be enough to carry me through this last week. I really want to have a good race. Trying to balance getting miles in and letting my body heal is a hard balancing act.  

Last run of any significant distance before the half. Got a flu shot last Thursday and spent Friday and Saturday feeling rotten and achy. I hope this was enough to carry my training through for Saturday's race.