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April 30, 2007

Sidelines

The last four days of my vacation I was trying to fight off a chest infection but it has gotten a hold of me. I was really hoping to piece together a solid week of training but that did not happen.

Last Thursday the symptoms started. I was able to bike in the morning and lift and did not notice any symptoms. I waited to run until the afternoon because I wanted to run on some of my favorite trails in East Hampton, MA near Mt. Tom. I stopped on the way to CT at the trail head to get a good hour or so run in for the day. From the start I was exhausted. I could not tell if I was tired from Wednesday's workout or the car ride. I did not think either of those things should have made me all that tired. I ran a half hour on the M and M trail and really wanted to stop but I still did not run the Reservoir Loop. I decided to just take it really easy and run around the Reservoir to make it an hour. I felt sore and achy all over and was sorry I finished the run by the time I finished.

I woke up on Friday with a terrible sore throat and cough and decided to take Friday off and never felt great all day long. I spent much of the day cleaning out my things from my Mother's attic. I found about six boxes of books that made me nostalgic for my younger days in my 20's when I was extremely optimistic and wanted to read everything and wanted to do everything. I also found about fifteen travel books, half of the places I have been to and half were places I was hoping to go to but have not gotten to yet. I also found hundreds of letters and lots of old race results some of which were organized and some which were not. I donated a lot of my things, clothes and books that I really don't think I'll read again or if I do I'll get them from the library. I found countless journals that I used to keep and had a good time laughing at my thoughts, they were really naive and I really tried hard to do the right thing. I filled my car with about three boxes of my old things which I thought was a healthy amount to save.

On Saturday I had a bike ride scheduled. I was not sure how I would feel because the cough and sore throat were still present. My ride was with my brother in law who I hardly ever get to ride with so I did not cancel. We rode about thirty miles and I felt ok. I never really pushed it because my body felt fatigued and sore. I was happy to be done but also happy for some fresh air. After the bike ride I drove back to VT to get some rest in the comfort of my home and with Mark.

I was scheduled to do a long run on Sunday in Burlington but I woke up again feeling horrible and opted to grade the stack of papers waiting for me on my desk instead. I spent almost the entire day grading or designing tests. I went for a short bike ride, about 14 miles but felt worse when I returned.

Things have not really improved much today. I feel really energy less and my throat is extremely sore. I hope I don't have to talk that much during school today. If I wake up feeling the same way tomorrow I'll take the day off. I was supposed to run this morning but it did not happen. This is not a very good start to the week. Right now all I really want is to feel better.

In better news, my modest twin sister, Liz, just set a HUGE pr this weekend in a 5k race. She was the race leader for the first two miles in a very competitive field. She ran a splendid 17.45, just 8 months after giving birth to her adorable daughter Sage! I am very happy for her. You can congratulate her at www.eliterunning.com/liz

Posted by mary at 9:37 AM | Comments (5)

April 25, 2007

Good Workout..

This morning I got up and met the middle school athletes at the track. We did a warm up, stretches, and core body. We then did drills and since I have been doing them with the athletes all week I realize how tiring they are. I was really beat after doing high knees and A step, B step drills. I know they can't hurt me.

After the drills I paced the athletes through 12 x 200. I paced the girls between 45 and 37 for the workout, getting faster with each set of four that we completed. For the boys, I made them start with us and told them they could only go ahead of us if they got faster or stayed the same pace for the entire workout. They did a good job with this and by the end the girls were chasing them which was fun. I felt good in the 200's and had no quad pain so I was very happy.

Once we were done warming down, I coached some of the hurdlers and high jumpers. I then knew I still had to do a workout myself. By this time I was pretty cold from standing around so I ran another mile warm up. Mark was at the track so he joined me for 2 x 1.5 mile repeats on the track. I wanted to run 6.40 pace but instead ran 6.27 for the first mile and 3.12 for the last half mile of the first mile and a half repeat. I took a few minutes break and ran the second repeat in 6.19 for the mile and 3.09 for the last half mile. Mark was encouraging me to do one more set but I was pretty tired after that because of the 200's I did earlier and I called it a day. It was nice having Mark run next to me because I did not have to think at all and it felt pretty comfortable. The last 2 laps of the second interval were tough because my quad was really fatigued so it was slapping the track but I knew the rest of my body felt good so I focused on everything else.

I am about to go teach a night class at the college. This afternoon I made Mark's favorite meal and it is one of the only traditional meals I ever make. I get such a good reception from Mark after making this meal that I try to make this meal every now and then especially when I am going away because the left overs are superb. I made and am making Mark an Italian pot roast. I don't even eat pot roast but I'll eat all of the veggies that I use in the stew that surrounds the meat. It's pretty easy to make but I am always super proud of myself when I pull it off and it comes out good because I usually just do things like pizza and pasta. I am going to CT from Thursday-Sunday to visit my family so I wanted to leave Mark with something delicious! Now I have to jet to get ready for the lab course tonight.

Posted by mary at 3:14 PM | Comments (3)

April 24, 2007

Warmer Weather..

The past two days have been really nice, weather wise. My training has been ok. I have a mini vacation from one job this week. It should feel like an entire vacation but I am still preparing lessons for my night classes and morning tutor sessions. I am also getting caught up on job applications and spring cleaning so my high hopes for lots of training is not really working out.

Yesterday I ran an hour on the golf course. I did half of the run with Mark and one of his friends. We ran a pretty good pace but my quad was pretty sore. I was limping for much of the way. I think my quad was sore from the bike riding I did on Sunday. I ran in shorts and a t-shirt and was hot. It felt really good.

In the afternoon on Monday I met the middle school track team and did the warm up and drills with the team. We then did core body. We then did 4 x 400 at 91, 88, 87, and 81, and finished with a 45 sec. 200. The entire group of six middle level students stayed together for the workout which was great. We then did a cool down and stretched a lot which felt good.

Today I went to the gym in the morning and biked for forty minutes. I then lifted for a half hour. We had middle level practice in the late morning and I was able to run about two miles with the team and do core body. I felt pretty good today. I was hoping to do some mile repeats tonight but got side tracked.

Mark and I went to Burlington today in search of a new car. Mark currently has a jeep. He loves it but knows it will not be very economical to drive across the country. We spent the entire afternoon and evening shopping around and eventually ended up with a new car. Mark had to say good bye to his jeep. We got a brand new Impreza Sport Outback. For me, this is my first brand new car. At the moment we now have this new Impreza and we have a 99 Impreza. We hope to be able to sell my 99 car sometime between now and the end of July when we start our drive to AK.

Shopping for cars made me really tired and I had a hard time thinking about running after being in car dealerships all day. I hate shopping. By the time it was all said and done, I did not have to make a choice, it was dark out and I could not run. Instead Mark and I went to American Flatbread for dinner. This is a great organic pizza shop in Burlington. I love it and not only do they have great pizza but they also have a really delicious house salad. Mm....

Posted by mary at 10:55 PM | Comments (1)

April 22, 2007

Weekend Training and Relaxing

The weather was awesome this weekend! Shorts and sunshine the entire time. I couldn't ask for better weather.

On Saturday morning I ran an hour at the golf course. It was nice and easy and the surface was really soft. My legs felt really good on the soft surface. After the run I did a half hour bike ride which felt great. I then lifted and did abs for half an hour.

In the afternoon Mark and I left for a mini-weekend get away. We went to Walpole, NH where we had reservations at a great bed and breakfast at a country farm. We received this as a wedding gift and have been waiting to use it until we really needed a vacation. We arrived in time to walk around the grounds and enjoy some cookies. For dinner we went into the village and enjoyed a tasty dinner at the local quaint Tavern. This morning we had a delicious breakfast and some nice company, other guest from OH and northern NH were at the breakfast table.

Later in the morning Mark and I went to Pisgah Mountain for some hiking and running. Currently, Mark has been plagued with a strained peroneal muscle in his leg. It has unfortunately, forced him to be on the side lines the past week which is frustrating because he is planning to do the VT City Marathon at the end of May. We did not hike too much because we did not want to aggravate his injury. We hiked for about a hour half and then I took off and ran for an hour. It was awesome to be on the trails in the middle of the woods. It reminds me how much I love to run on trails. Unfortunately, I won't be able to run on trails on a regular basis until the end of May. During Mud season the trails are not in very good condition in VT and the best policy is to stay off the trail to avoid beating up on the trails.

On our way home Mark dropped me off in Montpelier so that I could ride my bike home, about 20 miles. It was really nice and my legs felt good to be spinning on the bike. About 7 miles into the ride I saw Mark heading back towards me. I had to change my bike route, up ahead the road was closed due to a house fire. We had to head back through some back roads and go through Stowe. This alternative plan worked out just fine. I had Mark drop me off at the Swimming Hole and I had a chance to lift for about 20 minutes and then bike the 11 miles home. The weather was perfect.

Now it's back to the Red Sox’s/Yankees game for me... Mark has made me a fan! The Red Sox’s just got four home runs in a row!!!!

Posted by mary at 9:36 PM | Comments (3)

April 20, 2007

Getting Back into my Training Routine

Tapering and recovering are the two hardest things for me to do these days. I like my regular routine once I establish it. I am back to training because of my restlessness and because of everyone's supportive comments they have made since Boston. Everyone's feedback has been really generous. Sometimes I seriously think my blog is only read by my twin sister. So.. it's nice to know other's occasionally peak in to see what's happening.

I took two days off, Tuesday and Wednesday from any formal training. I was more sore than I anticipated and really wanted to give myself a chance to back off and relax a bit. I did core body workouts with the athletes and drills with the team and some easy jogging for the one hour and fifteen minutes of practice but nothing outside of the team work. During my free time I thought about the elements of training I really need to focus on to get ready for the VT 100. Basically I need to incorporate the following elements into my routine over the next three months if I am really serious about being ready for VT and going in with no excuses.

1. Continue doing long runs - increasing those long runs quite a bit, 5-8 hour runs on trails hopefully.. the snow is slowly melting! Running easy and practice eating while I am running.
2. Hit the gym for 30 minutes of strength work and 15 minutes of core body three times a week.
3. 1 interval workout a week, nothing too tough, just turnover work, mile repeats, 6.30 - 6.40 pace.
4. Steadily increase my mileage, I'd like to hit 3-4 100 mile weeks before the VT 100 with rest weeks in between.
5. Yoga and stretching.. deliberate (3 times a week)
6. Cycling - spinning - one to two times a week for turnover and recovery!

My work schedule lightens up a bit in May as I will get a one month break from teaching at the community college and my teaching at the Hockey Academy will be over. It will be nice to simply teach at the high school and coach for a month. High school classes will be over in mid-June and my main responsibility will be night classes so I can really do all the little things to keep my mind and body in balance. In the summer I just love to be outside all day when I don't have to teach. I am looking forward to running and biking once the school term is over.

My goals seem ambitious now as my body was still feeling Boston's pavement when I ran today but I know with some stretching and rest I will feel as good as new in no time at all.

On Thursday I ran for thirty minutes at the golf course near our house. It is so soft and flat it felt really nice. I took the dog with me and we enjoyed the spring weather that has finally arrived. I also did ten minutes of core body with the team.

Today I went to Stowe and ran for an hour on the bike path. I felt relatively good for the first 40 minutes but in the last 20 minutes my legs were getting pretty stiff, especially what is usually my good quad. This leg gets really sore after hard efforts because it is typically doing all the work even though I really try to even out the work on both legs.

During these final twenty minutes I was analyzing my form by looking at my shadow on the side of the bike path. It is obvious that my body is completely out of balance. Over the last three years I have been told and I have also observed that I carry one shoulder higher than the other. This is a result of the scar tissue in my left quad. I also swing one arm much farther behind than the other arm. These adjustments my body makes definitely has a domino effect on the rest of my body and it is one of the main reasons I want to incorporate lots of strength work into my training. I know the strength work will help to keep my body more aligned. I am looking forward to some hard training over the next three months and hope my body can keep it together.

Posted by mary at 9:16 PM | Comments (6)

April 16, 2007

Rough Day!

The Boston Marathon was a dismal event for me, unfortunately. I can't remember feeling this bad all around since running the LA marathon in 98. I spent all of last week resting. I ran 27 miles for the entire week leading up to the marathon and got at least eight hours of sleep a night. I tried to relax as much as I could but I know I was really nervous about the marathon and questioning my fitness and readiness. I shrugged a lot off and just decided to focus on my endurance.

I spent the two nights before the marathon with Mark at a friend's house in Medford. It was very relaxing and very convenient. However, I slept horribly both nights. I heard the rain pouring each night and the wind howling and wondered what would happen race day. I must have gotten up about four times each night to use the restroom. I just could not relax. While in Boston before the race I got to catch up with friends from CA which was great and very fun, a good distraction from my usual work load.

On race day I met my training friend/partner from CA at his hotel at 6:00 to catch the bus. I was happy to get up at 5:15 because I was lying in bed awake since midnight. I think I did sleep from 10-12. We took the bus to Hopkinton and were happy to find out that we could relax on the gym floor while we waited to go to the starting line. This was very nice. At 9:30 we headed toward the start and tried to jog on our way there.

I was hoping to feel fresh legs when the race started and I have to say from the start my legs felt heavy, my mind was completely distracted, and my joints ached. It was not a good situation. To top it off my quad was having a bad day. I decided to try to hit pace, 6.48 as long as I could and see what pace I eventually settled into. The first mile for me and my friend was slow, 7.10 because of the crowds, the next three miles were 6.45 which was ok but the effort felt too hard, not in terms of my fitness but my legs were so tired and heavy.

Between miles 4-5 I had to go to the bathroom very badly. Meanwhile my friend had stopped at mile two to tie his shoe and was trying to catch up to me. I thought if I go to the bathroom quickly this might give him a chance to catch up. I spent more time in the bathroom than I expected. My stomach did not feel good. While I was in the bathroom my friend passed me, I saw him ahead of me about 100 meters when I exited. I thought I would catch up to my friend but I never did.

For the next few miles I was able to run low seven minute miles and decided this may be my best effort for today. While the weather was raining or drizzling at times and the wind in some sections was high I can't really blame my poor performance on the weather. As the race progressed I felt worse and worse. The most terrible part of the experience was that there were so many things bothering me, my quad, my joints, my heavy legs, my negative thoughts that I really did not want to be in the race. I told myself if I saw Mark on the course before mile 20 I would drop out even though I really did not want to.

From the 11 mile mark to the 20 mile mark I was obsessed with the side lines looking for Mark in hopes that he would convince me to drop out of the race. This was not all that much fun. During this time my legs were barely moving, I was running 7.30's to 8.00 minute miles but it felt like I was walking and running 10 min. miles. By the time I reached mile 20 I knew I had to finish despite spending the last 9 miles looking for Mark and trying to think of a good reason to drop out of the race. Besides having really heavy legs and stomach issues, by this point in the race I had used the bathroom another two times; I decided I really was not sick I was just not having a good day. My new goal was to break 3:20.

Breaking 3:20 did not happen, I finished in about 3:25.25 with very tired legs. I had been running with such a short stride for so long that I could not get my jumpy stride back. I usually bounce a lot when I run; there was no bouncing for me at the end of the race. It was a small little shuffle and a desire to be done. My quads and IT bands and hips are screaming at me, more than they did for the last four marathons that I ran. I think the course beat up on my body and I think my short stride which is unusual for me is increasing my muscle fatigue.

I am very disappointed in myself and in all of my negative thoughts. It didn't help that the night before the marathon I tried on one of my favorite shorts and tang-top shirt to test for the marathon and immediately hated what I saw in the mirror. I could tell that my one month vacation from the gym had kicked in, no muscle tone and not really the pre-race body you want to see before a marathon. I have had these thoughts in the past but usually I am more confident and not as stressed and dismiss these ideas. This time I just could not shake them. As I became more aware of all of my body parts that were irritating me I was reminded that I really did not do all that I could do to prepare for the marathon and the image in the mirror memory from the night before came back to me. I of course was then annoyed that I was having these thoughts as a thirty one year old role model to some (as a teacher).

In summary, I know I put an unnecessary amount of pressure on myself for this marathon, I also know the past month has been one of the most hectic that I have had in a long time, and I know that while I am excited about our move next year to AK it really scares me too. I hope that I am not one of those people who are always searching for something better and never realize everything is right in front of their eyes. The move to AK has so much to do with an experience that Mark and I can share together but I can't help but feel a sense of responsibility that we both find happiness there.

So I know I need a vacation and I need to relax a bit.

I am going to take it really easy this week, probably go back to the gym and remove myself from running training apart from coaching for the week. During the race I had horrible thoughts about competing and my ability and this is right after sending in a deposit for the VT 100 mile race. I crave for these kinds of adventures and have been frustrated at not doing more of them since living on the east coast; yet I am really nervous about them too because of my competitive nature and my distrust in my quad and how it holds up in various athletic events.

For example, when it became evident that today wasn't my day, I thought well maybe if I just detach myself from all expectation and just run and not care about my performance I will feel better. I tried and tried but it wasn't working. I continued to make compromises, ok well at least try to finish under 3.40, well you have to finish under 3:30 really, well you really should break 3.20 with all the training you have done. And these are my same fears with trying to go into a 100 mile race for experience. I don't want to go in and put all the pressure on myself and have high expectations. I just want to have fun with a set of reasonable expectations for several scenarios. And I know in order to do this I have to be calm with everything else that is happening in my life. I need not to be so heady about it all and just go with the flow.

I'm glad I finished, I would have been sadder if I did not finish. Now... I just want to recharge and get reinspired and find some time to relax and appreciate everything. Races like these are not necessarily horrible to have. They remind you not to take other races for granted and remind you of the big picture.

Posted by mary at 10:26 PM | Comments (12)

April 10, 2007

Resting

I am trying to rest this week. It's hard but it gives me more time to get other things done which is nice. On Monday I only worked out with the middle school students which did not amount to much, maybe one or two miles and some drills.

Today I ran a mile with the middle level students, did five hill repeats, and some drills with the athletes. I then ran five miles at a good pace with one of the high school students. Following this I ran another 4 miles with my friend Jen. I then called it a day.

I tried out my sister's marathon racing flats on the run today to test for Boston. She mailed them to me for good luck at Boston. She ran them at the Napa Marathon where she broke three hours. I usually wear a very old pair of Asics light weight racing shoes that are from the very late 90's. They may just be a very basic Asics version of the waffle. I have done a lot of races in these shoes, including the last few marathons. I ran the NY City marathon in these racing flats two years ago with no insoles. I realized this as I was running over the first bridge. I thought the bridge surface was especially hard and then realized I never put my insoles back in when they had gotten wet after one race. Needless to say I had some horrible blisters after this race and I usually only get very minor blisters which don't bother me at all. I was planning to use these shoes for the race because of their history and their lightness. However, after talking to Mark about it we thought a sneaker that is a bit sturdier may prevent my quad from getting tired compared to the lighter very old sneakers. I think he is right and I am going to use the new DS trainers that I got this past weekend. This was probably the biggest high light of my day today.

However, I had a close second. As I was leaving the post office today I heard someone knocking on my car window and trying to get into my car. Initially I thought it was a student I knew or maybe Mark. It turned out to be a very elderly woman; I looked around to be sure no one was after her because of the force she was using to get into my car. I opened the door for her and she jumped right in and said, "Ms, can you give me a ride to Price chopper". By the time she was in I had no choice. I have to say initially I really did not want to let her in the car because it is so unusual. I actually have a friend in the area who does not own a car and she car pools everywhere. However, she does not use this approach. I have given her rides on several occasions when I see her on the side of the street. Yet in my friends case it is different because I usually see her ahead of time and can make a quick decision to pick her up. This experience today was so different. I have to admit I felt like my space was violated and then I felt really selfish. I used public transportation on a daily basis when I lived in San Francisco and never was so concerned about my personal space. Yet, today, so quickly I felt like my car space became public and I did not enjoy the strong smell of perfume in my car and did not enjoy having to move all of my books that were all over the seat, she actually sat right on some of them. Within about two minutes I got over all of my concerns and shock and had a small conversation with the woman. She mostly thanked me and told me how cold it was outside. I started to ask her questions and she thanked me again and told me how cold it was outside. In the end I was really glad I gave her a ride and mostly irritated by my initial reaction. I don't usually think about ownership and space issues because these titles can bog a person down and can potentially be limiting. Yet today, after owning a car for the first time for two years, I realized how my point of view has changed. Interesting....

Posted by mary at 10:57 PM | Comments (8)

April 8, 2007

Weekend Update!

My IT band troubles have calmed down a lot. I have made a deliberate effort to stretch more and try to massage it. However, the massage work is always extremely painful for me so I do what I can.

On Friday morning I went to the gym to bike and lift in case my knee was still bugging me in the afternoon. I could tell that I had taken a month off from lifting. The effort was more than I was hoping but it's good to feel like you're working hard at the gym, that's the point, right? After lifting I biked for a half hour. I just spun fast for thirty minutes. I was glad to be up and out of the house early.

We had snow all day Friday, mostly flurries, and the temperature was low for April, about 35 degrees. In the afternoon we had middle school track practice. I ran about two miles with the students and then we played some tag. Friday is game day for the team where we just try to mix things up a bit.

After the practice with the middle school team I ran six miles with four of the high school distance runners. I was very happy because my knee was slightly sore but once I got twenty minutes into the run I really could not notice it as much. I was relieved. We did two three mile loops twice because half of the runners were only doing three miles. I am glad some of these runners know how to pace themselves. When I first started running with them the pace was crazy, all over the pace. I used to mimic them to keep the conversation. I then decided to run my steady pace and maybe it would catch on. It looks like it is working.

When I finished running with the students I did another three miles with my friend Jen. Fortunately, all three runs seemed like one continuous run. Mark was laughing that I did the same loop three times. I hardly noticed because I had so much company and I was happy that I was not limping on the run.

I purposely wanted to do as much as I could on Friday so I could go into Saturday's five mile race tired. I was part of a four person triathlon (quadathalon) in Waitsfield/Warren, VT with three other people from my school. My goal was to run marathon pace and hope that it felt easy. The course is relatively flat by VT standards but really it is rolling. I ran a three mile warm up and then had to wait another twenty minutes before I started because they had staggered starts. I jogged around while I was waiting. I was really happy with how I felt in the race. I went through two miles at 12:46, three miles in 19.10, and I finished in 33.50. I can't remember my four mile split. I know the last mile is long, perhaps a quarter mile long or a minute long. My split for the last mile was 7.42 which is very hard to believe since I was maintaining the same pace. I finished and felt good and jogged another two miles while I cheered for my other team-mates. Our team I think finished fourth for the canoe division. We had a lot of fun. The event took all day because the run did not begin until 11 which was the first event. The order was run, canoe, bike, and ski. We went out to Burlington on Saturday night which was quite fun and stayed out pretty late which was great but tiring.

This morning I ran 13 miles and surprisingly felt really good. The first two miles my quad and calf muscles were sore and tightening up on me. I got to use my new DS trainers which I always love, they are my favorite shoe. So light and I can always feel the ground. The only problem is they wear out so quickly because they are really meant to be a light weight racing shoe. I just love to wear them all the time in any terrain. My running partner can't figure out why I don't slip and slide on the icy roads in the winter with those shoes on. I just try to pick my feet up fast because that is an important skill when you run on the trails. Today was snowing yet again and we had another 35 degree day. It's crazy, I'm looking forward to seeing the tulips and wearing shorts every day but it's pretty and I'm used to the snow so it's not all that bad.

Posted by mary at 6:23 PM | Comments (3)

April 5, 2007

IT Band Troubles

Despite some relief in my work load I still have not been able to relax for a myriad of reasons. My teaching load remains quite high and my work situation for next year remains up in the year. Mark and I have decided to go for it and move to Anchorage no matter what crossing our fingers that we'll get jobs. I think I just can't relax because I always feel like there are things I need to do, grading, planning, training, house-work, trying to keep in touch with friends. And it's not all balancing out. This I will chalk up to a busy time in my life. Unfortunately, Boston hangs in the middle of it all. I can't just sneak up to it like I have for other races in the past. A piece of me does not want to do it at all but a piece of me thinks it could be the perfect distraction and test. I just don't want to disappoint myself. I know I have good endurance at the moment and enough speed. I also know my overall strength has decreased over the last month since I have stopped going to the gym. I know core body work is enormously helpful and I just have not had the time to make it a priority or the motivation. So needless to say I am not completely optimistic about the looming closeness of Boston.

Today's run did not help at all. I was hoping to feel good since I only ran about three miles on Wednesday and had only been jogging with the students at practice. When I ran today I had horrible IT trouble. I had lateral knee pain and I do have inflammation on the distal portion of the IT band. I frequently notice this pain when I begin my runs and it typically disappears after warming up. Today however, was an exception, it did not go away. I tried to focus on the snow and the beauty of the landscape. We had six inches of fresh snow today so what were spotted green fields have now returned to snow white fields for the holiday weekend. I foolishly set off on a ten mile loop and by the time I realized the knee pain was not going away all I could do was continue the run. The pain wasn't getting worse which is good. It was just noticeable and very distracting. It did not help my relaxation cause. The pain is on my injured leg so I am sure there are lots of correlations and I am sure I need to stretch more. I just hope I can calm this down in the next week or so. I am really confused at the sudden onset of sustained pain.

I am about to ice the knee and plan to play it by ear tomorrow. On Saturday the Sugarbush Triathlon is taking place. I am participating on a four member team with some teachers from school. I am scheduled to do the run which is a five mile leg. I plan to run 6.40 to 6.50 pace. For now, I'll just take it one day at a time and try not to worry.

One of my brothers recently told me, "Worrying is like a rocking chair.. it gives you something to do but doesn't get you anywhere."

This is a good piece of advice to give to someone who worries about everything. My Father used to tell me I worry about everything including the mouse going to the bathroom in the corner.

Posted by mary at 9:57 PM | Comments (7)

April 3, 2007

Track Season Begins

Today was the first day of our middle level track program. I was so happy to have thirty students signed up for the first day of practice. They all seem very enthusiastic and ready to go. The first two weeks of practice are quite low key. We do lots of aerobic work and fitness games and strengthening exercises. Today we did a ten minute warm up, then stretching and names games, followed by a fifteen minute circuit which included running and thirty seconds of exercises like squats, lunges, push ups, then we finished with a mile to half mile cool down. Students were really tired but still happy when we finished.

After practice I ran a quick half mile with our dog that just got a hair cut and looks like a puppy. He is a cocker spaniel so he looks very small without his heavy winter coat. I met my friend Jen after the 1/2 mile jog and ran five miles with her at a pretty good pace. I then added another four miles on to the run. On this run I stopped by another friend's house to run her dog for three miles. It was a funny running arrangement today but it worked. I am still really tired. I feel pretty beat even though I have been getting about eight hours of sleep a night. Yesterday was a day off due to my evening class and parent conferences all day long. Tomorrow I need to get up and do a run in the morning due to my evening class. I hope I start to feel better soon.

Posted by mary at 6:02 PM | Comments (1)

April 1, 2007

The Beast is Done!

I finally finished my huge portfolio project and put it in the mail on Saturday morning after many long days and nights working on it. I am not happy with the end result but I am quite happy to have it all finished. I really just wanted to complete every section of it. I had a very tiring last week so my mileage was not all that impressive. Below is a summary of what I did. Now my focus is to REST and catch up on my sleep because I am quite exhausted. My chest has been hurting since last Friday and I think it is related to stress. Urgh..

Sunday: 22 miles
Monday: 3 miles with a student easy
Tuesday: 6 miles, 20 minute workout, 5 hard, 4 hard, 3, hard, 2 hard, 1 hard, 4 hard
Wednesday: 3 miles easy
Thursday and Friday: OFF
Saturday: 2 miles warm up - 5 x 1000 at the Wesleyan Track,3:58, 3:52, 3:47,3:47,3:45, 1 mile warm down. I was really surprised I was running 3 min. 800's for the last three intervals! Mark was there and he encouraged me. Surprisingly I felt good.
Sunday: 3 miles followed by a 5k on the Wesleyan track (20:52) I ran 6.40 pace for every mile, really consistent, felt good for the 5k, ran an easy 9 miles afterward. I mostly decided to do the 5k because I felt so slow on the first three miles that I wanted to break things up. The 5k helped to break up the run and it was great to run on a flat fast track. The 9 miles afterwards was not great. I was really tired, not my legs just my body in general. We drove to CT on Friday and did not arrive until almost three in the morning so I just really have not caught up. My main goal for the next two weeks is to try to catch up on my sleep.

Posted by mary at 10:58 PM | Comments (11)