Just Plodding Along

On the running agenda for this week:  Mon: Nada maybe yoga Tues: 6 miles Wed: 8 miles Thurs: Nada maybe yoga/ strength Fri: 8 miles Sat: 4 miles Sun: 14 miles As always, this plan is tentative and subject to changes due to life. Jac over at  Challenged and Running in the Bike Lane  (who I like to think of as my AZ running amiga) nominated me for the Beautiful Blogger Award. Thanks Jac! She has been running for a million days in a row now in the Arizona heat. Pretty dang inspiring.  Here are the rules: Copy the Beautiful Blogger Award logo and post it in your post Thank the person who nominated you & link back to their blog Tell all of us 7 things about yourself Nominate 7 other bloggers & comment on their page to let them know. 7 Things: 1) I am a big fan of photography and used to do it a lot, now not so much but hope to get back into it (you know pictures that are not a blurry half marathon course).  2) I love F...

Last week was kind of not great in terms of cross training: 1 day of zumba and one day of yoga. The lure of the couch after work is strong. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, when get home head straight to workout clothes. Even so I ran 28.5 miles last week including my fastest mile in a long time 8:46. #RWStreakExtreme is going strong. On the Agenda for this week: Mon: 1 mile plus xtrain of some kind (maybe strength) Tues: 4 miles easy and yoga Wed: 7 hilly miles and yoga Thurs: 1 mile and xtrain Friday: 6 miles with 2 at a faster tempo Saturday: Breeze in the Trees 5K sub 30 minute attempt. Woot Woot Sunday: LSD 13 miles + napping Fun Fact: D bought me an iphone. Whooeeee I immediately had to obtain an otterbox case because it is not if but when will I drop it. So this is what I will be doing with my free time.  Yesterday D and I celebrated our Anniversary by going to The Melting Pot where I ignored D and played with my new iphone (I had to check in ...

Random: The best thing about BBQ's is the left over fruit salad to eat. Yum! Moving on. Reading the latest edition of Runner's World has stoked the 'I want to run a marathon' fire. Especially because there is a marathon plan in there   and start dates for one marathon in particular I want to do, the Portland marathon . I have already pretty much done the first week two weeks ago so could jump in on week two and make the magic happen. Just three little problems: 1) As mentioned (whined about?) before our lives are kind of uncertain right now so committing to something so far in the future might be setting myself up for failure (failure= not being able to actually run this) 2) This race is pricey for #1 to happen, plus I would be super sad. 3) I have this fear of getting injured and throwing off my 30 before 30 goal. (and would Portland count for two 1/2s, one 1/2, no 1/2, hmmmm?) I think I will start the training program since it has hills, speed, easy ...

Run: 13 miles in 2:24 Temp when I started running at 5 am= 74 degrees and humid due to monsoon rains yesterday  Number of hand held water bottles drank = 4 Reason I run on the Rillito River trail= water fountains I knew things would be slow this morning due to the heat, humidity and the fact that I wanted to go so far so I grabbed my camera on the way out to keep myself entertained along the way.  I give you photos of my long run run from my neighborhood to the Rillito River trail and back. And we are off Cutest house in the neighborhood beside ours of course. Heading towards the 'river' Stop to say hello to the fish in the pond outside a business On the river trail  The cool thing about this route is there are a ton of I guess what would be described as public art pieces. Some really comfy concrete recliners. Bridge art Another bridge, more bridge art Turn around (one of two) Life saving water fountains along the way and ba...

Random stuff..... Apparently when you go to work, and workout twice a day and wear multiple pairs of pajama pants in between it creates a giant mountain of laundry. Grrr folding and putting away laundry is the worst. Can't I just keep buying new stuff. Had 8 miles on the schedule Sunday but ran 11. Feeling pretty spectacular about myself. Weekly mileage at  (drum role please) 29.1 I wore my compression socks and running skirt for my run this morning and somehow that just makes it more official and fun. I just feel sassy in my racing gear. Speaking of sassy. I love, LOVE, quail. I see them practically every time I run and for some reason that feather on their head reminds me of a hat and they always sashay along as I run up with their head feather bobbing and I think they look sassy. And freakin baby quail. The cutest. These two have been under my feet all weekend. What do you want from me? Workouts last week: Mon: zumba/ 4 mile run Tuesday...

This week I vow to buy a group fitness pass and get my butt moving in different ways. Monday: AM: 4 mile run, hip exercises, stretching PM: zumba (my friend is teaching this so it will be twice as fun) Tuesday: AM: biking/ yoga/ Jillian Michael's cardio hell or nothing PM: Muscle Pump class (lifting weights to music is basically the class description) Wednesday: AM: 6 mile run, hip exercises, stretching PM: zumba again Thursday: AM: biking/yoga/Jillian Michael's cardio hell or nothing PM: muscle pump again Friday: AM: 6 mile run PM: nothing- drink beer Saturday:  there is a zumba class at noon I may go to or I may nap, tricky Sunday: AM: 8 mile run PM: power yoga This all seems fairly ambitious and I am sure by Wednesday morning my body will be difficult to get out of bed with the new classes I will be taking. Today I went for a six mile run and my hip felt better. I ran it slower than normal and even turned my Garmin so I couldn't see the speed I w...

So I am once again dragging my butt up Mount Lemmon. I am pretty sure after I did it the last time I wasn't going to do it again. It is completely uphill. Well there is a little bit of a downhill or as one guy last time described it: an eight mile hike with a 5 mile run at the end. Pretty much.  But the lure of the cheap half (registered for this one for $55) and proximity to my house (near Tucson) made it irresistible. Apparently they are cracking down and no music is allowed for real this time. Last year they said that and everyone and their mom had music except for me cause I am a rule follower. So ethical dilemma of my time: to bring the Ipod or not. It would be very helpful to have Beyonce, Katy and Lady Gaga pacing me up the mountain. There is some nice symmetry with doing this half as number 15. I am half way through my goal of running 30 half marathons before turning 30. This half kicked of the half madness for me last fall and was the first one ...

is the Havasu Half on Saturday! So I am going to stop upping the mileage in an attempt to rest up and maybe try for a PR. I commit to nothing. There is no elevation chart for this race so I am assuming it is fairly flat but....you never know. Mon: stretch/yoga Tues: 5 mile speed work Wed:rest or x-train Thurs: 3 miles easy Fri: Off Saturday: Run over the London Bridge! 13.1 Sunday: shuffle around Lake Havasu sightseeing London Bridge Last week was my highest mileage week this year. I ran 27.1 miles. Usually I run between 15 and 21 miles. Happy that I am slowly moving towards my goal of 30+ miles a week. Last week: Mon: 3miles Tue: 5 miles of speedwork on the river trail Wed: xtrain-walked dogs Thurs: 6 miles Fri: 3 mile walk with dogs Sat: 3.1 miles Sun: 10 miles My next goal will be to extend the long runs past the 13 mile mark but we will see how quickly that happens.

Okay so there wasn't really much madness going on this month. Actually pretty tame. Monthly mileage equaled 64.5 miles, a little on the low side but I did take some time to rest after running a gazillion (3) 1/2s in February. I have started incorporating speedwork once a week (I have done it twice but still think it deserves a round of applause). I have run 212.6 miles since January 1st. I have also tried to incorporate more days of running and slowly up my weekly mileage. I would eventually like to be in the 30 miles per week range but want to take it slow since increasing intensity with speedwork (okay quicker plodding) with more miles seems like a recipe for injury and me being stuck spinning. I am also teaching myself to not hate the treadmill. That is slow going. I ran one half this past month the Arizona Distance Classic  in 2:14 and obtained one medal. On the agenda for April: Lake Havasu Half, Horsetooth Half, and Mount Lemmon Half in that order...

Last week I did pretty well sticking with my running plan for the week. Mon= 2.4 miles around the neighborhood Tues= 5 miles speedwork on the treadmill Wed= Off Thur= 6 miles easy run Fri= Off Sat= Off Sun= 13.1 miles Arizona Distance Classic Total mileage= 26.5 miles Plan for this week: Mon= swim (shake out the aches from the 1/2) Tues= thinking speedwork but if still sore might just run an easy 6 Wed= Off Thur= speedwork or 6 miles depending on Tues Fri= 3 miles Sat= 6 miles Sun= 8 miles Mileage aim= 28 miles