Cookies

A month or two ago, my kids sold cookie dough as a fund raiser for school. For once there was a really cool prize...Each kid that sold $200 worth of dough got to go on a limo ride to Pizza Hut for lunch.
Well, selling cookie dough isn't so easy with every kid in town doing one fund raiser or another. I sold what I could and bought the rest.
The cookie dough was delivered yesterday. And since I have 11 boxes, I ate dough til my tummy hurt last night! Never even ate dinner, I was so sick.
Yesterday was just an easy 2000 yard swim and this morning I was just going to do an easy 3 or 4 mile run. But after all the cookies I ate, I figured I needed to burn more calories (are there less calories eating them without baking???). I did my normal 6 mile route. I still took it easy, since it is taper.
Only one more swim and one more run til New Orleans!!

Last Ride

We have been getting a LOT of rain this week. Therefore I have had to do some workouts inside, squeezed some in between showers, and got wet doing others.

Yesterday I got soaked on my 20 mile run, rained for all but the first 4 miles. And today's forecast looked like I was going to get just as wet on my ride. At 7:30 I let the dog out and saw it wasn't raining so I quickly put my Zipps on my bike and took off. I did the whole 1:45 and never got wet. Funny since the forecast called for rain ALL day.
The good news it these are the same forecasters who have called for rain in New Orleans next weekend.I hope they are just as wrong as they were today!!
Today was my last ride befor race day. I dropped my bike off at Acme for transporting down to New Orleans. I have never done a race that I didn't take my bike with me. They promised to take good care of her.

St. Patricks Day 10K

I decided not to run this race this year. Ronnie said he was going to run so I thought I would just stay home with the kids then get my long ride in later in the day. I went about my normal training for the week.
Monday I did a 2200 yard swim in the morning and a 4.72 mile run that evening. My legs were sore from the half marathon on Saturday so I didn't even attempt the speed work on my schedule.
Tuesday I waited until almost 6pm and then I rode 20 one mile loops of my neighborhood. It was too pretty to be inside on the trainer but Ronnie was at Scouts with Bryce. So Casey played basketball in the driveway and waved each time I rode past.
Wednesday I got up at 3:30 for a 10 mile run at PMP. I did it in 1:27:20, a 8:44 pace (8:47 was goal). Then I went to Cindy's toning class. Wednesday evening was swim class where we did 3000 yards.
Thursday was REST DAY and boy was I ready for that.
Friday I ran 15 miles. Plan said PMP+20 seconds. I squeaked it out with an overall pace of 9:06. I did ab ripper after that for the first time in a while. Boy did that HURT!
So last night Ronnie tells me he decided to golf today. There went my plans for a long ride. I thought about the 10K and decided to make a game day decision.
I woke up at about 7 this morning and decided that since I had sufficiently carb loaded on Shock Top last night I better go run. I got the kids up and took them to Donut Palace to get them some breakfast. We got to the Rec Center about 7:45. I signed up for the the race then left the kids in the car to read, watch TV and eat donuts.
I didn't have big goals for this race, I wasn't even suppose to be there. I lined up in the middle of the pack. I took off on the "GO".
This course is rolling to hilly. The Rec Center sits in a hole so no matter which direction you run it is up hill right away. From there it was rolling until we got to Jail Hill, which we had to run up. Just as I was making the turn to head up the hill I heard one the the police that was directing traffic tell someone that he stopped that "We have a little marathon going on". I laughed to myself. 10K, marathon guess they are about the same right??? After making it up the hill, it was through town and around to the park where we had to run up another good size hill. We got to finish by running down Jail Hill and around back to the Rec Center.
Splits: 8:03, 8:02, 8:10, 8:03, 8:17, 7:32 and 7:11 for the last 0.2. Guess which miles the two big hills were at.
Total time 49:33, a new PR and good enough for 1st place age group (40-49).
After the race they had a kids one mile run. Casey decided she wanted to run it and Bryce decided not to. Casey did great and got 4th place but her and another girl complained afterward that the little boy that got second cheated by cutting the course short. Casey did get a medal and then Bryce was mad that he didn't run too.

Tom King Half Marathon

Earlier this week Ronnie told me "I don't know about you but I am not running Saturday in the rain." I just looked at him and said, "I did it last year, will do it again this year."
He ended up changing his mind and Saturday morning we drove up to LP Field in the rain. It wasn't raining as hard as last year but it was colder.
We put on ponchos and made our way to the stadium. Got chips and shirts, went potty, and then found David.

They had an early start at 8:00 for walkers. We started at 8:30. I tossed my poncho just as the start gun fired. My hands were freezing for the first several miles, wish I would have worn my toss off gloves.
I was runing with David and Ronnie was just behind us. David and I stopped for water at about the 2 or 3 mile mark. Then we were running along and spot ronnie just ahead. I asked him what he was doing. His goal was a sub 2 (9:09 pace). We ran the first three miles at 8:34, 8:22, and 8:31. He said he lost us at the water stop and didn't know how fast he was running. He let us in front of him so he coul pace off us.
It was still raining. We made it over the bouncey bridge and then to the turn around. Miles 4, 5, and 6 were run at 8:11, 8:17, 8:11.
I was getting warm and wishing I hadn't worn the vest. At mile 7 I told myself "Ok, only 5 to go". Boy was I disappointed when at mile 8 I realized Now I had 5 to go. 7 and 8 were both run at 8:16.
At this point David told me he was really feeling the four weeks of no running. I was still feeling strong. I made a move to pass a group of runners and David stayed behind. So now I was on my own. It started raining harder. I started picking out runers ahead to catch. First the girl in the red shirt, then the guy in the garbage bag, the girl in the blue hat...
Mile 9, 10, 11 and 12 were run in 7:51, 8:04, 8:02, and 7:54.
I could see the jumbo tron inside the stadium. I made the left turn and had 2 minutes to make 1:45. There was NO way. But I still had a shot at a PR. I pushed on. A right turn, then another right down into the staduim. I ran out on the field and made my way around the field to the finishline at an 8:02 pace.
I finished with an offical time of 1:48:37. I new PR.
I watched David cross the line at 1:51 .and then Ronnie smashing his sub 2 hour goal with a 1:53:43.
We cheered Jill to her finish just missing her sub 2 goal by 8 seconds.
Then we went back to the car and changed into dry clothes. It felt wonderful to have on dry socks.
We enjoyed some carbs in the staduim club and then made the drive home.
We celebrated our PR's at Wingers with more carbs. I think I am recovered and ready to focus on New Orelans in 3 weeks.

Behind

I am behind on my blogging, behind on my training, behind on my house cleaning, behind on my sleep...
So in an attempt to catch up on one thing, here is a quick recap of what I have been up to.

I paid for the weekend of too much food and beer on Monday's early run with stomach troubles again. I got through the warm up, the 1 mile interval, and the 2 mile interval. At that point I was near home and knew I could not run a step more without messing up my pants. So I called it a day, skipping my swim too.
Tuesday, still not use to day light savings time, I decided to sleep in and do my trainer ride that evening. It was beautiful out and I was really wishing I could ride outside but no one to keep kids so trainer riding it was. Nothing impressive. I think it was 1:20 while watching TV.
Wednesday morning it was up at 4am for a 6 mile tempo run that I didn't even come close to making pace on and an hour of toning class. And then I skipped swim class Wednesday evening. So my swim total for the week is a big fat ZERO!!!
Yesterday and today are "taper" days getting ready for my first race of the year, the Tom King 1/2 marathon. The forecast is not looking good, might be a repeat of last year only colder. Today is actually suppose to be my 3rd 20 miler so I have to figure out how to get some extra miles in tomorrow.

Not My Best Effort

I have not had the best week of training.
Sunday I ended up skipping my trainer ride. I sat on the couch watching Top Model reruns and stuffing my face instead.
Then Monday morning I put off my run as long as possible. School was canceled because of the snow so I was off work. I finally got around to running around 11. I did a one mile warm up around the neighborhood, then did 12 x 400 running back and forth in front of my house in case the kids needed me. My goal pace for the 400's is 7:08. I ran them at 7:00, 6:59, 6:38, 7:02, 6:55, 7:07, 7:09, 7:06, 7:07, 7:15, 7:11, and 7:24. I though I was going to die by that last one. I did the 10 minute cool down around the neighborhood then fixed lunch.
Tuesday was another snow day so I rode my trainer about 10. 25 miles in an hour and a half.
Wednesday the kids finally went back to school so I got up early and ran a 6 mile tempo run. I missed pace on the three tempo miles. Then I went to 5:30 toning class. Wednesday night was swim class. She tried to kill me doing 100's. We did 2500 yards for class but my plan called for 2900 yards. So Tim convinced me to finish out the remaining 400 yards.
Thursday was thankfully a rest day.
Friday was a long run. 18 miles at PMP + 30 seconds (9:17 goal pace). It was warm but windy. I wore shorts, just days after the biggest snow fall in years. I ran a hilly route and ended up missing goal pace by 3 seconds per mile. 2:48:07, 9:20 pace.
Saturday Ronnie claimed golf so I put off my long ride til Sunday and just rode 1:15:16 when he got home. Got in 22.31 miles outside. It was windy and there were lots of dogs but I was so happy just to be riding outside nothing could bring me down.
Today was a different story. I set out for a 4 hour ride at 9:45. The wind was brutal. It was a fight just to stay on the road. The final straw came when my max speed down hill was 20 mph. I headed for home and called the ride after 1:58 and 33.54 miles.

In Like a Lion

March sure came "in like a lion". This is the scene that greeted me when I went to let the dog out this morning.And since the threat of snow pretty much brings us southerns to our knees, I don't guess we will be going anywhere for a while.
I am glad all I have on my training plan is an hour and a half trainer ride. Ronnie has a two hour run. Looks like he is in for some FUN!!!

Yesterday I got up early. Each of my kids had a friend spend the night and the dog woke one of them up. So since I was up I got started on painting the kitchen. The old color does not match the new tile. I painted for a while the set up my trainer for another LONG ride. I did 50.7 miles in 3 hours, not a good as last week. After the ride I threw on a fleece shirt, hat and gloves and did my 30 minute run off, 3.25 miles. It was cold and wet. Then I finished painting. Well, I painted until I ran out of paint. Now with this snow, I don't know when I will be able to get out and get the paint so I can finish.

Everyone is still sleeping but I am sure as soon as the kids wake up and look out the window we will be getting bundled up for a snow ball fight, snow men, and snow angles.