I did my tempo and it actually went HORRIBLE! I completely lacked focus. That is an unusual problem for me, I’m usually very focused.  It’s probably a combination of so many things going on with my health.

As I move back into competitive training, focus is something I seriously need to work on, along with recovery. I spoke with another Masters elite runner yesterday- he and I were commiserating on how different training cycles become as you age, and how you have to adjust what you’re doing. and how you can’t do the same things you used to do.

It’s hard because you’re mentally and physically sharp, but you can’t recover as quickly so it makes things much tougher. The other struggle is that it takes so long to warm your body up, then when it does get warmed up, you have such a short window to workout before you have to cool down, and you have to be careful not to over-train.

I’ve settled in a training program that works for my body:
-mile repeats on Mondays
-tempo on Wednesdays
-long runs on Friday
-Saturday is my easy day (usually from home)
-Sundays I take off

But when I switch back into competitive mode, the intensity of my workouts will increase substantially and more speed will be added throughout the week, and I won’t be able to take Sundays off.

Today’s Sunday, my one day off a week, and it is a weird feeling!

I had two good runs yesterday- I ran outside on the road, something I really never do anymore, and it was so wonderful… but my mileage isn’t as fast- I ran about 7:30 minute mile. I ran Friday at the river with Jim and had a better pace going… I need to get as many runs as I can with Jim because we run a little faster pace, and on my 2nd run of the day, I need to increase my pace to get more miles in.  Other than that, everything is going great- I’m taking my vitamins and I go in tomorrow for more blood work. The results from that will be a good indication on how my general health is going.

Great run this morning, I ran just 9 miles at the river with Jim. We ran so much faster and it was a good realization that I just need to be running at the river- I have such a long stride, I just can’t execute it at Westminster where the trails are tight (my legs don’t recover when they can’t stride out… )we get in the habit of visiting and goofing around and therefore run a little slower, which isn’t the best. My new objective is to run more at the river (which is what my coach has always asked me to do).

My kids are off of school today, so I don’t think I’m going to do my 2nd run.  I’m still having all kinds of hormone issues, so my doctor will probably reduce my mileage even more- I’m going to the doctor today for hopefully more blood work to see what I can do to get my system back in order.

I’m back.. Got the flip video camera working again.  With my hectic schedule, it’s so much easier just to video document everything to help me remember everything that goes on in my day!

Everything is going well; I am running hopefully either my tempo run today or my long run, but hopefully not both. Last few weeks, thanks to the rain, I’ve been doing both and it’s been really hard. My long runs have gotten relatively short, they’ve been between 12 and 14 miles and they’ve been almost impossible to do, which I attribute to a poor state of mind for it, the weather, and all my hormone levels are still way off so its hard to focus at much as I’d like.

I ended up meeting my friend Steph for my run, we did 14 miles on the hills. It feels like the hills are keeping me from getting a full stride which might be why my legs are so tired.  My coach is trying to get me to run only one or two days a week on hills but I’m so committed to seeing my friends that I always end up finding my way back there. Tomorrow is the last day of the week we run together so I’m just aiming for 9 or 10 miles.

I did a 20 minute tempo today which did not go well.  I started it at only 1 mile into my run & my legs weren’t warmed up so the first mile was only 7:06 and the 2nd mile was 6:36 and the last mile was 6:00 but it was on a very hilly course and it’s only 25 degrees, so I guess its all relative.

For the family, t’s another triple header- 5pm is meet your coach night, pickup from gymnastics, and Daniel’s basketball game.  We’ll make it work somehow… Daniel’s also got a spelling test tomorrow but forgot to bring his words home to study

I’ve had to re-adjust my days… I’m not used to having this much time to myself  (I typically have two workouts a day).  Because the tent inhibits my recovery and I am so over trained,  I’m taking off 6 months from the tent which again will inhibit my ability to train but will increase my chances of recovering as quickly as possible.

I’ve cut my miles back to 45 miles/week just to get my body and hormones back in balance from over-training that I did between September and December.  Bermuda’s race in January was over the top for me.

The plan is for me to carry a little more fat, giving me little more estrogen in my body which allows my body to stabilize so I’m not training quite so hard.  The negative is that I had to pull out of the elite races I had planned for this winter/early spring season so I’m now shooting for the April time frame hoping that if things in the next month come together, that would be a realistic time to get going again.  If I can be back into good running mode in the next month or so, then I can start putting a good base together in being ready to go for races.

Worst case scenario, I really want to be ready for the Peachtree Road Race- it’s a race my kids can go to, it in my back yard, and it’s the largest 10k in the nation…10ks are my favorite races. It’s the race I ran well at 2 years ago, and I know most of the people involved in it, and sponsoring it so it’s a great opportunity to be with friends and people I know as well as the elite running community that comes in not only nationally, but internationally.

I also see Heart of the Summer (the Minneapolis road race) as one of the best races for me to hit a record in for a few reasons:
-I’m from Minneapolis and I have a lot of local support at that race
-it’s a nice, flat course that I’m familiar with

Some of the elites from the Minneapolis pro runners are there like Katie McGregor who is one of the best 10k runners in the nation, so she’s a great person to pace with and try to make a record with.