Dear Diary.....

Last night I was having an email discussion with my coach about my (stupid) right quad and when things started going South.  I sat and thought and thought and thought, then I remembered my training journal!  I've always kept track of workouts in some way, sometimes haphazardly or inconsistently but this year is a bit different.  For Christmas I asked for this amazing training journal! I've been using it since the year began and I write a bit more about the workouts and rest days. How I felt before, during and after and if I went to the chiro or had a massage and if I'm cross-training and keeping my promise to stretch every day. It has helped my training a ton and I'm able to have a bigger picture of what I'm doing, how I'm doing, what works and what doesn't.

If you don't have a physical journal to track all this stuff I'd suggest you get one! It doesn't have to be anything fancy if you don't want it to be but a training journal does a few wonderful things, in addition to tracking workouts and mileage.  First, you can see patterns in your training and overall wellness.  You can track things like weight or measurements, heart rate and your cycle, for the female athletes out there.  A little note each day about your overall wellness such as "tired legs!" or "feeling stuffy" or "quick legs!" helps when you go back to look at what you've been spending your time doing.  Maybe you don't realize that those hill repeats are really taxing your system and leaving your legs spent, but when you take a look back at your comment about the days following a tough workout you'll pick up on the subtleties that you might otherwise miss. This leads to the next important reason, recovery! This is something that I struggle with on many levels. Just like nutrition, especially race day nutrition, is something that takes some figuring out and practice so does recovery.  By looking at the wellness updates and subsequent run performance you can see how well your current recovery plan is working.

My favorite reason to have a training journal is to see how you are evolving!!! It can be extremely rewarding to look back over past runs and see the mileage increase or the pace decrease.  It is especially helpful when you've hit a plateau or just barely missed that PR.  Taking a look back at all you've achieved over the past weeks, months and years can be just thing to make that frustration not feel so important and encourage you to keep moving forward! This record can also help encourage goals.  By looking at where you've been you can more easily set realistic goals about training and racing and where you hope to go.  The journal I have encourages you to set a monthly goal and record how you think you are going to accomplish it.  It also has a section for long term goals.  It is one thing to sit and dream and set a goal but the journal holds you accountable and asks you to think abut how you plan to get there which is a wonderful way to begin your work!

Here's what I did last week:

2/18 - rest; not feeling well

2/19 - 45:02 3.38 mi 13:20/mi ECP mixed trail and pavement; stretched am and pm

2/20 - 1:20:58 5.21 mi 15:32/mi NCR mixed; stretched 

2/21 - rest

2/22 - 46:08 2.87 mi 16:06/mi ECP - 8 downhill repeats sore quad

2/23 - 2hrs core and yoga workshop

2/24 - 48:04 3.34 mi 14:24/mi chagrin river park gravel; sore quad; massage; stretched; motrin and ice

Total miles: 14.8 

Weekly Training and Moving Day!

Phew what a week! On Saturday we moved!!!! The house is still in a bit of chaos but hopefully things will slowly come to order. :) It was a busy and hectic week and weekend so my training got a little messed up. :( The highlight of this week, besides moving, was that I ran my longest ever run on Wednesday!!! :) Woohoo! :) It was super icy in spots so I literally walked for almost a mile because every time I ran I would slip and slide! But overall it was a great run! I added some new sections to my run and it was nice to see a new part of the park (and not get lost) and get my miles in. I've also been sticking to my goal of stretching almost every day which is a HUGE accomplishment.  It is the first thing to go once I start getting busy. I'm still having some issues with my right quad so I'm going to keep at the stretching and hopefully things will work themselves out. :) I was originally scheduled to do a 50 min tempo run this week that I had saved for Saturday.  Moving day really kicked my ass and I just didn't get it in.  I had an 1:45 endurance spin class and 60 min hot yoga class Sunday morning so by the time I was able to get in a run I was pretty spent. The bright side is that I was still able to get in 4 days of running.


2/11 - 56:09 4.30miles 13:04/mi ecp mixed trail and paved. Yoga 45 mins. Stretched

2/12 - rest day! chiro; 2 hr yoga class

2/13 - 1:45:25 7.43miles 14:22/mi it was super icy in spots so I had to walk almost a mile due to ice :-/ ncr paved and trail; stretched

2/14 - recovery run. 23:29 1.92 miles 12:13/mi sidewalks

2/15 - rest day. Packed all day

2/16 - moving!!! Rest day

2/17 - 1:45 spinning endurance ride; 60 mins hot yoga; 25 min run 1.60 miles 13:45/mi; treadmill

Total miles: 15.25

This morning, I got up early made a dessert for my work lunch and then headed out for a run.  I haven't been running in the morning for a long time! It was always so dark in the morning and I didn't have a headlamp at that point.  It also seems to put me way behind and then late for work.  I'm teaching a private yoga client tonight so I didn't really have time to go tonight. I've been feeling a bit rundown lately and tired.  This afternoon I started thinking about what I had to do today after work, which is often a run, and realized that since I had done my run this morning I didn't have much to look forward to this evening. :( Obviously, that isn't true but my first thought was hmm, I'm going to go run, wait no I'm not. :( Tuesdays aren't my normal run day anyhow but I just felt super crappy yesterday and my asthma was acting up and I couldn't even think about running so I decided to run this morning.  It was a nice run and the park is so busy. :) Everyone is friendly and says hello. Needless to say it started my day off on the right foot! :) 

Week 5, my current training week, is a cutback week per my Coach Salty.  I was kind of excited to run beyond the 7.30 mark this week but that will have to wait until next week. My legs will enjoy the break until then. :) 

Weekly Training Log 2/4-2/10/13

This past week the weather was up and down and weird. But I still got my miles in! :) I ran twice with Karen and let me just say that having her there for my long was SUPER helpful! As much as I love winter, the sneak preview of spring that we got recently is making me hope the groundhog's prediction comes true!

We are moving this Saturday so things have been busy and a bit stressful.  There is still a decent amount of work left to do but I know it will work out fine.  I'm just feeling so ready to move! :)

I've been feeling pretty decent overall but sore and tired off and on too. I feel like it takes me a while to recovery from the long runs.  My schedule makes things a bit difficult too because I do most of my runs between Wednesday and Saturday. So this week I have a couple of goals:

1. Get at least 7 hours of sleep each night! Listen folks this is TOUGH for me. I've never been good at sleeping more than 6-7 hours and i usually can't do it for days in a row.

2. STRETCH!!!!!! I used to be SOOOO good at this and then I got busy and felt ok and stopped.  I'm trying to get back to stretching at least after every run and spin if not every day!

My coach switched out my XT for a 20 minute recovery run the day after my long run.  This means that I will run 4 days in a row this week. Hopefully this helps out! :)

Here's what I got in this week:

2/4 - 2.74 mi 38:53 14:12/mi - ECP paved trails - legs were tired; yoga 45 mins (i got out of work late so i had to cut my run short)
2/5 - XT DAY! 30 min jillian micheals six week ab dvd; 60 mins endurance cycle; 60 mins yoga
2/6 - 6.17 mi 1:30:02 14:36/mi - Chagrin River Park - gravel; stretched!
2/7 - REST DAY
2/8 - 4.04 mi 48:25 11:50/mi - ECP paved; stretched!
2/9 - 3.75 mi 51:04 13:31/mi - wilson mills trail head, pavement; stretched! 75 min yoga, 60min massage
2/10 - 60 min yoga

total miles: 16.73

Running Buddies!

What a week! This weekend was my YTT teaching practicum so all week I kept tweaking my class and teaching it to whoever I could! :) I got all my runs in and then basically spent the weekend doing yoga! Yesterday I was at the studio for about 10 hours! And while it has been such an amazing experience, I'm so glad that it is (almost) done!

White Pine Loop after fresh snow! 

This week, I did something that I've never done before and totally pushed myself outside of my comfort zone. I ran with someone. EEK! You are probably rolling your eyes at this one, but seriously I was super nervous. I'm a social person but the idea of running with someone was super intimidating and honestly, when we were planning our run I kept giving her opportunities to decide she actually didn't want to run with me. haha BUT she did and so we went, first on Wednesday and then again on Saturday. Karen has some tendinitis in her foot so she needs to slow down a bit to help her foot heal. Running with someone has been great and once I got over my fear of being too slow, it has been a lot of fun! Here is my advice, run with someone or a group sooner rather than later! Put yourself out there and recognize that no one cares how fast or slow you are they just like your company. :) Running with someone who is generally faster than you is ok as long as you are clear about what pace you are planing and they are fine with going a bit slower. It helps tremendously to maintain a more consistent pace when you have someone there to keep moving forward. :)

Now that things are calming down a bit with YTT and I'm getting a handle on packing, I feel like I will be able to be more consistent with my XT and strengthening exercises I'm supposed to be doing! I have an hour endurance spin class tomorrow for my XT for this week. Stretching is another area that I need to dedicate more time to!!! So that is also on my list for this week. The weather has been super snowy and great! It has made for some incredible snowy runs and I love it!!! We should be getting a bit more snow over the next two days or so which thrills me! OH! I also finally got a new heart strap so I can start paying attention to that too. :)

Here's the rundown for last week:

1/28 - 3.55mi; total time: 47:19 pace: 13:20/mi - ECP pavement Avg HR: 148
1/29 - strengthening exercises
1/30 - 6.36mi; total time: 1:27:20 pace: 13:44/mi - NCR mix of trail and pavement Avg HR: 161
2/1 - 3.34mi; total time: 46:20 pace: 13:52/mi - NCR pavement
2/2 - 2.91mi; total time 45:31 pace: 15:38/mi - NCR trail Avg HR: 155

total time: 3:46:33
total miles: 16.16