Race week again?

How is it that I'm racing every two weeks? Apparently I didn't think I would need any rest after the half. Or more likely I was afraid that if I didn't have anything to train for I would I would lose all of that momentum.

Regardless, I'm racing my very first ever duathlon this weekend. I'm kind of petrified. Having never done a multi-sport event before I just have no idea what to expect so I'm just winging it, Winging it is far from my comfort zone, so lets hope it works out for me. In all honesty I'm just hoping to not crash on my bike and not look like a fool trying to clip in at the start of the bike. I'm sure it will all be a great learning experience, right?

Now on to my favorite subject... FOOD. Several of my friends had been raving about the The Feed Zone cookbook. I love to cook and try new recipes and must admit I've been slacking off in that category lately with all of my training. I've also been feeling sluggish which could be a result of seasonal allergies, but I decided to make some changes. The book arrived just in time for race week. I quickly found several recipes I really wanted to try and made the goal to eat really clean all week prior to the half. I started out with the Apple Salad on Grilled Bread:

I ate this for lunch for about 3 days, it was delicious! The next step was to involve the family in the process and see if I could make it work for all of us. I chose a simple pizza.

I used pizza dough from Trader Joe's and this turned out really good. I think next time I may try adding prosciutto. It was a hit with my husband and even Sydney ate it.

What I love about it is the recipes are so easy and not a daunting list of ingredients. The other great part is that you can cook ahead of time things like rice, pasta or chicken and keep them in the fridge all week to assemble a lot of these meals. Tonight I'm making a lamb and chickpea stew in the crock-pot! I love my crock-pot but the vast majority of recipes for the crock-pot are not all that healthy. You know, the ones that require a can of cream of mushroom soup! I was pleased to see that there several recipes that can be done in the crock-pot which makes my life even easier since we have swim team practice from 4:45-5:30pm.

I highly recommend the book to anyone who is an athlete or even if you are just looking for some easy, healthy recipes.

Diva Half Marathon

It is the best feeling in the world to look over at the column on the right and see PR's in all 3 distances for the year! I've been working hard and it's so awesome to see the results of all that hard work.

You know how things work for me, I see a brochure for some race and I think that looks like fun! That's how I happened upon the Diva Series. I had a flyer for it in some race bag and held onto it. I knew I wanted to do a Half this year but wasn't sure when or where. I went back and forth about a lot of events. I knew the best thing for me was to do an event in the Spring once I was done coaching and through the bulk of my volunteer responsibilities at the school. A Diva race sounded fun, all women, a cute medal and champagne at the end! We all know I run for champagne. I managed to convince a few other friends to sign up and before I knew it we had over 20 friends signed up for the race. It was fun along the way to see people training for it. Several of us were following the same training plan so it's always fun to commiserate over your long run or how much your taper run sucked.

I had a lot packed into the week prior to the race and by the time Friday rolled around I was feeling the pressure of not being able to get everything in. For the first time ever, I experienced pre-race crying! I was in tears 3 times on Friday, not what I'm used to but maybe that was better than a nervous stomach for 2 days prior to the race. Once I made it over to Burlingame on Saturday I was feeling better. I could now focus on what I needed to focus on and seeing friends lightened the mood.

Andrea flew in from New Orleans to run with us, so Mary Sue, (I've done more races with Mary Sue than anyone else!) Andrea and myself headed to the Expo.

Packet pick-up was very easy and the Expo was set up nicely. After the Expo for the Oakland Running Festival which was so junky, this was a relief, and no I wasn't offended by all the pink. After we left the Expo we headed out for some shopping and lunch in Burlingame. It was such a nice afternoon that I almost forgot we were racing the next day. Later that evening Molly, Andrea and I headed out for dinner. It's no surprise that we all ordered salmon for dinner! As we walked out one of the waiters said "nice shirt!" Of course he was commenting on my TriSports.com  shirt!

Fast forward to race morning and I managed to get my usual chocolate cheerios and  non-fat milk down before I headed out. There was not a cloud in the sky and I new it was going to make for a very hot day, yet I was hopeful that there might be a breeze from the bay. There were a ridiculous amount of us running and I managed to see almost everyone before the race start. Several of us lined up at the 10-11 minute mile marker. I knew I would be running in the 11's but lets be honest, in a race full of Diva's I was pretty sure no one was paying attention to those signs. We were lined up for what seemed like forever when I really just wanted to go, go, go! The race started late which was disappointing since it was already warm out but soon enough we were on our Divalicious way.

I had a goal of a 10 minute PR which I knew was 100% achievable, but I had a super sweet goal of a 20 minute PR that would make me really, really happy. When Molly mentioned that Mary was aiming for a similar goal I settled on a 15 minute PR as my goal. I knew what overall pace I needed to run at to achieve this goal and engrained it into my brain. Of course there is so much excitement as you start out and I used a lot of energy at the start dodging around people but I felt good, it's possible that around mile 4 I was having too much fun with it and realized I needed to dial back a little. I carried my own water and gel but grabbed water at aid stations along the way. It was hot and there was no breeze after all, so I really focused on staying hydrated. My game plan had been to not stop for a port-a-potty. I had stopped twice in Las Vegas and apparently didn't really need to. So while I was determined to finish without having to stop it did cross my mind that with the amount of fluids I was taking in I might have to. I tried not to think about it, because you know, once you think about it you can't stop thinking about it!

I believe it was around mile 6 where I felt the heat, I was sweating a lot, but I was following my race plan; nutrition, hydration and walk intervals to a tee. It was around this point that I grabbed Gatorade because I didn't see water and as I passed I realized that there wasn't any water. The Gatorade didn't sit with me well and I tossed it. I still had water in my bottles and was hopeful that by the time I came around the backside of the aid station there would be water again. When I hit the turn-around it for sure felt like a milestone. My average pace was looking good, so good that I knew there was room if I hit a wall later to still achieve my goals. At about mile 7 I started to experience significant Achilles Tendon pain. I had experienced some mild pain during training but nothing significant so this was a little bit of a surprise since the rest of legs seemed to be holding up rather well. I tried to ignore it, if I ignore it, it will go away, right? As I came through the back side of that aid station at mile 8, they were still out of water. "Are you kidding me I said?" I saw some firefighters and almost felt like telling them to keep their eyes peeled for for folks who might be experiencing dehydration due to lack of water. The course was way too hot to go through two aid stations without water. I bit my tongue and pressed on and was thankful for the one bottle of water left on my belt and just hopped it was enough to get me to the next aid station. I continued to try and change my foot strike or gait to lesson the pain in my Achilles Tendon, eventually something worked or ignoring it worked because the pain ceased. Crisis averted. As I reached the next aid station I took some time to fill both water bottles and took a cup to go. I took a few sips from the cup and threw the rest of it down the back of my shirt, ah, that felt really nice.

I had the screen on my watch set to intervals, so that's what I watched for most of the distance, occasionally I would check pace or mileage to be sure I was still on track. It seemed like mile 11 came really fast which was awesome, until it took forever for mile 12 to come! I think their signs were not placed very accurately since it appeared I had been running the course short (which seemed impossible with all of the negotiating I had been doing) and then when mile 12 finally did show up all of a sudden I was running the course long! It was difficult for me to estimate how much further I actually had to go and when to pick up the pace. The spectators was starting to grow thick so I knew we were getting close. I took an extra walk break to try and pull myself together, by this point I felt like I had a blister on the ball of my right foot and my left calf was pretty tight. I regained my composure and told myself I had nailed a PR already and the rest was up to me. As I approached the pink boa and tiara station I tried not to make eye contact, I would not be slowing down to grab anything as it would only be a distraction from getting to the finish line. I breathed a sigh of relief as I rounded the corner into the finish chute and the finish line was now visible. There was a woman in front of me who I decided needed to be passed. As I approached the finish line there was no one in front of me except for the two photographers waiting to catch my expression as I completed 13.2 miles. I did my best to smile and be proud of of finishing my second half marathon distance.

I looked at my watch to see that I had earned a 19:10 PR. I did it! I knew for sure 10 minutes was achievable and I was pretty sure that I could get a 15 minute PR if everything went my way, but a 19 minute PR meant that all of my hard work and preparation and my race plan had paid off. I was rewarded with a red rose and huge medal by a shirtless supposed "firefighter" but I have my doubts that they were real firefighters. In my post race "what do I do now" self, I wandered over for a photo before Molly found me and shepherded me over to the others who had already finished.

Overall it was  fantastic day for me, but I must admit it was a lot of hard work out there. I remember mile 10-12 being so hard in Vegas, the distinct feeling that an epidural would be fabulous because everything from the waste down hurt like hell. While I had some serious aches and pains it was definitely a different type of pain from my first half. More of an earned pain than a I just need to finish pain, if that makes any sense.

Super stoked to cross the finish line

TriSports in a sea of pink

Just a few of the amazing ladies that I ran with. Thanks Mary for the photo!

Overall time was 2:31:00.

Thank you TriSports for supporting me in yet another PR for the year!

Taper

I'm not even sure where to start, we've been so busy over here. This is typically a busy time of year for us as Kylie has an April Birthday, Sydney has a May Birthday and my Birthday is 4 days after Sydney's (my poor husband). Knowing that things would be hectic crazy, we planned Kylie's Birthday Party a week early at a dance studio where there was minimal prep work for me to do. I even got off super easy by having a former boss make Hello Kitty Cake Pops for the party! Yes, Hello Kitty, they were amazing and super yummy as well!

I just can't get over how awesome these were, and mess free! Check out her website to read her blog and for more details!I seriously wish I was this creative.

After Birthday Party madness it was time for my husband to head to Anaheim for a week of training. Funny how I used to be the one doing all the travel for work and now it's him. He's such a rookie, I had to check him in for his flight because he wasn't even thinking about it. We decided that with a room paid for it would be a great opportunity to take the girl's to Disneyland. We haven't taken a family vacation in long time, probably since I was laid off 3.5 years ago. We decided that we would surprise the girl's and fly down Thursday to join him in Anaheim and hit the park after he got out of class each day.

I didn't tell them until the night before that we were flying to meet him, and we didn't tell them until he got out of class on Thursday afternoon that we were going to Disneyland, they had no idea! It also saved me from having to answer a million and one questions all day, everyday about everything. I have to say they were amazing travelers since this was my first time flying by myself with them.

Three fun filled days at Disneyland wasn't exactly part of the training plan, but I made it all work and brought compression socks to help my tired legs!

Spreading the TriSports love at Disneyland!

We finally made it home Saturday night around 8:30pm to exhausted kids and dogs who were very happy to have us home.

Sunday morning I got up and logged my 10 mile training run. Considering this was a 10 mile run, I can't complain. I wasn't really sure how to handle my workouts this week knowing that 3 days in Disneyland would fry my legs. I ran my 5 miles on Tuesday, 30 minutes of biking on Wednesday and basically counted 3 days at the park as "endurance" training. In the end, this ended up being the best decision for me. I had fairly fresh legs for Sunday's run, I managed to eat well the day before despite travel, I could have hydrated better but it turned out to be a really great run with all things considered. We won't talk about mile 9 that was all uphill and hot and sweaty, 1 mile out of 10 that hurts is awesome in my book!

On to taper week! It's another busy week ahead, just taking one day at a time to be sure I cross off everything on my to-do lists before the big race on Sunday. I can't believe it's actually here!

Mid-week Torture

I'm getting smarter, I think. Or my mindset is shifting at least. This week it is was imperative that I embraced the fact that my Tuesday training run was going to suck. The last two races I have done I decided to actually race and and earn PR's. This means, I didn't really treat them like training runs, I pushed myself to achieve goals. And what that means is my body is going to be sore. After 2 horrible post race Tuesday runs, I went into this week's run with the idea that it was going to hurt, I should take it slow and it's a training run. I headed out and promised myself that I would not look at my pace or time because it didn't matter. When my run hurt I felt okay about it, I didn't need to achieve a personal best on my mid-week run. It's interesting how so much of it is a mental game. I came away from Tuesday's run feeling good instead of disappointed. I reviewed all of the data from my run and a light bulb went on! I really do have a race pace and a training pace! In the past I've basically had one pace for everything. I knew that Sunday's race would be a test to see if I am seeing any improvement in my longer miles and it really gave a boost to my confidence to know that, yes, I am seeing improvement! This helped me to not feel down about my slow, easy, kind of hurts Tuesday run.

Come Wednesday I was hoping that my tired and cranky legs would benefit from a bike ride, they did - at least temporarily. I worked on foam rolling last night before I headed out today for another run. Knowing that my legs are still sore and cranky I headed out with the same attitude and just tried to enjoy the day. It's getting warm here in the Bay Area, even though I went out in a tank top and running capri's. I was still hot! Even my feel were hot, this is a reminder as to why I love training in the winter because I just have no heat tolerance at all.

After my run I headed home to hose off and spare my PT the stinky and sweaty mess that I was, I'm sure she appreciates this! She is very interested in the mechanics of my feet and the compensation that is going on as I run. I know what I'm doing everyday, but we're wondering what I'm doing when I actually run. Next time she's going to have me run on the treadmill and observe. After a nice session of ART (is it sick that I really enjoy this? It hurts a little but I can also immediately feel the benefits of it) she decided to reintroduce the stability strength exercises with the TRX. This time we are doing less reps. It's obvious I need to build up strength in certain areas, I was just hoping to reintroduce these after the 1/2. She told me to complete these on non-run days, so that should help with the over-use issue.

That's my week so far. I complete my last swim lesson tomorrow, and have a 60 hour bike and 9 mile run to look forward to this weekend as well as my daughter's birthday party, which thankfully I planned to have outside of the house to spare my sanity.

A few photos from last weekend's start. This is my "my ankles are locked up look!"

Benicia Run for Education 10k

Beautiful morning for a race

I'll try not to bore you with all of my struggles prior to the start of the race. Up every two hours the night before (I guess I hydrated well) then woke up at 5am with stomach issues, got to the race 1.5 hours early and sat in the car wondering what the hell I was doing. I guess I really need to stop with the self doubt crap, as much as running has increased my self esteem and confidence there are still those days where I doubt myself and my abilities.

It was cold in Benicia, okay not freezing temperatures, but due to the distance and do to the fact that there was not a cloud in the sky I decided to run in capri's and a short sleeved as to not overheat. I sat in the car as long as possible to stay warm, but eventually I had to get out to warm up and line up. Most of us were hanging out in the sun pretty far back from the start line and eventually they made us move forward... brr.. it's cold at the start line! I was probably further forward than I wanted to be and I never actually looked behind me to get an idea of how many were running the 10k. I think they said they were expecting over 1100 runners, but the vast majority of those were running or walking the 5k. Before I knew it, we were off. I had warmed up with all of my PT exercises but every once in awhile in a race my ankles lock up, today was not the day for that. The first part of the race is a mild uphill and that combined with tight ankles was pretty painful. A lot of people passed me at this point, as I wondered if I would be the last 10k runner in. I was planning on sticking with my 3:30 run/1 minute walk that I had used at the Oakland Running Festival. The 10k was to have no walkers and no strollers (even though I saw one guy running with a stroller -this didn't bother me since he was running faster than I was, although it may have been an issue on certain parts of the course where we only had the shoulder to run on). All of a sudden I worried that someone might say something to me on my first walk interval, I'm paranoid that way, but no one said anything. Eventually my ankles loosened up and I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that I would indeed survive the the 6.2 miles after all.

I remember hitting the mile marker sign and thinking, wow that first mile went by quick! Because of the intense pain at the start of the race and the overall distance I promised myself that I would not look at my overall pace a great deal. During the 5k I was practically glued to it to ensure that I was hitting my average pace to PR. I knew that I would drive myself crazy if I did that over 6 miles. I checked it occasionally at certain mile markers to ensure I was on pace for a PR and was presently surprised the few times I did check. I knew that I had enough of a lead on time that if I had to slow down once I hit the rollers I should still be able to PR. Once I hit the turn around I still had 1/2 a mile to the aid station so I consumed a gel on my way there and finished one of my bottles of water. With no cloud cover it was warm and I was consuming more water than I normally would have. I was so glad I bought my water, I had thoughts about not bringing it the night before but there was no info on aid stations on the event website so I figured I shouldn't risk it.The nice part about the turn-around was that I actually did get to see how many people were still behind me, and I was indeed not going to be last!

At this point I was leap frogging with a couple. I'm sure I was driving them crazy, but I needed to stick with my plan. I would pass them and then they would pass me during my walk interval. Pretty soon it was obvious that even with my walk intervals, my overall pace was still faster than what they were running. Once he hit the rollers I no longer saw them again. As we crested over the first rolling hill this was my my view :

These would be the 5k walkers that you see in the distance. Strollers, balloons and kids everywhere! Luckily the street is wide enough that I was able to maneuver around the majority of the obstacle course while still traversing the hills. I was able to stick with my intervals and was still really pleased with my overall pace and was getting the sense that I had the ability to make much larger gains on my 10k PR than I had even hoped for. As I approached the last hill I took one unplanned 20 second walk break knowing that the next 1/2 mile would be a sprint to the finish line. I had seen a woman ahead of me for awhile and noticed that I was gaining on her. Pretty soon we were stride for stride. It was obvious we would be racing to the finish. She picked up her a pace a little too early, I let her have it until I was ready to make my move. Ahead of us was a 10k male runner and a family with strollers, balloons etc. The finish chute is pretty narrow in comparison to the course so I spotted an opening to the right side of everyone and blew past all of them into the finish chute. Sorry, lady there was no way I was going to let you have that! She was clearly too tired to match my pace (and I think not expecting me to blow past her) I crossed the finish line at a 6:22 pace.

I PR'd by 4 minutes and 46 seconds and I ran the course long. I did my best to try and run it as accurately as I could but once we encountered the 5k runners it just wasn't possible to stick to a line. I wonder how long one can actually stare at their run data before getting tired of it. Based on my personal time (not official time) and because I ran the course long, my numbers show that I took close to 1 minute off of my overall 10k pace. Freaking amazing, and based on that overall pace time I'm super excited to work on my 5k time later this year.

My overall goal for this race was to come in around 1:07, hoping for  a two minute PR. Despite my self doubt and concern that I wasn't seeing improvements in my longer runs, I've now realized that I am improving. All of my hill running over the past 7 months has helped me a great deal. I took those rolling hills on in such a stronger fashion than I did two years ago. It's really awesome to see the improved strength that I have built, and I have to remember to have faith in myself and my body.

Official Time: 1:04:37 (6.26 mi)
14/27 AG (30-39)

Not freaking out

I'm sure some of my friends are wondering if I'm freaking out because it's Friday before a Sunday race for me. Surprisingly, I am way more calm than I was before the ORF 5k. Yes, I still want to PR, and yes I'm still going to try but I'm not putting as much pressure on myself as I did last time around.

Anything over 5 miles is sort of an unknown for me at this point, I've seen much success in the last 6 months on increasing speed on my shorter runs, but as I compare my longer runs it doesn't seem that I'm really getting any faster than the last time around. Although it's difficult to really analyze this as last time around I didn't have a Garmin, and last time I did everything in my power to avoid hills on my runs, or more specifically the dreaded uphill last 3/4 of a mile to my front door. I would plan my mileage to complete my run earlier and walk up the hill as my cool down from my run. Really, the only way I'm going to know if I have seen any improvement is in my race times.

You may remember my last 10k race (only my second ever 10k distance) was a sufferfest. With pavement, trail, single track and a ginormous hill, I realized that maybe it wasn't the best course to try and PR on. Although I squeaked one out, I think it was by sheer luck (or perhaps the ginormous hill on the way back which was all of a sudden a nice downhill helped to make-up lost time). I really have no idea what I am in for on Sunday as the event site has no elevation listings for the course. I did this event 2 years ago but ran the 5k course. Which I fondly remember as having an endless amount of rollers at the end. So I'm certain this is not going to be a flat course and I'm sure that I'm going to have to face rollers again only on a longer course. Will it be a sufferfest like my last 10k? I sure hope not, my main objective is to go out and have fun, so hopefully that will keep me on track!

In other happenings, I've realized that it is a good thing I don't have any big races over the summer. I left the summer mostly open in order to spend time working on my swim to prepare for next year. And of course there is the whole "my kids are out of school all summer long" thing. I keep thinking about how this is going to impact my training. I guess I'll be at the gym a lot this summer and riding the trainer a lot!

Sydney is going to swim on swim team for the first time ever. We didn't do it last year because Kylie was still napping at this time last year and I couldn't swing swim practice every day for Sydney with a toddler that was still napping. To be honest, we have both been really nervous about venturing into the world of swim team. Having both grown up here we know how competitive swim team is. It takes over the entire city and when the region meet arrives in August not only do people decorate their cars, but you will find SUV's with wood shark fins attached to the roof, or waves, or whatever else people come up with to show their team spirit. As a non-swim team family, we have found it annoying to not be able to use the pool around meet's and not be able to park at our gym around OMPA weekend. With all of this in mind we were apprehensive about signing Sydney up, but I'm big on letting her try things to figure out what she loves and what she wants to do. When I asked her if she wanted to do swim team, she was all over it! That's my girl, she is highly competitive and loves the water so I guess there was really no doubt that she would want to do it.If you can't beat them, join them?!

Having not participated in our club team previously I really have no idea what level of swimming she should be at. From last year I know that she is like her Dad, and loves to just glide under the water but isn't very efficient at breathing or any stroke. Since Kylie was going to be taking swim lessons, I signed Sydney up as well. Early season practice starts the end of this month, so it seemed to make sense to have the girls start this month and get a hard start on our pool opening and pre-season practice.

This girl jumped in the pool and blew me away. Kids have a tendency to forget things after being out of the water all winter. Sydney was like a regular mermaid out there, clearly not having forgotten anything from last summer. She didn't actually take any sessions last year because of a snafu with scheduling. So the last time she has had any swim lessons she was 4, turning 5. Her instructor started her out with some big arm work and much to my surprise, here is my kid doing freestyle! I was utterly blown away. I'm watching her pay close attention to her instructor and doing everything exactly as she is asked. It made me so proud and reminded me a little bit of myself and how hard I'm working with trying to implement what my swim instructor is asking me to do. She and I spent some time talking about swim team and what it would mean. I had explained to her that it wasn't going to be all fun, that it would be like running club, that she would have to work really hard and some days she would be tired, but that in the end the reward would be great! Apparently, she was actually listening to me!

Doing drills

At the end of the session she was moved up a level in her ability. Since then they have worked on diving off of the pool deck (another skill that she picked up right away) and back stroke. Her instructor told me this week that she thinks back stroke is going to be a really strong stroke for her.

I hope her enthusiasm hold all summer long, we will certainly support her 100% if she really loves swimming. In the meantime I will apparently be a "Swim Team Mom"... we all know how I struggle with this type of stuff! I've tried to plan my volunteer commitments for the afternoon so I can still get my own workouts completed in the mornings. Just a warning that if you don't hear from me all summer long it's because I'm at the pool!

Highs and Lows

I've tried to sit down and write a blog post several times in t e past week but just struggled with what to say. After my 5k PR the high wore off quickly when I had several terrible training runs. Lots of leg pain that plagues me even just laying in bed at night and was preventing me from running the way I wanted to run and just bringing my overall mood down.

After some significant increases in pain and now having pain in both legs the PT has backed off the strength training and we are just now focusing on ART and stretches. What I have discovered is that my arches are collapsing (even more so than in 2010 when I first realized it and got arch supports for my running shoes). With my arches struggling my tibial tendon is working overtime and this is what is causing a great deal of my pain. With the additional collapse it became apparent that I also needed to go up another 1/2 size in my running shoes. Seriously, I just cycles these shoes in and I have to go buy yet another pair! Another thing that I noticed on my rest day (Friday) is that I spend a lot of time barefoot at home and I was in serious pain on rest day which was really bringing me down. I had to run 8 miles on Saturday and it was not going to go well if I was in pain on a rest day! What I caught myself doing while barefoot was walking on the outer edge of my feet, like I as trying to simulate my old higher arches. I have no idea why I'm doing this, it doesn't hurt to walk flat footed, but for some reason this is what I'm doing while I'm barefoot. I've been trying to correct this and trying to wear shoes more often to also help. Now that I have noticed it I'm able to correct it and feeling less strain on those tendons.

Saturday's run was not the amazingly beautiful run I had hoped for, but it was better than some of the recent runs I have had. I have been given a list of stretches to do before and after my run. Sadly I was in such a hurry to get my 8 miles in on Saturday to recover and make my swim lesson that I totally forget to do them before my run. This would probably explain why the first 2 miles of my run really sucked. It was so bad and my mental state was so fragile that at just past the mile marker when a car nearly ran me over, I actually had to fight back tears. I tried to pull myself together knowing that if I was going to cry at mile 1 the next 7 would be a total sob fest.

It was somewhere around mile 3 that I realized I wasn't feeling pain in my legs. I rejoiced and wondered how long that would actually last. I hit my turn around and felt relieved to be headed back, even if that meant there were still 4 more miles to go. I stopped at the park to refill my water bottles, it was a sunny and warm morning so I had actually gone through both bottles already. With two miles left to go I braced for the headwind and the last 3/4 of a mile that would be all uphill. At this point I was feeling fatigued and some leg pain had returned. As I waited at the light to head up my street I saw another runner heading towards me and recognized a friend whose daughter goes to school with Sydney. We chatted really quickly before I lost the opportunity to cross the street. That put a little extra spring in my step, I guess for some reason it makes you feel less lonely out there.

As I made my way up my street I began to seriously rethink having the last bit of my long runs all uphill, it really sucks the life out of you. With about .30 miles to go I saw our neighbors drive down the street who gave me a hearty cheer as they drove past, that was the last bit of motivation I needed to get me to mile 8.

I made sure to do all of my stretching in the driveway so the family wouldn't distract me from it once I got inside. I have to say, the new stretches felt really good and seemed to really make a difference. I was a good girl and took an ice bath and recovered with my ZICO Chocolate Coconut Water.

After a quick recovery I headed off to my swim lesson. I was hoping he would take it easy on me when I told him I had run 8 miles before coming over. I guess in his mind only 2 laps with the kick board was going easy on me. I'm finally starting to pull all of the things together when it comes to my stroke. ART has helped to keep my ankles not so tight, and I'm staring to really get the arm positioning. H was very pleased with my last few laps even though I was so fatigued I worked hard to try and pull it all together. I'm super glad that I decided to take lessons and that I have all summer to work on my stroke and improve my efficiency.

 

I only have one more lesson and I must say, I will be bummed to no longer have the hot tub and nice locker room post swim. On the bright side my pool opens up on Sunday so I will no longer have to pay for lap swim at the High School!

Next up is the Benicia Run for Education 10k!