A week of struggles

This week has really been a struggle for me. My times have really to put it bluntly sucked! I just completed my weekly long run which I normally do at the end of the week today. I am trying to front load this week since I have the dualathon on Saturday. I ran my 8 miles today in a pain staking slow rate on 1 hour 39 minutes. Not my normal pace. I have started to have some pain at the top portion of my foot near my big toe. This has happened before but it generally goes away. I did make an appt for the Chiropractor tomorrow. Hopefully, he can make it feel better like he has with my hip. It is odd because all my "problem" areas are on my left side. I will keep pushing on....

Last Brick Laid

Just because there has been no blog for a while, does not mean that I have to been out running. I went on vacation to the mountains in Idaho. I learned one thing....the elevation really affects you. It really slowed my time down but I loved the change of scenery. I was lucky to run on some beautiful trails with some awesome scenery. If only I could take the temperatures of there and the elevation of where I live and mesh them together. Today I ran my last brick before my duathlon on the 2nd. My goal is not that huge. I dont want to break records, I just dont want to be the last one to cross the line. And I want to be upright and smiling.

7 Miles

I ran 7 miles in 1 hour and 16 minutes, which averages out as 10m57sec miles. If I can can maintain at least this rate for 26 miles, I will be one happy little camper. I ran with my new toy today and I really love it. Since I am a competitive person, I feel that this will push me to go faster. My goal is to maintain a 10 minute mile while I am running. I did accomplish this several times but when I do my 1 minute walk it drops to 13 minutes. I also know that my first mile, which is the mile that I struggle with, is my slowest at 12 minutes per mile. I ran with my camelpack on as well. It bounces alittle at the beginning but I did not notice it about 2 miles into my run. I do know that the necklace I had on which I had forgot about, drove me nuts.

14 miles Biking

Went 14 miles on my bicycle. It took me 69 minutes. I sure wish that I could run as fast as I can bike:) Nothing to report over all it was a good ride. Just continuing to work on my speed. I have only a couple weeks left until the duathlon.

35 minutes of fun :)

Today I decided as I headed out to run my 35 minute scheduled run that I would look for hills and do a little speed play. I really enjoyed the variety. I would run along and search for hills. I did several grass hills which were good for my legs. Found a hilly gravel alleyway and ran that twice. I worked on some speed by sprinting to several different landmarks.  I really liked this better than my "typical" run every other telephone. I dont particularly like this. I feel like  I got the same workout. I went to the gym and lifted weights which I focused on my legs and core. I am finding it harder to get the motivation to go to the gym when it is nice outside. But I know that strengh training is important and this is where I fell short on my half marathons. I did not do any strengh training. I focused only on running.

6 Miles

I got up and left early this morning to beat the heat. I am not a morning person but it feels great to have my run completed before I am normally getting out of bed on a day off. No near misses to report. Happily this run was free of that. However, I did have a bit of GI problems. I am thinking that the fat free Pringles I had last evening was not a good idea. I normally dont have any problems with Olean but I am thinking the combination of that and running are not a good mix. I used my newly purchased water belt today. It is not the one I had orginially sought out to purchase. It is a camelpack but instead of being on your back, it is worn around your waist. I have my water located at the small of my back. It does move a slight bit when I run but I think that this will work. It sure beats holding on to a water bottle for my runs. I tried out my neighbors Garmin Forerunner 110. I so want to get one now! I loved it but it will have to wait for another month or so. I feel that will help me with my speed. I ran 6 miles in 70 minutes. Averaging 11.40 minute/miles. I need to get it going. I want to knock a minute at least off of my time.

Almost a smashed Brick!

Does anyone else have close calls with cars? Today was the closest yet. I was riding my bicycle with traffic when a car decided to turn into my lane from a side street. I was as close to the curb you can get and had no way out. I hit my brakes which caused my back tire to fish tail and not a nice word came out of my mouth. I think the elderly man did not see me until that point. It must have scared him too. I think he thought he hit me (almost I could have swung my knee out with my foot on the pedal and touch his cadillac). He was following behind me...I told him to go around me but instead he pulled up next to me and asked if I was okay. I told him that he scared the crap out of me but I was fine. He apologized. At least he checked to see if I was okay. I dont know what else to do. I am wearing clothes that are visible, my bike is white and my helmet is white. Anyone have suggestions? Anyway, completed another brick 3 mile run/11 mile bike ride/3 mile run. I finished in 2 hours. I have 2 more miles to add to my bike and then I doing the same miles that I am competeing in the duathlon. My bike mileage is improving 11 miles in 53 minutes (4.81 min./mile). It was a beautiful morning!!

13 Biking Miles

It is windy today so 6.5 miles of my biking was directly into the wind. I really struggle with the wind and maintaining a decent speed. On my way back, I was passed by a biker who apparently knows what he is doing. It was almost embarassing because it seemed like I was not moving so he flew past me and then glided a while before pedalling again. He left me in his dust. I know that I am a newbie at this but that was a little dishearting.
Things learned this time:
1. If I shift into the 3 gear and shift into my 7 gear, I can go 19 mph for a while.
2. The higher gear I can shift into, the less pedalling and the faster I can go.
I did 13 miles in 65 minutes which averages about 5 minute miles. I NEED to get faster. I am hoping to average 4 minute miles for my dualthon. I hope I am not kidding myself with this goal since it is less than a month away. I am getting faster from when I started. I do enjoy biking and plan to keep it as my crosstraining once I complete the duathlon.

5 Miles

5 wonderful miles with perfect weather! As I have blogged in the previous couple, I have begun my training schedule. This is my long run this week. It is 3 or 4  miles shorter than what I was running the past couple months but I figure cutting back and following the training schedule will be a good idea. I felt very strong after my first mile. Does anyone else struggle with the first mile? My body fights me. My legs feel like cement but once I have the first mile done, my running picks up and I feel so good. It has always been this way for me. I am paying attention to when I take drinks while I am running my long runs. Since the MCM has water stations are every 2 miles, I am trying to do the same. I have not purchased my water belt yet so I am running with my hand held water bottle. It is ok. I am hoping to get to a running store soon and hope that I can find one that suits me.  If I can find one that works and does not bounce around on me, I may carry it with me during the MCM. I normally just relay on the water stations but I will see.