Off to NM!

Monday, 13 April
Ran a modified Madre with Susan (we went down to the end of Lombardy first). It was about 6.5 miles at a solid 7.45-7.50 pace. I really don't think my easy days used to be this fast, did they? Felt good! It was good to let Susan rant about her job, because I know I always rant to her about stuff. So it was a good role-change. Perfect start to a big day of getting my stuff together for tomorrow!

Tuesday, 14 April
Thank goodness I remembered to bring my foam roller.

So I decided my easterly journey was a good opportunity to test out the trail waters in Claremont. I did a mountain run (74 minutes, I'm rounding up to 10 miles here because I was working pretty hard) called "mountain top" or something like that, anyways it was out for about 38-39 minutes and then back. I did some strides and drills afterward. The run felt great and so was the burrito that followed.

The drive is going well, but I didn't make it out of Claremont until much later than I expected so I realized that I wouldn't make my proposed campground by sundown. So I decided to press on and try and make it to Flagstaff and get a motel room. This was a good idea as it's pretty windy out. (Incidentally, I wonder how much wind is okay for the bikes on top of the car - I was very worried about this.)

About 60 minutes from my destination, my legs got really crampy. (Right IT band in particular, as usual.) Ugh. So that's why I'm writing this entry instead of sleeping right now, because I just dug out my nasty emergency ibuprofen from the glovebox, which I had to hack into pieces because it had all solidified into one mess. I'm waiting for that to kick in. Fortunately I packed my foam roller so I have that too. Hopefully I'll be able to fall asleep soon!

It turns out Flagstaff is at elevation - about 7k feet. It was even snowing a little bit when I rolled in to town! I'm going to go for a trail run in the morning (easy, gotta keep an eye on the miles) to capitalize on the altitude. Sweet! Also I'm going to wear my HR monitor. Should be interesting.

Wednesday, 15 April
So it was snowing and hailing this morning when I got up so I decided to go hit the road instead. Let's just say I ended up parked on I-40 for 5 hours while it was stopped due to high winds (!). And yes, I had taken the bikes off the roof and stuffed them in the back seat. Yes.

Anyways I did some drills and strides on the center median to get loosened up while I was waiting around for the road to reopen. I'm sure this delighted the onlooking parked cars and trucks. I also peed behind a rock that, let's face it, didn't conceal anything. But what are you going to do?

When I made it to Albuquerque (finally) I drank a beer and did a short little 30 minute shlepp around town with Robby so that my legs wouldn't be totally dead. It was a good idea because I'd been sitting all day. Also, my hip flexors are sore from Tuesday I think. Yikes!

Thursday, 16 April
AM: Met Henry Rono this morning! He's coaching Robby and his homeslices, so I got in on that action. We did a classic hill workout - slow uphill working on form and such, but I think it was a bit harder for me than it should have been, since I was running with the men and the altitude and such. My HR was ridiculous at the top of the hill. I only did 4 of them hills (3 and a break and then one more). I jogged and did some drills in between. The hill was very steep and about 150-200m long. I was glad I was not expected to carry on any part of the conversation, because I would not have been able to.

PM: Los Dukes were doing 5x1000 on the track with 1:00 rest, so I decided that a distance I could hang on for that pace was 300... so that's what I did. The tons of rest was really key, because my leg speed felt fine, but it took me a while to get my breath back at the end of each interval. I did 3x300, then 600, then 200. Times (with rest):

[55 (3.55), 54 (2.43), 54 (3.43), 2.07 (?), 35]

Although the 55 I think was really equivalent to a 54 because I started way out in lane 3. They were all in spikes, and I cooled down barefoot (about 15 minutes, 1.5 miles). All in all, considering that I'm kinda tired, and I ran really hard this morning, I feel good about this effort. Also, one of the runners who's really good told me I look really scary (I think he also used the word "buff" or "muscular") and serious. I was taken aback by this, I'm not sure if it was a compliment, but I wanted to say that I really was enjoying myself a lot! I like running on the track, and I like running fast. So yeah, if I look scary, I guess I can deal with that. I was having a good time. Also it was really windy, but I didn't notice it at all.

Friday, 17 April
Took it real easy today, which it turns out here doesn't feel easy at all. I think I was running maybe 8 minute miles the first 35 minutes, and then slower after that. The 8 minute pace was not conversational at all! My legs felt okay though. The gang turned to add on 2 miles to the 7 mile run and I decided that was too much - I'm already at 40 miles for this week, so I don't want to push it too much, especially given the altitude and overall intensity. I did some drills and 3 strides Peter-style afterwards and that kind of made my lower legs remember that they were sore, so that was bad. Also I got really cold after we stopped, so that kinda sucked.

We're having a party tonight for Henry because he's getting his US citizenship today. I think that's pretty special actually. I think I'm going to make an apple pie to go with the American theme.

Saturday, 18 April
Easy out and back at the Rio Grande. Very pretty trail - flat, sandy (but packed, it rained last night). Nice sunny morning, perfect temp with my long underarmour shirt and shorts, gloves and a bandana. Quiet farm area around the river, with trees and steam and fog and the mountains up in the distance. Very nice. Did some short drills afterwards.

I started out with Demar, Robby, and Dani, but only stayed with them for about 15 minutes. I think there's a steep cutoff where my breathing gets under control - I felt decent sticking with them, but once I was running on my own, it was SO much easier, even though I wasn't shuffling. I think intensity wise it felt like 7.30-8.00 pace (breathing a relaxed 2-in 2-out, slower than tempo but not as slow as 3 in 2 out). Similar to a pace I would keep with Susan on a similar run. But, I have no idea how far I actually went - Demar and Robby thought they went 10 and I could see them when they turned around, so I couldn't have been more than a mile back, right? 9 seemed generous when I looked at my pace (that would be like 7.40s) but seemed to make sense if they really went 10... so who knows. It definitely was a 9 mile effort, so I'll put that.

I felt good though, it would have been nice to run even a little bit longer, but I'm going to ride my bike today (it's SO nice outside!) so I'll leave it at that.

Sunday, 19 April
This is officially the biggest week I've ever done. I'll have to check, but I think my previous biggest week was in Denmark when I ran 54 miles (okay, so that week I also biked some, so they may be equivalent, but I'm not counting that.) I *did* jog an extra long cooldown today so that I could hit 60, but I felt really good the whole time so hopefully that still counts as not *too* crazy.

We did a 3 mile cross country fundraiser for one of Robby's friends, who is taking a group of doctors and med-students down to El Salvador. It was a pretty challenging course, lots of ups and downs (but not major hills/downhills). First mile was mostly uphill, and then the second and third miles were pretty fast. I did the course easy for a warmup, and on the line I hooked up with some other gals who would be running about my pace (which I guessed on - somewhere sub 8-min miles I thought.) Anyways I went out EASY per Henry's advice, and ran a 7.38, then ran 7.14s for the second 2 miles. My basic strategy was to work the downhills and keep my breathing under control on the uphills. It worked out okay, especially since I was running with a super duper strong gal who kept the pace even for me.

Anyways, then I did a long cooldown including lots of grass and a mile and a half barefoot. Great run! And hooray on my big week - my legs feel great too.