Training Log

No run today - the bug that is causing my sinus infection is really making me sick - I have that yucky, feverish sick feeling and felt like I could fall asleep all day, not to mention the killer headache and head congestion. Hoping the antibiotics kick in soon. Going to bed early.

Almost decided not to do the bike ride today.  Woke up feeling like something had run over me, but I talked myself into going, thinking I would feel better if I rode.  Took it easy and didn't do the planned 50+ mile ride but did 43.5 instead.  It was very hard to breathe, and hill-climbing suffered because of that.  Felt pretty rough the first 10 miles, but it usually takes me about 10 miles to warm up anyway.  Felt somewhat better by the end but still have the "sick" and wiped-out feeling.  The heat index today is supposed to be 110 - Mike and I were done by about 10:30, so we missed the worst of it.

6:40 am - ok, this bug is kind of hanging on.  I wanted to do a long run this morning, and to get out the door, I convinced myself I would just start running and see how it goes. Did the usual loop with all the new additions (except for the lake loop which I'll add next time) that I have "discovered" over the past couple weeks.  Down through the park and stopped at the drinking fountain at mile 10, then looped around to the house and got some gatorade and a gel, then did the 4-mile loop over to Peterson Lake Rd - Powell - Byhalia.  Once again, the beginning of the run was rough, but I could breathe better today, and then felt better the second half.  The heat index is going to be in the 100s today, and the forecast is 101 (without heat index) tomorrow.  Mid-South in the summertime!

5:45 am - ran the out and back to the town hall with a loop around the lake.  Watched the sun come up as I was running around the lake.  Beautiful.  It is going to be another very hot day!

6:15 am.  Up last night from about 2:30 on with a sore throat and cough; was tired and got started a little late.  Did the 7.5 mile loop that is now becoming my "short" loop, running through the Oaks neighborhood and down by Home Depot then Poplar and Peterson Lake Rd.  Felt sluggish but finished the run.

5:50 am - shorter run today.  May be able to ride after work tonight.  At about 5.5 miles, I felt a very sharp pain on the lateral side of my right knee (IT band).  I actually thought something had bitten me (like one of the horseflies that had been chasing me the first part of the run), but it wasn't.  I felt the long run from earlier in the week in my IT band yesterday but not a sharp pain like this.  I didn't feel the same type of pain again during this run.

Thunderstorms early in the morning, lasting until after I got to work.   My daughter's new boyfriend came over for dinner, so I rushed home after work to help her make dinner since she had to pick up Jacob who is sick with an ear infection.  "Rest" day from running.

5:22 am - 12 mile loop including the lake loop and watching the sun rise over the lake as I ran.  Felt pretty good, especially the last 1/3 of the route.

6:30 am

Up til 1 am with Jacob who was sick with a headache and throwing up all night.  Needless to say, no 5 mile MRTC race today and no run.  Everybody is worn out,. and Jacob is still throwing up.

Jacob is feeling better and slept through the night.  6:25 am - 7.8 mile loop out around the lake.  It is a lot cooler this morning and foggy.  Looks like a nice day.

6 pm - 7.8 mile loop around the lake again.  This run was difficult for the first 2 miles - have not felt well since Jacob was sick this weekend, and my daughter is also sick now too, so I may have a little of what they have.  Finally felt better the second half of the run and was able to pick up the pace back through the Oaks neighborhood.

5:50 am - planned to run a little longer this morning, which I did, but had serious GI issues that caused me to have to stop 3 times and cut it a little shorter than planned.  Yuck.

7 pm - babysat Jacob after work until 7, then I could run.  Now that I've been running in the mornings, it seems harder to get started on a run in the evening - not necessarily getting out the door, but I feel tired and sluggish for the first .5 mile to 1.5 mile.  This could also be due to a low-grade sinus infection that I haven't been able to shake since being sick about 2 weeks ago.  The ENT physician put me on antibiotics today for 3 weeks to try to clear it up.  At any rate, the run started very slow and sluggish, but by the time I had run around the lake,  which is a little more than halfway, I felt better and picked it up on the second half.  

6:15 am - 7..3 mile with downhills - still kind of tired and had  the GI problems that stopped me 2 or 3 times again. 

8 am - the triathlon team hosted a field day for special olympics, and I was in charge of one of the games and the prizes.  Jacob went with me to help out.  My assigned game was the egg and spoon relay.  There were lots of other games, too, like tug-of-war, water balloon relay, three-legged race, over-under beachball relay, roll the hula hoop, etc.  A large number of special olympians came. We played the field day games first and then split everyone up into to 5 or 6 teams for a relay race.  Each team had about 11 participants - we all lined up and each person sprinted out and around a monitor sitting in a chair at the other end of the field - maybe 50 to 75 yards?  Our team won that one.  Then we split into two groups to play either kickball or soccer.  I played soccer, and it got pretty intense, with good players on both teams.  The sprints in the relay and the soccer game really kicked my booty - I'm used to long runs!  We all had lunch and headed home.  It was a fun morning for everyone there, and Jacob seemed to enjoy it too.

2 pm - India Fest with the family.  Several co-workers invited me to this, and the rest of the family came with me as well - it was very well-done with lots of exhibits, and there were lots of people from work there.  Learned a lot about Indian festivals, food, dance, and culture.  

7:45 am.  Nice morning, not really hot or humid.  Ran 17 miles out around the lake, up to the fitness center, and then over to Peterson Lake Rd, down through the park.  Felt pretty good.  

6:15 am - recovery run - out to the library and back.  Had to walk a little now and then - legs (and body) feeling tired.

6:30 am - 7.3 mile loop in the original direction with the uphills because of the traffic near the high school if I go the other way and don't leave before 6.

6:15 pm - 30 mile bike ride with co-worker Ido. Lots of fun - fast and furious intervals. He is a fast rider who challenges but won't drop me.  He seemed to have fun as well.

6:15 - 9 miles around Collierville, past the high school which seems less busy this morning.  Skipped running around the lake but ran through Schilling Farms, then down Poplar and Peterson Lake. On Peterson Lake almost to Shelton, crossed a side street in a residential area where an SUV was just pulling out with two young guys in it.  They blocked the steet crossing, so I ran around the back of the vehicle, which I usually do if the vehicle seems to be in a hurry and is blocking the crossing.  The driver suddenly threw the SUV into reverse as I was running in back of them.  I yelled s***!  Which happens to be the first word that just comes out of my mouth when I am really scared in a traffic situation, and they stopped backing up.  The driver politely said in his best, young southern gentlemanly manner, "Sorry ma'am".  And I said,(still feeling somewhat scared and now a little bit angry), "what the h*** do you think you're doing?"  He didn't say anything, and I just ran on. I don't think they even saw me, even though the guy on the passenger side looked right at me as I ran toward them on the sidewalk before running around in back of them. 

6 pm - 7.8 mile loop around the lake. This morning at 6, it was thundering and lightning, so there was not a chance to run. Noticed again that when I run in the evening now, I start out slow, feeling sluggish and tired. I had to stop and walk twice for a very short time in the first 3 miles or so. By the second half of the run, I can usually pick up the pace. The fact that it was still 90 degrees and humid didn't help either; it was hard to breathe, the air felt pretty heavy.

Wednesday was actually my rest day - I entered mileage on Wednesday and Thursday that should have been entered on Friday, but I don't have time to change it over right now.

6:30 am - 57 mile bike ride.  Got to the start of the ride and my back tire was flat, so several of us worked on fixing it.  At home before the ride, I discovered that the styrofoam in my helmet was cracked so I borrowed Jessie's.  Later, I remembered that the puppy had knocked over my bike a few days ago, and the bike must have landed hard on the helmet.  The bike ride itself was great - rode with co-workers Mike and Ido.

The MS 150 Tour is coming up Sept. 13 and 14 - 150 miles in two days, from Graceland to Tunica and back.

7 pm - ran about 2 miles to loosen up the legs.  Still feel sluggish when I run in the evening. 

7 am - MRTC 2nd 5 miler. I was actually early getting to the race area which I do not know too well since I hardly ever go to the area of Bartlett where the race is. I had directions from Google maps and had the name of the park where the race start is, but apparently, there are 2 Freeman Parks in Bartlett - the Google directions took me to the high school stadium, and no one was there. So I drove around the neighborhood a while and was totally lost. About 7 minutes before the race is scheduled to start, I finally see a lady walking her poodle and ask her how to get there. She is not quite sure she knows the exact directions, but she sent me in the right direction, and I got there 3 minutes before the race start, parked quickly, and ran over to the start area just as the announcer was getting ready to blow the start siren. Whew! I would have been pretty disappointed to miss this race since I missed the 1st 5 miler because of Jacob being sick all night the night before.

Felt pretty strong and finished in 38:15 which may be a PR for 5 miles - don't do too many 5 mile races, so not sure. It was a great morning to run - kind of humid but overcast. Waiting for the official results.

5:40 am - 10.17 mile loop around the lake, through Schilling Farms, Poplar Ave, Peterson Lake Rd.  Felt strong.

Later in the day, the remnants of now tropical storm Fay came through, and it rained really hard in a short period of time.  My son's apartment building in midtown Memphis  flooded, so we were all up until midnight, cleaning up the mess.  Lots of water on the first floor.  Fortunately, he was home at the time and was able to move a lot of things upstairs as the water came in.  Unfortunately, his car also got flooded, with the water more than halfway up the doors, and in the engine.  Looks like it is totaled. 

6:15 am. - 7.3 mile loop in the direction with the uphills - traffic is heavy at the high school again, so went in the original direction.

6 am - 7.8 miles, around the lake near town hall and back. Felt pretty good.  Hoping to do a long run tomorrow morning.  I have a 14.2 mile race on Sunday in Tupelo.

5:18 am - so this is my long morning run - I don't have a course mapped out, which is poor planning, so I just added more to what I usually have been running and ran in a few areas that I have not run before to try to add mileage. My plan was to run 2 hours, 45 minutes, and I ended up running 2 hours 34 minutes, which is close. I do have to go to work this morning! Ran out to the fitness center, past the lake but didn't run around the lake because it was too dark over there and there are no lights around the lake. Ran through Schilling Farms, out to Poplar, then to Peterson Lake Rd and down through Johnson Park. Legs started to hurt at about 2 hours, but kept going, and pretty soon they felt better. When I got close to home, I felt like I could have gone further, but also felt pressed for time because I didn't want to be late for work.

So, this means I need to start earlier if my long runs are on a weekday morning. I'm hoping to have time this evening after work to run more miles, even though it won't be a continuous long run. And, I need to think about running some easy miles after the 14.2 race on Sunday to get in another long run.

7 pm - 4.23 mile run - Byhalia - Powell Rd Park - through park to drinking fountain - up to Peterson Lake Road - Simmons Ridge - Home. Felt a little sluggish at first but better as the run progressed.

6:10 am - 7.8 mile loop around the town hall lake.  Felt a little tired in the middle of the run and better after that.  Nice morning to run.

6:30 am - ride with Mike, one of my co-workers. We are training for the MS 150 which is Sept. 13 and 14 - riding 150 miles to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society - the money raised goes to local area chapter for services for families impacted by MS and for research through the national chapter.  Helping deliver the cure.

 Rode a shorter distance of 40 miles today because of my 14.2 mile race tomorrow.  We'll ride again on Monday, hopefully a longer ride depending on how my legs feel.

Tupelo, MS - 14.2 mile race associated with the Tupelo Marathon. Probably one of the more interesting (and fun) races I've run. See the image below, and you'll get an idea of the tone of the race - pretty cool - the long-sleeve race t-shirt is tye-dyed and has the image logo.

The race starts at 5 am Sunday, so I stayed overnight in Tupelo, which is about an hour and a half from Collierville, and packet pickup was 1 pm to 5 pm the day before, so more incentive to get there on Sat. and stay over.

5 am Sunday - start of race - it is very dark, and the race is run on back country roads in Mississippi without many streetlights - it is kind of eerie because in several places, it is pitch black and there is mist (ground fog) rising off the surrounding fields and huge trees covered with kudzu, (which has to be the Mississippi state plant!), making grotesque shapes in the background (when you can actually see). Lots of rolling hills, typical of Mississippi. Now and then, you hear a rooster crow or a dog bark. Between miles 4 and 6, people start to spread out, and there are a few stretches where you are running down a back country road in Mississippi in the dark by yourself, not knowing exactly where you are. A little different than the typical early morning training run, but fun!

My race - felt really good until about mile 6 when I felt like I needed to make a pitstop but there was no place to do so, and finally at about mile 7, there were porta-potties out in the middle of nowhere. I was very thankful. Between mile 6 and 7, I had to slow down a bit because of the GI issues, and felt a bit tired around mile 8 or 9. After mile 9, I felt better, and it was just a matter of keeping the legs moving at a decent pace. By mile 7 or 8, the sun had come up, and around mile 11 or 12, here come the marathoners, who have reached the turnaround, running back out to do the loop again. There was one long uphill starting around mile 13, and after that, suddenly, there's the left turn into the finish!

Finish time (chip timed) - 2 hours 0 minutes 11 seconds - took home the pottery for winning the 40 - 49 age group. 8th female overall.