Monday, December 21, 2009

Red Burn day

It's a "red burn" day in the city of salt, so Carol and I decided to climb the stairs here at work. We did 25 flights of 37 stairs for a total of 925 in 22 1/2 minutes. That's 42 stairs/minute. I'm looking at doing the Tackle the Tower at the end of February. That's only 598 stairs. If I went at my pace from today, I would finish in 14 minutes. We weren't hurrying today. Now that I have something to reference, I'm going to see if I can really push the pace in preparation for February. I'll be doing stairs at least 1x/week between now and then.

Friday, December 18, 2009

How to prepare for "Grazing Day?" An extra lap

I was tired, but Carol and I decided to do Liberty x2 again today because it is our department monster holiday pot luck meal day. So, that means eating yummy homemade treats all day long. The extra lap just seemed like a good idea although I'm not naieve enough to think that it will offset the calories that I'm about to consume.... So, 5.85 miles @ 11:31mpm pace. Yeah! Taking tomorrow off because my left ITB and knee are a little unhappy. A recovery day will be good for them.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

possible 2010 goals?

Carol and I ran to Liberty and did two loops. We started out really slow because of our "blistering" pace yesterday, but made up for it with a very nice negative split. 5.85 miles @ 11:32mpm pace. Not bad. Running in the morning is so much easier than the afternoons. The traffic is SO much lighter! The sky was beginning to get a bit lighter on the way back to work and with the clouds, it was lovely.... sort of a dark blue-gray with lighter gray clouds. Well, that telling leaves something to be desired, but it was nice...

We also talked about 2010 goals. How about 2010 miles? That's an average of 5.5 miles every single day...

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

unintented "speed work"

Wow - both Carol and I felt sluggish and tired until we realized that we were actually running pretty fast. We did 4.5 miles at a 10:51mpm pace. We had intended to do two laps (Liberty), but Carol wasn't feeling super, so we'll do that tomorrow or Friday. Overall, we're both glad that we ran, but looking forward to a morning run tomorrow. I don't like these afternoon runs as well.

took a break

Hadn't run for over a week, but Carol and I got out at lunch to do Liberty. Turned out fine even though I felt like I was struggling. We ran 4.5 miles at 11:21mpm.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Tight, sluggish, miserable, and good pace (!?!?)

Carol and I ran from work to Liberty and back with one lap added in PLUS we had to run down State to Discount Tire so that I could pay for our new wheels. So, our total distance was 5.3 miles instead of our normal 4.5. It was HARD. Hard, hard, hard! My legs felt like lead and the backs of my legs (top and bottom) were tight for about two miles. May have had something to do with last night's beer.... It wasn't as cold as we originally thought, so I spent most of the run with my fleece tied around my waist. I felt like I was really struggling the entire time, but it turns out that our average pace was 11:03mpm!!! Woo-hoo!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

problem? pizza

Ran to Sugarhouse with Carol this morning. We managed to keep a 11:25mpm pace for 5.5 miles. Not bad. I couldn't figure out exactly what I wanted to wear. I had my skull cap on and off and on, fleece on and off, left my pants at work and ran only in tights. Just couldn't find the right temperature. Had pizza last night. I don't think it was a good idea, and certainly not the kind of carb loading that Runners World advocates. It's no wonder that I've gained weight. Stupid choices all around.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

getting bigger all the time

I ran with Carol on the work/Liberty/work loop again today. It's been a week since I've run, so I felt sluggish. I felt like I was holding her up, but we ran 4.5 miles @ 11:16 mpm! That's pretty good for a week off. Unfortunately, I've really gained some weight. I'm pissed off at myself, big time. I've been doing some serious emotional eating lately as things aren't going well at home....