Create.

7 miles upright bike

1/2 mile swim

Core and hip strengthening exercises at work.

*************

Other than the parking ticket I got (who knew you couldn't park w/in 5 feet of a driveway?) it has been a great day!

The day started out with a full out upright bike race with Fonz. Okay ... so I lost (even w/Fonz having already ran his stinkin' fast miles and him being at a much higher resistance than me) BUT ... I hit an upright bike PR (7 miles on random level 2) in 19:27. It must have been quite the sight as I was dripping buckets of sweat and Fonz was just jammin' out to his tunes w/out a care in the world. Oh well ... I came closer than I thought I would -- I am so going to kick his trash next time! :)

THEN ... I made it to school on time (usually I am running about 5 minutes late).

THEN ... I got my O. Chem test back (which I thought for sure I had bombed) and got an A (miracle of miracles -- thanks for the prayer, SSF).

SO ... I am very happy!!!

(Have a quiz in Anatomy tomorrow ... better hit the books.)

11.5 miles

Okay ... this was the plan: run three 5Ks - 1 @ marathon pace, 1 @ threshold pace, and 1 @ VO2 max pace with one minute rest between each one. I am so glad this is over -- that last 5K just about did me in.

1 warmup mile

5K @ 8:00 pace

5K @ 7:30 pace

5K @ 7:04 pace

(I was reallly trying to push it to a sub 7 pace on my last 5K but absolutely could not do it. Stink! I'll blame it on Fonz since he pushed me on the bike yesterday. But truthfully, I don't know that I could have gone even 1 second faster had he not. I hit the puke feeling halfway through and had to slow down a bit before picking it up again.)

1.2 miles cooldown

I'm exhausted! :)

30 minutes upright bike - easy

1/2 mile swim

10 miles

Mile 1 - Ran with Oliver and Livvy. Roughly 12 minute mile

Miles 2 & 3 - Ran with Payton and Sophia. Roughly 10:30 minute miles

Miles 4 thru 10 - Ran by myself on the JRP. AP: 7:54. Ran the first 3 miles conservatively but then wanted to hurry up and get done.

20 minutes elliptical (while studying, of course)

30 minutes upright bike (still studying - wish I were done ... but haven't even scratched the surface ... stink)

3 recovery miles - AP: 9:12 - wanted to run more but was freaked out about my Physics test and thought I should cram for a bit before school. The test ended up being WAY easy though. Sweet!

20 wonderful miles with my SSF (AP: 9:20)

Smooth and I had a GREAT run! Got started a little late so after running our first 8 miles uphill we arrived at Payton's game with only 5 minutes left! He didn't seem to mind since they were getting smoked!!! 5 minutes was the perfect amount of time to have a little drink and eat the oranges Ry brought for us. Out we went and ran 8 miles down and then 4 relatively flat miles on the parkway with a hill at mile 19.

During the second half of our run, after leaving a chaotic message for Rhett (we were wondering how his marathon went) we began to salute places that reminded us of our friends and loved ones. For example: our first salute went to Kelli as we passed a Kneaders! Then to JohnnyV as we passed a fire station. Other salutes included ones to Fonz each time we saw a church (how do you like that Fonz?), a salute to Fly when passing large amounts of rocks, to Montelepsy and Vinh when we would pass the U.S. flag, Mark O when passing 24 hour fitness, Larry when passing an A&W, Ry when passing a golf course,  Lowell when we saw any flourescent colors and on and on and on (there were many more).

Lastly, I have to add just how amazing Smooth is! She truly is the most wonderful woman ever. It was funny, when we finished and were having our muscle milks at my house we were telling Ry about our salutes. I said, "Guess what we were passing when we were giving you a salute?" He said, "Ummmm ... Bikini Cuts???" (laughing, of course). Smooth looked perplexed. She had NEVER heard of the place! Like I have said many times before, she is so so so good!!! :) I just love her.

Happy Day!

If you are a woman runner

30 years of age or older

PLEASE

I need your help!!!

** I am doing a project for my Physics of the Human Body class at the University of Utah. I am so excited about this project but desperately need your help. All I need you to do is take 5 minutes and complete my online survey. (It might not even take that long.) I am trying to get an idea of why women in their 30s and above run and how it affects their lives. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me by taking the quick survey and forwarding the link to as many women that fall into this category as you know. I would be so grateful. Also, if you could respond to this post then I might get enough responses to get it on the Hot Discussions List in hopes that more people will see it. I love you gals. Thank you SO SO SO much!**

HERE'S TO WOMEN RUNNERS EVERYWHERE!!!

http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=lt6zzbyzaq2v312705493

30 minutes upright bike

20 minutes arc trainer

Am so behind in school and so had to run fast so that I would have more time to study.

12 miles

(1 mile warmup, 7:30, 7:30, 7:30, 7:30, 7:30, 6:59, 6:50 ** had planned on running that mile at a 6:40 but 1/2 way into it I stinkin' quit and lowered the pace to 6:59, 2 miles cooldown. Got off the treadmill, took off my shoes, and was so mad at myself for quitting on that 7th mile that I put my shoes back on and hopped on the treadmill and ran 1 mile at 6:40 and then another cooldown mile.)

Off to study. I hate that I haven't been able to look at all my friends' blogs the last couple of days. I am drowining a bit in school and desperately need to catch up. I have a HUGE anatomy test on Thursday, then hopefully I will be able to breathe again.

Hope everyone is off to a great week!

***********

OH YEAH: Thank you everyone for helping with the Women over 30 running survey. I have about 70 responses so far!!! Yahoo!!! I would love even more!! This is turning out to be a wonderful project!!! So if you know anyone who falls into this category that hasn't taken it yet, would you please send them the link:

http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=lt6zzbyzaq2v312705493

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

40 extremely easy/a bit lame on the bike -- I was so tired

11 miles (10 miles at AP: 7:31, and one cooldown)

** I was very worried about my run because I have had very little sleep the last few days. Fortunately I was fine! Going to watch Survivor now!! My fave player is back, James. He could give Denzel a run for his money! :)

4 @ 8:34

16 miles - AP: 7:58

Okay, the plan called for 16 miles with 12 @ marathon pace. I thought I'd get the 12 done early and relax in the end. My thought was to do a semi-warmup mile at 8:34 but make up the 34 seconds sometime before hitting 12. I did that. But after finishing mile 12 I realized that though it was hard and I was tired I was still in complete control. So I figured I might as well see if I could finish the entire run at marathon pace. By the final mile I was exhausted but decided to push myself even harder to bring the pace down under 8 minute miles. Success!!!

On a side note -- 16 miles is much too far to do on the treadmill. I don't know what I was thinking. Saturday afternoon are busy at the gym so I thought that the time would fly by as I people watched. The time did NOT fly by! Oh well ... it's done.

Hope everyone is having a FANTASTIC day!

30 minutes upright bike (10 easy, 10 moderate, 10 hard)

1/2 mile swim

lower body strength training:

- SLP: 5 minutes (75 lbs)

- SLC: 3 x 15 (30 lbs)

- SLE: 3 x 15 (30 lbs)

- H. Abd: 3 x 25 (30 lbs)

- calf stretches: 2 x 2 min

Speedwork day.

1 mile warmup then:

Yassos w/400 meters jog in between each one

6 @ 3:30

3 @ 3:20

1 @ 3:15

Then 2.75 mile cooldown.

**First 5 felt great, 6&7 felt tough, 8&9 really tough, and 10 dang tough. Really tried to concentrate on running relaxed, but that was very hard to do at the end. :)

Time to hit the books.

20 minutes upright bike

1/2 mile swim

*I'm feeling very tired.

11 miles

1 warmup, 8 @ 7:36, 2 cooldown with some hills.

** Today's run seemed overly hard. I am very tired and am worried that I might be getting sick. I was dripping buckets of sweat, my tummy hurt a bit, and my legs felt like lead. Zero pep. More concerning is why I didn't stop and scrap the run, or at least slow down. I think it is because with only running 3.5 days a week missing one run seems catastrophic and I feel like I need to make the most of each one. I know, a little dramatic, but that is what my brain was telling me. Stupid brain.

** I need to find a way to get more sleep. I can tell that my body is hungry for it.

** I am going to drink a bunch of soda pop today. I know that it is bad for me but I need something!!! :) :) :)

(What's worse: diet soda or candy?)

4 recovery miles (high 9s)

18 miles: AP 8:18

It was fun to run on the Lehi JRP with so many friends: Smooth, Kelli, Maynard, Kathie, Kimmy, LuzyLew, and Davy Crocket (it was great getting to know you)! I wish I would have known that not everyone was running the same distance because I was so sad to find out the Maynard, Kathie and Kimmy had left without me really having chatted with them! STINK!!! I guess that means we all need to do another run together soon.

Anyway, thank you, SSF for setting this up. You are the GREATEST (and you bring the yummiest oranges as well). I love you!

On a side note, Rachel was able to make it and chat with us in the end. Very cool! AND ... Kelli is unbelievably DIEHARD!!! She is presently running with her hubby after running 18 miles already! Crazy girl!!! The first 10 miles of the run were hilly and if it were not for her I would have taken them so so so much easier!!! She rocks those hills!

(Do I reallly have to study today?)

a.m.

40 minutes recumbent bike (all the uprights were taken)

1/4 mile swim (only had a handful of minutes in the pool so had to cut it short)

at work:

hip abductions

mini core workout

p.m.

75 minutes elliptical (easy while studying)

11 miles

1 warmup, 1 cooldown, and 3 sets of: 1 mile at 8:00, 1 mile @ 7:30, 1 mile @ 6:59 w/1 minute rest in between sets.

Felt strong! Yahoooo!!! This felt hard but not too hard. Perhaps I should have pushed myself a little harder but it felt good not going into puke pace during speedwork. :)

30 minutes upright bike

1200 meter/48 lengths swim

** I really didn't want to get out of the pool this morning. If I wouldn't have had class I would have stayed much longer. The swimming just felt really good.

10.5 miles: AP - 8:01

Hill workout day. The plan was 10.5 miles total with hillwork during the middle 5 miles, and if possible to pick up the pace on the second half of the hill miles. It worked beautifully.

1.0 - 3.0   0%  incline @ 7:45 pace

3.0 - 3.7   3% incline: 8:34 pace

3.7 - 4.7   1% incline: 8:34 pace

4.7 - 5.0    6% incline: 8:34 pace

5.0 - 5.5    1% incline: 8:34 pace

5.5 - 6.4    1% incline: 8:00 pace

6.4 - 6.8    4% incline: 8:00 pace

6.8 - 7.4    1% incline: 8:00 pace

7.4 - 8.0     6% incline: 8:00 pace

8.0 - 10.0   0% incline: 7:45 pace 

10.0 - 10.5    cooldown

** Everything felt great, although the final hill at 6% was stinkin' tough. :)

30 minutes upright bike

** Thanks for the chat, Fonz! :) The time flew by way too fast.

3 miles @ 8:34

Oops ... originally posted this on Friday!!!

24 miles total, split into two runs because of a graveside service I needed to attend.

10 miles @ 7:59 w/JohnnyV (I have to be honest here though ... my pace really should be in the 8s but I stopped for a breather before hitting a really fast last mile to bring my pace down to that. Stink!!! Why do I do that???) * Actually 8.5 miles with Johnny and 1.5 by myself.

It was AWESOME to run with Johnny again (although the horrible wind was not awesome at all). It had been a while since I have run with him and todays run reminded me why I love running with him so much. He tries to get me to use more common sense in my running -- which is what I need. Thanks Johnny!!!

later:

14 miles with Smooth and Kathie (not 100% sure on the pace, I will have to wait for Smooth to post our splits)!!! I had so so so so SO much fun!!! It was great to be with the harem. Kathie has forbade Smooth and I to reveal many of the details of today's run, but needless to say, we had a riot!!! I definitely need to run with those two more often. Wonderful miles!!! Kathie and Smooth had been running for 8 miles by the time I was able to join them, and so Kathie left when she hit a little over 17 miles (she only needed 16) and then Smooth and I were on our own for the final 5. I just have to say one thing about the remaining five miles: SMOOTH IS HARDCORE!!!! She seriously is amazing. Her final mile of her 22 miler was her fastest and came in at 7:56!!!! And she thinks she is not getting faster!!! Who is she kidding!!! I was so so so impressed.

AND ... a special shout out to my three youngest who are celebrating birthdays today and tomorrow!!!

I am the luckiest mom in the world!!! :)