Create.

14 miles, AP 8:14 (8 miles with Ry and 6 by my lonesome)

I thought the slower pace would feel super easy. Not so. Felt light headed and as if I were running much faster than I was. On the bright side, Ry was running super strong!! :)

60 minutes spin bike

I think I am hurt. :(

When I started my run this morning something didn't feel quite right. About 1 mile in I felt a sharp burning pain in my left anteriomedial tibial approximately 2/3rds proximal to my ankle. No! I have felt this pain before. This poor lower leg has had it's fair share of problems, including: a prior stress fx, plantar fasciitis, anterior compartment syndrome, and medial gastroc tear. Even though I do what I can to prevent injury here the repetitive stress is just too much for it to handle oft times. I am convinced it stems back to my ACL repair (yep, way back in the day when they repaired the ACL instead of reconstruct it --1986). The repair was done before my growth plates were closed and I am fairly certain this is the biggest problem my little left leg faces.

I stopped running and hopped on the bike. During my ride I convinced myself it was probably just some funky nerve ing and hopped back on the treadmill. First few steps weren't bad then bam ... It was back. Finished on the elliptical which was pain free. I am really hoping that it is merely a stress reaction and not fracture and that 1-2 weeks of relative rest will be adequate but am prepared for longer.

Ogden full is likely out but if I am smart I will still be ready for the steeplechase and Spartan.

Guessing I was running a little funky for fear of re injuring my calf, the faster miles certainly did not help. Dang.

Happy Monday anyway, all. :)

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Run 1.5 miles

Spin 30 minutes

Elliptical 20 minutes

60 minutes elliptical

ST: upper body

45 minutes spin

30 minutes elliptical

ST: lower extremities, emphasis on eccentric loading of the posterior leg

* It is crazy hard not to run in this gorgeous weather. Can hardly wait to bike Red Rock next week. :)

60 minutes elliptical

FL - 15 minutes

60 minutes spin, kilamanjaro simulation

30 minutes elliptical

ST: core

bike: 40 minutes, Kilimanjaro L20-25

elliptical: 30 minutes

ST: lower body

RED ROCK CANYON!!!! I L*O*V*E this place!!!! :)

Mountain biking: A little over three hours of riding in perfect weather. It was AWESOME! Legs burning at the end. A perfect mixture of climbing, rock scrambling, red dirt, downhill, and twisty turnies! :)

Doesn't look like I can enter pictures using my ipod ... but we got some good ones!!!

Good times! :)

Late Night Loop, Landmine Loop, and Mustang Trail. :)

Another wonderful day in Red Rock. :)

A little over two hours mtn biking on the new Route 33 trail and Dead horse loop. I was a little nervous but it was AWESOME! Followed by 43 minutes of trail running, I think it was around 5 miles. Leg felt pretty dang good! I could feel a sensation that felt like some sort of tissue stretching but it did not hurt. :) I will continue to run every other day until I can consistently run 60 minutes with zero pain (that is if I continue to feel this good). Happy day!! :)

2 1/2 hours mtn' biking. Took the trail less traveled today (at least one that we had never been on). Lots of rock scrambling, which always makes me a bit nervous but draws me in simultaneously. Took a couple of spills but I am getting so much better at falling with grace. :) Ended up at the back side of Diamond Valley and then made our way back. I think we may have been on the Old Spanish Trail for some of it, but there were some trails that don't seem to be on the map. That is one of the great things about this area, there always seems to be a new trail that we haven't been on before.

My left high glute area took a beating during one of the falls. Pretty certain the crash left me with a nice black, green and blue tattoo. Sweet! ;)

Can hardly believe it is Wednesday night. Missing my kiddoes but loving my time with Ry. :)

3 hours of super strenuous mountain biking somewhere on a very rock infested mountain. Not my favorite by any stretch of the imagination. We were trying to find the Bonnie and Clyde trail but somehow ended up in the middle of no where. We followed a very rocky and hard to ride wash of some sort that we thought would eventually get us where we wanted to go. We kept saying that we were going to give it 10 more minutes thinking all our hard work would be rewarded. We knew the trail was going to be hard so we thought maybe we were on it, but we never saw the things we were supposed to see, and it was not fun (other than the times when Ry and I would start to laugh at how ridiculous we were for being out there)! We finally decided we should head back before we were stuck somewhere. Sigh. Oh well. Could have been worse. (Note to self: When you don't see another single mountain biker on a mountain biking trail during spring break you may just not be on a trail.)

When we were done biking our plan was to run 5-6 miles but we were so incredibly tired that we took a four mile loop instead.

Lots of yummy food and frozen yogurt to follow. :)

Did I mention that it was blasted hot out there today???? :) :) :)

Very relaxing day with a nice 2 hour evening ride. I know this is a running blog but WOW ... I really love mountain biking!! :)

So last night and all morning I couldn't stop thinking about yesterday's failed quest at riding the Bonnie and Clyde trail. It was eating me up. I am happy to report that we finally found it!!!! :) :) :) Unfortunately we didn't begin our ride until close to 5:00 this evening so had to turn around about an hour and 10 minutes into it for fear of getting stranded in the dark. The entire loop is said to take about 5 hours. We are seriously considering giving it a go as our last hoorah tomorrow but the "difficult" trail signs have me somewhat spooked. I did fine on it this evening but I assume it gets even more difficult. We'll have to see what tomorrow brings.

This week has gone by so fast but I am excited to see my kiddoes on Sunday. :)

6 hours and 16 minutes of mountain biking!!! (That includes the time spent on my butt wondering if I wanted to get off the ground after my numerous falls, the time spent changing my flat tire -- actually Ryan changed it for me, and, of course, a couple stops to admire the views.) What were we thinking??? :) :) :)

The Bonnie and Clyde loop had been teasing us since we got here. Today we went to see what she was all about. We started at 11:20 and it was already 75 degrees out. When we finished it was 85. There was no way that I could have done this loop last year. Although I fell numerous times I am super proud of myself. This loop included many other trails as well, such as: Lizards Pass, Deadhorse, Pipeline trail and Satan's Escalator (which lived up to its name). The overview at Wilson's Tank made it all worth it. So incredibly beautiful.

Glad we did this, but don't foresee me doing anything like it again in the near future. :)

No way I am going to run after that. Off to the hot tub!!! :)

7 miles, AP 8:09

30 minutes of T'ai Chi

Leg is doing great. :)

Spin bike: 60 minutes, moderate -> hard -> really hard

ST: upper body

7 miles, AP 8:06

ST: core

**sprint tri at the gym**

bike: 20K (random L4/42:48)

run: 5K (23:50)

swim: 750 meters (17:48)

This is still my favorite workout. :)

Crazy day. Never did get a workout in.

14 miles (13 with AP 7:58, 1 cool down)

Very happy with how my leg did. I was pretty stinkin' tired at the end, as would be expected. Interested in how my leg will feel in the morning but I have a gut feeling that it will feel awesome! :)

If things continue to progress this well I will shoot for running 5 times next week and maybe add some plyometrics if that goes well.

Have a great weekend, All. :)

swim: 1500 meters, 38:47

I swam this nice and easy since it was the first time swimming anything over 800 meters in the past 6 months or so. Then, come to think of it, I almost always swim nice and easy because I can't seem to motivate myself to push during swims. Not sure if it is because I like the feelings of complete calmness I get when swimming this way or whether I am scared of pushing during a swim. Either way, my nice and relaxed 1500 meter pace is still about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes slower than it was roughly 6 months ago. Makes sense. :)

Going back and forth on taking swimming more seriously and maybe attending a masters class or hiring a coach for a few lessons.

In a nutshell: The swim felt awesome today, albeit slow ... :)

And ... I really like cherry sours. :)

(Leg feels great this morning.)

8 miles (7 with AP 7:53, then 1 cool down)

ST: hip

Bike: 30 minutes easy

Run: 6 miles, AP 9:34 (2 miles at 4% incline, 2 @ 5%, and 2 @ 6% -- 1584 feet climb)

I was feeling pretty good about myself during the run. Then I looked up the vertical in the first 7.5 miles of the Wahsatch Steeplechase that is in June (and that I have already registered for): 4500 feet!!!!!! What have I let Fly talk me into??? Was quickly knocked back to earth. Sheesh!!!!! :)

ST: upper body with emphasis on RTC muscles

8 miles (.5 warm up, 7 with AP 7:34, .5 cool down)

Crazy busy week!! Headed to Vegas again in a couple of hours for my daughter's ball tournament! :)

*** Go Rylee *** Go Lady Rebels ***

~ 16.2 miles (best estimate)

So ... long story short: I had not planned to do my long run today.

Went out this morning around 9 (It was already above 70) for an easy shorter run. One hour max. I forgot to pack my garmin but had my little timex watch so I was just going to run about 25 minutes and then turn around. 25 minutes into my run I hit the strip and wanted to run down it for a bit. I thought maybe just 10 minutes and then I'd turn around. Come to find out I really like looking at myself in the big mirror/glass windows on all the fancy buildings. Not because I think I look good but because it is really cool! How often do you get to watch yourself run from the side? After about a half an hour of that I headed back. I was getting super hot and I was extremely thirsty (I had found several long stairways and did a handful of quick up and downs on them trying to imitate Rocky).

When I finally arrived back at the condo I realized that I could either head out for another hour or so and have my long run done for the week or get up super early before Rylee's first game in the morning. With how tired I already felt I figure that tomorrow would be ugly (if I got out of my bed at all). I chugged down a gatorade and ate some fruit snacks and headed back out.

It wasn't long until I realized that I definitely did not have enough fuel in me. Everything felt heavy as my pace slowed quite a bit and I found myself feeling light-headed and dizzy. I took a couple of minute walk breaks and finished the hour (was in the 80s now). When I plugged my route in my phone it said 16.2 miles. Don't know how precise that is, but it seems right.

Wish I would have felt stronger during the run (and that I could have gone faster) but after running hard yesterday I will take it. :)

Rylee's team so far this tournament: 0 Wins 2 Losses. Not what she was hoping ... but good character building stuff!!!! :) :) :)

8 mile Easter run with Ry (with our three youngest joining us for the first mile), AP 8:49

Beautiful Easter morning. :)