Where did my time go?!

I can't believe I haven't updated in so long!  I guess heading back to work, kids starting back to school, soccer season for the boys and oh, marathon training, has kept me pretty busy!!!!


Getting back into the routine of school and soccer season has messed a little with my training schedule.  I've been enjoying (even if I'm not a morning person) running in the AM before the heat.  Now that I'm back to work, I can't do it.  I have to leave my house at 7am and I hate getting up at 5:30 so that I'm out the door on time.  I can't imagine getting up even earlier.  So that leaves me running after work and before I pick up the boys from school, which means 3 o'clock runs in August.  Ugh.  Thank goodness,I'm nearing the end of the marathon training tunnel.  My mid week runs are now on the short side (5 miles max).  Also, soccer season is among us, and both boys now have soccer on Monday nights.  Buster from 5:30-6:30, Cub from 6-7:30 and in different parts of the city.  Monday nights were my favorite spinning class. Boo.  I'll be back in 8 weeks everyone! 

Marathon training is going well. (knocking on wood). 

 2 weeks ago, I ran 19 miles with my running partner. Our only problem on the run, was a creeper who followed us in his car for about a mile.  He kept turning around in driveways to keep driving past us.  We were on a a pretty busy road, 6:30 am, on a Friday.  Really, dude, don't you have a job or something?  Anyways, we noticed him.  We were going towards a busy area so we popped in a BP station and stayed inside for a while.  He actually parked at a pump, facing the building, and waited in his car for us.  (He never got out of his car to pump gas) We told the worker that we were going to  hangout in there for awhile.  We tried to get his plate from inside the building but he must have noticed that we were watching him and trying to get his plate, so he took off.  We were debating calling the police...but we figured he hadn't actually done anything.  We ran the rest of long run without incident but we definitely had a good talk on what we would do if we saw him again. 
What would you have done?

Chevrun skirt

 Last week, for our long run (12 miles) we decided to run the Little Miami Half marathon, in Morrow, OH.  It was a perfect day for a run, 50ish degrees at start time.  It was a bit crowded in the beginning (begin on a bike path also made it challenging - no passing space) so we upped our pace from 9:30 training pace to 8:30 pace.  Near the end I was done, but Carrie thought she could PR so I told her to go for it.  I had nothing in the tank at the end.  We're just too competitive to run a race as an actually training run.  Official time:  1:52:43 or an 8:36 ave pace.  My Garmin had me at 1:51:51 or 8:34 ave pace. Oh, we tested out our new running skirts for THE RACE.   I loved it and we got tons of complements!

This week, well, tomorrow, we're doing our last long run before the marathon.
 20 miles.  Gulp.  I'm actually ready to get it done.  This is a super busy weekend for us:  My dad and stepmom are visiting, my hubby is out of town, 20 miles to run, and a soccer game right after.   At least the grocery shopping and laundry is done! 

Injury update:  Hip has been feeling fine.  Stretching it has done the trick.  WooYoo! :-)

marathon training, hips, and 3 way

Air Force Training Week 12

Yes, that actually is Pitbull.

Monday- Spinning- tired from the weekend festivities (although Pitbull's concert was lots of fun!- nothing like a road trip with girlfriends!)

Tuesday- 5 miles

Wednesday- 8 miles

Thursday- Spinning

Friday-rest

Saturday- 6 on the trails with Carrie, then 4 more when I got home.  I realized after I sync'd my Garmin that I'd run 496 miles so decided to do another 4 for a nice even 500 miles.  My goal since I got my Garmin was to run 1000 miles in a year (starting in the beginning of Feb.) 

Sunday- rest 

Training Week 13

Monday-spinning (tired again- maybe it's the instructor- he's killer)

Tuesday- 5 miles

The rest is the plan for the week:

Wednesday- 5

Thursday-rest (PT- more on that down below)

Friday- 19 miles! (gulp!)

Saturday- rest/spinning?

Sunday- rest 

Then next week- I go back to work.  Boo.  No, I'm just going to miss running in the am, instead it will be right after work in the blazing heat. 

Injuries...boo.

 So the last few weeks, my hip/glute area has been super tight.  Last week, after one of my runs, I'd gone into work (to get ready) and I could hardly walk up the stairs.  I was ok if I was going downstairs or if I walked on flat surface. When I run, it hurts a bit but gets better after I've been running for awhile.  I decided to get an appointment with a sports doc, to make sure that I wasn't doing damage by continuing to run.  No need for a repeat performance of last year.  

So pretty much, my butt hurts.

They wanted to do an x-ray since my mileage was pretty high.  They ruled out a stress fracture in the hip area.  Thank goodness that was negative.   I would have freaked out.  Doc thinks it's just the IT band.  I'll be heading to PT to learn more IT band stretches.  joy. oh joy.  Hoping this will go away soon.  Also, hoping that the massage I have planned for today is going to help.  
Edit:  Massage therapist worked my leg and didn't find any tightness in my IB band at all.  But my upper hamstring had a gap and knot- which she worked on.  I had hope that that would be it, but it still hurts today (one day later).  Hoping one day more day off and then run this 19 miles.  Grrrr.  

In other news, just signed up for another 1/2 mary (Edit: regretting this already)- this one is going to be instead of a training run.  It's down in Morrow, OH.  I did it last year, it was flat (good for my hip) and out and back on a bike trail.  Here's the race recap Little Miami 10k

Oh- very cool news from the Flying Pig marathon for next year.  They are going to have multi-race competition.  The 3 way is going to be the 5k, 10k on Saturday, 13.1 on Sunday.  The 4 way will be 5k, 10k on Sat. with 26.2 on Sunday.  I think we're going to do the 3 way.  It should be fun to train for, since you'll need mileage and speed workouts.  I'm signing up early.  

Check it out:  http://www.facebook.com/flyingpigmarathon