Cheris

8-mile tempo run, with the first four miles uphill into the wind. Then the last four after we turned around were great!

Julie and I tried to do the 15 miles, with the last three at marathon pace. We didn't do walk breaks, either. I was totally exhausted the rest of the day!

Speed workout with Steve--I pushed myself way harder than I usually do. It felt great! I have never seen lower numbers on my Garmin for pace!

Warm-up and two 5Ks with the speed group--one fast (kind of!) and one slow.

Five easy, slow miles!

Two miles warm-up, then about 8 miles at marathon pace (about 8:30).

Tapering for Ogden marathon on Saturday. We just did 4 miles at marathon pace, with the first couple actually a little slower.

Another 4.5 miles at marathon pace to get ready for Saturday's marathon. I am trying to get more sleep, but the stress is keeping me up!

Ogden Marathon today! I came in at 3:47:43 (my watch time--I'm wondering if Ogden's times are chip times or clock times). Just one minute and 44 seconds short of qualifying for Boston. Took 11 minutes off my PR!

I started out slower, like planned, with Julie, with our first two miles at about 8:45 and 8:30—we had tried for nine minutes, but it was so downhill! We felt great those first 10 miles, then we both had to go to the bathroom—and it took over two minutes, so we tried to catch up a little after that. We were doing walk breaks every mile, and had a woman in a pink shirt that we would catch up to in between our breaks (then she would pass us while we were walking). We probably drove her crazy.

At the half we were about 2 minutes behind our goal, but we weren’t too worried, with the big descents coming later. Our mile pace for 14 with the hill was 8:48. Then we sped up again, but Julie started to get stomach cramps that were slowing her down at about 17-something. So then I was on my own, watching for her out of the corner of my eye to catch up.

 My miles from then to 23 were a little over 8 minutes. Michelle joined me at 23 to run with me the rest of way, which totally saved me! I was really starting to fade on that trail, but she kept talking to me and keeping me going. It was awesome! I really ran out of everything at the end, and my last two miles were a little slower—more in the 9-minute range. They would have been a lot slower without Michelle. I know working with Steve and increasing my mileage will allow me to improve my time for St. George. Woo hoo!

I did gu’s at 5, 11, 17, and 23. That seemed to work well, also the electrolyte pills from Peggy were great—and then I didn’t feel like I had to drink Powerade, instead just going with water.

So my next goal is to get about a 3:30 in St.George in October.

Not ready to run yet--just did the stairmaster today. Stairs are getting easier, though!

I actually felt a lot better than expected today! I did 5 miles with Julie, and she was really ready to do a faster pace than I was. We ended up just a little slower than our marathon pace. And afterwards my soreness was pretty much gone! Yay!

Staimaster again today--I want to start doing an embedded circuit weight program on Wednesdays and Fridays, with 2 miles slow to warm up, then weights combined with aerobic activities like jump roping to keep my heart rate up, with the circuit weight part being about 20 minutes. Then another slow 2 miles. I tried it today with the stairmaster instead of running, because I want to add my miles gradually and I haven't ever run on Wednesdays. In a couple weeks I should be able to add the running.

Still taking it easy--or trying, anyway! It is hard to have the discipline to slow down!

Julie and I did about 10 miles. We tried doing a warm-up of two miles, then two miles at our current marathon pace, 8.5 minute miles. Then we tried two miles at our goal pace of 8 minute miles, and ended up doing three--since we were coming down a hill anyway. Then we cooled down with a slower pace. It feels good to be running even 10 miles a week after Ogden!

Seven fun-filled miles in the pouring rain with Steve and company!

Met with the running group today, and did 6.5 miles. We did most at marathon speed, with a slower first and last mile. It felt kind of hard, I think I need to take it a little easier--and get more sleep!--before I really add miles. So last week I did about 26 total (the week after my marathon), so this week I will add about 3 miles.

Today I did my circuit weight training again--I started with a half hour of stair master (on easy, because I was on the phone and had to breathe!). Then I did close to 25 minutes with weights and cardio intermixed, then 15 minutes of more stairmaster. I was tired by the end! I think next week I will try switching out the stairmaster and adding in running instead.

Met with the running group and ran 6 miles, most of the miles were about 9-9.5 minute pace, with some downhill miles a little faster. But we could carry on a conversation the whole time, which is the most important part!

Five nice and slow easy miles with Julie!

Michelle, Julie and I did a 12 mile run geared around hills--we ended up doing 5 major hills! Michelle and I have some tough hills to run in Wasatch Back, so we thought we better start training for them at some  point!

We aimed for 2 miles at 9-minute pace, 4 miles at 8.5, then 3 miles at an 8-minute pace (but ended up doing 4, since our miles weren't really that fast anyway, with all the hills), then 2 miles at 9 minute pace.

The hills made us all pretty tired, except for Julie who is amazing at uphill running. Luckily I was able to take a 1/2 hour nap later that day while my husband mowed the lawn in between baseball games. Is that mean, or what?!