Last Week: May 31-June 6

Balance: trying to make sure everything gets done yet making sure I'm taking care of myself too. This week was a little bit of a struggle. My body chose the wrong time to get sick. Luckily nothing was so severe that it interfered with my life, but I still had to take more time off and lean on that wonderful husband of mine than I'd like.

Rachel was the best finish line assistant. Y. Kim, SRRC photo.

Sunday: Run 10 miles, 1:24:27, 8:26/mi.25 kitties.

Progression runs are my favorite kind of speedwork. They teach patience in pacing. The one mile that is slower (mile 4: 8:48) goes through what we call “Kitty Lane”. Most people living on this stretch of road feed the strays so we had a slowdown because we were canvassing the neighborhood….for kitties. But we ended up with 25, our highest since Boston training, so it paid off! :) I really enjoyed having a break during the nicest part of the day.

Yoga 20 minutes:
I took several semesters of yoga in college and I don’t remember it being this hard. It was relaxing, freeing, and felt absolutely amazing. Poses that my body used to find naturally are now met with slight aches and tight muscles and I can’t get myself back to that place. I’ve been modifying a lot of things, even more so than I used to for my arm, but still. I wake up every morning completely sore in new, unexpected places. Have I been running without enough stretching? Is this the first sign I’m getting old? It has been a decade since I last practiced.

All I know is I’ve been trying. Trying to find out if part of my allergy and asthma issues are related to overall physical stress. Trying to stretch myself in ways I used to when I was younger, when I felt more free and relaxed.Trying to find something, anything to help take away the mountain of fatigue I seem to climb everyday. 

Monday: Run 5 miles, 42:58, 8:34/mi. 5 kitties. Strength work: Core, legs.
Yoga 20 minutes.

You can tell it's summer here because I'm wearing slippers instead of rain boots. Yay for freezing cold PNW summers.

I spent this run thinking how I'm such a wimp complaining about how yoga messed me up but it wasn't until later in the week that I realized that I had some sort of food poisoning or GI issue that was making my lower back and hips hurt so badly.

Tuesday: Run 12 trail miles, 1:54:??-ish. 1,924 ft. gain. 2 kitties.

Matt and I hit the Headwaters Forest this afternoon for a run. I felt really strong and it was a struggle to keep my effort easy enough. I can feel spring training finally sinking in.

I should have brought my wildlife bingo card because I saw all kinds of animals: 2 kitties (house cats, whew), a fox, a bunny, a garter snake, some sort of lizard, and a chipmunk.

Ever since some guy bugged Matt about his Strava entry being a bike ride instead of run, he’s decided to beat the guy’s records. Today, we split up for the final 3 miles so he could beat it. So far he’s got two of this guy’s records beat and is excited to have a summer goal of taking more of the segments. Of course, I sort of roll my eyes, but it’s nice that he has little segments in our daily routes where he can push himself a bit instead of plodding along next to his slowpoke wife all the time. :)

Wednesday:  8 miles, 1:08:16, 8:32/mi. 14 kitties.
While running my comfortably easy pace range, negative splits come naturally as I warm up. I didn’t look at my watch the entire run and this is what happens. Kitty counting party with Rachel for 8 miles. I like that. I’m so glad Rachel’s injury is going away, it feels nice to be running with my favorite gal pal again.

Thursday: Unplanned rest day.

Sunny spot time with Zoey.

About an hour after every meal, I got an intense stomachache. I thought it was something I ate, so I changed things up and not much helped. That night I spiked a fever high enough that I knew before I even took my temperature. Since I planned to mark the 30K course on Friday, I made sure to take extra rest in the hopes that I didn't have to send Matt out to do it for me and make him skip his race.

Friday: Run 17 mi, 4:14:32, 4,333 ft. gain

Grasshopper Peak 30K course, with one shortcut at the end to bring the miles down. It was a toasty day up on the mountain. Near the top, there are numerous exposed areas. Although they offer breathtaking views of the nearby coastal King Range, it's hot and horrible.

Races would start almost two hours before me on Saturday so hopefully it wasn't as hot up there for them as it was for me and Mark. We made a detour to the summit and I sat in my recliner chair while he snapped some photos of the view. My first Grasshopper summit of the year! Yipee!!

Saturday: Rest?

"Ready, set, GO!!!!" Y. Kim, SRRC photo.

I know I didn't run, but being that busy definitely didn't feel like rest. I had an incredible day with the best scenery and company a girl could ask for. I hope my runners felt the same way.

TOTAL MILES: 42
Kitties: 46

Notes: This week was a little bit lighter than planned (60), but I got everything done and wasn't miserably sick on race day, so I don't mind that I needed an extra day off. My digestive system is still feeling off, but I'll continue to clean up my diet and get a spoonful of yogurt and hopefully that it will eventually fix itself.