Sunday - 60 minute run... nothing exciting haha 7.9 Miles

Monday - Easy 50 minute run... Cool thing of the day. When I was running through the woods, I ran across a whole family of deer. The funny thing to me was that they all ran off in like a star shape... took off in 5 different directions. I love when i come across deer it makes my run so much better 6.6 miles

Tuesday - Today i had a 20 minute tempo, ran a mile and a half warm up and cool down. Was able to bring my average down a little on my tempo run, got 6:25 per mile average. Felt pretty good. Also was feelin good enough to start up weights again today. 6.1 miles

Hang Clean : 3 x 5 (85, 95, 105)
Squats : 2 x 10 (105)
RDL : 2 x 10 (105)
Bench Press : 2 x 12 (60, 65)
Lat Pull Down : 2 x 10 (65, 70)
Pull Ups : 2 x max body weight (3, 4)
Push Ups : 2 x 15
Abs
 
Friday - Easy non exciting 5 mile run :)

Saturday - Well... this workout hurt about as much as i thought it would haha... but it went better than i thought it would. My workout started with a 12 min warm up, 1200 (3 laps on the track), 6 min hard run on the trails, 1200, 6 min hard on trails, then one more 1200. My 1200's felt sooo much better than my 800's from last week. My times were 4:08, 4:01. 3:58... So thats about 5:20 or under mile pacing on those :) can't ask for more than that right now considering i'm just gettin back into the swing of things. After thet I did a 20 min cool down then went and lifted (it was the lifting that turned this day into "death") 8.15 miles

Hang Cleans (3 x 5) - 90, 100, 110
Squats (2 x 10) - 105
Power Press (3 x 5) - 60
One Leg RDL (3 x 10 each leg) - 70
Upright Rows (2 x 10) - 65
Pull Ups (not assisted, thank you :) ) - 2 x 3
Abs

Total Miles for Week: 33.8 miles

So this was a tough week... I can't even lie about it. It's always difficult to have a tough week when you come of a good week (like the one I had last week). But it ended on a good note so I can't be too upset about that :)

Monday - Today I had every intention of running for 40 - 50 minutes, however when I started running my legs felt like they were completely made out of stone. I barely made it around the first loop at the IM fields, so I called it a day and went home. As much as I wanted to try and force myself to run a second loop, I had a progressive run tomorrow and a track workout on Friday... and those are more important to me than the easy run today 2.8 miles

Tuesday - For today I had to run a 30 minute progressive run... and let me tell you I was nervous haha. My legs still arent feeling great, but I managed to muscle my way through it. Averaged 6:35 per mile, slower than I would have liked, but given how i was feeling I'm not going to complain! 7.06 miles

Wednesday - Went for a 40 minute run today, and my legs did feel better than they did on Monday, but i still wouldnt call them "good". After the run I did do 3 sets of X's (running diagonally across the football field, walk across the endzone, then run across the other diagonals... that counts as 1). I'm still praying my legs feel better by Friday... Oy. 5.9 miles

Thursday - Nothing too exciting today, 50 minute easy run around the IM fields. 6.5 miles

Friday - Ok... so first track workout back in over a year off... I knew it was going to hurt! My workout was 6 x 800. It was a nice, cool, and overcast day... perfect for a track workout. My first 800 was painful... and slowish haha. After the first one I literally started praying for the strength to make it though the workout and had to start taking it one at a time. My goal always with a track workout it to drop my time each one and never go back up in times. After my second one, my asthma started kicking in... so that made it all the better! I have to say though that I was excited with my times. My recovery was a one lap jog, then right back in. My times were 2:47, 2:46, 2:45, 2:43, 2:41, 2:38...  so considering I really didnt think I was going to make it through all 6 after I finished my first one, I was beyond excited that I managed to drop almost 10 seconds between the first and last 800, thats 5 seconds per lap faster. As my coach so nicely reminded me
1) It always takes a few reps for your body to kick in and remember what its supposed to do (hence the bigger drops in time after the first 3)
2) I'm not 19 anymore... and when he first said that i was thinking "hold on, i'm not that old"... but really, i'm 6 years over 19... and will be 7 years older than the freshmen in college that I'll be racing at some point... yeah now i feel old! Thats all right though, with age comes wisdom (so I've been told haha)
6.5 miles


Total Miles for the week: 28.8 miles

I'm moving my long run back to Sunday because we are going to try and do my track workouts on Saturdays now, so there was no long run for this week because I'm doing it on Sunday, which is the start of my training weeks.

So this week we have officially entered cold weather time. I'm hoping that it goes away next week, but it's not lookin likely. Anyways, on to my log...

Sunday - Today was my long run day, and even though I was feeling terrible, I had a GREAT run. Went for 70 minutes again. This time though, my average was 7:27 per mile... Loved every minute of it too haha. 9.4 miles Yeah buddy!

Monday - We had today off from school because we're on fall break, so I decided to run today when normally I take Monday's off. Since my legs were a little tired I went for an easy 5 mile run today. 

Tuesday - Since my legs are still a little tired, I'm giving myself another day to recover before I do my tempo run. Easy 6.5 miles today

Wednesday - Tempo time! Since last time i felt like I could have ran harder, I started off my run a little bit more intense this time. Go figure my average was lower too haha. 16 min progressive, 6:36 average. With warm up and cool down, 5.13 miles.

Thursday - Sigh... so I was going to run today, BUT we had choir practice today at 7: 30pm. It was only supposed to go for an hour, but we ended up not leavin til after 9pm. The gym was closed and I'm not runnin along the streets at night alone, so no running today...

Friday - The day the cold weather made its descent! I got in my workout between our volleyball practice and the start of the homecoming football game. It was a recovery day, so I did an easy 5 miles again. Let me tell you though... I knew it was going to be chilly at the football game, but the 40's are not what I would classify as chilly.... thats ridiculous. So Laura (the other volleyball coach) and I tried to make it through the whole game. But her babies were freezing cold, so we dipped out at the end of the 3rd quarter... we were killin the other team anyways haha.

Saturday - Sigh again... so we lost our volleyball game in the first round. Our girls fought their hardest, 4 out of the 5 games were won or lost by only 2 points. So now our season is over, which means I wont have practice anymore after school. Which is good cuz now I can run outside more and go back to lifting twice a week... but I would rather these girls still be in the state playoffs. But after the game, Laura and her fam and me and my boy all went out to eat. Then when we were trying to leave, I go out to my car and it wont start. After almost 40 minutes of trying to jump the battery, I had to have it towed. By the time all that got done I had about an hour before I had to go and chaperon the homecoming dance, so I didnt get to workout. Had so much fun chaperoning the dance though... love these kids!

Total Mileage: 31 miles

Whew... what a week! I feel like I'm finally getting back in shape, finally gettin back into a routine... and I love it!

Sunday: 70 minute run around the IM fields. I kept tellin myself to go slow so that I could run the 70 minutes continuous without dying haha. I felt really good the whole time, and was happily surprised that I was averaging 7:37 per mile! I  remember when I first started running again and I couldnt average that pace for a 40 minute run haha. So i was really really excited about that! 9.2 miles

Tuesday: Well... turns out my long run Sunday took some of the momentum out of my legs. They were pretty dang tired today. So I just did a recovery run of 40 minutes... just about 5.2 miles

Wednesday: For the first time I actually did a progressive run... and since it was my first time, I probably went a little more moderate than I should have. Next time I'll start off faster... But anyways. 10 minute warm up, 16 min progressive (avg. 6:47 per mile), 10 min cool down. Felt really good though, I'll pusch harder next time. 5.11 miles
Friday: So like I said last week, my coach changed my workout just a little bit this week. Instead of doing 10 x 1 min hard, I did a ladder this week. I still kept my 1 min rec, but my hard intervals went 1min, 2 min, 3 min, 4 min, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min. I felt pretty good, but was a little tired. I averaged 6:48 for the hard sessions. Just about what I did for the progressive run. As usual for Fridays, I lifted after.  Lifting went pretty good, but I'm still not ready to increase any of my weights. 6.07 miles

Hang Cleans: 3 x 5 - 85, 95, 105
Squats: 2 x 12 - 105
RDL: 2 x 12 - 105
Inner Leg Machine: 2 x 12 - 105
Outter Leg Machine: 2 x 12 - 105
Bench Press: 2 x 12 - 60
Lat Pull Down: 2 x 12 - 60
Upright Row: 2 x 12 - 55
Abs

Saturday: Body is kind of hurtin from lifting yesterday... so I just went on a recovery run. Gotta hope I can make the long run tomorrow... but a good week for me! I'm going to try and get in 35 miles next week.. yeah buddy! I'm almost ready to hit the track... gotta convince my coach though :) 6.3 miles

Ok so... last week my running went back on the down hill, and here's why.

Wednesday - Volleyball game tri-match ended at 10
Thursday - Home volleyball game
Friday - Volleyball tourny and hour away from athens from 4 - 11, got home at midnight
Saturday - 2nd day of volleyball tournament, left school at 6:40 am, girls played from 9 - 10:00 PM... again got home at midnight. BUT we did take 4th out of 44 teams so it was well worth it.

Anyways, this week I got back on the grind. Almost back up to 30 miles again. I told my coach i was getting antsy so I think he's gonna try and switch things up this week for me :)

Sunday - went for a 40 minute run along the river... even though I felt pretty tired my body seemed to be on autopilot at a 7:25 pace, so I went along with it haha. 5.4 miles

Monday - Today i went for a 41 minute run around the IM field... which is a somewhat hilly trail, but i still love it. Again my body was on autopilot... but today it felt really really uncomfortable. Again i seemed to be cruisin at 7:26 pace.... ah well. 5.52 miles

Tuesday - So on my Sunday run, i tweaked my left ankle over a tree root, but thought nothing of it because it happens kind of a lot. But this morning when I woke up every step I took send shooting pain up the outside of my lower leg... Went to see our trainer and she says i probably strained some tendons when i rolled it and then running hard yesterday didnt really help. So my leg is all ace bandaged up right now, but hopefully only for a couple of days. So i went on a stationary bike for 50 minutes to at least get some work in. 6.25 miles

Friday - I decided to take a few days off to let my leg completely heal. It must have worked because today I decided to get an interval workout it. I ran it on the treadmill at my gym just in case my legs started hurting, this way I would be able to stop without being stranded in the middle of the woods on some trail. I was ecstatic that the workout went really well. I did a 10 min warm up, 10x 1 min hard, 1 min easy, and a 10 min cool down. I felt really good, no real leg pain. And lifting went really well afterwords too. 5.3 miles

So I'm happy to report that Southern Hospitality is alive and well. I really thought that was just a fable... but I've learned in the past couple of weeks it's really not. There have been two separate instances where I've had to pop the hood of my car to check somethin under the hood. The first time was to check the oil (hello there was none) and the second time I was changin the headlight on my car. Both times some gentleman came to the rescue... literally stopped their cars en route to wherever they were going, got out of the car, and asked if i needed assistance. Now those of you from the south may think this is common occurance, definitely nothing to post over. But I'll tell you, if this happened on the west coast, someone might look at me as they passed. And their thought would have been "Hmm... her hoods up, so she probably knows what she's doing... if not, she's got a cell phone" vroooooooom off they would go. So while I love the fact that I think if I ever did need help, I wouldnt have to rely on AAA. But at the same time (and i mean no double entendre), I will not be popping my hood in public anymore unless i really need help.

So the reason this hasnt been updated in a little over a week is because them kids i work with got me sick. Our school is like a icky germ bed right now, we have flu, swine flu, bronchitis, ear infections, nasal infections, and the good old cold goin around. It's pretty nasty stuff. And shorty after my last post I got sick, to the point where i called in to work that friday and spend my whole holiday weekend asleep in bed. I just started feeling better but wanted to feel good for a couple days before I hit the roads again and started running. Today (Sunday) was my first day back out. Ran for an easy 30 minutes and felt pretty good. So tomorrow I'll kick it up a little, and if I'm still doin good I'll start throwing in some interval and tempo runs! This girl is ready to start training!

Tuesday: 40 minutes on the elliptical, kept the heart rate above 145 the whole time so i could at least get some good cardio in. We had a volleyball game until 8:30, so i didnt get to the gym until 9... loooong day

Wednesday: MAN... so today I ran for 60 minutes, its been a minute since I've ran that long... at least a year, probably a year and a half. I ran about 7.8 miles. And now my body is officially rebelling against me... legs dont wanna work... man... The joys of gettin back in runnin shape. One good thing is that my bf% is around 14%... yeaaaaah buddy!

Friday: Had to run in the gym today because the weather was bad and i wasn't tryin to get poured on again haha. Had an interval type workout today, 15 minutes warm up, 20 min of 1 min hard/1 min jog in between, 15 minutes cool down. My 1 min hards started at 8.6 speed and my last few were 9.2 or faster, and all my recovery jogs were at 7.5. Felt really good to actually do some interval type work! 6.5 miles total

Saturday: So after spending the whole day (7 am - 5:00 pm) at a volleyball tournament I had to somewhat drag myself to the IM fields to run. But i did it :) got in 43 minues, 5.7 miles

Sunday: Lordy my body was tired today, and I really really had to force myself to get out there and run today. Only ran 40 minutes at a really slow pace of 8 min... but i was hurtin. Then I went to the gym and lifted. Cut back on some of my weights though... 5 miles.

Weights:
- Hang Cleans - 3x5: 85/95/105
- Squats - 2x12: 95
- RDLs - 2x12: 95
- Outer Leg Machine - 2x12: [COLOR="red"]100[/COLOR]
- Inner Leg Maxhine - 2x12: 105
- Bench Press - 2x12: 60
- Lat Pull Downs - 2x12: 60
- Seated Rows - 2x12: 60

Total Mileage for the week: 30.2 miles

YAY for finally cracking the 30 mile mark....

So since schools started it's been pretty hard for me to get back on a consistent running schedule. I really hate it because I want to be running, but some times my days arent ending til almost 10pm. So next week I'm shootin for 5 - 6 days of consistent running! But here's what I was able to get in this week...

Wednesday: 45 min, 5.8 miles
Thursday: 40 min, 5.22 miles
Saturday: 50 min, 6.5 miles

Weights:
- Hang Cleans - 3x5: 85/95/105
- Squats - 2x12: 95
- RDLs - 2x12: 95
- Outer Leg Machine - 2x12: 95
- Inner Leg Maxhine - 2x12: 105
- Bench Press - 2x12: 60
- Shoulder Press - 2x12: 15 lb db's
- Bicep Curls - 2x12: 12.5 lb db's
- Bench Dips - 2x12
- Lat Pull Downs - 2x12: 60
- Seated Rows - 2x12: 60
- Push Ups - 2x15
- Abs and Back Extensions

Sunday: I was supposed to double today (which is why I only ran 30 min this morning) but my legs are pretty dang sore from weights, so I'm goin single today... I really want to have a good week next week! So we're gonna leave it with the 30 min, 3.9 miles

Total for the week: 21.4 miles

So... this week was quite busy! We had volleyball tryouts for our athletes on Monday and Tuesday. Then we started school on Wednesday. So all the first week stuff is a little hectic. As a result, my running this week wasn't as consistent as it was the week before. Not to mention, I definitely lifted way too hard last week. It took me a full week for my legs not to be sore... awful! So I didn't lift this week, and I'm moving my lifting back to once a week. With my teaching schedule I definitely dont think I can fit in running and lifting after school with my schedule... especially once the volleyball matches start. So... on to training!

Wednesday: 30 minutes, 3.63 miles. I originally wanted to run 40 minutes, but my legs were feeling so awful that I barely made the 30 minutes... ugh.

Friday: 40 minutes, 5.13 miles. I felt way better today on my run. Finally felt like I had my legs back under me. I also think that had something to do with me gettin back on some dirt trails instead of running on concrete all the time. I probably need to start icing my shins because they're feeling a little tender! Today had to be nature day because in the span of that run i saw 5 deer, 2 of them little babies, one snake... ick, a puppy, and a turtle. Thats alot in one day. And I have to share the song that got me pumped during my run... enjoy!
[youtube]p3uZhh4HpKI[/youtube]

Saturday: 50 min, 6.3 miles. Today I felt pretty dang good. I was cruising for most of my run. I did feel a little dehydrated with about 10 minutes left. But I was still able to gut it out! We'll see how my legs feel tomorrow haha.

Sunday:45 min, 5.6 miles. Man... my legs... felt... DEAD today! I think they were in shock from running 3 days in a row. I gotta get back on this running thing more consistently. The run was a little bit of a struggle just because my legs felt like lead weights, but thats ok. Not to mention when i finished my run i looked down and saw some blood comin through my shoe. When i got home and took of my shoe, my sock was soaked. I somehow got a cut on one of my toes while running... ahh the fun side effects of running! Gotta love it. THEN I decided to ice cup my shins tonight in a little preventative treatment... man i forgot how much that mess hurts! I'll be taking monday off though, next week i'll shoot for 4 days consecutively!

Quote of the week: Don't count the days, make the days count.

Ok so my second week back on the scene... and it definitely started to hit me a little this week. With school starting soon i gotta make sure i'm gettin all the rest and nutrition I need. BUt here goes nothing! Oh... and I also started to lift again this week... i do love hittin the weight room...

Monday: 50 minutes, 6.6 miles and i actually felt pretty dang good! go fig

Tuesday: 40 minutes, 5.2 miles
Hang Cleans: 3 x 5 - 75, 85, 95 (already lifting more than i ever lifted in college.. yeaaaah)
Squats: 2 x 12 - 105
Leg Extension: 2 x 12 - 70
Inner Leg Machine: 2 x 12 - 105
Bench Press: 2 x 12 - 60
Incline Bench: 2 x 12 - 50
Lat Pull Down: 2 x 12 - 60
DB Curls: 2 x 12 - 15
Push Ups: - 2 x 15
Abs

Wednesday: off

Thursday: 40 min, 5.2 miles.... reg run.. nothing exciting!

Friday: 40 min, 5.1 miles + 4 x 20' strides, 40' jog... ok, the soreness from lifting kicked in today. Not to mention the fact that right when i started my strides, a monsoon decided to hit... and I was supposed to do 8 of them, but i only made it 4. It was to the point that i was running and there was so much rain hittin my eyes and rollin off my head that i couldnt see haha. In the pict to the left, my tank top was actually a bright teal... yeah... like i said, i got SOAKED! I was going to lift again today, but imma put it off til tomorrow

Saturday: Eliptical 40 min because my foot was not feelin right... but i still lifted :)
Hang Cleans: 3 x 5 - 80, 90, 100
RDL: 2 x 12 - 95
Leg Curls: 2 x 12 - 90
Outter Leg Machine: 2 x 12 - 90
Shoulder Press (w/ DB): 2 x 12 - 17.5
Bench Dips: 2 x 12
Seated Rows: 2 x 12 - 60
Abs

Sunday: off

So this is my first week starting up, and so I've been takin it pretty easy. But my week in summary is...

Mon: 38 min, 4.91 miles
Tuesday: 42 min, 5.36 miles
Wed and Thur: off
Friday: 30 min, 3.88 miles
Saturday: 40 min, 5.16 miles
Total miles: 19.31 miles... eventually I'll get up to 50 - 60 miles a week... got a ways to go

I started to feel pretty decent on my runs later in the week. Startin off was kind of rough though!

I'm training again. This will be kind of my first week back, and after meeting with my new coach, Coach Toby, we're going to be starting things up slowly given my busy life schedule. Cool thing it though, that I've found an online running log that actually lets me share my log with other people. So I'll be doing what I used to do and will post a weekly training update, but if you want some more in depth or immediate gratification updates, you can use this link... My Log . Anyways, I'm excited and can't wait to get started!

Ok... so... After taking a year off from running, I am thinking seriously about gettin back into competition mode. Right now I'm looking at a few different coaches. I would love to keep Coach E as my coach, but between his heart surgery and everything else, I don't want to be an extra burden to him. Plus it's really hard having a coach that is across the country. So as soon as I figure out what I'm doing, I'll start posting workouts and the like up here. Hopefully I havent lost the few people that actually read this! :)

So yesterday in church it started snowing, and by 4 pm... power had gone out in almost all of Athens. The whole time this is happenin I'm thinkin to myself... didnt I leave Reno because of this mess? It just figures that my first year in Georgia we gonna have record snows and all that mess. We were in the house watchin tree branches just breaking off trees left and right, some snapping in half. And let me tell you how cold it gets when you're in 20 degree weather with no power! Phew. Anyways, so at about 7pm last night the power came back on for 10 seconds, and then we heard three large explosions and then lost power again. It took until about 3 this afternoon for the power to come on. I've never seen a storm cause such devastation like this before. Cars were scattered all around the edges of the highway, one had been crushed by a tree. The only fun stuff was that this morning IHOP was open and I got to break out all my Reno gear (the huge Ice Dozer) and the chains. It is always kinda fun to spin out in the snows and correct it. Anyways, this whole thing caught me so off guard. What I really love is that my distance kids were callin the other coach to find out what workout they can do today! I love these kids! I'll post picts later. Here is a link to an article in our local newspaper. 

I Remember

by

R. Baker

I remember when

I was young

I remember being 6 years old

and being put to work

I remember cutting white peoples' lawns

and their looks of disdain

I remember my dad smiling

and acting pleased at their insults

I remember my brother and I wondering

why

I remember cleaning schools

after school

I remember my first bike

put together from broken down old parts and spray painted black

I remember being proud of it too

until I went to school and saw all the new shiny bikes

I remember baiting mousetraps…

heads 25 cents, nothing for tails

I remember wondering

why

I remember how

Martin Luther King made me feel

I remember the love, emotion

and pain he sung in every speech

I remember the pain

and sense of hopelessness I felt when he was assassinated

I remember the anger I felt when

Malcolm X was gunned down

I remember Bobby, John and Medgar

all dying because they dared to talk freedom

I remember praying in church

for that better day God promised

I remember asking God,

“What did we do?”

I remember asking my God

why

I remember seeing Negroes

being beat, hosed, hung, jailed over this thing called equality

I remember being stopped by police

repeatedly just to check my ID

I remember being stopped by police

repeatedly because I was in the car with a white woman

I remember being jumped by police

during the Super Bowl in Pasadena

I remember police pulling a gun on my dad

and all he was doing was picking up a friend to go fishing

I remember shaking my head

and asking why anyone has to go through this

I remember being

Nigger, Niggra, Spook, Coon, Jigaboo, Colored, Negro and Afro-American

I remember being

Black, African-American and finally American

I remember being

less than a man, 3/5 of a man and finally a man

I remember thinking

why did this take so long?

I remember our family

moving to Carmichael

I remember our family

being the only black family in the school district

I remember being called nigger repeatedly

as I walked to school by myself that first day

I remember the fear

I felt that never seems to go away

I remember dating a white girl for two years

and having my white friend pick her up for every date

I remember going to the same church

with that girl’s mother

I remember wondering

why does racism exist?

I remember struggling to find my place

on the college campus

I remember never being raised with prejudice

or believing in discrimination of any sort

I remember the college campus

as being a bastion of racial separation

I remember being judged by black and white

because I stood in the middle

I remember sighing and thinking

where do I belong?

I remember only able to set my sights

so high

I remember being

successful

I remember success

bringing loneliness

I remember always being

the only African-American in any meeting

I remember never having a mentor

of color to help me through

I remember being viewed

as an affirmative action project

I remember asking

what gives you the right to think white is better?

I remember a lot of good people

along the way

I remember people who stood for right

in the face of wrong

I remember people of faith

who never gave up the faith

I remember people who mentored me along the way

because they believed in me

I remember teachers who recognized my potential

and helped me bring it out

I remember friends

who truly love me

I remember singing

“we shall overcome”

I remember chanting

“Jah will provide”

I remember that someday

we were to be free

I remember wondering

when

I remember vowing

never to forget

I remember vowing

to live free

I remember becoming

strong through it all

I remember how

my dad taught us to cope

I remember how

I’ve taught my own daughters to take control of their lives

I remember I came from a family

that doesn’t quit

I remember vowing

never to forget

I now feel that I am able to forget

I now feel that healing is finally taking place

I now feel that God’s hand has touched us in a special way

I now feel that freedom is a choice and we better take full reigns of our lives

An African has become President of the United States

An African-American has become President of the United States

An African with white lineage has become President of the United States

From my father’s pain

From my mom’s heartache

To my peoples sorrows

We finally discover that we are free

I vowed never to forget

NOW I CAN

---

MOTIVATION: "Written in honor of President Obama and reflections upon my life."

BIO: "I'm just a person that lives with passion....a passion for life, environment, commonality, understanding, politics, family and love. I can only write what is truly felt...take no offense. I was shaped by the turbulent 60's where you had to stand for something, but I'm always looking with excitement toward tomorrow."

Photo by Loretta Humble