Playing "Catch up"....

I have been really lazy about blogging this week...and it has been a busy running week!

Monday-Ran with Cheryl and Kim in Lakewood....the usual 5 mile loop, but I guess we added somewhere because I ended up with 5.8 by the end...it was cold and I was sore...it was definitely a Monday! This was a busy workout day for me...did the run with the girls and then went to Circuit class at the NLRAC (it was tough!!). That night I did the elliptical for 30 minutes and then went to Sculpt class.

Tuesday-No running, but I did do Pilates (which really helped the soreness from the long run on Saturday and the heavy weights on Monday). After that, did spinning for an hour...since it was Natalie's last class teaching at the NLRAC...sniffle...

Wednesday (New Year's Eve)- Rather uneventful compared to others, but this year..I didn't mind one bit! Did Circuit class that morning..which was killer..and that afternoon, ran 4 miles in my neighborhood...nice and flat!!
Splits were: 9:11
9:02
9:06
9:23

Thursday (New Year's Day)- Did the Resolution Run with Cheryl in the Heights. It was SO COLD and it STARTED UPHILL at the part of Kavanaugh by Salon Avatar. We met one of the running groups there and grabbed a route sheet, deciding we would "only" do 5 miles that day! I was glad that we didn't do the usual "loop" in NLR, but the heights route was HILLY! We did pretty good considering the torture endured on Saturday...our times weren't bad, but I do believe that I may have pushed myself a little much....
Splits were: 10:30
10:17
10:03
9:52
9:47
We did our usual stop at Starbuck's, Cheryl proceeded to lose her keys..only to be found in the bathroom, but at least she got her much-desired Cinnamon Dolche and all was well. We stopped at Target to kill some time, Cheryl wanted to stop at Dillard's when they opened. Cheryl ended up getting some good stuff on sale on their Christmas markdowns. Later at Dillard's, she found a purse that she really liked and some slippers, while I got a new puffy vest and some slippers as well. Man, the way those people were pouncing on those purses on sale....you would think their lived depended on it!!! I wasn't too impressed with any of them, but hey...that's just not me...Later, we went to see "Seven Pounds". Now that movie was DISTURBING....and MORBID...and DEPRESSING....I left wanting to sob my head off....geez....

Friday- Cheryl and I did a 4 miler run around the lake. I wanted to do something flat, since we knew the route Saturday would be hilly again. It wasn't too cold..in the 40's or 50's, I think. For some reason, this day was torture for me....Either my hip flexors or IT bands were acting up, because I felt like I was just trying to "get through" it...I hadn't felt that great when we started, didn't get much sleep...but after I had coffee at Cheryl's after the run...I felt like some blow-up doll that got deflated...all of the sudden I just felt so weak and achy. I had planned to go to the gym and do the Mix-it-up class, but Cheryl was advising me not to. I went, to see what they were doing that day, hoping I could modify and scale it down a little, but after doing 20 minutes on the elliptical waiting for class to start...I was beat and I left! That night I went to a get together, but not feeling the best, I socialized some and headed home early.

Saturday- Kim, Cheryl, and I met at Cheryl's house, as usual, to leave for the LRM Run...this week was 16 miles, The MacArthur Park route (the despised route of all of us)...This was my first weekend to run that far! Thank goodness we dodged another bullet with the weather and it was humid and warm and slightly windy, but not raining! Very hilly as expected, but I took it slow. We really drug-it-out- this week...as many times as we had to stop to use the restroom, tie shoes, take nutrition, etc., but we finished in less than 3 hours...The last 3 miles seemed to last forever!! Cheryl kept saying that she felt like her foot was going to explode..and I felt the same way about mine..This week definitely was NOT as pain free as last week. In comparison, last week seemed to be easier for me..I think I pushed it a bit too hard overall this week....in mileage, speed, AND hills...every thing my doctor warned me about. Well, I'll be backing down this week some!! As far as the "achy" feeling I had Friday..it had gotten much better, since I had taken some Emergen-C (Vitamin C drink mix) several times. My heart rate did stay high though, and I burned over 1800 calories!

So that's it for this week! More to come!