New Year's Eve

Well, not midnight yet, I won't be staying up to greet the New Year. I am going to celebrate tomorrow by running in the morning. Right now in Riverton it is Zero Degrees. Kinda cold. Tomorrow Draper should be 10 by the time we run at 10. 10 at 10. Cool. Late registrations welcome! See you there. Dress warm.

You're Never Alone

Thursday Run

"I've learned that finishing a marathon isn't just an athletic achievement. It's a state of mind; a state of mind that says anything is possible." John Hanc

Running day two for the week. I really am excited to try my 6 miles on Saturday. But first I have to make it through a cold 3 mile run on a sNOWy winter morning. Right now it is 20° outside. I guess this is practice how to dress for race day. How nice. Maybe I will wear my new snow/ice attachments that I got for Christmas on my shoes. If you haven't noticed I am in the thinking stage of when I am going to run today. It is only 6:30am and I have the day off work so no hurry. Plus, Jan is going to go use his snow blower - he doesn't like me to walk on his snow before he does that.

Run time is over. Waited until 3pm - it got all the way up to 24.1°. And snowing. So fun. See top left corner of this post for more info. No one likes to be cold alone, so I got both Tink and Chip to go with me. They wore fur coats and fleece leashes. Slowly ran 3 miles (no speed record, but no falls either) on ice and snow and then a half mile walk home. Total time for run: 40:14; 1st Mile 12:57 2nd Mile 13:33 3rd Mile 13:44.

Up at 4am

Today Jan couldn't sleep and him getting up seems to wake me up. So I decided to get a little unpacking from our trip done and then dress for my morning swim. BTW while getting dressed I noticed that my swim shorts were like disintegrating - many places where skin shows through! What's up with that??? One pair is worse than the other. Maybe I'm so fast in the pool it just wears them out. That must be it.

Another storm has descended on Utah and we have snow and rain. The Desert Sharks focus on swimming is coming to a close this week so I wanted to get a few more laps in to make sure I'm set for the drawing. Only one winner. Maybe me. It could happen. Today I did 1000 yards, time of 30:24.

Sick Happened

Due to over-indulgence of fatty hamburger, onions, great tasting food with milk in it and chocolate I got SICK and therefore had to miss my first training day yesterday, also missing a day of warm Arizona running. grrrrrr. I hope I learned my lesson this time. It was a painful one and I do know better. And I missed some precious time with Alicia and grandchildren, especially sweet Marley's talk in primary.

On the positive side, Jan and I were still able to make our drive home from Arizona by switching drivers often so the other could rest and snore if necessary. I didn't hear any snoring.

This week I will be switching running to Tuesday & Thursday, with the long run still on Saturday. And I will get in a swimming day tomorrow. I felt a little weaker today and my times will show that. I am sure with some good fuel in the next few days I hope to be good as new. It sucks to have to eat good all the time. It sucks when I eat things my body does not like.

Today's run was 3 miles with a short walk home afterward. I had to bundle up again, no shorts for awhile. Temperature was a chilly 34.7. My cute little running buddy today was Tinkerbell. She did a great job and tried to keep me moving at a quicker pace then my recovering body could do. Mile 1 11:46 > Mile 2 got worse 12:12 > and then Mile 3 was 12:21 and would have been worse had I just not pushed because I saw I was on track for 13! But I got it done and legs held out after their visit with Stacey from Muscle Works earlier in the afternoon. Another goal met.

Christmas Present to Me

After the fun and excitement of stockings on a beautiful Arizona Christmas morning it was time to go for my run. Today three miles is on the schedule. Wearing shorts - in December! Went for two running partners, Chip and Tinkerbell. Although in hind site running through a neighborhood filled with Chihuahuas and Pit Bulls this may not have been the best idea. They bother Tink but they really spook Chip. This slowed me down some because of all the reactions of neighbor dogs to running Shelties. But it doesn't matter, I got the run done. Mile 1 12:00 Mile 2 12:40 Mile 3 12:56. Not pretty but miles were run and week 4 of marathon training is behind me.

Technical Difficulties

Well tech stuff can be frustrating at times and as well prepared as I wanted to be my computer skills failed me. I wanted to be able to download my Forerunner stats to my laptop but I could not get my wireless connection to work. So I tried it on Violet's computer but could not get that going either.

Remember the "but it doesn't matter" positive thought from a few weeks ago.... well I had to dig down deep and use that because in the end, even though all my training is lumped into one big session on my gps - I was still able to run and bike as planned. And so there is a record of how my training went, not just as perfect as I would have liked. I am sure that dealing with something not going perfect was my test. And I survived to run another day.

Enjoyed my bike day. Wasn't long but it was nice. And it was warm out, YES. Also spent time biking with the grandchildren Violet, Marley and Zeke. 5 miles.

Running in the Rain

Got out of Riverton snow into Surprise rain. Had quite the 11 hour drive before I was able to go for my run. So it was good to get out of the van and run. I was sooooo tired of sitting. It was a 2 mile night. Since it was dark my sweetheart Jan was kind enough to get back into the van and follow me so I could run and be safe. Also, I was joined by my granddaughter Violet for part of my run. That made it very special. When she got tired she got in the van with Grandpa Monson. Violet knows the area surrounding her home very well and got really excited when she realized Grandma was running in a circle. Stats for the run: 2 miles, 1st 11:26 & 2nd 11:03. Time total 22:29

Swim Rest Day

Today was swim day and I was actually glad not to be training outside because Utah is getting sNOw again. The roads were pretty slippery as I made my way to the gym at 5am. In the pool by 5:10 and swam 1000 yards, time was 36:30. I wanted to swim more but since this is an easy week in my marathon schedule I stopped at about a half hour and called it good. This will bring my Shark yards total for December to 8,100 which qualifies me for the special drawing to be held this month.

While swimming it came to me that Dianna, one of the Desert Shark club members, put out a challenge for us to swim the English Channel for the month of December: 21 miles or 36,960 yards. Although I will fall short of her challenge I was reflecting on the woman who taught me and my sister Nancy to swim: Greta Anderson, the woman who in 1957 won the first English Channel race and was the first woman to complete five crossing of the English Channel and set speed records in both directions! How cool is that. I remember watching Nancy swim under water with her eyes open and follow Greta around the pool.

A summer goal for me this year is take some lessons in open water (lake) swimming so that I can enter the BAM triathlon.

Two Shelties + Running

Today was an afternoon run with the temperature at 34 degrees with a little wind. It was Chip's turn to run with me, but because I didn't want to leave Tinkerbell behind I decided to try running with both dogs. I put 2 leashes on my run belt on my right side and then hooked up Tink and Chip and off we went.

Since this week is my "rest" week where I decreased my training time I decided to see if I could run a little faster since I was only going 2 miles. First mile was fast for me: 8:44. My second mile I started getting a little stitch in my side so I slowed down a bit and finished in 10:54. Overall it was a nice run and I was pleased. Worked the stitch in my side thing out. Tinkerbell and Chip loved the faster pace and when I started walking after the two miles they were disappointed and kept looking at me like "come on 2 miles is for wimps, we're marathoners!" with the walk back home I had total miles of 2.58 and 29:29 for my time.

Run Fat Boy Run

Movie Review: Thought I'd check out a movie that came up when I was searching the word "marathon" in the library catalog for books. I had never seen a Simon Pegg movie. This was funny. I thought it also had several good messages.The importance of friends who believe in you and support (however twisted :-) that they give to you. Who can forget the spatula!

Never give up. How using "inner strength" and finishing the race for the right reason built confidence. Run for your right reason. I enjoyed the "hitting the wall" scenario and how it was resolved. I just don't recommend 3 weeks to train for a marathon....ya need a little more time.

First 5 Miler

The day dawned a bit warmer for the morning run, but it felt pretty cold with the south wind. When I went running it was 32.9, and actually later warmed up to 43 in the afternoon. But ya never know, I just like to get it done.

Tink and I waited for some morning light before leaving. With the slight dusting of snow on the ground our footsteps sounded crunchy. Also noticed other runners footprints, we weren't the first ones out. We headed south into the wind, running toward where we take herding lessons. I had planned on actually running to the site but some hills stopped me...don't notice them so much in the van... and I was worried about slipping.

Met a guy out walking with an unleashed German Shepherd. Tinkerbell and I had to stay in place while he tried to get a leash on it. It was actually quite comical doggie rodeo because "Rambo" wouldn't come and was staying just out of reach. I realized he was a puppy and no threat and just enjoyed the show. Tinkerbell gave him her lip curl when he kept trying to sniff her.

Today while running I thought about how warm my feet were in my smart wool running socks and wondered if Tink's feet were frozen. When we got home this time I checked them. They were cold and wet but I could tell that the movement keeps her warm like it does me. She must have smart feet.

Today's run set no speed records with the dog incident and being careful not to slip and fall.
The fastest mile was 12:27, the slowest 13:41.
Time 1:04:47.
Left leg is sore and will need some work Tuesday. That will hurt more than any run so far.

And another milestone, I ran a total of 11 miles for the week and swam 2700 yards!

And then there is little miss Tinkerbell and her zoomies. This run gave her another extreme case. Take the poll about her at the top of the blog.

Swim day this morning. In the pool at 4:45am. I know, I just woke up so why not leave for the pool. And anyway, Jan couldn't breathe because of sinus infection so there was no one to cuddle with. And when I go to the pool there were others already swimming so I'm not so crazy.

Today I decided to do a few extra laps and I swam 1500 yards, 45:22. This is actually .85 mile. Lifetime has a 25 yard pool so there are lots of pauses as I turn. And I keep a pen & paper and water bottle so each 100 yds I make a slash so I don't have to remember how many I have done. And I get a sip of water too. In the water my legs didn't hurt. So that was nice. Swim chick is going to Arizona for Christmas next week so I will only be swimming once next week and then biking on my cross-training day. Maybe I will have to drive by a pool just so I can inhale some chlorine.

29.5

What is 29.5 you ask? Is that how many miles you are going to run for the month? Is it how much you paid for your new "skinny jeans" as everyone calls them? How much weight you lost? Your waist size!!?? Times up, no more guessing, it was the temperature this morning when I put on my running shoes to go running. You say that is nothing new, you have run when it is colder - but there is a twist. It was 6am, dark, and lightly snowing. Well, it was dark yes and no. With the 2 inches of snow on the ground it was actually light enough to see because of the reflection.

Crazy?! Well, well we already established that when my fingers and credit card signed me up for a marathon. I saw only one other person on the trail. And there were lots of animals out. Their footprints were everywhere in the snow. It was really peaceful and very fun looking to see where all the animals go. And Tinkerbell was loving it. Since we didn't expect to meet anyone I let her off leash to run beside me.

This mornings run log, not as bad a times as I thought they would be with running on the snow. Right on goal for marathon training schedule.

Mile 1 12:19
Mile 2 12:03
Mile 3 12:22
and the walk back .33 mile

Cross-training Swim Day

Swim done for the day. Woke up at 4:15...well I got in bed at 8:30 last night so not too bad, waited in bed for a half hour before I got up. I guess the dogs thought it was early, without me asking they all went back to bed after being let out. I was in the pool by 5:15am. Two other swimmers already there so I did not break any "don't swim alone" rules. My swim time today was 40:57. 1200 yards. Right on target for my shark goal and marathon goal.

Training Week Three - Fine weather

When I left the house it was a heat wave, 50 degrees. Quite nice for a December afternoon. Today's running buddy, Chip. Tinkerbell was not happy. When I run I feel a real freedom with the Garmin Forerunner 310xt strapped to my wrist. I can just run anywhere and it keeps track of the time and miles and I can just cruise around and look at stuff. I make up my route as I go along. Today met goal of the run 25-40 minutes, finished 3 miles in 36:33. Then we walked an additional .45 of a mile home.

We're getting a new water heater right now so I get no shower until they finish and the water comes up to temperature. Sigh. But it doesn't matter because I had a nice run.

Big News!

Dear Marsha Monson:

Congratulations!
This e-mail serves as your confirmation into the Canyonlands Half Marathon on March 19, 2011.

I was actually entered in a lottery for this half marathon with some shark friends. Moab here I come!

Mental Motivators

Back in Run Your First Marathon it says of Olympians "As their training got harder, their belief in regards to performance increased. They had a sense of humor. And they kept at it: a bad result was not a catastrophe, but a reason to be more determined."

"As the noted saying goes - training is 90 percent physical and 10 percent mental, but look out for that 10 percent."

So many times in life we have to fail to achieve and that is so hard for me because at the time I don't want to fail. Sometimes I've set myself up for it by lack of preparation and sometimes I was prepared and it happened anyway.

"Making the decision to run a marathon is the easy part. It is the follow-up that proves to be the challenge." I have learned a few things already. I can run when it is very cold. I can run with a tummy ache. I can plan my blog while I run. I have to have something to think about because I haven't worked out the music thing yet and thinking about "my daily life challenges" is not motivating.

I have one mental motivator I am working on for my 26.2 run that I will reveal later, the idea is from my Desert Shark friend Cindi. The book mentions several:

Visualization: "As a first-time marathoner, you should spend time visualizing yourself getting ready, being on the starting line, and seeing yourself finish, feeling good."

Focus: "Part of the experience is learning to concentrate and focus on your running when necessary...in order to monitor your effort and your body."

Self Confidence: "I can do it. If your are programmed to believe in your success, you will achieve it. It has been proven time and again that we are what we think, and we achieve what we believe we are capable of achieving."

Mike Franfurt who did his 50th and last marathon on the day of his 60th birthday, on the day he finished his first marathon at 40 he says "it suddenly flashed through my mind, I can do anything. I just ran a marathon."

Happy Saturday Run

The weather cooperated and it was a nice 34 degree morning. At 8am Tinkerbell and I were out the door to begin our first official 4 mile run. After the GPS came up we were off, Tink giving her official happy woof as we began. I think she'd be happier with a faster pace but luckily I was in charge. I decided to try some different scenery so we took to the parkway path heading north and then went up into our neighborhood and around to try some uphills and downhills.

Here are the results:
4 miles, 51:43 fastest mile 12:29 and slowest 13:16.
After the run we had a cool down walk for a half mile.

When we got home Tinkerbell got THE worst case of the zoomies. She was ALL over the house, upstairs and downstairs. Jan had a special breakfast for his volunteer work as a sound technician at the Festival of the Trees so I hurried to the shower. After my shower Tinkerbell finally looked more tired than me.

Here is my elevation summary:

Elevation Gain:	206 ft
Elevation Loss:	207 ft
Min Elevation:	4,285 ft
Max Elevation:	4,406 ft

Marathon Nutrition & Pace Team

Up early this morning so I decided to read a couple of chapters in Run Your First Marathon by Grete Waitz. For nutrition info they quote author Nancy Clark who recommends "that all marathoners practice both eating and running, since it is through trial and error that you can test when, what, and how much nutrition works best for you. And whatever you consume, your body can also practice digesting it." This sounds pretty funny until I think how picky a digestive track I have without jostling it around while running. Lots of work ahead on my running diet.

The book suggests to learn to run wearing a fanny pack with my own nutrition supplies. At this point in my training I really don't know how long it will take me, but it probably is a good bet I could be out there approximately 6 hours. So I will need to carefully plan my fuel intake and water intake and most importantly I will need to memorize what miles the porta potties are at!

While studying the website to see race cut-off time, I came across a free running support they offer during the marathon - a Pace Team. So, since I have no one to run with I decided to sign up. Here is what it says about it:

Running with a pace team is a great deal of fun. The mental pressure of calculating your pace is removed, as the leader does that for you; the emotional pressure of staying motivated is removed, as the leader does that for you; and some of the physical stress is reduced, as the pacer will keep you from going out too fast. We have had many runners tell us that they would not have reached their goal without the help of the pace team.

The advantages you gain from running with us can help make a difference in your final result to the point where you can finish faster than if you run the race alone. However, you still do have the biggest part in this happening. If you aren't properly trained, you won't get any magic benefit from running with the pace team. The marathon is still 26.2 miles, a distance that needs to be respected. But if you come to the starting line physically, mentally and emotionally prepared, you can definitely benefit from running with our group

It just sounds more fun every day doesn't it? You wanna do it now too. Tomorrow is 4 miles. Real snowy weather would force me inside but I'm hoping for a break, only need about 50 minutes.

Tip from a pace team member: The training in the difficult part—the Marathon is the reward. Believe in your training and enjoy the Marathon!

December 9th - Sad & Happy Feelings

Today my mom would have been 82. I sure miss sharing my daily challenges and triumphs with her. I wonder what she would have thought of all my new athletic goals. And Marley, my first grandson, is 4 today. I keep a favorite baby picture of him at my desk at work - he still has those cute baby chubby cheeks.

In the pool by 5:05am. Early morning to get my laps in before the master swim class arrives. The water is kinda cool, but once I get some blood flowing I warm up. Another goal achieved today, I have my 2000+ yards I need to be on track for the Desert Shark's swim competition this month. I am 400 yards ahead of planned 2000 a week because I will be gone during Christmas for a few days. Lap storage.

Swim today was 1200 yards. Time 37:06.

Running with company

This afternoon was nice run. Cloudy with temps about 44 degrees. Had my best friend and sweetheart Jan on his bike riding next to me and Chip also joined us. It was different having someone to talk to besides a Sheltie.

My stats for the run were right on goal: Run 2.5 miles and walk another .35 miles home. Total time: 36:34. This GPS watch is so cool.

Running Gear Essential: A Training Log

Read a great article early this morning about training logs in Rocky Mountain Running & Triathlon. Picked this little magazine up at my weekly visit with Stacy at Muscle Works. By the way, I noticed I have a cascade of bruises on the outside of my thighs. To help avoid so much future pain I ran (not literally) to Wasatch Running Center to buy a foam roller to stretch my muscles with. I am also going to put Prolytes in my water all the time. I do need any edge I can get.

So back to the training log article, and I quote Jose Jimenez, "While you certainly don't need a training log to hit the road and run, such information will provide motivation, insight, quiet suggestions for improvement, and a plan for your goal. It could be the separator between the recreational jogger and the dedicated runner. No gear junkie would ever turn away a product with those claims." And there we have it. I think I am a gear junkie. That is actually part of the motivation to run. Like today, I can hardly wait to get home and get that Garmin GPS on my wrist and take it out for a run. How is that for motivation!

As you can see I have already chosen to do my journal electronically, and I am still trying out several different actual training logs to find one I like. My blog with log is now where I can get to all my favorite sites.

So quoting Jose again, "Don't get to race week wondering if you have trained enough to meet your race goals. Get logging today!"

Swim chick - chlorine is my perfume

Swim days....get to the pool a little earlier. Today I got bumped to another lane for the master swimmers class, Saturday it was the water aerobics class, luckily in both cases there was another lane free or one to share. Note: Program brain to wake up earlier on swim days or set alarm.

The swim today was 1200 yards, about 36 minutes.

Week Two - Day One and the sun is out

And that means running outdoors! Yeah. Today was the first day running with a GPS on my arm. How cool is that! It takes the guess work out of how far I am going during practice runs. It was a great temperature: 43 degrees. Got the clothing right today. I picked the right shirt, pants, ear covers and I almost thought I misjudged by running with no gloves because my hands became cold quite quickly but it didn't take long and they warmed right up.

Miss Tinkerbell was my running companion today, and she was all fired up. Took a couple minutes for the GPS to find satellites and then we were off. All this time I thought to the bridge and back was under 3 miles, come to find out I've been telling everyone I haven't run further than a 5K when in fact a couple of weeks ago I actually ran 4 miles during my practice for The Human Race. Needless to say I was excited.

Stats for today, I will be brief because now I have lots of details for each mile... Ran 3 miles, 38:18 and then walked another .58 mile. Made today's marathon goal of run 20-35 minutes.

I am a Marathoner

I know I am only competing against myself
I set goals and work hard to accomplish them
I understand the power of the human will
I strive to help others in their quest for success
I know that I can face whatever road lies ahead
I am not satisfied with the status quo
My true self shines through I am a Marathoner

I found this on the internet today and thought this is who I am going to be. Those who have run before me have been reaching out to lend a hand in my quest for Marathon success, some in person and by email and some in books who don't even know me.

I know and yet I don't know what is ahead. It's going to be one of those experiences I will have to go through to understand what it is like.

Sweets not so sweet

Week one of training comes to a close. Slept in a little this morning but still wasn't light when I decided it was time to run so off to the gym. It didn't take too long on the treadmill before I was taking a little inventory on how I was doing. How are legs doing, fine. How is breathing doing, fine. How is stomach doing, not fine. I guess the power food I ate yesterday wasn't quite what I needed to fuel a workout. Those delicious cupcakes made by my niece Maddie and some chocolate trifle made by me were now taking a sugar revenge on my tummy. This is the first time I've had to fight my stomach to get my miles in. I sipped on some water and just kept going. I wanted to quit running, but instead decided to teach myself a lesson. Having a day off in the training schedule to s t r e t c h does not mean your stomach. I'm going to remember this.

Off the treadmill, with my bright red sweaty face, my 3 miles completed, a time of 36:45 - I headed to the dressing room bench and my recovery drink. Amazingly, my body was glad to have the drink and actually began to feel better. Good enough to do the little extra I had planned, the 1000 yard swim. The water was cool and relaxing and I made the swim in 34:30. I was pleased to make my 2000 yds this week for the USAT National Challenge, it puts me on track for the monthly shark goal of 8000 yds.

Time to get out the nutrition information I purchased from Debbie Perry and get on the success track as far as diet goes. I thought I could totally slip in a day of indulgence and get away with it. How wrong I was.

Early Swim

This morning was cross-training so I choose to swim. Logged 1000 yds. That is .57 of a mile. Time 32:25. Nothing earth shattering to report. Threw on some swim shorts and top, grabbed some clothes, my gym bag and a sweatshirt and off to Lifetime Fitness. At 5am the lap pool was not crowded. One other crazy girl, and she finished a few minutes after I arrived. I do know the rule of not swimming alone, but hope that doesn't apply if I can stand up anywhere in the pool.

I've got some bruising...

Had a session yesterday with Stacey at Muscle Works. I thought that telling her that it hurt a little above my right knee probably meant nothing, and that if it did how painful could it be anyway? It was just a little sore. Well she jotted down my complaints of different sore spots (I'll bet there was a gleam in her eye I didn't notice), set aside the clipboard, had me lay down on my back and went to work on my leg. When I had a chance to talk next after moaning in pain and doing my "he he" breathing, I was able to ask what muscle is that? The quadriceps muscle. Then came the pressing on the psoas to correct the leg dragging that occurred on Day One. Not quite as brutal as the other.

This morning it was back to the gym for another run. Shorts and tank top. Still hot but I survived. No foot dragging thanks to a working psoas. Kept up a nice easy pace for 2 miles, finished in 25.02. 8 tenths of a second better than Monday. Workout really was about run for 15-30 minutes, on goal for the day.

And the bruising? dark finger spots all up and down my right leg from my massage by Stacey. I'm trying to get her back by getting her to sign up for a half-marathon. I'll let you know how that goes.