CM, I changed my siggy to be more clear.  :-)

Mrs. F, nice to meet ya.  My goal is fininsh my first 1/2 next year.  This year I'm focusing on running injury free and building up my base, along with some fun 5K's, 10K's and a few triathlons.  I agree with Jo Ann, slow down your long runs.  You will feel better the day of and the day after...  Nothing like your regular paced runs.  The slow/long run does seem like it drons on, that you are going too slow.  Just try to keep telling yourself you are doing this to break down muscle, build endurance, build mental endruance (huge for me),  and reduce injury in the long run.  Helps get me through all those minutes of slow jogging.  ;-)

Good work everybody!  Today is my rest day after running my slow long 4 mile (my first 4 miles in many years mind you, lol) run last night.  I think it was enough for me right now, so I'm upping my weekly mileage by one mile, splitting it and tacking the .5's to my two two mile runs this week.  Then keeping my "rest" run at one mile for now.   I seem to be holding up as I've completed two whole weeks of running 4 days a week now!  :-)

I've been having "issues" with my RT Quad for the last few days, in that it's keeping me from maintaining a run/jog, & I kinda run with a limb.  So I've been alternating between fast walks and short runs on the TM, just to get in my miles, because it doesn't feel like a real injury.  Today was to be my long run on the trail by the river.  It was cool (48), breezy and cloudy, but I set off, hoping I'd get to 7 miles.  But right away, my quad showed a little tenderness, so I changed to a brisk walk instead.

Then I found out the river was high again and the trail was flooded in many places.  I set off on the maintenance road around the golf course and park (a shorter straightline route), and worked to complete a circuit.  After 3 miles, I found that my brisk walk converted to a jog, then easy run, and found my thigh didn't hurt anymore.  Either it was frozen (from being chilled) or it had warmed up.  Anyway, I did a slow run on the roads around the park to add 2 more miles, for a 5 mile total for the day. (95 mins)  I would have postponed the run for this weekend, but the forecast is for rain and icy roads.  I am very comical driving on ice - and thoroughly terrified, so I don't do it.  So, I'll work on my bike at home, or break out some workout DVD's.

I hope you all are doing well with your workouts.

Hi all,

Don't know where everybody has been lately, but hopefully you are all running, and that's why it's been quiet around here the last few days.  Yesterday I ran my last 5K in the NYS Winter Parks Run Series, but because of some nagging hip pain, didn't do so well, 46:02 was my time.  I'm not going to obsess about it, I'm just glad I complete all four runs this winter.  That's a victory in itself.  I'm thinking about running my first 4mile race on Valentine's Day, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

I'm not sure if anyone has heard about this yet, but my sister-in-law sent me a link to a site called Athlinks, which is a site where you can track all of your races (it actually finds them for you based on you name, age, and town).  It's pretty cool.  You can find it at Athlinks.com.

Have a good week everyone.

-Kelly

Joanie, thanks for the heads up!  LOL  I know it's the 13th, my son's birthday is the 17th haha.  Must have just typed that out of muscle memory.  ;-)  I think it was you I saw posting about Seattle weather.  I'm over in North Bend.

I think a new thread for Feb. would be cool.  Cutting down on the pages to sift through.  ;-)

Okay, still running here.  I need to update my miles per week profile - I did 11.5 last week!.  I was scheduled to run a 4 mile long run on Sunday but was feeing good so I made it a 5.5 mile run.  Longest run EV-AR for me.  I didn't prepare a good post run recovery drink/meal so I was bonking hard core.  Will plan better next next week to have a fruit and protein smoothie right when I get home!  I'm sore today, but feelin' good and excited about my normal run tomorrow (I'll do 2.5 miles on the treadmill most likely).  Made sure to ice my arches as well.