Mother Racer

One of the kids I coach has been wearing these shoes for practice! I talked with him and he said it doesn’t hurt his feet or anything. Before he gets new shoes, he has to see if he likes track! He stuck out our hard practice today (hopefully he will be back on Thursday)… I sent them out on a 1 1/2 mile warm up. They turned around at a point and ran a mile hard (not quit race pace yet) back and a lot of it was downhill. They ran a lap recovery around the track. I then had them run 4×400’s hard with a 200 recovery. They ran back up the road (uphill) and turned around after a mile and a quarter and tempo’d down for a mile.

They finished with a mile cool down, a couple of strides, 50 1 leg hops on each leg and finally with stretches…

In between all this I dropped my 2 older ones off at piano and picked them back up right when practice was over. The 2 younger packed around at practice… We went home, had dinner and then Nancy and I went Visiting Teaching to 3 of our neighbors…

Corom then had scouts (and they all came to our house) then went to basketball practice for the team he coaches… I later went and hung out with some neighbors to watch the Bachelor. What a way to end my evening. 🙂

I met at the indoor track at BYU. There were 6 guys and 1 other female. We took off on a 18 minute warmup. We headed up the hill going towards the Provo LDS temple and MTC… (We call them the MTC/Temple miles).

We stopped and re-grouped… Then off we went and ran our 1st downhill mile (the last 100 yards was a slight up-hill… That was tough). My 1st mile was a 5:18. We then made a loop and jogged back up to the “starting” line (across the street from the Temple). 2nd mile was a 5:17 and the last one with just 3 of us remaining was a 5:20. My legs were wobbly! I had to fight hard to keep going, especially the last stretch. It was great to have those around me. 3 miles at a fast pace might not sound that bad but when you do the downhill miles and run as fast as you can, it wipes you out! We ran a total of 71 minutes with the warm up, mile repeats, recovery run and cool down. (About a 15 min cool down.)
The Benefits Of Downhill Miles… 1. Running downhill you can go faster than flat running with less effort. So you reap more neuromuscular benefits (i.e. training your legs to move fast) than just running intervals on a track. 2. It is psychologically beneficial for you seeing you are able to run that fast. 3. Many people That live here in Utah do a lot of races that are downhill, so it is good to train for what you are racing for.

I drove home and did 2×50 leg hops (50 leg hops on one leg, then 50 on the next leg… Repeat).
The Benefits Of Doing Leg Hops… In most plyometric exercises, the goal is either to move the limb beyond its standard range used with running or to isolate and work on a specific aspect of running form. One legged hops help work on the stance and push off phase of the foot strike. It also helps the neuromuscular aspect of cadence by training you to move your legs quickly. (Thanks Danny Moody and Hawk from Runner’s Corner for helping with the explanation of miles and hops:).)

Corom and I got all the girls ready for school, he left for work, I took the girls to school and then I (and a few other neighbors) went to our neighbor Jana’s house to sing her happy birthday. She is the sweetest person you could ever meet!

Then I went to South Valley Gym for about 15 to 20 minutes. I worked on the Lat machine (I don’t know if that is what the machine is called so let me know what the proper term is if I’m wrong :).) I did 4 sets of 10 at 60 lbs.

I then did 20 with the bar in front.

I have never really lifted weights before but for the goals I want to accomplish, I need to do some upper body strength. The lat pulls are excellent for runners. It helps open up your rib cage… You are able to breath better and you have better posture. Helps with your form! I went to the pull-up machine and put the bar at 60 lbs also. I cannot do a pull-up on my own so I will be using this machine for a while.

Pull-ups are also excellent for runners. It gives you the arm strength to drive your arms while you are running. It gives you more power. So at least 2 (sometimes 3) days a week, I will be doing these upper body strength workouts. It will be on my hard days. When I have an easy day of running… That is all I will do (with sit-ups and 20 push-ups). You want to make sure that your hard days are your hard days and your easy days, easy! It is very important to remember that. I think easy days are more important than hard! Anyway… Great workout!

Well today, I helped in my kindergartener’s class. Every other Monday I go in and help with the testing. I like doing this because then I can see what my child needs help in and where she does well.

I did it for my oldest and will continue to do it for the younger 2. I then did lots of laundry today… I try not to let it get backed up but sometimes (with 4 girls) it gets a little overwhelming!

5 loads of laundry later… I was finally done. The 3 younger girls played really well and I had few interruptions. I then went to indoor track practice.

After their agilities and core workout they split off into their specialties. I took the distance runners. I sent them off on a 7 1/2 mile loop at a moderate pace.

(You can see 2 little specks running towards me :).) The distance runners are lucky because we can run outside during all types of weather conditions. Sprinters have a higher chance of pulling a muscle being out in the cold. Tomorrow will be a nice speed day for them… Nothing to big, just introducing it to them.

I did have to go to a coaches meeting with all the other coaches in our region to figure out our yearly schedule. Now I am home, hung out with the family and am just about to go to bed! Early morning and hard workout!

I went on a 1:14.51 minute run at 5:15 this morning. It was about 26 degrees out so not to cold! I ran with Mac, Aubrey and Amber for most of my run. I wore compression sleeves/socks today on my legs. For the 1st 20 to 30 minutes my legs felt like they could not breath! They were tight. I don’t know if my legs just became numb after that or if they just got used to the socks but it wasn’t to bad after a while. The run was good, though. I went probably about 9 1/2 miles!? I finished with a 30 sec sprint to my car.

I take one day off during the week. Today (and every Sunday) is that day! I do love running but I also look forward to Sundays! I need it mentally and physically. We went to church at 9 this morning. The kids were actually pretty good! 🙂

(I didn’t realize my youngest had my phone and took about 50 pictures during our 1st meeting.) We came home and we let the girls watch a movie. Corom, Z and I all fell asleep. I took an hour nap and it felt great. My little brother, John and my sister-in-law Lyndsey came over and goofed off with the kids…

We played “The Sleeping Turtle” game. It is awesome! Pretty much the girls sit in that position and the last one that is still laying that way without moving or speaking wins. A few times the girls have fallen asleep. 🙂 We went to our neighbor’s (the Martins) for dinner tonight. It was a nice and relaxing day… Especially when I don’t have to worry about dinner!