Riggers

My daughter has given up on spring outdoor track. lol. She's looked up the times and come to the conclusion that she just hasn't improved enough to make it to state. She'll probably get a free trip there as an alternate on our 4x400 relay but she's not real confident about the mile or 2 mile. She spent her Friday off from school reviewing her videos and timing her laps. She asked me what she can do to get faster and I have no idea! In the mile (which is her preferred race) she's already faster than I think she should theoretically be. The coach runs them 90 second laps every practice, so she never really practices running any faster than that and she has PR'd at 5:44.2 this year. I'm not sure what her laps were on every race but the last race went... 84, 86, 88, 86. I guess she could try to keep them all at 85 but to get past regionals it looks like she'd need a sub 5:30 and that's saying that none of the other fast girls improve either! She'd have to be able to take almost 4 seconds off each lap! Her last 3200m went like this 12:33.5 86 93 91 93 94 101 103 92 I actually think she's in 3rd in the region with that time and she stated she could speed up laps 6, and 7 if she had the opportunity to race someone who pushed her to it but she's gotten first in every race this season by at least 30 seconds so it's hard to really know, kwim? The problem for her is she's very slow to improve and doesn't have that thing that some other runners have where they can pull out faster times by being pushed. Generally, she just slowly slowly improves at every race. We have district next week, area the week after, and regionals the week after that. SO, TO THE POINT! She asked if she should push herself and run faster quarters in practice or if she should keep just doing the 90s the coach tells them to do. I told her I didn't know but I'd ask y'all!!! Any opinions?

Oh! I ran through my coughing, fever, phlegm, congestion weeks. It was awful. So much better now that I'm breathing better even if my nose is still a bit stuffy.

I signed up for RED January and so far so good; however, I'm not sure if it's for me. I feel like I need recovery days even though I'm not running very much each day Is it the cold or the or have I lost all motivation? Or is it that I'm just not made for running every day. I think I want to go back to interval running or something. Maybe I lost endurance but I can't possibly do a full 10k right now and 2 months ago I could. Also, I've had lots of nasal congestion the last month and it's making it hard to breath. I'm constantly having to cough out phlegm and clear my throat whilst I run. Today I made 3.5 miles without stopping but I can't even hold a pace there. It's all over the place. My feet, legs, ankles, knees and hips all hurt. I am definitely going to finish out January because I made this commitment. I read the other day about someone who passed away that had a 37 year running streak of running every day. That's not typical though, right? Don't must runners have rest days? Especially when I'm trying to push myself pace wise?

I don't enjoy multiple calls/people trying to troubleshoot technology either. Great news on the running though!

Shepherds pie sounds so good right now. I'm low carbing so none of that for me. Good luck on your training plan!

I loved this race report! I want to be like you when I grow up lolol

I was checking the course records for each age group and my little one was 5 seconds away from setting the course record last Saturday. So close! I also signed us uo for Warrior Dash over spring break!

Does anyone know of an app that can keep a multitude of personal records? It's getting really hard for me to keep up with all the numbers when 5 people are running races from 200m to 10k (so far) and I made a spreadsheet but I'd prefer an app...

PS: I added a new goal this year of at least 1 mile a day for the entire year. A 365 day streak.

Week in recap: So far so good as far as RED January goes! I've got my longest streak (13 days) of my life. LOL 10th- 2.57 miles 24:54 9:41 pace 11th- 2.56 miles 25:14 9:51 pace (wind gusts up to 25 mph during my run) 12th- 2.06 miles 19:35 9:29 pace (still windy but not as much) 13th- 2 miles 19:07 9:34 pace Tuesday was my friend's bday and I went out to eat with her and didn't cheat! Woot. We ran Loop the Lake Saturday. (the 2 miles above) Definitely not a PR. Race chip time shows 19:15 (exactly 1 minute slower than my PR). Honey ran the 5 mile course and GOT LOST! She thinks she ran about 200m in the wrong direction before realizing her mistake and running back. STILL got first female overall and set a PR in the 5 mile of 36:52 (previous time 39:58) She was REALLY upset because she had set a goal of setting the course record (previous female record 34:56). I think she might have actually done it if she hadn't gotten lost. I keep telling her there's always next year but she wasn't having it! lol I think I may go out the weekend before our next race and walk/jog the course with her so this doesn't happen for a third time. Gabby and Grace didn't get to run because they had area robotics competition! Grace's team (12 year olds) got 1st and Gabby's team (14 year olds) got second! Now BOTH of them are headed to state on April 7th! Sofia set a new PR in the 2 mile of 16:06. I'm surprised, I really didn't think she'd PR since she has just been slowly jogging 1 to 2 miles a day for 2 weeks but I guess it worked for her! 1:07 faster than her previous time. The kid is almost 9 but still barely 48 inches tall and 48 lbs. I'm always surprised by what her short little legs can do! Average female 9 year olds are 62 lbs and 52.5 inches. (The tallest female in my deceased husband's family was 4' 11" and I'm the tallest in my family at 5' 4" so my kids don't have much chance in the height department) Becca is 17 and 5' tall Honey is 16 and 5' 1/2" tall Gabby is 14 and 5' 1/2" tall Grace is 12 and 5' 2.5" tall Loaf (Sofia) is 8 (will turn 9 in 4 weeks) and 4' tall As far as the remodel goes. The tape and texture are done. I think it'll be about 6 more weeks to completion. Back to running related dilemmas.... 16 year old is determined to run in local Mayor's Marathon on April 22. Found out you have to be 18... now is determined to run HM because age limit is 16. Date of race is April 22 the Sunday before regional track. She has a GOOD shot at state in track in at least one event. I told her to ask her coach what he thought about signing up for this race and she says she doesn't need his permission (sighing at 16 year old attitutdes lol). What do you think a coach's opinion might be on this race? She's never done more than 9 miles in one jog but she is already plotting out her new practice schedule to get up to the HM length. I feel like practicing 13.1 miles and RACING 13.1 miles is way different on the body. Especially at her pace. She will be doing probably 3-5 miles a day at school from February on PLUS: April 13- District Track Meet April 20- Area Track Meet April 21- Run for the Arts Race (2 mile) but they offer a longer length which she wants to run (thoughts on both of these?) She could get her volunteer hours in here instead if I can talk her into it. April 22**** is where she wants to add the HM (so 3 days in a row of racing???) April 27/28- Regional Track Meet and IF she advances May 11/12- State Track Meet Otherwise our next race is Feb 10th. Loaf's bday! It's called the Prairie Dog Run and has a 2m and 8m option. Honey wants to run the 8m (of course). First school track meet isn't until February 23rd so I think we're safe here. I'm debating on running the 8m because I've never run that far before... the other 3 are limited by age to the 2m race. Here's to happy training for the next 27 days! Also up for consideration are the Cowtown races in Dallas the weekend of February 24th. I think this one may be out of the running for monetary considerations though. Total entry fees would exceed $500 and I'd have to convince one of my sisters to come and wait at the finish line for my youngest 3. I think I need to invest in an RV so I don't have to keep renting hotels! Actually... I might could stay at my sister's house. I think it'd be right about an hours drive from the races. Maybe next year?!

I have a head cold too... I wonder if that's part of the reason I'm struggling so hard to enjoy my runs this last week. Half of the run I can't breath through my nose at all and pretty much the whole time my lungs are burning. Although, I'm not sure if that's because of the head cold or just the COLD in general. Supposedly, the coldest part of the year here is late December/early January so I'm hoping for warmer weather from here on out! (Yeah right! Lol)

Good luck! Love the questions. I remember all the questions I used to get and how annoying they were and how much I miss them now.

What's a threshold run?

What happened that you had to have surgery? I must have missed that somewhere... When my husband passed away everyone said to take it one day at a time. I totally didn't get it then but now I understand. It's been really helpful to use that technique with so much other stuff in life. Can't wait to see those biceps!

My weight loss as well. Lol May we all reach our goals!