PR, PR...complete with minor injury

Before I pour myself a second glass of wine, I figure I should probably start my weekly blog.  Its amazing how unmotivated I am (occasionally) to do so, but tonight is one of those nights.
  
Strangely, I had another great week of consistent workouts.  I was fortunate to get a smidge of Matt’s time on Monday morning.  So instead of my usual swim, I went out for a short ride with him in my neighborhood.  He had JUST returned from his trip with Mickey Mouse to the Caribbean and immediately left on Monday afternoon for a business trip to Chicago.  He complained of drinking and eating like a PIG so I expected to kick his ass on the ride – but um… whatever, Matt…I was absolutely demoralized on the mere 10 mile ride we took through the less-than-impressive-section of the foothills.

Short but sweet ride on Monday morning!

7.5 mile run on Tuesday – and my times were decent – 9:31 overall pace.  It was after that run that I started to think that maybe I really am getting better and more consistent.

By the light of the house....

I swam on Wednesday and it was absolutely one of THE best days I have ever had in the pool.  When I arrived at the gym there was one guy in the pool – and he had chosen the center lane.  Never wanting a lane with a wall, I opted to swim in the lane directly to the right of him.  I hadn’t been in the pool in over a week because of my trip to St Louis, so I was feeling pretty fresh and ready to duke out 2000 meters.  The guy in the pool needed lessons – that was evident.  I felt rather bad for him.  He had the strength necessary to pull out some nice distance, but his form was embarrassing.  (I know, I know…who the hell am I to judge someone else’s form.)

Anyway, I hopped in and started to swim.  After about 400 meters in, I realized I was going to lap the poor guy.  Strangely, the moment he realized what was about to happen, he sped up – substantially – but it was futile.  I knew he couldn’t maintain that speed and within 25 meters, he was behind me.  Around the 875 meter mark, I realized I was about to lap him again – and once again, he pushed HARD to keep me from hitting the wall before him and moving a full 100 meters ahead.  But, I did and left him behind.  It was only about 300 meters later that it happened AGAIN and the poor guy struggled and pushed, but he was getting much.   I moved past him quietly in an attempt  to move past him with a diligence that would keep his humiliation at a minimum.  But, then I thought “holy crap, this guy is still going at it – and he was in the pool before I ever arrived.  For such lousy form, this dude is working hard – and hasn’t drowned.”  But, like clockwork, I passed him again at the 1750 meter mark and I thought he might quit.  NOPE.  And, now I was more motivated than ever.  How could I quit at 2000 meters when I could lap the guy – again!?  And, at 2050 meters, he pushed to beat me, and lost again.  250 meters ahead of him, I pushed out another 200 meters and got out of the pool with some of my best times to date.  I appreciated the competition – it really pushed me to work harder.  I left and he remained – so, I may have been ahead of him in meters, but he kicked my ass in endurance, for sure!

Thursday was my first trail run since the fall.  It was fine – but the trail was riddled with mountain bikers.  Several were in my way in very narrow passages, so I found myself pulling off the course to allow them by.  About ¼ mile after I’d hit the turn around, I was in one of the steepest, narrowest passages, when I saw the headlamp of a mountain biker and I panicked a bit.  Fortunately, about ¼ of the way up the passage, I realize that the biker saw me and was waiting at the top for me to pass.  As I approached the biker a woman’s voice complimented my distance and asked how my trail-run had been that morning.  I complimented her on knowing the trail well enough to wait at the top of that section – she was more than gracious and I was more than grateful!  I hope I don’t offend anyone by saying –  but female athletes are so warm and kind on the roads and trails.

No falling this week!

Thinking about my long run on Saturday, I opted to take Friday morning off in preparation for my 14 miler.

The weather in Phoenix is PERFECT, right now.  I didn’t need to wake up at 4:15am, which was especially nice since I had an unexpected friend show up at my door with a bottle of wine at 8pm, the night before.  But, after a decent night’s sleep, I was up at 5:30am and out the door by 6!  Running is always a nice excuse to make visitors flee at reasonable hours!
I told Anne to expect me around 8:20am; it was only 14 miles, after all.  Even though, I had breakfast plans with another co-worker, Anne was gracious enough to agree to still drive me home after my run – this way I didn’t have to do loops to my house and instead I could hit the flat roads all the way to Chandler.

Honestly, the run was pretty uneventful.  Somewhere around mile 8, my calf started to feel a little wonky, but I thought it might work itself out after another mile or so.  At mile 9 I was still pretty aware of this lower calf twinge, so I looked at my watch to see my pace.  9 miles…1:25.  At that moment I realized my pace was better than ever and that I just needed to maintain it.  Attempting to NOT think about the weirdness going on in my lower right calf, I glanced at my watch every mile only to see that I was still maintaining a better pace than I ever thought possible.  At the ½ marathon point, I was at 2:06:10 – a new Personal Record.  And I worked to maintain it – 14 miles in 2:15!  My best time, ever!  I am still pacing to hit my marathon goal.  I was on cloud 9 for most of the morning…

One proud gal!

See!!!  The 9:46 was the last mile - overall pace was 9:39/mile!

…until I realize the lower calf pain was not actually subsiding.  I continue to ice it and take ibuprophen, but will probably refrain from my running this week in order to help it heal.  I’ve had this before – its an overuse of the tendon and muscle area and only takes a couple of days to heal – provided I DO NOT run on it in the meantime.  And, after sitting in a movie theatre that afternoon with my friend, David, it was tighter than ever.  (sad face)

Ice pack, baby -- my new Best Friend!

Matt sent me an email Saturday evening detailing his hopeful bike workouts for the week.  I was worried a little about my lower calf, but I also knew that the muscle groups required for cycling are complimentary to running, but almost never the same groups.  So, when I met Matt at 3pm today for a 20+ mile ride, I warned him of the injury and my fears.  The ride was completely fine on the calf – but the winds annihilated me.  Once again, Matt showed me how much of a better rider he is than I.  I was feeling pretty defeated at the ½ way mark, but Matt looked strong so I decided to suck it up and push through as much as I could.  Matt remained in front of me several bike lengths for the majority of the 20 miles.  I think he does it to remind me that I HAVE to get a new bike – I have to at least level the playing field.  That’s ok; I know he’s right.  Soon!

As we pulled into Matt’s driveway the entire Ashcraft clan was out in the front yard.  Cole was on some very cool looking better-than-big-wheel thingy and (in typical 10 year old girl form) Brooke was complaining about something.  Baby Alex, the fabulous kid they foster, was on a blanket in the drive way until he saw Matt approach on the bike and he crawled like he had a motorized diaper to Matt, who was getting off his bike.

We tried to include Alex in our post-ride pic, but it simply was not going to happen.  However, Alex was impressed with the reverse camera feature for a 1/10th of a second and I captured this moment.  Good enough for me!

Cutie patootie finally saw himself in the camera!

More on the calf injury, soon – next weekend holds my last really long run, so I am going to nurse this potential injury to ensure I can pull it out in a timely fashion!