10 Mile Goal Pace Run

This morning I did a 10-mile run at my goal pace of 5.8 mph.  It took 1:43:25.  The run felt pretty good.  I did it over 5 minutes faster than the previous 10-mile run that I did several weeks ago.

This afternoon I had a tennis practice with my teams.  I'd had three days off from tennis, but my elbow still hurt a bit.  Unfortunately I tweaked it during practice, and now it's worse.  Backhands aren't too bad, but hitting my forehand is not very good.  The worst is when I bend my wrist while completing a shot.  I'm not sure I'm supposed to be doing that, but apparently I usually do.  I had been wearing an elbow compression sleeve.   After practice, I iced the elbow.  I also dug out my husband's wrist brace - maybe that will help keep me from bending my wrist as much.  I guess we'll see.  I have a 3.0 match tomorrow night.  In the meantime, I'm going to put myself on ibuprofen.

My weight has gone back down from when I was concerned earlier this week, so that's good.  I think it was just some minor bloating.  My waist measurements this morning were also as low as they've ever been.  That all makes me feel better that my eating is under control.

Unexpected Run

I was supposed to play in a 6.5 combo match last night, but the other team had to default a court.  That means that Joan and I didn't get to play (although we won that court).  Fortunately, the team won one of the two remaining courts, so we won the match overall.  I could've asked someone else to sit out, since I'm team captain, but since my elbow has been hurting it seemed wise to take a break.

Since I had the evening free, I did a goal pace run that I did not have in my original plan.  I ran 6.0 miles in 1:02:04, which was a speed of 5.8 mph.  I'm really hoping that if I keep running at that speed on the treadmill, I'll be able to run at that speed outside.  Usually I try to run faster outside.

Today is my rest day.  This morning I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  The foam rolling on the length of my legs in between quads and IT band felt really good.  I still don't know what that is, but running seems to make it tight.

Speed is hard

Yesterday afternoon, my run was speed intervals.  The plan was to do 8x3 minute intervals at 7.2 mph, with 90 seconds of walking at 3.5 mph in between.  However, it didn't quite go like that.  I got two intervals done at 7.2 mph, and then had to go down to 7.1 mph for the rest.  And even then I had to hop onto the side rails for some short breaks.  It's hard to increase speed! 

Clearly I need to adapt my intervals to do shorter intervals, but more of them, so I can do them at faster speeds.  I'll have to think this through for the next ones.  Overall, the run took 46:00 and went 4.13 miles.

This morning, I did P90X2 Chest + Back + Balance and X2 Ab Ripper for the last time in this phase.  Chest is definitely one of the stronger muscles for me, as I continued to improve those exercises.  I even got more reps in most of them than I did at my best the last time I went through the program.  The pull-ups were not so good, but I did get a few more chair-assisted reps.  I burned about 230 calories overall.

Bad Elbow

I did get to do cardio tennis last night.  A new instructor did it - Andrew.  It was fun.  The drills kept us moving and seemed useful.  I particularly liked the overhead and volley drills.  Unfortunately my right elbow started to hurt a lot more.  I think I'm going to have to cut down on the tennis to get it healed, but that's hard to do.  I should probably ice it after I play, but with my Raynaud's and overall coldness, I can't even imagine doing that at this time of year.

this morning I did Insanity: The Asylum Vol. 1 Vertical Plyo for the last time in this phase of my schedule!  Hooray!  I do think I did a bit better on it today.  I burned about 220 calories.

3.5 Win!

I missed a day of blogging, so this goes back to Sunday night.

Sunday night, Whitney and I won on #3 doubles in our 3.5 match: 6-4, 6-3.  We were down 4-1 in the first set, and came back to win the set!  One of our opponents had a very strong forehand and a good serve, so it took us a few games to adjust to her.  We mostly played to avoid her, which worked very well.  Her partner wasn't bad, but she was beatable.

Yesterday morning, I did P90X+ Kenpo Cardio+ to burn about 280 cal.  This is the last week of this phase of my morning workouts.

Last night, I played my usual doubles at TCCP.  I was feeling really off during the warm up and the first few games - I almost felt on the verge of being light-headed.  So I started off really badly.  But then I started feeling better, and ended up winning all three rounds with my partners.  Nice!

Unfortunately, my right forearm and elbow are really starting to hurt when I play.  I'm sure it's just too much tennis and repetitive motion with the racquet, as well as the gripping.  I'm going to have to decide what I want to do about it.

This morning, I did P90X2 Shoulders + Arms and X2 Ab Ripper.  I got another rep or two on some of the exercises.  I had been hoping to get some more reps on the Arnold shoulder presses (which I've been going with 25 lbs per hand for the first two rounds), but I was having a bit of a problem with my balance and couldn't do it.  I thought maybe I'd have trouble holding the weights today with the way my forearm has been hurting, but it didn't really bother me for this.  Apparently the pain is very tennis-specific.  At any rate, I burned about 180 calories for the morning workout.

I'm going to try cardio tennis again tonight.  Hopefully it will really happen this week!

My Mom Did Some Boxing!

This morning I went to the 9:30am boxing class instead of the 11:30am like I usually do.  Fortunately Nate was teaching the earlier class, too, since I like his class.  My Mom is visiting, so I brought her along.  I couldn't talk her into putting on boxing wraps and gloves, but she did agree to do the various conditioning exercises with the class.  And then once she got going, she did some shadow boxing around the bag!  She did a great job, since the class was a lot harder the the Curves routines she usually does.  The staff at Champion Boxing Fitness was also very good about helping her out and keeping an eye on her.  It was a good morning!

Yesterday, I got the tank top I ordered from the Frederick Running Festival half marathon that I'll be doing.  I tried it on because I'd like to wear it for the race, but I don't think I can wear it before then.  I haven't earned it yet. 

Something I've been thinking about lately is whether I need to try eating anything while running in preparation for the half-marathon.  So far the longest distance I've run is 10 miltes, and I didn't feel like I was running out of energy for that.  I have never eaten anything while running.  I'm not sure I'm going to worry about it.  I've got some 12 and 13-mile runs coming up in my training, so we'll see how that goes.

Lately I've been doing my Saturday runs in the late morning before lunch.  This seems like good eating/digestion practice, since I eat breakfast and then run about two hours later.  So far I haven't had any stomach problems.  During one run I did have to take several bathroom breaks, but most of the time I haven't even had that issue.  Hopefully this means I'll be able to eat breakfast at home before the half-marathon and then by the time the race starts my stomach will have dealt with that food.

Goal Pace Run

This morning I did another 7.0-mile goal pace run.  I did it in 1:12:25.  I originally wanted to do 8 miles, but I got going a little late and didn't have time.  This was an extra run for me this week, since it was my third run for the week and I usually only do two.  However, with my mother visiting, I was not going to be able to go to tennis practice like usual.  So I ran 20 miles this week, which is certainly more than I've run in a week before.  I'm still feeling pretty good.