medicinal runs

8/17 Another 3 miles in the rehab bag. 4 min run, 3 min walk. Last one was 6 min run. Starting to get hopeful. Will roll the leg again tonight and break up more scar tissue. Swim: Storm came up 1/2 way through and while I waited out the initial first impact (wind and driving rain) the wind after the rain passed was enough to exhaust me. I kept wondering if I would be swept down the coast or not - the currents were really weird and pulling south. Glad to be done.

8/19 run 5 walk 3 run 5 walk 3 ... it's getting there. Apparently there are DEER in the jungle. I've heard it but never believe it until I saw Bambi venado today on my run. Weird. I've got Bambi, manta and sting rays, baracuda, crocks, snakes, iguana and crabs. Oh and tortugas everywhere nesting. Swim: got in a really quick 2 loops before the storm came in. Lightening flashing and thick black clouds all around and the manta ray is bag. Dayum but he is BIG. :)

8/21 10 run 3 walk 7 run 2 walk 7 run 3 walk 7 run 3 walk 6.5 run. I had to slow it down seriously on the last 3 runs and I've finally figured out it is my peroneus longus not my soleus that starts the downward spiral. Tortugas are still laying feverishly and I saw tracks this morning from one who headed off the beach onto the "road" (sand and "dirt") before heading back through the bushes to the beach. Two new nests night before last on our beach and a couple hatchings. Looks like we'll have hatchings really late into the year this year - October to November. Wonder what that says about winter?

8/22 Water felt great. After 2 really rough days we finally caught some good weather. Stroke felt really good today and it is starting to come together.

8/26 run 10 walk 3 run 10 walk 3 run 10 walk 3 run almost 8. This is what I had planned last run (Sunday?) but my calf just didn't feel right after the first 10. I think I'm done with medicinal runs now and can move back to running again. Went out at midday and it was rather hot. Looking forward to Saturday's early run - I'll go for 5 and see how that feels.

8/28 It felt incredibly slow (and it was) but at least it isn't a medicinal run. Back to full on running (albeit slow) again. Was going to do 5 but figured I'd be conservative (for once). Back on the train again. Let's see how long I can go without reinjury.

return?

8/9 Did my own injured "brick". Swam 1200 yd (4 out and backs) but that barracuda still had me worried and then I saw a somewhat large stingray and I finally figured out how I must have gotten bloody that one time and that was it for swimming. So I then did 25 min of water "running".

Yeah, I'm a real pussy. Oh, the water was choppy so 1200 was enough for me (though I definitely could have done 2 more loops but since I'm going every day now I want to try and keep my shoulder healthy - yeah, that was the other "reason" - save the shoulder). Still unable to walk without limping so 2 weeks just doesn't seem enough now. I'm hoping maybe next week....sigh...

WooHoo! I ran! Well, I walked for 12 min, stretched for 5, then ran for 3 min then walked, ran 3, walked 3, and was amazed I didn't tear the calf again! I'm so happy to finally make it back to medicinal runs. So now I'll do medicinal runs instead of water running. I had totally lost ALL motivation to run in the water. So happy to be back on land again. Broken toe still letting me know it is there but I'm not listening. :)

8/10 Well, now that I see the future devoid of running (I'm not yet walking without a limp, so this is going to be a LONG rehab).

Today was 1500 yd swimming in some serious chop. It was tough on the way out but sweet on the way back. Did 2 laps (300 yd) of one-arm fly drills and that was a challenge considering the chop. At times I'd totally loose the buoy (my marker) in the valley of the wave. No stingrays, no barcudda today. Nice. I actually ended up done 300 yd more than yesterday but in the same time as I was so distracted looking for the cudda yesterday. I still don't know what got me bloody that one time but my bet is off the cudda.

Finished with 15 min of water running alternating x-country and normal every 5 minutes.

8/12 1/2 primary Ashtanga in the early morning and then 2100 yd swimming afternoon. One-armed fly drills and 300 yd kicking drills. No cudas, no rays. Lots of fishies and wicked, horrid, awful kelp messing with me.

I am NOT limping today!!! First time in over a week!

f*cking calf

Managed to damage the calf again just before I headed out to the beach today. Ugh. I'm starting to think this (2nd original injury) will need a full 2 weeks to recover. I'm starting to wonder why even bother if I'm never going to run again. Sigh. I also managed to BREAK MY TOE walking to the beach!

40 minutes (I was only going to do 30-mind-numbing minutes) of steady stupid f*cking water running. No intervals today. Didn't want to stress the calf further.

8/3 The water was rather rough today but it was the wicked current that worried me enough to cut my swim in 1/2. I didn't want to get tired enough to get dragged over to Cozumel ;).

8/5 Didn't get attacked by anything today - that's a plus! :) Yesterday I came out the the water bloody with no idea how or why. Decided to increase the swim a bit today and my shoulder is not happy with me. I guess I need to start PT for it if I'm going to continue swimming. Did IM stroke work today. Big black clouds on the horizon all swim. Water super calm today - calmest yet, and I was constantly distracted by all the pretty fish.

8/8 No, I really DON'T like barracudas. So I was 1/2 way through my workout when I saw this GIANT barracuda hanging on the sandy floor, his mouth nicely open so I could see all the rows of sharp teeth. I swam FAST back to shore (at least 100 yd) and ran up to John (divemaster) absolutely ready to cut the workout short. He goes on to tell me that barracudas are not agressive - they are so strong and so fast that if they were, I'd have no hope. Um, thanks for the pep talk?

So I make it for 2 more taps (300 yd) and see him again. I've now swum over him 4 times. I am not going for 6. So I cut the swim short. Yes, I know I'm a baby. A baby will ALL my toes. for now...

Swimming and aqua running

Tried to swim without goggles. I almost ended up on the reef in front of Don Pepe's haus so back to the middle I went and absolultey zig-zagged myslef to the reef and back again. It was insane. I tried both breast and back but I wasn't going to do a full mile of breast and back so I bagged it after one loop. 300 yds.

Finished up with 39 min of water running. I was DYING today. I wanted to stop after the first one (I did 6 x 5:00 with 1:00 between each one) and had originally had plans for 8 but I was dead after 5 and getting to 6 was about all I could do. I dunno why my legs were so dead but they were. I had NOTHING out there. Hoping for a better day tomorrow - I really didn't even feel like going out there; I should be back on the roads today. big sigh.

water baby

Oh man. I never imagined I'd fall back in love with swimming again and I'm not sure if it is the calm seas (versus the rough chop of winter) or the fact that I'm FINALLY losing that hard-to-lose belly fat or the fact that swimming is toning my arms like Ashtanga never did (that BITCH) but after totally burning myself out in AAU (yeah, back with the dinosaurs) and masters competitive swimming) I'm starting to come back around. I'm doing 6 out and back loops about 150yd each out (or back) to just about the reef and getting stronger all the time. I enjoy the tropical fish and even saw a ray one day. Thankfully, the sharks stay on the OTHER side of the reef (we have an agreement).

After breaking my toe and being totally unable to walk for a while I was finally able today to do Ashtanga (yoga) though it was a bit painful at times. It is amazing how often we use those toes. And tomorrow, I'm hesitantly going to run 3 miles (and swim at noon).

If the cost were not so high ($250USD) I'd seriously consider Cancun 70.3 (1/2 Ironman) in September, but I just can't justify that kind of money for a hobby. So instead I'm looking at marathon training and possibly a sprint tri in November at XelHa. But we are also thinking of a US trip in Oct/Nov and I might miss the tri.

At any rate, I've endured 2 weeks of water running and I have no idea if it kept anything in running shape or not, but I definitely have refound my joy of swimming. Enough that I now need to look for shoulder injury prevention exercises. And tomorrow I'll start week 5 of Hal's marathon plan and we'll see what happens with the calf. If nothing else, I have my sights on a Campeche 21K in early September.

oops I did it again

I am really getting sick of this. Back to the water - calf tear on Tuesday. I water ran Wed, Thurs and Friday and then walked 3 miles today. I am so fucking sick of this injury. I can't imagine what else to try other than The Stick each and every day.

I just can't seem to lick this stupid fucking injury. I had just begun to think I could plan a race (September 5th - Campeche 21K) and now I have no idea if I'll be running that day - who knows when this will pop up again.

So very sick of it.

But apparently, not sick enough to stop running. Next week I'll walk and water run again (oh, poor me, I have to water run in the Caribbean - life is SO rough!) and then next Tuesday try it again.

One weird thing is that this time I had bottom of the heel pain in the opposite leg (as the injury). I've made a handmade lift (as that leg is short) and I wonder if the gel of the lift is too hard...

Amazing week

After the week before I really wasn't expecting much this week. I almost had decided on a step-down week (I really DO need to do that soon - maybe the week to come?) and figured I'd just start the week with my usual 4.5m run. It is an odd number but because of my route (I have the choice of, oh, ONE route) which is 3 miles out-and-back and I only know where the .75 and 1.25 miles locate to on the route. It wasn't a bad run as the temperature had plummeted to around 25-26C with 90% humidity. Sweet weather. Tuesday I managed to break the 10-minute barrier with a 9:45 average for me 3-mile run. That was amazingly sweet and I felt really good the whole run so it seemed that my week was turning around (due to the cold weather no doubt) and I nixed the idea of a step-down week. Today I wasn't sure if I'd do 8, 9 or 10 miles but by morning had figured out how many loops I'd need for 10 and how to structure the hydration and I had a great 10-mile run. The last mile was heavy but I certainly wasn't dead at the end - just glad to stop. Now that I'm in double digits I feel like a "real" runner. I'm guessing that I should probably make next week a step-down week.

I don't know what it is about yoga that kills my back, but for something that is supposed to be so good for you, it sure screws up my back, at least in the beginning. I think I'm trying too hard for the jump-throughs (Ashtanga). I backed off them on Thursday and had a much better practice today. I've moved down to the beach and do my practice there - I don't really see the sun come up as we've tilted too far south, but I do watch the sun creep across the sand and light up the bay. It's pretty sweet.

Running is going well other than a death march on Friday. I had a great 5K for a dailymile challenge that seems to have screwed up. It was supposed to be a 4-week challenge with the opportunity to win a Timex Ironman watch but apparently it ended with the fastest 5K in the first week. Shrug. Tomorrow I have another 8 miles /13 K on schedule and after Friday's "run" I'm really dreading it. I've been hydrating like mad, hoping that it will help my dead legs but I doubt it will.

I've been having weirdness with my head lately - I have been with vertigo since the beginning of the year but certain poses (yoga) or positions will drastically cut off blood flow and boy do I get dizzy then. Yeah, I know, just DON'T do it. I've started tracking food again as I've been moving UP the scale and I would REALLY like to go DOWN but 75 seems to be an easy weight to hold. I'm hungry All The Time though, so it is hard. I've decided to work only on tracking food and stop eating at night. So hard not to though...

I really really really hate thinking up a title

So, long story short, life pretty much stopped when I got injured. I spent most of March and April trying to come back and reinjuring myself. I was SO fracking sick of my fracking calf I can't tell you. But I finally found the magic and I really wish it was something other that just freaking rest that damn calf but apparently it is a 2-week minimum rest when i tear. Body keeps getting older.

I have been holding steady with 20 mile weeks and recently decided to jump into Hal's 1/2 marathon training program at week 7. All the long races here aren't until Fall (November/December) so there is really no point in training for a race now. I might take in a 10K over in Merida one of these days but for now I'm thinking of Carrera de las Tres Culturas (run through 3 archeological sites 21km) and maybe a 16km in Uxmal beginning October. I was seriously thinking about a bicentennial run in DF but I think it will just be craziness cubed and too expensive so I'm sure I'll find a slew of local races to celebrate the bicentennial.

I ran through Tropical Storm Alex's winds the last few days - we got the dirty side and we've had day after day of brutal seas (no swimming) and brutal winds. The rain was neverending and I found that the cold water really kept my neuroma to a minimum on the long (7mile) run day. Interesting. Today the winds had finally died down enough for me to do 1/2 primary Ashtanga (yoga) without getting sandblasted. Dunno when I'll ever get back in the water. I'm tenatively thinking about the 1/2 Ironman (apparently all the kool kidz call them 70.3 but since I was doing the Santa Barbara 1/2 Ironman back when those kool kidz were in diapers I'll call it whatever I damn please :)) in Cancun. Course that means more water time and definite bike time. We'll see.

like a very strange fish

I think it has been 2 months - honestly, I've lost count. Torn calf 3 times - never fully reovered. It has been a very dark time. I'm now 1 week from the last tear and heading out, finally, to try aqua running.

5 min w/u
2 x 5 x 1:30 hard with 2 min between sets and :30 between intervals.
5 min w/d.

We'll see if I encounter sharks or turtles as the pool is not deep enough. Gawds I'm not looking forward to this. I've gained something like 5 kilos and it is ALL fat.

Sigh.

Going to try 2 weeks of this and then hope to return to running.

an update of sorts.

Q. Where have I been?
A. I have not been posting.

I hope this clears everything up.

When things aren't going well, I tend to clam up. Two Saturdays ago (or something like that, it was a Saturday anyway) I tore my soleus (calf muscle) (say it with me now...) A Freaking Gain. Yes. The injury that will not die. I thought I was doing everything right - increasing mileage by 10% or less per week, increasing the long run by 10% or less weekly, and walking 3/4 mile before every run.

Well, it turns out that maybe I wasn't replacing electrolytes well, and I DEFINITELY should not have increased mileage and number of running days at the same time, and oh, all along, I should have been doing or getting calf massage. Oops.

I was about 3 miles into a 5 mile run and luckily Sixto was out on JanTen with his ATV so I was able to get a ride back home and hopefully no do more damage. During this recovery, however, I've realized that the endorphins were masking a good tear and it is taking a LOT longer to recover. But I found a chiro and masseuse and have been getting muscles and bones taken care of. I had my first medicinal run on Monday (run no longer than 3 minutes) and realized I am pretty screwed. I'll try again tomorrow and have resigned myself to using the chiro to finally kick this injury to the curb.

I was thinking about a 10K in Merida on the 21st, but we'll have to see what the soleus has to say about that. In other news, I gave myself two new poses (Ashtanga) and for the first time today, made it through a practice without injuring my back. Only I could injure my back (over and over again) doing Yoga. Ugh. I think the constant attempts at jump throughs did it.

boohoo neuroma

Well, either my 7.5 miles on Sunday or the long week of 25 miles plus 3 days officiating at the Mayakoba PGA golf tourney inflamed my (Dr. Google diagnosed) Mortons neuroma hugely. I've never had trouble walking - just running over 5 or 6 miles and I just tough it out and it is pretty much gone by the next day. From the research I'm doing, however, it looks like this is the WrONG way to approach this injury. So I've got a piece of foam stuck between my toes and I'm trying to keep the foot bones off the nerve and hopefully decrease the swelling. Cause really, I'm just looking at my next run. Damn the torpedoes, I'm all about the run these days. I guess if worse comes worse, I can try aqua running (though I'm not sure that will really do any good).

So I'm looking at shoes and orthotics and hoping the swelling goes down enough for a short (4 mile) run tomorrow. I need a better pair or shoes though and I'm hoping I find a mule to bring me a couple to try on.

Last week was my highest mileage week - 25 miles of running and another 4-5 of walking. The best fix for the neuroma seems to be cryosurgery and there are only 3 doing the "gold standard". One in AZ, one in FL and one in TX (Rio Grande Valley). Just 4 days away by car. Might be an option if the orthotics, et.al., do not work.

Boys Africa

Read on Timbuktu http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0522_030527_timbuktu.html
Read on 3 ancient African cultures - A Glorious Age in Africa
Follow links http://www.africaaccessreview.org/aar/Bibliographies/African%20Kingdoms/Timbuktu%20Manuscripts/mali_2009.htm
More on Africa http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/specialprojects/africa_access/AA_Research_Projects/Mali/mali_empire.htm
Read on Dogon culture http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0529_030529_dogon.html
Read on salt-hauling camel trains http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0528_030528_saltcaravan.html
Follow Mr. Dowling's AFrican history links
Research Mansa Musa

Chilly penguins

So, today I had my longest run, 8.5 miles. I'm not as over-the-moon as last week because I kind of knew I could do it from last week. I'm not sure how much more I have in me at this point - I was thinking, about the 5 mile point, that maybe I could do the Guad 21K on the 21st, but by mile 7 I knew that stuff like that is for young kids, not old farts like me. So I'll keep looking and maybe I can find a 21K closer than Monterey by the end of April or so. Stuff down here happens so quickly that I wouldn't be surprised if a 21K just popped onto the calendar with 2 weeks to go.

I was REALLY happy with my HR (136 average) and the fact that I kept it slow as I wondered if I'd be able to run this at a 12 min/mile pace. My HR has been much higher this past week, but I'm thinking now it was just heat-induced. I'm very happy with the 11 min/mile pace and really very happy with 8.5 miles. I think I was a little high at the end but my feet hurt so bad I'm not sure. :) It has been a little warm here lately (between nortes) and we've had a couple days of high 90'sF with the heat index. I was hoping the rain last night would bring cooler weather for this morning's run but I had no idea a norte was coming in. It was FRIGID this morning!

It was FREEZING this morning - 70F and 69% and I seriously considered gloves. As it was, I had tights and a long-sleeved shirt over a drythingie shirt. It was perfect. I froze once I stopped running so if it is ever this cold again I'll know to run directly to the palapa instead of stopping at Don Pepe's. All in all, I'm very pleased, I had energy and I know I had more in me. I'm going to stay at 8 miles for hte next couple weeks, I was really very fine through mile 7. Ball of the foot pain began about mile 6 and was bad that mile then went in and out the rest of the run. After run, right ankle was VERY sore. Weird.

Next week I'm going to start Art's base mileage plan at week 10 but I'll probably make that 7 mile run an 8 miler. http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/m_mile.html I also think my Asics are about done. I've only got 80 miles on the Nikes so I think I'll start using those more often and find someone to mule me down a new pair of shoes. I can't decide if I want Brooks Gylcerin, Defyance or New Balance 1063's.

SEVEN BABAY!

Two weeks ago I tried running in Playacar (cement roads) and suffered and blew up horribly. I posted at Daily Mile and the consensus was that I was probably dehydrated. It was a warm day that day and I had no electrolytes with me - just a scoop of Cytomax before I left home. I remembered that around 6 miles I was trying to run and my hamstrings, from my ass to my ankle began to cramp up so I stopped. I felt really awful afterwards, I've run 10Ks so I was pretty sure it was physically possible but I was really wondering if I'd ever be able to run anything longer than a 10K. Also, my (Dr. Google-diagnosed) Morton's neuroma reared its UGLY and DEAFENING head around 5 miles and I was DYING from the pain, so that made it really hard to run also.

So today I had another 7 mile run to attempt. I honestly had no idea if it was even possible, but I was going to try. I took a camera out, a waterbottle with water and a prepared bottle of Poweraid. I've got to say, i was loaded down for the first .5 mile. It was COLD this morning - 84F with 48% made for a really cool start. I wore shorts, dryfit shortsleeve and long sleeve over it. I have to thank Angela, one of my neighbors for muling down some running stuff for me. I got 4 Nike Tempo shorts and 5 dryfit shirts off Ebay and now I feel like a REAL runner. Before I was using the boys cotton shorts and Tshirts.

Took off the long sleeve at about 1.5 miles in. This was almost 3 complete out-and-backs of JanTen and I'm shocked at how lovely the run was. Up to the 5 mile point I was still wondering if I'd make 7. Used the Asics and loosened the forefoot laces and had burning ball-of-foot only around 5.5-6 miles and then It Went Away! I couldn't believe it. I've NEVER had that pain LEAVE during a run and now I"m really encouraged that maybe I can run long runs!

I'm really so psyched I actually made the distance after failing horribly last time. the weather and electrolytes really made a difference. I barely made my last (Friday 4 mile) run but today I totally could have gone longer. I had a bottle of Poweraid the first 5 miles and then switched over to water. No idea of my max HR but I finally felt like I was settling into a pace somewhere around 4 miles and I really never looked at my watch for splits or HR info. It was an AMAZING run. I could get used to running in low humidity. :)

I brought a camera along and tried to take some pics as I ran...

moderation...when will i learn?

I think I figured out how people can talk themselves into more mileage too soon. I was sick on Sat and Sun and about every couple hours I'd try to convince myself to go for a (reduced mileage) run even though just doing dishes and laundry was exhausting me. Today I had a reduced mileage week on tap, but since I didn't do the 7 mile long run yesterday (or the 10K I'd had planned) I figured last week could be my rest week and I'll repeat last week's mileage this week. I'm just in a base mode anyway. So I was supposed ot do a 2 mile run this am, but was feeling so good I made it 4.

I've also been snacking VERY POORLY with cookies and brownies (made them for the palaperos, but they got very few in comparison to how many we ate) and have gained about 2 kilos over the last week. Some of it is cycle-related - oh, I guess I shouldn't be doing Ashtanga tomorrow, but I'm so crim I will probably ignore that also.

I think I will try for the Feb 7th 10K in Merida (I loved the feeling of running the last one so much am dying to do another) but we'll see how it goes.

Resting HR holding steady at 48-49; weight up to 75.6 today. Ugh. I didn't even wait for the fat % as the scale was bad enough.

new widget

winter weather = good run

Well, I think I've found the perfect running weather. I looked through my spreadsheet/training log and found the best runs were at 73Fish and 77% humidity (or thereabouts). Had a GREAT run today - 5.25 miles and I left the gadgets at home. Course, for me, that means watch and HR monitor. No Garmin here. :) I brought the pace down a couple times, just based on how good I was feeling and the "need" to push the pace, and ended the run ready for more. If the 10K this Sunday is in similar weather (I doubt it - this weather is solely due to a norte blowing through) I think I have a great run. Either way, I'll be happy to run in Merida again.

I'm looking at shoes again. The Nikes I picked up in the US to replace my Asics are just not working out and Dr. Google has diagnosed me with metatarsalgia. It really only rears its head after 4 miles or so, and I'm not sure what to do to "cure" it. The only real problem is the real possibility of stress fracture and I really don't want that - I've read enough running blogs to know how to avoid those with the 10% rule - but I am NOT going to stop running. So hmmm... At this point, I'm not sure a marathon is in the cards anymore, but I'm going to try either a Brooks or New Balance shoe and see what happens.

I hit 73.5 kilos this week but after eating 1/2 my weight in brownies (I baked them for the palaperos) I have a feeling that I'll be ballooning up overnight. I'm really happy with the weightloss so far - I took 15 kilos off the last 1/2 of 2007, kept it off last year (well, I ping-ponged with 5 kilos for a while) and am finally continuing to decrease.

I have 4 miles on Friday and the 10K on Sunday and then next week is supposed to be a "rest" week with 3 mile runs and a "long run" of (I think) 5 miles or something.

In homeschooling news, Jesse has jumped into a schedule and I'm really proud of him. He has quite a bit of catching up to do with his younger brother, but man, he is QUICK when he wants to be.

ugh. I'm such a wimp

Dayum. I headed to town today to meet up with some local runners who didn't show up. The loop I had planned to do is all concrete although I occassionally ran on pavers and some grass. The first loop (3.6m) wasn't bad - 42 minutes - I was trying to keep my HR under 150 and succeeded. It felt like a Really Long Loop though, but it could be I'm just used to having a turnaround every 1.25 miles.

I headed out for the 2nd loop and really only made it another 20 minutes before I had serious thoughts of stopping. I tried a Galloway and mentally chastised myself but only made it 8 min before wanting to stop for a walk break. My stomach was not good, but I did eat a banana and had 1/2 scoop cytomax before I left, so I'm not really sure what the problem is. I think next time I'm going to try Cytomax DuRING the run and see if that makes a difference. I just couldn't convince myself to power through and then got sick to my stomach. I KNOW I could have just sucked it up and worked through it but I'm just a wimp. Ugh. I'm so disappointed in myself.

first tempo except not

So, yesterday I attempted a tempo run. Unfortunately, I didn't check to see what exactly a tempo run was BEFORE I ran. After I got back I researched and found I did it all wrong. But anyway, I decided to go out hard and hold on. My HR was over 160 the last 2 miles and I was hurting pretty badly from mile 2.75 on and the entire 4th mile I was running from landmark to landmark. "Ok, just to the palm tree. Ok, now to the turnout. Ok, now just to the log..."

I made it home and had my highest average pace AND my fastest mile (9:30) but I was D.E.A.D. Strangely, about 15-30 minutes later I was feeling absolutely GREAT and looking forward to the next one. This was the first time I've pushed myself this hard in running and now the mental block is over. It was weird how good I felt the rest of the day - even my knees stopped aching!

Tomorrow I have a 7 mile run planned. I'm kind of nervous about it. I'm planning on running in town with a group and maybe that will make the miles go faster. If nothing else, I might find I need to get an MP3 player for the longer runs. It will be really nice not having to do umpteen (seriously, about 6 loops of the same old same old).

I've also revamped my training schedule and picked NONE. :) I meshed together a few programs and this is the week to come:

Monday (I'm going to make my back-to-back days a long run and recovery run) 2 miles recovery

Tuesday: 1/2 primary Ashtanga (eventually I'm going to xtrain with swimming)

Wednesday: 5 miles tempo - 5x3 min tempo pace with 60s jog between

Thursday: 1/2 primary Ashtanga

Friday: 4.5 with 11 min/mile pace (10:45-11:15)

Saturday: 1/2 primary Ashtanga (this might be my first swim day)

Sunday: 10K in Merida. This time I'm going to time myself. :)