7 weeks!

A quick and dirty recap
Hal said:
Monday- Rest
Tuesday- 3 miles
Wednesday- 6 miles
Thursday- 3 miles
Friday- Rest
Saturday- 12 miles
Sunday- cross train.

I said:
Monday- Biked 9.12.  Family ride.  Fun times.
Tuesday- 3.01 at 9:36 pace
Wednesday- 6.01 at 10:40 pace.... 6.49 mile bike ride later that day.
Thursday-  3.1 miles at 9:49 pace (Scheels 5k.  Race report yet to come!)
Friday- Rest!
Saturday- 12 miles at 11:26 pace
Sunday- Nada.


It was a really good week of training!  If I count the miles back from last Sunday, I racked up 27 miles for the week!  By far the most miles I've ever run in a week and I felt good at the end!

1/3 done with training!

I can't believe I'm already in the 7th week of training!  This has really been flying by and so far I am still feeling great!  A little soreness here and there, but overall I really can't complain!  The Summer continues to be hot and humid, but I have managed to avoid indoor running because I am trying to convince myself that I am forcing my body to adapt to the ridiculous conditions.  This week also marked the first of many upcoming weekends where I have to do training runs while traveling.  Looking ahead, we are going to be out of town several times in the next couple of months, so I am making sure I will have time to fit in long runs during those trips!  This past weekend we were in the Twin Cities, so finding a place to run was no problem.  Finding friends to run with was also no problem!  One of my oldest and most awesome friends, Rachel, recently started running and she and I are going to be running the Women Rock MN 1/2 marathon over labor day weekend.  It just so happens that her long run for 1/2 training and my long run for TCM training were the same, since this was a step down week.  My old college roommate Sharon also lives in the cities and is also training for Women Rock, so she joined us as well!  It was so fun to run together!

On to the recap!

Hal told me to do this:
Monday- Rest
Tuesday- 3 miles
Wednesday- 5 miles
Thursday- 3 miles
Friday- Rest
Saturday- 7 miles
Sunday- Cross train

So I did THIS:
Monday- 3 bike rides, totaling 29.21 miles.  Okay, Monday sounds a little ridiculous when I say I went on 3 bike rides.  But I did.   The first ride was over to the bike shop to have cleats put on my new cycling shoes.  Then I had to bike around for awhile to try to get used to clipping in and out of my pedals.  In the afternoon I went out for another short practice ride, and in the evening we did the family bike ride!

Tuesday- 3 miles at 9:41 pace.  I almost skipped this run because I was pretty tired on Tuesday morning, but I'm so glad I ran anyway!  Can't believe I was able to run this pace!  It has to be pretty close to being my fastest 3 mile run ever!

Wednesday- 5 miles at 11:01 pace.  Ran this with Nicole and we ran along the river.  I've been doing a lot of very very flat runs lately, so running along the river, while not necessarily "hilly," it does feel more difficult.  It just felt like a tough run and my legs felt heavy.  Was glad to have Nicole there to pull me along :)

Thursday- 3.02 miles at 10:42 pace.  Ran with Angie and she chatted my ear off, which helped distract me from my very tired legs.

Friday- Rest

Saturday- 6.98 miles at 11:12 pace.  Did this run along the Medicine Lake Regional Trail in Maple Grove.  Got up at 6am and tiptoed quietly around my hotel room, trying not to wake Jay and the kiddos as I got ready to run.  Went down to the hotel lobby and sucked down a coffee, trying to shake off the travel sleepies.  Rachel and Sharon showed up at 7am and we were off!  It was about 73 degrees, sunny, and very humid.  It was so much fun running somewhere different!  The trail we ran went on for miles and was full of trees and bunnies and ponds and loveliness.  Much more hilly than I am used to, but I felt great the whole time.  I swear I have never sweat so much in my entire life though!  Great start to a busy day.  We spent 5 hours at Mall of America, went to a park, went to dinner, and went swimming when we got back to the hotel.  A fun, but exhausting day!

My alarm clock is very bossy.

Rach and I after our 7 mile!  This was Rach's longest run ever!! 

Sunday- 3 miles at 10:21 pace.  I ran for my cross training!  The hotel had a fitness room, but I just couldn't help but get back out on the trails.  I wasn't even originally going to run, but I wanted to take advantage of the change of scenery!  Got up early again and this time was out the door by 6:15am.  It was already 76 degrees- ick!  Another soupy but great run!


It was a great week of training!

Heatwaves and near-fainting fun. Week 5 summary!

5 weeks behind me and 12 ahead of me.  Training is just zipping along!

Hal told me to do THIS:
Monday- rest
Tuesday- 3 miles
Wednesday- 5 miles
Thursday- 3 miles
Friday- rest
Saturday- 10 miles
Sunday- Cross train

This is what I did:
Monday- mostly rested.  I did ride my bike about 4 miles.  Hubby had his gall bladder removed that day and he had driven himself to the hospital, so I rode my bike over there and drove him home.  It was about 95 and humid that day, so even 4 miles felt gross!  No Monday night bike ride because it was way too hot!

Tuesday- 3.02 miles at a 10:20 pace.  Was up early to try to run before it got too hot, but it was already 74 degrees around 7am.  It was still a pretty good run though!

Wednesday- 5.05 miles at a 10:26 pace.  The heat continued.  I woke up at 6am and it was already almost 80 degrees.  At 7:30 when I started my run it was about 82 degrees, sunny, and humid.  It was a hard run, but I managed to keep a good pace.

Thursday- 3.01 miles at a 9:48(!!!) pace.  Glorious run in 60 degree weather.  Amazing how great 60 feels after choking on the humidity for a few days in a row.  I intended on taking this run easy, but my run started fast and since I was feeling good, I just kept it up!  My first mile was a 8:59 pace!

Thursday night I did my usual bike ride.  36.04 miles.  I think the heat and training caught up with me, because I was tired before the ride even began.  We took a longer route than normal and I struggled.  I think I was a little dehydrated because I drank both of my bottles of water well before the ride was over.  The weather wasn't overly hot- maybe about 90 degrees, but not humid at all.  Anyway, I was tired, but otherwise I felt okay.  Weirdly though, when we finished our ride, we were all standing outside the bike shop and all of a sudden I felt the blood rush out of my head, I got really woozy and started seeing spots.  I was sweaty but cold.  For a second I thought I was going to fall over.  In hindsight, I probably should have sat down, but instead I stood there straddling my bike and trying not to pass out.  It was crazy!  I drank some Gatorade and felt a little better.  We biked a mile over to Erika's house and had some snacks and I felt much better!

Friday- "rest."  I use quotations because I took the kiddos to a water park in Grand Forks and spent the afternoon chasing them around and going down waterslides.  It did not feel very restful!  It was fun, but was I ever tired by the end of the day!

Saturday- 10:01 miles at a 11:25 pace.  The plan was to meet Stacie at 7am... so I had set my alarm the previous night for 5:45a.  My usual Saturday long run routine is to wake up early, relax, drink coffee, eat some toast, and get my brain ready to run long.  That SO didn't happen this week!  I set my alarm incorrectly and it didn't go off when it was supposed to...so I WAY overslept till 6:45a!  I frantically texted Stacie and let her know I was going to be late and then ran around the house like a crazy woman trying to get ready to go.  I hate hate hate oversleeping and it throws off my entire day.  I was nervous that it was going to screw with my run because I was in a crabby mindset!
It actually ended up being a fantastic run!!  It was about 65 degrees at the start of the run and very little wind.  We went out with the plan to keep a similar pace to last week (last week we did our 9 miles at a 11:35 pace).  I felt great through the entire run and really the only complaint I had by the end was a blister on my right big toe and a little chafing on my shoulder from a bra strap.  By the end it was pretty warm (around 75 degrees), but it didn't bother me much.  We even ran the last two miles at 11:04 and 10:56, which was faster than the 11:30 we were aiming for.  It was definitely a confidence-boosting run!

Sunday- Absolutely nothing.  Sat around most of the day.  I probably needed that.  :)


It was a great week of training!  This week is a step-down week, so the long run is only 7 miles!  Woo!!  We will be in Minneapolis for the weekend, so I will get to do my long run there!  Can't wait!

Fuel, nutrition, and whatnot

Every once in awhile, people ask me what I eat/drink before/ during/ after runs, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to post it.  Obviously take all of this with a grain of salt, as every person is different and what works for me might not work for you.  There are no less than a kazillion articles, blogs, etc out there in the interwebz that address fueling for runs.  If you are new at running, you might want to do your research and try a few things out to see what works for you!

This is what works for me:

Short run (4 miles or less)
Before:  Nothing special. A little glass of water perhaps.  If it's a morning run, I don't typically eat anything before I go out, but I DO drink a cup of coffee if it's right away in the morning.  I can hardly put together a sentence without coffee, much less move my body in a forward fashion.  If it's later in the day, I don't eat anything above what I would normally eat. 

During:  Nothing.  I don't eat or drink anything during short runs- though the other day it was about 734% humidity during a morning run, so I did bring a handheld water bottle.

After:  This is new.  I used to finish up a run, drink some water, and hit the shower.  Since I've started training for a full marathon, I've been trying to be more aware of how I am feeding my body.  I have always hated drinking calories unless it's coffee... but I kept hearing about how helpful protein shakes are for helping your muscles recover from a run.  So for the past couple of weeks, I have followed up my run with a protein shake.  I'm a huge fan!  I've been playing around with different combinations of things to find the right consistency and taste, but still keep the calories relatively low.  Depending on how you make your shake/smoothie, calories can add up quickly!  At the end of the post, I'll share a couple of my protein shake recipes.


Medium run (4-7ish miles)
Before:  If it's a morning run, I of course have my cup of coffee.  For these mediumish runs, I also have a piece of peanut butter toast- typically on some type of whole grain bread.

During:  Depends.  If it's extra hot out or I'm feeling dehydrated, I may carry water with me.  If I am feeling extra lazy but thinking I might need to drink something, I may plan my route so I can swing by my car.  It also depends on the day if I eat a GU or not.  If it's closer to 6 or 7 miles, I may eat a GU later in the run.  If it's closer to 4 or 5, I probably won't.  Speaking of GU, that's generally my gel of choice.  Jet Blackberry 2X caffeine is my favorite.  I also like Tri-berry.  We just bought a couple of boxes of the GU Roctane- blueberry pomegranate flavor, and also wasn't too bad.  **When I say "wasn't too bad," I mean, wasn't too bad for thick, weirdly textured gel.  I don't particularly like gel, but it does the job.**  Sometimes I also like gummies.  Powerbar Energy Blasts are pretty tasty- it's just like eating gummy bears.  I don't buy them as often because they are a little spendy.  We can usually find good deals on boxes of GU, but not so often with the chews.  Also the chews come in packs that have enough for 2 servings, and the packaging doesn't fit as easily into my belt fanny pack.

After:  Water and a protein shake.

Long run (7+ miles)
Before:  Same drill.  Coffee and peanut butter toast.  I haven't gotten into the really long runs yet (longer than half marathon),  but then I may have 2 pieces of toast instead of one... or add a piece of fruit.  I don't know yet!



During: Water with a NUUN tablet (lemon tea is my favorite), take my first GU around 6 miles, and then a GU every 4 miles or so.  As marathon training continues, I might experiment with other things, just to switch it up on the long runs.

After:  Protein shake... and whatever else is within reach to shove in my face.  Kidding... I try not to eat every single calorie I burned immediately after I finish running :)  Plus, after long runs my stomach gets a little funky.


Strawberry-blueberry protein shake
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup strawberries
1/4 cup fat free plain yogurt
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
1 scoop Vanilla Whey powder
ice

I blend mine up in the Magic Bullet (my new favorite product).  Delicious smoothie.  I also like banana, mango, and peaches in my protein shakes.  At first when I started using protein powder, I was um... a little gassy from it.  I think I've adjusted now that I've been using it for a couple of weeks.  


Well, that's about it for now!  It's been a HOT week for running here.  I hope all this hot weather running is going to make me some sort of badass....

OH- Update! The other day I complained at length about my new handheld water bottle (the Nathan Quickdraw Plus) leaking.  Turns out it must have been user error.  I must have threaded the lid wrong or didn't get it tight enough?  I have run two more times with the bottle with NO leaking.  Yay!

4 weeks DONE.... 13 to go!

Can't believe I've already completed 1 month of training!  So far I'm still feeling great!  A few aches and pains here, but nothing terrible.  With the exception of two weeks following the half marathon, I've basically been on a training schedule since sometime in February!  I hope my body holds up till October 7th!

So this is what HH told me to do last week:
Monday- Rest
Tuesday- 3 miles
Wednesday- 4 miles
Thursday- 3 miles
Friday- Rest
Saturday- 9 miles
Sunday- Cross train

This is what I really did:
Monday- Biked 12.77 miles with the fam.  Did the regular Monday night family group ride with Great Northern, and since it was a beautiful night, there were nearly 40 people who showed up.  Because of this, it was a slowwww ride.  So even though I rode 12.77 miles, it required very little physical exertion.  So... I guess I'm saying, it was like a pesudo rest day.  :)

Tuesday- 3.05 miles at a 10:22 pace.  20 MPH winds and super humid!  I'm continuing to push through my wimpiness and run in whatever condition the weather hands me.  A few months ago, there would be NO way you'd see me running in wind or heat.  I *think* I'm starting to adapt.

Wednesday- 3.98 at a 11:00 pace.  If I thought Tuesday was humid, Wednesday was doubly awful.  74 degrees and sunny at 7am- it felt like running in Florida.  This was actually a pretty awful run- I weighed myself afterward and had lost 2 lbs during that run- just from sweat!  My thigh cramped up in the last mile and I had to run/walk the last half mile.

Thursday- 3.04 miles at a 10:27 pace.  Better weather.  Tired legs.  Oh and I also biked 19.69 miles that evening during my usual Thursday night bike ride.  I love Thursdays!!

Friday- REST!  It was wonderful!  Well.... except I chased my crazy kids around all.day.long.... so I don't know if it really felt like rest!

Saturday- 9.01 miles at 11:35 pace.  It was a GREAT run!  This week it was just Stacie and I as Emily was home nursing some swollen ankles (boo!!).  We switched up the route and met up at Caribou (so we could immediately dump iced coffee in our faces upon finishing the run).  It was about 65 degrees and sunny- so a little humid, but not awful.  We ran a nice even pace and both of us felt great all the way to the end of the run.  Going to try to keep doing long runs at this pace!  The following detail is just so I can make note of fueling (for future reference):  Had a piece of peanut butter toast and a cup of coffee for breakfast.  Had a GU Roctane right before we started running, and then another at mile 6.  Carried water during this run.

Sunday- Skipped cross training.  Husband was still out of town and I was on day four of solo parenting.  That's gotta count for some sort of exercise!  Plus it was 90+ degrees and humid- it would have been terrible weather to take the kids out in the Burley.  Played in a pool all afternoon instead!


Okay, so I mentioned that I carried water on the 9 mile run... maybe I should have said that I splashed water all over the place on my 9 mile run!  I was SO annoyed with my new handheld water bottle.  This was the first time I had taken it out on a run and it kept leaking.  I'm glad the NUUN didn't make my water super sticky, otherwise I would have been really ticked off.  I don't know if I have a faulty bottle or if there is just bound to be some leakage?  It's a Nathan Quickdraw Plus... I should read the reviews to see if this is just a common thing.  I bought the handheld because I don't like wearing belts, but I don't know if this felt like a better option! 

The coming week is supposed to be super hot and humid... hooray?  Have a wonderful 4th of July!

The barista at Caribou thought we were strange when we asked her to take our picture.  Post 9 mile run and ready for some iced coffee!

Gear I am loving these days

My how times have changed... it used to be that I'd have a few extra dollars laying around and I'd be shopping at Gap for new jeans.  In the past year though I more often find myself browsing workout gear at Scheels or Beyond Running (my fave local running store).

I LOVE finding new clothes/gadgets/etc to compliment my running addiction.  Here are a couple of the latest things I have added to my collection!

Normally when it comes to clothes, I have always preferred Under Armour tops.  They fit well and are great quality.... BUT, recently Gap has expanded their selections to include active wear (GapFit).  One day I was shopping with my kiddos and a series of events involving 2 rowdy children, the stroller, a 90% full Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte from Starbucks, and my white shirt, took place... thus requiring a quick shirt purchase.

And so I found the GapFit Breathe V-neck T for $24.95!  It is fantastic!  It is ridiculously comfortable and pretty flattering.  I've worn it during two pretty sweaty runs and it stays dry.  I haven't had any chafing issues and so far in the couple weeks I've had it, it doesn't seem to hold on to the stink.  There are lots of fun colors too!  I've worn this shirt once or twice just as a regular t-shirt, and it doesn't look like I'm just running around in workout clothing (not that there is anything wrong with that- I do it quite often)!  Below is a photo from the Gap website and below that is what it looks like on me (a non-model!)

This Gap model looks quite happy to be wearing this shirt.

Don't mistake me for a Gap model. 

The other shirt I am going to rave about is the updated version of the Under Armour Women's UA Tech Sleeveless Tank 
I have a couple of the old style of UA Tech tanks and love them, so I was a little hesitant at first about the new style.  It's a bit of a different cut than the old style, so I didn't know if I liked it at first.  I tried it on and fell in love with it!  The best thing about this tank is that they have done something different with the material- it is SO soft!  That is one gripe I have about the old style- it gets a little rough feeling after time.  So far this one feels wonderful!  I love how it hangs and even though it hangs loose, there are no chafing concerns.  When I'm not wearing my new Gap shirt, I am wearing this tank!  The price is reasonable (about $23) and there is a pretty good selection of colors!  Highly recommend this one!

This model does NOT look happy to be wearing this awesome tank.

What the tank looks like on a real person





 

The post in which I have a number of possible titles

Saturday morning I ran a small 10K race.

I couldn't settle on one title, so I'll share all of the possible titles with you.

The race in which I had a sketchy calf muscle
After my 3 three mile training runs this week, my right calf muscle was feeling a little questionable.  Friday I started to worry that I wouldn't be up for keeping up a good pace for my 10k.  I spent all day Friday rubbing my calf with "the stick" and icing the hell out of it.  Luckily, it felt much better by race time!

The race in which I ran my first run with my new marathon training partners
I had been worrying before I started my marathon training that I wouldn't have people to train with me.  I am a pretty social being and part of the fun of running for me is having people to run with and talk training with.
Because of the wonders of Facebook, two friends of mine from a past job had voiced interest in training for TCM.  A few Facebook posts later, and all taking the plunge by actually registering for the race, and we were SET!  Emily, Stacie, and I made the plan to run as many of our long runs together.  This week worked perfectly as we had 6 on our schedule and the Lindenwood 10k was taking place on our long run day.  Worked even better because the race was right on the route I always run at the time I always run it!  It was awesome to see the ladies and think we are going to have a great 18 weeks of training!

The race in which humidity kicked my ass
Woah momma.  It was steamy and gross.  I am no friend of humidity.  I choked on the air I was trying to breathe.  Brutal.

The race in which I started too fast and ran out of steam
I need to learn to pace myself better.  I am able to run faster speeds than I used to, but have been trying to figure out a comfortable, sustainable pace.  Ran the first mile in 9:16.  WAY.TOO.FAST.  Couple that with the humidity and I was feeling out of gas by mile 2.  Note to self for future long runs.  Slow down.

The race in which I had to build mental toughness
Oh I wanted to quit.  Humidity and a brief calf cramp made me crazy in my head.  I had to keep repeating to myself:  "keep going. you're building mental toughness."  Sometimes after I said it in my head, I told that voice to shut up.  I basically fought back and forth in my brain.  I think mental toughness is harder than physical toughness.

The race in which my main goal was to not finish DFL
Small races are terrifying in that the chances of coming in dead f---ing last are much much greater.  I've been there before, and my ego tells me to never be in that position again.  Yes, I know, I know- I should just be competing with myself and yada yada bladda.  But still.  I've done the last place thing before.  I don't care to be there again.  I checked last year's results from this 10k and saw that only TEN people last year ran this race at 10:00 pace or slower.  TEN!  I was thinking I'd be running this at 11:00 at BEST.  Eeek!

The race in which I PR'd by about 10 minutes
I have only run one other 10k- it was last June around this time.  I ran that race in 1:16 (a 12:20 min/mile pace)
I finished this race in 1:06:17!! (a 10:44 pace).

And I did NOT finish DFL.  There was at least 2 or 3 who came in behind me.  Ha!

The race in which I peed myself
Yes literally.  Just a little bit.  Right after I finished the race.  TMI, I know.  This happens to people sometimes.  Just trying to keep it honest.  Surprising because I thought I had sweat literally every ounce of fluid out of my body.



So, there it is.  It wasn't pretty, but it was a pretty spectacular PR for me.  My splits were:  9:16, 10:34, 10:33, 11:15, 11:25, 11:28, and 9:53 (for the last .2).


   

Add caption

Emily, Stacie, and me before the 10K!

All sweaty and gross!