Tag Archives: training

New Pages… and New Marathon

4 Jan

Since I’ve had copious amounts of time at work to do nothing but blog and read blogs, I have updated my blog with the following:

Food

To Eat or Not to Eat – links to all posts involving my food struggle, my views on healthy eating and grocery shopping.

Recipes – my favorite recipes. I hope to start posting more of these.

Books

Books I’ve Read in 2012 – there are 3 in progress!

Running

Marathon in 2012 – updated with the following news…

I am 99% certain that I am no longer going to do the Eugene Marathon. ::single tear::

I spent many, many hours deciding which race to pick based on date, location, size, course, spectator support, athlete reviews, and airfare price, and had decided on the Eugene Marathon in April. But due to limited money and a desire to vacation in Alaska for 2 weeks in celebration of 5 years of marriage, I will either be doing the Mayor’s Marathon in Anchorage on June 23 or the Kaiser Permanente Colfax Marathon in Denver on May 19 (which also happens to be our anniversary).

Because things are still up in the air (and it will take some time to plan this mega-trip to Alaska), I am following my marathon training plan as if nothing has changed. This way, I can still do the two races that I had planned on doing – although the 10 mile race depends on when I go down to Evansville to see my new nephew, who was just born this morning!! Congrats to my bro and SIL! It also gives me until the middle of February to make a decision.

After those races, if I’m planning to do the Colfax Marathon, I’ll back down in mileage for 2 weeks and then continue on with the marathon training plan where I left off. If I do the Mayor’s Marathon, I will have enough time to simply restart the marathon training program from the beginning. One bright side of doing a later marathon is that it will work out for me to do the Platte River Half Marathon on April 15. But one drawback is that we wait longer before trying to get pregnant. You win some, you lose some. But Travis and I both agree that this is the best year for us to go to Alaska so in the end, it’ll be worth the wait.

I’m kinda bummed to not be doing Eugene, since I spent a lot of time researching and I’ve heard some other bloggers say they’re doing it. But alas, twas not to be (this year). Regardless, I’m still pumped for marathon training!

So for the next 7 weeks, this is my training plan:

 

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Training Recap: 12/26 – 1/2

3 Jan

Yesterday was the day of organization. We took down our Christmas decorations and stored them in new totes. We went through clothes, toiletries, and jewelry, throwing out what no one would want to wear and creating a pile of stuff to donate to the thrift store. I organized my dresser drawers, 5 different closets, and even my spices. I also gave the dogs a bath (after our run, it was very necessary) and cleaned the house. Productivity is such a great feeling!

Here’s what my training looked like last week:

Monday: 3.04 mile run (35:50, 11:47/mile), 16 min weight training

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: 2.73 mile hill workout (30:48, 11:17/mile)

I did this run outside my office in Broomfield. I warmed up downhill/flat for a mile, then sprinted 10 seconds up the hill, walked for about a minute, sprinted, walked. Here’s the elevation profile:

According to MapMyRun.com, where I’m running in Broomfield is actually higher in elevation than Wheat Ridge by about 400 feet. Which makes me feel better about wheezing up hills.

And you can’t beat the view:

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 3.04 mile tempo run (31:23 total, 10:19/mile); 18 min Tabata workout

I warmed up and cooled down for .5 mile (1 mile total), running the 2 middle miles at a tempo pace. I wore my 2XU compression tights on this run and once again, I busted out speed from God-knows-where. I ran the middle 2 miles at a 10:00 pace and the other mile at a combined pace of 11:23. Not too shabby.

And then I got my butt handed to me by a Tabata workout. If you haven’t heard of them, the idea is to do something all-out for 20-30 seconds, take a rest, then do it again. This is the workout I did (and I’m sorry, but I can’t remember the blog I found it on):

  • squat with weight shoulder press
  • pushups
  • lunge with bicep curl (alternating legs per set)
  • mountain climbers
  • sumo (wide) squat with single weight tricep extension (behind the head)
  • seated lower body crunches (leaning back and curling knees into chest)
  • jump squats and jump lunges (alternate per set)
  • bicycle crunches

You were supposed to do 6-8 rounds of each exercise before moving on. I downloaded a free Tabata timer on my phone, which makes it easy and brainless to time the intervals of work v. rest. I made 6 rounds of the squats, lunges, and sumos, but I had to call it quits at 3 rounds of pushups, mountain climbers, and lower body crunches (although I added 3 rounds of other core work to make it 6.) Yeah, definitely a good workout – I counted how many sumo squats I did in a single 30 second interval. 10. 10 x 6 = 60 squats. No wonder! This showed me that while my lower body is fairly strong, my upper body and core need some work.

Saturday: 1.1 mile run with pooches (12:55, 11:44/mile); 5.2 mile run without pooches (52:01, 10:00/mile)

If you’re wondering how on earth I managed to run my first mile in 11:44 and then 5 consecutive miles at a pace of 10 minutes per mile, let me tell you about the wind. It was crazy. Power went out in places, portapotties tipped over, sandstorms were blowing from the foothills, windows were whistling. I never looked it up but Travis estimated the gusts were 40-50 mph at times.

Yes, I ran in that.

I took the dogs out for what I planned to be a short 1.5 mile run around the lake. Ha, yeah. The minute I started heading west around the lake (no wind barrier), I was leaning into the wind, tears streaming and breathless (the wind was actually kind of cold). So I said Screw That and turned around. Hence the 1.1 miles.

My route to and from the lake ran north and south and it really wasn’t that bad being out there when you weren’t running west. I tried to think of a route I could do from my house that would run only north and south but it’s a weird, old neighborhood with a lot of streets that end in weird spots. I would inevitably end up having to go west sometime. So inspired by Monica at Run, Eat, Repeat who has her husband come pick her up from her runs, I had Travis drive me 5 miles to the west, so that I could do my entire run going east. As we were driving over there, Travis said, “I can’t believe you’re doing this. I think you’re crazy.” But he knows how stubborn I am so he didn’t argue.

And I will say, it wasn’t that bad. Yes, I got blown around like a ragdoll at times and when the wind died down so that I was running on my own strength, I felt like I was running in slow motion. But I wasn’t the only crazy out there. AND there were other people running west. Now those people are crazy.

The only thing I didn’t like about the run was my hair. I had contemplated wearing a hat but didn’t want to deal with it blowing off. I should’ve worn a headband at least because my hair flyaways were constantly in my face.

If you look closely, you can see leaves flying through the air and mist rising from the reservoir.

So when I wanted to eat my Gu Chomps at mile 3 of my combined runs, I actually turned around and ran backwards, so that the wind would keep my hair out of my face while I ate.

Overall, the run was a success.

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In other news, I tried these two new foods last week and loved them both:

The Pretzel Crisps tasted a lot like mustard pretzels (which I love) and the Pure Almond Dark Chocolate milk tasted just like chocolate cow’s milk. This would be a great alternative for those who are lactose-intolerant and want to drink chocolate milk, or for someone looking for a drink high in calcium (it provides 45% of your daily value). But there’s only one gram of protein, so I’ll be sticking with my cow’s milk and Hershey’s syrup for post-run recovery.

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Food journal update: It is a lot harder than I thought it would be to remember to write down everything I eat. I failed yesterday. Whoops.

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What are the craziest conditions you’ve run in?

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The Day After Christmas

30 Dec

If you can believe it, on Monday, we did even less than we had on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We moved from our bed to the couch to watch Little Fockers and DVRed episodes of Bones and Desperate Housewives and there we stayed. Glorious.

But! Monday was officially the start of my marathon training (kinda, sorta, more on that later) so I had to get in a 3 mile run and strength training. We had also talked about going to buy new running shoes at Boulder Running Company, since Travis was in dire need. And we had a 15% off coupon so I figured I might as well buy a new pair too – even though I don’t need them right now, I will soon! I think I’ll start rotating my shoes when I run on consecutive days.

Finally, we got motivated at 2:45 to get running. Unfortunately, my pre-run fuel choice of nachos and caramel corn set off my acid reflux and I hadn’t drank enough water so I had a headache for the entire run. At mile 2.5, I decided to walk the rest. It just wasn’t worth it.

Ok, not quite the start to marathon training I had envisioned…

But no biggie. I know that bad running days happen and I have gotten acid reflux on enough runs that I know it’s just plain stupid that it continues to happen. I need to stop eating tomato-based foods (like salsa!) on days I’m running and start taking antacids before every. single. run. Even when I don’t think I need them. At first on this run, I thought it was the caramel corn attacking my esophagus. It seemed a little weird but the combination of chocolate and coffee once sent me to the ER – so why not caramel corn? But then I remembered the salsa-laden nachos and that made a lot more sense. Even ketchup gets me. It’s so sneaky!

After our failed run, I did 15 minutes of strength training, wiped myself off with a fancy cleansing towelette, and we headed down south to BRC and to get us a juicy burger and some fries for dinner (after all that candy, I was craving something hearty… but still not healthy).

At the running store, I stuck with my tried and true Nike Zoom Structure Triax:

It’s been so long since I bought running shoes that I actually skipped a version, going from the 13 to the 15. Sad. These feel less squishy than past pairs so I’m going to try them out at the gym first, just in case I don’t like them (please, don’t let it be true!).

Travis went with the Brooks Ravenna:

He had ran in the Racers for several pairs and while he liked them, he wanted something with a little more support, since we run on concrete 95% of the time (hey, it’s convenient and free of traffic). Plus, these aren’t horrific colors like the new Racers:

I told Travis that he would look like a Kenyan in those. He didn’t buy it.

After a quick stop at JCPenney to do an exchange, we went to Red Robin for some juicy deliciousness. As we sat there debating menu choices, I had the grand idea to sub a beef burger for a Gardenburger – I mean, I’m not a huge fan of meat so would it really make that much of a difference?

Big mistake.

It did make a big difference. I was craving a juicy burger and while my veggie burger was tasty, it didn’t have the juiciness (ahem, fattyness) I wanted. At least my heart thanks me.

On our way home, we got a call from my family – we were planning a conference call for that night so that we could all talk together a bit, since we were in 3 different locations (Colorado, Indiana and Minnesota).

After we talked for about 30 minutes, we hung up and Travis and I watched Hall Pass. It was a bad, dirty movie. Which made me sad because I really Owen Wilson and Jenna Fischer as actors.

Anyway, this has been so true this week:

Cheers!

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A New Season

23 Dec

I am very excited for the beginning of a new season: training for a marathon. I spent the majority of 2011 training for triathlons, culminating in my first Olympic distance. While I love the variety of multisport, there’s something about getting out on the road and slogging out a bunch of miles in preparation for a long distance running-only event.

And I was just thinking this morning that if I used my two cross-training workouts a week for biking and swimming,  I could even be in triathlon shape by the time the marathon is over!’

I saw this little “Best of 2011” on RunToTheFinish and liked it so much I’m going to do it:

What I’m looking forward to in the season of marathon training:

  • Mapping out new routes on mapmyrun.com
  • Exploring new areas of Denver on foot
  • Buying cute new running shoes
  • Feeling the good hurt in my legs of running many miles

  • Visualizing myself finishing my first marathon
  • Calling myself a marathoner
  • Eating like a horse and not gaining a pound
  • Developing runner’s leg muscles

  • Listening to books on tape and sermons while I run
  • Seeing my pace get faster (hopefully!)
  • Exercising mental endurance and positive thinking (You got this!)
  • Spending my Saturdays running a crapton of miles and then taking a nap

I tried to take the dogs on a walk this morning and it was more than a little difficult, what with traffic, a foot of snow and a temperature of 15 degrees. I ended up turning around early because Charlie started limping, showing that her paws had gotten cold. Maybe she could wear the Frankenbooties we bought Katy? If we put them on one of them again, I’ll record a video – that is, if I’m not dying laughing.

Our favorite thing to do lately to joke around with our sweet little pooches is this: if we’re watching TV and a commercial or show has a doorbell ringing in it, Charlie thinks it’s real. So she’ll get all excited, bark and even jump up to see who’s at the door. To prolong the hilarity of the situation, we’ll rewind the DVR to replay the doorbell noise. By the time we do that 4 or 5 more times, I’m seriously crying because I’m laughing so hard. Dogs are an endless source of amusement.

Finally, for your viewing pleasure, I took a picture of this car on our street:

 

That car is totally plowed in by 3 foot snow banks on both sides. Our neighbor plows our street (since the city never does it, by law – isn’t that ridiculous?!?!) and I think he plowed that car in because it’s been sitting there (in front of our house, mind you) for weeks now. Both Travis and I had a good chuckle over that.

What do you look forward to when starting a new training plan?

Have you ever been plowed in? I haven’t, but there was one time when I wasn’t able to get out of our driveway in college.

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Christmas Festivities, in Pics

20 Dec

I finally remembered my camera! So here are the pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Christmas Tea

I found these picture holders at Kohl’s for less than $4 each. These were the guest gifts.

Christmas Decorations

Same as last year

Our mini tree

Christmas Carol 5k

Sweet shorts, huh? (Thanks for the pics D!)

About the race…

It was being held in City Park and didn’t start until 9 so we met D and Doug at our house around 7:45. We got down to the race site a little after 8, parked, got our bib and stood around drinking coffee. The temperature was in the high 20s but besides my feet, I wasn’t really cold at all. Ten minutes to 9:00, we did a quick 1/4 mile warm up and stretched – but we didn’t start running until 9:13. Since I went out too fast last year and ended up walking in the middle to catch my breath, my goal for the race was to do negative splits and beat my time from last year (33:40).

Finally, we were off. For the first mile, I focused on maintaining even breathing and even though we had to weave around people, I tried to not be too ambitious. We reached the first mile marker at 11:03. I was a little bummed because it felt like we were running faster than that, but I was happy that if I maintained that pace (which felt doable), I would definitely beat my time.

The second mile started off with a nice little downhill stretch and a run by the Denver Zoo. It ended with a brutal uphill stretch. But because I was running with Travis and D and didn’t want to fall behind, I kept pushing, telling myself that it would be downhill in a bit. We reached mile 2 at 21:15 – a 10:18 pace. So that’s why I feel ready to collapse. Seeing that motivated me to keep pushing, even though I felt completely out of breath.

The third mile was a mental battle. Just like during the Rock n Roll Relay, I keep telling myself that the pride and accomplishment of setting a new PR will be worth the next 10 minutes of agony. Finally, I could see the finish line. We passed the third mile marker around 31:45. As we got within 100 feet of the finish, I actually felt a little dizzy/nauseous. We crossed the finish at 32:52 – a 10:36 pace. Even though my time is still pretty slow, I feel good that I really pushed myself. The only bad part about this PR is that now I have to run even faster to beat it!

We were funneled into a chute, where the race timers were collecting the tags off our bibs. We were a little confused at how they determined the times that way, since there were 2 chutes, but oh well. We grabbed some water and bagels, our goodie bags, stretched a bit and headed over to Denny’s, where I had their new Bread Pudding French Toast. It was pretty good – not as good as real bread pudding, but close.

As for the race itself…

I thought that A Christmas Carol Classic (5k/10k) was a fairly well-organized race for its first year. There were 425 runners in the 5k and 264 in the 10k – impressive for an inaugural event. They had a lot of volunteers telling people where to park, registration/check-in was organized and quick, and they had coffee and pastries for runners before the start. The goodie bags were pretty decent (they included chocolate milk), they had bagels at the finish, and the course was well-marked (though the markings were sometimes hard to see because of the crowd). The race also sponsored the Denver Children’s Home, which I liked.

But I think it would be better if they used chip timing. My official time was 33:43 (40/82 AG, 193/425 overall) but I don’t feel like it took me almost a minute to cross the start line. And because D ducked under the rope into the other finish chute because the line was shorter, her time was recorded as 34:09 even though she crossed at the exact same time as we did (granted it was her fault, but that’s the downfall of bib tag timing!).

Also, even though the website said something about having carolers out on the course, they didn’t. (They did have them at the finish, which was nice.) I wish that we would’ve gotten more race swag for our $30 (like a shirt, towel, medal or something) – you could buy a shirt for $15 but they weren’t that cute. I just hope that most of our race fee went to the charity.

Finally, if I had been doing the 10k, I would have been a little annoyed. They started at the same time as the 5k and just did 2 laps of the same course. So the 5kers were finished and leaving while the 10kers were still running and we were actually walking on the course to get back to our cars.

But overall, I enjoyed the race and would do it again. I like that the course is all in City Park, so you don’t have to worry about traffic or sidewalks.

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We’re heading back down to City Park tonight for Zoolights at the Denver Zoo – we’ve never been and apparently, it’s pretty cool!

Have you gone or are going to any holiday lights shows?

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Training Recap: 12/12 – 12/18

19 Dec

Aside from several hours on Saturday spent freaking out and raging on my poor husband, I actually had a very wonderful, relaxing weekend.

Friday, after shopping and partying with my co-workers, I went home at 3 – which was very helpful to my Christmas shopping! I stopped at Massage Envy on my way home to buy a Christmas present and then at Walmart to see if they had tulle that I could use to make a tutu for the race. Instead, I found some sweet-o boxers for both me and Trav – elf for me, Santa for him. (I’m lucky to have a husband willing to dress up with me.) Travis got home from work early too so we got to work wrapping presents and preparing gifts for mailing. We also finally baked our sugar cookies and figured out our race outfits.

Saturday, the race was a lot of fun. I’ll tell more details later… but I will say that I finished in 32:52, which is 48 seconds faster than last year! I will also say that 5K is my least favorite racing distance ever.

The rest of Saturday was spent by me freaking out about all the stuff I had to do: make an elk roast for dinner, go grocery shopping, buy one last present, mail/ship all Christmas presents, clean the house, and take a nap (ha!), all in 5.5 hours. And you know what? I did it. But not in style. Or niceness. Better luck next time.

After a short 30 minute “nap,” we had friends over for dinner, which was very fun and worth cleaning for. Shortly after they left at 8:45, I read for a while and went to bed.

Sunday morning, I read before church – I started Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts. Oh.my. I cried reading the first chapter AND have already called back to mind several things I read. I fully expect this to become one of my favorite books.

After church, we came home, ate lunch and napped/watched both the Packers and Broncos lose! Boo! (I am not a Packers fan BUT I will cheer for any team with a perfect record. I am now done cheering for them.) During the Broncos game, we took the dogs to the dog park for a bit and then drove up to Evergreen to get our skate on. I wish we would’ve remembered to bring Trav’s hockey sticks and a puck, but we didn’t. It was still fun skating around – Evergreen is a great place for skating. There’s a ton of ice space so you never feel crowded. But the ice was a little sketchy/ungroomed this time – maybe it’s not thick enough for the zamboni yet?

We ate dinner at The Woodcellar, a local bar/grill. Our food was absolutely delicious – I had the Hot Avocado Melt on Ciabatta bread with sweet potato fries. The fries were amazing. They had a seasoning similar to Arby’s curly fries. Mmmm… (And because Travis would give me crap about taking a picture of my food, you’ll have to use your imagination.)

Then we drove around our neighborhood looking at Christmas lights and what these houses lack in class, they make up for in quantity. The best most decorated house we saw:

It was seriously impressive how much they managed to fit in their yard. When I see houses decorated like this, I have 2 thoughts: Where do they store all that stuff? and How much money did they spend buying all that? 

When we got home, we attempted to watch Elf but weirdly, Travis was falling asleep after 20 minutes (that happens maybe 2 times a year)! So he went to bed and I stayed up for another 45 minutes before I figured I should probably go to bed – as today is Monday and all. Looking forward to two 4-day weeks coming up!

Now, on to the training recap:

Monday: Half mile repeats on track at Rec (4:14, 4:24, 4:30, 4:30) – 2.7 miles total

Lately, I’ve often been noticing that the thing holding me back from running faster is my lungs. That was definitely the case during this workout, as well as the 5k I did. Oh, silly little lungs.

Tuesday: P90X Yoga (1:20:00)

I almost made it all the way through the workout (it’s an hour and a half long), which is very exciting for me. The first time I ever did YogaX, I did the first 30 minutes and turned it off because I was so sore. This time, my shoulders were still a little sore the next day, but not bad at all. This is what I love about all exercise – seeing your body adapt and being able to do things you weren’t able to do before. The next thing I want to master in this workout are the balance poses after Warrior 3 (Standing Splits to Half Moon to Revolved Half Moon) – holy crap they’re hard!

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 3.66 mile sleeprun (43:31, 11:53/mile)

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 5k race (32:52, 10:36/mile)

Sunday: 45 min ice skating

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have canceled any formal workouts this week in honor of my mental sanity and a week of relaxation before marathon training starts in a week! I pretty much went straight from my triathlon schedule to my base-building schedule so I just want one week off from having to fit workouts in and then it’s go-time. It also works out that it’s Christmas this week. 😉 Although maybe it’s not so good, since I need exercise more than ever to cancel out all the extra treats I’m eating!

Back with pics tomorrow, I promise hope!

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Sleeprunning and Knowing When to Cut Your Losses

15 Dec

I just read this in an article about elite runner Tera Moody’s insomnia:

Sleep experts say adults should snooze about one hour for every two hours awake. Conventional training wisdom says to add one extra minute in bed per night for every mile run during the week. Not getting enough sleep builds up a so-called “sleep debt,” a term that also has its own rule: Every hour of sleep you lose is like a brick added to a backpack you must carry on the next workout.

I must have been carrying a 10 lb backpack during my sleeprun this morning. My legs felt like they would barely move, my eyes were watering, my feet were shuffling, and I zoned out several times, bumbling along in a daze. When I had a rare thought, it was, “Yeah, it might have been more productive to take today off.”

But my anal-retentive self won’t let me take a day off. In fact, I’ve been more dedicated to this training plan than any of my triathlon plans. I have fit in 95% of my workouts and even kept up with strength/weight training and stretching.

There’s a point in your training (and in your life), though, when you’re simply just trying to do too much. And by blazing ahead without heeding the warning signs, whether of being burnt out or on the verge of injury, you’re really just setting yourself up for a fall.

The hard part is that cutting back feels like weakness. It’s tempting to look at how many miles other runners run each week and think “I should be able to do my measly 15.” Or to look at all the activities and plans other women juggle and suddenly feel pathetic for struggling to hold my little life together.

But this is the trap I fall in to, time and time again: What I think I “should” do. This is what prevents me from being realistic about what I can handle. Some people thrive on busyness; others do not. I fall more into the latter. Whenever I am busy, I fight against the feeling with all of my being. I don’t like being busy. I’d rather be bored (and actually, I’m one of those people so good at entertaining themselves and finding things to do that I never am bored – well, unless I’m at work).

I find it somewhat amusing that so many people (myself included) complain about being so busy and stressed out, yet we’re the ones choosing to be busy and stressed out. After I said how exhausted excited I was about our holiday plans, and proceeded to schedule another dinner and New Year’s Eve plans, I took a step back and thought, What the heck am I doing here? I keep whining in self-pity about being “so tired” and “just exhausted” and wanting to do “nothing but lie on the couch all day” and then I go and MAKE MORE PLANS!

WHY? Why do I do this to myself?

It goes back to thinking that I “should.” I should be busy. I should have something to show for myself at the end of the day (no thanks to you, job). How often do you ask someone (who was not just on vacation!) what they’ve been up to and they say, “Oh you know, just a lot of reading and relaxing with my kids. A lot of sleeping in and going to bed early. Not much of anything productive.”

This is something that I’ve had to learn many times over the past couple of years (and am obviously still learning) – I don’t have to be productive to be a worthwhile person. Just like a person’s life doesn’t consist in the abundance of their possessions, it also doesn’t consist in the abundance of things they do. Busyness =/= worth.

So what am I going to do about this in my own life?

I am cutting off 4 miles from my long run on Saturday, taking Sunday as a rest day, and canceling my entire week of training next week too. If I feel like working out, great. I’m not making a rule that I can’t work out. But if I’m busy with other stuff, perhaps watching cheesy Christmas movies and eating sugar cookies, I’m off the hook. After Christmas, my real marathon training starts so if I want a break in the name of mental health, I should take it now.

The other thing I’m going to do is Stop Saying Yes. Yes, I’ve read this in a zillion self-help articles and magazines. But I never identified myself with “those people-pleasers who can never say no” because the things I was saying yes to were 1) good things 2) things I wanted to do and 3) things I was good at doing. Why would I say no to something that seemed so perfect for me?

Because I go insane with a busy schedule, that’s why.

Joanna Weaver wrote something profound in Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, something I am just beginning to truly understand:

…While there are many things that need to be done, things I’m capable of doing and want to do, I am not always the one to do them.

Ability and Desire do not mean Do It. I have to accept that right now, I am running on empty (unless you count all those bricks in my backpack). In my heart, I do desire to serve others, spend time in fellowship and volunteering, in addition to maintaining my household, working, and training. But right now, God is calling me to an empty schedule. To turn things down in the name of rest and relaxation. I feel like I am on the verge of self-destructing and that does not benefit anyone.

So after Christmas is over (and I guess now New Year’s too), I am going to guard my evenings and weekends. I am going to feel complete freedom to turn down requests and invitations in the name of my sanity – especially since I’ll be spending more and more time training for the marathon. I will end the Madness by telling productivity to take a hike and all other obligations to leave me the h-e-doublehockeysticks alone.

But until then, I am praying for grace and trusting that God will provide the energy and joy I need to enjoy the full schedule I have planned. 😉

Do you ever bite off more than you can chew? How do you fit in time for rest?

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Training Recap: 12/05 – 12/11

12 Dec

It was a good weekend, but as always, way too short!

I got to watch several cheesy Christmas movies on Lifetime and Hallmark – one of my favorite parts about Christmas! I don’t know which is more pathetic – the movies’ story lines or me laughing at their jokes.

I tricked my dogs into letting me sleep in until 8:00 Saturday morning (and by tricked, I mean fed).

The Christmas tea went well – I forgot my camera so I’ll post pics tomorrow but here is a pic of my inspiration for the table I decorated:

I got a lot of compliments (but I think that’s mostly because of my grandma’s gorgeous china!) and the best part was, all of the decorations together were only $17! (The mason jars were $10 of that.) More details tomorrow!

We had a lot of fun at a Christmas party yesterday afternoon.

And I still got in all of my workouts!

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 25 min elliptical intervals, 20 min stationary bike, 20 min weights, 10 min stretching

For the weights, I did the following:

3 sets @ 15 reps of Bench Press with 10, 15, 17.5 lb dumbbells
12, 8, 6 Single Arm Row with 17.5 lb dumbbells
3 @ 12 of Bicep Curls with 10, 15, 15 lb dumbbells
3 @ 12 of Overhead Press with 10 lb dumbbells
2 @ 15 of Squats with 20 lb Kettleball
1 @ 15 of Alternating Lunges with 20 lb Kettleball
1 @ 15 of Static Lunges with 20 lb Kettleball, both legs
1 @ 15 of Glute Machine with 40 lbs, both legs
2 @ 10 Pushups on toes
1 @ 15 crunches
1 @ 15 bicycle crunches
1 @ 15 hip lift / toes to ground
1 @ 30 sec Plank
1 @ 30 sec Side Plank, both sides

I was so excited to be able to do bicep curls with 15 lb dumbbells! Little by little, I’m getting stronger (which still isn’t that strong but progress is progress).

Wednesday: 3.04 mile fartlek run (32:17, 10:37/mile), 10 min stretching

It was cold during this run – I had frost on my eyelashes and Katy had a white beard!

Thursday: 3.04 mile tempo run (33:12, 10:55/mile), 10 min stretching

For the last mile of this run, I felt like I was running so slow – like I was running through sand. But I pushed through and was pleased to see that I ran a sub-11 pace. And the sunset was beautiful:

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 6 mile long run (1:09:25, 11:11/mile), 10 min stretching

This is what amazes me – I can go out and run 6 miles at an 11:11 pace very easily and comfortably, but just a few days before, 3 miles at a 10:55 pace seemed ridiculously hard. Running is such a crapshoot sometimes!

Sunday: 5 rounds of this workout (37:29) from Happily Ever After + 10 min stretching:

30 Jumping Jacks
5 Pushups
25 High Knees
7 Burpees
10 Crunches
7 Squats
5 Pushups
10 Crunches
5 Pushups
7 Squats
30 Jumping Jacks
45 Second Wall Sit
5 Pushups
25 High Knees
My thighs were screaming by the time I got done. Holy wall sits!
Only two weeks left before I start my marathon training plan!

………………………………..

As for all of the things I needed to get done last week, I got all of them done except for cleaning the house (I opted for aforementioned cheesy Christmas movies instead). I consider that a success!

Things I need to get done this week:

  • Address and mail Christmas cards
  • Finish buying Christmas presents and mail them
  • Clean the house 😉
  • Grocery shop

That should keep me plenty busy.

Do you like watching cheesy Christmas movies?

What is your favorite thing to do during the holiday season?

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Workout ADD

1 Dec

Travis and I are flying out this afternoon for Minnesota. Since we will be in the tundra and (almost) in the middle of nowhere all weekend, I decided that I needed to get in all of my workouts before leaving – I almost made it. I won’t be able to fit in Sunday’s 60 minutes of cardio and strength and my weekly mileage will be short by 1.24 miles. But considering the busyness of this week, and my disdain for working out indoors, I would consider this a success.

But I had to be creative. I’m pretty sure I have Workout ADD because I get bored very easily.

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Monday, I was scheduled to do 45 minutes of cardio + strength training. But 45 minutes on any single machine is my idea of torture and I refuse to use the pool on weeknights because of the swim team. So I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes on the stationary bike. Then I went home and did 2 rounds of this strength routine plus a little extra core work to make it to 20 minutes (gotta get my point for the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge!). Done and done.

Tuesday, I ran 3 miles during lunch. The area where my office is located is very hilly and I swear that even though the elevation is actually lower there than in Wheat Ridge (where we live), the air is thinner in Broomfield. Right away, my right hamstring felt really tight. Great. I stopped to stretch, walked a bit and then started running again. It didn’t hurt as much if I ran faster so I decided to do intervals – run 90 seconds, walk 30 seconds. This was a very challenging run. I felt completely out of breath the whole time and I even had to cut the run to 60 seconds and increase the walk to 60 seconds a couple of times. But I finished 3.18 miles in 34:02 (10:42/mile).

Since we’ll be gone this weekend and it was supposed to snow today in Denver (which it did), I decided to bump my long run of 7 miles to yesterday. I had planned to run it in the morning but I woke up with a pounding headache so I did my usual thing of brainstorming while lying in bed how I could fit the run in after work. I decided that if I left work at 3:45 (one benefit of having a job with nothing to do), I could make it home to do 7 miles and still get to Charlotte’s home by 6:30 to meet for Operation Christmas Child.

But the dilemma – sunset was at 4:36 and the end of dusk was at 5:06. Even if I started running by 4:30 like my plan, I wouldn’t have time for all 7 miles outside (and Travis doesn’t want me running in the dark). So I devised an ingenious plan: I took the dogs with me for 2.5 miles. I took them back to the house and grabbed my ipod, some Gu Chomps (I tried the orange and they were delicious!!), and my Rec card and ran the 1.5 miles to the gym. I ran 2 miles around the track and then ran home on the well lit, busy streets. I actually ended up running 7.48 miles in 1:25:29 (11:25/mile). After a quick stretching session and a dinner of pumpkin oats and a big hunk of asiago cheese bread, I headed to volunteer. Man, were my legs tired and sore by the time I was done standing on my feet for 3 hours!

Today, I was scheduled to run 5 miles. But I woke up a tad bit later than I had planned, I had to bring the dogs over to our friends’ house who are watching them while we’re gone, and because it snowed a couple of inches, I knew it would take me about twice as long to get to work (have I ever mentioned how much I hate driving in the snow in Denver?!?). So I headed to the Rec and pounded out another 3 miles… on the dreadmill. I know, I’m shocked as well.

But I staved off the incredible dreadmill boredom by doing something different for each mile. So here is my Guide to Not Getting Bored on the Treadmill:

First Mile

Walk 1 min at 4 mph

Run 2 min at 5 mph

Run 2 min at 5.5

Repeat once

Second mile

Walk 1 min at 4 mph

Run 2 min at 5.5 mph

Run 1 min at 6 mph

Run 1 min at 6.5 mph

Repeat

Third mile

Alternate 1 minute of walking at 4 mph with 1 minute of running at 7 mph

I successfully completed 3.1 miles in 36:07 (11:39/mile) without poking my eyes out! Yay!

Unfortunately, in addition to all of the mixing and matching, there was another similarity my workouts shared this week: leg pain. I’ve been noticing pain and tightness in my glutes, hamstrings and IT band. As I sit here typing this, my left hip/IT band is throbbing. Gah! I guess I know what I’ll be doing this weekend: lots of stretching!

Alright friends, as usual when I go to BF Nowhere Minnesota, I won’t be posting. I hope you all have a great weekend and stay warm and healthy wherever you are!

Do you like to mix and match your workouts or are you more straightforward?

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Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving

28 Nov

Our Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful – we did a little bit of everything:

  • Relaxed and cuddled with the pooches
  • Ate lots of yummy food
  • Finished every meal off with pie and ice cream or cool whip
  • Watched football and movies
  • Went shopping on Black Friday (I went with friends at 4:30 and then again around 11 – the crowds were worse in the afternoon!)
  • Walked the dogs in the warm, yet crisp fall air
  • My mom and I sewed a valance, tablecloth and curtain tiebacks for my kitchen
The pattern is from Hancock Fabrics and called ‘Apple a Day.’ I love it! It’s kitchen-y without being what I call “country bumpkin.”

 

  • Went out to eat for sushi and fish tacos
  • Drank wine and coffee
  • Played Rummikub and Chinese Checkers (Travis won, of course.)
  • Drove up into the mountains and saw about 50 elk all in one spot!
I didn’t notice the stick in front of my dad’s face until I uploaded the pictures this morning. Bummer!
As you can see, they were right in the middle of town! We saw them after our hike, crossing the highway through Evergreen. Crazy elk!

 

  • Caught up on family news
  • Cuddled with the pooches
  • Travis and I completed a crossword!
  • Went to church
  • I got in all of my planned workouts somehow:

Monday: 5.97 mile run (1:07:13, 11:15 pace) – ran first 2 miles outside with the dogs and the last 4 at the Rec on the track

Tuesday: 1.7 mile walk with dogs

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 4.1 mile run (46:05, 11:14 pace)

Friday: 1.88 mile walk with dogs

Saturday: 35 min weight training, 20 min elliptical intervals – I was very sore the next day from the weights. I think it was because I hadn’t used the weight machines in a while and I did 30 pushups on my feet!

Sunday: 3.04 mile run (34:11, 11:14 pace), 1.3 mile easy hike

I love balancing relaxation with productivity!

We all remarked how it seemed like my parents would be out here for a while but the days flew by and all of a sudden, it was time for them to leave. This is perhaps the thing I am most thankful for during the holiday season: how awesome and amazing our families are. You don’t get to choose your family, much less your spouse’s family, and both Travis and I have been blessed to have wonderful, kind, thoughtful, well-adjusted, non-crazy families who we truly enjoy spending time with. We are always sad to see them leave, or be leaving ourselves. This is one gift that I am very aware is rare. Good friends that understand you are rare. Absolutely loving your family is even rarer.

My parents are amazing people – so generous, thoughtful, tender-hearted. So dedicated to their family. So interested in their children’s lives. So welcoming of sons- and daughters-in-law. I feel so incredibly blessed to have such awesome parents and want my future kids to get to know them. Thanks Mom and Dad – for coming out here to visit and for being such great parents.

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