I Did 18.5 Miles and That's It!

According to my training plan displayed in a recent post I was supposed to run 22 miles on Saturday. Well, I didn't quite make it that far, and I wasn't planning on it either. I decided about two weeks ago that running a marathon is hard, and no matter how far my longest training is, it's still gonna be hard. I've had several friends run 16 or 18 as their longest run and then they run that marathon similar to previous marathons, if not better! We'll see how it goes in 19 days...

^^Proof on the Garmin and what 18.55 miles looks like.^^

...Ahhh 19 days!? What? In some ways I'm happy it's coming quick. I need to get this thing over with and move on to other cool workouts that don't take up so much physical and mental energy. Mostly, I'm really scared for the race to come so quick because I don't know exactly what to expect. If it's anything like my first marathon a couple months ago, from mile 1-20 I'll be anxious and from 20-26 I'm going to hate it.

Until then, here's to the taper!

Happy Fitnessing!

What's the furthest long run you've ever done before a marathon? 

Do you love or hate the taper time?

Plane Rides in Lake Powell + A Training Update

Happy Monday! 

We were in Lake Powell with Redmond a couple weeks ago. Other than running a 6:56 mile before we left (woot woot), I pretty much took that whole week off of running. It was a nice break.
               
I love Lake Powell. The water, the rock and the serenity... sigh. It was so needed! I had a lot of fun teaching yoga to several of the 50 other friends down there. I even spent some time teaching (and showing off) how to do a headstand on the paddle boards. So cool!

Eric with our friend Kama at the Luau -- Eric's shirt was very appropriate.

One of our friends from Colorado was there with his plane and he was giving rides. It was an absolute blast flying high above the lake and landing on the beach next to our house boats. He was so nice and it was so cool of him to give everyone rides. Watch a little clip of my plane ride adventure here.


As far as training for the St. George marathon is going... I feel like I'm kind of over the training and I'm ready for the race, at least mentally. I just want to be done with my Saturday morning early long run. Each week it just gets harder to gather up the motivation to make it out the door when all I want to do is sleep in and go to a Zumba and/or Power pump class instead. Maybe I should savor this training time though, come January I'll probably be missing the warm morning runs.

Happy Fitnessing!

18 Miles this Weekend

Last week I had sort of a mental and physical breakdown. As I've mentioned earlier, work has been busier than usual lately and I made myself sick with the stress of it this past Wednesday. Eric, being the awesome guy that he is knew just how to cheer me up... with display of my favorite guilty pleasures and beautiful bouquet of flowers to top it off.

I will say that was a great view while working at home.

With being sick and stressed, I was not sure how my long run would go on Saturday. Especially since the week before my long run was crap crappy. I woke up at 6am. I hated being awake so that was already a bad sign. I just kept telling myself that I had no choice, this is just part of marathon training. After getting ready, I spent a little time with my foam roller and didn't leave the house until 6:45. I got into my running groove pretty quick (thank goodness) and my goal for this run was to not walk, at all. I stopped to get some ice cold running water at mile 13 on the canyon trail (the most glorious thing on a hot morning run) and then started running again right away.

Even though I was slower than I'd prefer, it was a much more enjoyable run than last week. That's the thing I'm learning... while I would like to get faster and have future speedy goals I'd like to accomplish, the most important thing right now is that I enjoy this hobby I have invested so much time (and money) in. If that means slowing down and taking it easy then so be it. I don't want to hate running.

Later Saturday afternoon I tagged along with the boys on their adventure up the canyon where they shot their guns at paper zombies and coke bottles. I may have even taken a shot or two, but mostly I sat there and rested my poor feet.

We left just in time as the rain started to come down. Eric and I sat on the porch when we got home and watched and listened to the rain. Love it.

That pretty much summed up our weekend because the rest of it consisted of sitting around watching movies and relaxing with each other (our favorite thing to do). Thank goodness for the weekend. Hope yours was great too!

Happy Fitnessing!

What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend?

Training, Life, and Love.

Hey blog world! I've been so darn busy lately. Work is consuming me and all my time away from it just allows for me to eat, sleep, spend a little time with Eric and marathon train. Speaking of marathon training... I'm currently on the upswing of my training. I've been doing more cross-training, increasing my mileage and despite a yucky, boring 16 mile long run on Saturday, I've changed my attitude towards running. I've turned my frown upside down. I'm still working hard to accomplish my goals but I'm not placing so much pressure on myself. Now I'm able to find more satisfaction from the early mornings, two-a-days and other joys of training. Here's a few pics from life lately...

 16 miles on a new trail.

 After listening to the audiobook Pride and Prejudice during my running and other workouts these past couple of weeks I had to watch the BBC 6 hour version. Such a classic. I can't help talking like them in my daily conversations. "Such a trifling matter, I dare say!"

 Working on increasing my short distance speed... my 1 mile PR was 7:02 last week! Also, I've been consistent in dedicating 1 day a week to challenging leg exercises and it's really paying off! 

 Playing with my niece Marlee <3

 Jumping on the tramp and planking away.

 Date night with this guy and this sunset!

Happy Fitnessing!

Weekend Review and I Don't Hate Running as Much!

We had a great weekend full of family. Friday we did dinner with my side of the family and Saturday we headed to Idaho to be with Eric's family for a baby blessing. We got home last night and spent a little time watching Arrested Development before going to bed and starting a new week.

Bike ride with the hubs. So fun, but right after this I had a terrible allergy attack. I haven't had allergies in years. Yuck!

 Babes admiring the Babes, little baby Elsie. Also, I WON in a game of 6 dice against Eric and his Dad! - big deal

Saturday morning I did 14 miles and it was actually enjoyable. Probably because I took it easy and placed no expectations on myself. I woke up early, popped in my headphones and was entertained with listening to Pride and Prejudice on my audiobook app for the entire 2 hours. It was nice to not loathe running that day. I'm hoping to keep that up this week.

Do you like running with an audiobook? Do you have any book recommendations for me? :)

Happy Fitnessing!

Marathon Training Schedule :: St. George Marathon

Hey guys! I wanted to share my marathon training schedule for the St. George Marathon coming up in October. I've never laid out a training schedule this way but I'm excited to see how it helps. Hopefully creating this and putting it out there for people to see will make me feel more accountable and in turn more motivated to be consistent with training.

You can see I scheduled a 5k and a half marathon into this plan as well as a vacation. Thing is, I'm sure life will get in the way at some point and I'll have to adjust my original plans so I'm keeping another version of this where I can write what I actually do and I'll compare later. I've also put my goals into writing because it feels more serious that way. 

The longest run in my training plan for the Utah Valley Marathon was 20 miles. After running that race I've decided that 22 miles might be a better goal long run for me because I hit the wall around mile 21 and I need to work through that during a practice run in order to be prepped mentally for the race. It is different for everybody though, generally if you can run an 18 mile long run, you can run a marathon so if you want to follow this plan you don't have to do that long of a practice run.

Today I start week 2. I'm still recruiting running buddies if you're interested... :)

Happy Fitnessing!

Taper Talk

The countdown is on. This Saturday I will run my first full marathon. After my longest run 2 weeks ago I was feeling confident and excited about the challenge of 26.2 miles. Now all I feel is anxiety, fear and doubt. I hear this is common while you're tapering. I just have to trust that at this point I've already done all I can do and that I just need to rest. Yes, I've still been running, but not as far. I feel wimpy but I need my body to be fully rested by the time I get to the start line.

^^What my view will look like on Saturday - not too bad!^^

I'm so grateful at this point to not be injured or sick. I've been very fortunate that other than a minor Achilles tendonitis scare I've remained healthy and injury free throughout my entire training plan. I don't really have a specific goal finishing time for this marathon but if I had to say something... 4:15ish? I really don't know! I'm hoping to finish it under 4:20 but I don't want to feel disappointed in myself when just finishing a marathon is a great accomplishment. After I get this first one under my belt I will start training for a specific finishing time.

^^I'm pretty sure I'll have a breakdown after crossing under this^^

The plan for this week includes a couple easy 3 mile runs and lots of hydrating and yoga. If anybody has any other tips or words of motivation and encouragement please don't hesitate to share!! :)

Happy Fitnessing!

Training Update

Utah is beautiful this time of year and this week I've been able to run alongside some gorgeous scenery.   Everywhere I look I see white and pink blossoms. :) Midweek I was in St. George for work so I took advantage of doing a 5 mile pacing run next to red rock and palm trees. It was actually kind of cold at 7am down there but it was invigorating. 

This weekend I did a 16 mile long run. I started early to enjoy the crisp morning air, it was lovely but my legs were achy and my hip flexors felt tight. The first 8 miles I felt like a rusty tin man and I sort of hated running. The thought of walking the rest of the 16 miles even crossed my mind. I didn't think or care about how long it would take. At mile 8 I was finally feeling warmed up and found myself enjoying the run. It could have been because I was running next to Bridal Veil Falls or I had just eaten some of my favorite energy chews but I finally found myself in my running groove and ran my goal pace the whole rest of the way home. 16 miles... check!

Here's to another week of more core conditioning, an 18 mile long run, fun cross training, and hopefully lots of yoga.

               

Happy Fitnessing!

Food Poisoning & Other Weekend Events

Not sure if it was the salsa or the leftover homemade lasagna but Thursday night I was struck with an awful case of food poisoning. I've never had food poisoning before so I just sorta thought I was dying. Fever, nausea, vomiting and etc. It was so terrible. I spent the whole weekend recovering with this clay+water+essential oils drink. You know, it sometimes feels as though the universe is against my training for a marathon because not only was I trying to recover from my food poisoning episode but at about mile 6 of what was supposed to be a 14 mile long run, blister on my pinky toe turned evil and made it impossible for me to run without pain. I made it another mile until I decided to finish the rest of my workout at the gym. I ended up of having a great cycle sesh and spent an hour there. It was a hard workout so it made knowing that I didn't run as far as I planned to that day a little easier.

That evening Eric and I went to the Jazz game. It was a lot of fun! Eric is usually the most entertaining part to me. I love watching him get so into games. He yells, no S C R E A M S (sometimes in my ear), and jumps up and down. He's always living in the moment.

Happy Fitnessing!

Speed Workout :: Track Repeats

Today running was fun. I did my track repeat workout which is hard but goes by quick because you're running fast! Here's what I do run #1 of the week...

Warm up: 1-2 mile light jog. Then for 30 seconds I gradually speed up to about 90% of a sprint for 30 seconds and slow down to a walk for 30 seconds, then walk/rest for 30 seconds. I repeat this same 3 more times. The 3rd time I do it the first 30 seconds I do butt kicks and the 4th repeat the first 30 seconds I do knee highs.   **The warm up is super important to this workout. I skipped doing the full warm up one time and will never do that again because it made the rest of the workout so much harder.

Track Repeats: The easiest place to do this is on a standard 400 meter track. Total I do around 3 miles of track repeats. Usually I do 6 x 800 meters. This is speed work so I run each 800 meter about a minute faster than I would run a normal 800 meter (half mile). Then I walk/jog for half the amount of time it took for me to run the half mile. Sometimes I switch it up and do 4 x 800 meter + 4 x 400 meter switching off to keep things interesting. I just try to make sure to do around 3 miles of speed work. Total it ends up being between 5-7 miles of running/jogging/walking.

Cool Down: When I'm done with the track repeats I just make sure walk for at least 5 minutes and stretch a lot.

This workout is strenuous and exhausting. If I'm just getting back into running I have to work up to running the full 3 miles of speed work and sometimes it takes a while to get to that point. It's really easy to get injured doing speed work so you have to be patient with yourself.

Happy Fitnessing!

Exhausted, but happy I did it!

Had a rough week but it was wonderful to see family this past weekend (read about it here). During the jumble and stress I was still able to fit a 12 miler in with my sissy Shenelle who got to run with me just 2 weeks ago. The weather was also gorgeous! I was running in a tank top! I really did not want to run the distance and it was so hard to get onto the pavement but it was so good for me. Super exhausted by the end, but so happy I did it.

Happy Fitnessing!

Tuesday Tip :: Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia!

If you haven't already heard about how awesome chia seeds are well let me fill you in... not only can you sprout them in cool shaped pots to resemble animal or human hair. But you can EAT them! They are packed with omega 3's, help to control blood sugar and are easier to digest than flax seeds. Because chia seeds absorb 10 times their weight in liquid you will fill full from just a small amount, helping with weight loss, yay! Check out one of my favorite ways to eat chia...

Chia Cereal

Mix together:

1/4 cup chia seeds

3 tbs buckwheat groats

small handful dried cranberries or goji berries

small handful pumpkin seeds

small handful walnuts or almonds

 1 tbs your favorite sweetened protein powder 

(my favorite one you can find here or here. I like it because it is sweetened with stevia)

Don't mind my nasty tupperware, I like to take this cereal to work. :)

You can serve this warm or cold and in milk or water. If you let the cereal sit for just a few minutes the chia seeds will absorb the liquid and turn into a pudding or paste. You will have to experiment with it to find out what texture you like.

In other news... I am officially in my training period for the Utah Valley Marathon. I can't believe it's 16 weeks away! It seems so soon, yet so far off. This morning I woke up early and hit the treadmill for my "track repeats" (details on this workout to come in another post). It went well! I'm feeling ready and excited to challenge myself and see what I am capable of this year!

Happy Fitnessing!