Rock N Roll - STL

This weekend was our an annual family weekend in St Louis.  Although Nicole and family couldn't make it, we still had a great time.  Of course, my focus was seeing Kyla and Brent.  They love their Aunt Lucy!

 

Saturday they picked me up from the airport and it was straight to the expo, then back to Aunt Cheryl's for lunch and playtime.  Saturday night we went to Purina farms that has animals and a dog show and ended with a tractor ride.

 

Sunday was race morning.  Dad and Uncle Wayne took us and mom and Aunt Cheryl stayed with the little ones.  My phone played an April fools joke on me thinking the time changed happened.  We had perfect timing, getting there with just enough time to park, use the bathrooms and get to the start.

 

As the race started my goal had been 1:55-2:05, hoping for closer to 1:55, but I didn't want to be pushing it.  I just wanted an easy half marathoner.  I saw Dad/Uncle within an 0.5 mile and then I was supposed to see them just before mile 2.  However, when I got there, they were still walking up the street.  So I stopped, waited, and posed for my picture (to be posted later).  Then it was off for another 11 miles knowing I wouldn't see the cheering squad until the end.  I was cruising right along and feeling good the whole way.  Around mile 10 I had the unexpected surprise of seeing Trainer Ashley. I slowed a bit to talk to her, she was hobbling, still hurting from the Chicago Marathon, but it gave me a bit of pep.  Cruised in to the finish, seeing Dad/Uncle in the finishing shoot.  I was extremely happy and impressed with my finishing time of 1:52:40.  It was a top 10 time and I haven't been that low in awhile.  Makes me feel confident for the marathon.  Looking at my splits they were pretty consistent which was another nice surprise.

 

Then I was off to find Dad/Uncle to see Amy finish.  We were laughing and joking and almost missed her, because she had a 23 MINUTE PR!!  Which is unbelievable!  Luckily I am very skilled at finding her, so I did see her in time to cheer.  No one could believe she ran as fast as she did.  Then on to celebratory beers and back for naptime and playtime.

 

Another successful St. Louis weekend!

 

 

 

 

Now on to the toughest weeks of marathon training.  The next 2-3 weeks are going to be some high mileage!!

Three Things Thursday

1.  Merry Christmas to me - when I got home from work today, my new Dyson had arrived!  I'm loving Overstock.com.  I got the DC40 Animal normally $380 for $245 with free shipping.  With these cats it is going to be AMAZING!  I have already used it on the rugs twice.  It adjusts to different floor surfaces which is great.  Most the house is wood floors, but some throw rugs and slate tiles in the kitchen. 

2. Lazy, lazy, lazy.  This weeks is supposed to be a drop down week for me in order to get some rest and recovery before the next three weeks of training.  However, I am feeling extremely lazy and eating everything in sight.  I will still hit almost 30 miles for the week and will still hit 110 miles for the month. 

3. RNR - STL - is this weekend.  I am just planning on taking it slow and running with Nicole (who is doing the full).  Should be right around the 2 hour mark.  Again, it is a drop down week and I am just supposed to take it easy.  I am going to enjoy the weekend with family and play with the little ones!

Recovery Week

After a successful 20 miler, I was surprised at just how good the legs felt Sunday morning.  God Bless the person who invented compression socks!!  They are miracle workers.  Sunday I decided just to do 2 easy miles to get to a 40 mile week.

This weeks schedule is heavy the first few days and lite at the end in hopes to let the legs recover for St. Louis.

Monday - Lunch: run 3.  Gym: run 2, lift legs, and core (check)
Tuesday - Lunch: run 3.  Gym: run 2, lift arms, and core.  Volleyball
Wednesday - Lunch: run 3.  Gym: run 2, lift circuit.  Volleyball
Thursday - Lunch: run 3
Friday - Off Day
Saturday - Off Day
Sunday - RNR - STL

I have been debating what my strategy is going to be in STL.  This week is a 'down' week mileage wise and it is meant to let the legs recover.  As the next two weekends I have big mileage coming up.  I think I want to take it easy over STL, hoping for just under 2 hours.  My game plan will probably change 5 times over the next few days.

Sunday night I decided it was time to officially retire my summer clothes and break out the winter wear.  Brrr!  Good thing I had helpers!

Change of Place

Weather in Texas has been amazing!  Windows open, sun shining, perfect fall weather.  Meaning perfect running weather.

I was bound and determined to get in a 20 mile run this month.  I had been extremely discouraged with not getting long runs in the last few weekends and not being able to find races that fit my schedule.  Now everything is falling into place!

I had asked my friend Lauren if she wanted to meet up for a run, she said sure and that she was only good for 3-4 miles.  Lauren recommended a place in Arlington that was located between us.  River Legacy Park.  I had never been, but I will DEFINITELY be back!  It was gorgeous and scenic, tons of trees lining the paved trail.  The only downside was there wasn't a lot of water fountains, so you should carry your own water.

I got there early and was able to get in 4.8 miles prior to Lauren showing up.  All of those miles were from 8:58 - 9:13 pace.  Nice and easy.  Met her at the cars and we took off and she ended up doing a 10K with me.  The first mile was a 10:20 as she was warming up and messing with her music/iPod.  The next 5 were all at 9:51 - 10:04 pace.  That got me to a total of 11 miles.

Once I set back out on my own, I was still feeling good and I just ran by feel.  The goal was to be under 3:15 which meant I had to finish all the miles at around a 10:00 pace.  First was 9:23 and the next two were at 9:13.  At that point, I wanted to be under 3:10.  Next mile was 9:07 and that last miles were all 9:01 or under.  it was about mile 18 that I started to feel tired and had to put my mind to it and WORK. 

PERFECT RUN! 20 miles in 3:07:32 (9:22 pace).

Next several weekends:
Oct 27 - Rock N Roll - St. Louis half
Nov 3 - DRC half (+ 5-7 miles)
Nov 10 - Fort Worth 20 miler

After today I am feeling so much better about my running and about all the marathons (eek) I have coming up!  I can do this!!!!!

Motivation!

So, I have been very unsuccessful and unmotivated to get in my long run.  Mother Nature has been winning and I have had no motivation to push through.  I was feeling very discouraged because I could not find races I wanted to do that lined up with the mileage I wanted.  It is very hard for me to push myself to keep running on long runs, why not walk awhile?  Poor attitude.

White Rock Racing puts on a Marathon Build Up Series, but none of the 4 races matches my training plan.  Their Big D 30K (18.6 miles) is only 2 weeks out from the marathon.  Not much time to taper.  Three weeks out is about the time I would like to do my last long run.  Much to my relief I decided to look for races on a different website than my normal one and I found the answer – Fort Worth 20 miler.

I had already signed up for the DRC half marathon - Nov 3 and then I was planning on running a few more miles.  If I could do another 5-7 afterwards that would give me 18-20 total for the day.

Now I found the Fort Worth Marathon, 20 miler, and half marathon – Nov 10.  The 20 miler is a perfect.  Obviously 20 miles is what you want to get to in your marathon training.  It is the magic number.  And it is 4 weeks out from White Rock (Dallas) Marathon. 

That would be two weekends in a row with good long runs!  4 and 5 weeks out from my marathon.

Talk about renewed spirits!!  Maybe I can get in the training I want!

Mother Nature wins again

91% humidity....

Yeah - no long run for me this morning....
One day I WILL get a 20 mile run in, I just hope it is before the White Rock marathon.

Since I have some vacation days to burn, I will just have to pick a day mid-week and get in a good long run.

Funk Free

Earlier this week I was in a funk.  I have no idea why.  There was just no desire to do anything.  No desire to work, no desire to run and no desire to play volleyball, I was in a haze.  I wasn’t sleeping all that well.  Nothing was wrong, it was just like waking up on the wrong side of the bed for 3-4 days in a row.  The weather has been perfect, I have been getting in decent running, nothing bad happened, no one pissed me off; I was just in a funk.

I am happy to announce that I have snapped out of it.  Yesterday at work I was still funk-ish.  When I got home somehow I managed a great 5 mile run.  It felt pretty easy, the weather was good and I was working on pacing myself.  I wanted to maintain a 9 minute pace.  I was fighting some windy sections and a few rolling hills, but managed to hit my times fairly well.

9:02, 8:55, 8:59, 8:51, 9:00 and an 8:56 pace to the door.

After that it was (slow cooked) pulled pork for dinner, a bath, and homemade Rumchata ice cream.  Slept pretty good and woke up feeling refreshed.  Hopefully the funk is gone.

Even with not feeling it, I am up to 21 miles already this week.  I am hoping (pending mother nature) to get out to White Rock tomorrow and get in a long run.  I will be happy with anything between 16 and 20 miles.  That should put me at my highest mileage week since February.

Sunday is the Chicago Marathon.  This marathon will always hold a special place in my heart.  My first marathon, in my home city.  Last year it didn’t bug me that I didn’t run it, but for some reason this year, I am really wishing I was at home running it.  I have signed up to stalk track several people and am excited to get all the text alerts.  Maybe that will up my running motivation!

No 20 for me

So I woke up Saturday morning with the intent to do 10-12 miles on my own and then in the afternoon meet up with my friend Kim who was in town to run some more.  Well, mother nature wasn't cooperating.  It was cold, cloudy, windy and all together unpleasant. 

Then Kim's flight got delayed for 4 hours and she didn't end up getting her until after 4.  And Ashlee was supposed to bring over baby Reagan around 5.  And then it rained, so there was no running for me yesterday.

Today I woke up and did any easy 5 miles.  I could do more, but am not going to.  I have 2 more weekends where I can attempt 20 miles...instead I'll just watch football all day!!!

Good training week

This is the first week in awhile where I felt like my workouts were spot on.  The only day I had to alter slightly was Thursday.  I was supposed to 5 miles after work, but my left calf was extremely tight, so I decided to cut back and rest it.

·        Monday – 3 miles @ lunch, 3 miles – legs – core

·        Tuesday – 3 miles @ lunch, 2 miles –arms –core, volleyball

·        Wednesday – 3 miles @ lunch, volleyball

·        Thursday – 2 miles @ lunch, 3 miles

·        Today is a REST day.  I plan on doing some cleaning, maybe some reading and chilling out on the couch. 

Tomorrow I am going for a 20 miler!  Heading down to White Rock and going to sign up for the DRC 15K (only $10 even race morning – no shirt or anything). 

The plan: Run 2 mile warm up, DRC 15K, and then another loop around the lake. 

Also this weekend I will be making the Southwestern Crockpot Chicken.  Now that the temperatures should consistently be out of the 90s/100s it is time to get out the crockpot.  So easy and so many options.  I am looking forward to Chicken Noodle soup, roast potatoes and carrots, and some new freezer meal ideas…

Natalie Hodson is a blogger I follow and right before she had her second baby she made these prepackaged freezer meals that all you do is pull out of the freezer and stick in the crockpot.  I really want to try the Chicken Tortilla soup and the Honey Lime Chicken.

http://nataliehodson.com/healthyrecipes/11-healthy-inexpensive-freezer-meals/

September Recap/October Goals

September was a pretty good month for me.  My two main goals were to run 90 miles and hit the gym 10 times.  Well I’m batting 0.500.  I ran 100 miles – which is awesome.  I have not been that high since January and February when I was running Disney and the Ultra.  Go me, go me.  I only made the gym 8 times, but I am still happy with that.  There was one week early on in the month that I pretty much took the whole week off…

I managed to run 3 long runs of 15, 16.7 and 18 miles.  The 15 miler and 16.7 miler both went pretty well.  The 18 miler I did in 3 segments, but that made me run on tired legs.  I keep thinking I am not where I need to be for marathon training, but then I remember that I still have 2 months before the race.  That gives me 5-6 weeks of building up still.  Hoping to get in two 20 mile runs, and then some back-to-back mid distance runs. I think training for Goofy really helped my running overall, so I am going to try and fit some of those it.

October

Goals

·       Run - 110 miles

·       Gym – 10 times

·       Long run – 20 miles

One of the things I am also working on is not giving up my lifting for my running.  I have always backed off the gym during marathon training for two reasons (1) – time and (2) – I didn’t want my muscles to be too tired for a quality run.  I’m trying to switch around the days I do things to fit it all in.  I want to do it all.