Running Times, Online

Well, my training has been going pretty well and that spunk has returned..yet I have been swimming more than running in my comeback to hard training. In the past 4 days I have swum 18,000 yards in the pool…pretty crazy amount and more than I have done probably ever, even when I used to swim competitively before focusing on running. Jumping in the water knowing I am about to swim for about 2 hours and cover only 6k, compared to what I would cover in two hours of running…funny to think about. haha After the swim workouts I treat myself to a Dunkin Donuts Caramel Swirl Latte and mmmm coffee never tasted so good! If any of you ever swim laps you know what it means to be super hungry probably during and after the swim. I quickly eat a Mint Chocolate GU at the halfway point and if I am feeling a little hungry before I get in the water I either eat a yummy Peanut Butter or Chocolate Power Bar or a pack of delicious GU Chomps :)- They never give me any stomach problems, digest easily and give me energy fast!

It’s hard coming back to running at such a slow rate, but right now this is what my body needs and it makes me want to run more and more every single day…I honestly feel like my heart is breaking when I can’t run when I want. I am going to start doing pool running next week to help my shoulders have a break from all the swimming. A lot of people think you can’t get your heart rate up when swimming, but I think they need to get in and swim for a couple hours. Their lungs will probably feel puffed up like balloons for a couple hours afterward! haha Pool running I think is harder to get your heart rate as high, especially if you wear a waist belt. Not wearing one definitely makes it harder.

My strength training and general strength exercises are going well and now that I am in a routine in all other areas of my training, when the running gets thrown in again I’ll be even happier! All the swimming and strength work has helped me get that spunk back and my motivation is high again. I am always really proud of myself after swimming for so long and so hard and I know it all makes me stronger day by day. Swimming laps is also probably one of the BEST core workouts anyone could ever do!

I’ve also re-vamped my nutrition a bit, and I feel so much better than I ever have. I’ve been a vegetarian for over a year yet I didn’t eat enough fruits and veggies, especially veggies. Lately I’ve been trying to only eat fruits, veggies, beans, nut butters, oatmeal, corn tortillas, soy products, etc….and cutting out a lot of dairy and other processed foods. My body feels great and I still have a lot of energy while feeling like I’m giving my body great nutrients all day. I still eat my GU, Power Bar and Lara Bar foods when needed, but not as a meal supplement or anything. We’ll see how I feel after a few more weeks of this, but I have a feeling I’ll feel fantastic.

I just got a new local sponsor here in the valley…Endurance Rehabilitation. They have two locations, one in Central Phoenix and one in North Scottsdale. I have been going to the one in Scottsdale and I LOVE the staff. I know a lot of them from when I used to work next door to them, but being back and seeing them again after so long is great! They have helped me a lot and I can’t wait to represent them well whenever I train and compete. Thanks to everyone at Endurance!

Well, it’s obviously been a really long time sine I last posted a blog entry.  Before the marathon I got so busy and preoccupied with other things and I kept putting it off.  Well, here we are on November 3rd and I’m finally doing it.

I moved back to Tempe, Arizona after living in Eugene for a few months and I am so incredibly happy.  It’s so unbelievably beautiful here and right now the weather is sunny and 80’s everyday.  I got out of the 108+ degree days of July, August and September and loved the summer weather in Eugene.  I slept in most days and I could run pretty much any time of the day.  As the months went on I missed my family, friends, support network and the brother of my two dogs (my brother’s dog) in Arizona.  I knew it would be best for me to move back and in my favorite state in the country (no bias or anything, haha )

Since the marathon I have been in a little bit of a funk.  I know it’s normal after a marathon (especially my sub-par performance) to feel totally ready for a break and have those post-race blues.  I think it’s because you work so hard for so long and then the big day comes and it’s over before you know it.  You have to go back to the drawing board and start all over again with new goals, training, etc. and it can feel overwhelming.  Usually I take my week or two completely off and I am raring to go.  This time after my vacation in Mexico and another week of lap swimming in Eugene, I still didn’t feel ready to run.  I kinda wanted to but not really, haha.  I ran a few days and then it was time to pack up the moving truck and drive back to AZ.  I didn’t run during this because about 100 trips (no joke) up and down 3 flights of stairs is hard enough..forget running for a couple days!!

Well, after a week back in AZ, my motivation is gradually coming back, but it’s harder than it’s ever been.  I am attributing it to everything I have to do (unpacking, settling in) and getting relaxed again in AZ.  I have gone out to breakfast, lunch and dinner with so many friends and extended family members in town, that I’ve hardly had time to do more than unpack a couple boxes.  My room is a mess!! haha  I think when I settle in and I’m not surrounded by boxes, I’ll be able to focus on my training even more.  I guess I need to be grateful for the distractions I have, because sometimes we need them to stop thinking, eating and breathing everything “running” day in and day out.

So here’s to today: my goal is to get completely unpacked and organize my stuff…which will hopefully result in getting my spunk back and out of this funk

Well, my final week of high mileage is complete and now my taper starts! Woo hoo!  I cannot believe the race will be over in two weeks and I will be landing in Phoenix en route to Playa del Carmen!  This past week I hit about 94.4 miles, to be exact, haha, and I felt great all week, except my runs on Saturday.  I hit a mini wall and my entire body felt very fatigued on both of my runs.  Rather than try to push through the fatigue in my muscles I allowed myself to simply run and go by feel.  Yesterday I felt better and today was much better!  I decided to sleep in yesterday and got 10 hours of sleep.  I coupled that with ice baths and limited strength training and now I am ready to conquer my last intense workout tomorrow morning.  I really feel that I needed to give my body a great night of rest rather than force myself to get up early like I do every day.  Not only did my body feel better, my mind was in a more positive and refreshed mood.

GU Energy recently came out with two new flavors and they are delicious!!  The Vanilla Gingerbread tastes exactly like a gingerbread cookie. Fabulous!  The Pineapple Roctane flavor is also fantastic and tastes like a piece of fresh cut pineapple (well as close as you can get, ha).  I LOVE GU gels and this time I will definitely NOT forget mine for my workout tomorrow morning!

Tapering has its benefits and its difficulties.  It’s great to not be so tired every day and your body recovers and gets ready to perform at its best.  However with the extra time on my hands I tend to think I am not busy enough.  This time I will be sure to REST and not be super busy.  If I am debating taking a nap I am going to force myself to take one, without an alarm!  We all know pre-race night can be hit or miss on whether we can have a good night of sleep.  Therefore getting a lot of it for a couple weeks prior will at least help my body somewhat!

I coached myself leading up to every single marathon I have ever done, except this one obviously.  Having Brad’s expertise on keeping intensity and harder workouts in my training leading up to the race definitely helps.  I think in the past I didn’t do enough longer and harder workouts somewhat close to the race, and my taper was too long and too few miles.  We’ll see how this all turns out, but my body feels great and I can only imagine how fabulously fresh it will feel after two weeks of decreasing my mileage and intensity

Well I better relax for a little while before bed and my last really challenging workout tomorrow! yay!!  I’ll take these awesome dance moves from the Dancing with the Stars tv show to the discos in Mexico in a couple weeks! woo hoo!

Well, training has been oh so fabulous the past few days:) The highlight has to be my very very long run on Monday when I left my GU gels at home, a 25 minute drive away from where we were working out on Lorane Highway and definitely no longer a part of my important gel/fluid long run practice. Before I realized I forgot them I mapped out exactly where I wanted Brad to give me my fluid and gels. I started to look in my bag and thought “oh crap”..and Brad looked at me and already knew, haha. I was really angry at myself at first since I have never done that before, yet then I realized that something like that could definitely happen in the race. Special fluid bottles could be forgotten, lost, or even dropped on the cement by me, like I have also done before in a race. Brad decided to get me started on the run while he quickly drove up to a local little convenience store and bought candy and a Red Bull shot with caffeine in case I started to bonk and needed more than my GU Electrolyte Brew.

Given the fact that this long run was the longest and hardest thing I have ever done other than an actual marathon race, you would think it would have affected me mentally to know I didn’t have my favorite tried and true Vanilla Bean GU’s. Instead I took it as a new challenge and an opportunity to test myself in quite possible really adverse circumstances. I did just fine and ran incredibly well and strong on only drinking my fluid bottles of GU Raspberry electrolyte drink. Brad gave me the Red Bull shot to try at mile 19 and I actually really liked it. It was sweet and although I never drink Red Bull, I think I could drink these little things. Kinda fun that they are in a little bottle about the size of a shot glass, hehe

Another thing that really boosts my confidence is doing very hard workouts in my training shoes. I do this to prevent any major foot problems or injuries. Sometimes I get bad heel pain if I do too much in flats so I have to be careful. It makes me realize that when I slip on my flats on race morning I’m going to feel super light on my feet! The funny thing I did for the first time was actually doing the long run in what I will likely race in, bun huggers and sports bra (with the possibility of a singlet too)…I can only imagine what drivers were thinking when they drove by me running in basically a bathing suit, hahaha

My body is not feeling more fatigued than usual after the run on Monday, just a little sore and more sleepy. I fell asleep before my second run yesterday and when I woke up I definitely wanted to just go get in my bed and sleep until the next morning, haha, but I forced myself to get out and do it and felt better afterward, especially because I knew the season finale of Big Brother was going to be on!

Things are shaping up incredibly well for the race and I am hoping to achieve all my personal goals on October 4th. I hope the weather cooperates and I hope all the people coming to cheer me on are able to get to lots of places on the course to scream at me. When it comes down to it, I am going to toe that line and run all 26.2 miles with more heart than ever before. I know I am so prepared and I will race smart, strong and tough and hopefully the result will be fantastic, and something I can take to Playa del Carmen with me to celebrate, with a stop in wonderful Tempe, AZ first Now only if my two Scotties could come to the race with me and bark when I run by like they do when they go to track workouts with me….;)

In 3 weeks I will officially be in Minnesota, relaxing and waiting around for the big day on Sunday October 4th. I can’t wait to see all the people who are coming to watch me race, go to the expo and look around, have fun decorating my fluid bottles and enjoy a weekend at a new race and in a city that my dad’s entire family is from. I have heard nothing but great things about the course and the way the race is put on, so I look forward to the experience.

Workouts and all of my training has been great and I have not had any major problems or bumps in the road. It’s getting exciting to put in the final touches of workouts, massages, chiro visits, strength training, etc. before my taper. In the past when I coached myself, I prepared for many months before a marathon and often couldn’t wait for my taper. This time around Brad has had me not have such a long marathon build up phase due to other summer racing and I think it’s working out great. I am looking forward to a taper but I am happy that I have about another week and a half of higher mileage…when the taper starts I think it will be perfect timing.

I had a hard workout this morning and it went great. It was 5×2-mile repeats on Lorane Highway again. Lorane has become my second home lately! I did the repeats on the hilly sections and did quite well. My times were 11:19, 11:15, 10:58, 10:41 and 10:38, with 2 minutes recovery. I felt strong and in control, which always boosts my confidence and I came away from it feeling like I pushed myself to a new level.

I enjoyed going to a new cafe after the workout and got a delicious homemade calzone, chocolate cupcake and iced latte!! yum yum. It all definitely tasted amazing after such a long and hard morning of working out. I relaxed the rest of the day and hung out with my adorable amazing doggies, Barney and Wilbur Whenever I come in from being gone at workouts they jump on me and give me so much love….and it has nothing to do with whether I ran fast or not…awww unconditional love from pets is always so great isn’t it?