Upcoming Races

1) Gazelle Girl Half Marathon - April 19, Grand Rapids Michigan

I'm excited for this! One of my good friends ran it two years ago and really enjoyed it! I'm excited for it -- plus I have 3 friends running it. It will be my first "all-girl race" which I'm also excited about -- gotta love girl power (def. putting some spice girls on the playlist for this one!)

swag:

half marathon tee on the right! 

and charm on the left! (source for both: gazelle girl fb)

2) Fifth Third Riverbank Run 25K - May 9, Grand Rapids Michigan

My very first 25K! I think that there's a chance this will be my "goldilocks distance." I love halfs, hate fulls, but always feel like I can go a bit longer on  the half marathons. So I think 25K (which works out to ~15 miles) will be perfect.

Plus, by running both of these races, I'm gonna get this bad boy:

looooove great medals :)

So that's the racing agenda. In terms of training, I'm trying to squeeze in long runs on the weekends, and my mile-a-day for lent is keeping my running endurance up as well. I did 7 last weekend, am looking forward to 8 or 9 this weekend, and then there's a few more weekends to go before gazelle girl!

Marathon Training Weeks #6 and 7

we can blame the blog absence on the presence of my boyfriend for a week and a half. I can also blame my shoddy running schedule keeping on him.

but regardless, the running has been a little sporadic, and shoddy, but i have no more crazy trips planned for the next few weeks, and a bunch of races on the schedule. so i'm sticking to it, here on out.

so, Marathon Training Week #6

Monday - spin. 50 minutes. the usual, nothing spectacular here.
Tuesday - AM run. The problem with being two weeks behind on a training recap. you dont remember what your runs are like. so let's just throw down some garmin numbers and call it good. It apparently was fast though? 5 miles/8:08
Wednesday - yoga. 60 minutes
Thursday - travel day/off. traveled to see the boo! watched awesome fireworks! slept in a tent! good times all around.
Friday - 2 miles. lame, i know. cut short because i was having body issues. 2 miles/8:54
Saturday - the rest of friday's intended 4-5 miler. this short run was followed by a large smoothie and new running tops and gu because i intelligently forgot to pack running tops, and didnt feel like doing a long run in a cotton tee. 3.25 miles/8:34
Sunday - 8ish mile long run. no garmin. just me and michigan state's (ick) campus. in all honesty though, east lansing isn't bad. I have a way of finding paths along the water, and this was no different. ran along the cedar river, encountered ducks, swans, herons, and other runners. oh and this run-inspired graffiti.

are you saying its a good thing I didn't run with my garmin?

Total: 18 miles

Marathon Training Week #7

Monday - OFF
Tuesday - these were hot sticky high humidity miles. I didn't bring water, and stopped just about every mile for water. 6 miles/8:42
Wednesday - OFF
Thursday - double header. just shy of 3 miles run, and 60 minutes of yoga.  2.88 miles/8:37
Friday - evening speedwork. last week I really struggled with garmin functionality. I hit start/stop instead of lap, and then there was no first yasso recorded. oh well. 4.5 miles/8:21 
Saturday  - OFF
Sunday - Home miles. 12 on the Ann Arbor stomping grounds. Arb, to huron river trail, and back. these were good miles, except for that part around mile 5 when I stopped in a clearing and got ATTACKED by bugs. It was absurd, and I was freaking the eff out because I didn't know what kind of bugs they were or what they were going to do to me. Turns out they were going to bite me UNDER MY BRA. wtf bugs. you suck. 12 miles/9:00

Total: 24 miles

Marathon Training Week #5

Monday - 55 min spin at gocycle studio. the usual monday evening grind. This time it was in the middle of a crazypants storm that you could hear OVER the music. oh, I also had my first spin mishap. While I was riding the seat of my bike just completely CAME OFF. it was like i had tightened the bolt enough, but I'm sure I did. this resulted in me switching bikes in the middle of class, and decreased calorie burn. but oh well. makes for excitement right?

Tuesday - unintentional off day. I woke up in the morning SUPER tired. proceeded to skip the 6 miler i had planned for the morning. went out to grab food with some co-workers after work, and didn't get home until 10-ish. Updated the ipod shuffle with new music, made sure my garmin was charged, went to bed at that time, planning on getting up at 5:30 to get the run in.

Wednesday - guess what i woke up to? Rain. Rain. More Rain. Hence PSA post here.
But I got the six miles in after work. They were good, highly motivated by new music miles by the lake. the usual. love. 6 miles/8:13

Thursday - the two a day to make up for the extra rest day. 3 miles on tired legs in the morning. 60 minutes of hot yoga in the evening. all good. 3 miles/8:47

Friday -  another off day, in prep for a saturday long run.

Saturday - 11 miles by the lake. It was a day where I was happy to be running. Whole thing felt good. Garmin was being a huge pain in the ass, and I found myself getting super frustrated with it because all I wanted to do was keep running, and it was refusing to track my miles. Gu at 5.5. Energy levels good, overall run was good. It was a cool foggy morning, with a bunch of wind by the lake. But a good long run, for sure. 11 miles/8:39

navy pier! 

so foggy!

typical shoes shot

Sunday - evening fast miles. the garmin decided to totally not function, so I said screw it and ran free. In the glances at the pace, I stayed below 8:15. A decent number of peeks at the garmin gave me a number starting with 7. It was an "I'm-super-grateful-for-these-legs-that-are-strong-and-that-propel-me-forward" kind of run. ~4 miles

So first week where I wasn't consistent. All my workouts got done except for a yasso run, but it was tough juggling everything (although the evening runs were a nice change). These next two weeks involve a lot of traveling and a visit from the boo, so we'll see how they go.

Total Mileage: 24 miles

Plan for the week:
Monday: Spin
Tuesday: Run 6
Wednesday: Yoga
Thursday: Run Yasso's
Friday: Run 3
Saturday: OFF
Sunday: Run 12

Marathon Training Week #4

Monday – spin with the chi roomie! The same studio, same instructor, same jam. Forgot my HRM which I was bummed about. Because of that fact I don’t think I pushed as hard as I normally did. Plus my legs were sore from paddleboarding + a 6 miler. Still a great spin class overall. 50 min spin. 

Tuesday – Run 5. This was my first chi evening run and I LOVELOVELOVED it. The weather worked out in my favor to allow me a relatively cool evening run. I was speedy and pushed it hard. It was just a really fantastic, feel-good run. 5 miles/8:01 pace 

Wednesday – yoga with a different instructor and a different class format. I took Core Power 2 with Lindsey H and really enjoyed it. She had us do a flow sequence with a block between our thighs at the beginning to really focus on our legs. And it was so hard but so awesome. I also got to attempt crow, the one pose I’m most proud to accomplish. I’ve still got it. 60 min yoga.

Thursday – Thursday was a yasso morning. Did 3. The last one was quite a bit slower (unlike my consistent 3:40’s last week), but I’ll take it anyway. The first two were faster, so that is awesome. A good morning push-yourself run. 4.38 miles/3:35/3:33/3:49

Friday – afternoon run in ann arbor. I went back to Michigan for the weekend, and snuck in this run in between a conference call and evening plans with friends. It was hot and humid, so I told myself I could go as slow as I wanted, just run 3 miles. And I did. And it wasn't even that slow. 3 miles/8:15 pace

Saturday – OFF

Sunday – LR 10-miler at home. Went home Saturday evening, so the long run was in Dearborn. Took the Rouge River Trail to Hines Drive and then looped back. This was a weird, but totally satisfying run. It took me until mile 3 for my shins not to bother me. I was pretty much plodding along, which I think might have been part of the problem. I told myself I could go slow, because my long runs have been pretty fast, and I’m working off a cutback week. But I think I just went TOO slow. Around mile 3 I settled into the grove, and pulled off those negative splits. I managed to run without stopping (I think…) for the first 5.3, which was also a great thing.

Took my gu at that 5.3, and then headed back. No stomach troubles, all good.

The best part about this run was that every single person I passed said good morning, or smiled, or gave the nod. It was a morning of running camaraderie and I loved it. Too often in Ann Arbor and Chicago runners don’t acknowledge each other, and I don’t really get it. Maybe it’s the small neighborhood thing, maybe it’s the older runner crowd, I don’t really know. But it definitely made this long run a feel-good run. 10 miles/9:06 pace

Marathon Training Week #3

Monday - 50 min spin. pushed it hard. the spin studio has one of those "leaderboards" where you can compare your effort to other people in the class, and my competitive streak kicked in and I wanted to be the best. I ended up around 3rd or 4th. Pretty happy with that.

Tuesday - 5 miles, AM run. Felt a little dehydrated, but got her done. 8:20 miles.

post five miler breakfast

Wednesday - hot yoga. This almost didn't happen. I came home, was starving, subsequently ate too much, and it was storming like crazy. But I put on my rain boats and goretex jacket, and headed out into the rain. Walked the mile to yoga in the storm, ended up in a class with 4 other people, and it was awesome. I really loved the wednesday night instructor.

Thursday - 3.5 miles AM. Should have been 4 but I woke up tired thanks to late night yoga. (yes, 8:45-9:45 is late night). Fast to finish it off.

Friday - SPEEDWORK. OMG YASSO'S for the first time and they were AWESOME. check out these splits:

7:22?! gah! I was aiming for 8:00's!

I mean, I only did 2 (i'm pretty sure you're technically supposed to start with like 4...), but I think my spin intervals/sprints/hill climbs really helped with this one. Apparently I am really good at kicking it up for "bursts of intensity" (I've been listening to too many jillian michaels podcasts)

Saturday - off, much needed after a night out in river north.

Sunday - 6 miles long. This was good. I'm glad it was only a 6 because it was hot and humid and it was so nice to turn around at 3 miles. Followed by an early morning trip to whole foods, and it was a good morning. 8:30 average, which i'll call pretty good in the heat.

pre (yes the dirt on my mirror makes my head look like its *sparkly*)

check out that sheen

 I also went paddle-boarding for the first time on Sunday. Which was crazy fun, and crazy hard. I just dont have the balance for that type of stuff. I stayed upright for a very short period of time before I resorted to kneeling, but my quads were SO sore afterwards. thumbs up experience and thumbs up work out, for sure. 


Game Plan

Mon: Spin - 50 min
Tues: Run 5
Wed: Hot yoga - 1 hr
Thurs: Run easy 3
Friday: Run yasso's! at least 3 this time!
Saturday: off
Sunday: Runday. 10 miles.

Chicago Marathon Training Plan

So I think it's about time to share the training plan. While I've been pretty freaking fantastic at sticking to it (knock on wood), this will make me even more accountable.

I started off this training cycle coming off half marathon training. It surely wasn't the best half training (didn't really do a ton of miles, got in the long runs, but that was about it), but it was a solid running base. I wanted to capitalize on that, so I continued to run pretty consistently post half marathon to keep up the fitness.

Miles Per Week: I wanted to build up to 35ish miles. And I ended up doing that. I'm happy with the weekly mileage in general.

Training Plan based on: I used a combination of this cool running training plan and hal higdon's novice II.

I adjusted it based on some chi races I wanted to run (zooma half marathon, and the big ten 10K), and the cross training that I enjoy most (spinning and yoga).

I just got my hands on the july runner's world though and may check out the marathon plan in there and adjust mine accordingly.

Runs per Week: When I was training for my first half, I ran 4-5 times a week and broke my foot. Since then I've kept it to 3 runs a week, not on consecutively days. That is changing with this training plan. I'm running both thursday and friday, with one of them being (theoretically) easier, followed by a rest day, and long run on sunday.

What are Yasso's?: Yasso 800's are a training technique created by Bart Yasso. You run 800M at the time you want to complete your marathon (so 4 hour marathon, 800M in 4 minutes flat. 3:35 BQ marathon? 800M in 3:35), followed by 800M easy pace. I tried doing this on the track in ann arbor in crazy heat. it didn't work so well. I haven't really done them subsequently. BUT I WILL DAMMIT. because this is how you run fast marathons.

the plan

I snagged Page's idea to put a link to the google doc of the plan on your phone homepage, so I always have it handy (although for the most part, I know what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm a pretty non-complicated runner.)

What is a Fartlek?

I feel like I can call myself a real runner after today.

And why you ask?

because i did my very first fartlek workout! GO ME.

yeah i do own the oiselle rundies. i'm obsessed.

what's a fartlek? It's sweedish (love my swedes) for "speedplay" and involves interval-like training. Run hard for a specified period of time and then run easy. repeat.

Today I was determined to get a run in before I donated blood for the UM-OSU blood battle (reigning champs for 5 years! we rock!), and it was POURING when i left class, so to the gym for a fartlek workout it was.

Workout
10 min warm up - 6.0 pace
2 minutes hard - 7.9 pace
2:30 easy - 6.0 pace
3 minutes hard - 7.6 pace
2:30 easy - 6.0 pace
4 minutes hard - 7.6 pace
2:30 easy - 6.0 pace
3 minutes hard - 7.6 pace
2:30 easy - 6.0 pace
2 minutes hard - 7.8 pace
5 minutes cool down - 6.0 pace

hard stats:
40 min
4.5 miles

DONE.

i felt so strong going hard on the treadmill, and I'm not sure that I could have pulled it off out on a track or just out on the roads. so it was definitely a great first fartlek.


Go. Me.

(btw, this is totally 1. major stress relief, and 2. major working off the dozens of cookies i made on saturday)

(also blood donation was a total success, per usual. Go Me again.)

Training August 15-August 21

Training - Week of August 15-August 21

Monday

This was my first attempted mile/mile run. except I didn't run it that way. I tried going by time - walk 10 minutes, run 10 minutes. my poor previously broken metatarsal was not feeling this. As soon as I busted into mile 2, there was pain. I ran a little bit, seeing if it would go away - nope, no pain reduction. So I resigned myself to walking home, cutting the run down and taking tuesday as a serious rest day.

running distance: 2 1.57
walking distance: 1.58

Tuesday

serious business rest day. Was not feeling good about the foot, so did zero physical activity after being up on my feet all day at work.

Wednesday

made my way to the pool in the afternoon - 2000m following Meghan's modified pace swim workout.

warmup: 250 easy
200 kickboard

base set:

3 x 100 @ 2:30
3 x 100 @ 2:25
3 x 100 @ 2:10


cooldown:
250 yds w/ pull buoy
8 x 10 @ 1:15

attempted to bust out the timer (aka garmin) on these, but the garmin was of course dead. resorted to simply increasing effort on the base ones - which i did. so i'll call it a success. was definitely out of breath by the end of the base - which is good news.

attempt at running #2! Resorted back to the .75 mile walk/.75 mile run just to be safe. Run went well - kept the pace super easy and it resulted in a running success. always good!

running distance: 1.5 miles
walking distance: 2.75 miles

Thursday

unscheduled 10 hour work day, so i did that, ate at zingerman's roadhouse, went out for drinks at raven's club and failed on the physical activity front.

Friday


1 hour yoga @ lululemon ann arbor showroom.

run #3! finally ran a mile at a time and it was a total success. back to all grass running, and it was all good.

running distance: 2 miles
walking distance: 2.4 miles

Saturday

super shopping - counts as physical activity right?

Sunday

repeat of friday's run, except change the location - ran in the arb in ann arbor.

.5 mile walking
1 mile run
1 mile walk
1 mile run
.5 mile walk

dunzo.

also rocked the sub ten minutes miles - barely. mile 1: 9:59, mile 2: 9:55

running distance: 2 miles
walking distance: 2 miles

scheduled miles: 10
actual miles: 7

I'm okay with this lower-than-planned mileage. I ran a decently speedy mile this morning (~9:30) with zero pain, so I think I'm totally ready to graduate to 1.5 miles and I am so excited. I think I just need to give myself a little leeway, and back off the jillian michaels cardio that involves lots of jumping and pressure on the foot bones.

how was your week?

Training Log - August 7-August 13

I've decided to track my training here, just so I have a more thorough record of my training than my dailymile account.

Training Log - August 7 - August 13


Sunday
Run in the arb. 3.01 miles total running/walking. 1.25 running.
This run felt good - it was so nice to be back in familiar favorite running territory. Aside from the mosquito attack that left me with 5 or 6 bites, it was perfect.


Monday
Rest day.


Tuesday
Another rest day. Planned on getting in a run tuesday night, but the perfect weather forecast for Wed. morning mad me put it off and pull a two-a-day.



Wednesday

4.45 miles running/walking. 1.5 running
This was a park/middle school run/walk, which again, felt good. I'm just honestly so happy to be out there running again, even if its at a painstakingly slow pace.

1600 m swim at the pool.
an easy mile at the pool to shakeout the muscles. did some laps with the kick board for the first time, which went well.

Thursday
Jillian Michaels workout dvd - Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism.
50 minutes of J. Michaels cardio which kicked my ass.

Friday
yoga at lululemon ann arbor showroom.

2000m swim at the pool.
breakdown: 20 laps breast,
8 laps kick board flutter kick, 2 laps buoy arm isolation
10 laps free
10 laps breast
10 laps free
10 laps breast
4 laps kickboard, 6 laps buoy arm isolation
10 laps free

Last week I made the swimming plunge and bought some things from swimoutlet.com. seriously, i have a problem. Included in this purchase was a buoy for arm isolation, and a flotation belt for water jogging, as well as a shampoo which I have a serious rant about, but thats coming later. My kickboard is from target's children's swim section. You'll see this in my all-swimming post coming later this week.

Anyway, these purchases made me feel like a serious business swimmer, and I actually really enjoy using them. Plus, more reasons for me to continue shopping (although everything I've bought for swimming has been super reasonably priced. unlike $200 garmins, and $100 running shoes, and $20 tempos x9038204832)

This felt good at the time, but once I got home, I was SO SORE. I don't know if it was the jillian, yoga, swimming, or all of the above in combination (gotta love synergy!), but i definitely half-napped before I went to see the glee movie that night (which was PHENOMINAL btw. my glee love is out of control. my only complaint? not enough songs!)

Saturday
3.89 miles run/walk. 1.50 running.

Another day spent running in .75 intervals. but guess what? This is the last one. It's 1 mile+ from here on out, and I am so excited.

PR-crushing half marathon in 63 days, get ready for me.