6 steps to successful morning running

6 steps to Successful Morning Running

1. go to bed early

I know, the 10PM bed hour makes you feel like you're 70. But it is so much easier to wake up in the morning when you've had a full night of sleep, and it makes your run better. so just do it.

2. get together all your running things

this is something that has foiled runs for me. Take this morning for example. I knew I needed my handy ipod shuffle, Elle Woods, for my run.

So I pulled it out of its basket-full of electronics home. And then buried it in my bed, so I was searching for it for 10 minutes this morning. and then leaving one of the silicon earbud thingies in my bed so i had to go back for it. WASTE OF TIME LAUREN.

3. prep for the next day
breakfast, lunch, outfit.

When these things are figured out the night before, getting ready in the morning is infinitely easier. I'm not always so great at this, but it definitely helps.

4. go to bed in your running clothes

not only are most running clothes super comfy, but they also are nice to not have to figure out in the dark in the morning.

you're probably sensing a trend by this point. One of the keys to morning run success is allowing myself to sleep in as late as possible and be as efficient with time as possible.

5. snack before your run (or don't)

some mornings I don't need/want a snack and other times I do. Do what works best for you, and don't feel like there's and fast rule on this one. because there isn't.

6. run

And then get out there and run. Know that you are out there getting your heartrate up before the day even really begins. Enjoy the sun coming up, the cool breeze, and the joy of running!

tuesday morning run scenes

that gorgeous lake

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

Running Playlist #1

Because I'm in love with pretty much every popular song right now, I thought I'd share my running playlist.



Also important things to note:

1. Don't skip runs. Even if sleep sounds much better and according to your phone its raining outside but when you look out the window you know its not, don't do it. because the world will conspire against you and even though you updated your ipod shuffle with awesome music, the next morning you will wake up at 5:30 ready to run, and it will just STORM until you have to go to work.

So yeah, just don't do it. Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.

2. Running skirts are the cutest invention. yup, wearing the running skirt right now and i pretty much want to wear it everywhere. I'm sold.

3. this playlist makes me super happy because I'm a huge nerd: i heart guts playlist Yes, a playlist all about your organs. :)

4. bloglovin'. Do it. Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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

Why I love running (lately)

There have been quite a few motivating factors for running lately.

1. Carbs

I lovelovelove carbs. I could never go to the carb-free diet route. If there is bread in front of me, I will eat it. I don't discriminate against carbs. Bread, Cupcakes, Cake, pasta - i love it all. And running gives me a reason to consume it all. and so I shall.

Examples:

bread and cupcake dessert from a recent wedding

One of my most recent carb-fests was making a raspberry-rhubarb tart.

kind of disastrous looking, but so delicious. (realizing i need to work on my food photog) recipe here

Today's carb fest was this bread from Little Goat Bread in the French Market (so much self control necessary to prevent myself from going here ALL THE TIME). It is bacon gouda. say it with me, oh my freaking lord.

2. Lake Michigan

lake at dusk

I'm realizing more and more each day how much I adore the great lakes. and When I have views like this when I'm running. How can you resist? I always get the biggest grin on my face when I run far enough that I can see the lake. It is awesome.

3. running clothes

lululemon pace setter in pizzazz

I finally caved and bought a running skirt. It's orange. It matches my shoes. It could not possibly arrive faster.


4. Speedwork

I've been doing yasso 800's and seeing 7-something pace for half a mile is like the most exciting thing in the world. I think it's going to make me a better and a stronger runner. and that makes me so excited.



what makes you love running? or what makes you love what you love?

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.)