Not my day

What a morning I had.  The days I teach spin are always a bit stressful for me.  I have to be there no matter what's going on at home and it's just so darn early.  This morning Sophie had a bad dream and woke me up at 4:20 then she just kept tossing and turning and was still not asleep when I got up at 5:00 am.  She turned to me when I got out of bed and said "mama, you are supposed to protect me from bad guys".  Nearly broke my heart but all I could do was have her 10 year old brother crawl into bed next to her to protect her.  Then I show up to teach and the microphone was gone.  UGH!  Not how I wanted to start my day. 

Luckily I had a "song workout" on my iPod.  So it ended up working out great and we just switched up our tempo and tension each time the song changed.  I ended up getting a great hour long workout and when I got home the kids were all still sound asleep.  After my shower I even cuddled up next to Sophie for 30 minutes. 

My favorite tank

I have issues.  Really.  When I love something I tend to go a little overboard.  I have 4 of the same tank.  At least I bought different colors.  I think they are super comfy and slimming.  I wore the black one in my marathon and loved it. I am planning on wearing the pink one with my black Lulu skirt at the St. George marathon.

Today was an 8 miler and it felt great.  My average pace was 8:38 so I feel like I really am getting back to where I was in May.  I'm at 140 miles this month.  

Training for the rest of the week is: spin/lift, 16 miles, 7 mile tempo run and another 8 miler.  39 miles total this week.  Bring it!

P.S.  I should not have gone to the website to find a link to the tank.  Did you see all those colors????

My Inspirational Mom

Yesterday my mom decided she wanted to learn how to wake board - she turns 70 this year.  She got up on her first try and had a blast.  She is just so full of energy - I LOVE IT!!  I want to be just like her.


One of the reasons exercise is so important to me is so that I can have energy and be able to play with my kids even when they are full grown.  I love that my kids see me workout and that they come to my races and that they know how important health is to me.  I hope I can pass that on to them.  


Yesterday I ran 16 miles and it felt good.  Maybe it was the fact that I'm getting back in shape or maybe it was the fact that I used my usual GU nutrition or maybe it was just a good run.  But I'll take it.  Today I did a nice easy 4.5 miles to relax my legs.  Now they aren't sore at all.  

I'm a GU girl

I am a total creature of habit and I hate change.  But sometimes I don't have a choice - like when I'm too lazy to go to Runner's Corner the day before a long run.  Last week on my long run (14 miles) I didn't do GU and just used what I had in the drawer.  I didn't feel great on the run so I'm going to blame it on the gels and go back to my "go-to" gels.  Personally, I love Roctane and regular GU's.  I usually alternate between them on runs. So I stocked up at the running store.  Bring on the training my drawer is full.

Today I ran 5 miles.  Don't worry no GU needed for a 5 miler.

My hidden socks

Today was a long run day.  I ended up running 14 miles (8:22 avg pace) and then walk/jogged 1.5 miles as a cool down.  The run was tough but felt good.  It was fast because we got dropped up the canyon and did a nice run down my favorite trail.  I so love the trail - there is water along the way so I don't have to carry anything, it's cool and shaded and simply gorgeous.

My legs are feeling a bit tired so I wanted to throw on my compression socks after the run.  All of my socks are (or were) full footed socks and I didn't want to look ridiculous at work so I grabbed a pair of scissors and chopped off the feet.  I love that I have hot pink compression socks on and no-one even knows :)

This weeks total mileage: 33.50.  So far this month I've run 98.5 miles. That is 5 miles further than ran the entire month of June and I had 2 big events that month. 

Bling Bling on my minivan

Today was a treadmill speedwork day.  I'm finally feeling like I'm really back to training and getting back to feeling on top of my game.  Today I did 7 miles total with 5 of the miles at an 8:07 pace (I sped up the last mile to a 7:30 so I could just get it done).  For most of the run we chatted then with 1.5 miles to go it was headphone time. 

I finally decorated my van with stickers.  I love my sweet pink ragnar sticker (custom made for the Housewives team) and my marathon sticker.  What a month.

The Body Issue

Have you seen the current issue of ESPN?  It has tons of Olympic Athletes nude.  I'm not a big one on nudity but really this is done very tastefully and you can't see anything except their amazing bodies.  Athletic bodies are amazing!!

I'm way excited for the Olympic!  I can't decide if I like track and field or swimming the most during the summer games though.  Decisions.  Decisions. 

Today's workout:  spin & lift

Tomorrow: 7 mile run w/5 at 8:07 pace

This week's workouts

There is nothing exciting about the workouts I've done this week so I'm just going to report on what I did.  

The rest of the week's workouts are as follows:  Wednesday I did 5 miles on the treadmill after work - it was way too hot to run outside and I couldn't run in the morning because there was a 4 year old awake at 6:00 am who didn't want to see her mama leave.Thursday was a 7 mile run and today was 8 miles.  Total miles this week are 27.  I'm feeling pretty much back on schedule and following my new training plan. 

My Pinterest Fail

This week is a "mileage" week so we have no long run and no speed work.  Hooray!  I'm excited to just put in a few days of miles.  And they aren't even long miles - even better.  Yesterday was a 7 mile and it felt good.  

Then today I taught spin for an hour.  I found a shredmill workout on Pinterest that looked like it would be a fun one to do on a bike.  Most of it was great but it had things like pushups, squats, situps and planks between each set and that didn't go over so well.  I'm not a big fan of getting off my spin bike but I was willing to give it a shot - until I asked my class and everyone said no.  Then we tried to do pushups and squats on the bike and just gave up and decided to only do the cardio part.  It ended up being a great workout but the few minutes I spent trying to force the workout was pretty classic.

Speaking of pinterest fails....check out this fitness picture I found.  Really?  I'm sorry but that is so not motivating.  I would much rather eat a few calories than be that skinny. 

Tomorrow I have an 8 mile run solo. Wish me luck!

A great workout week

Today I did my longest run since the marathon last month.  14 miles.  And you know what?  It felt good.  I'll admit I took 2 GU's because I knew I'd run out of energy but hey I did it and I felt great when it was done.  I've run every day this week and I'm feeling like my old self again.  Hooray!!  

Yesterday I did a 5 mile run in the morning - and it wasn't great.  I felt light headed most of the run. I'm pretty sure it was horrible because I didn't really eat dinner the night before.  Big mistake.  Then right when I got home I drank a protein shake then we packed up the kids and went to hike the Y.  The hike was fun and the kids made it the whole way up and back without needing to be carried. 

The whole clan at the start

All of us made it to the top

Freedom Run

Today's workout was a tempo run. 7 miles total with 5 miles at an 8:03 pace.  We met early at the gym to hit the treadmills and I'm not gonna lie it felt great to push my body and do some speed work.  

Then I went straight from the gym to find my SIL at the Freedom Festival 5K.  I was planning on pacing her for the run but never found her on the race.  Sad.  I'm so proud of her for training and doing the run - nothing better than meeting a goal! And even though I didn't find her I saw so many people I know.  My sisters hubby and his brother were running the race all decked out so I ran along side them for a bit to say hello and snap a quick picture.  I saw people from work, from my spin class, friends from out of town, girls from my Ragnar team - tons and tons of people.  It was so much fun.  Maybe I should do the run next year. 

 

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law after the freedom festival 5K

My brother-in-law and his brother during the freedom run

Bring it

Yesterday I officially started my new STG marathon training program with a 6 mile run.   I have humbled myself and am ready to do what it takes to get back on track and run even faster this fall.  

When I was looking at my monthly mileage I was shocked that in the month of June my total mileage was 94 miles.  May was 176 miles and April was 164.  No wonder I'm back at the start.  

Today I taught spin then lifted weights then ran 3 miles with my sis-in-law to help her get ready for the Freedom Festival 5K tomorrow. 

Tomorrow is speed work and I say bring it on!