Weekend activities & a long run do-over

Yesterday, kiddo came with me to see the trainer where she watched me (but she had to make sure I was only an arms distance away) at first.   Slowly she started to become more interested in the equipment and what I was doing.  After we were done, she wanted to check out the equipment.

She really wanted to do the row...

Since I didn't get my long run in last weekend, today was my 10 mile run day.  As I was preparing to run, I was thinking a lot about the last 10 mile run I did last fall to prepare for the Princeton Half Marathon (which was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy).  That 10 mile run did not feel good at all, my right started to hurt at mile 6 and I miscalculated my route so when I finished my run, I had to walk a mile home.  Limping home is never a good time especially after a run that didn't feel good. Fast forward to this run.  I decided I was going to work on a couple of things: 1-not start out too fast 2-work on negative splits and 3-finish under 2 hours. This run felt a lot better than last year's run.  I was able to run without feeling like I needed to walk and my hip didn't hurt at all. So I checked my stats for this run against last year's run to see the difference:

10/06/12

Today!

So I managed to meet all my goals for this run!  I had enough energy at the end to push the pace to finish under 2 hours and I shaved over 12 minutes off last year's 10 mile training run.

How did your weekend run go?

Vegas Vacation!

The countdown is on until the B.A.A. Half Marathon!  I'm feeling mostly prepared but need to get one last long run in.  According to my running schedule, my 10 miler was supposed to happen while I was in Vegas last weekend...We flew out Saturday morning and I flew back home first thing Monday morning, leaving Sunday as my Run Day.

Hotel lobby-New York New York

Let's just say 10 miles didn't happen. Being up late Saturday night (it's Vegas, Baby) and not adjusting to the time difference was a recipe for running failure.  However I did wake up at 6am Vegas time (since it was technically 9am EST) ready to go.  So I decided I would split up my run between Sunday and Monday when I got back.  Got ready to run and headed downstairs with my husband, onto the casino floor to get out to the street.  One of these things was not like the other and it was definitely us going for a run while everyone else was partying still from the night before or getting an early start.

Got outside to see that we weren't the only ones out there getting some miles in.  It was a beautiful and sunny 62 degrees of dry heat, which I also was not used to.  My legs started to get comfortable at about 2 1/2 miles but breathing was difficult at best. I've run with bronchitis before and this definitely felt like that did; like I was trying to run with my toddler strapped to my chest. Not a good time.

Beautiful view running out past the airport

So I decided to cut the run short and we headed back into town, but not before I had to get a photo of this:

When will this happen again, right?

So I ran 4 miles on Sunday with the plan of running 6 when I got home on Monday....

Leaving Vegas 5am Monday

Until jet lag hit me as soon as I got home and the only thing my body was telling me to do was take a nap before kiddo came home from school.  Instead, I'll be running my 10-11 miles this weekend and accepting that sometimes I have to make adjustments.

How did you handle running while on a quick vacation? 

Trying new things this week

I'm continuing my training for my upcoming fall races, but there's always room to change some things up.  After I ran my 10K last Sunday,  I took my dog to doggie yoga. Because why not.  The challenge of doing yoga with your dog in a room full of other dogs is making sure that all the dogs will be relaxed enough to make the class enjoyable for everyone.  Luckily once everyone got to smell each other and feel each other out, we were good to go. 

The Happy Girl-Photo courtesy of Four Paws

I'd say our class was a success.  

This month has been hectic with work and traveling schedules, so I had to take my daughter to the appointment with the trainer.  I thought she might want to sit and watch, but she instead surprised us that she wanted to do the workout with me!  Although I pick her up regularly (as toddlers ask to be picked up a lot), doing targeted exercises while holding her in various positions definitely made it more challenging and fun. Getting to workout with my daughter and her seeing me being active is hopefully  setting a good example for her to be active as she gets older.

Bench presses with my 33 pound little one (feeling the burn)

Today was my long run day, so I had 8 miles on my schedule.  I downloaded the Road ID app but hadn't used it yet.  Since I was running solo, I figured this would be a good day to try it out.  It was incredibly easy to set up and I was glad to have found this app.  

Especially on solo runs, it's always a good idea to let someone know how far & where you'll be running.  

I felt pretty good on the first four miles and my splits were comparable to last week's 10k splits so I figured  I would be able to keep up that pace. I was feeling pretty confident about my pace, until I got 6 1/2 miles in and my legs started to tighten up.  What kept me going was knowing I was not far from home and I really didn't have much further to run.  

Another training run in the books.

I have a couple of weeks left before my next half marathon so I have a few more longer runs left before I begin my taper and packing to enjoy Boston.  I'm definitely feeling more confident about the upcoming races, in part because I have a half marathon under my belt. I mostly know what to expect and although every race is different,  I feel less apprehensive about upcoming races..

How is your training going?

Back in the saddle, and a breakthrough!

I've been away a while from my blog (about a month), I hit a writing rut in mid-August and I'm getting back in the habit of writing regularly.

Some things that I've done since my last post:  started working out with a trainer and continued my running and cross training to get ready for fall races (with the B.A.A. Half fast approaching!).  Finding a trainer that you trust is really important. I've experienced trainers that try to sell you on packages without selling you on themselves and how the two of you can work together to accomplish you goals.  For me, embarking on personal training is not about filling someone's monthly quota, it's about finding the next level. For me, my current goals are to be an injury free, faster runner and learn how to eat better for myself and my family. Last weekend the trainer took the workout outside (it was a beautiful day) and in 30 minutes, she really kicked my butt.  I could feel my quads tighten as soon as we finished.

View from the ab work & stretch, sometimes it's about the beauty around you too.

After working out with the trainer on Saturday, I ran a virtual 10k on Sunday.  I woke up with really tight quads but figured a good stretch and listening to my body while I ran, it would be fine.  The first mile felt alright, miles 2 & 3 I could really feel my quads but then I heard the splits on my RunKeeper:  Sub 12 min miles. So I decided I was just going to keep up the pace and keep my splits down. I felt pretty good when I was done and I realized I didn't start the RunKeeper when we started running, so my data was not going to show the full 10K (which is another reason to look into a GPS watch).

Feeling Accomplished

So I realized that I had just ran over six miles at sub 12 minute miles. I checked my data from the last 6 mile run...

8/17 Run

9/8 run

I shaved 3 minutes off my last 6 mile run and with sore legs!  I may have experienced a running breakthrough, I just have to remember how that felt to keep it going on upcoming longer runs.  Did you have a running breakthrough?  How did you keep the momentum going?

Wordless Wednesday

I love my girls

Back in the saddle

Last week did not go as I planned for workouts.  I did get to extreme sculpt on Monday and yoga on Wednesday morning.  Getting runs done was harder than I expected flying solo with hubby at Army training. I didn't get any short runs in last week. In addition I fell behind on the full body challenge last week. I'm managed to stay on schedule with the squats, but the full body challenge fell by the wayside.  Saturday I was finally able to get a run in.  This run was faster than previous 5 mile runs, but it definitely hurt being the only run I got in last week.  It probably didn't help that I didn't hydrate as well as I should have Thursday and Friday. Lesson learned.

It's really easy to get bogged down in what I should/could have done better, but I'm learning how to accept what happened and move forward. This week will be better.

Weekend Recap & Challenge(s) Accepted

Being an Military Spouse (in my case Army Wife) means sometimes you have to be commander-in-chief of your house for a couple of days/weeks/months while your partner/spouse is doing military things.  This time around it's only for a short time. For me, it also means I have to get creative on when to do workouts when the dog needs to get walked and our toddler needs everything (and sometimes at once).  To meet all of our needs, I nixed my long Sunday run to do a 4 mile walk with the two of them.

And we're off

Four legged friends need exercise too and they both enjoyed the fresh air on a beautiful day.

The fun part of walking with a dog is you never know what adventures await you.  For example, the gaggle of geese on the path.

Geese + dog = needing all your arm strength to keep doggie away

My pace must have been a little fast for her, because at 3 miles doggie decided she was done with the walk.

Over it.

I had to coax her to get home so our last mile took a little longer than I planned but everyone got some exercise.

And now the challenge...

There are a lot of challenges popping up for August.  One group of friends are doing a full body workout challenge so I said I would join them, when another friend asked if I wanted to take on a squat challenge with her. After looking over them both, I decided to combine the two.  I was on schedule with the squat challenge but was already 3 days behind in the full body challenge so I decided to combine Day 1 and Day 2 on Friday and do Day 3 on Saturday.  

Day 1 & 2 combined (Friday):

35 sit ups

13 crunches

13 leg raises

23 second plank

21 push ups

55 squats

Day 3 (Saturday): 

25 sit ups

10 crunches

10 leg raises

15 seconds plank

12 push ups

60 squats

Sunday was a rest day on the challenge and today was 70 squats (Day 5).  Things I learned today: don't do squats right after drinking coffee. No bueno. My stomach was not happy for the rest of the day. 

In addition to the squat challenge, I'm challenging myself more by trying different things in my cross training.  I went to extreme sculpt at my gym tonight (I did not do the full body challenge today) instead of my typical body pump class.  It was extreme alright.  We did at minimum 60 pushups & dips in addition to squats, rows, etc.  I left there feeling like I was going to throw up, but stronger. I'm going to be sore tomorrow (I already feel it now).  It might be hard and seem borderline impossible in the moment to try something new, but you may discover something about yourself in the process.

What would you like to try?