marathon planning

when I knew I was ready to conquer a marathon I thought about hiring a coach. someone else to tell me what to do and when to do it and how hard. someone to provide me with encouragement. sure I was ready to fork over the money it would cost. but at least there would be someone holding me more accountable for my workouts than just myself and the dog.

then when I joined the What’s Beautiful campaign sponsored by Under Armour and declared my goal on there I suddenly began rethinking the hiring of a marathon coach. when I asked around about how people felt about running coaches and if they were worth it or not one person told me, “you don’t need a coach, you already know what you’re doing.” and that smacked me right in the face when I got a 4 minute PR this past weekend at my half marathon. even though it was a downhill/flat course. I am confident that I was fully ready and hungry for that PR. I had trained hard for this race. probably harder than I ever had for a half.

so instead of hiring a marathon coach….I’m asking you all to hold me accountable to my own schedule.

once a week I’ll blog about my planned runs and workouts for the week and the following week I will check in with the previous week. for 18 weeks. and I want to hear from all of you if I’m not living up to what I should be doing.

I’m a little behind on this week.

my body has been exhausted.

after my half on sunday I had planned to take monday and tuesday off to get back to feeling 100%. by tuesday afternoon I was itching to run which I knew was a good sign. monday, however, was a totally different story. my hamstrings were super tight. I already have tight hamstrings….but this was bad. and my hips were super stiff and sore. other than that I came away feeling ok. by tuesday by hips felt better and my hamstrings weren’t nearly as tight.

with this training cycle my scheduled days are as follows:

sunday-long runs
monday-cross training (more on that soon)
tuesday-rest
wednesday-shorter run
thursday-mid distance run
friday-shorter run
saturday-rest

this will be the first time running 4 days a week and the first time running 3 days back to back to back.

I’m only a little concerned with the cross training on mondays. I had been doing it twice a week last training cycle and then my ankle started to throb like no other and it was affecting my runs. so I took out the cross training and tried to determine if the running was also hurting my ankle. which surprisingly it wasn’t. I was ok going forward, but any side to side just didn’t sit well with my ankle. so we’ll incorporate the cross training and see how it goes. also depending on time I would like to add in lifting once a week to my schedule. may be pulling some two-a-days.

this week….

monday and tuesday were rest days…easy enough.

wednesday, thursday, and friday were scheduled 3 mile days.

I knew if I wasn’t feeling 100% by tuesday night I would take wednesday off also. but a run on wednesday was exactly what I needed.

tuesday night a fellow trainer, M, from the gym called to chat a little and then she asked if we could run together! Oh. MY. GOSH! my prayers had been answered. someone else asking ME to go for a run! it was perfect! I couldn’t say yes fast enough.

she came up to my house. I grabbed my dog and all 3 of us took off for a brisk 3 mile jaunt around my neighborhood. my hamstrings felt fabulous after that. I was so happy to get that first run under my belt.

today (thursday) I went to the gym early and then came home and crawled into bed. I hadn’t slept well at all but wasn’t wanting to take a nap later in the day (although I almost did). I got up and ran a check to the bank. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t short on mileage and took a longer first loop. I actually ended up being a mile long. so today I got 4 miles accomplished! I felt great running back to back days and I’m excited to run tomorrow also!

I have no doubt that I will finish out this week strong and next week looks to be very similar.

I’ll catch up with you in a few days!

remember I’m counting on YOU to help hold me accountable to accomplish my big goal of finishing a marathon!

mickelson trail half marathon

I conquered half marathon number 6!

I  woke up before my alarm went off at 0500. I tried to lay in bed, but then I started thinking about the race too much and got my tummy in all sorts of knots. so I just decided to get up and get going. I didn’t want to be rushed.

my stuff was all laid out and ready to go for me the next morning. I had to make a few game time decisions on wearing shorts or capris. I went with the marty pants (you’ll understand the name in the next pictures). and whether to wear the headband or the hat. I wore the headband to the start, but took the hat with just in case.

mom and I left the hotel just a little before 6. buses were suppose to start loading at 615. well….my dad would be so disappointed I wasn’t on the first bus to the start.   we saw buses driving through town as we were headed to the bus drop off location. I made it to the start with about 70 minutes to spare though!

I kept checking temperatures and when we left the hotel it was 38* in town and closer to 33* at the start. I was pretty bundled up and was prepared to throw away clothes if I needed to.

I just found a spot at the start and ate a couple bananas and looked for people I knew. before I found anyone I had this feeling of not wanting to be there. I didn’t want to run this race. I wished my mom was there because I wanted to go home. thankfully I ran into some people I knew and without them even knowing my feelings they had changed my mind. I remembered why I loved this. why I was there.

I went to throw away all my garbage and I was going to head up to where my mileage pace was and there was my mom! it was crazy coincidence. she was standing in the same spot I had been standing before  I went to throw away my trash.

we walked up closer to the start line together and I kept counting down the minutes. I started to get excited. I knew I had put a lot of training into this half and knew I had the ability to gain a PR. I just had to keep everything in check for the next 13.1 miles.

I was bundled up just a little bit at the start. I’m the kind of person that if I get cold….it takes me a long time to warm up. I would rather be over dressed at the start. there were people walking around in what they were racing in. I couldn’t look at them without getting the chills myself. they were making me cold. they had goosebumps and were shivering like crazy. I started to shiver when I started to take off all my layers.

changed into the hat…and see the marty pants! if you haven’t seen madagascar you have no idea what I’m talking about. I think I would have been easily comfortable with shorts. but I got so many compliments on my capris!

ready to rock and roll!

miles 1-5 are gradual downhill. I knew I needed to pull back the pace but I was feeling so good.  went out a little fast. suffered a little at the end of the race.

right after mile 5 there is about a1 mile (I think a little longer than 1 mile) gradual incline. my legs weren’t actively burning running up the hill but my pace slowed down probably a minute worth. once I topped the hill I knew I was home free. the rest was again downhill or flat. this course is fast, but I don’t think a guaranteed PR unless you’ve put in the miles and hours of training.

going into this race I was hungry for that PR. I knew I had put the time and dedication into it, but was worried I had set expectations too high. mile 7-10 seemed to just click by.

10-13 was hard. mentally tough for me. I knew I was so close to being done. I just kept telling myself…”its just an afternoon stroll with twogees.” only twogees wasn’t with me. I wish she was.

I was on track for 1:45 at one point and I was ecstatic. then I hit about mile 12.4 at 1:45. my watch had been hitting miles earlier than the mile markers  they had on the course.

I got a super intense gut cramp at their mile 12.9 (my garmin was about .4 off at the end of the race). on man did that thing kill! I made it around the corner and finished in 1:49:55. hello new PR. even though this is a mostly downhill course. its not far off my old PR and it gives me something to push for. I tucked that bad boy in my back pocket…got my medal and proceeded to the massage tent. I have never had a massage post race. but now I think its totally a must!

holy tight calves! but it felt so great to massage them out.

I got some new hardware to add to my wall!

and what would be a race without my “happy dance” as my dad calls it. mile 11 there was a photographer I spotted and gave them the best happy dance leap I could. I’ll have to wait until photos are available to add to my collection!

the weather was fabulous, the course was amazing. I loved all the spectators able to be around the course. it really kept my spirits high and gave me those extra boosts when I needed them.

mickelson….I will be back next year!

and maybe can convince my family….ALL my family to join in on the fun!

deadwood, sd

today is sunday. I ran half marathon #6 this morning.
we’ll get to that in a minute whenever.

Hubby wasn’t able to join me this weekend, so my mom graciously came with to be my support crew. THANK YOU MOM!

she came over to sheridan on friday night and we loaded in the car saturday morning.

the drive over was uneventful. lots of water was drank and only a few potty stops.

we made it into deadwood nice and early. had no problems picking up my packet and wandering around the expo briefly.

we did a dry run of the course start for my half. the original plan was to have my mom drop me off at the start so I would have somewhere warm to sit until the start. then when we determined that we didn’t initially find the start I decided I would just ride the bus. since this was my first year doing this race I wasn’t totally sure how the starting area really worked. so the bus was the plan. then we drove to make sure we could find where the buses would be. found that easy enough.

we proceeded to downtown deadwood.

there is a lot of history that comes along with deadwood. it was amazing to see how this town is set up too. basically it’s a town of 1100 people shoved in a canyon. houses built on the hillsides, no real parking or yards. there is obviously no rangeland. a fire threatened the town a few years ago and you can see the old fire scar on the hills surrounding deadwood.

we walked the streets. I was kind of chilly with the brisk wind in the air so I bought a sweatshirt.

gambling is HUGE in deadwood. people vacation to deadwood to gamble.

mom and I sat down at a few machines. I lost my money real quick and then she lost hers also. we moved on.

we went into another casino and they had video poker. sat down, played a little then i moved to another machine.

what’s funny. this next machine….no joke I have a app for. it was just a slot machine so no strategy to it. just push how much you want to bet and spin.

I ended up winning 70 bucks! wahoo!

so I paid for the 30 dollar sweatshirt I bought!

 

I would love to bring my Hubby back for the history…not the gambling. we’ve never been big gamblers.

we had a rough go getting dinner in this town. most of the places were 90 minute waits. one place actually seated us. brought us water. took our order and then came back 30 minutes later and ask if he had taken our order already. needless to say we didn’t stay after that. subway ended up being the pre-race meal for the night. we were both so frustrated.

we found the finish line area. with some photo ops.

same company runs both races I’m running. and I figured since I’m doing 26.2 might as well make it a “CRAZY” one. see you in october crazy horse.

we got tucked into our hotel and snuggled into bed about 930. I was out like a light in no time. slept pretty well actually and even managed to wake up before my alarm was scheduled to go off at 0500.

I’ll have the race recap tomorrow. right now….I just want a nap.

memorial day weekend 2013

last week was a long week.

I was more than ready for friday to end.

and now thinking back I can’t remember what I did on saturday, besides bbq-ing that night. saturday day must have been pretty exciting.

if I recall correctly I did nothing but relax. I did teach saturday morning fit camp at the gym and then came home. I took a nice long peaceful nap in the recliner. then I finally showered and headed off to a friends’ house to bbq for the evening. it was great company and great conversation. I don’t think I ever laugh so hard as when I’m around these people. many more fun memories to come.

sunday morning I woke up with Hubby with every intention of going for my long run, but my ankle was being funky that morning. I had plans on meeting my parents on the mountain to go hiking but thought that paired with 12 miles might have over done it. so I cancelled my run and chose hiking. I met my parents on the mountain and we had plans to head up to black mountain lookout.

I didn’t have to wait long for the fur-kids to load up.

this would be the earliest we’ve made the trip.

we immediately ran into snow at the road to the trailhead so it looked like we were walking to the trailhead.

we had to do a little bush whacking to get around the bigger snow drifts but nothing too major.

 

we made the trailhead with little trouble. but still had to bust snowdrifts.

this WAS the trail. all snow covered. some spots were clear. some…not so much.

if I had used my noggin’ I wouldn’t have hiked in chacos…BUT I didn’t. my feet got wet and cold and muddy. but I didn’t lose any toes.

we finally lost the trail under the snowdrifts and decided it wasn’t smart to keep going with 3 dogs and a thought of “maybe that’s the trail??”

the dogs didn’t mind the snow one bit. they were able to cool off and get hydrated.

my feet are still muddy. nice chaco tan started though.

I came home. sat down just long enough before it was time to batten down the hatches. a nice evening t-storm rolled through and even though it rained hard I still had every window open to listen to the thunder and smell the rain.

this morning once again I had every intention of going for my run. my calves were extra tight from the almost 4 miles of hiking from the day before and I was in no real mood to head out for 2 hours.

the high school rodeo was in town and we knew a kid participating so…once again I would have had to be up and out early. the dogs needed out about 10 minutes before my alarm was set to go off which started off the day on the wrong foot. I crawled back into bed looking for motivation. the minutes slowly clicked by and I wasn’t going anywhere. so once again I bailed on my miles to be accomplished.

we made it up to the rodeo and spent most of the day at the fairgrounds.

being around the horses made me want to ride our own. as we headed out of town to get ours a nice little storm rolled over the mountain and I thought for sure our plans were spoiled. but we got two horses loaded and headed out towards the mountain to ride on a winter range for elk.

the mountain was clear by the time we got to the unload spot.

we saddled the horses and started to get on.

this is about when the fun really started. easy always spins when you try to get on him and that’s what he was doing today. Hubby asked if he wanted me to hold him and I told him no. I wanted to do it by myself. I’m independent…what can I say? I got my foot in the stirrup and stepped up to get on and easy started to buck. I almost had my other leg up and over. I held on for about 3 good bucks and then got tossed and landed in the grass on my belly. when I got up my pants and hands had grass stains and my right arm was on fire. it felt like I tore a muscle. Hubby held onto easy and I got on him with no troubles but he still felt wonky. so I told Hubby to just let me walk him a little bit and get my nerves calmed down.

once I felt good enough to continue up the open range everything seemed fine. easy was still being fussy but we just calmly kept walking.

we got up the hill to about treeline and started side hilling across.

it was gorgeous up there. slight breeze that kept things cool. I wasn’t doing any of the work so I was a little on the chilly side.

this whole ride slim hadn’t been walking well. he just wasn’t picking up his feet. we were almost back to the truck.  he had one good trip, went down on his elbows. Hubby started heading right over the dashboard. I thought they had it saved and then slim’s face went into the dirt and I thought they were going completely over. things could have been a lot worse had they rolled completely over. Hubby was able to bail. slim stood up and kind of shook himself off. Hubby took the saddle horn to the inside of his leg so he’s a little sore there. slim had a little limp when we unloaded him back at the ranch but we think he was just stiff. plus slim has hurt his front shoulder before so it tweaked it again. after this ride though I think we decided that slim will just be a pasture horse. no more serious riding. just a fun out in the pasture, easy little ride kind of horse. he’s just too old to be able to get out there anymore.

at this rate I should have just tracked down our mare and took her instead of slim. but she was being all funky just in the pasture. crow hopping and bucking all around when I went to catch her. with that storm rolling in at the time. it wasn’t smart on our part.

we’re all home. fed. showered. and icing certain parts of our sore bodies from our own rodeo.

work week begins again tomorrow and by golly I’ll get those 12 miles in come hell or high water. and it might just be high water if its anything like the last 2 days have gone.

did I move to the pacific northwest?

for the past two days its been colder (than it was) and rainy. like raining all day rainy.

I feel like we moved to oregon overnight. if I can’t take the two days of the constant rain I know I wouldn’t last a week in oregon.

yesterday was my one day off in 11 days. so I did absolutely nothing. really. I didn’t even shower until 9 pm last night and it was fabulous.

my mom came to town saturday night with all intentions of hiking on the mountain on sunday. but that got squashed when we woke up to overcast skies on sunday. I took her to breakfast since I wasn’t able to see her on mother’s day. then she made the trip back over the mountain. she said the mountain was wet the whole way.

after she left I contemplated actually going for my long run. but knew that I would have hated every second of it and figured out a way to fit it in later this week. wednesday it is. that was easy enough.

I snuggled into the recliner and really didn’t move all day. the dogs didn’t go outside for more than 10 minutes at a time and they were still soaked when they came back in.

I took a nap. watched baseball. wanted to take another nap but figured if I did that I wouldn’t sleep.

I did actually made a trip to walmart to buy the pups dog food. but right when I came home I changed back into comfys.

this morning we woke up to the same grey., overcast, wet, skies.

but I knew that I was going to cowboy up and head out for a run. the temperature was 47* so it wasn’t ice cold I just knew the constant drizzle might be a little annoying.

surprisingly it wasn’t that bad.

I managed to do a quick 5 miles and it only rained hard on me once. the other time it was a colder wind and a little misting…but I was more soaked from the sweat (I always over dress) than from the rain.

I wish I had today off too because I just might go right back to bed and not move all day.

I’ve already been to the gym with clients and got my workout in and now I’m off to my second job.

geez….I got more accomplished in 4 hours of today than I did in all of yesterday!

yesterday I hated running

true story. I hated it.

I set off for a quick morning run and made it only a few blocks before I stomped back home mad at myself, running, and my body.

my body was totally rejecting everything.

I decided I wasn’t going to force it. I knew I had 9 miles on my schedule today and wanted to try to enjoy them. plus I hadn’t had a rest day in over a week.

I tried not to dwell on the fact that I didn’t hit my goal mileage for the day or even the week. I just tried not to think about it.

I worked at the shoe store all day.  when I came home for lunch Hubby had mentioned that the local Legion baseball team was in town. he headed down to watch but I still had an hour and a half of work left. I told him I would call when I left work and would probably meet him at the field. I got lucky yesterday and the Troopers ended up playing the later game so I got to watch a full game and not just an inning worth.

diamonds are a girls best friend.

this morning was a new morning. we had a soccer game to be to at 930 so I knew I needed to be up and out early in order to make the game. and beat the heat. the high today is suppose to hit in the 80s.

it was already getting warm. I easily ran in shorts and a tank…but was still soaked and stinky when I got home.

I can tell my legs are getting stronger. I’m able to hit the hills and still average under an 9:00/mile over a long climb and its easier for me to slip back into my grove after peaking on the hill. I remember when it would take my legs a half mile before they would recover and feel ready to speed back up.

even though it was totally the butt crack of dawn when my alarm went off, I easily rolled out of bed, got dressed, got some food in my tummy and was out the door in no time.

first couple steps ached, but once I settled in it felt easy. easier than normal but I knew I still had about 8.5 miles to go. I did a normal loop in town this time and found the miles flying by. in no time I was half way done and headed back for home. I ended up being short on mileage and that usually just drives me up the wall so I did a few laps around a couple of the blocks in my neighborhood and hit 9 miles on the nose.

I slammed down a protein smoothie, showered, dressed and headed out to the soccer fields. the team we went to watch won! and they play in the championship game this afternoon so we’re headed back out there soon.

I’m thinking a nap sounds fantastic right now though.

What’s Beautiful Campaign

As a Fitfluential Ambassador I was selected to participate in the What’s Beautiful Campaign sponsored by Under Armour.  The opinions in this post are all my own.

Have I got some pretty fantastic news for you!

I’ve been selected to participate in the What’s Beautiful Campaign sponsored by Under Armour! Pretty cool right?

so what’s this campaign all about?

directly from the What’s Beautiful website…

Declare a goal. Then show us how it's done.

Together we're redefining the female athlete by setting epic goals and pushing past where we've ever been and where we thought we could go. Join us. Set your own personal goal. Then document your journey by posting videos and photos that tell your story from start to victory.

We'll continuously post challenges for you. But that's just the beginning. Show us your journey. Show us what makes your story the one that stands out from the rest. If you meet your goal, set a new one. Make it even bigger. Prove to everyone, and yourself, that you have more than what it takes.

The Competition.

Every week we'll give away Under Armour Swag Bags full of gear to women who are seriously getting it. We'll also feature profiles on our home page and in the "Top Performers" section of women who are really setting an example for all of us.

After 8 weeks, we'll announce the 10 finalists who've documented the most impressive, motivated, monumental stories.

Winners will be announced mid-July.

The Prize.

Three winners will be flown to Costa Rica to attend a four-day yoga and surf retreat. In addition to the lessons led by world-class instructors, winners will be treated to transformative massages, spa treatments and healthy, locally-sourced meals prepared by personal chefs. All while staying in plush accommodations looking out at the ocean. A retreat worthy of the women who earn it.

 

Sounds fantastic, right?

it doesn’t even have to be a fitness goal. it can be anything!

so I’m calling all of you lady friends I have to join the cause and set up a profile and join the movement!

I’ve got my profile set up and a BIG goal picked out.

in 4 short weeks I will run my 6th half marathon. I’ve been playing with the idea of doing something bigger.  A MARATHON. this morning as I went to the registration website I sat in front of my computer nervous, scared, excited. fear was all over my body. what if I can’t do a marathon? what if I’m not good enough? but you know what helped me…knowing that I had declared my goal to the What’s Beautiful family I’ve gained through this experience; knowing that there will be a bunch of people cheering for me all across the country when I toe the line for my marathon. so I did it.

I registered for a FULL marathon. and now I’m totally ready to take the bull by the horns and conquer this bad boy. I posted this picture on my profile and the response I got was so welcoming and encouraging. I know I can do this. I will be ready October 6th to run 26.2 miles in the hills of South Dakota!

pick a goal. put it out there for people to see. don’t be afraid! there will be plenty of people rooting you on!

so will you join me?