Track Tuesday & 5 DAYS

Started off the morning (my last early morning run until the Marathon) with an interval workout on the Track!

My training schedule called for 2 miles warm-up (10:00min/mi pace) then 6 x 400s at 1:56 pace (actual: 1:46, 1:52, 1:51, 1:52, 1:50, 1:47) with 200 recovery in-between sets then 1 mile cool-down. I felt so strong and definitely wanted to keep going, but I will save my legs for the race on Sunday! 5.25 miles total. 

I recovered tonight by putting my legs up the wall. I'm trying to do this and a foot stretch to help with any plantar facistis that I have at least once a day leading up to Sunday's race. Anyone else a fan of putting their feet up the wall? I normally try for just 5 minutes, but honestly love it so much that I've been like that for up to 15 minutes!

Also saw another gorgeous sunrise on my drive into town this morning. It's amazing what you can see when you're up and out of the house early!

We made Run Fast Eat Slow's Sweet Potato Salmon Cakes tonight and the Avocado Cream on the side. I didn't have any limes or jalapenos, so I subbed for some lemon juice and red pepper flakes--> IT WAS AMAZING! Highly recommend this recipe from their book if you haven't tried it already. It was pretty easy once I popped the sweet potato in my Instant Pot for about 20 minutes (this one was pretty large and took 10 minutes longer than most do). Prep and cook-time were ~25-30 minutes. 

Tomorrow's another rest day (all the rest days are ROUGH- I have way too much energy at night and need to fill them with some new projects)! I already scheduled a mani/pedi to treat myself after the race, so I know that will help push me towards that finish line! I haven't really started to feel too nervous yet and am mainly just excited for race day (I'm sure the nerves will come...). Happy Tuesday!

When do you like to do your speed work? Tuesdays? Wednesdays? Do you do it more than 1 time per week?

Favorite running recipe? 

Favorite way to rest & recover at the end of a long day?

How I Built Up Enough Running Confidence to Tackle the Track

This marathon training cycle is the first one where I've actually tackled speed workouts on my own. For Goofy training I did some interval work on the treadmill through the CoreRunning class offered at Steamboat Pilates & Fitness, but this was honestly the first time I had ANY interval work at all. Well, I guess I did some mile repeats last year for the Revel Rockies Marathon, but I never seriously committed myself to them and never had any concept of time for them. I also had never heard of the concept of "easy" run days prior to this training cycle. My, how far I've come! 

For this training cycle, I've either resorted to doing my speed interval workouts in my 'safety net' AKA the treadmill, through a CoreRunning class, or I've taken the last few outside on the road, but never on a track. The track always intimated me (although no one else was there at 6am)-

I have always associated tracks with fast runners and I have never even been close to being fast. I was always that girl in gym class that would get picked last and would struggle through running a mile. 

Even now as an adult, I still thought of myself as a 'kind-of runner' and absolutely never FAST! But you know what I've always thought of recently, I am a 3-time marathoner and have finished a half-marathon under 2 hours. Maybe I'm not 'fast' in some peoples eyes, but my accomplishments are something that I once thought was impossible! 

So, I put on my 'big girl pants' armed with my running accomplishments and decided to tackle my last double-digit Yasso 800 workout not on the treadmill, in class, or on a road, but ON THE TRACK. 

Yasso 800s (which were once a completely foreign workout to me) are an extremely important workout in any training cycle and also helps for you to predict your race-readiness. So, before setting out on my workout this morning I decided to do a bit more research behind Yasso 800s. According to Runners World, the overall times are accurate depictions to what you can expect as a finish time for a marathon (Bart Yasso found that the 800s he did for several years leading up to marathons were a very close prediction to what his race time was). 

My training plan called for 8 x Yasso 800s in 4:00 minutes (with 400 recovery jog in-between), along with a 2 mile warm-up and 2 mile cool-down (800 is two-laps around a standard track; 10 miles total) . While the traditional predictor is for 10 x Yasso 800s, I'm confident that my overall fitness could easily have taken me over the last two 800s (I honestly didn't even feel THAT exhausted after the workout). 

My splits were:

3:57, 4:06, 3:56, 3:54, 3:51, 4:00, 3:53, 3:52 - averaged race time predictor: 3:55:30

SO, was the track as 'scary' as I made it out to be? Absolutely not. Did I have any reason to be 'ashamed' of my pace? Nope. I rocked it and feel awesome. I got in 10 miles total and have never felt stronger. 

It was actually kind of fun. 

Like I've said in past posts, maybe we just need to embrace the scary to build our confidence. Maybe we should start building ourselves up rather than breaking ourselves down. Acknowledge what your body has accomplished and don't let anyone (including yourself) make them smaller than what they are. 

Be proud of how far you've come and go rock that track. xo

Setting BIG Goals & Embracing the Scary

Goal setting. Sometimes our favorite thing to do and sometimes really intimidating, scary, and nerve-racking. Talking today about how actually writing down those goals makes it seem 'real' and that scary goals can sometimes be the best ones!

Please forgive that super long piece of grass right in the middle of my photo....

I am a huge dreamer and believer, but it takes me a LONG time to actually come to terms with my goals and embrace them. Sometimes the journey to achieve our goals can be scary, intimidating, and come with big change/sacrifices/set-backs etc. I set some pretty big goals for myself this year including breaking 2 hours in the half-marathon, breaking 4 hours in the marathon, and taking charge of my career path. 

I was honestly SO scared that I won't achieve my goal of a sub-4 marathon this year, however I'm slowly starting to realize that it's OK to be scared/nervous/anxious/excited (all of the above & more) and that this 'scary' goal of mine is good and it means that I'm pushing myself. Sure, I may not achieve it at this marathon next month, but I've got another one planned for in November and if I don't achieve it then? It's ok, I know I'll get there and I'll come out stronger in the end. 

Scary goals are OK. They mean that we're able to look past what we're currently capable of and believe that we can achieve so much more. 

I finally realized that I could very well be ready to break that 4 hour marathon goal on my biggest interval training cycle this morning. 10 miles with 4 mile repeats at 7:50-8:00min/mi pace. I honestly almost passed-out the first time I read this plan and thought there was no way I would EVER run a mile under 8 minutes, let alone 4! However, I continued to persevere through my training plan and the workout came on the docket this morning (I may have lost some sleep last night stressing about it...). I woke up and 4:45am to fit it in before work this morning and was determined to do this ENTIRE work-out outside. I absolutely love the treadmill for speed workouts, but have recently started switching them to outside as I know my mental toughness needs some work before reaching my sub 4-hour goal. 

I did a 2 mile warm-up then settled into a half-mile stretch of road that is pretty quiet with traffic (and no homes so less people to see me run by them 10+ times...) and flat. I settled into my first mile and was surprised with how easy it felt at 7:59 pace. 800 recovery then pushed into the second one (7:55), 800 recovery, third one (7:57), 800 recovery, and last one (7:58). I couldn't believe it- I had reached my goal and TOTALLY ROCKED IT. I basically felt like I was on cloud nine and still can't believe how easy it felt. 2 mile easy cool-down to follow.

I still have 26 days until my race, but I will be riding this cloud nine feeling for quiet some time! Despite the results that race day brings, I know that my big goal will be obtained whether it is in the cards for next month, November, or 5 years from now!

So embrace those crazy-scary dreams with open arms and know that you're badass for pushing yourself beyond your current limits. The journey to your destination will always teach you a thing or two and make you stronger, no matter the outcome. 

Do you have any big, scary goals for 2017?

What's your tactic for overcoming those nerves and embracing the scary? 

Hectic Tuesday, Tart Cherry, & CoreRunning Interval Work-out

Hooray Tuesday is done and gone! These are always my busiest day of the week where I normally start work at 7am and don't get done until 5pm (with no breaks in there) then I head straight to my CoreRunning Class at Steamboat Pilates Studio. I always try to pack extra snacks on days like today and rest my legs as much as possible (to save them for my run at night!). 

I started my day off with a fantastic smoothie and added in some tart cherry extract- have you ever used this stuff? I swear it has helped me recover so much faster! I read on the Women's Running Magazine Instagram a while ago how one runner uses a tablespoon or two of the extract, mixes it with full glass of water, and splash of lemon juice within 30 minutes of her run to help speed up recovery. I swear it has been working like magic! Highly recommend testing it out yourself and you really don't notice the taste as much as I thought I would. 

Smoothie with Coconut Water, Maple Hill Creamery Plain Yogurt, Tart Cherry Extract, Chia Seeds, 4 Strawberries, 1/2 banana, 1 1/2 tablespoons of Whey Vanilla Protein powder, and one beet

I love using smoothies as a kick-starter for a long day or to help speed up recovery. After a super crazy two-job work day (I worked at Point6 & then went to the rink to teach our second to last learn to skate classes until the Fall!!), I headed to the pilates studio to do their CoreRunning Class!

This class is so awesome and a fun way to get those intervals done. The instructor provides an overall "plan" for you each week and keeps track of your progression. We normally stick with either 400, 800, or mile repeats each week (depends on how I'm feeling, what I have planned for the rest of the week, etc.). Since I'm racing on Sunday, we didn't do anything too crazy. 

7 miles for the day!

It's amazing how this workout would've left me exhausted just a few months ago and now I barely even feel anything afterwards! I also always look forward to going to this class after a crazy day- it makes me feel refreshed and I can always leave my aggression out on the 'mill. I try to do at least one interval work-out a month outside on my own (to get a feel of the paces), but really love when I can make it and meet up with my fellow runner friends! Now off to foam roll and put those legs up the wall for a bit!

How do you like to do your progression runs?

Have you ever tried a Running class?