My next marathon!

Super excited to be heading to Minnesota in June for Grandma’s Marathon! This will be my third time in MN and first time running this race. This was also a ‘revenge booking’ after my disappointing finish at Wineglass (aka I registered as we were driving home from Wineglass). I’ve heard so many good things about this race and can only hope for good weather (a late June race sounds slightly intimidating)!

I wanted to share a few goals that I’ve been thinking about for race day as training is still several months away.

-I want to have fun. I think I lost that during Wineglass this past Pctober. I love running long distances and I really want to enjoy it.

-I want to get gritty. Like real gritty. I can never remember a time where I’ve crossed the finish line and felt like I had ‘nothing left in the tank’. I want to feel DEPLETED!

-I want to be mentally strong. More mindfulness in training.

-I want to be competitive with myself. I don’t want to shy away from paces that seem out of my comfort zone or back off when it starts to get uncomfortable. I want to really challenge myself with training.

-I want to build a strong foundation NOW for a super successful next year.

Anyone done Grandmas before? Have any suggestions?!? I’m nervous about the weather! My hotel is already booked- I’ve heard hotels can be challenging to find!

Momming & Marathoning

It’s been one of the most frequent questions I get asked when someone finds out I run marathons: “but how do you find the time with twins at home?!”

It’s absolutely not easy and there are many days where I feel guilty for leaving to go for a run. Having childcare a few times a week and a flexible 30 hours a week work schedule absolutely help. I think also knowing that I feel so much better when I run is key, as well as having an amazing supportive partner.

I feel like myself when I’ve had time in the morning to sweat and have some movement. Normally getting up early is my biggest tip. I also am in bed most nights by 9pm and my alarm goes off somewhere between 5-5:30am. I like to be heading out the door or starting my workout by 6-6:30am and home to be with the girls by 7:30am.

I do my longer runs on the days where I don’t work and do have childcare. That is the NUMBER ONE thing that I think helps me train for longer distances with little kids. If I didn’t have that availability, I really am not sure I would be able to get it done. I do a little bit of housework on those days and then the rest of the day is long run, sometimes strength work, recovery fuel, cold water baths into Epsom salt baths, and normally a nap. It’s not something that is necessarily sustainable year-round so I realize in my off-seasons.

I try to be home when the girls get up in the mornings, I might workout earlier to be home in time for them to roll out of bed, or I might do more stroller runs. It’s not a perfect schedule and I’m certainly not the ‘best mom’ when I’m in peak weeks training for my next goal race, but chasing goals outside of being a m and nurse is really important to me.

What helps get you out the door as a parent? How many marathons do you run a year?

Reflecting on April- Running, Strength, Life

For a month of quarantine, April seemed to go by pretty fast for me! I think my birthday month always does. It also signified one year since I left my full-time job and went back to school full-time (SCARY! EXCITING!). I had a BIG month of training with some of the best long runs I’ve ever had. I mixed in middle tempo miles on roads that weren’t flat and just pushed along at a steady pace. I stayed with it when runs felt like a slog and really tried to slow down on my recovery runs. I honestly still want to slow down more -> goal for the month of May.

I also still continued to do strength training generally 3 days a week and yoga 2-3 days a week. I’m really proud of continuing to both of these because my mileage jumped quite a bit this month from last (~30 miles). Normally when my mileage goes up = strength/stretching goes down.

I’m also proud that I was able to find some elevation to gain during my hilly recovery runs (over 1,000’ is pretty good when you don’t necessarily live in the mountains)- they’re actually one of my favorite days because it reminds me vaguely of being on the trails. All of our trails are closed here, so sadly exploring isn’t an option right now.

I celebrated my 30th birthday! Also weirdly since then I’ve been feeling achier than normal- is that what happens when you turn 30? IDK but oddly feeling no longer ‘like a Spring chicken everyday’.

I’ve got ~14 weeks left of classes before entering the “REAL WORLD” again full-time and am currently starting to apply for jobs. Right now, I’m really interested in working in an ICU-type of environment (also currently interested in becoming a CRNA someday)- so trying to figure out the best positions to help set me up for that later on. I’m also trying to decide on how far I want to travel for a job! It’s exciting/scary. Yup, just adding more fun into the whole pandemic situation over here ; )

I’ve also been loving a lot of Epsom Salt baths lately given that it’s been basically windy/rainy/cloudy for 30 days straight (or so it seems…)

I’d love to know how your month went! Anyone else feel like it went by really fast? What were some of your ‘silver linings’ in April?

Eugene/50 Miler Training RUNdown Week 18: 4/22-4/28

I’m having so much fun adventuring along the Oregon coast! It is SO beautiful here.

BUT I’m equally missing these two cuties and can’t wait to give them a good squeeze tomorrow.

I will have my race recap up for you tomorrow and can’t wait to share it all with you (with no details left out ; ) ….). BUT for now, here is last weeks’ RUNdown of what I did leading UP to the marathon. I kept everything the same, except I did one less strength training session and all of my miles did not go above 6 and were all at a very easy pace. I did notice that I had a really challenging time keeping my legs at a slower speed because they were just so excited to RACE! I also felt oddly calm towards the marathon and never really had any sort of pre-race anxiety or nervousness like I usually do.

Monday, 4/22: 6.11 mi EZ 9:53 113’ up , 10 min on the stairclimber (37 floors climbed), & 20 min strength

Tuesday, 4/23: 6.29 for 29th birthday miles easy @ 9:46 131’ up

Wednesday, 4/24: 6.02 miles EZ 9:58 118’ up & 15 min strength

Thursday, 4/25: 6 miles EZ 9:55 339’ & 10 min soak in the hot springs

Friday, 4/26: Flight to Oregon!

Saturday, 4/27: 3.76 miles to shakeout 9:49 pace 6’ up

Sunday, 4/28: Race Day! 26.31 miles 8:47 pace 311’ up

Total Mileage: 54.48 miles

Total Elevation: 1,018’

Eugene/50 Miler Training Week 16 RUNdown: 4/8-4/14

Ok, so if you say my post yesterday then you know that things did NOT go as planned last week. BUT I’m moving on and not dwelling on it. We can only do so much and sometimes, it’s our bodies way of communicating that we need to slow down before injury or illness happens (and I definitely DO NOT want a repeat of Vegas Half 2018 where I had bronchitis leading up to/at the race!).

Monday, 4/8: 7.55 easy miles at 10:24 157’ up

Tuesday, 4/9: Rest Day/ Yoga

Wednesday, 4/10: 10 miles with 7.52 at goal marathon pace (8:35 I believe today?) & lotsa strength

Thursday, 4/11: 8.5 miles easy at i’m not sure what pace with 480’ up

Friday, 4/12: 5 miles easy @ 9:58 and lotsa strength

Saturday, 4/13: Rest day. 9.5 hours in the car….fun!

Sunday, 4/14: Another rest day!

Total Mileage: 31.05 miles

Total Elevation: 637’ up