Tips to run your best while still enjoying the race-cation!

I've traveled to a few different races where they involved planes, taxis, rental cars, shuttles, trams, cancelled flights, buses, snowstorms, etc. and now I kinda feel like I've got some pretty good insight compared to the first time I went to one! Here's some helpful tips to help you run your best race, while also finding time to enjoy the location!

1. Plan your travel plans around the season. For example, I now know that I need to not only book a flight in January in Colorado early in the morning (better chance of it either getting delayed rather than cancelled/ being able to still leave sometime that same day) and only book it out of Denver. Work in the worst-case scenario situations (like a flight getting completely cancelled) and know your other options for getting out. 

2. Write down a rough plan for what day you want to go to the expo and a few sight-seeing items that you want to do. This is really important to plan out if those activities include a lot of walking. In Disney, I knew that the expo takes a lot of walking so I got there 2 days before the race so I could do the expo and one park that day and save my legs the day before the race.

3. Research places to eat and know what works best for you (food-wise) before the race. I know that I have a pretty sensitive stomach when it comes to race-day, but I also know that I perform my best if I eat heavier meals (breakfast/lunch/early afternoon snack) earlier on in the day and a lighter meal for dinner. I don't do too much research about meals after the race or two days prior, but I definitely look at a few menu options the day before my race. I also try to plan ahead and know a few fast-food type options that work well for me. I know that I can eat a Starbucks sausage, egg, and cheese and be totally fine (and these are pretty common where my races are held), so I sometimes will have that the day before my race. 

4. Never schedule a race at the end of your vacation. This MIGHT seem like a no-brainer, but I did this before and will never do it again! You're tired at the end of your vacation, running during vacation is sometimes hard, and your diet normally suffers a bit when you're out of your comfort zones. Plan to arrive a day or two before the race and have a few days afterwards to enjoy everything!

5. Plan almost a total rest day (or even half day) before your race. Lying by the pool is normally my go-to afternoon before a race or doing a bit sight-seeing from the car. It's relaxing, helps you rejuvenate before the big day, and gets you even more excited to do the race and see more of the scenerary where you are!

There you have it! A few tips that I've learned when traveling for races. I hope some of them will help you on your next race-cation!

Happy Father's Day! Hope you are able to either spend time with your loved ones or skype/facetime/chat with them for even a few minutes. Family is everything :) 

Any tips on traveling to a race?

Some go-tos for you while you are on a race-cation?

Revel Rockies Recap & How Many Days do you Take Off After a Marathon?

Happy HUMP DAY! It's finally Wednesday- we made it! I think one of the best decisions that I made when planning post-marathon was scheduling a vacation 10 days afterwards! It's just the right amount of time to recover, rest, and pack. Alex, Stella, and I will be driving back to Maine (yes all 33 hours) to visit family, play in the ocean/mountains, and go to my dad's wedding (he's getting remarried). It's pretty convenient to have grown up so close to each other- we can spend a few days with each others family and then spend some time just relaxing too. I've begun packing and cleaning up the house a bit and will continue to do so until we leave ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!!

Another really great thing that I planned post-marathon was treating myself to a manicure/pedicure. I have it scheduled for this weekend and I cannot wait to be pampered! 

PS you can find my Revel Rockies Recap here! They've just started to post some of the free race photos (they're all free and able to download directly from online) and I've got some pretty good ones so far!

Also does anyone else ever block out the few days after a marathon where the pain going downstairs is ROUGH and your body just hurts everywhere? I always seem to forget just how painful it really is...

After seriously indulging the past few days, I am planning on heading back to the gym tomorrow (took 3 total days off) and do some light biking/ellipticaling then getting back into some yoga and strength training on Friday. I want to utilize this time between training cycles to rest (no running for a week after my race), recover, and begin building an even STRONGER body! 

Here's to hella strong glutes when I toe the next start line! 

How many days do you take off (of running) after a marathon?

Any special treats that you like after finishing 26.2 or vacations you schedule?

Any tricks to avoiding downhill stairs until 5 days post-marathon?

Revel Rockies Race Expo & Pre-Race day Necessities!

Race day is done and gone, I can't believe it! I'll have a race recap up soon, but today I am recapping the day before my race and the expo.

I started my day with a nice shake-out run with Stella out on the trails around the lake. We did an easy 2 miles with some pick-ups towards the end. After packing everything up in the car, we were off to Denver!

Sorry for the blurry photo. I think I was rushing and trying to be "stealth like"

The Expo was held at the Colorado School of mines and they have you park about .25 miles away from the expo! It was mid-90s by the time we arrived (early afternoon) and HOT! The expo doesn't have anything too crazy there, but I really enjoy that. I grabbed my bib, a REVEL hat that I had been eyeing, walked by some of the vendors (maybe a total of 7 there), and I was out of there! I love the big race expos (like Disney or Rock 'n Roll), but also really love a small one that is simple and doesn't have any of the extra stuff.

My REVEL hat!

We then drove the race course and stopped by a local park to let Stella cool-off in Bear Creek for a bit! It was off to the hotel to relax and unwind for the evening. We stayed at the Sheraton-West (one of the official race hotels) and it was in a really good location. We had food from the downstairs restaurant for dinner (just pasta and butter for me), so it was super easy and convient! It was only about 15 minutes until the start line, but they actually provided transportation directly from the hotel TO the start line! This was perfect because Alex was not looking forward to getting up at 3 AM to drive me to where the buses would pick me up and bring me to the start line. 

Flat Stacy ready to run her 4th 26.2 !

Stella was even happy, but that's until she learned she couldn't run 26.2 miles with me in the morning and got a little upset! Luckily, a bone distracted her :)

Any necessary things you do the day before a race?

Race expo- do you like the big or smaller ones?

Any favorite pre-race day dinners that you HAVE to have or do you just go with the flow?

Top 10 of my Favorite Songs that Pump Up my Marathon

Hi Friends! Well, it's a good thing that I have scheduled this post because it wouldn't be wise to be racing and posting at the same time! Hopefully by this point, I'm almost halfway through the race and going strong! I'll post about my race as soon as I can today, but for NOW I thought I'd share with you my top 10 must-have songs on my marathon playlist. So get ready to look these up and download them (and maybe start a dance party too?).

1. Rise- Katy Perry

2. Just Like Fire (From "Alice Through the Looking Glass") - P!nk

3. Too Close- Next

4. Stop- Spice Girls

5. Return of the Mack- Mark Morisson

6. Ready to Run- Dixie Chicks

7. Come Together- The Beatles

8. 24k Magic- Bruno Mars

9. You Be Killin Em- Fabolous

10. Sweet Child O' Mine- Guns & Roses

There ya go! Top 10 of my favorite songs that no matter what state of mind I'm in, I'm able to push through it with the help of these pump-up songs! 

Do you have any good songs that are your favorite to run to?

Keep the same playlist for each race or make a new one?

Do you time your playlist out for the race course or have it on shuffle? --> I just did my first 'timed-out' playlist (with the super pump-up jams to come either on the harder sections/ later on in the race) & will let you know how it goes!

Albuquerque Recap!

We drove down to Albuquerque (about an 7.5 hour drive) on Friday morning & arrived there around 6pm. We drove by the Sand Dunes National Park and we couldn't resist stopping- so our trip took about an hour longer than expected! 

Sand Dunes National Park is seriously so amazing and we are already planning a camping trip there during the Fall! It was so crazy how it was 70 degrees outside and the sand was already burning Stella's paws after only a few minutes. Thankfully there were some muddy streams that we had to walk through to get to the sandy portion (due to the spring run-off) and she was able to cool-off in that. 

You can actually rent surfboards and sleds and slide down the dunes (supposedly you can also ski down the dunes, but I'm not 100% sure about that...). It was so amazing and it's also a really dog-friendly national park (most we have visited have been pretty strict). Once we left the dunes, we were off to Placitas (about 30 min outside of Albuquerque) to our air bnb that we booked! This place was seriously the cutest and the host, her name was Rebecca, was absolutely amazing! It was built in the 1920's and was originally a post office. It was nestled in the mountains and had a ton of hiking trails! 

Friday night we went out to eat at a small Mexican restaurant & went to bed relatively early. On Saturday, we were up by 7ish & I went out for a short shake-out run with Stella while Alex grabbed breakfast! We headed out to the Race Expo to pick up my bib and it was even smaller than I thought it would be (my bib number was 242)! We then headed to the ABQ BioPark Zoo- which was seriously amazing! We didn't end up going to the biopark area and just visited the zoo (to save the legs/ it was pretty hot out- 85 degrees!). 

All the animals were so adorable- including this giraffe! He was the only male and all FOUR of the females were pregnant! What a stud...

We headed out to lunch at the Bosque Brewing Company and had a flight of their various drafts to test out! Had to carbo-load and the Elephant's Parade was AMAZING. It was light, fruity, and honestly did not even taste like beer. We ended up getting growler of it!

I ended up getting the half sandwich (Italian) and half salad (greek) and it was SO good! We headed out to Trader Joes to grab some things for dinner (we were going to cook it and take advantage of the full kitchen that we had) and then back to grab Stella and head out for a short hike before the storm rolled in!

Wind-blown hair don't care. It was beautiful out

After our hike, we headed home to make dinner and relax before race day! Post about the race and my EXCITING PR will be posted shortly and over on my race recap page. 

Stunning sunset in Placitas, NM!

Ever been to Albuquerque or raced there?!?

Zoo, Botanical Gardens, or Aquarium?

What's your favorite part of traveling for races?

Happy Tuesday!