Training Tuesday: Tips For Prepping For Your Week In One Hour

Happy Tuesday! I’ve got some easy miles on tap this morning (recovering from my speedwork yesterday) and I can’t believe how chilly it is now out there! Anyone feeling the cold or is it still pretty warm where you are? What do you consider being “chilly”? I think it’s under/around 32* for me (hat/ mitten weather).

I wanted to share with you some tips that I have to help you prepare for the week ahead when you’re BUSY!

The biggest thing that I have found that works for me is setting my clothes out for the entire week on Sunday. I know we can’t predict the weather, but working in a climate-controlled office environment REALLY HELPS!

Another thing that I almost always do is MEAL PREP. Normally I spend an hour or so on Sundays prepping my lunches (that I planned out on Fridays before we shop)/ breakfasts/ snacks. It depends on how much time I have, so sometimes I just pop Mondays meals in containers or if I have extra time, I pop each breakfast/ lunch/ snacks in individual bags/ containers so they’re easy to grab. I also prep more if I know that it’s going to be a really busy week. Saves so much time.

Setting the coffee maker the night before to go off when I wake up. One thing that’s REALLY helped me get on a schedule with meditating —> I meditate (once I’m dressed for my morning run) while the coffee is brewing. It’s normally a down-time for me and perfect to sit for a few minutes to ground myself for the day ahead : )

Charge everything that I’ll need for my run. Headphones/ headlamps are charging on Sundays and ready for my Monday morning run.

Set a bedtime and stick to it. By 8:30pm I always head upstairs and unwind/ read before sleeping. Once in a great while, we stay up until 8:45/9 (normally Friday/ Saturday nights). This really helps keep me on track for a good week ahead.

What things do you do to help you prep for the week ahead?

Meal prepping/ setting clothes out - yay or nay?

What’s one exciting thing you’re looking forward to this week?? —> Road trip to Lake Powell on Friday and four day work week!

Training Tuesday: How I've finally Kicked My Plantar Fasciitis Flare & I Need A New BOOK

Happy Tuesday! What do you have on the schedule today?! I’ve got some speedwork to get done this morning with some 2 x 2 mi repeats at 10k pace & 2 x 1/2 mi repeats at 5k pace (with some recovery jogs in between)! Also if you haven’t yet read Janae’s (Hungry Runner Girl’s) blog post about finally reaching her sub 3 hour marathon at St. George last week, drop whatever it is you’re doing and go read it right now. I love what she says about not wanting to change her story to finally get that goal and that each setback made it that much sweeter.

It really inspired me and I’m READY to chase down my big Boston goals. I finally signed up for my next marathon today —> Eugene Marathon 2019! I have always wanted to visit the Pacific Northwest and Eugene has been on my list for a while. It’s scary (and exciting) to think about the steps that it will take to get me to my sub 3:30 marathon to BQ, but I’m ready for the challenge and this marathon WILL BE IT. I’m using the Las Vegas half next month as a building block to get more speed in my legs and I’m EXCITED. I haven’t followed a training plan for a goal half marathon since my first half way back in 2011. While training for Eugene won’t officially start until late December/ early January —> each training cycle builds on top of each other and I can start doing the little things now to help get me there (i.e. more strength work, getting faster at the shorter stuff, dialing in my nutrition, adding in more HILLS).

I also wanted to share with you the #1 thing that I’m convinced finally helped me with my Plantar Fasciitis flare that I’ve dealt with since June. I started doing this yoga sequence from JasYoga.

The biggest stretches that I’ve found really help? The sequence that she does from toe pose —> rocking calfs in a modified frog pose —> full frog pose. This helps warm up my calfs/ stretch them out after I run and if I stay on-top of it, I don’t have any PF pain! I’ve also tried things like sleeping in a splint at night (yeah that works, but it’s really bulky to sleep in), icing, heat, superfeet insoles, etc. This stretch is the #1 thing that has helped me SO MUCH.

Ever dealt with PF? What’s helped you with it?

What goals are you currently chasing?

Eugene Marathon - anyone ever done it?! ANY TIPS FOR ME?!?

I need some new book recommendaitons?!? What should I read next?

Training Tuesday: 5 Things I'm Doing DIFFERENTLY This Training Cycle

We made it through Monday! I’m just so excited it’s Fall that Monday didn’t even seem too bad for me (anyone else feel this way?!?). I’ve got some easy miles on the schedule this morning and teaching learn to skate classes later this afternoon. Tuesdays & Thursdays are always busy days for me and I typically work 9ish hour days! It’s funny how you just seem to adjust your mileage and running and training around working more hours vs not doing the workout (anyone feel like this?). If I have 6 miles on the schedule, then I’m definitely going to get in 6 miles whether I’m waking up earlier, showering in 5 minutes, or fitting it in between teaching lessons later in the afternoon.

Less than 48 days until my goal half marathon and I am excited! I’m shooting for that sub 1:42 and daydream about it during my runs almost every morning. I’m visualizing that time clock as I come across the finish line and doing everything in my power to make sure that I get it! That means I’m doing a few things differently/ more intensely this time around (don’t you love how each training cycle you learn something new?!):

• Adding in more trail runs on either my easy days or long run days. Getting in some serious booty strength on those elevation gains and changing up the scenery! I may go slower, but on those days the goal is to either get in the mileage and/or keep my heart rate slower. Trail running is perfect for both of those! Plus it’s a beautiful time of year to do it too!

• Swimming one time each week! I have LOVED adding in my weekly swims. It recharges me both physically and mentally. My body feels so much better after swimming post easy run and there’s just something so soothing about the water too!

• Refueling faster after a run AND getting in better nutrition post long run. There’s almost nothing I love more than a cold raspberry lemonade after a long run, BUT it isn’t necessarily giving my body a whole lotta nutrients. I’m trying to be more cognizant of what my body is craving and also how I can make those cravings rebuild my body (rather than not really contributing to it very much)

• Taking my easy days EASY. I’ve always been pretty good at keeping myself honest during my easy days, but I still think that some days I go too fast. I’m focusing on my breathing more versus what my pace is. That will help adapt my body and get it to be stronger for my big race goals come Spring 2019 (<—— where I’m getting that BQ!)

• Stretching before and AFTER my runs. I would normally stretch either before or after my runs, but never normally both. I’m trying to focus more on warming my muscles up and then helping them relax after I finish running. It’s really hard to add this one in for me, but it’s SO IMPORTANT (and I think it’s a BIG REASON why I’ve finally been able to kick my plantar faciitis flare that’s been bothering me since June!)

What are some things you know you should be doing during your training that you have a really hard time actually DOING? —> stretching pre/post run, refueling properly, slowing down on those easy days

Training Tuesday: How I Managed To Stay Up All Night And Pace a 100 Mile Race

Keeping a schedule when your schedule has been CRAZY is so difficult. I’m going to try my best to get up early to get my runs in, but I know that if I choose to sleep in then I’ll find a way to get my runs in later (that’s training for you, right?!?). I also really don’t want to get sick, so I’ll listen to my body and honor it. So let’s dive right into my recap of my pacing for the Run Rabbit Run 100 mile race!

I was contacted about a month ago from a past MS Run The US relay runner asking if I would be interested in pacing someone for the 100 miler and I love to take advantage of opportunities so I said sure (having no idea how many miles I’d commit to or who this person was that I’d be pacing)! I ended up emailing with the runner, Kristen, who was ALSO a past MS Run The US relay alum and I knew I had to help her out. This would be her first 100 mile race and her biggest goal was to just finish (but also shooting for the 30 hour time goal so somewhere between 14-18 min/mile). I thought that I could definitely keep her around her goal pace and knew that pacers were allowed after the 50.7 mile marker (not before), so I offered to pace her during the overnight portion from mile 50.7-70.1 (I knew the trail systems pretty well on Emerald and Spring Creek so running them overnight was scary, but completely terrifying).

I also knew that my biggest challenge if I were ever to do a 100 miler would be the overnight portion, so I wanted to help her along during the darkest hours (despite the fact that it meant that I would have to stay up way past my bedtime ; ) ….). SO fast-forward to race day last Friday!

Kristen’s mom texted me throughout the day letting me know how she was doing and I anticipated meeting up with Kristen sometime between 7:30-9:30pm at Olympian Hall. I kept tracking her online and while the tracker sometimes didn’t seem to work super well, I saw that she was totally rocking it so far (staying in the top 75!). I was so confident that Maybe we’d start before it even got dark out and finish by 1am or so! That sounded perfect. Well, it didn’t exactly go that way.

Just chilling in my car before she came into Olympian! Read some of my book and closed my eyes for a bit!

I’ve never paced anyone (did I mention that yet?), but with my past experience volunteering at the RRR several years in a row and with the relay this year I had a pretty good idea of what a pacers duties were (plus Kristen and I talked on the phone beforehand just getting a general idea of what she would need from me to help her reach her goal). I waited around in my car from 7:30-9:30pm until I finally heard from Kristen’s mom saying that she had left Dry Lake at 8:20 and anticipated it taking her two hours before reaching Olympian Hall (yikes!). I shortly found her family (her support crew!) hanging outside at Olympian at 10pm and heard that Kristen was starting to struggle at Dry Lake (which would explain why the 6.2 miles were anticipated to take her ~30 minutes longer than I would think). She also didn’t have her headlamp or warm clothes yet, so I was worried!

so pretty. so blurry. so zero dark thirty.

She arrived into Olympian at 10:30pm (first time meeting her in person!) and changed, got her some soup, and then we were off! She was definitely starting to struggle a bit and the entire first 5 miles on Emerald are up hill, so we mostly hiked (saw a porcupine!) and got to know each other a bit. She confessed that she really hadn’t eaten anything most of the day, so I tried to get her to eat some Honey Stinger chews and reminded her to drink water every 15 minutes or so. At this point I knew that it was going to be a long night and just prepared myself. It wasn’t too chilly at this point (maybe 50s?).

Once we arrived at the first check in point at Lane of Pain, Kristen was definitely starting to struggle, but I tried to keep her mental game strong (the best I could do!) and once she refueled a bit we climbed up higher and then made the turn onto Stairway to Heaven and looped back around to the second check in point at Lane of Pain. At this point, she was experiencing a bit of nausea and dizziness so we slowed our pace a bit. I managed to get some more food in her and we were off heading towards the bottom of Emerald for 5.2 miles!

Runners all around! Sorry for the blurry photos - turns out taking photos in the middle of the night on a trail is pretty difficult

It was a slow descent and she would experience waves of feeling strong (mentally) and then completely down (mentally). It was really hard for me to find a good balance of staying positive, but also understanding (I’m such a positive polly to begin with! plus I still was trying to feel out how far I could push her before she broke…ahhh the wonderful duties of pacers!).

The lights and views of Steamboat below as we descended were so beautiful, I tried to take as many mental pictures as possible. At several points, I definitely heard some animals pretty close by, but I just chose to keep moving forward and to not look (ha - not sure if that is the best tactic or not?!?). Kristen started mentioning that she may be thinking of dropping out when we got to the bottom of Emerald (back at Olympian Hall) because she was pretty frustrated that she couldn’t go any faster and was getting passed quite a bit. I completely understood, but also tried to remind her that her biggest goal was to just finish and that it was dark so that could also account for her slowest miles too. I felt pretty bad that I couldn’t do anymore and just tried to keep a good pace and chat every-so-often with her to get her mind off of the pain (not sure if it was annoying or if it helped?).

With a mile left to go on Emerald, it got SO COLD. There was definitely a major inversion going on and I had taken off my ear warmers and mittens earlier because it was so warm, but we both could not get warm (so glad we both had the extra layers to pop on - they were a lifesaver!). We got back to Olympian Hall sometime around 3:30am. I thought for sure that Kristen may not want to continue on, but after 20 minutes and some soup, cheese and crackers, and coca cola, she was ready to go.

I was feeling pretty good (tired, but not nearly as exhausted as I anticipated) and happy that she wanted to keep going! The next mile or so went by pretty fast (it’s along the Core Trail and then lower Spring Creek), but it got super chilly out (we had to keep moving to stay warm!). After the first 1.5 miles, Kristen started to slow down pretty considerably. She was wanting to take a nap beside the trail (It was so cold and I was really adamant on her to keep moving because I was worried that if she took a nap and got too cold she wouldn’t be able to keep going and then we’d be stuck on the trail) and at some points her sentences were definitely incoherent. I just kept pushing forward at a considerable pace (but close enough to her so she could follow and I could hear her if she stopped at any point).

I tried to get her to eat something with caffeine (which didn’t really seem to help too much) and we just kept putting one foot in front of the other. She definitely started hallucinating a bit, which was pretty scary for me because not knowing her too well I had no idea what I would do if she hit her breaking point. I tried not to think about that and just enjoy the scenery. The sun was starting to come up and I was so thankful that we had made it through the night and also got to experience the upper portion of Spring Creek in the light! The fall colors were spectacular and around 6am, Kristen started making more coherent sentences and I was so relieved. I texted her mom letting her know that it would be around 7am when we’d arrive at Dry Lake (we originally anticipated it being around 6:30ish).

Tired and not the cutest face, but look at Kristen rocking it!

so beautiful.

Here she comes!

I know at one point, she was very hesitant to keep going after Dry Lake (she would be without a pacer for the next 31 miles until the finish), but to my surprise after 20 minutes at the aid station she was ready! I so badly wanted to keep going with her, but the way the course was this year I would have to do the next 31 miles with her (no other points for crewing or pacing to drop off because it was so remote) and I didn’t think that was in my physical capabilities.

almost to Dry Lake!

It was so exciting to watch her head off and I kept tracking her throughout the remainder of the day (both excited and nervous - hoping that everything was going OK). She ended up having a small difficulty the last 5 miles of the race but finished 17 minutes under the 36-hour cut-off for her first 100-miler! I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to help her reach her goal and it really challenged me in so many (good) ways! I learned so much about myself in those 8 hours on the trails in the dark and highly recommend anyone thinking of pacing to DO IT! Life-changing experience for sure.

I think I got my step count in for Saturday (ha) and the funniest part? It reset at midnight so I got way more than 40k steps in!

Have you ever paced an ultra? How was it?!?!

Ever ran an ultra?!? How far? What was it like???

Training Tuesday: Tips For Those Treadmill Runs!

Happy Tuesday! I’m a bit late on today’s post, but I promise I was actually busy and completely forgot about it until right now! How’s your Tuesday going?!? I started off my day with 8 x 800s after hitting snooze one too many times and have the first day of Learn to Skate classes later today! It was actually warm out this morning which was really nice (50*) change and it also made me seriously SWEAT big time by those last few reps.

Our track is still under construction, so I went to the flat section of my road and got it done. 6.77 miles later —> done!

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Thinking of all who were personally impacted by 9.11 and thank you to all who serve our country to make it safe. I cannot believe it’s been 17 years since the attacks. It feels like just yesterday when I was huddled in my 6th grade homeroom watching the news and trying to make sense of all that was happening.

SOURCE

Since Winter and cooler temperatures are coming, I wanted to share with you some tips that help me get through really difficult treadmill runs (whether it’s an easy OR hard run day- mentally sometimes the easy ones are the most challenging for me)!

• Break up your run into sections. Maybe you’re planning on doing a 10 mile run —> break it up into 5 x 2 mile sections and either plan to get a drink of water or reset the treadmill after each set. OR break it up time-wise: go for 10 or 20 or 30 minutes straight, reset the treadmill, then do another one.

• Vary your incline every 2-3 minutes. I really love to do this on longer times on the treadmill. I get to work on my form and find that it does REALLY help me when I’m on the hills outside.

• Vary your pace every 5 minutes. I love me a good treadmill ladder. I’ll start out at a really easy 5.7 mph pace then bump it up by 0.2 every 5 minutes until I get to 6.5 mph and then work my way back down to 5.7 mph

• Try watching a show or listening to a podcast. I’m so spoiled at our gym because we get DirecTV (we don’t even have that at home), so I love to scroll through the channels and find something that I normally never get to see!

• Put a movie on for a long run. When training for MS Run The US, I was all about Disney movies. I would pop one on and just let the run go (never looking at the distance/time).

• Tell yourself that you can get to x amount of minutes and then pop on a good show! I would sometimes run for 30 minutes and then ‘reward’ myself with popping on Gilmore Girls for the last 30 minutes of my run.

I’d love to hear some of your favorite treadmill tips! How do you pass the time?!?

Where were you on 9/11/01?

Temperatures where you are right now?