Snow & last 20 mile training run!

Thursday started off in an unexpected way...SNOW! We got over a foot of snow by Friday evening (thankfully it's almost all melted as of tonight). 

It was not fun to clean off my car again, have freezing fingers since I had put away all my winter essentials, and wear boots instead of cute spring shoes to work. 

Since it was so cold out, I took my easy 4-mile run on the treadmill at a super conservative pace. When it gets this close to race day (3 WEEKS!), I try to take my easy runs slower than I may usually to recover and try to get more sleep. I was also still pretty sore from my speed workout on Tuesday & strength training session Wednesday morning- lots of stretching & foam rolling for me post-run!

I started carbo-loading for my 20-mile run on Thursday night with a delicious pizza from Against the Grain Gourmet (the pesto one is AMAZING)

Friday was Alex's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAE)! So, I started our morning with some cinnamon rolls & bacon (best of both sweet & salty worlds). We met-up for a lunch date at our favorite lunch spot in Steamboat- Winona's (seriously the most amazing Buffalo Chicken Salad EVER) and a walk with Stella. 

The Cherry Blossoms with the snow and blue skies made for a perfect backdrop on our walk! I made my Meditteranean Pasta Dish for dinner & a homemade cookie skillet (topped with vanilla ice cream) for Bday dessert! YUM! I was in bed by 9 and ready to wake up at 4:45 to tackle my last 20 mile training run! 

I like to start out the mornings of my longer runs with Nuun Energy to give me that extra caffeine boost (along with the cup of coffee I have). I also had a half of a banana and some oatmeal before starting my run by 5:45. It was still cold when I started (32 degrees) and overcast. I planned to mix-up my run with atleast half outside and the remaining middle miles on the treadmill to utilize the decline (to mimic the Downhill at Revel Rockies) at goal marathon pace.

My plan for this run included:

• 7 miles outside at an easy pace (10:00min/mi)
  • actual: 7 miles outside at 9:23 min/mi pace
• 10 miles treadmill at goal marathon pace (9:05-9:09min/mi) varying decline (-1% to -3%)
  • actual: 10 miles at 9:00min/mi ; -1% 25 minutes ; -2% 25 minutes ; -3% 25 minutes ; remaining 15 minutes spent climbing the ladder up from -3 to -1 % (each 5 minute intervals)
• 3-5 miles outside at an easy cool-down pace (10:00 min/mi)
  • actual: 4.01 miles at 9:20 min/mi

TOTAL: 21.01 miles at 9:10 min/mi pace

Overall, this run felt so strong and I have no doubt that I could've pushed through the last five miles at just above goal marathon pace. I finished it just a hare off my goal marathon pace and really feel like finishing in under 4 hours is definitely within reach at this race! 

The feeling that you get when you really nail a workout and finish strong is like nothing else. 

I finished the week with 39.01 miles and spent the rest of Saturday napping, recovery with my favorite fuels and foods, grocery shopping, and doing an endless amount of laundry (I honestly feel like it never ends). When I have a family- I can't even imagine when I'll have time to run with the heaps of laundry there will surely be! 

Happy Saturday friends! Off to enjoy some dessert and to bed early :) 

First Backpacking trip & Just Another Manic Monday

First backpacking trip of the season was a success! We wanted to head out to Silver Creek (which should have been about 3.5 miles in), however we got 3 miles in and the trail was completely socked in with SNOW! We were able to find a nice campsite a little ways off the trail and we didn't meet any other hikers until we were leaving the next morning! 

I managed to get in my tempo long run on Saturday morning before we headed out to the trailhead! It was 75 degrees out and so beautiful. I did 11 miles (was supposed to do 12, but with my colonoscopy the day before I didn't feel like I wanted to push my body anymore & really my fueling was not the best on Friday to push it) and 6 miles at tempo (8:34min/mi) split between outdoors & in (to get away from the heat for a bit). We slept in until 8:30!! So my run was done later than I wanted, but I'm working on trying to listen to my body more! 

We had a Good To-Go 3-bean chili for dinner and it was amazing! When we go out for just a night, we try not to bring in too much food (easier said than done). We were both pretty exhausted and headed to bed well-before hiker midnight (normally 9pm; but we were in bed by 8pm). It got down into the low-30's at night and I was so thankful that I brought my extra heavy-weight wool socks and hat for the next morning! 

We had a Mountain House Freeze Dried Skillet Scramble, which was super good, but really spicy! Definitely helped warm us up (along with our coffee thanks to my trusty Jet Boil). We headed out around 8:30 and were off the trail by 10! 

The rest of Sunday was spent grocery shopping, meal planning, and I fit in a 20 minute swim! I'm trying to add in some more cross-training as my training comes to an end to prevent injury and/or burn-out. 

First watermelon of the season for the Sunday Afternoon win!

Monday morning came around way too sun, but luckily I was able to witness this BEAUTIFUL sunrise on my drive into town for my stretching & run session! 

I did 30 minutes of foam rolling & stretching before heading out for my run this morning. I felt a little tightness in my left glute, but luckily it loosened up after my run and stretching. 

4 easy morning miles to kick-start the week! I headed to my Jumpboard Reformer class during my lunchbreak and that was HARD. Taking a week off always seriously kicks my butt (in a good way though....)

During my meal-prep yesterday, I roasted a whole chicken that we will use for two different dinners this week! Buying & roasting a whole chicken is one of my favorite ways to save $ and time! I chopped it all up yesterday and we used it in our chicken tacos tonight and will use it later this week for a Mediterranean Chicken Pasta dish for Alex's birthday! Things we added to our tacos: chili seasoning & red pepper flakes on the chicken as I reheated it, taco shells (that I can't remember the brand- sorry!), sliced onion, red pepper, avocado, jalapeños, maple valley plain greek yogurt, mexican blend shredded cheese, and hatch green chile salsa!

How's the weather in your area? 

Favorite backpacking spots or do you prefer camping at campgrounds instead?

Do you include more cross-training in the final weeks of your training cycle?

Staple meal prep ingredients?

Race-cation hangover

Good morning friends! Do you ever feel completely exhausted after coming back from a race that you traveled to? I honestly feel like I've been 'hungover' of sorts after getting back from Albuquerque late on Sunday. I slept in on both Monday & Tuesday and struggled to get back to my morning work-out routine today! Since Alex headed off to Salt Lake for work this week (he left an hour after we arrived home on Sunday night- yikes!), I've been on Stella-duty 24/7. Watching a dog full-time with no help is pretty challenging! Yesterday I planned to take her on my speedwork run outside at the track, but mother nature had other plans and it started pouring rain and didn't let up until late last night. I ended up switching my Tuesday & Wednesday workouts and did an easy 4 miles on the treadmill last night. This morning, I did 30 minutes of strength training and then began my speed work sesh.

The plan was to do half this workout this morning (since I was crunched for time before work) and finish the other half this afternoon- all outside on the track, but it started raining a mile into our run! I dropped Stella off and did the rest of the AM portion on the treadmill.

I did: 

AM:

- 1 mile w/u

-800 in 3:55; 400 recover

-1 mile @ 7:53; 800 recover

PM to be done (hopefully outside): 

- 1 mile w/u

-800 in 3:55; 400 recover

-1 mile @ 7:53; 800 recover

-400 in 1:56; 200 recover

-1200 in 5:52; 400 recover

-1-2 miles easy cool down

10-11 miles total

I fueled up after my run with this amazing deconstructed smoothie bowl. 

I added in some whole-milk plain yogurt, chia seeds, 1 banana, purely elizabeth maple walnut granola, my sweet cinnamon tahini butter, and added a dash of cinnamon. It was delicious and perfect refuel!

I'm trying to add in a few extra snacks today to refuel for my workout later today (and stay off my feet to recover) as well as get prepped for my 24 hours of no-eating (I have to have a procedure on Friday morning as a follow-up to my anemia and have to fast 24 hours prior to it)-definitely going to have a very big breakfast early tomorrow morning after my run! Not sure how I'm going to survive with no food for so long....help.

I snacked on some Trader Joes Sesame Honey Almonds (YUM) and a kiwi this morning and am already dreaming of digging into my Veggie & Turkey Mix-Up for lunch today and top it with some salsa! You can find the recipe here. 

Happy Wednesday!

Do you ever split-up your workouts or runs?

Ever had to fast for 24 hours? How'd it go? Any tips?

Speedwork on the track, road, treadmill, or a mix?

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!

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?