Las Vegas Marathon Week 4 RUNdown

HUMP day! I can't believe I'm already 4 WEEKS into marathon training?!?!? Less than 90 days until race day and I'm still deciding what exactly my goals for this race coming up are. I'm pretty positive that I have a PR in me, but am not yet at the point where I'm at that BQ level. I know I don't need to put in a TON of training to get under (realistically) 3:45, so I may be adjusting my training plan to cut-back on mileage a bit so when I'm ready to train FULL ON for my BQ next Spring 2019 I'll be rested and ready to go. I'm leaning towards cutting things back a bit and focusing on my strength, but still not completely decided yet! Anyways, enough of my rambling- I hit 48 miles last week and here's the full RUNdown.

Monday, August 6th: 6 easy miles @ 9:58 808' UP / 60 minute Jumpboard Class at Lunch / 20 minute recovery yoga after work

Tuesday, August 7th: 2 mi warm-up @ 9:55; 7 mi @ 8:29 155' ; 2 mi cool-down 10:22 - 11 miles total

Wednesday, August 8th: 6 miles easy @ 9:59 122' UP/ 20 minutes of strength after work

Made a new friend on my run. He wasn't very chatty, but listens really well. 

Thursday, August 9th: 1.5 mi warm-up @ 10:00 ; 4 x 1200 with 400R (5:14/ 5:13/ 5:08/ 5:07) ; 1.5 mi cool down - 7 miles total (Done on the treadmill again!)

Friday, August 10th: 8 miles easy @ 10:01 418' UP in the morning/ 60 minute Barre class / 4 miles easy after work @ 9:55 on the treadmill because it was 90*+ OUT!

Saturday, August 11th: 6 miles easy @ 10:15 tested out my new TREADMILL! We got it for FREE beside the road and it works AMAZING! Can you believe it?!?

Sunday, August 12th: REST DAY!

Total Mileage: 48 miles

Total Elevation Gain: 1, 503' UP

This is how you're supposed to use the treadmill right?!?

What are you training for right now?

Goals for the future- how are you approaching your training now?

Las Vegas Marathon Week 1 Training Rundown- 7/16-7/22

Happy Humpday! Marathon training is finally HERE! I cannot believe it. I'm also super pumped to finally get training and focus 100% on the Rock 'n Roll Las Vegas Marathon. It's honestly one of my FAVORITE races and I look forward to it every year. I did the marathon last year (and the half in 2016) and everything about it is amazing. I love how the race is at night so you never have to stress about the sun beating down on you at any point of the race and the 5k the day before is the perfect shakeout run. I can't WAIT! Since training "officially" began last week (but it was also a recovery week from my 50k), I took Monday & Tuesday completely off of running and limited myself to just an easy easy 6 recovery miles every day last week. SO, the mileage was pretty consistent and nothing too crazy, but was perfect to flush out my legs from all those trail miles and keep my heart rate low. 

Here's what training last week looked like:

• Monday, July 16th: OFF/20 minutes of easy strength training (focus just on abs/arms- no legs)/ 15 minutes of recovery yoga (still LOVING jasyoga videos!)
• Tuesday, July 17th: OFF/rest day
• Wednesday, July 18th: 6 miles easy before work @ 10:20 min/mi 141' UP/ 10 minutes of strength

• Thursday, July 19th: 6 miles easy before work @ 10:05 min/mi ; 621' UP

A beautiful sunrise = confirms that it wasn't so hard to get out of bed that morning!

• Friday, July 20th: 6 miles easy before work @ 9:54 min/mi ; 156' UP

• Saturday, July 21st: 6.05 miles easy later in the morning on a full blueberry pancake belly & under a hot hot sun @ 10:06 min/mi ; 631' UP

Holy hotness.

• Sunday, July 22nd: 6.05 miles easy in the late afternoon after driving back from Ft. Collins. This was done in the window between two crazy thunderstorms, so I just stayed on my road by our house (which meant an impromptu hill repeat workout (without the sprints)) @ 10:11 min/mi ; 1,191' UP

Total mileage: 30.1 miles

Total Elevation Gain: 2, 740'

What are you currently training for?

Anyone else ever run Rock 'n Roll Las Vegas or any other Rock 'n Roll Race?? --> I've done the Denver one before, but really want to do either Seattle or Virginia Beach!

Do you still run outside when it's thundering or lightning?? --> I normally don't, unless I can see on the radar that it's gone from our area then I head out! 

Las Vegas Rock 'n Roll Marathon Review & What I Did During The Day b4 The Race!

HAPPY HAPPY TURKEY DAY! I hope you will be celebrating with lots of tasty food, family/friends, and a GREAT RUN! I'm doing the 5k Turkey Trot this morning and then skiing and a small dinner with friends! I am thankful for all my family and friends near and far, as well as thankful for my legs that are strong enough to endear long runs and let me travel to beautiful places!

Make sure to head over to Race Recaps for the full recap of the Las Vegas Rock 'n Roll Marathon!

I wanted to share with you a few things that I did during the day before the 4:30pm start because it definitely is difficult to fill your day if you want to save your legs for race time. 

Things I typically will save until the day of the race:

• Race playlists- I actually LOVE doing this a few hours before the race. It gets me excited for the race and does not require anything physical. 
• Eat small meals throughout the day (up until 1 hour before the race start)- I stick with plain bagels with butter/ granola oat bars/ Honey Stinger chews/ Bananas/ Pop Tarts. Anything that I have previously eaten before a training run I eat the hours before race. 
• Legs up the wall at least twice- I do this constantly when traveling for a race. It's amazing how refreshed you feel afterwards. 
• Read a chapter of an inspiring book- I saved a chapter in Matt Fitzgerald's How Bad Do You Want it to read before my race and I honestly thought about it/ channeled it my entire race. 
• Lay by the pool (but don't get too much sun)
• Foam Roll
• Do a fun hairstyle- Having a late race start means more time to do a fun braid or hairstyle that you wouldn't normally do for those 3AM wake-ups. 

Things I don't do before a race:

• Eat insane amounts of food. Just don't. do. it.
• Walk a lot
• Get extra sleep the night before (I DO get extra sleep the week leading up to a race, but not the night before a race- I feel sluggish if I get too much sleep). Stick with your normal sleep times to prevent a "sleep hangover"
• Not do anything at all. It's good to still have things to do to keep your mind off of the race/ build up anticipation
• Sight-see- save it for after the race!

Don't forget to go check out my RACE REVIEW !

Rock 'n Roll Las Vegas Day 2/5k!

After Cher, we didn't end up getting back to the hotel until AFTER 11pm! Wayyy past my bedtime, so I took a melatonin (my savour during traveling/racing weekends to make sure I still get a decent nights sleep) and woke up around 7:30. We decided to rent a car for the day to go check out the scenery and save our legs/feet for the 5k!

We went to Panera first, where I like to stock-up on bagels (at a place that I know) and began the carbo-loading. I normally take in extra carbs/proteins/less veggies 1.5 days before the start of the race and load up on electrolytes/ Gatorade/ water the entire WEEK before a race. After we were full of deliciousness, we drove to see the Hoover Dam (my Gram had NEVER seen it before!). The weather on Saturday was perfect- 70 degrees with hardly a cloud in the sky. 

After Hoover Dam, we stopped by Ethel M. Chocolates to pick up some treats to take home (splurged on a coin chocolate they were handing out) and checked out their Cactus Botanical Garden. 

We stopped by Chipotle to get a later lunch (I love their chicken burrito bowls before races) and headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit before leaving for the 5k at 4pm (it starts at 6:30). 

Note: If you plan on running the 5k, either plan to take an Uber or stay at a hotel at the beginning of the Monorail. We stayed at the Excalibur and got on at the first stop for the Monorail and every stop the monorail made after ours, NO ONE else could get on because it was so full. Definitely a bonus to stay on the end of the strip. We arrived at the start line with a little over 40 minutes left (perfect timing) and I headed to my corral #7 when there was 30 minutes prior to the 6pm start. 

The 5k had A LOT of congestion and the hassle getting there really put a damper on the race, but once you got out a 1/2 mile it was MUCH better. I took it really easy (~10:00+ per mile) for the first 2 miles of the race then alternated every 0.10 with 8:10-8:15 strides and ~10:00+ easy pace. I finished with a 9:40 overall pace and it felt pretty good to pass a lot of runners when I was doing my strides! It was also a great way to get used to the race atmosphere and practice holding back my pace. We also stayed for a few of the Goo Goo Dolls songs- they were pretty good (but not as good as I expected for a live performance...). 

Overall 5k recommendation: Do it if you want a safe place to do a shake-out-run. Don't do it if you aren't ready to deal with the crowds and hassle of traveling to and from the race venue.

Also CONGRATS to my Gram for doing her first 5k!! She totally ROCKED it! Super proud : ) 

Rock 'n Roll Las Vegas Day 1/Expo Recap!

I landed in Las Vegas late on Thursday night (11:30pm!), so we slept in a bit on Friday then headed off to the expo. I wanted to get it done with as soon as possible because there is A LOT of walking involved whenever you go to a big race expo. 

I didn't do too much shopping there (got an amazing new backpack that will be used as my gym bag, sticker, and magnet), but it's always so fun to see everything they have! 

After the expo, we headed back to the hotel and relaxed a bit before getting ready to head over to dinner and Cher concert at the Monte Carlo!

We had a really late lunch (the best pizza ever at Paris), so weren't too hungry. We ended up grabbing hot dogs and a small deli in New York New York and they were really good (and BIG!). Excuse the rather unflattering photo of our dinner.

Cher was absolutely amazing and total highlight of the entire trip! I highly recommend going to see her if you can (I think her concert is only going for a month or so in Vegas). She does both old & new songs and does 11 costume changes!

Race expos- love 'em or hate 'em?

Cher- ever seen her perform live? If not, would you? Who was the best concert you've ever seen?