What day is it & the BEST way to recover post-race

Hello! You know you’ve been on vacation awhile when you’re unsure what day it is. It’s Tuesday, right? I’m at the airport heading back to Colorado (that 3am alarm was pretty fun...) and am NOT ready to be off vacation just yet. I’ll have a full race recap for you later this week, but I didn’t PR (..bummer). I’m not super upset with my results because I still had a great time. Sometimes you have breakthrough races and sometimes you don’t. I’ve learned that the small setbacks normally just set you up with a BIG breakthrough moment later on. So until that day comes, here’s a few photos from our trip and I’ll be back tomorrow with a recap of my last week of training before the race! 

 Running in the Grand Canyon!

We saw Céline Dion! It was AMAZING!  

Flat runner for the 5k!  

13.1 ready!  

The BEST way to recover post race- S’mores Mocha latte!   

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how was your weekend?!? 

Its Tuesday, right? 

favorite way to recover post race?!? 

Feature Friday: Goals For My Race!

Happy Friday from Sunny, warm Las Vegas! How was your week? Anyone else traveling to Vegas this weekend or running another race somewhere else?!? I can honestly say that I’m missing the snow 0%. ; )

Anyways, let’s chat about my goals for the race on Sunday. I’m running the 5k on Saturday to just shake out my legs and hope to keep it at a controlled 10:xx pace (expending as little energy as possible). I’ve always had the goal that if I break 1:42 for the half, then I will miraculously be ready to get a BQ in the marathon. I’ve since come to the realization that it may not happen right away and that I’ll also probably need more like a sub 1:40 time to qualify for Boston, so with that my goal is still to get as close to 1:42 as I can (my original goal). I’m not 100% positive that I’ll be able to run a sub 1:42, BUT I will absolutely give it my best shot and I also want to definitely PR my half (plus have fun ; ) …). I also want to mentally stay in the race the ENTIRE time (which can be hard! especially when things get difficult). I want to PUSH when things get hard and not give in to the pain. I would also really like to negative-split.

Flashback to the Marathon last year!

SO with that in mind….here’s my goals laid out with some nice bulletpoints:

• “A goal” - Half PR

• “Also A goal” - HAVE FUN

• “B goal” - STAY MENTALLY IN IT

• “C goal”- Negative Split

• “D goal”- Get that Sub 1:42

Flashback to my medal collection last year!

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What are you up to this weekend?

A, B, C, D goals- how many do you like to make?

Ever ran the #StripAtNight?

Las Vegas Half Marathon Training RECAP

Happy Thursday! Hopefully I’ve made it to the Grand Canyon by now (I flew into Vegas yesterday and pre-wrote today & tomorrow’s posts so I could be 100% enjoying our trip) with my Mom & Grandmother. We spent the night in the Grand Canyon last night and are driving back to Las Vegas this afternoon. Expo for the race is TOMORROW! YAY! Let’s recap my 16-week training cycle shall we?

• I ran 627.89 miles this training cycle.

• I climbed 30, 764’ in elevation!

• I paced a 100-miler for 19.41 miles through the middle of the night on the trails here in Steamboat at the Run Rabbit Run

• I peaked at 46.68 miles in Week # 16

• I switched from the marathon to the half marathon after week #5, where I started feeling burnt-out from marathon training and wanted a new goal

• I started out running 3/4 mile repeats at my Half Marathon goal pace (7:42-7:47) on August 28th with splits of: 7:47/ 7:47/ 7:41/ 7:41/ 7:35/ 7:30. I completed my last speed workout with 1 mile at Half Marathon goal pace (7:34), 3 x 1 mile at 10K goal pace (7:22) splits were: 7:14, 7:17, 7:19, 2 x 1/2 mile at 5K goal pace (7:04) splits were: 6:55, 7:11

• I ran a Half Marathon PR during a workout and placed 3rd in my Age Group (first time ever doing this!!)

• I ran early in the mornings, in between teaching skating, after work, in the heat, in the rain, overnight.

While it wasn’t the perfect training cycle, I feel like I definitely gained some speed and am excited to test my fitness on Sunday! BRING. IT . ON.

Las Vegas HALF Marathon RUNdown Week 16: 10/29-11/4

Last week was probably one of my worst training weeks ever. Just putting it out there. I know part of it was because I was sick and part of it was because I was tapering, but man oh man did every single run feel just TERRIBLE. My schedule called for 5 runs instead of 6 (which I did) and I did not get in my surges, I cut-out my last 2 x 3/4 mile repeats at 5k pace in my speedwork (because running fast while sick is just really not fun), and reduced down one run by 1.5 miles. Overall, I’m proud that I took the sick days and really slowed down on my easy runs to keep my heartrate low (since I was sick - my heart was already working overtime), but I would be lying if I said that it didn’t mess with my head a bit and have me readjusting my goals COMPLETELY. I’m still playing it day-by-day so I don’t want to make any rash decisions and I do still really want to mentally push hard in my race, but if it’s not there- I’ve got to be OK with that. More on my goals for this race coming on Friday!

Monday, 10/29: REST DAY / 60 minute Jumpboard Pilates class at lunch

Tuesday, 10/30: 5.54 miles easy 10:50 135’ up

Wednesday, 10/31: REST DAY

Thursday, 11/1: 2.51 miles at 10:09 19’ up, taught skating, then 4.5 miles at 10:33 47’ up

Friday, 11/2: 1.1 mile warm-up @ 10:03 21’ up / 3 x 1 mile at 10k pace (splits: 7:22 - good/ 7:41 (pretty bad)/ 7:44 (really bad) + 2 x 3/4 mile at 5k pace (skipped- I just felt like my speed was not there)) / 3.0 mile cool down (accounted for the skipped 2 x 3/4 mile repeats and instead did some easy miles) at 10:39 39’ up

Saturday, 11/3: 3.5 miles easy @ 11:15 on the treadmill because it was an icy/snowy/ windy mix outside + 30 minutes of strength (and 30s Plank for another day down in the #Planksgiving challenge!)

Sunday, 11/4: 9.38 miles easy on the trails @ 11:56 685’ up —> basically ran this in a blizzard on the muddest/ wettest trails. not so fun and it was definitely below 30* out. SO CHILLY. Probably my slowest long run for several years. I didn’t take a photo so here’s me before my run cuddling with Brady (also I kinda wanted to be here during my run too ha)

Elevation gain: 966’

Mileage: 32.53 miles

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Shaken confidence in the taper- how do you deal with it?!?

What’s the weather like where you are?

Channeling that Nervousness Into Power

Happy Tuesday! The roads were STILL a complete mess this morning from Sunday’s snowstorm, but I managed to still get out for some speed work (which I didn’t realize that the roads had patches of black ice sooo that was FUN). I hit one of my 6 target paces, but I never gave up on myself and I continued to fight when things got really though so I’d say it was a WIN.

So I’ve been starting to feel a bit all over the place the past day or so (it’s a lot of work to take care of all the furry ones with Alex gone for a work trip until tomorrow) and wanted to share my thoughts here because I’m pretty sure I’m not alone (and if I am…well it’s still out there)! “Twitchy bitchy” is what one of my running instructors at the Pilates studio tells me I should be and that is one of the best ways I can describe my feelings right now (plus a bit scatter-brained).

Here are a few tips and tricks that help me harness all these bugs buzzing about in my head:

• Looking over & reviewing my training schedule. What you’ve done in the past is a great confidence booster

• Reminding myself that I am definitely in the BEST shape I’ve ever been in. Also that I WILL PR on Sunday. I’m not sure by how much, but I am going to get a new PR.

• Making lists. Lists of things to do, things to pack, reminding myself to breath. It all helps me realize that it can be done by just working down the list.

• Meditating. This is so key for me when things get crazy - it helps ground me and also make me realize how small these things that I’m obsessing over really are in the grand scheme of things.

• Journaling. I love to write down my thoughts- sometimes they flow out really quickly and others it’s just a few bullet points.

• Rather than worrying, reminding myself what I have to LOOK FORWARD TO! That post-race feeling, in the race the lights/ energy/ meeting new runners, the fantastic food, etc.

Here’s a photo of Stella thinking about her post-race food treat (she’s actually staying home in Steamboat, but really any particle of human food gets her excited):

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What are some things that you do when you start to feel scatter-brained and a bit “all over the place”?