Training Tuesday: 10 Things That Helped Me Go Sub 4 Hours In The Marathon

Happy Tuesday! Currently writing this post the night before catching up on DIY’s Maine Cabin Masters. I’ve been writing my posts the morning of, but I wanted to get up early to get my run in (it’s only going to be 14* as the low tonight, so that’s runn-able in the morning with lots of layers!) and strength (and then cook a fantastic breakfast) so here we are! PS I love DIY channel- anyone else?!?

Got my errands in yesterday (ran to drop this off at the Post Office and pick something up at Walgreens) while also getting my runch 5 miles in (actually 5.25 miles because I got carried away)!

Beautiful view for my run yesterday afternoon- 19* felt so warm (compared to the -10* that it was that morning)!

Got my favorite candles in (they were my ONE Christmas shopping splurge for myself).

Best Afternoon snack. Obsessed with Natural Grocer’s freshly ground Peanut Butter.

Holiday cards are ready to pop in the mail! I love doing ‘year in review’ letters- it always reminds me of some things we accomplished this year that I had previously forgotten about!

OK. Here it is. I wanted to share with you 10 things that helped me go under 4 hours in the marathon!

I actually tried to go sub 4 hours at the Revel Rockies in June 2017 and came so close (I ended up with a 9 minute PR and came in at 4:03 and was so disappointed), but it honestly just gave me more fuel in the fire to get a bigger PR at my next marathon. I ended up switching up my training plan for the next marathon and went under 4 hours in 3:55 in Vegas in November 2017!

• Try out different training plans. Maybe one will work better for you, your schedule, and YOUR body. Everyone is unique and what works best for one person may not work best for someone else! I used Hanson’s to get my sub 4, but previously tried out Runner’s World, Hal Higdon, and Jeff Galloway's plans.

• Find a race that fits your strengths. Are you a better hill runner, flat course runner, downhill? Try them out and you’ll figure out your strength.

• Find what SIZE race you love. City? Big? Rural? Small? Trial and error will help with this, but when the race gets tough (and it WILL), you want to be in something where you know you’ll thrive.

• Add in speedwork. This was the number one thing that helped me finally break 2 hours in the half marathon. I previously had never heard of speedwork and had no idea that everyday runners did it. It helped IMMENSELY!

• Add in tempo runs. Training at my ideal ‘race pace’ in longer runs gave me a huge mental (and physical) boost. I had never tried this prior to breaking 4 hours and I think it really helped me break that barrier.

• Find your nutrition and train with it. Try out a few things and figure out what works best for you. Do you need gels every 3, 4, 5, 7, or 10 miles? Do you need a big breakfast beforehand? How much water do you need?

• Switch up your shoes. This will help keep injury at bay. Try to train in at least two different pairs (or more). Plus this will help you find a great raceday pair!

• Train on hills (even if your race is downhill or flat)- I didn’t start adding in any hill work until I got my sub 4 race and it made me such a better runner. I not only felt stronger on the flatter courses, but found that going downhill after you climbed uphill was pretty fun as well!

• Work on your mental game. What will you do when things get hard? What mantras work best for you? What’s your purpose? Channel your ‘why’ on training runs and imagine yourself crossing that finish line under your time goal. This will help propel you forward during tough sections.

• Strength train. I give immense credit to Pilates for helping me find my body awareness. I have no idea how I even ran before I started pilates/ barre/ jumpboard reformer classes. My butt feels kicked every time I leave a class and I walk away with a stronger sense of connection to my body that I thought was possible.

——————————————————————————————-

Do you do any Holiday cards or ‘year in review’ letters?

Peanut Butter or Almond Butter- what’s your preference? —> PB all the way. I love AB, but there’s nothing like the original to me.

Runch miles- are you a fan?

10 Photos From Our Weekend & What Do You Do?!

I woke up this morning thinking it was Friday. Then, I realized that it was actually Monday. That was pretty disappointing. At least we’ve got a few four day weekends up ahead! I just found out on Friday that we get Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, & New Years Day off- yay! Normally we’ve only gotten Christmas Day & New Years Day off so this was really exciting to find out. I also found out some other exciting news yesterday (can’t share it quite yet …. ; ) ….) so obviously we celebrated with a mini Lemon Cake. The best way to celebrate when you get good news (at least in my opinion)!

Flashback to the perfect Friday night- Hot Cocoa and some chocolate! Hot Cocoa is definitely a favorite of mine in the winter months to stay warm.

Saturday morning breakfast ala Alex. He makes the best breakfast. Also had overeasy eggs, which I hadn’t had in a REALLY long time. YUM.

Easy & snowy 5 mile run down by the lake Saturday morning. They actually plowed this portion of the trail (it’s also a dirt road), so I felt completely spoiled to be the only one out there enjoying it with some snowflakes flying as well.

We popped our snowshoes on and headed out to Gore Pass to get our Christmas Tree (we got a tree permit a few weeks ago). We normally head out towards Clark, CO to get our tree, but this year we tried something different and it worked out so well!

We got the most beautiful and perfect tree. I honestly felt like Clark Griswold when we spotted it in the forest among the cluster of trees (you want to take a tree in a cluster of them rather than a single standing one).

The views were also so beautiful out there. We were the only ones and saw only two other cars on the road the whole time!

It looks great (normally we get a really Charlie Brown looking tree) and we even made it back to watch Syracuse beat Georgetown in Men’s Basketball! Go Orange!

Then I made some of the pretzel granola from Run Fast Cook Fast Eat Slow and we also made some Rice Krispie Treats-I was craving them and it really hit the spot!

Saturday night we watched Home Alone 2 and then on Sunday I made it out for another easy (& hilly!) 5 miles.

Then relaxed with an Epsom Salt Bath (while catching up on This Is Us- I only have 1 episode left until I’m all caught up?!? I’m obsessed with this show now).

——————————————————————

What Do You Do:

-When You’re craving something? —> do you make it or do you let the feeling pass?

-When You get good news?!

-When it’s cold outside and you have a run to get in? —> bundle up or hit the ‘mill?

-Get your Christmas tree from a store/farm/chop it down?

Have a great start to your week!

More SNOW, The Best Soup Ever?, & Book Review!

Happy Friday! What is the weather where you are? It came in snowing yesterday afternoon and didn’t stop for most of the night (definitely was not in the weather forecast too!). While I LOVE the snow, where we live now (about 30 minutes outside of town), it makes for a very long commute. Growing up in New England, they would cancel classes and people would be able to show up a few minutes late to work if the roads were really bad or icy - here in Colorado, drivers are CRAZY. Any condition, they drive so fast and pretend like an icy wind-swept snowstorm is just another bluebird day on the roads.

This pretty much accurately describes how I feel driving in the winter months here in CO.

SOURCE

At least the snow made for a beautiful 5 mile run yesterday afternoon though! I also clearly need to work on my photo taking skills mid-run. Definitely will not be winning any awards for this one!

Thank you to my STABILicers for making it a possibility to still run outside. Without you, I would be stuck indoors most days (or slipping and falling on the ice while attempting to run).

Made one of my favorite soups ever last night - Rainy Day Onion Soup! I got the recipe from this cookbook and it took 20 minutes from start-to-finish to make. So easy and also this cookbook- we have had an amazing meal from it every single time (no joke). It would make a great gift to a fellow runner in your life as well!

Got up early this morning to get in a nice 35 minutes of strength (at home), yoga, and 20 minutes of hiking on the treadmill! I got in a little over a mile in 20 minutes at 3.5mph and 10% incline. I'm on my way to building up my strength for my TBD 50-miler next year!

Also- Stella’s first selfie. She actually was just begging for my breakfast of granola, so it’s pretty easy to pose her when there’s food nearby ; )

———————————————————————————————

I finished my 16th book for 2018 last weekend and I can’t believe that I actually read this much this year (possibly the most I’ve read in a year in a really long time)! It really helps that we’ve started reading for ~30 minutes before bedtime- it helps me relax and fall asleep faster (than watching TV).

SOURCE

When Life Gives You Lululemons was a cute and fast-read. It actually had a few of the same characters that The Devil Wears Prada has, which I honestly had no idea that was book before it was a movie! This wasn’t my typical type of book that I like to read, but seems like it would be a great read for the beach or vacation. Something where you don’t have to think too much and can kind of just breeze through it.

It wasn’t a page-turner (by any means) and didn’t have a crazy plot (also I could kinda tell where it was leading before things actually happened), but certainly had some relatable parts (a lot of women wearing stretchy pants (i.e. “lululemon clothing”) worrying about their careers, sex-life with their S/O, or growing old/stale). I would give it 3 out of 5 stars because I enjoyed it and never found myself bored with the storyline, just not necessarily the type of book that i gravitate towards.

———————————————————————-

Anyone else like reading before falling asleep?

Best last book you’ve read?

Favorite cookbook?!? —> Reading cookbooks is definitely also one of my favorite past-times. Yeah, I know. I’m weird.

THIS Will Help Me Reach My Time Goal At Eugene & On My Running Wish List

Happy Friday-eve! FINALLY! This week has definitely dragged along (I’m sure that teaching skiing all day on Sunday definitely hasn’t helped), but I’m so looking forward to this weekend! We’re getting our Holiday cards mailed out, our Christmas tree, exchanging Hanukkah gifts, and everything else Holiday-related. I also did not spend $1 during Black Friday/ Cyber Monday sales- this is a HUGE win for me (especially with all the crazy amount of marketing out there!). My Christmas shopping is all done and I did do ONE purchase for myself- these candles. The ‘Damn It’s Early’ scent is incredible and they’re also a small business, which I LOVE supporting! I’m also trying to get everything I’ll need to train for Eugene now rather than waiting until later so I’m stocking up on gels (I’m going to be trying these), ordering more of these (the watermelon flavor is my favorite), rearranging my chews, and finding my race-day outfit (including sneakers)!

Also it will never get old seeing this! Anyone else apply to be part of the 2019 Hive program?!?

THIS will also be a staple for me this training cycle. I’ve tried to use the training journal before, but I’ve struggled making it a habit (I typically just use google docs spreadsheet to keep track of my activity & mileage on my sneakers)- this time I’m committed to making it work! I’m 100% positive that it will help me reach my sub 3:40 marathon time in Eugene!

Flashback to yesterday where Stella & I went on a VERY chilly walk during lunch (I think it was 15* out?!?). I’m saving my run for this afternoon today, so it should be around 20* rather than single digits. WHEN will it get past freezing again? I would love to see the roads sometime this winter (rather than snowy/icy filled ones).

Happy Hannukkah! We celebrate both Hannukkah and Christmas (Chrismukkah style, as per the OC- anyone else ever watch that show? I was seriously OBSESSED with Marisa & Ryan…might need to binge watch that show on the treadmill!). We light the menorah, but exchange one gift towards the end of Hanukkah (that will be this weekend for us) and try our hand at making latkes (last year we made SO many and they really didn’t turn out too well…). Then we’ll do another gift on Christmas and do Chinese for dinner.

Here’s a few things that I think should be on your runner’s gift list this year!

• THESE pants- they feel so amazing on and don’t move on me at all

• THESE socks- so soft!

• THIS to help with recovery

• THIS sweatshirt to keep warm post-run and also because so accurate. (I want this!)

• THIS mug because everyone needs to know that they run (I want this!)

• THIS necklace- SOOOO cute and I want one!

——————————————————————

I’d love to know what your favorite Holiday traditions are!

How do you keep track of your training?

The O.C. - team Summer or team Marisa?

Black Friday or Cyber Monday- what sales did you take advantage of?

Last weeks training RUNdown 11/26-12/2

Happy Humpday! Today’s a rest day for me, so I slept in and will get in some yoga & light stretching in later this evening. Also it was -2* this morning?!?!? I’m hopeful that it will get warmer so I can run again early in the mornings, but it still looks like it won’t improve for the next week or so. Guess I’ll have to still either get on the treadmill or wait until later in the day to run! Last night I had to split up my run and it was 20* during my first 3.75 miles and then 40 minutes later it was 12*?!?! Brrrr....

Whenever I have time to make a full breakfast, it immediately feels like a better day.  

Your morning cuteness

Last weeks training recap  

Monday, 11/26: 3 easy miles with Stella & 20 minutes of strength! It felt so good to finally get back out there to run (even just for a few miles). Physically it felt great, but mentally it was SO needed.  

Tuesday, 11/27: Yoga & stretching in the morning 

Wednesday, 11/28: 5 easy miles & 25 minutes of strength . A bit fast, but it felt so good to be back out there running in the morning! 

Thursday, 11/29 : 4 easy miles on the treadmill in the morning! 

Friday, 11/30: hike up the ski mountain (this will be my go-to cross training this winter) & 20 minutes of spin & 35 minutes of strength/ stretching after work 

Saturday, 12/1: 5 easy miles on the treadmill at home & 10 minutes of mobility training. First run of December!  

Sunday, 12/2: I wanted to do 4 miles, but only had time for a little over 3.  

Have a great Wednesday!  

Whats your favorite cross training?!?