Loco Marathon Training RECAP!

I cannot believe that 12 weeks went by SO fast?!?This was my first ‘training just for the marathon’ marathon cycle in 2 years (I’ve ran 2 marathons since then, PR’d both of the marathons, and trained for ultras during those times). I finally kicked my Plantar Fasciitis this past summer and have not had any aches or niggles since then! This was my first-time creating my own marathon plan and I really think that I found the sweet-spot for training for me. It never felt stale, overwhelming, or boring.

Total Mileage Ran: 486.8 miles

Longest Weekly Mileage: 55 miles

Longest Cross-Training BIke Ride: 10 miles

Average Number of Strength Training Sessions Per Week: 3

Longest Run: 20.2 miles

Races Ran: 1 half marathon at the end of running 7 easy miles (20.2 miles for the day)

Favorite Speed Workout: .75 warm-up, 2 x 2 mile repeats (7:49/ 7:41) with .5 recovery, 800 (7:42), .75 cool down

Proudest Run: Those 3 x 20 milers that I had in my training plan and all of which I negative-split!

Favorite Pump-Up Jam: Downtown by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Race day plan?: You better believe that I have one, but am I going to share it? Nah, probably not ; )

One thing that I grew from the most: Realizing how important sleep and nutrition are and making those a priority for this training cycle

Loco Marathon Training RUNdown Week 12: 10/14-10/20

Last weekly recap before race day! This past week was my first taper week and I felt pretty great. I had to keep slowing myself down on my runs and feel like my fitness may be peaking at just the right moment. Cheers to 4 days left until race day.

Monday, 10/14: 5 easy miles at 9:43 pace and 6.54 mile bike ride

Tuesday, 10/15: 10.02 mile bike ride

Wednesday, 10/16: 5 easy morning miles at 9:25 pace

Thursday, 10/17: 9 morning miles with 6 x 1 mile repeats (7:30, 7:30, 7:30, 7:29, 7:45, 7:31). Half on the treadmill and the remaining outside during the crazy windy/rainy Bomb Cyclone

Friday, 10/18: 10 easy miles at 9:35 pace and band work/ yoga

Saturday, 10/19: Rest Day!

Sunday, 10/20: 5 easy miles at 9:34 pace and band work

Total Miles: 34.1 miles

Total Elevation: 528’ up



Training Tuesday: Top Five Favorite Podcasts Right Now

Happy Tuesday! It’s another busy day for me after getting home after 9pm and having to leave the house by 5:15am for my clinical! I cannot believe that race day is officially THIS WEEK! What?!? It’s crazy to me how quickly this race came and training went pretty great. Can’t wait to give you my full training recap and thoughts for this weekend on Friday!

I thought it would be fun today to share with you my top five favorite podcasts I’ve listened to lately. I have actually mainly been listening to podcasts on my drive/commute rather than running (I’ve been going headphone-free on my runs)! It’s a nice way to either pass the time during my drive or help me study (sometimes I listen to my lectures on my drives!).

So, here’s the first one. I’m a huge fan of Peter Sagal and really enjoyed this conversation he had with Tina Muir. I also can’t wait to get his book!

This podcast was everything and I’m already looking forward to Wednesday when another one launches. I wish all of my favorite shows had a podcast like this!

I’m a huge fan of Stefanie and love that she’s a part of Matt’s Road To The Olympic Trails series. She has such an honest conversation with him in this episode and she’s a total bada$$ role model that I look up to so much.

Another episode that I’m a huge fan is Hungry Runner Girl’s Janae Baron (I love her blog, Hungry Runner Girl) and was so excited when I heard in this episode that she’s shooting for an OTQ. She is just such a beautiful sole and you can really hear how much she loves running in this episode.

I had never heard of Emily before this podcast, however I could relate to her on so many levels. She totally rocks 100 mile races and still LOVES the treadmill?! A girl after my own heart.

——————————————————————————————————————-

-What have been your favorite podcast episodes you’ve listened to lately?

-Any other Office fans out there?!?

7 Things: This Is Pretty Great, I Like These Stats, and It Was Really Good.

We did A LOT of puzzling this weekend. This one is surprisingly hard despite it having ‘only’ 500 pieces?!? We got a package of National Park puzzles (gotta love TJ Maxx) and are starting with the one of Yosemite! Can’t wait until we get it finished.

I tried this creamer this weekend and it was pretty great. I haven’t tried any other types of Oat Milks yet, but know that they are ‘all the rage’, so I’m sure I’ll have to branch out and try other varieties now. It didn’t taste overly like Snickerdoodle, but it was still delicious.

Also tried this with barbecue chicken and brussell sprouts on Friday night. it was really tasty and super good ingredients for taking 90 seconds in the microwave!

Saturday we raked A LOT of leaves and we didn’t even get halfway through our yard. Ha. At least it’s good cross training right?!

Watched the new Braking Bad movie on Netflix, El Camino, and it was REALLY good. Like I’m still thinking about it over 24 hours later and still think it’s really good. Anyone else watch it yet?

Saw a lot of this view this weekend too.

Made Slow Cooker Lentil and Beef Minestrone on Sunday. It was so good and super easy since I worked from 10:30am-6:30pm! Recipe from Run Fast Cook Fast Eat Slow.

Also, I really like these stats.

——————————————————————————————————————

-Anyone else a fan of Oat Milk?

-Breaking Bad? What did you think of the movie?

-How many puzzle pieces are too many puzzle pieces?

Figure Friday: How to Perform A Rocking Horse

Good morning! We survived the Bomb Cyclone that hit us yesterday and hopefully as you are reading this, I’m observing my first surgery as a nursing student! Each student got the option to observe a surgery from start to finish and my day is today. I’m slightly nervous, but mostly excited. I’m super grateful that I got Monday and Tuesday off from classes because I FINALLY feel caught up on life. It also really helped that I’m in the taper mode in running regards. I’m focusing on all of the good nutrition (with an occasional piece of chocolate because #balance), sleep, stretching, and race mantras. I’m feeling so excited to just go out and run for a few hours and much less stressed than I normally feel before a race. I think it also helps that I’m not traveling very far for this race, so there is not much “travel anxiety” tied around it.

You MIGHT have noticed that I added a new area to my page dedicated to Figure Skating (or maybe you didn’t, but now you know)! I thought it would be fun to do a series of 6 Fridays dedicated to skating instructional videos. If that’s not your jam, then we’ll be back to regular scheduled Feature Fridays starting in December! I’ll still be doing the regular Monday-Thursday blog posts, so make sure to stick around for those.

SOURCE

SO here’s my second “instructional video” on how to perform a ROCKING HORSE. I explain why the rocking horse is important, what it helps build on the next skills, as well as how to actually do it on the ice! I have one other instructional video all ready to go and that one is focused on skating forwards. So if you’ve ever been curious in how to get going on the ice, then that one would be great video for you.

I have also started a skating-specific Instagram page if you’re interested in following me along over there- follow me HERE.

————————————————————————————————————————

-Three things you’re doing this weekend? -> Switching out my summer clothes for winter ones, writing a paper, and working most of the day on Sunday

-Ever figure skated before? How’d it go?!?

-Ever watched a surgery before?