Only week 6 and I'm running out of post titles.

6/19: Strength

6/20: 6 early miles with D

6/21: 6 pm miles. Death.

6/22: 4 miles, TM

6/23: off

6/24: 10 miles, easy hard. 15 min strength

6/25: 6 miles easy, with D. 15 min strength 

Totals:

Strength: 3 mini sessions 

Miles: 32

Full rest: 1

Third 30 mile week in this training. Like I said before, I was totally winging the first few weeks. This week will start week 2 of the official training plan that I'm using but I must confess:

I already tweaked the first week. The mileage for week "one" felt too low for my comfort. Knowing my body, I know run exactly how I train, so if I don't get my body/legs/mind used to the mileage, I have a feeling I will suffer come race day. Although, I'm probably going to suffer regardless. Eep.

So far, 30ish miles seems to be feeling ok, although I'm still keeping Sunday as the optional and mileage flexible easy day. 

I need to be real witchu doh- I notice I only post the pace when I feel like it's good/fast (for me) and not when it's a slogfest.

Lame.

I want to be honest in the process. Most miles are slog paced and only faster if I'm intentional or having a weirdly zen day. 

Last weeks runs were all in the 9:30-10:00 range, Previously, I hit 9 and sub 9 paces for a good majority of my runs. My pace swings wildly, and sometimes it's just (for me) slow. I'm working on being okay with that. 

Saturday's long run was not my favorite. It was quite clear after the first mile that the run would not be my best, and I decided about 15 minutes into that I would just run for the miles. I would not even consider trying to push the pace or be hard on myself for not going faster.  For the entire 10 miles, I hovered around a 9:30-40 pace and I never did get that pep that usually comes around mile 4. Since I was at an easier pace, I did force myself to run up a long climbing slope and I threw in some fartleks (and maybe some actual farts?) during the last mile. The entire run I was telling myself that it is important to not run every run as fast as you can, and that slower running is just as beneficial. It's hard to not want to post your best bad ass times to social media but I have to keep telling myself that running a marathon is not about that. It's not about anyone but me. Right? Right.

So, last week was overall a good week. If I adjust my expectations to not be totally ridiculous, I think I'm doing alright so far.

Love step counts on the long run days. This was just post run. 

Legs up on the wall post run. 

My runners tan is getting more amusing by the week. #peachcoloredshorts

Current weird obsession- TJ salt water taffy. 

I don't know...

Totally unrelated to running or, anything frankly. This was in front of the toilet at Jimmy John's. Just. Huh.... 

Week 4. 16 more to go.

6/13: Strength- KB circuit

6/14: 6 miles, am 5 w/ D. 1 TM

6:15: 4 miles, TM

6/16: 3 sad miles. TM

6/17: Rest

6/18; 10 miles easy w J - Orting Trail

          Strength, pm 

6/19: 7 miles, outside

Totals: 

Strength: 2

Rest: 1 (whoops)

Miles: 30

The week started off rough but ended on a great note. Since I've started running, I've always embraced the treadmill for most of my training but man, lately the 'mill has been sucking so hard. I really struggled in the mornings to stay on the treadmill. I admit there were more than a few times I stopped it to just stand there and contemplate if I wanted to continue. I did, of course, since I'm so damn stubborn, but the struggle was legit. 

Saturday was an easy 10 with J at a 9:43 pace. She's not training for anything just yet so she wasn't worried about the pace, and I decided I'd rather catch up on life with her than share gasps of breath between strides, so we kept it pretty easy. All in all it was a good run. I need to focus on building the endurance I've lost over the last couple of months. 

I'm really trying to run both Saturdays and Sundays, to get my legs used to the miles and to also use one of the days as a slower recovery, but since I ran easy on Saturday, I decided to run at a pace that felt relatively comfortable. I listened to another Running On Om podcast, and found myself easily covering 6 miles as a 9:07 pace. It's quite amazing how much motivation and focus I can find from just listening to two people gab about fitness and life and motherhood. At the end of the run, I was still about a mile from home so I reset my clock and ran one slow recovery mile back to the house. Despite the faster pace, Sundays run felt extra amazing. I think it was also in part to the gloriously perfect weather. Perfectly chilled and sunny.  I passed quite a few clusters of runners so I'm assuming a bunch of us are training for something!

During the podcast, the host asked her guest to choose one phrase or word that would define her journey this coming year (podcast was from January, btw). I can't remember exactly what she ended up choosing but it made me think, what word would I choose. A flurry of words and phrases ran through my head- 

Faith

Perseverance

Commitment 

Determination

Don't give up

Try harder

Be positive

All of the generic mantras emblazoned on shirts and mugs, right? Nothing quite fit into place, so I gave myself a few hours post run to think more about where I'd like to focus on during the summer and my long marathon training. 

Trust. 

That is what I want to focus on. I want to trust- myself, my training, the path God has laid out for me and for my family. 

Seems so simple doesn't it? But we say yes, we trust this and that and we believe, but sometimes they're just words. I need belief with conviction. The gut feeling to trust my instincts, to trust the work I'm putting into this training, to trust the abilities given to me and the responsibility and confidence to manage it all - marriage, family, kids, work, life. 

Bonus: crappy picture time!

Reason#15283 I could never be a real

blogger #selftimerpicturefailure

Imagine how much faster I would be with long skinny legs #shadowgoals

Also, lookit mah new pink Mizunos! 

Current breakfast on rotation:

Gluten free oats

Hemp seed

Toasted coconut

1/4 cut up Larabar (genius decision)

Berries

Blob of sunbutter

Cinnamon 

Boom. So goooood

A food blogger I am most definitely not. 

Ok, off to bed! Meeting D at 5am for 6 miles. I may regret this decision when my alarm blares at 4:30am. 

Pardon the Detour

I mainly use this blog as a training log of sorts, but the other day I was reading through my old blog I used to keep when I stayed home with the littles, and man were times so different. Re-reading my days as a stay at home mom to 3 under 4 years old has made me nostalgic for the days when life, while it felt more difficult, was actually waaaaay less complicated than it is now. The challenges of raising kids into teen-dom and later elementary years has been quite interesting. I've also evolved as a parent, and have felt my fair share of ups and downs. J and I are both working full time outside of the house for the first time since Wesley has been born, so this transition in itself has been....a little dizzying.

Over the years, I realize nothing has quite remained constant, not even the running - You know, the initial reason I even started to write this thing in the first place. But reflecting back on my kids' younger years has left me wanting to write more and to record my thoughts in the moments they occur. Running is one facet that intersects all roads in my life - parenting, marriage, friendships, work. But without all of those factors, none of the individual aspects would quite have the same significance. Life is complex that way.

When I re-read old blog posts about my training, it's clear that art definitely does imitate life. It's not been a linear process of "Just run more and you'll get faster/better/smarter" - it's been filled with peaks and valleys, times of despair and moments of pure joy. Just like the rest of my life.

Looking back at some really good times. Sure, times were tough, support was sparse, and the days were long. And yes, there were plenty of tears, and not only from the kids. ;)


Disneyland - 2013
Don't ask Wesley what he thought about that trip.
#shouldhavelefthisassathome

Beach day 2009?

Wesley - the cutest baby you ever did see.



Oliver - just.... no comment.



Anyhoo!


Sorry for the weird trip down memory lane. I just... I've learned so much in the last few years. We've all grown, and changed, and continue to evolve for the better. Running has made me a better person (it's complicated, ok?) even though it's brought with it its own challenges, physically and mentally. But we all continue to grow and walk together in this life with which we've been given.

I'll continue to run and write as long as I have the passion and the desire. And also, since I paid good money to run a lot of miles in October, I'll be running at least until then....

#weird #haventevenbeendrinking

Only week 3! Already week 3!

Week 3, done!

6/6 off

6/7 3 miles. Strength

6/8: 4.5 miles pm, slow. 20 min strength. 4 min tabata. 3 min planks

6/9: 3 miles, pm. 

6/10: off

6/11: 8 miles. Strength

6/12: 6 miles easy

Approx 25 miles total

I haven't hit 25 miles in a couple of months so I'm counting this as a tiny personal milestone. I still cannot. I comprehend how normal, non elite runners can hit 75+ miles a week. My legs would surely fall off. Also, when do these people sleep? Work? Live? Maybe I just do not possess the capacity to compress my time into the short hours we have in the day but it's hard not to compare yourself to others. Trust me. I try really hard not to, though, because what's the point? I'M living this life, mine. 

Anyways, 25 miles for me is pretty decent, so there you go. 

Saturday for my longer run I decided to try and listen to a podcast instead of music. My tunes are all pretty stale. I mean, one of my playlists is titled "May 2014 running". Time to refresh it stat! Anyways, I ended up listening to two Running on Om podcasts w Lauren Fleshman, whom I love and think is super badass and want to be her fren. I was always skeptical of the allure of podcasts while running, because the thought of just listening to someone talk about random topics sound boring doesn't it? But I noticed how much effort and thought I was giving to the words being spoken, instead of just mentally ticking off every mile and calculating my route until I could hit the mileage. 

The podcast features a reader Q/A session where listeners can write or tweet questions, and one topic in particular caught my attention. It was about how LF was able to stay in the moment and be present in all the different facets of her life - running, coaching, writing, parenting. 

Now you know my ears perked up at this, because yes. How. How does one do this. Do tell.

Her answer, not surprisingly, was not earth shattering. She is very intentional in her actions; whatever as is doing. When she's training, she's in athlete mode. When she's parenting, she's investing her time in her son and her husband. She is simply being present.

This really struck a chord with me. 

I'm doing all of these things to try and survive the day - running, working, cooking, parenting. 

But I'm just... doing. Survival mode at its finest. 

So really, I'm not actually experiencing anything at all. I'm merely surviving instead of thriving. And if I feel this way, full of anxiety and stress, I can't imagine how my family and friends must feel around me. 

Anyways, I ran 8 moderately paced miles on Saturday listening to the first podcast, and 6 recovery/easy miles on Sunday. This weekend was filled with some good, solid therapeutic running as well as some needed downtime with the kids, and good conversation with J. 

Sadly, this morning did not start off ideally, as I snapped at J on my way out the door, about something insignificant and pretty stupid, frankly. Ah, the irrational irritation. 

Hope the rest is the week looks up. Here's the run plan for week 4:

6/13: Off, or 3 miles pm.

6/14: 5,6 with D in the am

6/15: 5 miles, am. Intervals. Treadmill

6/16: 4, 5 easy

6/17: Off

6/18: 10 with Jennifer

6/19: 6 recovery 

I haven't run Sound to Narrows in many years, but rocked my race shirt on Sunday, and then wore last years R2R shirt on Sunday. Who needs cute running tops when you've got a closet full of cool race shirts.

I also tested out my new Nathan handheld water bottle. It felt a little heavy around my hand at first but eventually I didn't even notice it much. It was nice to have the pocket on it so I cold stash my fuel. I may try it next time w my phone but that just seems like it would be more j comfortable from the weight. We shall see. I need to start testing fuel and gear early on. No need for diarrhea and chafing on race day, thank you very much! I've got enough chafing issues as it is #armchub

Bonus: post run breakfast shot. Definitely a food blogger I am not. 

I'm here, I'm here...

Guess what? 

This is week 3 of marathon training! 

What happened to weeks 1 and 2, you ask? 

I dunno.

I guess I didn't feel like really writing about it, as the first few weeks are pretty uninteresting. The mileage has been low low low, but I'm not too worried about it. 

Week 1- 15 miles

Week 2 - 12 miles; including almost 8 miles on Sarurday during the Rainier to Ruston team relay. 

 

The race starts at the base of Mt. Rainier near the Carbonado river; and ends 52 miles later at the Tacoma waterfront. I ran 2 legs during the relay, 3.9 easy and pleasant miles on gloriously shaded trails (8:49 pace) and 3.6 on a exposed, sunny stretch of the Orting Trail (9:38 pace) a few hours later. Interesting just how much the shade/sun can affect pace. I mean, that's a pretty big difference! But I also wasn't trying to kill myself or push the pace in any way. I even made friends w an Ultra Runner who was running close to mile 30 while I was running my second leg. We chatted for a bit before I motored on forward. After my second run, I couldn't wait to throw off my shoes and slip into flip flops! 

Saturday was fun and relaxing, and a nice way to ease into this week. I also ran into an instagrammer I just started following and of course she's totally adorable and I behaved like a weird dweeb. It's all good though, we all know I'm not that cool anyways. 

I woke up feeling decent in Sunday so I did a treadmill/kb circuit and chose to start this week strong with a rest day.

The weather has been amazing lately, and I'm hoping to get off the treadmill a little more and run outside during the weekday. 

I figure if I post my weekly plan I'll feel pressured to follow it. So here you go 

Week 3 looks like this-

Monday: Rest 

Tuesday: 3 miles, Strength

Wednesday: 5 miles

Thursday: 3,4 miles

Friday: Off

Saturday: 8 miles 

Sunday: 4 miles easy or XT

Also still working on dialing in on the nutrition and fueling, so stayed tuned. Current situation: Unknown. Also, annoyed. 

Last two weeks of training via dry erase board.

R2R 2016

All 3 relay teams

Team Friends and Neighbors

Ragnarians- just missing Amber and Loan!