I Have Run

After feeling exhausted for two days, I finally feel more like my normal self today. Which is especially good because this morning I began this new adventure: The PE teacher at my girls' school had a baby yesterday, so I'll be her sub for the next six weeks. I've known this was coming for the past month or so, but the PE teacher wanted to teach until she went into labor, so I didn't know exactly when I would begin. The question was answered when her water broke during her last class yesterday. So today was my first day! Which means I haven't run yet today. But it's on the schedule for tonight, and it's a priority after I took yesterday off because I was so tired. I think my girls night last night helped reenergize me. This salad most definitely helped: When a bunch of girls get together with instructions to bring salad toppings so we can make our own salad bar, this is what happens: Add this group of ladies... ...and the night was pretty much perfect. I'

Sometimes you have to slow things down. That's what I did for yesterday's six mile run. From Instagram However, I'm not sure I could have sped things up if I had wanted to. I have been feeling especially exhausted lately. Not just when I am running though. All. The. Time. And I can't put my finger on the reason why. I actually spent a good part of my run analyzing what could be the cause and ruled out almost everything. So I'll just keep moving forward, taking it one day at a time, one run at a time. Speaking of runs, here are my workouts from last week: Sunday - rest Monday - 6 mile easy run; 20 minute HIIT workout; core workout Tuesday - 7 mile run with 3 tempo miles; upper body strength Wednesday - 5 mile easy run; 30 minutes cycling; core workout Thursday - upper body strength Friday - 20 mile run Saturday - 4 mile recovery run; upper body & core strength What do you think about during your runs? Because there's no mention of food in this post, tell me w

I love this advice. I think it applies to long runs just as much as races. Friday I ran 20 miles. It was my longest run since April. Because this marathon training cycle has been so short, I debated how long to make my longest run. After last week, I decided I needed at least one 20 miler under my belt. I like to have a 20 mile and one 22+ mile run before my marathons, but that wasn't an option this time. And I don't typically jump from 12 to 16 to 20 miles for my long runs over a period of three weeks, but this time everything had to be different. So I spent Thursday prepping for my long run. I needed to do it Friday while my girls were in school because the hubs had to work Saturday. Thursday I tried to take it a little easier, ate my usual pre-long run meals (oatmeal for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, pasta for dinner), focused on hydrating, and tried (but failed) to get to bed early. After I dropped my girls off at school Friday morning, I met Janae to run my first

I went to lunch with a friend today. And I had this, which was more delicious than it looks. Swiss cheese, ham, dill pickles, special sauce, grilled to warm yummy gooey perfection. I called it carb loading for my long run. I came home from lunch and had to wander around the house to find this little guy: We used to find him asleep on Princess Grace's bed all the time, but now that she has her own room, she has a different bed that is higher off the ground, so I think he's afraid to jump up without being able to see what he's doing. (For those of you new to the blog, Rowdy doesn't have eyes. We had to have them removed several years ago after he developed cataracts and glaucoma and slowly went blind.) So since he couldn't get on her bed, he found her blanket on the floor, which wasn't even in her room. What you can't see is that there were several other blankets on the floor, but they were all Ellie's. He is clearly very attached to the

I won't be taking one of these today. It's a rest day. I'm still trying to decide if I should do some upper body strength or just rest completely. Maybe even take a nap? Such hard decisions we sometimes face in life... This was my breakfast yesterday. Oatmeal with blueberries and honey, topped with granola. I was starving when I got home from dropping my girls off at a school and couldn't imagine running when I was that hungry. So I ate breakfast and then ran. Usually I just have a banana before I run and, more often than not, a smoothie after my run. But that wasn't going to cut it yesterday. Luckily it was a rainy, overcast morning, so I waited a little while for my food to digest before I headed out the door, and it wasn't too hot when I finally got out there. And this was my lunch. I am trying to eat more filling things for lunch so I don't get so famished between lunch and dinner. This was two eggs scrambled with spinach and mushr

I ran five easy miles this morning. I have learned how important easy runs are as I've gone through different training plans and cycles. I know my long run in a few days will be better because I took it easier today. And I know my body will ultimately be stronger because it is not constantly trying to recover from every run because every run is hard. I don't believe in junk miles though. I would have been better off skipping this run if it didn't have a purpose. I found this diagram that shows all the reasons you should do some easy runs and why easy running is beneficial:   This article explains better than I can how to make your easy runs count so they aren't just junk miles. And this article talks more specifically about what makes miles "junk" miles. After my easy run, I got on YouTube to pull up a core workout and got sidetracked by this video:     It just made me happy, so I figured it might make you smile too. And I am adding this song to my running p

It was a good morning. First, I woke up to rain. I LOVE to run in the rain. And summer rain is the best! It was supposed to be seven easy miles, but I threw in a few faster miles because when you are happy, you can run faster. So run happy!   Second, Princess Grace asked me to cut a tag off her shirt this morning. As she handed it to me, she said, "Or you can just break it off with your runner strength." Tell me that wouldn't make you smile.   And third, on the way to school, we saw someone running and Princess Grace said proudly, "Mom, you're one of those runners that runs even in the pouring run, aren't you?" Yes. Yes I am.     And that makes for a very happy Tuesday.       Do you like to run in the rain? Do you consider it fall as soon as school starts or not until it is officially autumn on September 23?  

I ran my longest run since the Boston Marathon (April 21, aka the last time I ran before I finally stopped running on my stress fracture) on Saturday. I ran 16 miles of the Big Cottonwood marathon course with Janae . If you know me, you know I'm a very solitary runner. But there are some exceptions. And Janae is most definitely one of them. My little support crew kept us hydrated with several water stops along the way, which were also great photo ops. And they had chocolate milk for us when we finished. This course is one of my favorite places to run. Saturday it did not disappoint. I was really glad we ran the new section of the course. The course has changed quite a bit from last year and will almost feel like a different race because of the changes. Saturday really helped prepare me mentally for an out and back stretch that is new this year. Today is the first day of school for my girls! I miss them already. I'm not sure how summer is already over. I

Today is a cross training day because tomorrow is my long run. I always try to take the day before my long run off from running. After spending some time on the bike this morning, I threw in this workout for my core. It is short, but I could feel it working. Next time I'll probably do it twice to make it a 10 minute workout. Call me crazy! Last night was Back to School Night. Because my girls wear uniforms, we let them wear some of their other new "school" clothes. Princess Grace broke out her #FABULOUS shirt and her cute new pink shoes, and Ellie Bean wore her fancy new shirt/scarf and a pair of jeans from Justice, which were especially awesome because Justice just started carrying clothes in a size 5 (aka teeny tiny). Then after Back to School night, the girls taught Grandpa how to play a couple of games on his iPad. And last but not least, I tested out the Marika Magic Capri the other day. It will be great for cycling and yoga. I am excite

Had girls night out with some of my favorites last night. Trust me, you wish you were a fly on the wall during our GNO conversations! Yoplait Greek is the only Greek yogurt I've found that I actually like. And this flavor is sooo good. It tastes like dessert! This makes me smile every time I get in the fridge. Princess Grace made an agenda for her sleepover the other night. But my favorite part is her drawing of the sleeping bag! And I did this workout yesterday. After three rounds, I was dripping sweat! Do you like Greek yogurt? Do you ever do HIIT or circuit training workouts?

Coming back from a stress fracture is hard. After spending eight weeks not running at all, it was hard to hold back when I could finally run again. But it was also hard because running seemed hard. And my leg wasn't pain free, which has been frustrating after I ran in pain for three months and wanted to finally run without thinking about my leg at all! I just wanted running to be like it was before the stress fracture. It is finally getting there, after eight weeks off and another eight weeks easing back into running regularly. The two reasons it was so important to ease back into running post-stress fracture were 1) to make sure my stress fracture was completely healed and 2) to prevent a new injury. Just because I was running 40+ mile weeks before I had to stop running doesn't mean my body was ready to jump right back into that mileage. While my body has some memory muscle and knows what it's like to undergo that kind of stress, it wasn't ready for it. Pool runnin

I started the day with a short four mile run this morning before the sun was even up. My girls had their cousins here for a sleepover, so I had to get out there before the hubs left for work and the girls all started waking up. When I got home, they were all still asleep, so I did some strength training, including this core workout that looks innocent enough but had me sweating my way through all three rounds. And since we're talking about workouts, here is my workout summary for last week: Sunday - rest Monday - 5 mile run; 45 minutes cycling; core workout Tuesday - 4 mile run; 30 minutes cycling Wednesday - 5 mile run; total body strength workout (20 minutes) Thursday - 6 mile run Friday - 60 minutes cycling; upper body & core strength workouts Saturday - 12.5 mile run I found the core workout above on Pinterest. I have quite a few workouts pinned on my Fitness Board , so I decided to start giving them a try. Here are some other random things I've pinned

Last week was a big week in running for me. It marked my first 30+ mileage (32 miles!!) week and my first double digit run (12.5 miles!!) since April/my return to running after my stress fracture. We spent the weekend in Park city so I got to do my long run on some new trails and in cooler temps. It was a perfect morning, and my team was there exactly when I needed them along the way. This was the moment I stopped to tell the team captain/official I Have Run photographer/the hubs something and forgot to stop my watch. Although the picture is proof that I didn't forget to stop my music, since that is what I am doing. It must have been a good song since that seemed more important at the time. Post run called for a recovery/reward swim for the girls (being so supportive is a tough job). I pampered my legs with some time in the hot tub and spent the rest of the time trying to stay awake while the girls swam. We also did the Alpine Slide during our Park City trip. W