Highs and lows of running and a little love...

Half marathon training officially kicked off last week. That meant I had 12 (now 11) weeks of focused running ahead of me. The past two weeks I hit 30 miles. Two weeks ago was my first week hitting the 30 mile mark since last July... before all that stress fracture and torn tendon business made things come to a screeching halt.

I had a spectacular 12 miles the Saturday before training officially kicked off, which was much needed going into this training cycle because I had really been struggling with running up until a few weeks ago.

I am easing into my speed work paces, so my first interval run last Monday was: warm-up, 1200 X 2 (7:10/mi pace) 800 X 2 (7:00/ mi pace) 400 X 2 (6:50/mi pace) - all with 400 recovery intervals, cool down. Hitting the paces was harder than I expected it to be. Especially on that last 400. And my longer run on Saturday was brutal. My lower legs ached the entire time, which is a new thing. I'm hoping it is caused by something missing from my diet so I'm experimenting with my vitamin and food intake to see if I can get things back to normal.

My stick has been my best friend lately. I find that it gets a little deeper and is more targeted on my trouble spots than my foam roller. Those trouble spots usually being all the muscles on or around my sciatic and my calves and shins, especially the site of my tendon tear. I've decided there must be some serious scar tissue going on where I tore my tendon near my ankle because it gets tight and tender after I run.

And since we're on the subject of things I love lately, one of my favorite non-running items lately is this:

Like my GOOMEE hair bands, it is another effort to keep my hair damage to a minimum. Because of this awesome little compact and brush, I am able to go longer between getting my hair colored.

And because no favorites are complete without food and drink, you need to try Bai5 if you haven't yet. My favorite is the Costa Rica Clementine.

And I was scared of LÄRABARS for the longest time because I didn't think I could like something that had dates as the first ingredient. But they are delicious. And naturally the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip is my favorite!

Hope your week is fabulous! And just FYI, I'll be hosting a race giveaway later this week so stop back by soon!

Carpet Burn On My Butt (and a giveaway)

After two lame, pathetic, lackluster weeks of running, I woke up excited to run yesterday. And today, I wore my running clothes all morning in anticipation of my nap time run today. Even in spite of sore glutes and tired quads from getting in some P90X Core Synergistics last night, I couldn't wait to get moving on Millie. I am a planner. Today I had a plan to get my run in while my girls slept, and my day was organized accordingly. I am also a creature of habit. The first thing I do when I roll out of bed every single day is make my bed and my girls' beds. If I do something else first, it throws off the entire morning. I am a creature of habit when it comes to my running routines as well. There are a few things that differ depending on whether I am running on Millie or outside, whether my girls are asleep or not, and whether or not they are joining me in the jogger. Yet, no matter when, where, how far or with whom I run, some things are always the same. My hair goes into a pony

Social Media: Some good, a lot of bad, and way too much ugly

There are a lot of good things that come from social media. We can connect with people we have lost touch with. We can unite as a group (runners!!) with a comment interest. We can promote a good cause. Sadly though, what social media does best is makes us feel bad about ourselves and makes us feel negatively towards others. This isn't just my opinion, although I can unquestionably support the truth behind this based on my own experience. I have spent way too much time feeling bad about myself as a result of comparing myself to others based on their Instagram or Facebook versions of themselves. And there are several people I have started feeling negatively about or have become completely annoyed with because of their IG and FB posts. It isn't just me though. There are actual studies that can back me up on the negative impact social media can have. I have read dozens of articles reviewing many different studies that show the overwhelmingly negative (vs. positive) effec

I wasn't sure going in...

Yep, I'm checking in. Why? Because I did something completely out of my comfort zone that I wanted to share with you. Last week I went to a place near Salt Lake called Dexa Body, where I got a DEXA Scan. For those unfamiliar with what that is, I asked Google to help us out: "Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry ( DXA , previously DEXA ) is a means of measuring bone mineral density (BMD). Two X-ray beams, with different energy levels , are aimed at the patient's bones . When soft tissue absorption is subtracted out, the bone mineral density (BMD) can be determined from the absorption of each beam by bone. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry is the most widely used and most thoroughly studied bone density measurement technology." Since that is pretty medical sounding, here's my take. A DEXA Scan is a tool to measure your total body composition. It specifically breaks down the regional composition of your lean and fat tissue. It gives a fat distribution

I Have Run

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