A week in review and other things too

Wow...I cannot believe it's been a week since I last posted!  Things have just been kind of crazy around here!  I know I usually do this post on Friday, but it's close enough.  I hope you all had a very happy New Year!  I am so ready to get this year started!!  :)

Training:
*  I am finally better!  Woohoo!  I do have to admit though, that I really liked not running for awhile.  Like I mentioned before, I have basically been training non-stop since last February, and I just got completely worn out.  So, although it sucked being sick, it was nice to just REST for two weeks.  I don't know what will happen in my marathon in 10 days (YIKES!), but it will be whatever it will be.  I am not running this to BQ or anything.  This may sound crazy, but qualifying for Boston is just something I really don't care about.  So, I'm going to have fun, enjoy the warmer weather (yay for 60 degrees!!), and support my husband in his first marathon!  Oh, and hopefully it won't end with me dry heaving and puking like my first one...YUCK!

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*  I don't know about all of you, but my strength training has lacked big time!  I have been reading a lot about functional strength training and TRX suspension training [HERE].  I did some research about the TRX system which seems to be popping up everywhere recently, even though it's been around for awhile.  I have been thinking about getting one for my home, but I really wanted to try it out before I bought it because it's pretty pricey!  I finally decided to see if there was a place in Denver that did it, and I found the most amazing place!!  They had a free class Monday night for newbies, and I signed up to check it out.  IT WAS AWESOME!  The woman that led the class was a great instructor and I never once felt out of place, like I do sometimes when I start something new in a group setting.
The workout was fun and TOUGH!  I am still sore today, but I love it!  I am definitely going to try and go to more classes!  It will be hard to fit it into my schedule, but until I can afford a TRX on my own, I'm going to make it work.  I can really see how doing that type of "strength training" will be more effective then what I've been doing.  Plus, one of the instructors is a triathlete and she designs the workout based on exercises that would benefit triathletes!  How cool is that?!
Have any of you used a TRX?  If so, what do you think about it?  Do you think it's worth the money to buy one??

*  After my  marathon, this is going to be my view every morning at 4:30AM 4 times a week!  It is time to get back into the pool and tackle this whole swimming thing!  I'll be following a plan on beginnertriathlete.com that will hopefully help hold be accountable to getting my butt out of bed!

Other Things Too:
*  Remember how I said that things have just been kind of crazy and busy around here?  Well, we've been doing a lot of this:

  So we can get rid of this:

and replace it with new, soft, beautiful, stain free carpet in our basement!  Yay!

This carpet was on the floor when we moved in 8 years ago and it was nasty to begin with.  But, we didn't have the funds to replace it right away.  Then, once we had kids, we decided to wait until they were older to replace it b/c we knew it would get destroyed by them anyways.

It has been A LOT of work!  I've been repainting all of the walls because they just need a fresh new coat, and my husband and I are tackling ripping out all of the carpet ourselves to save on costs.  So, it's just been a dusty, dirty, painty (I know it's not a word, but it fits) mess!  But, my husband and I like doing home projects, so it's actually been kind of fun. :)

I hope you are all having a good week!  I have a lot of posts to read, so I'll try and get around to yours soon. Have a great weekend! :)

S.I.C.K.

*Warning: whining ahead! 
So, I got a prescription for bronchitis on Christmas Eve (yay me!) and have since then developed yet another cold on top of it!  For some reason, my body is just having a really hard time fighting whatever virus I have.  I have a theory though that because my kids were sick, and now they aren't, that somehow my body has absorbed all of their sickness so that they could be better.  That's what moms are for right?!
S is for sleep

What sleep???  All the snot and coughing is making it really hard to sleep.  Thankfully, with my concoction of Theraflu and Delsym I'm able to get some sleep, but not nearly enough to get better!  Ugh!

I is for irritated

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My nose looks like Rudolph's nose.  It is soooo not attractive right now!  I have been spreading on the Aquaphor like crazy trying to keep the redness at bay.

C is for coughing

I just can't seem to stop coughing!  It seriously sounds like a barking dog when I cough.  It's bad enough that whenever I cough in a public place I get really bad glares from the people around me.  

K is for Kleenex

Seriously, this is ridiculous!  I had to make a special trip to Target yesterday to get more Kleenex.  Ugh!

*My plans for the marathon in 3 weeks are slowly changing.  I haven't been able to run since that 19 miler over a week ago.  I've tried, but I just ended up coughing up a lung!  It was not pleasant!!  Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do.  I am just frustrated, tired, and DONE with being sick!  

O-kay, I'm done whining!  

I really hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  My family and I had a great time (besides me being sick) and my boys were super excited to see what Santa brought them.  :) 

My Almost 20 Mile Run

So, this past weekend, I decided I was going to try and do my 20 mile run.  Originally, I was going to do it Saturday  morning, but my husband and I had so many errands to run, that I decided to push it back to the afternoon.  The temperature outside was cold, in the low 30s, but there wasn't a lot of wind.  Now, I am a wuss in cold weather, but I needed to get my run in, and I thought that if I bundled up I would be o-kay.  Here is my outfit:

Look at all of that reflective material!
Let's see how many different brands I'm wearing.  Nike jacket, Sugoi long sleeve shirt, Saucony tights, Saucony gloves, and Under Armour hat.  Oh, and of course I wore my Brooks Racer ST 4s!!

And, I know it's all black, but these things are all perfect for cold weather running.  Plus, black is slimming...right?? :)


Before I get to my run, I just have to say that my Saucony gloves ROCKED!!  All of the features were AWESOME!  My Hammer gels may have been a little frozen, but my fingers never were!  The wind actually picked up while on my run and the wind mitts were a godsend!  I honestly cannot say enough good things about these gloves.  I have been looking for gloves like these for a long time, and I am so happy I found them!!  Seriously, if you are in need of some cold weather running gloves, run, don't walk, and buy these for yourself!  OR, if you know someone who needs some awesome gloves, these would make a great stocking stuffer!

Enough rambling!  So, I headed out around 1:45 and my legs felt great!  I saw a couple of other people on the trail, but I think the cold kept most people in their homes.  Around mile 5, my stomach started grumbling a little bit.  Thankfully, right around that time I came upon a parking lot with a port-a-potty.  Phew!  Thank god!  I did my business, hoped that was the last of that, and headed back out.  I was still feeling good and staying warm for the most part.  The wind had picked up a little bit and it started getting a little colder.  I really had to stop myself from picking up the pace just to be done sooner!

Around the 8 mile mark, my stomach started grumbling again.  UH OH!  I knew, from my last 20 mile run, that there was a port-a-potty around the 9 1/2 mile mark.  But, that was still 1 1/2 miles away!  I did some praying and kept on running.  The next 1 1/2 miles were not fun!!  Finally, I made it to the port-a-potty and did my thing once again.  This is probably too much information, but I was in there for a long time!!  I just did not feel good!  My stomach was really upset and all I could think about was how I still had 10 more miles to run.  Plus, the more I stayed in there, the colder I got.  By the time I was done, I was FREEZING!!

 I debated calling my husband to come and get me, but I knew it would take him at least 30 min. to get to where I was.  So, I started running again, hoping that I could make it back to my car.  I actually felt a little better, so I just kept going.

Source  Do you see that menacing look?? 

I started getting really tired around the 14 mile mark.  By this time it was getting close to 4pm and the sun was starting to go down.  I had forgotten when I ventured out at 1:45, that the sun goes down around 4:30 now.  And, when the sun goes down, the temperature drops soooo fast!  It started getting really cold and I just wanted to be done.  It also didn't help that I saw a big coyote cross the path and head into the trees.  It stopped and just stood there watching me.  Around the same time, I heard a shuffling sound behind me and in my mind I imagined a pack of coyotes chasing me.  There have been several accounts of coyotes attacking runners on this trail, and I got a little freaked out.  Just then, some guy and his dog passed me and I swear I jumped like 10 feet into the air.  The guy asked if I was alright and I told him, I had just seen a coyote and he just scared me.  It was kind of funny actually!

When I reached the 15 mile mark, I stopped and walked quickly while I ate my last gel.  I was done...mentally and physically.  This point in the trail is also the worst because you can look across a meadow and see the trail a mile or so ahead of you.  I looked out over to the other side of the trail and just felt completely defeated.  It seemed like it was so far!  But, I also  knew that I only had 4 more miles until I reached the car.  I knew I could do it, but it was so tough.  My face hurt because it was so cold and I just wanted to be warm.  I managed to HTFU just long enough to  make it to my car.  I made it 19 miles and was done.  I figured that was close enough to 20!

I called my husband and told him I was on my way home.  I cranked the heat as high as I could and drove home.  When I got home, I was still shivering uncontrollably and just could not warm up.  To my surprise, my husband had made me some hot chocolate with milk for a recovery drink and to help warm me up!  I took some sips then quickly got out of my running clothes.  I was surprised to find that they were drenched and my hair was soaked!  I sweat so much when I run, even in the cold.  No wonder I started freezing when the sun went down.  I took the longest hot shower, put on my recovery tights, my cozy sweatshirt, then wrapped up in some blankets to drink the rest of my hot chocolate!

This wasn't exactly how I wanted this run to go, but I guess considering I've been sick and haven't done a long run in several weeks, I should have known better.  I probably overdid it a little bit, but I think that if my stomach hadn't revolted and I hadn't have gotten so cold, it would have gone much better.  Hopefully next weekend's long run will be better!

I hope you are all having a great week!  I cannot believe Christmas is on Saturday!!  I'm not sure if I'll post again before Christmas, so I want to wish all of you and your families a very merry Holiday!!  :)

A week in review and other things too!

Training:
*  I've been taking it pretty easy this week with my runs, which has been nice.  However, I am really looking forward to doing a long run this weekend!  It was been too long since I've gone long and I'm itching to get out there!  It's going to be cold, but I got some new winter stuff that I think will help me get over my "cold wussiness!"

Check out these awesome Saucony gloves I found!  They are the Ulti-Mitt II [HERE].
**Note:  I bought these gloves myself and this review is based on my own opinions.  I was  not paid by Saucony to review these gloves (Although, Saucony, if you want to send me free stuff to review...I'd be happy to test out your awesome products!) :)   

At first glance, they look like ordinary gloves, right?  But, what happens if the wind starts picking up and it gets really cold?  Usually, my fingers still end up going numb, even with gloves on.  But, these gloves have a secret weapon.

Hidden wind mitts!!  They tuck into this little pouch when you don't need them.  But, when the wind comes out...voila!  You have the ultimate protection!  I LOVE these gloves.  And, do you notice the little black cloth area??  Perfect for wiping dripping snot from your nose.  You know it happens, and you know you do it too!!  :)
Oh, but that's not all they have!

They also have these nifty little holes, that you can take your thumb and index finger out to easily tear open a gel, gu, sport beans, or whatever!  How awesome is that?
AND, do you see that little light by my wrist?  It comes with a little mini clip on light that you can put wherever you want to be more visible.  It  has a solid and flashing option.
Again, these gloves ROCK!  They are a little pricey, but for me, it was totally worth it to be comfortable in the cold and wind.

*  Long run help!!!  I'm still trying to figure out how I want to do my long runs from now until my marathon.  I basically have 4 weekends of long runs left (the marathon is on Jan. 16th).  So, I'm thinking of doing 20, 18, 16, then 10.  I know a 20 miler this weekend is probably not the best idea since I haven't run long in awhile.  But, I kind of feel like I need to do it-ya know?  What do you all think?  What would you do?  How would you do your long runs from this point on?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Other Things Too:
*  Jill at Run With Jill set up an amazing holiday blogger gift exchange this year!  Thanks again Jill...you ROCK!  I was so excited when I opened my mail box yesterday and saw a shiny red envelope addressed to me!!

I opened it right away, and this is what I found:

Jason at Life Of An Aspiring Triathlete sent me such fun things!  Two cute little books, and an awesome Christmas ornament, which I put on my tree right away!  Thanks Jason!!! :)







*  KONA is on tomorrow!  Who else is going to be glued to their TVs tomorrow??  I will be on my couch with a box of Kleenex by my side.  I don't know what it is about watching that race, but I am always in tears pretty much throughout the entire program!

*  I cannot believe this is only 1 week left until Christmas!!  I am sooo glad that I have all of my Christmas shopping done!  I've been out running errands and everywhere I go, it is a complete zoo!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  :)

A week in review and other things too

Training:
*  Training for this week can pretty much be summed up by one word: BLAH!  Ever since my 18miler turned 14miler last weekend, I have just been in a weird funk.  I don't know what it is, but it needs to stop NOW!  I guess it didn't help that my husband was sick with a 24hr. stomach bug and my youngest is having night terrors.  The lack of sleep is definitely playing a toll.

*  I missed my yoga class this week too...:(

*  I downloaded a winter tri maintenance plan from beginnertriathlete.com and am thinking about starting it up in the next 2 weeks.  This might sound crazy, but I think my blahness (not a real word, but it should be!) is because I'm tired of JUST running.  I miss riding my bike and swimming.  It may sound crazy, but I actually like looking at my calendar and seeing a nice mix of swims, bike rides, and runs to do!  I'm not sure how it will play into my marathon training, but I guess I'll find out pretty soon.  

Other things too:

*Trish at My Path to Travel left me a comment directing me to this site and I thought I'd pass it along:  http://ironbandmusic.com/emails/120110.htm.  I'm sure you all know the story of Jon "Blazeman" Blias.  Well, music and triathlon recently came together to raise more money for the Blazeman Foundation to fight the war on ALS.  All you have to do is go to iTunes, buy the tunes, and 100% of the proceeds will go to help fight ALS.  Pretty cool huh?
Here are links from iTunes:
*Blazeman Band - Ironman Blazeman [HERE]
*Ironband - Please, Please, Santa [HERE]

You can also check out this video [HERE] of the "Iron Blazeman" song video featuring some great musicians and pros.  I have to admit it was pretty crazy to see Chrissy Wellington and Matty Reed singing. :)

*  I won an Outside PR bucket full of goodies from Tall Mom on the Run and it came in the mail today!  All I can say is WOW!  There were so many cool things in the bucket!  Check out all the goodies!

I am so excited to try these things out!
Oh, and I have some good news!  One of the items you see in the picture will be featured in a special giveaway!  Details coming soon!  Woohoo! :)

*  So, Hammer nutrition [HERE] is having an awesome sale right now.  All of their fuel and supplements are 20% off from now until Dec. 17th.  My husband and I love Hammer gel, so we decided to take advantage of their awesome prices and stock up.  Well, our order arrived today and I was shocked to find tons of extra things inside!
Hammer rocks!  The boxes and big gel container is what we ordered, everything else were free goodies!  I have been reading a lot of great things about Perpetuem and Heed, so I am really excited about trying them out in my training.  Plus, now that IMAZ is right around the corner (well, really 11 months away..he he), I need to figure out what my nutrition will be come race day (yes, I am already stressing about it!).

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*  Is it really already Dec. 3rd???  That is crazy!  That means we only have 22 days until Christmas!  Wow!  I think we're going to get our Christmas tree this weekend.  Yay!

I hope you all have a great weekend!  :)

Time, Tired, and T-shirts

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Time:
Marathon training is in full effect in our house these days.  With my husband and I both needing to do our long runs on the weekends, we've had to figure out a schedule so that we can both get our runs done, then still have a good part of the day together with our boys.  So far, we've been able to make it work.  Mother Nature has been pretty good to us this fall and we've had some awesome running weather.  But, we'll see how it goes when the snow comes and the temps start to drop only giving us a certain number of hours during the day to run.  Brrr...I don't even want to think about it yet!

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Tired:
I think marathon training this 2nd time around is starting to take a toll on my body.  I don't know what it is lately, but my body is just tired.  I've felt it coming on the last couple of weeks, and this weekend was pretty much the tipping point.  I was supposed to do an 18 mile run.  I started off feeling good, but around mile 11, my legs just started feeling a little heavy.  I just wasn't feeling it, so instead of pushing myself to do 7 more miles, I stopped at 14.  Maybe I should have pushed through and done the total distance, but I just really didn't have the motivation to do it.  I finished my run and seriously felt like I had altitude sickness.  I was kind of loopy and felt like I could just fall asleep right then and there.  What is up with that?  I think I'm going to go easy on myself this week and hopefully I'll get my mojo back by the weekend.

T-shirts:
I thought I'd take this time to talk about a really cool site called Family Fan Club (HERE).  Here's some information from their site about what they're all about:

FamilyFanClub is a small, privately owned company that creates and sells original endurance and multisport designs on quality apparel and gift items through the internet and race expos. We strive to deliver fun, creative products that celebrate support of athletic and fitness accomplishment.

If you take a look at their site, they have some really cool designs for a variety of sports, including triathlons.  One of their designs is what was used for the "Cheap Gear" button on the right side of my blog.  What I like about the site is that you can pick a design or personalize it according to the race or event you're doing or for someone you're supporting.  How cool is that?  Another cool thing, is that they just added the ability to print on performance wicking 100% polyester tech shirts!  Woohoo for tech shirts!
Oh, and as a side, I think it's hilarious that they have LOST shirts.  If you are one of my original followers, you know that I was majorly obsessed with the show LOST.   Ha ha!
Anyways, I am seriously thinking about making a shirt for me, my sister, and my husband for the PF Chang's marathon!  How fun would that be to wear the shirts during the marathon!?!  Or maybe I'll leave a hint for my husband to make cute shirts for my boys to wear during Ironman Arizona!?! :)

Have any of you ever gotten a shirt made for a special event you did or one you were a spectator at?  I just think it's such a fun idea!  


Anyways, I hope you all had a great weekend!  Thank you all so much for the awesome comments you wrote on my IMAZ post.  I loved reading through all of them and am so excited to be going through this crazy IM adventure with so many of you this year! :)

A week in review and other things too

Training:
*  This week has been awesome as far as training goes.  It almost seems like I am training for a tri again because I've been able to swim, bike, and run!  Yay!  This week made me realize just how much I like to train for tris.  Don't get me wrong, I love running, and I've been enjoying training for my marathons, but it's nice to switch things up a bit and go for a bike ride every once in awhile.  The weather has been really nice here, especially for the end of Oct/early Nov., so I've been taking advantage of it and getting outside to ride.  It's been great!

*  Another reason I'm glad I've been able to ride outside is because I need to get my riding legs back in shape for next weekend!  My sister and I are doing the Muddy Buddy in Phx. and I am so excited!  We have our costumes picked out and everything and it's going to be so much fun!   I'm thinking about wearing my VFF Bikilas for the race.  Since we're bound to get muddy, I don't think I really want to get my running shoes dirty b/c they'd be a pain to clean!  But, I don't know how they'll be on the bike.  What do you think?

*  I've decided to do the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge that Amanda at Run To The Finish is putting on.  You can click on the button on the right of my blog to get the scoop!






*  I went to my yoga class again yesterday, and it kicked my ass!  The instructor focused a lot on working our core and legs/hips and it was tough!  At one point, I was breathing so hard that my lips got tingly.  Have I mentioned how much I love that class?!?

*  I have a couple of exciting things coming up in the next few weeks, that I'm still waiting on.  They need to be worked out a little more, but when I get it all figured out I'll be sure to share them with you!  I'm pretty excited about them, so keep your fingers crossed that they happen! :)

Other Things Too:
*  I've won three blog giveaways in the past couple of weeks and I am so excited!!!  First, I won an awesome Nathan Handheld water bottle from Marcia at Running Off at the Mouth.  Then, I won an awesome outside PR gift bucket from Mel at Tall Mom on the Run.  Then, I just found out I won a nutrition goodie from Kevin at Half Tri-ing.  Woohoo! :)

*  I'm still trying to get together the stuff for my giveaway.  I'm sorry it's taking so long, but I promise I'll have it up next week sometime.  Yay!

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*  We're going up to the mountains this weekend to visit my sister-n-law and her husband.  They've gotten quite a bit of snow up there, so I have to get out all of our winter gear.  Brrrr!  My boys are so excited about it, so it should be pretty fun!

A week in review and other things too

Training:
*  This week has been pretty low key because of my marathon on Sunday.  I have to say that I was sore the day after the race, but my soreness actually was not as bad as I thought it would be.  It makes me think about my current level of fitness and how, once again, I am amazed at what our bodies can do and overcome.

*  I have already designed my training plan for the RNR AZ marathon!  I'm excited about it and am anxious to get back out there training.  But, I know I need to let my body rest and fully recover before I take on the long runs again.  The last thing I want to do is start back too hard, too soon and end up injured.

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* I went to my yoga class this week and we had a substitute teacher.  At first I was bummed because in the past, the subs haven't been that good.  But, I really liked the teacher.  We did a series of form poses/stretches and would hold them for awhile before moving on to the next one.  I didn't want a hard workout today and the poses were perfect for stretching my piriformis, hamstrings, and other leg muscles.  She also had us do these foot stretches and rubs that were amazing!  It was just what I needed!

Other Things Too:
*  Welcome new followers!!!  I cannot believe I almost have 200 followers!  Wow!  I'm thinking of doing another fun giveaway when I reach 200!!  Yay!

*  I had such a fun time with my mom, sister, and nephews!  All of the boys got along pretty good for the most part.  There were some crazy moments, but that's to be expected when you put 4 boys 5 and under all in the same house for 5 days! :)



Here are three of them playing in the water and mud!  Yes, they are typical boys!  :)







*  My husband celebrated his birthday on Monday!  We had a fun family party for him, then all dug into a delicious ice cream cake from Dairy Queen!  Seriously, those cakes are sooo good!

He's been getting into mountain biking again this year, so I went with that for the theme of his cake.  The boys got a kick out of the picture and thought it was the coolest thing!






*  Every day it seems like the days are getting shorter and shorter.  I love fall, but I do not like the shorter, darker days.  There are only so many hours of daylight that we can use to get training in outside, and inevitably, I'm going to have to start using my trainer and treadmill a lot more.

Lovely area isn't it??  We have to put the "fence" around it so the boys don't get into all of the equipment!



*  At the RNR Denver expo, there was a booth for the CEP compression socks.  I stopped and told the guy that I loved the socks and was planning on wearing them in the marathon.  He gave me a wristband with a website address on it and told me that if I submitted a picture of me racing in the socks I would get a free pair!  Score!  I'm planning on giving my sister the free pair because honestly, I don't really need another pair.  Although, the pink ones are pretty cute! :)

* I won this tri charm from a giveaway awhile back and I really like the graphics on it!  It has a swim, bike, and run picture around it.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet.  I may put it on a band as a bracelet or make it into a necklace, but I just don't know.  Any suggestions??

I hope you all have a great weekend! :)

A week in review and other things too

Training:
*  There are only 10 days left until my first marathon!  Where did the time go?  I'm getting really excited about it and am just ready to GO!  :)

*  Because this is a taper week, my runs have been pretty low key.  Today I decided to take my youngest on a short 3M run in the jogging stroller along the Highline canal.  This was the first time that I've actually pushed the jogger with only him in it and what a difference one less kid makes!  I mean, it was still an entire body workout, but it was so nice to only be pushing ~50lbs(stroller+ kid weight) instead of ~100lbs!  I stopped along the route to let him watch some water fountains, tractors, and other stuff.  It was actually a really fun time!

*  I know this doesn't really have anything to do with training, but here is a picture I took along the trail.  Notice the white stuff on top of the mountains?  Yep, that is snow.  The mountains got their first dusting of it last night!  Yikes!

Everyone chant with me:  Snow, snow, stay away,  don't come till November yay!  (I know that's lame, but I wanted it to rhyme..ha ha)  I really am not ready for snow yet.  We are finally getting fall like temperatures and it is so nice.

Other Things Too:

*  Now, I am not a huge beer fan, and actually don't really drink much alcohol at all.  I like a glass of wine (or two) with dinner on occassion, but really I'm fine without it.  But, my husband came across this beer and I have to say that I really like it!  It is just a really nice, drinkable beer.  Plus, how cute is the labeling? :)  If you see it in the store, check it out and let me know what you think about it!

*  Tonight is Parent's Night Out at my son's preschool.  They actually let siblings go too, so my husband and I are dropping off the boys and going out on a date!  Woohoo!  It's been awhile since we've had a date, so it's going to be nice to spend some quality time together.

*  I'm so excited because my mom, sister, her boys, and her husband are coming up next week for a visit!  My sister was originally going to run the marathon with me, but because of the crazy heat in AZ, it's been hard for her to train for the full.  So, she's coming out to do the 1/2 instead!  Yay!  I can't wait till they get here!  She has two boys too (1 1/2 & 3), so our house is going to be a mad house for a couple of days with four boys 5 and under all running around!  But, it will be sooo much fun! :)  

*  I know this may sound crazy, but I really want a dehydrator.  At first I thought they were silly appliances.  I mean, who would take the time to dehydrate fruit when you can buy it in the store??  But, the stuff in the store is expensive and full of ingredients that I can't even pronounce!  Plus, now that my boys are in school, I have been trying to give them healthy things in their lunches.  Being able to make homemade fruit roll-ups and dried fruit would just be awesome!
I've been doing some research and asked Amber at Almost Vegan what she uses and she recommended the Excalibur.  It got pretty good reviews on amazon, but I'm still having a hard time coughing up the money to get it.  Maybe Santa will get me one for Christmas this year!  :)

Alrighty, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

I know there are some of you racing this weekend, so GOOD LUCK! :)

Oh yeah, and I am so excited about Kona tomorrow and can't wait to see who wins!

My toe and a 20 Miler!

My Toe:
I cannot believe I forgot to write a little blurb about my toe on my last post.  Some of you wrote comments asking me how it was (thanks!), so I thought I'd give you a little update.  For those of you who didn't read about it, you can see my lovely toe here.  Well, I'm happy to say that it is feeling much better!  I was actually able to drain it a little bit, but I just could not bring myself to take the nail off.  The swelling is gone, there is no pressure under the nail anymore, and it is almost pain free.  Yay! I know it is going to fall off eventually, so I'll just let Mother Nature decide when it's time for it to come off.  Until then, I'll deal with the black nail! :)

My 20 Miler:
Or otherwise known as the kick ass, confidence booster run I needed! :)
We had a little "cold" front come to Denver yesterday, making the high only in the upper 60s/low 70s.  Since the sun doesn't come up until 7A, I decided to start my run around 7:30.  It was in the 50s and I could see my breath when I got out of my car.  Brrrrr.  But, I knew I would warm up over the next 3 hours or so.  I decided to wear my shorts with my compression socks instead of my running tights b/c I wanted to see how they felt during a long run.  I know this was a gamble, especially since I was running 20 miles, but I was willing to take the chance.

I started running and was amazed at how many other people were already out on the trail.  I run on this trail a lot and I have never seen as many runners on it as I did yesterday.  It was awesome!
The trees were also very beautiful.  I took this picture at the beginning of the run.  Almost all of the trees along the trail were already changing.

I tried to keep my pace around 9:30 again, but my legs just wanted to go!  I don't know if it was because I was more rested, but my legs just felt "fresh."  I settled into a pace somewhere between 9:00-9:15 and just kept running, hoping this pace wouldn't come back and bite me later in my run.

7 miles into my run, I crossed a road I had never crossed before and continued on the path onto unchartered territory.  It was nice to be running along a new section of the trail and I really think this made my run go by faster then usual.  Around mile 9 I passed a park with a water fountain and a port-a-potty and made a mental note of where it was.  I made it to 10 miles, did a quick fist pump in the air, then turned around.  I was feeling really good and I was actually excited about completing the second part of my run.  I reached the water fountain, refilled one of my water bottles, then used the port-a-potty.  This is probably more info. then you care to know, but up until that point, I had been ducking behind trees and bushes to do my business.  So, it was nice to actually have a place to "go."  :)

Around mile 13, I saw two women running in front of me that looked really familiar.  I ran up next to them, and it was Julie from You Just Have to Tri! and Kathleen from Dare to Dream.  I was so excited to see them!  I ran next to them for awhile and learned that they were doing 11 miles!  They are both doing the Denver 1/2 marathon.  We chatted for a little bit, then I headed out to complete the rest of my run.  It was so fun to see them and it really gave me a boost of energy to keep on keepin' on!

From that point on, I just kept ticking off the miles.  I would get to mile 14 and say, "6 miles to go."  Then, before I knew it I was at mile 15.  5 miles to go.  At this point I decided to pick up the pace a little bit and run a couple miles at my marathon pace.  I got to mile 18 and remembered how hard my last 18 miler was at the end.  But today, I felt different.  I felt strong and was just having a great time being outside running.  I kept up my pace and was overcome with joy when I reached my car!  20.15 miles in 3 hrs. for a 8:58min/M avg. pace!!

Happy to be done with my first 20 miler! :)

I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED my compression socks! They were really comfortable...not too tight and not too loose.  I didn't get any blisters, my feet never got hot, and I truly believe they helped me get through the run.  I will definitely be wearing them for my marathon.

See all the dust?  Yeah...my socks and shoes got pretty dirty from the trail!



I got home, and this is where I sat for the next 15 minutes.  Brrrr!  And  yes, I have swimsuit bottoms on!

Can you see my goosebumps?  Here, let me help you!

Then, after a nice, warm shower, I slipped on my compression tights and headed out to lunch.  Chipotle veggie burrito bowl anyone?

Overall, I was super happy and excited after my run!  That is the longest I have ever run, and I now know that I WILL be able to make it to the finish line of my marathon!  Yay!

I hope you are all having a great weekend! :)

A week in review and other things too

Training:
*  I have one last long run, my 20 miler, this weekend before I start my taper for my marathon!  I am actually looking forward to running it this weekend.  I hope it goes well because I'm starting to get a little nervous about the 26.2 miles I have to do in 17 days!  Yikes!

*  After my marathon, I am looking at doing some sort of tri winter maintenance plan.  I did one last year from beginnertriathlete.com that I really liked, so I may do that again or look for something different.  Do any of you do some sort of maintenance plan over the winter?  If so, what do you do?

*  I'm still doing my weekly yoga class.  The instructor started offering a Monday night class at 6:30 that I'm trying to get my husband to go to with me.  He's been wanting to do more yoga, and we tried some DVDs, but they weren't the best.  So, this would be great because we could drop our boys off at Kids' Club and do the class together.  We're going to try for this Monday.  I'll let you know if it happens!


Other Things Too:

So, I can't figure out how to embed this in my blog, so here is the link to get to the good stuff! :)

*  GU has a new flavor!  It's called Island Nectars and it's supposed to be delicious!  If you'd like to try it out, they are giving away a FREE 6 pack with any purchase at guenergy.com!  Woohoo!  You can click the link above to get the promo code!  

*  I am now officially a RRCA certified coach!  Woohoo!  I passed the test and the CPR/First Aid class/test and submitted all of my materials!  Now, I just have to wait 2-4 weeks to be up on the RRCA site...ugh! 

*  My youngest started preschool this year and we decided to put him in 3 days a week.  It's been a rough transition for him and he cries every time I drop him off.  While this is heart wrenching for me, his teacher always assures me that he's fine and playing within 5 minutes of me leaving.  Plus, when I pick him up he is always happy and tells me about how much fun he had during the day.  I just hope that the crying stops soon because it really is hard to just hand him off and walk away. :( 

On the days that he's home though, we've been having lots of fun!  This is one of my favorite pictures of us just being silly in some $1 wigs I bought at Target.  

   

I hope you all have a great weekend! :) 

A week in review and other random things too!

Training:
* So training this week has been great!  I did my long 18 miler, and survived, which made me very happy!  I'm thinking about doing my 20 miler next Sunday (Oct. 3rd), which would be 11 days after my 18 miler.  I don't know when else I could do it and still get in a good taper for the marathon on the 17th.  For those of you who have done a marathon, is this a good plan of attack?  I feel like I need to get the 20 miler in, but I don't want to do it if I can't recover enough for it to do well in the marathon.  Does that make sense?  Ugh...being sidelined by sickness just screws everything up!

*  I had an amazing yoga class yesterday.  It involved a lot of stretching and moves that really helped with my piriformis.  It was almost as if she was catering the workout to me...:)

* I found a new masters swim class that I think I'm going to like a lot better than the one I was going to at 24 hour fitness.  It is put on by Swim Labs, the same company I went to for the video stroke analysis.  The coach actually helped me with my stroke and told me things I could do to improve.  Plus, it was a lot less intimidating than the other one and I just felt more comfortable there.  I know I shouldn't care about how the other swimmers are doing, but it's hard being the slowest one in a class.  Mentally, I just need a change from that.  I really want to focus on my swimming during the off season, so I think this will be good for me.

Other things too:

 *  So, I broke down and bought a pair of CEP Running Progressive Compression socks.  I love my Zoot compression tights, so I thought I would try these too.  I first wore them after my Naked Foot 5k.  My calves were a little sore from running in my VFF Bikilas, and these were awesome! I've since worn them several times after some runs, and I really like how they feel.  They are a little difficult to get on at first, but once they're on they feel great.  The compression is not too tight or too loose, which is nice.  I am planning on wearing them during a 10M run next week to see how they are during running.  If they work well, I may be wearing them for my marathon.  Do any of your have compression socks?  If so, how do you like them?  Have you ever worn them for a long run/marathon? 


*  I volunteered in my son's kindergarten class this week for a couple of hours and it was awesome.  I know a lot of moms and dads don't ever get that opportunity, so I feel very lucky to be able to do it.  It was so cute to see the little kindergartners working away, but boy does the teacher have her hands full!  I taught 3, 4, and 5th grade before being a SAHM, and I gotta tell you I would NOT want to teach kindergarten!  There were some kiddos in there that have never even been to preschool and were just completely clueless about everything.  Then, there were others that were kind of bored because they are already ahead of what they are expected to know by the end of the year.  Crazy, crazy!

Some Randomness:
*  The awesome Beth at Shut Up and Run! tagged me to post 10 random things about myself! Thanks, Beth! :)  So, here they are:

1.  In college I got a degree in Exercise Physiology before getting a degree in Education.  I graduated, and then decided that what I really wanted to do was be a teacher.  Two years later, I graduated again with an Education degree.  I love being a teacher, but what I would really love to do is be a high school running coach.  Then, I could put both of my degrees to use at the same time!  I would LOVE it!

2.  I have never broken a bone (knock on wood!).

3.  I had a red Jeep Wrangler in high school/college and ended up having to sell it.  I loved that thing.  I know it's not a very practical vehicle, but if I could, I would buy another one in a heartbeat!

4.  Moths freak me out.  They fly so sporadically and you never know where they're going to go.  Plus, they like to "hide" in the weirdest places like in the curtains, between the glass and screen door, and they love our garage door!  We get a lot of moths here in CO and I'm always asking my husband to catch them and throw them back outside.

5.  If I could, and I knew that I wouldn't gain a bazillion pounds, I would bake something every day of the week!  There's just something about the process of baking something and the smells that fill the air that I just love.

6.  I've said this in the past, but one of my dreams is to through hike the Appalachian trail.  I WILL do it someday!

7.  Because my dad owned his own construction business when I was growing up, I probably know more about tools and building things then most men (no offense guys!).  It is hilarious when I walk into Home Depot and the guys working there automatically assume I know nothing.  Then, once I start talking to them, I can actually see and hear a shift in the way they look at me and talk to me.  I love having all of the knowledge that I do, and I have my awesome mom and dad to thank for it!

8.  I am an organizational freak!  Seriously, you should see my cabinets.  Almost everything has it's own little labeled bin/container.  It just makes life sooo much easier when things are organized!

9.  I love finding ways to use what I have in my fridge, freezer, and cabinets to create something for lunch or dinner.  I do this because I really don't like to waste food, and it saves money, but really, it just allows me NOT to have to make a trip to the grocery store! :)

10.  I love wearing jeans, and would probably wear them every day if I could.  But, I have a really hard time finding ones that fit me well.  I have "runner's thighs" and a thin waste, so when I find ones that fit my legs/butt, they are huge in the waist and vice versa.  I swear the next time I find a pair of jeans that I love, I'm going to buy 5 pairs of them, just so I never have to shop for jeans again!

Alrighty, I liked how Beth choose people to tag, so I'm going to steal copy her idea!  I'm going to tag the first 5 people that commented on my last post!
1. Running, Tri-ing and Living
2.  Caratunk Girl
3.  Forward Foot Strides
4.  The Road (A Multisport Blog)
5.  Chiu On This

*  I hope you all have a great weekend!  I know there are some of you racing, so good luck to you!  

18 Miles Done and an Ice Bath!

The 18 Miler:
I was supposed to do this run last week, but because I was sick, I decided to rest and get well before tackling it.  I would rather take 5 days off to get better, then run through it and end up getting even more sick.  I did that in January and ended up with nasty bronchitis that would put me in coughing fits lasting over 20 minutes after trying to workout!  It was horrible!  Let's just say I learned my lesson!

I dropped my boys off at school, came back home, got everything loaded into the car, and headed to my favorite place to run long, the Highline Canal.  The weather was in the mid 60s, so it was perfect!  I wore my Nathan Speed 4 belt, which carried ~40oz. of liquid.  When it's warmer out, this is no way enough liquid to get me through 18 miles, but because it was cooler, I didn't know what I would need.  So, my plan was to park in the middle of the trail system and do an out and back to the north, then an out and back to the south.  That way I could stop at my car to refill my bottles if I needed to.

I really wanted to focus on staying at the right pace for this run, around 9:30, especially since it was the longest I have ever run and I was sick last week.  I definitely did not want to push the pace.  In the past I always found it difficult to run "slow" for my long runs.  For some reason, I would always try and run just below the pace I was supposed to.  I think in my mind, I was trying to "beat" myself, which is absurd!  After taking the RRCA class, I really understood the importance of the long, slow run and why we run it at a particular pace.  Having that mindset really helped and I found myself running pretty close to where I needed to be!

The Highline canal was absolutely beautiful.  The majority of the trees were already changing colors and because there was a breeze, leaves were falling from the trees as I ran.  And, it even smelled like fall.  The kind of musty, damp smell associated with leaves and rain.  It was awesome!

My piriformis on my left side was bothering me a little bit over the last month which was leading to some knee pain.  I decided to finally get another sports massage to see if it would help and the lady was AWESOME!  She knew exactly where to push and massage to get it feeling better.  I was really worried about it hurting during my run, but surprisingly, it didn't hurt at all!  I was so happy!

Around mile 13, I started getting kind of bored and it was getting mentally difficult to keep running.  I tried not to focus on how many more miles I had to run, but just to enjoy being outside on such a beautiful day.  That worked for about a mile...ha ha!  The way my route was planned, I passed by my car at the 15.5M mark.  That was tough to run past knowing I still had 2.5 miles to go.  I was so tired and my legs were feeling pretty fatigued.  I could definitely feel the effects of being sick for a week!  I just kept telling myself, "You can do it, you can do it."  I ran until the 17mile mark, then turned around to head back to my car.  That last mile felt sooo slow.  I would look at my Garmin and I would be at 17.3, then I would look again, hoping to be almost done, only for it to show 17.4...ugh!  Finally, I hit the 18M mark!!  I actually put my hands in the air and shouted, "Yay, you did it!"  I'm glad no one else was around, because I'm sure I looked pretty silly!  I finished my 18miles in 2:48 for a 9:20 avg. pace, which is pretty close to the 9:30 I was shooting for!  

  

The Ice Bath:
I came home, and decided it was time to take my first ice bath!  Now, I don't tolerate cold very well, but I was actually excited about it.  I made a cup of hot chocolate milk, put on my tri shorts, a long sleeved sweatshirt, and headed to the bath.

Can I just say, "Brrrrrrrr!"  It was soooo cold!  I was shivering and my teeth were chattering.  Yes, I am still wearing my Smartwool socks, but I thought that if I didn't my toes would freeze off!  If you look closely, you can see the goosebumps on my legs!  In all honesty, the ice bath felt awesome and almost rejuvenating!  I think it will definitely be something I try to do after all of my long runs from this point on.

 My warm, fuzzy sweatshirt and hot chocolate milk were wonderful!  Thank god for the little morsels of warmth they provided! :)

After my bath, I took a quick shower and slipped into these:

I LOVE my Zoot compression tights!!














Then, I feasted on a big bowl of yogurt, fruit, and homemade granola!  YUM!

Overall, I am really happy with how my long run went.  I felt like I kept a pretty steady pace and my nutrition worked perfectly.  I had 3 gels (at 5, 10, & 15M), and drank water and NUUN.  I didn't have any stomach issues at all, which was awesome!  I'm going to have to figure out when to run my last long run, a 20 miler, before starting my taper.  With only 3 weeks before the race, the timing is pretty tricky.  Any suggestions??