After work tomorrow I leave for Portland to run the Helvetia 1/2 marathon Saturday morning. Where have the past several weeks gone!? I signed up for Helvetia back in February and June 11th seemed so far away then.....time flys when you are having fun!
This will be my second year running Helvetia with Cassie, and I hope not the last. I already have a feeling that it will be a great weekend! I am really looking forward to my Helvetia burger after the race too...I can't remember the last time I had a hamburger-December??? January?????
Helvetia is a pretty challenging course- there are a lot of rolling hills! They seem never ending, but I have been running hills like crazy on all of my runs to try and be prepared. Luckily, it shouldn't be as hot as it was last year so I am hoping that I don't die on the course like I felt like I was going to last year. I have been tracking weather.com all week and it looks like Saturday will be a high somewhere between 65-70 degrees and partly cloudy. Perfect morning running weather.
After much thought over the last week I have decided against wearing my IPOD. I am hoping that this decision doesn't come back and bite me in the butt. I figure I need to really keep my pace in check and my music/IPOD might be distracting. I am also always in my "zone" and don't ever really pay that much attention to my music during a race like I would on a training run anyways. At Windermere I was so yucky and sweaty that the last couple of miles my ear buds wouldn't stay in place and it was annoying having to mess with them.
It has been almost 4 weeks since Windermere I am feeling fantastic. I have gotten in several solid runs and mixed up my cross training with class, spin, and TRX. I am pretty stubborn (SHOCKER!!!), but I am finding that by listening to Amy, I am actually making some great strides in my running. On my 10 mile run, I took 3 minutes off of my overall time and on a 5 mile tempo run I averaged a 7:04 pace (these runs were in the same week!!!). I don't think that I have ever ran a 5 mile tempo run that fast before. I was shocked, but mostly shocked that it felt awesome. Woo! Hoo! I am mildly obsessed with spin- it is incredibly addicting. I like to "compete" against myself to see how many miles I can get in. It is also some of the best cross training I have ever done.
I will admit that I have struggled a bit this last week. I only had 2 runs which felt weird- I have always struggled with tapering. On Monday I went to spin at 6 am and then I had a 5 mile tempo run after work. I was tired/crabby and it was cold outside, but I pushed through the run. I couldn't get my pace right so I was getting frustrated- first I was going too fast so I would slow and then I was going to slow. UGH! I finally got into a rhythm about mile 3 and pushed through with an average pace of 7:03. It was faster than the week before, but it didn't feel good because I was exhausted from running so late in the day and from spin class. If it hadn't started to rain on me I probably wouldn't have picked up the pace that last mile.
The last couple of weeks I have also been really focusing on what I eat. I was watching my food intake before, but now I am focused on eating a little more everyday 1300 calories or so and watching my % of fat, protein, and carbs more closely. I also have one day a week where I eat about 1500-1800 calories- that is usually on Saturday so that Cam and I can eat out. Currently I am trying to maintain my daily carb intake to 45%, protein to 30%, and fat to 25%. It took a couple of days to get into the swing of watching my %, but I think that I have gotten it down. I am finding that it helps to plan out my food the day before so that I can make sure that I am eating the correct amounts. I would usually plan out my lunch and snacks, but now I plan everything that I will eat the day before. I am telling you, this being healthy is time consuming- but so worth it.
After Helvetia I am just going to spend the summer focusing on getting stronger, faster and having solid runs to take me into CIM in December. I know that CIM is still months away, but I want to be as prepared as possible. I plan on running a couple more 1/2 marathons and some 10Ks prior to CIM. December will be here before I blink!
So much to be looking forward too in the coming months! :-)
--Tasha
Showing posts with label TRX. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TRX. Show all posts
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Windermere 1/2 Marathon: Week 6 down, 6 weeks to go!
What a crazy week! By the time Sunday rolled around I was thoroughly exhausted. I had some great workouts and I am now really starting to look forward to running in some races to see exactly where my fitness level is at. I struggled with my eating a bit this week. I upped my calories for a couple of days, but I don't think it was the right time for me to do so. I am hoping that this next week will be a good one for me.
Monday: I went to pilates for the first time in probably a year. I was hoping that it would help stretch out my legs from being crammed in a car all weekend. I was pretty stiff and figured that working on my flexibility would be a good thing. The class was interesting; definitely not my type of pilates. The instructor mostly used the stability ball and bands. Instead of stretching out my poor, tired muscles I think that I made them work even more. Attending this class probably wasn't the best idea, but I didn't want to just get up and leave in the middle of class. It is safe to say that I probably won't go back next week.
Tuesday: I got it handed to me in class with resistive running drills. That is another thing that never gets easier no matter how many times you run them. After work I went for a very slow and relaxing 2 miler around the top of Lincoln Park. Sometimes I just need those moments to clear my head and have some "me" time.
Wednesday: Oh boy. Wednesday was fun. I had every intention to do my hill workout in the morning, but when I woke up it was half raining, half snowing. I decided that staying in bed a wee bit longer would be nice. When I finally peeled myself out of my warm bed, I went to TRX class. This is another class that I hadn't attended since last fall. I like TRX because you use your own body weight to build strength and because you can make it as hard or as easy as you prefer. My little pea shooters were a little shaky when I left class.
After work I rushed home so I could get my hill workout completed. The weather still wasn't looking promising. I ran a 2.3 mile warm up and then completed 10 sets of hills. My hill running totaled 3.1 miles. I finished off with a 2.1 mile cool down bringing my total to 7.5 miles. I felt like I did great running on the hills so overall it was a good workout. The weather didn't really hold up; it rained, hailed, snowed and then the sun came out. I am so ready for summer!!!!
Thursday: Class was tough! I am upping my kettle bell weights so I have been struggling towards the end of each set. It's a good struggle, but it sure hurts. I am amazed that 12 weeks ago I was using a 15 lb KB and it was hard; now I am using a 25 lb KB.
Friday: I wanted to sleep in a bit, even if it was only an extra 30 minutes. I had pretty stressful week so pulling myself out of bed at 5:15 to go to a TRX class was brutal. Of course, it was AB's class so it was more than worth it! No matter what, it is always the best feeling in the world to begin your day with a workout.
Saturday: Class was a tough one! Since it was nice we got to go outside on the hill outside of SAC and do lunges with our KB's and do sprints. Ouch! I am finally getting better at lunges, but not when a hill is involved! I was a little sore by the time we were done. After class Cam and I went to AB's spin class. It was my first time, but Cam had been to a couple of classes before. I was pretty hesitant about going, but AB said that it would be great cross training for running. I was super nervous about going (I am such a dork!). The class was a lot of fun and was great. I can see how it can help my running. I will be attending a spinning class on a more regular basis now. I think that it will help me out a lot. Thanks AB! On the other hand, my gluteus maximus was quite sore after the class, especially Sunday morning. Ouchie!
Sunday: I woke up kind of sore (see note above) so I didn't go running until around 11:00 am. I wanted to do some stuff around the house and hope that my muscles would loosen up a bit. They finally started to feel better so I headed out for my 12 miler. The first couple of miles were pretty slooooow. It took me a while to get warmed up and find my rhythm. Once I got going, each mile was faster than the last. I hit my 10 mile mark in 1 hr. 27 min (same time I ran 10 miles the Sunday before) and I finished in 1 hr. 43 min. I don't remember what my 6 mile time was, but I know that my last half was a lot faster. I felt super strong by the end of my run and I could have kept going, but by then it had started to rain and I had a strawberry & Greek yogurt chocolate protein shake calling my name.....
This next week is a recovery week so I won't be running as many miles. I plan on going to TRX and maybe a couple of spin classes too. :)
--Tasha
Monday: I went to pilates for the first time in probably a year. I was hoping that it would help stretch out my legs from being crammed in a car all weekend. I was pretty stiff and figured that working on my flexibility would be a good thing. The class was interesting; definitely not my type of pilates. The instructor mostly used the stability ball and bands. Instead of stretching out my poor, tired muscles I think that I made them work even more. Attending this class probably wasn't the best idea, but I didn't want to just get up and leave in the middle of class. It is safe to say that I probably won't go back next week.
Tuesday: I got it handed to me in class with resistive running drills. That is another thing that never gets easier no matter how many times you run them. After work I went for a very slow and relaxing 2 miler around the top of Lincoln Park. Sometimes I just need those moments to clear my head and have some "me" time.
Wednesday: Oh boy. Wednesday was fun. I had every intention to do my hill workout in the morning, but when I woke up it was half raining, half snowing. I decided that staying in bed a wee bit longer would be nice. When I finally peeled myself out of my warm bed, I went to TRX class. This is another class that I hadn't attended since last fall. I like TRX because you use your own body weight to build strength and because you can make it as hard or as easy as you prefer. My little pea shooters were a little shaky when I left class.
After work I rushed home so I could get my hill workout completed. The weather still wasn't looking promising. I ran a 2.3 mile warm up and then completed 10 sets of hills. My hill running totaled 3.1 miles. I finished off with a 2.1 mile cool down bringing my total to 7.5 miles. I felt like I did great running on the hills so overall it was a good workout. The weather didn't really hold up; it rained, hailed, snowed and then the sun came out. I am so ready for summer!!!!
Thursday: Class was tough! I am upping my kettle bell weights so I have been struggling towards the end of each set. It's a good struggle, but it sure hurts. I am amazed that 12 weeks ago I was using a 15 lb KB and it was hard; now I am using a 25 lb KB.
Friday: I wanted to sleep in a bit, even if it was only an extra 30 minutes. I had pretty stressful week so pulling myself out of bed at 5:15 to go to a TRX class was brutal. Of course, it was AB's class so it was more than worth it! No matter what, it is always the best feeling in the world to begin your day with a workout.
Saturday: Class was a tough one! Since it was nice we got to go outside on the hill outside of SAC and do lunges with our KB's and do sprints. Ouch! I am finally getting better at lunges, but not when a hill is involved! I was a little sore by the time we were done. After class Cam and I went to AB's spin class. It was my first time, but Cam had been to a couple of classes before. I was pretty hesitant about going, but AB said that it would be great cross training for running. I was super nervous about going (I am such a dork!). The class was a lot of fun and was great. I can see how it can help my running. I will be attending a spinning class on a more regular basis now. I think that it will help me out a lot. Thanks AB! On the other hand, my gluteus maximus was quite sore after the class, especially Sunday morning. Ouchie!
Sunday: I woke up kind of sore (see note above) so I didn't go running until around 11:00 am. I wanted to do some stuff around the house and hope that my muscles would loosen up a bit. They finally started to feel better so I headed out for my 12 miler. The first couple of miles were pretty slooooow. It took me a while to get warmed up and find my rhythm. Once I got going, each mile was faster than the last. I hit my 10 mile mark in 1 hr. 27 min (same time I ran 10 miles the Sunday before) and I finished in 1 hr. 43 min. I don't remember what my 6 mile time was, but I know that my last half was a lot faster. I felt super strong by the end of my run and I could have kept going, but by then it had started to rain and I had a strawberry & Greek yogurt chocolate protein shake calling my name.....
This next week is a recovery week so I won't be running as many miles. I plan on going to TRX and maybe a couple of spin classes too. :)
--Tasha
Monday, April 4, 2011
Windermere 1/2 Marathon: Week 5 down, 7 weeks to go!
I feel like I did okay this week training wise, but I also felt like I struggled a bit. I am not concerned about it because it is probably just mental. Even though I know that it is perfectly normal to have ups & downs when you are training for something.
Monday is my dedicated off day. It is nice to be able to sleep in an extra 2 hours before work and actually get ready in my own bathroom. I might start attending a TRX or Pilates class on Monday, but I am still on the fence. I think going to a group class is intimidating. Everyone stares at you and I am always worried that I will make myself look like an idiot.
Wednesday I had my hill workout. Lets just say that the hill worked me! I decided to run the hill in Lincoln Park instead of the hill by SAC for an extra challenge. The LP hill is a MONSTER! The good thing about my workout is that somewhere along the hill I lost a pound. I did a 2.20 mile warm up, ran 2.8 miles of hill repeats (10 sets in total), and then completed a 2.0 mile cool down.
The super cool thing about my workouts is that I finally got my Garmin heart rate monitor to work. Since I had never used it in the 2 years of owning my watch the battery was dead. It is a pretty awesome/amazing training tool. My only complaint is that it is hard to run and read what your heart rate is at the same time.
Friday was my tempo run. It was raining when I woke up and I had zero motivation to get drenched so I decided to sleep in a bit and then do some packing for our trip to Olympia. I got off work at 3:30 and headed straight to SAC to get my 7 miles in. I figured I could park there and run through Browne's Addition and then do a loop around Riverfront Park. I felt really sluggish in the beginning and was thinking that the run was not going to go well. I hit my 1 mile marker and glanced at my watch to see that I had just ran a 7:53 mile! I guess I wasn't being a slug after all! I decided to slow down about 20 seconds per mile so that I could complete my run without dying. The workout ended up going perfect even though I was tired from my long/stressful week. I took a couple of minutes off of my last 7 mile tempo which was 2 weeks prior.
On Saturday after class we left for our quick trip to Olympia. I was a little worried because not only did I have a 10 mile run on Sunday, but I was worried about what I would eat. I was good and packed some food with me for the way over. I made a sandwich, threw in some granola bars and strawberries w/Greek yogurt.
I also packed up my protein powder for after my run. I definitely like to be prepared!
We went to Anthony's for dinner, which didn't make me feel quite as paranoid about what to eat. I knew that I could get Salmon for dinner and that it would be good. I was proud of myself for passing on the rolls and my mashed potatoes. My salmon and broccoli was amazing!
I was able, with the help of Cam's aunt & uncle, to map out my run. It is always nice to run in a different area, but I wanted to make sure I knew exactly where I was going so that I didn't get lost! I got up at 6 am on Sunday morning so that I could get my run done before we had to head back to Spokane. It was gorgeous and so incredibly peaceful. I almost wished that I had ran with my cell phone so that I could have taken some pics along the way. I ran through downtown Olympia and then around Capitol Lake 3 times and then back. The way back was a bit more challenging because I had an intense hill that I had to run back up. I think that it looked worse then it actually was, but it sure was a steep one! By the time I got back to the house I had ran exactly 10 miles. The whole run felt awesome. It always feels great to get up early and go running because it sets a positive tone for the rest of my day and gives me an extra boost of energy. The awesome part about my run was that I took 3 minutes off my 10 mile time from my run 2 weeks ago. Just knowing that made me feel even better about where my training is going.
--Tasha
Monday is my dedicated off day. It is nice to be able to sleep in an extra 2 hours before work and actually get ready in my own bathroom. I might start attending a TRX or Pilates class on Monday, but I am still on the fence. I think going to a group class is intimidating. Everyone stares at you and I am always worried that I will make myself look like an idiot.
Wednesday I had my hill workout. Lets just say that the hill worked me! I decided to run the hill in Lincoln Park instead of the hill by SAC for an extra challenge. The LP hill is a MONSTER! The good thing about my workout is that somewhere along the hill I lost a pound. I did a 2.20 mile warm up, ran 2.8 miles of hill repeats (10 sets in total), and then completed a 2.0 mile cool down.
The super cool thing about my workouts is that I finally got my Garmin heart rate monitor to work. Since I had never used it in the 2 years of owning my watch the battery was dead. It is a pretty awesome/amazing training tool. My only complaint is that it is hard to run and read what your heart rate is at the same time.
Friday was my tempo run. It was raining when I woke up and I had zero motivation to get drenched so I decided to sleep in a bit and then do some packing for our trip to Olympia. I got off work at 3:30 and headed straight to SAC to get my 7 miles in. I figured I could park there and run through Browne's Addition and then do a loop around Riverfront Park. I felt really sluggish in the beginning and was thinking that the run was not going to go well. I hit my 1 mile marker and glanced at my watch to see that I had just ran a 7:53 mile! I guess I wasn't being a slug after all! I decided to slow down about 20 seconds per mile so that I could complete my run without dying. The workout ended up going perfect even though I was tired from my long/stressful week. I took a couple of minutes off of my last 7 mile tempo which was 2 weeks prior.
On Saturday after class we left for our quick trip to Olympia. I was a little worried because not only did I have a 10 mile run on Sunday, but I was worried about what I would eat. I was good and packed some food with me for the way over. I made a sandwich, threw in some granola bars and strawberries w/Greek yogurt.
I also packed up my protein powder for after my run. I definitely like to be prepared!
We went to Anthony's for dinner, which didn't make me feel quite as paranoid about what to eat. I knew that I could get Salmon for dinner and that it would be good. I was proud of myself for passing on the rolls and my mashed potatoes. My salmon and broccoli was amazing!
I was able, with the help of Cam's aunt & uncle, to map out my run. It is always nice to run in a different area, but I wanted to make sure I knew exactly where I was going so that I didn't get lost! I got up at 6 am on Sunday morning so that I could get my run done before we had to head back to Spokane. It was gorgeous and so incredibly peaceful. I almost wished that I had ran with my cell phone so that I could have taken some pics along the way. I ran through downtown Olympia and then around Capitol Lake 3 times and then back. The way back was a bit more challenging because I had an intense hill that I had to run back up. I think that it looked worse then it actually was, but it sure was a steep one! By the time I got back to the house I had ran exactly 10 miles. The whole run felt awesome. It always feels great to get up early and go running because it sets a positive tone for the rest of my day and gives me an extra boost of energy. The awesome part about my run was that I took 3 minutes off my 10 mile time from my run 2 weeks ago. Just knowing that made me feel even better about where my training is going.
--Tasha
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