boston training: week 7

i feel like i have a ton to talk about and nothing to talk about. kinda weird (but of course ill drag this blog on and on im sure. enjoy). i had a great week of training and the days just keep coming and going. get up, run, work, sleep (kinda, not really), repeat. eat a lot. run a lot. coffee. chocolate coconut almonds. jeopardy. you know how it goes.

i took my rest day on thursday this week instead of friday, which set me up for a tough weekend once again, but the way my life schedule fell it made sense and i just went with it. related: the weather was better. obviously you should always plan your schedule around the weather (also related: my weather app is almost far enough out for april 18th! so accurate. #thingsbffhates). and god bless grandparents... they came down and i was able to go to the track on friday for my 1600m repeats! we had a huge melt of all the snow over the past week and the track was clear. it was quite cold, but i decided to suck it up (soooooo happy i did). it was 25 degrees when i started, 28 when i finished... actually quite gorgeous weather (minus the wind). it wasnt quite shorts weather, but i got hot and shed layer rather quickly. can i order up 28 degrees (no wind, snow or rain) for the race? just kidding. kinda.

the evolution of a track speed workout in february in maine #shedallthelayers

we headed north friday afternoon to stay with tys parents for the weekend, as we had a wedding to go to on saturday. the gym up there had treadmills that were less than desirable, (side note- the local gym had a day pass for $10 which was slightly higher than reasonable in my eyes, used to be $7 at places but whatever... but i had called planet fitness in a nearby town... $20! to run 6 miles. no. thanks. also: w.t.a.f?!) ... anyway the treadmill... not great. i really felt like my stride was weird, the belt was hard (almost painful to run on), and i almost got off at 2 miles and was gonna hop on the bike, but the belt seemed to soften as it warmed up and i got 6 recovery miles in with some strength and stretching after. for $10, of course.

hen truly seems to be loving staying awake all day recently, which drives mama nuts sometimes (especially when he wakes up so early in the morning!)... and this made for an interesting situation bringing him to the wedding saturday afternoon. hes usually not too fussy without a nap, but a switch goes off when hes ready for bed and we didnt know when that was going to happen. luckily it was after dinner. dads phone kept him occupied during the ceremony (with a few visits out to the side room when he was wanting to talk to dad about things), and then he spent dinner running around giving everyone high fives and telling the bride she had a "pretty dress".

i actually DO own clothes that isnt oiselle or sweatpants

but i also find ALL the dresses with pockets... for snacks. and bud lights. obviously.

back seat shenanigans

cheers!

hen finally got to the point where the tired set in... running around on the dance floor (in circles) with a few other kids a little older than him. after two falls, colliding with the other kids, one with his head hitting the floor (and so many tears), it was definitely time to go. he crashed when we got home (he might be the only kid in the history of forever that never (yes, never) falls asleep in the car. ugh). hes such a good kid though and seemed to have so much fun at the wedding (everyone loved his light up paw patrol shoes on the dance floor!)

when hen and i got back home sunday, the bff brought her son over to play with henry so that i could run outside (thank you thank you thank you!!). it was so nice out and my long sleeve shirt was quickly shed. this weather can stay please and thanks (and also, maybe rather, would like to order up 50 degrees for the race. more people might like that temp over 28 degrees). i was a little stiff starting off and worried about the run on the treadmill the day before, but i loosened up quickly and settled in for the mp miles. 

nothing to write home about really with the last two runs of the week... 9 miles on monday before work, 10 miles today on a stupid hilly route (and stupid cold weather). i feel like im just on auto pilot or something, locking into pace and just going with it.

yay 22! i mean brrrrrr. but still, awesome.

barf.

fun to see this on a training run

solid.

and then i went to the chiropractor... holy. tight. ouch. needed that. got some stretches and ways to roll tight soas(?) something or other. i should likely stretch more. and by more i mean... stretch. period. yoga, not my thing. and neither is flexibility.

week 7

3x1600- (goal pace 6:49-7:09)- 6:51, 6:54, 6:53 (compared to last 1600s on the treadmill- 7:10, 7:02, 6:56). very happy with this run, especially since i was outside on the track and had to push myself to keep that pace vs. plugging it in on the treadmill. hey, these legs still have some speed in them, who knew?! (now that speed work is over haha, go figure)

8 @MP- (goal pace 7:48-8:01)- 7:53, 7:47, 7:54, 7:48, 7:48, 7:50, 7:47, 7:50. was very happy with this run, again outside and having to push myself on the road vs the treadmill (dont get me wrong, i love the treadmill and all, but yay outside! in february!)

long run- (goal pace 8:20-8:42) average pace 8:26. really strong run on a tough hilly route. all three of these goal runs for the week were outside, which is always a huge boost for me mentally.

no new tunes this week. same old, same old. sent back the odyssey 2s (sad) and ordered old odyssey 1s... that have pink laces (happy).

i also ordered a flip belt last week and it came just in time to try it out on this weeks mp run and long run. i dont know why i asked the smallest person i know what size she had (duh, the smallest they have), but i ended up going with a size small... it. is. awesome! (i wont lie... i looked around for about 30 seconds for my phone so i could take a pic of my flip belt... with my phone in it. yeah, blonde. wont deny that). it sits nicely on my hips and doesnt move one teeny tiny bit. my back got kinda sore with my phone in the back when running on sunday, so i moved the phone to the front and that worked fine. im so happy this hopefully will work out, since we basically can bring absolutely nothing to hopkinton with us. how would i express all the feelings to bff without my phone?! they come in lots of fun cool colors, but of course i got black. i bet you thought i would have gotten hot pink. i really dont know why i didnt actually. weird. but it has lots of room for phone and keys and snacks and who knows what other fun treasures i might put in there for the 26.2 mile journey.

i also received my first stitch fix! super fun (although i needed to adjust my sizes for the next time around). i felt i needed to change up my closet from hoodies and sweatpants and im no good at style. seriously, i need help.

they also sent a cute pair of skinny jeans and a sweater cardigan (too big)... i ended up only keeping the striped gray shirt (if you couldnt tell from the facial expressions). basically you pay a $20 styling fee and fill out your style profile, make a pinterest page so your stylist can really get to know what you like and want, and then they send you 5 items at your leisure (you pick when you want the package to arrive and how often... you also pick price range of items). you decide what you want and dont want, and its free shipping for the returns. keep any of the items and your $20 goes towards that, and if you keep all 5 items you get a 25% discount! if you choose not to keep any of the items you lose your $20 styling fee, but i think thats pretty rare. i didnt have any experience with this, but you can email your stylist and try to get a different size in a product if they have it. theres also a facebook page for stitch fix buy, sell & trade, incase you keep things and change your mind later. im excited to see what comes next! try it out here if you want, use this link for my referral and ill get a sweet discount hehe (all opinions are my own, stitch fix didnt ask me to write about them or anything. i just think its cool).

so yeah. boston... week 7... done. yay! 55 days!

boston training: week 6

i have to start off by saying the 2 days of rest i took at the end of last weeks training and the beginning of this weeks was absolutely needed and was likely the best thing i have done for myself and for my training in a long, long time. when youre training for anything, in my case marathons, i find that it all becomes such a mental thing. missing runs, cutting runs short, having to sacrifice sleep and family time for runs (but not wanting to)... these things get into your head and make training that much more difficult. ive learned to let that shit go and just do what i can.

no one is perfect. i dont think ive ever executed a training plan exactly as written. and guess what? ive gotten to the finish line of all but two races. TWO. out of 124 races! so anyway... the rest days. i needed it, i embraced it, and i came back stronger that next day and kicked the shit out of my speedwork run, and likely had one of the best training weeks ive ever had. funny how that happens.

week 6 of training was not easy by any means, but i felt good. i felt strong. things just seemed to click, and those weeks make training fun again despite all the other feelings of self doubt.

still so much running

after taking tuesday and wednesday off completely, i was ready to fly on thursday. 6x800m at 5k pace and ill be damned if i finally felt good hitting close to what id like my 5k pace to be back to. there were moments when i was like ok this is dumb just stop the treadmill you suck. but ive started shoving all of that self doubt negative crap in the trash and thinking ya know what? bostons gonna have moments that arent all unicorns and rainbows and sunshine and youre not gonna quit then so dont fuckin quit now you asshole. whoa. yeah. that. and thus my speedwork was awesome.

i worked friday overnight from 1am to 7am saturday, came home and slept a few hours and got up ready to rock my marathon pace run while watching the olympic trials race. it pumped me up so much... i felt like i could have run forever (i actually had to make myself get off the treadmill knowing more miles wasnt going to benefit me for the rest of the week).

the sheer determination and heart of all of these runners was amazing. i cried and cried for kara, but still think shes amazing. and i have faced what amy and shalane dealt with out there back in 2012 with my running partner, my best friend. having someone like that in your life is something i never take for granted. the strength and support of teammates is a bond that can never be broken and it was truly shown out on those hot streets on saturday.

amy, shalane, meb... true class acts. cant wait for rio!!

i started trying some new things this week... increasing my paces slightly, adding in more core work, and getting out some weights... eeeeeek!

after 7 easy on sunday morning i was greeted with chocolate and a pink package... my little guy knew just what i wanted for valentines day... and even was a thrifty shopper using a coupon! ive taught him well hehe

8 miles before work monday... definitely didnt want to get out of bed, but once i got rolling i had a great run. wasnt sure how todays long run was going to go and my calves and hamstrings were a bit sore when i woke up (but on the plus side, hens not coughing at night any more and we all got 10 hours of sleep last night. so that helps!). i delayed and delayed my long run as long as i could, but finally knew i had to just get it done. and again, once i got going things went really, really well.

i ran the first 15 miles of maine coast marathon course, small rolling hills, good views. and also watched the 2012 olympic trials marathon and the last few miles of the womens olympic marathon from that year. how inspiring (and of course i cried for amy at those trials).

i think about a lot of random things when i run. and send all of them to bff.

her life would suck without me

week 6

sadly when temps are negative a billion all week, you dont get to run outside. at all.

6x800- (goal pace 3:30)- 3:34, 3:31, 3:30, 3:28, 3:27, 3:25 (comparing to week 1 of training with this same speed workout- 3:39, 3:35, 3:31, 3:33, 3:29, 3:26)
8 @MP- (goal pace 7:45-8:01)- 7:57, 7:52, 7:52, 7:47, 7:48, 7:51, 7:46, 7:45. this was a really solid run. it helped i was able to watch the olympic trials marathon while doing this run- totally pumped me up. i felt like i could have run forever!
long run- (goal pace 8:20-8:42)- average pace 8:38. a very strong feeling run. i used the new hoka odyssey 2s for the first 5 miles... they dont feel great. ugh. why why why do they have to change a good thing?! and make them pink?!! ill try again next week maybe, but ill likely order the old odysseys that are going out. maybe 2 pairs. give me all ya got left hoka! and send me a hat too, k thanks.


current hits:

not pictured: macklemore "downtown". blast that shit.

i also stepped quite a bit outside of my comfort zone this week and ordered the shorts that i kept eyeing online (rewarding myself for the awesome speed workout i had last week... speaking of which, im behind in my ordering! what should be next?!) the oiselle portman shorts. swoon.

now... i am not tall (5'4"ish). i have a long torso and my legs are short. these shorts have a 3in inseam, and i have some thighs and a butt. so i wasnt sure how this was gonna go, but i wanted to give them a try. after taking the pictures my husband said "youre gonna post those online?" well... i figure if the million people watching the boston marathon might see me running in them, then 10 people who read my blog can see them... he thought they were kinda like under shorts or something. men dont understand ;) 

regardless, here they are.

they are compression material and fit snug (im a size 4 in oiselle tights so i got 4 in these. i wear a size 6 in their roga shorts and a size 4 in their distance shorts). they have 2 zipper pockets (for snacks, duh). my concern was what was going to happen when i ran. so i knew what i had to do.

trial 1

7 miles

trial 2

8 miles

aaaaaand, they are amazing. do they ride up? yes. they definitely didnt stay in place, but i wasnt expecting them to (i think the flyte shorts have a different type of band at the bottom of the shorts that these dont have which might help with that? was just informed that no, they dont have a band. so nevermind. just looks different). my ass didnt fall out of them but they basically ended up like boy cut underwear at the end of the run (if you dont adjust them, which i really only did a few times). 

the one problem....

hawt.

post 8 miles in a cold basement

so... if i am going to run boston, or any race i suppose, in these... i might need the black pair. butt sweat isnt all too appealing to look at im sure. so obviously youre welcome for the picture.

and to help with toning up the thighs so these shorts will be even better, i started this 30 day thigh slimming challenge (last month i did the 30 day arm challenge. these are fun! but they get tough for sure)

i might order the oiselle meter shorts and see how they fit (a bit longer with a 3.75in inseam). i usually race in roga, mac roga (1.75in inseam!?!), or distance shorts so it will be a huge step for me to race in something like this, but it almost felt as if i wasnt wearing anything at all. ill definitely need to remember body glide too, just in case.

week 6 in the books... 62 days!

boston training: week 5

week 5 certainly had its ups and downs. weve been through this before... no week is going to be perfect, but i had a few great runs. and then i quit running all together.

there comes a point in each marathon training (at least for me anyway) when im all "ya know what? F this. i quit running. i suck. im tired. this is stupid. who wants to run anyway? why not just order pizza and eat cookies all the time. (side note, nothing wrong with that. yum). if i have to step one foot on that treadmill again im gonna scream. screw it all. no more running". a bit over dramatic, maybe. but you get the idea. that point for me came monday night.

hens had a cough since thanksgiving. its not great, and none of us have been sleeping well since. like clockwork hes up at 11pm and 4am coughing. if i go and give him medicine he wants me to hold him and wont go back to bed, so ty does most of that (but im not sleeping, im laying in bed thinking wtf is going on with this kid, please stop coughing!). were getting him checked out for asthma but until we get into our appointment were now doing an inhaler and allergy meds... we'll see what happens. but sunday night was the worst and he woke up at 2am and wouldnt go back to bed. needless to say mommy was a bit tired.

working on alphabet and spelling... at 3:15am

selfie!

cuddles

hotdog dance!

he finally crashed in my bed at about 12:50 after playing around in my room for over an hour.

 and then coughed and woke himself up and wanted to play. i was not impressed.

we both got about an hour nap that day, then took him to the doctor and they gave us the inhaler. of course we had to try it out on mickey first, just to be sure.

inhale and hold your breath, mickey!

of course he took it like a champ (with a little remote control bribery). 

whatever works.

so yeah, i decided to quit running. and that lasted for 2 days but im feeling more rested now and remembered i kinda have 2 big marathons im training for and oh, one of them just happens to be boston so i guess i better get over my pity party and get my shit back together. i really just needed a little break, and im definitely good with that. plus i had an amazing run this morning so yay rest! just what i needed.

yes, yes, yes

lets see, what did week 5 look like...

my first run of the week wasnt great, legs felt like lead after tuesdays 14 miler. but i took the recovery seriously and ran slow which helped. thursdays speedwork (3x1600s) were awesome awesome awesome, and i felt my awesome run deserved an awesome oiselle purchase. obviously.

can i make weekly speed workout oiselle rewards a thing? i think so.

(husband doesnt agree)

fridays rest day was just that... 

Relax. 

Eat healthy. 

Stay focused (also Stretch). 

Tune out the negativity.

i ended up switching saturday and sundays runs because i was going to be able to do the marathon pace run outside while spectating the mid winter classic 10 miler on sunday (and the weather was stupid cold saturday and supposed to be so much nicer sunday). many people asked why i didnt just run the race... i didnt know that i would have 10 on the schedule, sometimes this race is really really cold, and i knew i would want to race and i needed to not race. so i took off on the course backwards and ran, meeting up with the leaders just before mile 3, stopped for a minute or two to watch everyone, then finished up in time to watch the winners come in. the weather was perfect and i had a really great run, marathon pace spot on and felt great the whole time. the only kinda bummer part is i screwed up my garmin settings when i set up this run so i only know the average pace for the 7 marathon pace miles and not each mile pace. i know how to do it differently next time, but i think a few of the miles were a little faster than should have been. oh well. (i made a workout where it times 2 warm up miles within a certain pace and screams at you if you go too fast or too slow, then set it for 7 miles between 7:49 and 8:05, then 1 mile cool down. so it averaged the 7 miles between those paces overall, not for each mile.... whatever. i ran well).

mid winter classic 10 miler... backwards

the hills still suck no matter which way you run it

yay for seeing michelle!!

bff love

so yeah, i felt good and all that. then sunday night into monday morning happened and i was tired. so so tired. i had kinda screwed myself switching saturday and sundays runs because saturday was 10 miles with 7 at MP, then a 10/10 on monday and tuesday, so i was now looking at 10/10/10 with a work day on tuesday. oof. i managed to run 8.5 miles monday night and then said no more. a 3:30am alarm was not appealing in the least. i still have a lot of runs left until april 18th, and skipping a few now isnt going to hurt me (and i figured attempting to run them with no sleep and just mentally not into it would set me up for less than stellar weeks to come). 

week 5

3x1600- (goal 6:53-7:03)- 7:10, 7:02, 6:56. felt pretty great (800m recovery between 1600s)

7 @MP- (goal pace 7:49-8:01)- like i said i only got the average pace for the 7 miles total instead of each individual mile, but for those 7 miles the pace was 7:53. super happy with that run

long run- didnt happen. oh well.

in other week 5 (random) news...

its not every day youre wearing a jeopardy question

hes the best, duh

(and ive scheduled massages and chiro appointments thru april, yay! 

and i wont confirm or deny that a tattoo appointment 

may be scheduled in boston for april 19th)

we thought hen might be allergic to his crib mattress, so new bed it was! plus he was outgrowing his crib anyway. waaaaaaaah mommys gonna cry now. (also no such luck with the allergy idea. still coughing in the new bed)

big boy bed!

too cool for school

and we got to meet melissa and james' new baby, declan. sooooooo little! hen wasnt so sure about him but gave him gentle kisses before we left.

this was an adventure in and of itself

the few runs i took off definitely helped, but youll have to wait until next week to find out about todays amazing speedwork! i should probably make a rule about speedwork runs and ordering oiselle... if the first package hasnt arrived yet i cant order another? (ugh their $5 shipping takes soooooo long to arrive). 

looking forward to watching the olympic trials marathon saturday!!