Hale Freezes Over 10k

What a crazy night.

I was woken up from a dead sleep but Dusty barking her head off at 2:30 am. Yeah, I wasn't too happy. About an hour later Annabelle woke up all fussy. Then some one's car alarm went off and honked for about 5 minutes before they shut it off. Then 30 minutes later it went off again. Then Dusty decided she wanted to bark again....and then Jason and I couldn't get back to sleep cause the heater was on and our room was too hot.

I finally fell asleep after about an hour and then woke up to the alarm at 6:30.

Sounds like fun, huh?


We got to the race in time for me to do a mile warm up and head to the start.

It was a good race. I felt really good the first half. I did the first 3 miles in 29 min and the once I hit the hill at the last leg of the race, urgh...that was TOUGH! I ended up running the 10k in 1.03.49! Almost under an hour. I'm thinking next month's 10k will be under. It's a flat course, unlike this one.

I ended up being 5th in my age group and 15th place over all in the women's category! :)

I feel good. I'm a little tired and I have a bit of a headache, but nothing to complain about. It was totally worth it. It's amazing how different I look from last year's race. I've come a looooong way. :)
I did a mile cool down at the playgound while the kids were playing.
Today was a good day!

The day before.

So, today was an off day and I'm SO glad it was. I was going to do the 3 miles, but I cleaned the whole house and went to get Jason from the airport instead.

Then for some reason when I was driving to get him I was so completely tired. We went to Chili's for lunch, YUM! I was starving! I had a 3 egg omelet for breakfast and was starving 2 hours later. I wonder if all the miles + not enough food was kicking in.

So, when we got home I took what was supposed to be an hours long nap. I ended up taking a 2 hour nap and Jason and the kids woke me up. I must have been really tired cause holy cow, I was CRANKY. I did NOT want to get out of bed. But, I did and all of us + the dogs went to the playground for about an hour.

Spaghetti and salad was for dinner. Gotta get those carbs before the race. :) Now, I gotta get some sleep. We're leaving the house at 7 so I have plenty of time get there to warm up and get ready for my race.

The plan is a 1 mile warm up + the 10k + a 1 mile cool down. It's gonna be fun! My fist 10k of the year. YAY! It's gonna be a good race.

Urgh!

Ok, so I had 4 or 3 to do today. I went out and got part way down the street when I realized that I had 15 minutes to pick up Brianna from school and then zoom over to take Gma T to the airport. URGH! So, I got .65 miles in and went back home and got ready for that. Again, I could have done the treadmill, but I really want my legs fresh for Saturday.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to have off, but I also have the option of doing 3 miles. I'm thinking I'll do the 3 miles after I pick up Jason from the airport. Maybe him and I can go to the gym and I'll run around the indoor track while he does the treadmill. We'll see.

I'm thinking I might be able to get the rest of my miles tonight by running around cleaning the house before my man comes home. That counts, right? :)

Soo...yeah.

I took today off. I had so much running around to do and Gma T wasn't home for most of the day so, I didn't get much time to go out and run. I guess I could have run on the treadmill, but I'm trying to take it easy before the race and running on the treadmill takes a LOT of effort. Hahaha! So, today was an off day and I'm not beating myself up about it. :)

Tomorrow I have 4 or 3 miles, I'm thinking I'm going to go with the 3 miles. I don't remember if I said it yesterday or not, but my muscles below my shins hurt. It's from running in the snow and working out those muscles. I want to be fresh for my run on Saturday so, I'm going to take it light the rest of this week. It's so weird to say that going 3 miles or even 4 is taking it light. A year ago there was no way I would have thought running that much was light training.

I got an email yesterday verifying my race and they had me set to run the 5k. No way! I want to run the 10k! So, I emailed them back and they got it all figured out. They were looking at the receipt for the 5k race I ran with them last October. Good thing they sent out that email. It would have sucked to get there and run the 10k and them only have me down for the 5k. It's gonna be a good race. I'm excited. The only thing though....there's a massive hill at the end of the race. Oooh, I hope I've got the energy I need. :) Maybe I'll take a GU with me. Some caffeine will help. I want to run this one faster than my last (and first 10k) at 1.10.34. I think I can totally do it. It would be awesome if I could get it under an hour, but I'm kinda thinking that's a lot to ask. But, it would be awesome. :)

I got a feelin'.....

So, I got up this morning at 5:30 when the alarm went off, got dressed, even had my watch on. I was about to go out the door when I had a really bad feeling. I kept having thoughts about a bad guy out there waiting to get me. Like he had been watching my running routine. So, I turned right around, got back into my pjs and went back to sleep. Crazy, huh? Some times you just have to listen to that voice that tells you to watch out, ya know.

I waited until later in the afternoon to run. Gma T is awesome. She was willing to watch the kids so I could go run. I just had to be back by 4:15, so I cut my 6 mile run short and only did 4.15. I was going to switch today and tomorrow, but my personal trainer (aka my little bro Adam) said not to. That's ok. I can do that. I have a race on Saturday and I need to be rested up.

Tomorrow, I'm planning on running in the afternoon again. Gma T said she'd watch the kids again for me when she gets back from taking Jon to work. It's the PERFECT timing right now to have Gma T and Jon living with us. It gives me more time and opportunities to get in my training. I'm gonna have to do something special for her for helping out so much when I'm all done with this marathon.

I talked to Adam today and he's the best. I was getting a little down cause I didn't do the whole 6 today. But, after talking to him he made me feel better and realize that in the long scheme of things missing 2 miles in the whole marathon training isn't something to get upset about. That's where the new quote at the top of the blog is from.

So, here's to a easy, safe run tomorrow! :)

Runnin' with the dogs.

So, last night I had either a UTI or a kidney stone. It was not fun. It hurt like crap, but this morning after drinking TONS of water, taking medicine, and some sleep I feel really good. I was going to do only 4 miles, but I ended up going 5 (kinda).

I took Dusty (Gma Twitchell's dog) on my run. She's never been running before, so we weren't quite sure what to expect. I had her leash wrapped around my wrist to start. After the first 1/2 mile she got the idea and realized that I wasn't going to be stopping anytime soon. After I saw she wasn't pulling anymore I took her leash and wrapped it around my waist to finish the run. She stuck by my side and kept running. When I'd slow down she'd start to pull me some, kinda like she was saying, "Come on, you can't slow down...". I ran for 3 miles, came to the house, dropped off my camera, went potty, and ran with Dusty for the last mile. After that I went in and got the kids and then took them to the playground. I counted the walk to the playground as my last mile. The run was good, I'm glad I was able to do it without problems.

I'm feeling 100% better. I keep drinking TONS of water. I'm sure I'll be just fine for tomorrow's 6 miler. I'm thinking I'll run tomorrow morning rather than in the late afternoon like today. I just feel so much better when I get my runs in early.

I've been doing well eating even with all the pecan pie cheesecake left over from last night. Mmmmm!

This weeks runs.

Monday: 5 miles (4 if I'm feeling tired.)
Tuesday: 6 miles
Wednesday: 4 miles (5x100m strides)
Thursday: 4 miles (3 if tired.)
Friday: Off/3 miles Easy, easy.
Saturday: Hale Freezes Over 10K! (Get in a least 5-10 min walk/jog before the race to warm up.)
Sunday: Off

I'm thinking I might go for the shorter miles this week cause right now I'm not feeling 100%. I need to be better WAY before Saturday's race. It's the first one of the year, I can't miss it!

Ice, you can't hold me back!

Thanks to these little puppies, I was able to run this morning with no problems. :) I'm so glad my hubby got them for me for Christmas. I don't know why I didn't use them yesterday in the ice, I'm sure they would have worked perfectly. Now, I know for next time.

So, I got up at 4:20 and went for my run. I was pretty surprised at how much traction I had with the YakTraks. I stuck to the sidewalks for most of the time, but there were some parts where it was less slippery to be on the road.

My splits were:
1mile: 13.23
2mile: 12.51
3mile: 12.37
4mile: 12.47
5mile: 12.07
6mile: 12.08
7mile: 11.50

I love when I get faster towards the end. I was able to do it in under 1 hour 30 min. Nice!

Oh, I weighed in at WW and I maintained. I love when I don't gain. :) So, I'm still at 168.6. 8.6 pounds go and I will have reached my goal. I'm thinking it'll drop in the next couple months.

By the way, did you know today is National Pie Day? Yeah, I'm glad I weighed in today. :)

Finishing it up...

I finished up my 2.5 on the treadmill. I always sweat like a pig on the treadmill.

Tomorrow I have 7 miles to run and I usually go in the early morning before I go to WW, but the roads are gonna be icy in the morning. I wish they would be covered in snow, but I think that's wishful thinking. So, I probably won't run before and that means that I'll probably gain this week, which is a little frustrating cause I've done all these runs this week and I've eaten well, but I'm not too surprised, it's usually like this when I put more exercise in. The thing that's nice is after a couple weeks I'll drop a big number and be back on track.

Lets hope the roads are snowy/not icy in the morning!

The joy's of winter

Do you see that beautiful shine on the sidewalk and road. Yeah, it's about 1/8" of ice... Running, 5:30 in the moring, and ice don't mix. I started out thinking, "Oh, no big deal, I can totally do this." to thinking "This is CRAZY! I'm going home." So, I went from running, to jogging, to lightly trodding, to walking, to trying to keep my balance without falling over. It took me 40 min to do 2.5 miles, I ran 4 in that amount of time this week...that's how slippery it was out there.

So, I'm thinking I'll finish up the last 2.5 later today when Jason comes home. Let's hope the sun melts the ice cause if it doesn't I'll have to run on the treadmill and I don't really want to do that.

I've been having the worst case of munchies lately. I want sugar and LOTS of it, I wonder why.

The best ice packs EVER!

After today's sprints my shins and calves were a little tight and sore. I went to find some Ziploc bags to put ice in, but we were out, so I improvised. :) 2 bags of butterscotch morsels work PERFECTLY! They're the perfect temp to put right on your skin and they do a good job of icing you down for a good 15-20 min. You pop it into the freezer for 20 min and it'll work again for another 20. Cause you're supposed to do 20 on 20 off right?

My run was good today. I kept a constant pace for the first 3 miles and did my .06mile sprints. I did pretty good. I felt good. I got to the house (.12 miles away from the end) when Caleb's bus pulled up. So, I got him and took him to the house and finished up my run. The bus driver said I looked good running down the street. :) I'm glad I look good, like a runner, ya know. I ran at a comfortable pace and didn't look at my watch, but after I plugged it in it said that I ran at a pretty constant pace of 11.12 min mile. NICE! I'm amazed that my time has gone down so much. A year ago my comfortable pace was a 14 min mile. Wow...

So, I found my big post marathon race! Women's Running Magazine 1/2 Marathon. It's gonna be FUN! I figure if I register for it now, than it'll be something really exciting to look forward to when the marathon's over.

Late Night Run....

I slept in and today was crazy with going in and out of the house and me procrastinating, so my run didn't happen until 8:30 tonight. Yeah, I think it's better to do it in the morning or when every one's here. Tomorrow, I'm going to go early in the morning.

My run tonight was pretty good. I made sure to take my time and not look at my watch. I only looked at it a couple times. I felt so good! My legs were a little sore at the beginning, but after about a mile I was feeling good. I don't feel warn out or anything. I'm ready for bed though...:)

Here's to not giving up and going to work out anyway! :)

What's a fartlek?

Fartleks can be fun, but they can also be a pain. Fartlek is Swedish for "speed play". Here's a link telling you all about it. When I first started my training and Adam had me doing them I would run from light pole to light pole, but now I run for time or distance.

Today's run was a 4 mile run with fartleks. My fartleks consisted of me running 1 minute as fast as I could and then recovering at a slower pace for 2 minutes. I did it 5 times in the middle of my route. So, I did 1 mile warm up at a comfortable pace, my fartleks 5 times, and then finishing with 1.5 miles at a comfortable pace.

Well, I did everything as planned, until the last .43 miles. I turned the corner by the school parking lot and saw that Caleb's school bus was sitting in front of the house. I knew this would happen, Jason was upstairs stuck in bed cause his back went out this morning, and his momma was downstairs and had no idea the bus was on it's way. So, I sprinted to catch the bus before he took Caleb to our emergency contact. I got there and the bus driver (such a nice guy!) said it was no big deal, he was just about to go knock on the door. I got Caleb inside and went back out to finish the last .07 miles of my run. I did my 4 miles in 42 minutes!

When I went in and told Jason all about it he laughed and said that he was sure a year ago I wouldn't have been able to run that fast to catch the bus even if I wanted to. SOOO true! Today is a good day. I feel good, a little sore, but good. :)


How many of you could only get through reading the word fartlek once before laughing? LOL I thought I'd add it in there a couple times for you guys. I saw a shirt online that said "Who fartleked?" Hahaha!

I rocked that run!

I don't know why I do the same thing over and over and expect different results...isn't that the definition of insanity? I set my alarm again this morning for 5:45 and hit snooze, and then didn't hit snooze the second time and partway, slept through the radio going off. Maybe if I turn the alarm up really loud then I'll have no choice.

So, I slept in and ended up doing my run around noon during the kids quiet time.I was all dressed to go. (That's my running outfit up there.) I had gone outside earlier and the snow that fell that morning had turned into a slippery slush. So, I decided that I would run on the treadmill. I set up the laptop and started watching Run Fatboy Run. But, I couldn't get past the monotony of the treadmill so I went out out in my running tights, a light long sleeve shirt, my gloves, and my ear warmers. It was a little chilly at first, but I kept up my pace and within 10 minutes I was warmed up. I felt like such a running stud in my tights. I totally rocked my run! I ran the first mile on the treadmill in 13min, the second mile outside in 9.45, the third in 10:43, and the fourth in 10.48. I didn't feel like I was pushing myself that hard. I knew I was pushing it, but I was able to keep a consistent pace without hurting. The top part of my right knee was a little sore, but it went away after a couple minutes of running. I'm thinking it might be beneficial for me to ice my legs after tomorrow's run.

Tomorrow I'll take my time, other than the fartleks. Fun, fun. :)

Monday's food

Breakfast: Oatmeal with pecans, flax, and brown sugar + milk.

Lunch: Vegetable beef stew.

Dinner: Pioneer Woman's Blue cheese burger + PW's Fancy Mac & Cheese + Homemade curly fries.

Yeah, I gotta get back to the basics and eat less fatty stuff, but yeah, I'm feeling pretty good. I stopped when I was full even though I could have eaten a TON of that mac&cheese and a couple of those burgers. I really gotta do better with my water. I feel like I'm running low...

This weeks running schedule, thanks to Adam!

Monday: 4 miles
Tuesday: 4 miles
Wednesday: 5 miles
Thursday: 4 miles
Friday: 5 miles
Saturday: 7 miles


This week choose one 4 mile day to do a fartlek of your choice and choosing; fill at least 15 min of it. You can pick the number and duration of the pickups

Another 4 mile day I want you do to 3 miles normal, and then do the last mile with 5x100m or .06 mile strides. These are quick sprints that you do with complete rest. That means it may take a while to finish that last mile. You recover by running back the 100m. Then you go again when you are ready.




Fun, fun! Check me out, running so many miles in one week. :)

Sunday's food.

Today's breakfast was a small cinnamon roll, banana, yogurt, and milk.


I missed lunch cause there was so much going on. But, dinner was apricot chicken with rice and salad.


Dessert was peanut butter pie and some chocolate fondue. I stuck to mostly plain frozen strawberries and a couple banana slices dipped in chocolate. YUM!

Today's food...

Right after my run and weigh in I had some yogurt, milk, and a banana.


Then I was wanting some more food...I burned 1113 calories and was craving some protein. So, I channeled my dad's omelet making skills and made a 2 egg/1egg white omelet with some bacon, a cut up sausage link, tomatoes, cheese, and green onion. YUM! I also had some whole wheat bread and a clementine. I felt satisfied and not stuffed.

For a late lunch we had Cafe Rio veggie salad with a whole wheat tortilla. I ate about 2/3 of it and stopped when I was full. That's hard to do with Cafe Rio, it's just SOO good!

For dinner we had fondue. I put everything out on my little plate and stuck to what I had set out. I ate a couple more veggies not pictured, but I figure that doesn't count cause they're veggies. We also had some root beer from A&W's tap. It was good, but I made sure I only had one cup and then refilled with water.

I feel really good about my food choices today. We're still going to have some chocolate fondue, but I think I'll just stick to eating the fruits and maybe a little chocolate.

GU is my friend at 4:30 in the morning.

Last night I went to bed at midnight. Jason, Gma T, and I watched "My Sister's Keeper" it was pretty good. We all enjoyed it. I set my alarm for 4:30, but my alarm is 10 minutes fast so, technically I got up at 4:20. I got up to hit the snooze button, but rather turned off the alarm, went into the bathroom and put my hair up with my eyes still closed.

I didn't have the greatest sleep last night. All night long I dreamt about the marathon. I was 14 minutes late to the race, got there and forgot something (I forget) ran home and went back, I was so frustrated that I forgot whatever it was that I forgot. But, I was still only 14 minutes late. So, I start running and about 4 miles into it I realize I forgot something else, so I ran back home and got it and by that time the race was almost over I had to finish the last mile. So, my dad says "Hop in the car and I'll drive you to the finish." I thought that was a great idea so I get in the car and start running. I'm almost to the finish when I realize that my Garmin is picking up the car's speed and not my running speed so I have my dad turn around right in front of the finish so I can run the last mile on my own. I finished the race in 4 hours and 35 minutes, but was frustrated that I forgot so many things and that I was 14 minutes late to the race.

Weird, huh?

So, I get my hair done, get dressed, eat a GU (chocolate outrage) and head out. I set my Garmin to run 8 miles in 1.40min. I love doing that cause it counts down the miles and it's nice to look at it and it say that I only have 1 mile to go. I felt so good during my run. I think the caffeine in the GU helped wake me up some. I didn't feel like I was pushing myself, I felt like I was taking my time and it's awesome when I feel that way and then plug in my Garmin after the run and see that my times got shorter and shorter.

Today's splits were:
1 Mile:12.50
2 Mile:12.06
3 Mile:11.33
4 Mile:11.19
5 Mile:11.00
6 Mile:10.48
7 Mile:10.52
8 Mile:10.43

I went and weighed in and gained .2 pounds. I was expecting 2 pounds, so .2 was a nice surprise! I'm feeling good, a little hungry, but good. I'm thinking a omelet with the works sounds good. YUM!

Today's food!

I had a banana before my run, but forgot to take a picture.

Breakfast was milk and yogurt (plus the banana).


Lunch was a buffalo chicken wrap.

Dunford's whole wheat tortillas, lettuce, carrots, green onion, chicken, mayo/hot sauce mixture. YUM!

Dinner was an Asian salad. It had a mix of veggies, rotisserie chicken, sweet sesame sticks, those Chinese noodles, and a Asian sesame dressing & wasabi ranch dressing. YUUUUMM! I love salad. This salad is the BEST!

I also had (not pictured) some Costco ice cream (I shared it with the kids), and some home made bread I made.

Not bad, not bad....:)

Today's interesting run....

I thought I'd take my camera today to show you the fun I get to have when I run. :)

Today I had 3.5 miles to run and I had my alarm set for 6:30. Well, it was set, I hit snooze, and then turned it off. Niiice... Well, it's ok cause Jason's back from Portland which means I can go on a run with out worrying cause there's 3 adults to 3 kids ratio while I'm gone.

So, I start out on 3 week old snow that still hasn't melted. I go for about a mile and notice that there are some weird tracks on the snow...

Can you see 'em? Look really close.....

They're BIGFOOT TRACKS!

I followed the tracks off and on for about 3 miles and then they disappeared. Maybe nextime I see him. :)

Here are some other fun pictures. I heard some geese (I think.) and had to stop and take a picture.

I had to show all the tracks. I'm amazed how many people run around the lake with all the snow on the trails. I like the snowy trails, but I like how the road is a solid surface. My feet land better without the bumpy snow.

When I showed Brianna this picture of me running she said, "Mom, how did you take a picture of you when you were running? Is it magic?" Ok, so I don't have magic powers, I wish I did. It would be nice to magically get the pictures taken the way I imagine them in my head. I wanted a picture of me running on the trail so I put the camera on a bench and set the timer. :)

Wooohooo! 3.5 miles, 22°F, 2 pairs of pants (running tights & fleece pants), 2 shirts, 2 running jackets, gloves, scarf, ear warmer/headband, camera, and ipod. Niiiice. :)

Tomorrow I get to do 8 miles! Which means I get to get up at 4:30am, that way I can run before my WW weigh in. I'm trying to stay away from sugar cause all these sweets that we've been making are really screwing with my weight. I'm guessing I'm going to gain a couple pounds this week...I hope not, but I wouldn't be surprised.

The Dreadmill

Yeah, so, I didn't get up at 5:30 this morning when my alarm begged me to. I had to keep telling it to be quiet, but it wasn't getting the idea. So, after hitting snooze about 6 times I got up, got dressed and got some breakfast before the kids got up. Oatmeal with brown sugar and flax seed. Yum!

I ran Brianna to school, we ended up being about 10 minutes late cause she was dawdling. I came home and put of running again. I kept telling myself that it's just 3 miles and I can do it any time I want. I picked Brianna up, raced home, and got Caleb on the bus for school just in time.

After eating a banana and drinking some H2O I finally decide that I'll go for my run. The only thing is, Grandma (Jason's momma) and Jonathan were gone so I'd have to run on the dreaded treadmill. I hate that thing.

I start running.... Dusty whines and cry barks for the first 10 minutes. I stop it and tell her to shush. I start it back up, 2 minutes later Annabelle finished her food, so I stop it again and get her some milk and some more food. I start back up, Dusty is whining again, even louder this time. URGH! I stop and tell her to shush, get Annabelle some more food, fix Brianna's show, get my ipod and get back on the treadmill. I put my music on loud so I wouldn't have to listen to Dusty whine. I start rocking to Paramore and I hear Brianna, "Mom! It's your song!!!" She was watching Igor and "I've got a woman as big as a house" comes on. I love that song, it cracks me up. :) So, I listen for the length of the song and start up again. At this point I've gone from going 5MPH running to 4MPH walking. I started losing interest in the run. I finished my run going 6.5MPH, sweating like a pig, and promised myself that I would get up at 5:30 from now on so I wouldn't have to deal with the distractions and I could run in peace.

Then Grandma came home and I told her all about it and she says, "OH! If I would have known you could have run right now. I thought you did it this morning." Yeah, I wish I would have waited and gone when she came back, but oh well, next time.

Another Blog?

I thought this would be a good way for me to keep track of my exercise and eating. When I have it all on my main blog it seems to take over. So there ya go, a new blog just for running and nutrition!