Week 9 Marathon Training Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Running, Uncategorized and tagged with Hydrating, Long Run, Marathon Training, Phoenix Marathon, RnR Arizona, Running, Sick, Soccer Mom January 12, 2015

What goes up, must come down….

After 3 consecutive weeks of awesome training, I was bound for a dud week. And week 9 was it.

I started coming down with a massive head cold/sinus infection at the start of the week that I attributed to the stress of returning back to work after two amazing weeks off.

Monday was all about getting my lesson plans together and grading, grading, grading. Semester grades were due the next day and I had all the intentions of grading over break but….yeah……

On Tuesday I was intent on running and went out with my running club for 5 miles. I ran with a friend who is on a mission to BQ at the Phoenix Marathon and she had me RUNning. I don’t like going all out on every run as I feel like there’s no real purpose to doing that, but it was nice to challenge myself.

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I met my water goal that day 🙂

On Wednesday I was debating about going to the track for a speed workout but was not feeling good at all from my headache/sinus so I ran with my husband instead–and that always makes me feel good 🙂

He had sent me a link to the shirt in the pic below earlier that day and it made me giggle

Thursday and Friday I was at the peak of my sickness and couldn’t muster the energy to run. I did do some planks, wall sits, squats, and other leg stuff at home as well as foam roll and stretch so I wasn’t entirely unproductive.

It was a scale back long run for me on Saturday as I had run 14, 14, and 16 the three previous Saturdays and the RnR Arizona 1/2 Marathon was awaiting me next weekend. I had 12 on my calendar and one of my BRFs from high school would be joining me. She’s super fast (another friend who wants to BQ–I’m surrounded by them! lol) but she wanted it to be a slow, easy run. Well, that’s exactly what she got because as soon as I started, I knew it was going to be a tough one.

I’m not sure if it was just the weeks of hard training, me being sick, or me running with my hydration pack (I hadn’t at all in this training til then), but the entire run was just a big slug fest. My legs felt so heavy and it was just hard.

But, I finished and was so very happy to be done. I was still able to end with a decent pace too which pleased me.

As soon as I was done, I had to scramble back home because……it was my daughter’s FIRST SOCCER PRACTICE. I officially became a soccer mom on Saturday 😀

Her first gooooooal!!!!

It was lower mileage week for me but that was okay. I felt I needed the rest. In fact, Sunday was my worst day. My headaches were so bad, I was actually bedridden the entire day 😦 Hoping to feel better for RnR Arizona next Sunday–a race I’m not planning to set any records on but would still like to run decently.

It was also a tough water week. I’m happy to report that I haven’t given up, but I’m just realistic in that this is something hard for that will require some sacrificing. I think what makes it tough is that I like drinking soda for lunch and that eventually turns in to lunch and the next three hours. I end up having to drink tons later to make up for it or just throw in the towel for the day. Here was my week:

I think I might’ve missed an entry on Saturday. I know I drank water during my run and during my daughter’s soccer practice so I think that should be at least 32oz. (Or maybe I’m trying to convince myself of that?) And Sunday, yeah…

How was everybody’s week? Who long ran? Who’s drinking water?

Anyone else have a race coming up?

What I’m Drinking Wednesday–Hydro Coach App Review

Posted by hellyontherun in Healthy Eating, Running and tagged with Agua, App, Apps for Android, H20, Hydration, Hydro Coach, Tracking Water Intake, Water, Water Intake January 7, 2015

I swore I’d never do any of those What I Ate Wednesday posts–
But, this is a “What I”m Drinking” post 🙂

I’ve gotten tons of people asking me about the app I downloaded that helps track my water intake. I realize I should’ve posted the name of it when I first mentioned it lol!

It’s called Hydro Coach and surprisingly, it’s only available on Android phones. Usually, I’m the one bummed because most apps I want are/have been iPhone only–woohoo, for not having an iPhone this time (not that I want one–I’m def an Android girl lol).

Sue was sad that it wasn’t compatible 😦 Hugs, Sue! ❤

It’s a very simple app. This is a def plus because I’m not good with numbers, technology, and anything that has a lot of complicated steps.

Once you download the app, it will ask you a few questions like your age, sex, weight, and what’s your measurement of preference–I chose ounces.

It will ask you if you work out and how much and put that in the equation to determine how much water you should drink. It told me I needed to average 69 fl. oz. so a little more than half my body weight in ounces (it added about 10% because of my exercise regime).

The app asks you what time you wake up and what time you go to sleep and at first, I was like, um, why?? But it takes those times into consideration as that would be the range they’d work with to send you alerts. Smart!

I entered 5 a.m. as my wake up time and 9 p.m. as bed time (Yeah, I’m 80). The app sends me alerts/reminders about every 4 hours. I entered that my typical water intake is 16 ounces (a bottle of Dasani) so about every 4 hours, I should be drinking that amount (and a little 5 ouncer at the end).

Once you entered the necessary info (which took like two seconds) you’re ready to start drinking!

There are different measurements of water that you can click on to add to your total. So if I drank 12 oz instead of my typical 16, I would click on that option.

It will add it to the goal and tell you how much you have left to drink and how much you’ve drank so far.

If you miss an alert/reminder to enter, then it will add it your next check-in goal. So if I miss my check-in of 16 ounces, I’ll “have” to drink 32 ounces to make it up.

I have 12 minutes left to drink 16 ounces. If not, I’ll need to 32 by the next check-in.

At the end of the day, if you reached your goal, Mr. Water Drop comes out to party!!!

Party Drop 😀

But if you don’t, then he packs all his stuff together and threatens to run away 😦

I feel so guilty for having let down the poor water drop :(

😦

If you get close, Mr. Water Drop is left reminiscing about the party days of yore….

Don’t you want to party?

Mr. Water Drop is the sole reason I’ve been pushing to make my daily goal. I mean, did you see his sad face!!?? I just can’t do that to him. And I also don’t like leaving people hanging….

You can also see a chart of how you’ve done that week:

You can also share you day with friends on social media 😀

Because everyone needs to know how much water you’re drinking

I hope this information has helped. So far I’ve really liked the app. There is an option to go “Ad free” for a small fee but the free app has worked well and I don’t mind the sparse pop ups that happen.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Bottoms up!!!

❤ helly

–Do you track your water intake?

–-Would alerts/reminders help you drink more water or would you just ignore them?

I was not asked to review this app or given free water by Hydro Coach. All opinions expressed in this post are solely my own.

Week 8 Marathon Training Recap–Halfway there!!

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon, Running and tagged with Beast Mode, Frozen, Hydration, Marathon Training, Phoenix Marathon, Running January 5, 2015

Wow. Time has been a-flying!

I can’t believe I just finished week 8 and am now counting DOWN the weeks til Phoenix Marathon!

#itsgoingdownatphx

I’m pretty pumped 😀

So, this was my last week of vacation from work and again, I took full advantage of the time off.

Monday, I got in a tough 6 miler on the treadmill. It’d been a while since I’d gotten on one of those things and I could definitely feel it. I still was able to maintain a good pace at 9:22/mile though which pleased me.

I took the day off on Tuesday but I wanted a good last run of 2014 so on Wednesday I headed out for a neighborhood run..

my adios run to 2014

With two kids, very young kids, we were in bed on New Year’s Eve at 9. We try every year to make it to 10 to at least see the ball drop in New York but this year, it just didn’t happen. We were out! And sure enough, at 5 on the dot, my son woke up and woke us up for the first day of 2015 🙂 So, Thursday I hung out with the fam, relaxed, and welcomed the new year.

My kids went to school on Friday and I took advantage of a free morning to get in a cold 5 miler with friends.

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#frozen

My buddies made me work! I don’t know why this pace was so hard; I’ve done it before, but I was def lagging behind them on this one. I’m blaming the cold.

I was worried running, and running so fast, would mess with my long run planned the next day. It was my dreaded 16 miler that for some reason has always given me trouble. My last 16 miler when I trained for MCM was very respectable at a 10:06/mile pace but when I get to mile 16 in the marathon (the two that I’ve done) it’s where I start to go downhill–and not good downhill lol.

But this time I was ready. Like I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, I’ve really been working on my fueling and it was on this run that I really put it to test.

So Saturday morning, my alarm went off at crazy o’clock (4:15) and I met up with some friends (aka: other crazy people) who I was able to convince to meet up at 5 to start our long run.

It was effing cold (I wore 3 layers) and we didn’t chat much but got straight to it.

I was doing great, the miles were going fast, and at mile 6 we met up with our other run club friends who were starting at 6 a.m. Here, I made a pit stop to use the potty.

As I got back into the run, I took my first Gu. The whole thing. At mile 12, again, took my second planned Gu. All of it.

Other times I’ve barely squeezed out half of one in a long run such as that.

But this is a new and determined Helly–I ate all that shi-stuff.

By the time I got to mile 14, I was so pumped that I had made it that far and only had 2 miles left. I was rocking this long run!

And then I was done!

I totally felt like a BEETH after finishing that run 😀

On Sunday was my usual Bun Day (and leg). I’ve been working my quads in prep of that eternal downhill that is Phoenix Marathon…I did take it easy though because I was suuuuper tired from Saturday.

Overall, this was one of my best running weeks ever! Each run I was able to keep pace and feel good. I finished off December with 103 miles and the year with exactly 1000.

Total mileage for this week: 34.09

Oh, and I’m happy to report that I met my water goal the last three days. After seeing the poor water drop’s sad face I couldn’t let that happen again lol!

Happy Mr. Water Drop! Or as Salt refers to him: Party Drop 😀

How was your running week?

When’s the last time you’ve felt like a BEETH?