Monthly Archives: November 2017

Week 5: #itsgoingdownatphx

Posted by hellyontherun in Running and tagged with , , ,

How is it the last week of November?!? Friday is DECEMBER you guys!!!!!

Okay but to recap last week, it was Thanksgiving week here in the states so things were a little different….

Monday, 11/20–6 miles

My coach has now transitioned me into Tempo/Active Threshold runs on Mondays. I was actually excited about this run.

7:40 target pace #nailedit

Tuesday, 11/21–2 miles

I met up with an Instagram friend for an easy two miler. I “met” @steffafee at last year’s #werunsocial Christmas ornament exchange 😀 She just so happens to have family here in Arizona and we of course had to meet up while she visited them for the holiday.

AZ sunset ftw!! (she said it was too hot here, lol!)

Wednesday, 11/22–4 miles

Typically, this would be a speed day but because my coach had given us the option to do a Turkey Trot as a substitute, I met up with a BTB teammate for some miles.

Thursday, 11/23–3.1 miles (Turkey Trot 5k)

You guys, this race was a disorganized mess. I love my small little hometown, but they did not bring their A game that morning. First, their “website” had no official start time. It said 7:30 a.m so for this runner girl, I took that as the start of the race. Sounds legit, right? The race did not actually start until 9!!!! I had done my mile warm up at 7:00 thinking okay, it’s gonna start soon. NOPE. And when you asked around, no one really knew.

Then, they separated people from “competitive” to “walkers” and maaaaybe there were 30 competitive runners?? Maybe…. I figured since only competitive runners qualified for awards, they’d get to it pretty quickly after the race (remember, I’d been there since about 6:30!!!)

I came in 3rd female overall (yay!) and knew the two girls in front of me were not in my age group–so 1st in my age group. My husband and I decided to wait around for awards (I knew McDonald’s gift cards were at stake.)

WELL, they waited until the very. last. walker. crossed the finish line. I mean, I get cheering in all runners/walkers, but I did not expect to wait ANOTHER HOUR after I finished for the awards to begin!!!

First female overall was a high school cross country runner and second place overall was a cute girl in her twenties. When they announced the 20-29 AG award, they did not announce the cute blonde!!!! We looked at each other like, whaaat?! Immediately after, they announced the 30-39 AG award, and they did not announce me!!!!

Already long story short, they completely messed up when runners crossed (and when they registered runners) so me and the second place OA girl walked outta there with no award. FIVE HOURS AFTER I ARRIVED. Mind you, I finished the race in 22:12!!! Twenty two minutes!!!

The run was a for a good cause so I kept reminding myself about that. I wasn’t upset about not getting my McDonald’s gift card, medal, and award– I was upset about all the time wasted that could’ve been spent with family. Last year’s Turkey Trot was supposed to be the last one (which I won! 😀 ) and they switched organizers for this year–these new peeps need to get this event back to how it used to be if they want to keep it going.

Still smiling 🙂

Friday, 11/24–Rest, Foam Roll, Stretch

This pic is from the Gilbert Half last week. I love how me and the random dude have the same expression and form, LOL! I beat him by the way 😉

Saturday, 11/25–15 miles

I woke up at crazy o’clock to meet my run club at 5 a.m. for a cold, early start. I felt uh-mazing during this run!!! I was pleasantly surprised considering the 5k I’d done and traveling.

My watch died juuuuust before the 15 mile mark and I was so relieved to see that the workout had been salvaged. I was a teensy worried, LOL!!! I mean, it’s gotta be on Strava/Garmin for it to count, right? :p

Sunday, 11/26–4 miles

Some easy recovery miles with my Moms Run This Town girls ❤

Total Weekly Mileage: 35.25 miles

 

–Does your hometown have a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot?

–Do you forget to charge your watch before long runs?

–Did you snag any Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals?

 

Weeks 3-4: #itsgoingdownatphx

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training and tagged with , , ,

It’s been a busy couple of weeks so I’ve missed some training recaps. I know how exciting these are and how much you anxiously await them :p

Week 3

Monday, 11/6–6.5 miles

Little negative split six and a halfer–9:17(wu), 8:44, 8:28, 8:15, 7:50, 9:03(cd)

Tuesday, 11/7–4 miles, Strength Training, Foam Rolling, Stretching

A friend and I ran to a local shoe store (8:50, 8:30) to hear Jeff Galloway speak. I’ve never used his walk/run method but have friends who have had success with it. It was interesting to hear his philosophy. Two miles back home (8:30, 8:35) and I called it a day.

Wednesday, 11/8–7 miles

It was one of my favorite workouts–a timed ladder (5, 4, 3, 2, 1 min w/1 min R) twice. But I didn’t have my usual pep in my step so I decided early on to just make sure my second set was faster than my first.

Thursday, 11/9 — Strength Training, Foam Rolling, Stretching

check! : )

Friday, 11/10–6 miles

I met up with some friends for some early morning hills. Took it easy (10:00/avg) as we were leaving to Vegas that afternoon.

Saturday, 11/11 (rest/shop), Sunday, 11/12–13.1 miles (RnR Vegas)

Rock and Roll Vegas was SO MUCH FUN!! I used it as a training run to get that marathon goal pace (mgp) down (8:00) and I was really happy with how I did. I was bummed my watch went wonky because I knew my splits would be pretty but oh well…I finished on target at a 7:59 pace 😀

Total for Week 3: 37 miles

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Week 4

Monday, 11/13–Rest Day

We drove home from Vegas and I made sure to roll, roll, roll that night.

Tuesday, 11/14–4 miles

These were slooooow (9:39 but felt much slower). Positive split the entire run, lol!

Wednesday, 11/15–5 miles

Oh man, this was rough. I had mile repeats that were supposed to be at around 7:15 but that was NOT happening. I managed to pull off a 7:22, 7:19, 7:26 and I felt pretty darn happy about it.

Thursday, 11/16–Strength Training, Foam Rolling, Stretching

So on these cross/strength training days, I haven’t been making it to the gym to get on the bike or elliptical, but I’ve been doing some videos at home that focus on body weight strength training. I’ve actually been doing them so I’m happy with my efforts on these Tuesday and Thursday cross/strength training days.

Friday, 11/17–3 miles

Easy, peasy run around the ‘hood (9:17/avg).

Saturday, 11/18–13.1 miles (Gilbert Half Marathon)

I used this race as another training run as I continue to get that mgp (8:00) to feel like home. My goal was to be between 1:45-1:50 and I finished in 1:46 so super yay! My coach had me run the first 3 at long run pace, and then the remaining 10 miles with a one minute surge at the beginning of each mile. The surges became less fast as the race went on, LOL, but I was happy with the way I ran. I tried my best to keep it as close to mgp as possible–there were a few miles where we had some headwind (and heat!) but again, I was pleased with my efforts and with the fact I ran comfortably and finished feeling fine.

I heart running.

Total for Week 4: 25 miles

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Now I’m all caught up!! So far, I’m feeling pretty good and trying my best to be diligent on staying healthy and injury free so that has meant eating better (I have!), rolling and stretching (check!), and working that core (workin’ it!).

–Do you use races as training runs?

–What are your favorite core exercise?

 

2017 RnR Vegas!!!!

Posted by hellyontherun in Half Marathon, Race and tagged with , , , , , ,

FINALLY!!!

I’ve been wanting to do this race for LONG TIME!! It always just seemed like a good time and while I’d been to Vegas before, for bachelorette parties, I’d wanted to go as just a solo vacation. So, because I’m a Rock ‘n Blog Ambassador, I was able to pick a few races to run and there was no hesitation choosing RnR Vegas!!

Some backstory–you know me and my crazy ideas, lol!!!! I had this GREAT PLAN to run the inaugural Revel Mt. Lemmon (in Tucson) Sunday morning and then drive to Las Vegas to run Rock ‘n Roll Vegas! Two half marathons in two states in ONE day! Doesn’t that sound awesome!!!?? I somehow convinced my husband and I got us all registered.

Then, he broke his toe on Monday.

Yup, completely random injury–his toe was swollen blue and purple and after x-rays confirmed what we already knew, we decided to nix Tucson and instead, I would run Vegas on Sunday solo.

Except my husband is a stubborn man (he’s also a runner soo…..) and said he felt good enough to run with me at my pace. My goal was 1:45 which would be 13.1 miles at MGP (8:00). I told him that if at any point he didn’t feel good, to walk and he promised he would.

He’s such a champ. ❤ him

The Expo was huge and we stood in line for our traditional race coffee mug and got out of there. The race shirts were super cute and I was glad I went with the Medium (they ran small). I didn’t hang out at all but knew I’d see some #WeRunSocial peeps the next day before the race.

I was able to snag a quick pic with Carlee and Brian–I’ve seen them the past couple of years at Phoenix Marathon and a few other races. I finally got to me Slacker Runner too!!!

And then we were off!!

As I’d mentioned, I wanted to keep at goal marathon pace. The first mile was insanely crowded so I wasn’t worried when we saw a 9 something minute sound off. The second mile was 8:20something and by the third mile, we settled in at 8 or just under.

But then before we reached mile 5 mile, my watched beeped 7:22!!! and a.) I knew we hadn’t hit the mile marker and b.) I knew I was running well, but NOT that well.

I was bummed that my watch was now skewed but decided to just keep running. I felt at each mile I was holding on to my pace even though I didn’t have the watch splits to prove it. The way I gauged it was that I WAS PASSING PEOPLE THE ENTIRE TIME and having so. much. fun.

I can count on one hand the races I’ve done where from beginning to end, I passed people. I just felt good (or maybe people were slowing as the race progressed, lol!) and just held on. At mile 10 we had to do a little u-turn to head back towards the finish and it was then I felt the pace become, still doable, but a tad uncomfortable. I held on, still breathing fine, but feeling the legs a little heavy.

As we reached the finish, a girl I’d been keeping pace with said, “Let’s run it in together!” except she clearly had energy left in her and I was dying trying to keep up

I finished right on target at 1:44:36 with an average of 7:59/mile!! 😀

I was so ridiculously happy for running the race so well. I didn’t get caught up with the crowd or try anything ambitious like trying to PR (which I think the world did at Revel Mt. Lemmon earlier that day). Instead, I ran my race, at my pace and still kicked ass! It was such a confidence booster as I continue on my journey to Boston. I don’t know when I’ll get there, BUT I WILL GET THERE ❤

Thank you, Vegas! ❤

–Have you done RnR Vegas? If not, consider it! 😀

–Do you use races as training runs?