100 Days of Summer Challenge–Quarterly Check-in

Let’s all stand up and give a round of applause to MEEEEEE for having gone 25 days with NO soda!!!

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I can’t believe I’ve gone that long. And let me tell you, it has not been easy.

The closest time that I thought I was going to slip up was the night of my 27k night race. I was so exhausted when I finished that all I wanted was a Big Gulp. I remember around mile 15 telling myself that I would allow a cheat day if I could just make it to the end. An ice, cold fountain drink was the only thing motivating me at the time.

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fave movie ever!!

When I did finish, I called my husband to tell him about this deal I had made myself and he was able to talk me out of it. At that point, I was two weeks in and he reminded me that the hard part was almost over. The withdrawal stage was no joke. Headaches, moodiness, yes. all of that I experienced. I knew it would happened and tried my best to not annoy my husband and practice extra patience with my kids. Luckily , I had coffee. All the coffee. Anyway, the first two weeks were the toughest and I was coming out of that stage; I could do this. Plus, he knew that I would feel super guilty the next day and told me so. I’m so happy his persuasive skills worked.

So here I am, 25 days in, a quarter of the way done with the challenge. For some reason, looking at it that way, in fourths, helps me deal with it better. I know it sounds like I’m being super dramatic about this, but seriously, I drank a TON of soda. So much so that when I meet up with friends, their jaws drop when I refuse the Coke they offer. (This happened on a play date recently. My girlfriend had bought Coke just for me because she knew I was visiting.)

My fridge pre-challenge

My fridge pre-challenge

I’m very much looking forward to reaching the half way milestone. I think once I make it there, the end won’t seem that far away. Many people have told me that by the time I’m done, I’ll probably not want to drink soda anymore. I can say at 25 days in that that’s very unlikely. I honestly don’t think I’ll ever stop. I’ll maybe drink less, but I can’t see myself not drinking it ever again. I don’t know, I could surprise myself though.

I’ve liked how less bloated I feel but I haven’t noticed any decrease in weight or anything. My purpose with this challenge wasn’t to lose weight anyway but more to see how it would affect my training. If it would make a difference. It’s so hot here in Phoenix that hydration is so important. Would eliminating soda and drinking more water help my running? That’s what I’m most curious about.

We shall see. 75 more days!! 😀

–How have you challenged yourself recently?

–What do you think you’d struggle with doing/not doing for 100 days?

 

Run Janji {Review}

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I discovered a new running clothing line (Seriously, running + clothes = heaven) from my friends at It’s a Marathon AND a Sprint called Janji. They did an awesome review on it that really made me interested to try their clothes out.

I’ll give you a very short run down, because I honestly feel like Colby and Tina did a great job going over the company’s philosophy so I’ll let you head on over and check out their review.

*With every Janji apparel purchase, you help give food and water to someone in need. In the U.S., that’s a meal to an American in need; in Haiti, that’s nutritional medicine to a child. In Peru and Tanzania, it’s drinking water.

For something we would do normally, buy running clothes, we can do it and help someone else. That’s where their motto “Run for Another” comes in. I love it.

The shorts fit great, were lightweight, and of good quality. Plus, I felt good knowing that with my purchase, I was giving back. Win.

Janji shorts Swirlgear top

Janji shorts
Swirlgear top

I was not asked to do a review. I purchased the shorts myself and all thoughts and opinions are my own 🙂

Marathon Training Preview–Run Less, Run Faster

Choosing a training plan for the Marine Corps Marathon this October took me some time. I used a Higdon plan for my last (first) marathon and I liked it but was curious and decided to explore what else was out there. I kept hearing a lot about Run Less, Run Faster.

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So I bought the book to see what it was all about and much of it intrigued me. Enough to use it as my plan? At first no, but after thinking long and hard, and researching other plans, I have decided to try RLRF out. Here’s my Pro/Con list that I made in coming to this decision.

PRO
* 3/2 system. The plan has you only running three days which is definitely an appeal to me since I’ll be returning to work in the fall.

CON
*However, the plan insists on 2 cross training days so it’s really not like you’re only running 3 days and then doing nothing the rest of the week. I’ll still be very busy 5 out of 7 days (as I would be with any plan).

PRO
*It’s very structured. This is a plus for me because I like being told what to do when it comes to plans–if a plan says I need to do it then I just do it. The three days of running are structured so that you run one tempo run, one speed work day, and one long run each with specific paces (that vary each week).

CON
*It’s very structured. I’m worried this might take some fun out of running. There will be no “easy” days (a major goal of this system is to eliminate “junk” miles) so each run will be very intense.

PRO
*It’s very tailored to your goal time. I’m not a big numbers girl so this took me a while to “get” but the way you figure out what paces to run your 3 days is by determining your 5k time. That time lays out the foundation for what will ultimately become the plan for your marathon goal. (I did not choose my 5k PR time because that would result in a ridiculously, unrealistic marathon goal.)

CON
*I’m worried that because the plan is very goal oriented, I’ll become super disappointed if I’m not able to maintain the paces needed in training to reach my goal.

PRO
*When I reached out to running friends who had tried RLRF, all of them had good things to say about it.

CON
*When I googled RLRF Reviews, yeah, not so much lol!

OTHER NOTES:
*As I compared this plan to others I’d reviewed, I noted that the total mileage was very close to the total mileage of other plans. So even though I would be running “less”, it’s less in the sense of days per week.

*It’s a 16 week plan. Higdon’s is 18 and I believe Hanson’s is 18 as well. RLRF would have me starting two weeks from today but I’ve decided to add a two week ease-into-training period testing out the paces.

*They have two marathon plans–one for novices and one for experienced runners. I’m going with the former as it has one 20 mile long run. The latter has 3 (no, thank you).

*The book has a section for post workout stretches that I really like. I”m looking forward to incorporating them in my training.

Ultimately, I’m very curious to see how this plan works for me. I’m always up for trying something new and different and at the same time, if I’m not feeling it, I’m totally okay with re-evaluating the game plan.

We’ll see how it goes! Cheers to the beginning of marathon training!! 😀

–Have you heard of/tried Run Less, Run Faster?

–Do you put a lot of time in to creating a training plan? (Was my pro/con list overkill? lol!)

–What are important factors for you in choosing a training plan?