Week 11 Marathon Training Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Family, Marathon, Running and tagged with Busybody, Long Run, Marathon Training, Phoenix Marathon January 26, 2015

It’s the 5 week countdown!

Last week was pretty productive considering I’d run a speedy 1/2 marathon on Sunday.

Monday, I went out for an easy 3 miler (9:39) to shake the legs off from the previous day’s race.

I met up with my run club on Tuesday and got in the 5 miler I had scheduled (9:22). My husband ran as well and we enjoyed this beautiful sunset

Photo: ABC 15’s Facebook page

Wednesday we were supposed to continue our Yasso’s at the track but the high school had a soccer game. I ended up doing 3 negative split miles around a local park: 9:34, 9:14, 8:44

Thursday and Friday I foam rolled, stretched, and rested. It’d been 4 days straight of running and I wanted to make sure all was well for…..

Saturday‘s 20 miler!!

My plan had been to run part of the 20 on the actual course but–I was in a car accident on Friday. I’m okay; it was just a fender bender (and my kids weren’t in the car, thankfully!) but I was pretty shaken up and not at all comfortable being away from home so early in the morning. My car (barely 2 months old 😦 ) got some rear end damage…

So, I hit the good ‘ol canals nearby and met up with a friend, who was also doing twenty, at 5 o’crazy clock in the morning.

I loved that my buddy is pretty much the same pace as me so it was a stress free run. I struggle running with people faster than me because 1. I don’t like feeling like I’m slowing them down and 2. I don’t like pushing myself unnecessarily trying to keep up.

There was none of that on Saturday as my buddy Jen and I cruised along stopping for a quick Gu break every 5 miles (and a bathroom break at mile 17). We knew we wanted to take it easy and not over exert ourselves on this long run–no need for speed here.

For the most part, we stayed within our desired pace of 9:45-10:00 with the occasional over 10 minuters that didn’t bother us at all.

We talked and laughed and sometimes ran silently and it was just an overall peaceful run. I really could not believe that I could honestly enjoy 20 miles, but I did!

We were feeling so good that at the end we felt we could pick it up a bit and our last mile, mile 20, clocked in at 9:18!

I experienced 0 cramps (a first for me in a run of that distance) and overall felt pretty good. I mean, I didn’t feel like I could go do another twenty, but if it’d been race day, I certainly felt I could have gone another 6.2. I was just really happy that I ran it conservatively, comfortably, and that I finished feeling like I still had something left in the tank.

20 miler 1 of 2: DONE!

The rest of the day was actually a busy one. My daughter had soccer

My sassy soccer player ❤

and it was 2 weeks in a row of Anna and Elsa!

Me and 3 princesses (again)

It was Frozen/snow day at my kids’ school on Saturday–Unfortunately, my son was napping and missed out on the fun 😦 but, he did get a haircut when he woke up! 🙂

My lil handsome stud

Overall, a busy and productive week!

Total Miles: 31.04 When I uploaded my runs to GarminConnect, I saw that I had reached 100 miles! This totally shocked me as I hadn’t been trying nor has it felt like a 100 mile month.

There’s still a week left!

Water Intake: D-

Eeeek 😦

How was your running week? Do you track your monthly miles?

Have you been doing better than me at hydrating?

Who was the last character/famous person you had your picture taken with?

Friday (4+1) Five! {link up}

Posted by hellyontherun in About Me, Bloggers, Link Party and tagged with About Me, Friday Five, Link Up January 23, 2015

So one of my faves, Hailey @StridingStrong, tagged me in a fun About Me post where I share 4 things on different topics.

I was looking forward to linking up again with the DC Trifect ladies, Mar, Cynthia, and Courtney, and when I saw their Friday Five topic was an About Me, I figured, why not add a +1 to Hailey’s post?? I mean, you all wouldn’t mind getting some extra Helly info, right?? 😀

Okay, here goes!

4 (+1) Names People Call Me

1. Peke (short for “pequena” which means “little” in Spanish)–I’m the youngest of 3 siblings
2. Helly–My real name is actually Angelica (the ‘g’ sounds like an ‘h’) and my college girlfriends decided it was too long and shortened it to Helly
3. Hells–My name to close friends
4. Mrs. B–My teacher name 🙂
5. Mama–My favorite name ❤

4 (+1) Jobs I’ve Had

1. Tutor–I tutored in high school. It’s like I always knew I wanted to teach.
2. Boot Seller–I also worked at a western store during high school where I sold cowboy hats, boots, and saddles. Yep, I wore Wranglers and the whole bit 😀
3. Sales–I worked at a few high fashion stores in college. I love, love, love dressing up and wearing heels and I had some of the best times working in the fashion industry.
4. Waitress–I got a job working at a sports bar/restaurant and it was the best because I never missed any basketball games working the late shifts.
5. Teacher–Still have this job and I love it so very much.

4 (+1) Movies I’ve Watched More Than Once

1. Dumb and Dumber
2. Tommy Boy
3. Forrest Gump
4. Gone In 60 Seconds
5. Grease

4 (+1) Books I’d Recommend

1. The Last Lecture (great non-fiction book–get your tissues ready)
2. The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns (same author)
3. Anything by Jeffrey Deaver (if you like suspense/mystery/horror)
4. Nothing (good, albeit disturbing, YA book)
5. Where The Red Fern Grows (my favorite book from childhood 🙂 )

4 (+1) Places I’ve Lived

1. My hometown in southern AZ
2. Phoenix, AZ
3. Tempe, AZ
4. Scottsdale, AZ
5. I’ve never lived outside of AZ. You can’t move me from here ❤

4 (+1) Places I’ve Been

1. Italy
2. Spain
3. France
4. Puerto Rico
5. Costa Rica

I’ve been fortunate to travel to some pretty cool places.

4 (+1) Places I’d Rather Be Right Now

1. San Francisco–my husband and went last year and had one of, if not the best, trips ever
2. Ohio–I miss my brother and sister
3. Baltimore, Maryland–Salt. ‘Nuff said.
4. Chicago, Il–the next cool place I want to visit (and race!)
5. Home–I’m currently at work.

4 (+1) Things I Don’t Eat

1. Peanut Butter
2. Ranch dressing
3. Mushrooms
4. Cooked carrots
5. Pecans 😦 This is a new allergy

4 (+1) Of My Favorite Foods

1. Bread. Any kind. That includes tortillas.
2. David’s BBQ Sunflower seeds. The addiction is real.
3. Red chili tamales. Mexican food in general. Tacos.
4. The Caribou sub sandwich from our local sub shop, Silvermine’s (ooh, and their broccoli cheese soup!)
5. Pizza. With just pepperoni.

Story. Yesterday, I went to a local pizza shop near work and ordered my usual, 3 slices and a soda. It was a new guy I didn’t recognize behind the counter and upon placing my order, he says, “Are you sure? That’s a lot of food.”

Um, yeah, I’m sure.

4 (+1) TV Shows I’ve Watched

1. Mickey Mouse Club House
2. Doc McStuffins
3. Octonauts
4. Princess Sophia
5. Mickey Mouse Club House

Our house only has one channel.

4 (+1) Things I’m Looking Forward To This Year

1. My little girl turning 3!
2. My little guy turning 2!
3. Phoenix Marathon
4. Chicago Marathon??? (I hope I get in!)
5. The unknown 🙂

4 (+1) Things I’m Always Saying

1. “Seriously?” (or “Really?”)
2. “I’m hungry.” (like, all the time)
3. “There’s a reason I don’t teach elementary school.” (to my students when they’re being squirrely)
4. “Besitos!” (asking my kids for kisses 🙂 )
5. “It was on sale.” (to my husband, always)

I’m supposed to tag people, but I’d so much rather YOU choose something from the list to tell me!

I hope everyone has a good weekend! I’m supposed to do 20 miles tomorrow –eeek!!!

❤ helly

Rock n Roll Arizona 1/2 Marathon Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Half Marathon, Race, Running and tagged with 1/2 Marathon, PR, Race, Recap, RnR AZ, RunEatTweetAZ, Running January 21, 2015

I’ve been noticing a trend with my races lately–the less I stress and the less pressure I put on myself has proven to be the best race strategy. I went into the Fiesta Bowl 1/2 Marathon last month not sure what I wanted to do and ended the race with a killer PR of 1:55:37 (beating my previous by almost 3 full minutes). On Sunday, I was debating about treating this like a legit training run or going for another sub 2 (but not at all thinking about a PR).

My husband, who was also racing, my daughter (who wasn’t racing 😉 ), and I didn’t spend too much time at the Expo itself. We got our bibs and shirts and took a few quick pics:

Checkin’ in!

My little runner ❤

After, we started making our way to a group social–I’d planned on meeting up with my #RunEatTweetAZ peeps 🙂

#RunEatTweetAZ 🙂

The meet up was so much fun! There were a bunch of giveaways and the grand prize was a free race entry from a local racing company, StartLine Racing. Guess who won? MEEEEE!!!!!

I’m a winner!!!

My daughter had had a blast at the social, even getting to meet Elsa and Anna! and then we had lunch downtown. It was such a beautiful, relaxed Saturday.

Me and 3 princesses

I carried that momentum to the next morning as I got ready. We arrived to the race early and well prepared. Prepared as in I was not cold. I know, I know, I’m in Arizona but cold for us lol! It was actually supposed to be a gorgeous day–and it was–but the morning was a bit chilly (41 degrees is COLD! lol!). I had on sweats and a sweater and was very comfortable up to the start. We gear checked our stuff and then made our way to our corrals.

I met up with with one of my running buddies and wished him luck. Along the way, I ran into another friend from my running club, Harry, who is super fast (he’s attempting a BQ time at Phoenix). I asked him what his goal time was and he said that he was just going have fun with this one and was going to help a friend pace. Their time was around what I had thought I’d like to be, 9 minute miles. I figured I’d hang out with them and see where it took me.

My husband wished me luck and he moved up to his corral. The gun went off and we were on our way!

We started off at a very good pace and I felt it was smart that I had decided to start easy and relaxed. The first mile ticked off 8:51 and I thought, this is good. So far, so good.

I could feel myself start to pick up the pace a little but still felt good and mile two went by at 8:47. It was here that Harry and I somehow lost our other friend. She had made a pit stop at the first water station unexpectedly and we couldn’t find her. Harry even went back to look and met up with me later when he couldn’t find her. We continued on our way and stayed consistently near 9:00 up to mile 9.

Mile 7 was a Gu stop and Mile 9 was a killer hill.

I was very pleased with mile 9. The entire first 3/4 of the race is an incline that culminates with a huge hill at mile 9. This is usually where I bonk (last year miles 8 and 9 were 9:26 and 9:22) so when I saw 9:09 I was so happy! It had felt like a 20 minute mile lol!

nice…steady…incline

Seeing how well I had done up to that point motivated me to continue. I ran the last 4 miles strong and the last mile with all heart. I had done the math, I was going to kill last year’s time (1:58:11)! This fact made me so incredibly happy; I had no idea that I was actually going to be close to a PR. Had I known, maybe I would have pushed it but because I was so thrilled with how I was doing up to that point, I wasn’t at all thinking about even being close to PRing. As each mile clicked away, I became more and more elated!

Yaaaay!!!

And somehow, I ended up finishing 15 seconds away from my PR (1:55:37) on a muuuuch tougher course!! I was (and still am) on cloud 9!!! 😀

There was no plan, no strategy, I just started out with what felt good and carried my momentum the rest of the way trying my best to stay consistent.

What capped off the race, how could it possibly get better you might ask, is that my husband did absolutely amazing. He way surpassed his previous year’s time at this course (1:48) and then beat his PR from last month of 1:42, finishing RnR AZ at 1:40:49. One-freaking-forty!! He’s come such a long way for his short running career; I’m so pumped for what his running future holds for him ❤

Me and my speedy ❤

Partaking in some post race celebration hydration

yaaaaay!!!

This was a race that was by no means easy; I felt like I was working the entire way. But, I wasn’t dying at the end (my race pictures show otherwise lol!) or felt like I had overworked my body. I just felt really good.

Strong. I felt strong. And that seriously is the best feeling ever 🙂

–Do you always have a race/game plan/strategy?

–How would you describe yourself (or the way you feel) at the end of a race?