One Year BQversary

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training, Race and tagged with Anniversary, Blogging Buddies, Boston Marathon, BQ, Marathon Training, Mesa-Phoenix Marathon February 16, 2019

Hi everyone!! I’m still here!!

What brought me out of the blogging shadows?? Last weekend was my favorite Mesa-Phoenix Marathon!!! Happy One Year BQversary to me!!!!!!!

BQ pain cave, woot woot!!!

Sub 3:30!!! #goals #done

❤

2019 stats

Gah!!! I love that race.

This year though, it was a half party for me as I opted to go 13.1 in preparation for Boston.

In freaking preparation for BOSTON!!!

I seriously still can’t believe I’m going.

Surprisingly though, training for Boston has not been the sunshine and rainbows I anticipated. Like the elevation chart the race poses, it has been a lot of up and downs with an overall net of down.

I’m not sure if training to BQ at Phoenix last year took everything I had, the excitement of my new job taking precedence over running, or a combination of the two plus being a mom, wife, friend–the truth is, I’m exhausted.

So I’m excited about Boston. I’m pumped about Boston. But any “goals” I might’ve had have gone out the window. And I know, I know, Boston is THE race to fun run, but the Type A competitive person in me doesn’t like training (especially for a marathon) without some type of end goal. Usually, I refuse to let it go.

Hoooweeeever…..I know I’m at a different stage of my running life now because frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn about end goals right now.

I won’t be looking back at training for my first Boston fondly, like I do looking back at my qualifying race, but I have a feeling that going in to the Boston Marathon with no pressure of a time is going to make for a super fun race–one that I’m sure I’ll look back on with as much joy as Phoenix.

You know who else is going to remember Phoenix Marathon for all its awesomeness? Elle at Afastpacedlife!!! Homegirl threw it down last weekend and you gotta go read all about it on her blog. There’s no way I can re-write her story ❤

I’ll try not to be a stranger!! So much to catch up on…

xoxo,

helly

P.S Kim K, you rock girl. That is all.

Weeks 12-15: #itsgoingdownatphx

Posted by hellyontherun in Bloggers, Marathon, Marathon Training, Running and tagged with Best Buds, Blogging Buddies, It's Going Down at Phoenix, Marathon, Marathon Training, Marathon Wedding, Running Friends, Wedding Bells February 6, 2018

Welp, looks like I’ve gotten a little behind on these recaps, lol!! To catch you up, training has been going really well. Which of course, makes me nervous.

I’ve had some pretty amazing workouts at paces I never thought I could do. So far, I’ve completed an 18 miler, a 20 miler, and an 18 miler, with my last 20 coming up this weekend. The last two long runs were super tough leaving me wondering if I can really do this thing, but let me tell you something, besides running these past few weeks, I’ve been working on my mental game LIKE WHOA.

I’ll do a full recap on the reading I’ve done (and podcasts I’ve listened to <—finally catching up with the times!) after the race, but I do want to say that immersing myself with positivity has been such a help for me this training cycle.

I wouldn’t be able to have hit these paces without believing I could.

Of course I get nervous, will I have had a great training cycle but an abysmal race? But as soon as those thoughts start creeping in, I shut them out.

And if for whatever reason, things go to shit and I don’t BQ, I’m guaranteed a fun time because… my friends are getting married at mile 26!!!!

follow the fun at @rundrunklove

Love them!

the bride-to-be and meeee!

Yessss!!! How awesome is that? So I “met” Scott through his (now defunct) blog and then met him in real life when we both ran Chicago Marathon 2015. That’s when I met Marsha, the girl he’ll be marrying. We hit it off and now we’re the best of friends ❤ They came out last year for Phoenix Marathon when Marsha was trying to BQ (she did) and then came out again to baptize my son.

I ❤ this pic.

Hoping to ring that bad boy again this year!

Regardless of the outcome of the race, I’m so glad these two will be there. I know that they’ll be my tequila drinking buddies if I need to drown my sorrows or celebrate the good times 😀

CAN’T WAIT!!!

–Have you seen a mid-marathon wedding?

Week 11: #itsgoingdownatphx

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training and tagged with Marathon Training, Phoenix Marathon, Running, Training, Weekly Recap January 9, 2018

With the countdown getting closer to go-time, I have to say, I’ve never felt so confident about a training cycle. I’ve mentioned being nervous with how good things are going, and it’s really freaking me out–but I’m trying to tell myself that this is what happens when you prepare, train smart, and put in work. You feel good! 😀

Monday, January 1st–5.25 miles

I celebrated the new year with some easy miles around the ‘hood. There was no other way I would’ve liked to have kicked 2018 off.

Welcome, 2018!

Tuesday, January 2nd–8 miles

I had a 6 mile tempo with 1 up and 1 down. I tried really hard to make sure these tempo miles stayed close to the target pace (7:40) and not faster (my coach is big on that).

7:37
7:29
7:34
7:35
7:39

There was a 90 second rest interval after each mile, too, so that was nice.

Wednesday, January 3rd–Strength, Stretch, Roll

Did some arm workouts, planks, stretches on the mat, and some rolling. It was my husband’s birthday and we celebrated with a yummy pasta dinner. I had gotten us tickets for a concert for Friday so were really looking forward to that 🙂

Thursday, January 4th–8 miles

This was a doozy of a workout. I had 2 miles of warm up, then 3×9 minutes (3 min fast, 3 min faster, 3 min fastest), 2 miles cool down. I wanted the intervals to be at targets paces 7:40, 7:25, 7:05 but yeah, I didn’t do a very good job of that.

Friday, January 5th–Rest

Today was concert day! It was at night so I could’ve done something during the afternoon….but didn’t 😀 We went to go see one of my favorite Mexican singers, Pepe Aguilar. I’ve listened to him pretty much my entire life and couldn’t believe that I was actually seeing him perform LIVE. It was a major moment crossing that off my list.

Saturday, January 6th–5 miles

Post concert recovery miles, lol!

so much fun!

Sunday, January 7th–12 miles

I moved my long run to today. It was a fun little fartlek with the last 10 miles having 1 minute pick-ups at the beginning of each mile.

Which brought me to 40.71 big ones for Week 11! This week my coach has given me a mini taper leading into Rock n Roll Arizona 1/2. I’m gonna be shooting for that sub 1:40 again so if you can send me all the good luck juju you can, I would appreciate it!!! ❤ Check out my instagram for “live” results, lol!

–What musician/band(s) would you like to see?

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