How to have a crappy run

Yesterday started out as one of the worst runs I ever had and ended up later in the day being one of the best. The biggest thing I learned from this experience is that I need to plan my weekend meals/nutrition better. Here's the back story:

I started coming down with a cold so I went to the store Friday morning before work to stock up on cold meds to help get me through the day. Unfortunately for me the pharmacy wasn't open so I bought a ton of candy to self soothe instead, first bad choice. After a long day at work all I wanted to do was curl up on the couch with some more junk food. I convinced Cory to pick up some Qudoba on the way home and gorged myself on quesadillas, chips and guacamole.

I woke up Saturday morning feeling crappy but not bad enough to skip our bike ride. I loaded myself full of cold meds and coffee and didn't feel too bad. we road 35 miles at a 15 mph average, not bad for me really. We came home and ate a late lunch of veggie burgers. After grocery shopping for the week Cory and I weren't hungry so we headed to bed without eating dinner.

Sunday morning I was still feeling bad but I really wanted to get our 14 mile run in, so once again I took lots of cold medicine, drank lots of coffee and ate some coffee cake that Cory made. It was yummy but probably not the best long run fuel. The temps were in the low 40's so I thought I would be ok to wear shorts, I was so wrong! Grey Skies, I should have known I would be too cold!

I was cold when we started out but I kept telling myself I would warm up. I was cold, tired, every step was painful. After two and a quarter miles I knew it just wasn't in the cards for me. My legs were hurting and bright purple. I turned around and headed back defeated. On the way home I talked Cory into getting Starbucks and Carl's Jr. (I am seeing a pattern here) After wolfing down a hamburger and fries and warming up in a bath I was feeling much better except for feeling really down about not finishing our run. I asked Cory how he would feel about waiting two hours (to digest) then heading to the gym to finish the last 9.5 miles of our run. He was up for it so we went and I have to say it felt GREAT! I was so happy to complete the full 14 miles that I even ran a little more and I never do that.

I learned that not planning my meals for the weekend can really hurt my training. Lesson learned, I will now plan my weekend meals just like I do during the week. You would think that I would know better by now, but apparently I don't when I am hopped up on cold meds. Today I stayed home from work because I couldn't sleep most of the night and was in a bad place this morning.

It's been snowing all day and tomorrow's high is supposed to be negative two degrees. So I don't think I will get any more outdoor workouts this week.

Have you ever broken up a run? Does it still count as 14 miles even if it was broken up by 3 hours?

I've got the crud

Yup, that's right people, I have the crud. I *think* it's just a head cold, I am not coughing a lot, but I am stuffed up, have a really sore throat and I am going through tissues really fast. But that didn't stop me from taking a beautiful ride yesterday in Boulder.

This was the view from our car before heading out.

Bike and gear all ready to go:
I don't have any other pictures since it's hard to ride and take pictures.

I hope to head out for a 14 mile run today. I've always heard that you can run with a cold as long as it isn't in your chest. I think it will be slow and probably won't feel great but I want to attempt it anyway.
Do you think it's ok to run with a head cold?

Thanks!

Tanks so much for all of your suggestions. I think that it is important to keep strength training and actually need to start doing it more. I am going to change up my plan to look like this:

Monday: rest day/yoga
Tuesday: am swim interval/pm interval run
Wednesday: BodyPump/recovery run
Thursday: spin class/run brick
Friday: interval run/long swim
Saturday: long run
Sunday: long bike


Do you always do the same type of workout on the same day or do you switch it up every week? Happy training!

On a different note I am looking for a fun half marathon to do in either March or April, any suggestions in Colorado or neighboring states?

Strength Training?

I have been arguing with myself for the last few week about strength training and I could use some help.

Curently I strength train once a week by taking a one hour "BodyPump" class at the gym. Les Mills desceibes the class as:

"BODYPUMP™ is the original barbell class that strengthens your entire body. This 60-minute workout challenges all your major muscle groups by using the best weight-room exercises like squats, presses, lifts and curls. Great music, awesome instructors and your choice of weight inspire you to get the results you came for – and fast! Like all the LES MILLS™ programs, a new BODYPUMP™ class is released every three months with new music and choreography."

I like the class but sometime I get so sore that I end up skipping other swim, bike, run workouts. I have a VERY weak upper body, proof:I have read that strength training is important in training and I do believe that it helps me avoid injury.

So here are my questions:

1. Should I continue with the class even if it makes me very sore?
2. Is it worth it to do the class even if I go light on weights to avoid being sore?
3. Is once a week enough, or should I be lifting 2 or 3 times a week?

Mainly I am trying to decided if I should continue with the class or do my own shorter routine a couple of times a week.

Any advice? Happy Humpday!

Green Monster

I love making green monsters, if you have never tried one I HIGHLY recommend them. My twist this morning induced instant coffee to give me extra an extra lift:
I make mine by adding:
2 tablespoons ground flax seed meal
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1 banana, the riper the better
1 packet cold brew VIA
2 cups spinach
a splash of vanilla extract

blend for about two minutes then add as much ice as you like I add a tall glass full.

It looks like baby poo but tastes great!

This mornings workout was 2000 yd swim, 200 warm up with 4 by 400 set and 200 cool down. Tonight I have RMTC track practice I think the workout is 8 by 400 sprints with a mile warm up and cool down.

What did you have for breakfast? Happy Tuesday!!!

Week 4 Goals

Week four goals and week three recap: ( I can't believe it's almost February!)

1. try two new recipes this week, and share them
2. Work on riding in aero position
3. Make sure to get in all my vitamins everyday
   
4. Make a doctors appointment to work on my asthma

Week 3 recap:

1. Get back on track by following my training plan all week work derailed me for one day but it was an A for effort.....
   
2. Really, actually do plank.....really. Some nights.
   
3. Track my calories all week to get a baseline try to stay between 1600 and 1800 calories yup, even though it took a lot of time.
   
4. Don't stress at work too much, it's going to be a draining week but it will pass. Still working on this one.

To start the week of right I tried a new recipe, I got it out of Matt Fitzgerald's Racing Weight.

Tuna Mac n' Cheese:


This meal was ok....it was a little bland. I did like that it had a lot of vegetables in it. Not every recipe will be a winner, but I will keep

A good weekend

I can't believe the weekend is already over, but it was a good one!
On Friday we went to REI and came home with this haul:Love REI!!!

We started Saturday with a difficult 12 mile run over Green Mountain. I took all of this with me:**I didn't end up eating the GU or LUNA bar but we did have Qudoba after, YUM!

Cory caught some great pictures of me warming up.

Thanks honey for always getting the weirdest pictures of me.

You should know that I take my warm-ups very seriously and I am NOT normal.

The run started out great it was windy and steep but beautiful.

It is a big climb but you are rewarded with great views of Denver and the Front Range at the top. We ran back down the other side with no issues. Soon we were headed back up to our car on a bike path when the wind picked up. It was not fun to spend the last 3 miles struggling up a hill feeling like you are being blown back down, but I was super happy to be done.

We spent the rest of the day eating, taking an ice bath and resting. This morning we headed out early for a 30 mile bike ride. I was so excited to actually be outside on my bike, although I was very cold. We then headed to a friends house to watch the Bears lose to the Packers. I am not really a fan of either team but our friends are from Chicago so we were sad to see them lose.

Now it's just laundry and getting ready for tomorrow morning. What did you do this weekend?

Week 3 Goals

Week three goals and week two recap:

1. Get back on track by following my training plan all week
   
2. Really, actually do plank.....really.
3. Track my calories all week to get a baseline try to stay between 1600 and 1800 calories
4. Don't stress at work too much, it's going to be a draining week but it will pass.

Week 2:

1. Enjoy NYC and try not to lose too much sleep. Check =)
   
2. Plank every night (this one hasn't been going so well so far) Not even once, with the flu it just wasn't happening
   
3. Be present while in all day meetings Yup, I really learned a lot
   
4. Pace myself well on Saturday's race so that I put up a good time (for me) and also not have an asthma attack. Didn't race =( but Cory took third in his age group, way to go baby!

To work on my new years resolution to learn to cook healthy meals I wanted to share a Salmon cake recipe that Cory came up with. They are seriously good, especially with a big spinach salad.
These are simple, healthy and quick salmon cakes.
Prep Time: 20
Cook Time: 10
Ready In: 30
Yields: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:
2 6-oz cans salmon, drained well
2 eggs
2 stalks celery (75g), chopped
1/2 small onion (75g), chopped
5g fresh minced garlic
10 drops Worcestershire sauce
2 tbl cold milled flax seed
1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp dried thyme
pepper
50g panko bread crumbs
extra virgin olive oil, divided

DIRECTIONS: In medium sized bowl combine all ingredients up to and including the salt. Mix panko bread crumbs, thyme and pepper in small bowl. Divide the wet mixture into 8 balls and coat with bread crumbs and set aside. Heat oil in non-stick skillet and cook until done, flipping halfway through.

Workout today was 50 minutes on the bike trainer:
No, I didn't ride in my jeans, with my eyes closed. Cory was trying to position my tri bars, I seriously need a bike fit!

New Tri bars

Even though I am still sick I had a great morning. Cory and I had a leisurely morning, we took advantage of the fact that we didn't get up early to bike or run and headed out to breakfast at the egg and I. We then headed over to bike village but we got there about a half an hour before they opened. So we had to go to Starbucks to kill time.
After we were done killing time we headed back to Bike Village and bought a pair of clip on aero bars for my bike.I know this isn't the best solution but I am hoping that I can get through one more season on my road bike with clip-ons then invest in a true tt-bike.My bike on the trainer in my basement, where I hope to spend some time tomorrow. I really suck at using the trainer, it's hard for me to keep my motivation and cadence up.

Do you use a bike trainer? How do you keep yourself going for hours?

Tomorrow is technically a holiday for me, I had planned on going in to try to catch up after being out last week but I think one more day of rest will make the rest of the week bearable.

Bad Couple of Days

First off thanks to all that wished me luck on today’s race, I am ashamed to say I did not race.

Here’s the story…..on Thursday my meeting in New York finished up with a nice lunch and some free time to walk through the American Museum of Natural History. Around 2pm we walked back to our hotel to grab our bags and meet our car to get to the airport. At the airport I decided to grab a sandwich and some pretzels to have on the flight as dinner. As I waited my stomach started to hurt and cramp a bit. I didn’t think much of it, I figured my body was just sick of being off schedule and not eating what I normally eat.

(Best Cupcake Ever)

As it got closer to boarding time I started to feel nauseous and I started to worry. I got to my window seat in the very back of the plane and thought I would be ok if I just drank my water and didn’t eat anything until I got home. As we were taking off I knew I was in trouble, I will spare you the details but it was the longest four and a half hours of my life. I have not been so happy to get off a plane in my life. I am still not sure if I had food poisoning or a stomach flu but I have no energy and still can’t eat normally.

I was so sad this morning not to be able to race, this is the second time I have had to stand on the sidelines to cheer Cory on at a race that I should have been running. In August I was injured and couldn’t run the Georgetown to Idaho Springs half marathon that both Cory and I had signed up for. It was fun to cheer Cory on but watching people race when I couldn’t just added salt to the wound. Cory encouraged me to stay home and rest but I didn’t want to pass up the chance to support him and see him put up an awesome time.

(35 minute clock time for 5 miles, I am sure that his chip time is even faster)

Hoping to get back to normal quickly!

Have you ever been sidelined from a race? Did you/would you go anyway?

Compression Gear???

Workout: 6 mile tempo run (2 miles at 11 mm, 2 miles at 9mm and 2 miles at 10.5 mm)

Not sure what pace I should run for my 5 mile race on Saturday. I ran a 5k in December in 26 something, first two miles around 8mm and the third mile at 10mm. I suffered an asthma attack in the last mile and really slowed down. For this race I would like to avoid that by not going out too fast. I think I would like to hit between 8:30 and 9mm splits.

As I am packing up to head back to CO tomorrow I laid out my travel clothes including my Zoot compressions socks.

My feet have a tendency to swell when I travel so I got these compression socks to help and they feel good to run in

Don't ask me what I am doing in this picture, I'm not really sure.

I also have a pair of Smart Wool compression socks:

I like them booth and I am thinking about buying some compression tights.

Do you have compression gear and do you think it helps? Any recommendations for compression tights?

Week 2 goals

Week 2 goals (a day late) and week 1 follow-up:

1. Enjoy NYC and try not to lose too much sleep.
2. Plank every night (this one hasn't been going so well so far)
3. Be present while in all day meetings
4. Pace myself well on Saturday's race so that I put up a good time (for me) and also not have an asthma attack.
   

As for week one:

1. Start marathon training (YAY!) I am loosely following this plan from Runners world. I have to add in swimming and biking. If anyone knows of a training plan for someone running a marathon in 4 months and a half ironman 2 months after that let me know! Cory and I are finishing up our plan tonight so I will try to post it tomorrow. DONE =)

2. Put away all Christmas decorations and start thinking about how I would like to decorate for the winter (I am thinking warm oranges to combat the chilly winter) Christmas is away, but no other decorating has happened.

3. Catch up at work without freaking out. Didn't freak out but still working on catching up, while out of the office :/

Overall not bad. What are your goals/focus for the week?

I am off to a fabulous dinner somewhere, not sure where yet. Happy Tuesday!

East Coast Time

Workout today: sitting on my but......all day

I didn't get into my hotel until after midnight last night after many delays. Here is the room I am staying in:
I was exhausted and fell into bed but couldn't sleep. So I am taking the day off and resting. Wishing I was still at home so I could read while watching the snow

Instead I will be watching it snow from this window: When I stayed here in September I made sure to run(and get lost) in Central Park. This time I didn't even bring outdoor workout clothes, It's just too cold!

Tonight I am off to Kefi, a Greek restaurant, should be good.

Do you like traveling to New York? If so what do you like to do here?

Good bye Colorado, hello New York City!

This morning started out nice a relaxing and spread up from there. I woke up to about three inches of fluffy white snow =)I took my coffee and Racing weight into our hearth room to read and watch the snow fall. Our 8 mile run had to be moved inside because of the snow so off the (VERY packed) gym we went for 82 minuets on the treadmill. We then hurried home for a quick shower and ice bath, helpful but so painful. I didn't have much time so I raced around trying to pack and ended up with a 48 pound bag, yikes!

I am now sitting in Denver International airport waiting to fly to New York City for a meeting about evaluating Professional Development. This is my exciting reading for the plane:
I will also hopefully have time to read this book:

Hmmmm, do you think the gummy bears are helping me reach my race weight?

Off to the east coast, catch you all on the flip side.

Things I learned last year:

First off I am a bit sad that this guy will be leaving tonight

Colby, my brothers golden retriever has been staying with is this week while Erik (My brother is single and a runner, just sayin….) is out of town. I love Colby, he is the sweetest dog ever and I will miss having him. But onto things I have learned the hard way this year:

1. DON’T compete physically with your husband, he will win, improve quicker than you and it will make you VERY cranky.
2. Ice is very important, don’t skip it EVER
3. You can get up at 4:20am to work out, just do it.
4. You don’t have to dry your hair or look presentable when going to work, but you will be cold.
5. Weight training is very important to keep up to avoid injury (at least for me)
6. swimming a mile plus in a pool is boring
7. You can’t eat whatever you want just because you’re training for a marathon. It’s hard to burn 600 calories but REALLY easy to eat 600 calories.

What have you learned the hard way?

Some people have asked me some questions so I will address them here:
Jess asked if these were my horses.

I WISH, but no, they belong to Sunriver resort. You can take sleigh rides in the winter and take trail rides in the summer. It is my dream to someday have some property and have horses and goats. Maybe when I retire.

Jess also asked where the Oregon Badlands are. They are in central Oregon, about 25 miles east of Bend Oregon.

Kristin asked how I found my lean body mass. I have this hand held body fat analyzer to calculate my % body fat. It’s not super accurate but it’s something to work from. I then multiplied my weight by my percent lean mass. Example: I weigh 142 pounds, have 24% body fat so my lean mass is 76%. So I multiplied 142 by .76 to find my lean mass is 107.92 lbs. Does that make sense?

Betsy and J.L. asked about a club to support each other trying to get to our race weight. There isn’t a club but maybe there should be, ideas?

Amanda asked what time I go to bed so I can get up at 4:20 in the morning. I try to go to bed at 8:30, but usually don’t end up in bed until after 9. I don’t have kids so I can set my own schedule.

Whew, did I miss any?? Happy Friday lovelies!

Back to reality

Today is my first day back to work after two weeks off. Man it’s hard to get back to the grind even when I LOVE my job and love the people that I work with. I would consider myself a morning person but when my alarm goes off at 4:20 am (seriously) it’s not fun. I got myself out the door and to the gym this morning for a quick 30 min tempo run and an hour of Body Pump. I have pretty much figured out my training plan for January (I just need to decide what my swim intervals will be).
















The basic Format is:

Sunday: Long run 8-12 miles
Monday: Rest day with easy yoga in the pm
Tuesday: am interval swim and pm interval run 4-6 miles
Wednesday: Weightlifting class and long swim 2000 yards
Thursday: am spin class and pm yoga
Friday: tempo run with hill repeats 4-6 miles total
Saturday: Long bike ride, on the trainer for now between 60-90 minuets

** I will not be able to follow this Mon-Thur of next week given that I am in New York for a meeting and it is too far to get to a real gym so I can’t swim or bike. I can use the treadmill and elliptical in the hotel’s dinky gym and that will have to do.

All of this is very fluid and changes all the time. I am interested in going to a masters swim practice but I am a bit intimidated, have any of you ever been to one? Would you recommend it? Happy Humpday people!

The Great Weight Debate

I recently bought Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald:
and of course there are a multitude of diet related products, articles, shows, etc. right now. And it has me thinking about weight, athletes and Americans. Hungry Runner Girl wrote a very brave post about her battles with weight and body issues.

I have been lucky enough to never have a full blown eating disorder, but I have struggled with body issues. I think it started when I was a child and danced at a really competitive ballet school. It's no joke when you hear about ballerinas being pressured to be thin. Americans are in such a weird place in terms of weight, I just heard that over half of adult Americans are obese (can that be true?!?). On the other hand there is tremendous pressure, especially on young women, to be ultra thin.

I don't want to be thin I want to be healthy, strong and during race season, lean. I won't lie that part of the motivation is to look better but mostly it is to help my body (specifically my joints) go the distance.

Soooo that leads me to wonder what my "optimal race weight" should be. According to Fitzgerald the average body percent fat for female runners is 12.4% and 7.3% for men. For triathletes the averages are 12-16% for women and 6-10% for men.

I am not an elite athlete so I think I will shoot for the high end of the range and shoot for a 16% body fat for racing season. I calculated my optimal performance weight by finding my lean body mass then dividing that number by .86. My optimal weight is 14 pounds lighter than I am now, my marathon is May 1st so that gives me four months to lose 14 pounds, that seems doable, right?

I don't know how I will do it yet, I haven't read that far in the book yet, but I am happy to have some help calculating a weight goal.

Do you know your race weight, do you think weight affects athletic performance?

Goals for week 1 and January

My goals for this week are to:

1. Start marathon training (YAY!) I am loosely following this plan from Runners world. I have to add in swimming and biking. If anyone knows of a training plan for someone running a marathon in 4 months and a half ironman 2 months after that let me know! Cory and I are finishing up our plan tonight so I will try to post it tomorrow.

2. Put away all Christmas decorations and start thinking about how I would like to decorate for the winter (I am thinking warm oranges to combat the chilly winter)

3. Catch up at work without freaking out.

For 2011 I am going to try to focus on a word for each month. This month the word is Kindness. I am going to strive to treat others and myself with kindness. I got this idea loosely from the book the Happiness Project by Gretchen Ruben Have you read this book, would you like to?

Happy Monday!

Huge Ass Half Marathon Race Report

First off, Happy New Year!

This race was BRUTAL! It was very cold, I think it was 12 degrees when we started and a bit windy. The race was difficult and very hilly, I enjoyed the run for about the first 9 miles then the hills started to hurt and I was ready to be done. People huddled around a fire waiting to start

We started with a fairly hilly 4 mile out and back. I liked this part because I got to see my dad again before heading out on a nine mile loop. Out and back with mom (she ran 4 miles today)
One of the many cattle guards we crossed

The loop started with a killer hill up middle of Cinder Butte. Then back down the other side in 12+ inches of snow. Difficult but there were great views and it was kinda fun. Behind us down the hill
Up to the top!

Miles 6 through 8 was on a gentle down hill on packed snow, theses were easy peasy miles. Still feeling good

Miles 8 through 12 were a steady climb back out of a canyon, it started out fine but after a few miles my low back started to hurt and my legs didn’t want anymore to do with it. Can you see my dad? he's the little person at the finish waving at me. The butte we ran up is in the background.

The last mile and a half (course was a little long) was mostly down hill. It was so nice to be done and filled with a sense of accomplishment. We stopped of at Starbucks on the may home for some coffee, hot chocolate and treats, YUM!

The afternoon ended with an ice bath and a slow recovery walk with my dogs.
Now we have to pack up and head back to reality, wah =(
How was your first day of 2011?