Best Weekend Ever!

Seriously, it doesn't get much better.

Friday morning, my friend Kim and I headed out of Yuma for a much needed girls' weekend. We stopped to shop in Phoenix en route to Tucson.

And shop I did. *Cha Ching* I am surprised that my credit card didn't melt. (And also that my husband didn't change the locks and banish me from the family.)

We arrived in Tucson Friday evening to this:

JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort. Gorgeous. Go big or go back to Yuma, kwim?

Saturday = more shopping

I need to mention that we have NO mall here in Yuma. It's bare bones. We have the basics + a Dillards,  which typically caters to the Snowbird population and their fashion sense.

Pretty sure you can purchase this at our Dillards.

Sunday morning... this happened:

Arizona Distance Classic: Half Marathon, Quarter Marathon (huh?), and 5K

And this was the result:

 Awkward water bottle pose, but awesome finish.

1:38:41... 3rd in AG, 13th woman 

I DID IT!!!!

On the drive home, KY ended up beating Baylor, so now it's:

This KY girl can't wait for the FINAL FOUR game between her beloved Wildcats and the Cardinals. This rivalry is HUGE! GO CATS!!!!

Full race report to follow. So much to talk about... Stay tuned!

It's gettin' *Hoity Toity* up in here!

So on Friday I have a 1-hour phone consult with a registered dietician who also happens to be an elite marathoner.

You may be thinking, "Oh cool!" or possibly, "Um, why?" Or maybe both.

I have a coach, and now I'm working with a dietician. You'd think I was training for the Olympics or something. What next? A personal masseuse who comes to my house weekly? (Wouldn't that be sweet?)


Racing has become a serious thing for me. For starters, let's take a look at where I live:

Paradise. Not.

My closest race options are in San Diego and Phoenix, both approximately three hours away. Sure we have a handful of city races in Yuma, but they are L-A-M-E. (No offense, Parks and Recreation, but they are!) There's not a whole lot that lies between these two cities other than mountains and/or desert. That means that racing involves not only an entry fee, but gas, lodging and food expenses. And the element of time to make it a weekend event. With that being said, it's really only logistically possible for me to do 4, maybe 5 races a year given my husband's schedule (both for work and any races he'd like to do) and my oldest son's swim meet schedule.  

For 2012, I am thinking that I can swing possibly 3 marathons and 2 half marathons. That's it.

I want the next 4 out of (possibly) 5 races to be really *quality* efforts, so I've decided to enlist the help of the pros. I decided during my last marathon training cycle that I would seek help in the eating department during my next training cycle. With almost 8 weeks until Pasadena, it's time for Nutrition Success!

I can't remember exactly how I stumbled across Jackie's blog, but she is amazing. Over the past several months, I have really enjoyed reading her take on nutrition, hydration, and pre-, during, and post-refueling efforts. She even did the coolest race report on exactly how she fueled and hydrated during the 2012 Olympic Trials.  

This is the kind of stuff I'm hungry for lately. Pun intended. It's time for me to really buckle down and concentrate on how I'm fueling myself for my race training. I have a decent diet, but I'm certain that there's tons of room for improvement. I'm excited to see what she has to say about it all, especially for fueling during races. I have to be honest, that element of training/racing is possibly what stresses me out the most. I want my body to run smoothly and efficiently, so I need the perfect fuel for it. It's not always easy to know "how" to fuel though.

I'll let you know how goes! Look for some exciting and informative posts from me next week.

6 Days Until I Strike Gold!

This Sunday is the Valley of Gold Half Marathon in Tucson. It will be the first half that I've run in 18 months. Both of my half marathons in 2010 yielded a 1:48. I'm SO ready to blow that out of the water. 


A couple of weeks ago, I emailed my coach and asked him if he thought that I could break 1:40. He responded that with the right temperature and course, YES. 


Eeeeeek! This is daunting for me. My fastest half was the very first one that I ran when I was 20 years old (1996). I ran a 1:42:06 and felt like DEATH the last 5 miles of it (My college boyfriend ran those last 5 with me and basically drug me across the finish line.).


Ok, so it's supposed to be 85 degrees according to the extended foreceast. Hmmmm. The race starts at 7 am, however, so I'll be finished before 9 am. How hot can it really be by then?

Here's the course elevation profile: 

Looks like two boobies ok to me! 2 mild ascents... I can do that. I have been hill training like a mother (every Thursday) this marathon cycle.


Also, the gauntlet has been thrown down. My 74 year-old "injured" (I think these are air quotes...) coach e-mailed me this gem yesterday,

"Your goal for next Sunday is now 1:37:20, my time for Ft DeSoto 1/2 Marathon this morning. Whacked out tired now though and Achilles throbbing at level 9.1. Sympathy note would be appreciated.

Oh...my splits; 8:09,7:37,28,33,29,26,25,33,24,21,06,05,6:55,1:43." 


The guy is a machine. A really fast and funny machine to boot. The speed of his last 3 miles make me want to vomit in my mouth a little though when I think about trying to match it. Also the fact that he ran this way injured??? Amazing and inspiring. I want to be the female equivalent of him when I grow up. 


It'll be an adventure, but hey. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Wish me luck!

Quit being a Pansy!

I have a phenomenal running friend/college classmate (2:39 marathoner) who posted an interesting article on Facebook the other day. 


http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/recovery/Stress-Tested.html


I encourage you to take a look at it. It may change the way you think about your recovery.


In particular, I found the following quotes interesting:


"We’ve become addicted to enhanced recovery, obsessed with erasing as quickly as possible the pain, fatigue, and inflammation that come from a hard workout. But some top scientists and coaches have adopted a new line of thinking: stress is a good thing, because it forces the body to adapt, repair itself, and come back stronger. "


and


"The roots of the approach go back to 2006, when researchers at Chukyo University in Japan published a small study in which volunteers who took ice baths after training made smaller strength gains than a control group. “It got everyone thinking that maybe too much tubbing can actually inhibit recovery,” says Trent Stellingwerff, a physiologist at the Canadian Sport Centre Pacific in Victoria, British Columbia. And if that was true, what other postworkout remedies might be doing more harm than good?" 


(You'll have to read the article to find out! Dum dum dum!!!!!)


NICE!!! I've been feeling a tad guilty about not ice bathing like I *should* (or so I thought) after all of my long runs. Maybe I don't need to! I have also *not* been foam rolling, getting tons of massages and stretching. Still feeling great! 


So maybe just maybe, when it comes to recovery techniques....

What about you? Are you a recovery freak or a recovery minimalist?

Lying and Whole New Levels of CRAZY

Back for my semi-monthly blog post. I notice that I lost a follower,  which takes me down to a whopping 38 peeps. Why do I even bother with the blog? Not that I need a GINORMOUS fan base, but at what point is it like talking to yourself?

Anyway....

Let's start with the *LYING* portion of this entry.

Being a parent is HARD.

In one breath, you feed your kid(s) constant rhetoric like, "You can do anything you want!" and "You just have to work hard!" and "Dream big!" and "You just need to believe in yourself!"

In the next breath, you're looking at your 4'5", 62 pound 8-year old and trying to figure out a way to not crap on his dreams. The reality is, however, he doesn't have a chance in hell at winning any events in the state meet. He's up against kids who are 2 years older, bigger, faster, stronger and more experienced.

Case in point... Evan is in Lane 1 (closest to the edge-black trunks with butt sticking up out of the water). He did great during his first 25 in the 50 fly, but he runs out of steam at the end. He just doesn't have it quite yet. He needs more size, strength and stamina.

The picture-the one I didn't get-told it all when he got out of the water and discovered he didn't make it to finals.

COLD. TEARY-EYED. DISAPPOINTED.

So what do you do as a parent? You spout more rhetoric. "You did your best." "You looked great out there." "You have a new PR!" (he did but he didn't care). "I'm so proud of how you swam, Evan."

I think all that they hear is yada, yada, yada, yada. Just like the rest of us adults! Especially us runners when things just don't go the way that we want... (Technically it should be "We runners," as per proper grammar; however, it doesn't sound right because I'm writing in a conversational tone, so I'm sticking with "us." Yes, I am a complete grammar tool/dork.)

What did help tremendously was retail therapy in the nearby swim tent shop thingie after Evan's tears dried. You better believe that he turned that frown upside down when dad went and bought him some new flips flops and a swim backpack that he had been coveting. Hahahaha! What can you do? I'm sure popular parenting books or manuals would poo-poo the retail therapy, but we still had 4 more events and an entire weekend to go! We needed him to keep his head in the game. It cheered him up, and that made everyone feel good. Win/win in my parenting manual!!

After the retail therapy, I checked my Facebook on my iPhone and noticed that Road Runner Sports posted something really applicable to our situation...

I tapped Evan on the shoulder (he was watching another event) and quick showed him. He gave me a half smile, and then he turned around to finish watching the event. We don't know what's going on in their little brains, so we have to keep driving home little points here and there when we can. Maybe some of it sinks in... Who knows? Like I said before, parenting is HARD.

Fast forwarding to the end of this story because let's face it... no one cares about your kid like you do, and I know you guys don't want to hear every stinking detail of the weekend.

It was 6 hours of total driving, 90,000 Hilton points, loads of little brother tantrums and boredom 

...except for the 10 minutes they spent doing this with another bored younger swim brother.

for a grand total of about 5 minutes and 15 seconds of swimming. 

That being said, it was totally worth it, and we hope to be back next year. Evan has a great shot of finals in the 50 breast and 100 breast next year. Those were his top events. He finished 19/43 in 50 br and 22/? (can't remember) in 100 breast. 

Now onto the CRAZY part of this entry.

I had 18 miles to do on Sunday. Ugh. I spent all day Saturday dreading it and trying to figure out the logistics of when/where. I ended up finding a route on MapMyRun that would have me do a big loop around our hotel as simply thinking about doing it on the hotel treadmill made me dry heave. 

I set my alarm for 4:30 am and planned on heading out the door at 5 am. That would enable me to get back just in time to head off for Evan's 8 am warm-up (sans shower for me... something has to give, right?)

As fate or technological malfunction would have it, my iPhone alarm randomly observed daylight savings time. For those of you who don't know, Arizona doesn't do DST. 

I roll out of bed Sunday morning, get dressed in the dark, have a snack and hear my husband say, "Are you leaving now?" Um yeah, it's not *that* early. It's 5 am.

Except it wasn't. It was 3:55 am. 

WTH, you stupid, piece of crap iPhone?!?!?!

You know what though? It worked out perfectly. I ended up having a really good long run, and I got back in time to shower and grab a quick bite on the way out of the hotel. The streets of Chandler (unlike Yuma) are well-lit, so I could see great. The route passed by plenty of Circle Ks (aka-pit stops) and it ended up being a nearly perfect 18-mile circle (rectangle?) with some minor adjustments on my part. I ended up running it at an 8:39P with the last mile at 7:30. Really trying to up the intensity of this cycle's long run without injuring myself. So far, so good.

I will try and get on here a couple more times before my FINAL class starts up in a couple of weeks. Though I may not be posting much, I do read blogs and have been trying to comment on those that I follow. If I have skipped you lately, I'm sorry!!!! 

I'm Not Dead

How 'bout a quick post while the coffee finishes brewing and my littlest one watches some Wubbzy?

Currently my three oldest boys (yes, that includes daddy) are in Scottsdale for Regional Championships. Colin and I decided to stay behind because well... It's just tough having all 3 boys at all-day swim meets. It usually results in a lot of unnecessary drama/bickering... between all of us! Tyler and Colin get bored and act out. I get frustrated and end up dealing with all of that because Mike needs to make sure that Evan is set to go for his events. So this weekend we thought it would be a nice change to split everyone up. Although I'm bummed that I don't get to see Evan swim, it's worked out really nicely. Mike said the boys are behaving so well... almost *scary* well. Colin is being sweet too and is enjoying the individual attention he's getting from me.

Anyway, Evan managed to qualify for States in the 50 Free last night. That makes 5 State-qualifying times! So proud of him and can't wait to see him shine next month.

I have 1 week left of my visual/technological literacy class and then I move into one more 7-week class...and then GRADUATION! I am so excited. Grad school with 3 little kids, a part-time job, and marathon training has been THE WORST. What was I thinking?

And now onto running!


4 weeks until Valley of Gold Half. I'm feeling really good. I'm optimistic that if I can stay healthy, I can bust through my PR (1:42:06). A couple of weeks ago, I was having some L calf issues. Not sure what that was about. Wearing my zero-drop shoes and doing speedwork too soon? Pushing the paces too much post-marathon? Who knows?

My running partner brought over some KT Tape one day.

She taped my calf and off we went. I decided to buy a (pink) roll for myself and use it a few more times, and well... calf pain gone in a week or so. Coincidence? Not sure. Perhaps it was a placebo and the injury just cleared up on its own. Either way, I'll take it! Whatever works. 

I also found a fantastic running shoe deal on overstock.com:

Last year's Saucony Mirage for $49.99 and FREE SHIPPING! Yes, please!

I've only run in the Mirage once, but it seems like a solid shoe that will work for me. I was looking for another pair to rotate into my 4-pair collection. The Mirage is very, very mild stability and the reviews that I found on it say that it is a less sloppy version of the Kinvara. I think it leans minimalist but is a little bit more shoe than the Kinvara.

Today, I have 6 miles on the schedule and tomorrow will be 16. Still sort of easing back into things but trying to up the intensity and pick up the paces if my body allows it. I'll close with 48 miles this week and be back in the 50s in March. 

See ya soon!!!

Drowning Part II

Except that it's a little worse than this.

Same teacher, different class...

Husband gone for the next 10 days... (But who's counting, right?)

House looks like:

Inside of mind looks like:

Although, I will say that today I felt like:

It was my first speed day since Carlsbad on 1/22.

Today's workout was 5 X 800 repeats with 200 rest between sets. Was told to aim for 3:30 pace.

Final tally: 3:26, 3:26, 3:18, 3:18, 3:10... complete with some nasty winds too!

Felt great. Much better than I was expecting!

On that note, I'm off to clean up the atomic explosion. For those of you who tagged me in the 11 things deal, I'M SORRY!!!! I may still get to it at some point, but I can't promise anything... Trying to stay afloat, ya know?

See ya when I see ya!!