In case you missed it… I moved!! I have a new blog that I will be blogging at from now on! I will no longer be blogging at this site.
Please come check it out: Train Happy
Posted in: on Monday, October 11, 2010 at at 3:34 PM 0 comments
Hey y’all!! The time has come for me to leave this blog and move forward to my new blog: Train Happy!! I have been wanting for a long time to own my own domain and self host, and I decided a whole new blog was in order to be able to focus on races and training.
So please come on over to my new blog Train Happy. I will be blogging there from now on and will not be blogging here at NNA. So make sure to change it in your google readers and follow my new blog.
I am also changing my twitter name to @Train_Happy so if you see that, it’s me!!
Hope y’all enjoy!!
Posted in: on Saturday, October 9, 2010 at at 5:14 PM 0 comments
I know I have been MIA the past couple days… I’ve been quite busy :) To catch y’all up on my training, I did an easy 3 mile recovery run on Monday. My legs felt tired and so sore from my 9 miler the day before but I had to get some miles in! My legs loosened up around mile 2 and by then, my run was about over!! I didn’t run again until Friday (due to 12 hour clinical days) and I just did another easy 3 miler because I had a 5k the next day (this morning) and didn’t want my legs to be too tired! I didn’t even wear my Garmin for this run, it felt so weird not to have it on! But anyways, my mileage will be a bit smaller than I would like this week due to my lack of time. Oh well, as long as I get my long run in tomorrow I will be happy!
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The wonderful people over at POM Wonderful sent me a case of these cute little bottles of their pomegranate juice to try!
My husband is in love with this stuff and has been drinking them left and right! I am not a huge juice drinker, usually because of the sweetness, but this pomegranate juice has the perfect amount of sweet and tang! It’s very yummy!!
From the POM Wonderful website:
This is good stuff people! I definitely recommend trying POM juice if you haven’t before!!
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And last but definitely not least, my exciting big news!! I am officially launching my new blog this afternoon, so stay tuned for the blog name, address, and first post!! I will post it here on NNA so everyone should be able to find it pretty easily. Stay tuned friends… :)
Posted in: on at at 3:02 PM 1 comments
In case you missed it, I announced the St. Jude Blog Raffle Winners yesterday!!
I had a long run on the schedule for today. How long you ask? Well 9 miles, that’s long for me right now :) I made sure to have a good dinner last night and get into bed at a decent time. Who am I kidding, I’m always in bed at a decent time! I like my sleep! Anyway, the weatherman said it was going to be chilly this morning so that means I can sleep in a bit later and don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to run!!
I ended up waking up around 6:30ish. I have FINALLY figured out some pre-run fuel that sits well with my tummy. GU’s. I know it’s not much, but it’s better than nothing and has been the only thing this far that doesn’t give me tummy troubles during the run. So I took one GU before my run and one at mile 5 and carried my handheld water bottle with me. I am really digging my handheld. I definitely wouldn’t be hydrating enough if I didn’t have it with me!!
It was quite chilly this morning! My phone said 48 degrees when I was about to head out for my run. I was a little unsure of what I should wear since it seems like forever since I have run in the cold weather!! I decided to tough it out and wear capris and short sleeves. I’m glad I did because I ended up sweating by the end of my run! It was pretty windy too which made it tough when I was running directly into the wind. And of course, my very last mile was directly into the wind. I felt like I wasn’t moving at times! Haha.
I actually felt really good the entire run, until the very end when my feet were really hurting. I am very happy with my time, seeing as my average pace was a lot faster than the previous two 8 milers I did. So I feel like I am right on track for my half marathon.
My splits:
Mile 1: 10:45
Mile 2: 10:34
Mile 3: 10:39
Mile 4: 10:33
Mile 5: 10:41
Mile 6: 11:21 (walked for a minute to take my GU)
Mile 7: 10:44
Mile 8: 10:45
Mile 9: 10:26
Total:1:36:27
Avg Pace: 10:43
I am very happy with this run!! My legs and feet are sore now, so I’ve been icing my feet and stretching a lot. My plantar fasciitis is giving me lots of problems, which is more annoying than anything. I probably could have benefited from an ice bath, but I usually don’t do those until I get up to 10 miles. Yes, I realize it’s only 1 more mile but I like to “save it” until I hit the double digits. I know, I’m weird :)
I am happy with all my runs for this week. I got in all 4 with a grand total of 21 miles. Not too bad. Wish I could run 5 days per week but 12 hour clinical days kinda limit my time :) How many days a week do you run?
I think that’s it for now, going to go and relax a bit more and ice my feet again. Have a great Sunday!
Posted in: on Sunday, October 3, 2010 at at 3:44 PM 2 comments
Hello!! It is time for me to draw winners from my St. Jude Blog Raffle!! I definitely think this was a success!! I am only $25 away from hitting my fundraising goal for my St. Jude Heroes Fund! So thank you to everyone who donated and entered the raffle!!
I am using Random.org to draw the 3 winners. I put everyone’s entries into a spreadsheet so I could keep up with them. So without further ado…
The winner of the Zensah Compression Sleeves is: #39 Kristen Barret @ Will Run For Wine
The winner of the CEP Compression Socks is: #8 Erin Moore @ The Moore Diaries
The winner of the Nathan Quick Draw Handheld is: #28 Lauren Owens @ Go Between The Lines
Congrats y’all!! Please email me your addresses by next Saturday, October 9th.
Erin, please also include your color choice for the compression sleeves and your calf circumference at the widest part (for sizing).
Lauren, please also include your color choice for the Nathan Quick Draw Handheld.
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On the running front… I have had 12 hours clinicals the past 3 days so this morning was my first day to run since I last posted. I was so exhausted and slept in until 10am! That is unheard of for me but it was definitely needed! I am still tired from my busy week!! I just needed to do an easy run because I have my long run tomorrow. I decided 3 easy miles would be good. Well, the run went ok. It was hot, I felt tired, and I also felt really dehydrated which made this run not so easy!! I am hoping I feel much more well rested for my long run tomorrow, otherwise it’s not going to be pretty!!
I’m trying to mentally pump myself up for my 9 miler in the morning! Anyone do their long runs already this week? How did they go? Anyone running long tomorrow?
Well, that’s really all I have for now! I am still in need of $25 more dollars to hit my fundraising goal, so if anyone would like to donate please go to my St. Jude Heroes Fund webpage and do so!! Thanks y’all! Have a great day!
Posted in: on Saturday, October 2, 2010 at at 4:19 PM 3 comments
Hello bloggies!! Just wanted to remind y’all that my St. Jude Blog Raffle ends tomorrow night!! Please enter if you haven’t all ready! I’m raffling off some great products :) I’m almost at my fundraising goal, and I know I can get there with your help!! Thanks friends :)
Posted in: on Thursday, September 30, 2010 at at 9:14 PM 0 comments
Y’all, I seriously had the best run this morning! It’s been a long time since I was able to run a longer run at a fast pace (for me!). I had a 6 miler on the training plan and I really wasn’t sure how it was going to go. I slept in and really had a hard time dragging myself out of bed! I was just so comfortable!! So around 8am, I headed out to conquer this run!!
The temperatures have been awesome here! It was in the low 50’s when I started out this morning. Another great thing about cooler temps: I get to sleep in and don’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn to run just to beat the heat! Love that! Anyway, back to the run… my first mile was a bit tough due to my plantar fasciitis. The first mile of ANY run always sucks because it’s painful. I hate PF and wish it would go away! But, I am happy that it really doesn’t bother me too much after the first mile.
I ran a hilly 6 mile route that I haven’t run in a long time. Probably since this time last year when I was training for a half marathon! It was nice to break away from my usual routes and get a change of scenery! Some lady did try to run me over coming out of the Sonic parking lot though. She was too busy stuffing her face with Sonic to make sure to look both directions before pulling out. Good thing I was paying attention! Geez people!
But other than almost getting run over, this run went really smoothly. Every mile I finished, my Garmin beeped with a sub-10 minute mile. And I just kept thinking, I’m going to pay for this later at the end of the run! But I never did! I just kept feeling better and better! I was really pushing myself from hill to hill and felt great!!
I think I was due for a great run because my past two 8 milers have been really tough and slow, which made me a little worried about my half marathon goal pace. But after today’s run, I feel much better :)
Stats:
6 miles in 59:04
Mile 1: 10:16
Mile 2: 9:56
Mile 3: 9:50
Mile 4: 9:51
Mile 5: 9:42
Mile 6: 9:27
Avg Pace: 9:51
I will take that!! I am super happy :)
After 4 days of running in a row, my legs are ready for a break. I have clinicals for the next 3 days so I won’t have time to run anyway, so my legs will get a nice break! Well, except the fact that I’m on my feel all day at clinical. But, at least a break from running :)
How have your runs been going this week? Are you training for something?
And don’t forget to enter my St. Jude Blog Raffle!! I’ve got some GREAT running gear to raffle off to raise money for my St. Jude Heroes Fund!! I know y’all want to enter, it ends Friday!
Posted in: on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at at 2:38 PM 3 comments
Hello, hello! Hope this fine Monday is treating y’all well! I don’t mind Mondays so much when I don’t have to go to clinical :) I go Wed-Fri this week. That’s the good thing about 12 hour shifts, you only go 3 days a week :)
Anyway… I have a few runs to share with you. Let’s back up to yesterday. I had an easy 4 miler on the schedule. I have issues with “easy” runs because I am always trying to run faster and faster. For the most part, my “easy” runs turn into progression runs where I keep trying to run each mile a bit faster. My easy pace is supposed to feel easy and well, this run felt moderate, definitely not easy. Oh well, I’m sure I am benefiting from a faster pace! Just hope it doesn’t hinder my recovery and such. This run was quite uneventful. I spent the entire run thinking, which I normally don’t do! I usually zone out but my mind was going a mile a minute! Mostly about my blog raffle and launching my new blog (more on that soon!). So the run ended up flying by, which is nice!! Plus, the weather was awesome, 58 degrees!
4 miles in 39:21
Mile 1: 10:30
Mile 2: 9:54
Mile 3: 9:44
Mile 4: 9:12
Avg Pace: 9:50
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And today I decided to do a 3 miler, supposedly easy but I ran it moderately again! It was super windy today, which reminded me of how much wind comes along with cold temps. I absolutely HATE running in the wind. But it wasn’t too bad today! Again, another uneventful run. I did see some people out running this weekend though! I have lived in my town over 2 years and have never seen another runner (besides my old running buddy), until this weekend and I saw 3! Crazy, right?!? Guess the running thing is catching on out here in the boondocks :)
3 miles in 28:56
Mile 1: 10:15
Mile 2: 9:45
Mile 3: 8:58
Avg Pace: 9:39
I was really booking it for that last mile :) Sometimes it just feels good to run fast and hard!!
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Alright, now on to the title of this post: Toe Blister Help!! All of a sudden, this past week I have started to get these blood blisters on the bottoms of my big toes. They hurt too, especially while running!! I’ve tried using body glide on my feet, doesn’t really help. I thought it might be my thin socks I wear, so I bought some new socks yesterday at the running store and am hoping those help. But do y’all have any other suggestions for blisters? They are so annoying and I am afraid they are going to mess up my long run this weekend!!
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And last but not least, have you entered my St. Jude Blog Raffle yet?!? You have until Friday and it’s for a great cause! And it’s only $5 people! I know y’all have $5 to spare!!
Have a great day :)
Posted in: on Monday, September 27, 2010 at at 4:25 PM 3 comments
Hello! Happy Saturday! Hope y’all are having a great weekend!! I went to bed super early last night because I was exhausted. Besides the fact that I have to get up at 4:30 am 3 times a week and go to clinicals for 12 hours, I am not sleeping well AT ALL the night before clinical. It’s just nerves, because it’s all still new, but I wish I would start sleeping better! Needless to say, I slept in until around 8am this morning, which is pretty late for me!! Luckily, the weather has cooled down a bit and wasn’t scorching for my run this morning. Plus, it was pretty cloudy for my entire run. It’s nice when there is no sun beating down on you!!
My St. Jude Half Marathon training plan said I was supposed to be doing mile repeats this morning. I hate mile repeats and was totally not feeling it, so I decided to do hill repeats instead! I have a nice, steep hill exactly 1 mile away from my house, which makes for the perfect spot to do hill repeats. The hill is exactly a 1/4 of a mile too. I started out with a faster than normal mile warm-up. I just felt like running a bit faster, so I did. Then I did 6 hill repeats, each with a cool down jog back down the hill. And I ended my run with another mile as a cool-down, for a total of 5 miles.
I enjoy doing hill repeats. I love really charging up that hill and pushing myself hard. I like to think of hill repeats as a type of speed work, because I am definitely pushing it hard and a lot faster than my normal pace. Plus, I run a lot of hills and do races that have hills, so it’s definitely an important aspect for me to incorporate in my training! Do you like hill repeats or speed work better?
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I recorded a show called The Endurance Traveler on FSN that many of you would probably like to watch (I saw an ad for it in Triathlete Magazine). It was all about the Brazil Ironman today and it was awesome to see all those people racing an Ironman and all the planning and thought that goes into a race of that distance!
I’m trying to just kind of relax today and catch up on stuff. I rented the movie Letters to Juliet to watch tonight, (although I’m sure hubby won’t be too thrilled that I rented that movie) I think it looks cute!!
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Have you entered my St. Jude Blog Raffle yet? I am raffling off some great stuff so please enter. It’s all to help me raise money for my St. Jude Heroes Fund!! There’s not very many entries yet so that means a good chance of winning!! And please spread the word!!
Have a great rest of your day!
Posted in: on Saturday, September 25, 2010 at at 4:24 PM 1 comments
Hey friends!! It’s time for my St. Jude Heroes Fund Blog Raffle!! I am very excited to be doing this and hope it helps me reach my goal for the kids of St. Jude!!
As many of you know, I am running the St. Jude Half Marathon on Dec. 4th as a St. Jude Hero and raising money for the kiddos of St. Jude along the way!! My goal is $500 and I am a little over halfway there!! I just know I can hit my goal, but I will need your help! I thought a Blog Raffle would be a fun way for y’all to win prizes and for me to raise money for St. Jude!
So, I have 3 separate running related items to raffle off and I will be drawing 3 winners! I figured that gives y’all a better chance of winning something! Let’s talk about the products I’m raffling off!!
First raffle item: Zensah Compression Leg Sleeves in Red
The awesome people at Zensah were nice enough to send me these leg sleeves for my raffle!! I have talked to lots of people who LOVE their leg sleeves!! According to the package, the leg sleeves:
The Zensah fabric is anti-microbial, thermal regulating, moisture wicking, and ultra-breathable. I need to get me a pair! These sound fabulous!!
Second raffle item: CEP Compression Socks (you pick the color!)
I love the pink ones :) The wonderful people at sportscompression.com were nice enough to let me raffle a pair of their CEP compression socks!! They also gave me a 15% off coupon code so if you don’t happen to win these socks, then you can buy them at a discounted price!!
To use the coupon code: go to www.sportscompression.com and put in “BLOG15” in the coupon code box at checkout. (I will be putting this coupon code on my sidebar also). Easy right?!? I’m definitely getting myself a pair (pink of course!!)
Top 5 reasons to wear CEP Compression Socks:
Third raffle item: Nathan Quickdraw Plus Handheld Bottle (you pick the color!)
I am a huge fan of this water bottle!! This is what I carry on all of my long runs now!! The little pocket in front is the perfect size to hold keys, small cell phone, or gels! From the website:
So those are the raffle items! Hope y’all like them!! I guess I should tell y’all how to enter the raffle right?!?
Initial Mandatory Entry: $5 donation to my St. Jude Heroes Fund. For every $5 you donate, you get an additional entry into the raffle. Example: $5 = 1 entry, $10 = 2 entries, $15 = 3 entries and so on. Be sure to leave me a comment telling me how much you donated so I know how many entries to give you!!
Additional Entries: After you do the mandatory entry, you can get additional entries each day by:
Make sure to leave me a comment each time you do an additional entry so I can give you credit!! And remember, you can do the additional entries each day!!
The Raffle starts NOW and ends Friday October 1st at midnight CST. So that gives you a little over a week to build up your entries and to spread the word!! Good luck to everyone!! And remember, we are doing it for St. Jude!!
Posted in: on Thursday, September 23, 2010 at at 11:36 AM 9 comments
Hello! Happy Thursday to ya! Yay for it being that much closer to the weekend :) I just wanted to write a quick post about my last 2 workouts…
On Tuesday, I had 5 miles on the schedule. Well, I slept in late, (I had to wake up at 4:30am the day before so I was tired) making it necessary to run on the treadmill inside because it was already 90+ degrees outside. My treadmill run went AWFUL! I was totally not feeling it and kept getting these annoying side stitches. So after 3 miles, I called it quits. Hate runs like that!!
But this morning’s run was much better!! I decided to knock my long run for the week out today so I could possible run another 5k this weekend :) 8 miles was on the schedule this week again for my long run. I was just hoping it felt easier than it did on Sunday! And it did!! It still was tough at the end, but I ended up running the 8 miles 5 minutes faster than I did on Sunday! So I say that’s success!! I still wish it was faster and felt easier, but I’ll take it. I did the same super hilly 8 mile route as I did Sunday. Those hills are killer and my legs are super sore right now!! I have major tummy issues if I eat anything and run within like 3-4 hours, which makes it hard to fuel before early morning long runs. I decided to try out a GU before my run to see how that worked and carry a half Gatorade/ half water mixture during the run. The GU before seemed to work out!! Gave me some extra energy and my tummy felt fine the whole time!! I like the Gatorade/water mix a lot but I honestly think I like plain water better! I just felt like the Gatorade was not quenching my thirst! So I guess I’ll play around a bit more with my fueling options :) How do you fuel before and during your long runs?
That’s about it for now!! I am starting my St. Jude Raffle today to help me raise money for my St. Jude Heroes Fund and have some really good items to raffle off! So be looking for another post shortly!!
Posted in: on at at 10:41 AM 1 comments
Hello! Hope this beautiful Sunday is treating you well!
My morning started off with my long run. I had an 8 miler on my St. Jude half training plan so I made sure to be up and out the door by 6:30am to beat the heat! Immediately my legs felt like lead and I just felt tired. I knew this run wasn’t going to go well, I could just feel it. The route I had planned was hilly too, which didn’t help with my legs of lead. By mile 2 I had already had to take a walk break and was so ready to call it quits, this run was just awful! But after some major self motivation and realization that I could do this run, I continued on! I told myself to throw all time goals out the window. I didn’t care about pace, I just wanted to finish these 8 miles. I took a lot of walk breaks, my body just felt exhausted. I took a Vanilla Bean GU at mile 5 and that perked me up a bit for the last 3 miles. I liked the Vanilla Bean flavor too! Tasted like vanilla frosting :) When my Garmin beeped 8 miles, I was so happy to be done! This was probably the hardest and slowest 8 miles I’ve ever done!! I will NEVER do a long run the day after a 5k race again! My legs were just dead! I really think that’s what made it feel so tough because my last few long runs have been great! So, I’m hoping next week’s long run will be easier with fresh legs.
On another note, I carried my handheld water bottle with me for the entire 8 miles and didn’t hate it! I actually really loved having water whenever I wanted it. I’ve had this handheld since last Christmas but have only used it a few times because after I used it a few times I decided I didn’t like carrying anything. But, I think my mind is officially changed! I didn’t even really notice it!! Plus, it was nice to have somewhere to carry my GU also!!
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I’ve been talking for a while about getting a new name for my blog. I want to take my blog in a more running/training related direction and I want the name to reflect that. So, I have come up with 2 names that I really like and I want your opinions!! So here are my 2 favorite options:
1. Pounding The Pavement
2. Train Happy
What do you think? Which do you like best? Do you have any other suggestions?
I am planning to switch to wordpress, get my own domain name, and self host. I am going to try to transfer all my current blog stuff over to the new blog but who knows if that will work! So I may just end up starting fresh. Either way, I’m fine with it :) I will let y’all know when I switch over so you can still follow me, so be on the lookout for my new blog at some point in the near future! But until then, I will still be blogging here at NNA!
What features/topics/pages would you like to see in my new blog?
Posted in: on Sunday, September 19, 2010 at at 3:02 PM 5 comments
Before I start my Women Run Memphis race recap let’s back up a bit and talk about my running earlier this week… Since I now have clinicals for 12 hours, 3 days a week, I have limited days to get my running in so I have to be extra vigilant about it!! I wasn’t good about waking up for Tuesday’s run and ended up on the treadmill , so I knew Wednesday I had to get up early and get my 5 miler started before it got too hot!! My St. Jude Half training plan told me I had 5 easy miles to run at a 10:45 pace. That seemed a bit slow for me even for my easy runs but Runner’s World seems to know what they are doing so I tried to stick to that pace… didn’t work too well :)
5 miles in 52:22
Mile 1: 10:42
Mile 2: 10:29
Mile 3: 10:33
Mile 4: 10:27
Mile 5: 10:13
Avg Pace: 10:29
I’ll take that for an easy run!! My 5 mile route is not my favorite running route but it went fine. Nice and hilly! Haha. It makes such a difference when I get my butt out of bed and the majority of my runs are done before the sun is beating down on me! Although, this will change once it gets cold and I will be begging for the heat from the sun!
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And this morning was the 5k for the Women Run Memphis group that I’ve been going to on Monday nights. So sad it’s over! I had a blast running with these ladies!! The 5k went well! I took 6 seconds off my time from the Forrest Spence 5k I did a few weeks ago so I’ll take that! This run felt tough though! I was hot and probably dehydrated. Another bad thing about being at the hospital 12 hours the day before a run: no time to hydrate. I probably drank only 1 or 2 bottles of water the entire day yesterday! That always makes for a little tougher of a run! But I was happy with my time and happy that race was over! I was super tired at the end!
3 miles in 28:39
Mile 1: 9:03
Mile 2: 9:03
Mile 3: 9:32
Mile 3-3.1: 1:02 (8:56 pace)
Avg Pace: 9:12
I didn’t have my paparazzi there with me today (AKA my family) so I didn’t get any race pictures :( I did take some afterward of myself and the pretty pink medals we got though!! I think all races should give out finishers medals, I love them!!
Me and my medal in our pretty pink tech shirts we got also!!
Race bib and medal
Medal close up :)
I loved this program and definitely hope to do it again next summer!!
Well that’s all for now, I have a long run tomorrow so hopefully that goes well!! Have a great night!!
**Please donate to my St. Jude Heroes Fund!! I am almost to the halfway point! Any donation helps!! **
Posted in: on Saturday, September 18, 2010 at at 5:04 PM 0 comments
First days are always a little nerve wracking for me. You just never know what to expect! Yesterday was my first day of clinical (in the OR!) and the first day of my half marathon training plan!
I was so nervous for clinical that I slept awful Sunday night, which didn’t make my 4:30am wake up call vey nice. Yep, that’s right, I have to be at the hospital around 6am! But, my day was great! I was with a wonderful preceptor who actually let me do stuff! I got to start some IV’s (it’s been over a year since I’ve done one) and intubate! Made me very happy about the career path I’m heading down :)
Luckily, I have today and tomorrow off, so I got to sleep in this morning!! Felt great to sleep!! My training plan started off yesterday with a rest day. I obviously had no time to run seeing as I got up at 4:30 am and didn’t get home until 7:30ish. Plus I am always tired after 12 hour days! So today was the first run on my training plan: a 4 mile tempo run. By the time I woke up this morning, it was already hot outside and I knew I would do better on the treadmill. I started my warm-up mile and felt awful. I just knew this run wasn't gonna be easy. I was just so not into this run at all and the boring treadmill wasn’t helping. I tried to distract myself by watching Bachelor Pad I recorded last night but that wasn’t help either! So I decided to switch it up from a tempo run to a fartleck run, much more treadmill friendly! I did my favorite 5-4-3-2-1 fartleck run and stopped at 3 miles. That’s literally all my mind could take! Not the best way to start out a new training plan, but at least I ran, right?!
So here is my St. Jude Half Marathon training plan for all of you who want to know :) I will be changing up the days some according to my schedule but I am hoping to keep the mileage and types of runs the same. I made this schedule according to one I pulled out of Runner’s World a while back. I never have done specific speed training and tempo runs during training so this will be new to me! I got the paces off the Runner’s World training calculator for a 2:15 half, so I am gonna try to stick to that, even though the easy runs seems a bit slow! So, what do you think? Anything you would change?
And last but not least, please donate to my St. Jude Heroes Fund!! I am not even halfway to my goal and I need your help! Any amount of donation helps!!
Posted in: on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at at 6:03 PM 3 comments
Hello friends! It’s been a few days since I posted last, I’ve been a bit busy. I have some GREAT news! I passed my comprehensive drug test so I will be starting clinical tomorrow!! I am so happy/nervous/excited!! I got the email with my first case tomorrow which makes me even more nervous… it’s a robotic case! Should be a great learning experience and very interesting!!
Anyway… back to the stuff y’all really care about, workouts!! On Friday, I had an awesome swim workout. And the longest one I’ve done to date!! I decided that since my school’s pool (read:free) is about a 40 minute drive, then my swim workout must be at least 40 minutes long to make the drive worthwhile! I found some swim workouts online and I thought I would try them out! Here’s how it went:
Warm-up: 600 meters freestyle
Drills: 50 meter kick, 100 meter pull, 200 meter breast stroke (repeat twice)
Cool-down: 300 meters freestyle
Total: 1600 meters (1 mile!)
This is the farthest I’ve ever swam before and I felt great! I am still a bit sore in my arms but it was so worth it! I loved changing it up a bit and doing the different drills. Kick is so hard for me, which is why I only did 50 meters at a time!! Definitely something I need to work on! I also practiced doing flip turns, but they make me so dizzy! Does that mean I’m doing them wrong or is it just something you get used to? Anyway, it was a great swim workout and I am looking forward to my next one!!
And then on Saturday I ran an easy 3 miles. I was planning to do a long run today (more on that in a bit) so I thought an easy 3 miles would be good for my legs. I was so dehydrated from not drinking very much water the day before, that this run felt extra tough!! I ran at a 9:57 average pace but it felt a lot harder than that! So I learned how important it is to hydrate!!
Like I said above, I had planned on doing a 7 miler this morning before church. But as I thought about how this is my last day to sleep in (I have to get up at 4:30am for clinicals) I decided I would take advantage of it and sleep in and skip my run! Plus, my half marathon training plan starts tomorrow, so I thought I better let myself get a break before I dive into training hardcore!
So, my mileage wasn’t the best this week, but like I said training starts tomorrow so I’m fine with that!!
Well, I need to get back to learning about my first case tomorrow so wish me luck on my first day!!
And if you missed my last post, I am taking ideas for a new blog name and I need help! Get those creative juices flowing and let me know what you come up with!!
And last but not least… please donate to my St. Jude Heroes Fund!! I am not even halfway to my goal and every little bit counts!! A BIG thanks to my Nana and Lauren for donating!! Y’all are great!
Posted in: on Sunday, September 12, 2010 at at 6:23 PM 4 comments
Hello blog friends! Happy Thursday to ya! I have been doing a lot of thinking about my blog and have decided it’s time for a change!! The main reason I am thinking about changes is that I want my blog direction to be more focused on training, running, triathlons, and races (with some baking thrown in of course!) I am such a beginner with all things technical and computer so I need your help and advice!
I am thinking of closing out NNA and starting up a whole new blog with a new name! That’s where y’all come in! I am so uncreative, so I need y’all to help me to think of a good blog name! Something fun and catchy that revolves around running and triathlons. I know y’all can help!! After I find my top 3, I will let y’all vote on the best! Fun right?!
I am not the biggest fan of BlogSpot and will definitely be changing my new blog to Wordpress. So my questions to y’all are… Should I self host or just use wordpress.com? Also, should I transfer everything from NNA to the new blog or just start from scratch? I’m open to either option. Does anyone have any recommendations on people to use to transfer blogs or that do really neat blog designs? I know, full of questions, but I am so clueless on all this stuff!!
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Alright, enough of that! I had a totally sucky run this morning!! Like I said in my last post, my stomach has not been a happy camper these last few days and today is no different! But, I decided to suck it up and head out for my 5 miler anyway. My stomach was cramping from the very beginning and I just felt nauseous and gross. I made it 3 miles and called it a day. Oh well, you win some you lose some. My pace wasn’t that bad for how bad my stomach felt! 10:05 avg pace. So I’ll take it! I just hope it starts feeling better before my long run this weekend!!
Have a great day! And don’t forget to give me advice and help on my blog questions!!
Posted in: on Thursday, September 9, 2010 at at 1:15 PM 3 comments
Good morning!! I have had a really busy and stressful past couple of days!! For those of you who don’t know, I am in CRNA (nurse anesthesia) school and I had the biggest test of my life (so far) yesterday!! It was a comprehensive pharmacology test over 100+ drugs, all case scenarios! I have been stressed to the max studying for this while still having a full load of classes! And it’s finally over!! I have to pass this to start clinicals on Monday, so hopefully I did! I should know within the next couple of days so I will keep y’all updated!! It’s such a relief that it is over, but my tummy has been paying dearly for all the stress. I have had the worst stomach ache the past 3 days and it is still with me this morning, so I decided to push back my 5 miler until tomorrow and rest. It’s such a dreary day here too, so it’s making me feel lazy :)
I did have a nice run on Monday though!! I set out just do do an easy 4 mile recovery run, since I did my long run on Sunday. My legs felt tired but not too bad. I ran my usual hilly 4 mile route and felt pretty great the entire time. I wasn’t trying to push myself at all, just trying to get some blood pumping through my tired legs!! The goal was to keep my pace around my long run pace, but I ended up going a bit faster.
4 miles in 40:51
Mile 1: 10:36
Mile 2: 10:10
Mile 3: 10:11
Mile 4: 9:56
Avg Pace: 10:13
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I am trying to put together a really awesome blog raffle to help me raise money for my St. Jude Hero fund!! I’ve been contacting companies to get some really awesome running/fitness related products so stay tuned!! And if you have any ideas or specific items you would like me to try to get for the raffle let me know!! I’m open to all ideas and suggestions!!
And last but not least…. a big THANKS to my sister in law Angie and good friend Megan for donating to my St. Jude Hero Fund!! If you would like to donate, check out my donation page!!
I hope y’all have a fabulous day!!
Posted in: on Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at at 9:33 AM 2 comments
We have been having the most awesome running weather the past 2 mornings!! Let’s back up to Saturday morning… I knew the weather was supposed to be cooler this weekend, but when I woke up Saturday morning and checked the temp, I was definitely not expecting to see 53 degrees!! That’s pretty chilly when it’s been 90+!! I had totally forgotten what to wear when I run in temps of the 50’s so I opted for capris and a short sleeve shirt. It worked out well, although shorts would have been fine too!! I was so pumped to run because it felt so nice!! I only had 3 miles on the schedule and my long run planned for Sunday, so I was trying not to push myself hard but it was very difficult! I just felt like running fast!! I just kept telling myself to slow down. All in all it was a great run! Here’s the stats:
3 miles in 28:54
Mile 1: 10:17
Mile 2: 9:37
Mile 3: 9:01
Avg Pace: 9:38
Obviously by the last mile I had totally stopped listening to my reminder to slow down! It really felt like a great run!!
And now on to my long run this morning… as I said on Friday, I decided to start upping my long runs a bit more quickly than I had previously thought, so I can be ready for the Bass Pro Half if I decide to run it. So 7 miles it was! I got up at 5:45 and headed out to my parent’s house so I could run out there. It’s my favorite place to do long runs. The temp was reading about 50 degrees when I started, and I could immediately tell a difference in how I felt this morning compared to my long run last week in the mid 70’s. I felt wonderful!! According to the Runner’s World Training Calculator, I should be doing my long runs around a 10:45-10:55 pace to hit my time goal for the half. This seemed a bit slow when I first read it, but they seem to know what their talking about so I am going with it. I tried really hard to keep my pace between 10:45-10:55 but other than the first mile, I failed!! I just couldn’t keep it that slow! Better faster than too slow, right?!
The 7 miles flew by and I felt great the entire run! I never really got tired and was even able to push it at the end! I love runs like this and I’ve just been on a runner’s high all day!
7 miles in 1:13:15
Mile 1: 10:49
Mile 2: 10:34
Mile 3: 10:30
Mile 4: 10:36
Mile 5: 10:30
Mile 6: 10:21
Mile 7: 9:56
Avg Pace: 10:28
So I ran about the same pace as I did my 6 miles last week but ran farther and felt much better this week! Gotta love it!! I really love long runs, it’s nice to run slow and it’s such a huge accomplishment when you finish!! What’s your favorite type of run?
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As many of you know, I am running the St. Jude Half Marathon and raising money for St. Jude!! I am trying to work on some fundraising ideas and I think it would be fun to have some sort of raffle! So my questions for y’all are:
1. What type of items would you like to see in the raffle? Fitness/running related?
2. Does anyone know of any companies that would donate items to put in a blog raffle for St. Jude?
3. Does anyone reading this want to donate items for the raffle? :)
Let me know if y’all have any other ideas for me! I gotta make it to at least $500 for St. Jude!! And if you would like to donate, please go to my donation page! Any little bit helps! Spread the word too friends!!
I hope y’all have a fabulous night and great holiday tomorrow!
Posted in: on Sunday, September 5, 2010 at at 5:55 PM 2 comments
TGIF! I know many of you have fun plans for this holiday weekend, but not me. I have the biggest test of my life thus far coming up on Tuesday so I will be a shut in this weekend doing nothing but studying! Ok, well maybe a few other things as I procrastinate studying! Haha.
I had a nice 4.8 mile run yesterday morning. I did 4.8 to balance out Monday’s 4.2 miles. Yes, I am that crazy runner girl who must have even mileage! Ha! My legs actually felt very tired on this run, which is odd since I didn’t run the day before. Maybe swimming really fatigued them?! But anyway, the run was rather uneventful. I changed up my normal running route a bit so that was nice. I’m starting to get really bored with running the same routes over and over. It’s definitely time to mix it up! So here’s my stats:
4.8 miles in 48:20
Mile 1: 10:17
Mile 2: 9:59
Mile 3: 10:03
Mile 4: 10:01
Mile 4.8: 8:01 (10:04 pace)
Avg Pace: 10:05
Overall I was happy with this run. I wish I could have been a tad bit faster to get my avg pace under 10:00 but there’s always next time right?! I was only planning on doing 6 miles as my long run again this week but I think I may step it up to 7 miles and start increasing my mileage a bit faster than I had planned. I am still considering doing the Bass Pro Half in November, so starting to increase my long runs a bit faster would ensure that I would be ready for it!
I didn’t do anything today. I was supposed to bike but was totally not feeling it so I just didn’t do it. I need to get a spare tire kit for my bike and until I do that, I’m a little nervous to go out on longer rides! I’ve already got a flat tire once when I was a long way from home! Not fun! So I used that as an excuse to skip my bike today… Must get a spare tire kit!
I did manage to lock myself and Sadie out of the house today though! Somehow when I was taking her for a walk, I forgot to bring my key with me and locked the door. I don’t know where my brain was, well actually I do, it’s overloaded with anesthesia drug knowledge! So we had to sit and wait for my mom to bring us a spare house key to get in! I was so mad! Luckily my mom was at home and only lives about 30 minutes away, but I was still so mad at myself for doing that!
Well friends, that’s about it for now! Don’t forget to check out my donation page and donate to my St. Jude Hero fund! A big thanks to Gayle and Tom and Nicole for donating!!
Posted in: on Friday, September 3, 2010 at at 7:02 PM 1 comments
Today was an awful day! I will spare y’all with the details of what we had to do at school today, but let’s just say it’s something I will never do again! And it made for a very uncomfortable and stressful day. And what’s a better way to relive that stress than working out?? Well chocolate and wine maybe…. but today swimming was definitely my stress reliever!!
I’m still kind of unsure of what I should be doing in the pool, so all you triathletes and swimmers, please provide me with some guidance! But for now I’m just winging it! I started out swimming 500 meters freestyle then finished up with another 500 meters alternating breast stroke and freestyle every 100 meters. So my grand total was 1000meters. Took me about 30 minutes and I felt pretty good with that. I am hoping to keep increasing my swim distance every week so this is just where I’m starting! Something about the pool is so calming. Most of the times when I’m running I think about a lot of stuff but not when I’m swimming! My mind is a completely blank canvas. It’s quite nice to not think!
Well, that’s really all I have for tonight!! Don’t forget to visit my St. Jude donation page and help me raise money for the kiddos at St. Jude!! A HUGE thank you to my first two donations: my parents and Liz from Little Bitty Bakes!! Y’all are so fabulous!! Also, if you have any good fundraising ideas, please let me know!! Have a great night!!
Posted in: on Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at at 8:09 PM 3 comments
Hello my lovely blog friends!! I want to thank y’all so much for your thoughts on my dilemma and on which half I should do! Well, I have finally made my decision… and it wasn’t either of the options I presented to y’all! Woops!! After posting my options for you this morning, I found a third option that just seemed perfect!!
I found out that I could sign up for the St. Jude Half Marathon if I signed up as a St. Jude Hero! The requirements for being a St. Jude Hero are that I have to fundraise $500 for St. Jude. I definitely think I can do this and I have officially signed up as a Hero :) When I read about this option, I just KNEW that’s what I was supposed to do! So, I’ve made my commitment and I’m sticking to it! $500 or bust! Haha!
I am not a big fundraiser, I have never been into fundraisers, but I’ve worked with these kids, I’ve taken care of these kids, and I have a huge place in my heart for St. Jude kiddos! For those of you who don’t know, before I started CRNA school last year, I worked as a RN in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at LeBonheur, and we work closely with St. Jude and take care of many of their patients after surgery and when they are critically ill. So really y’all, I know how tough it is emotionally, physically, and financially on these kids and their families and I am happy to work to raise money for them!! I am super excited about this and I know that it will make this race so much more meaningful for me!!
If you haven’t noticed yet, I have an awesome new button on the right hand side of my blog that links directly to my donation page! You can also visit my donation page by going here.
I would love for y’all to donate to me if you feel led to! Remember, anything counts! $1 is better than nothing right!! Also, please spread the word for me!! Thanks friends!!
Posted in: on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at at 5:49 PM 2 comments
Good morning friends! I have a dilemma that I need your opinions on! Last night, I went to go sign up for the St. Jude Half Marathon on Dec. 4th only to find out that the half is officially SOLD OUT. I was so upset, like literally in tears! I ran this half last year and loved it and I really wanted to run it again! Plus, I have a lot of friends running it. I can’t believe it is sold out. I checked a few days ago and it wasn’t. So now I don’t know what to do! I have 2 options that I need your opinion on. What would you do?
Option 1
Pay to run the full St. Jude Marathon but only run the half. The pro is I obviously get to run the race! But there are a few cons… First, it’s more expensive by $25. It’s not a ton, but remember, I am a poor grad student!! And the second con is that I will not have an official time because I didn’t finish the race I signed up for. Not to mention, I will be the girl with the marathon bib coming into the finish of the half marathon looking like I just couldn’t do the race I signed up for.
Option 2
Run the Bass Pro Shop Half Marathon in Springfield, Mo on Nov. 7th. The pros of this are it’s a cheaper race, my grandparents live there so I will have somewhere to stay and get to visit them, and I’ve never run this one before and it’s always fun to run new races!! Plus, I will get an official time! And now the cons… First, it’s a whole month earlier than St. Jude so my training plan would only be 10 weeks long starting yesterday! I think I will be ready for it but the extra month of training for St. Jude may improve my race time. Second, it is out of town, about 5-6 hours from me, so I will have to travel there, but my mom did already say she would go with me.
So, you see the dilemma? What do I do? What would you do?
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Our Women Run Memphis group run went well last night. For the second week in a row, no tummy troubles!! I am attributing this to eating waffles for lunch. Did it the last 2 weeks and had no issues!! We started out with a mile warm-up then proceeded to do a negative split workout. We ran for 12 minutes in one direction, then the coaches blew the whistle. We turned around and had to run back to the start faster than 12 minutes to achieve our negative split. I definitely got a negative split! I ran 12 minutes the first direction than 11:14 the second direction, cutting 46 seconds off my time! I liked that one! Then we did a cool-down giving me a total of 4.2 miles for the entire run. I am so sad we only have 1 more group run left!
Well friends, I’m off to start my day. Please give me your thoughts on my half marathon issue!! Thanks!!
Posted in: on at at 7:32 AM 9 comments
I’ve received some fun stuff the past couple weeks that I have gotten to try and review!! First up, the people from the Foodbuzz Tastemakers Program sent me some Arnold Sandwich Thins to try out!!
Now, this wasn’t the first time I’ve had these before, but they are super yummy so of course I said I would do a review of them!! So far we have used them to make some awesome sandwiches, garlic bread, and as buns for turkey burgers and hamburgers!! These sandwich thins are VERY versatile!! And they don’t take away from the actual flavors of the sandwich or burger! You know how sometimes all you taste is bread? Well these sandwich thins eliminate that problem! They’ve got great nutrition info too!!
And onto my next item… The kind people at Thermos contacted me to see if I would like to test out one of their water bottles, the Intak vacuum insulated hydration bottle! Of course!! I am seriously, water bottle obsessed and this is the best one I have used to date!!
Love the design on the outside and the fact that the straw/sippy thing is hidden so no germies get on it! It holds 18oz and is made of stainless steel.
It is supposed to keep water cold for 12 hours!! Well, I haven’t left water in their for 12 hours straight yet, but I have for about 6 hours and this bottle definitely kept it cold!! Plus, it doesn’t sweat so no water drippings or rings on your tables!!
And of course it’s BPA free!! This is the straw/sippy thing. All you do is push the little button on the front of the bottle and the top flips up and there is your straw for you to sip away on!! Seriously, love, love, love this bottle! You must go get one!!
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Now onto my long run from early this morning… It probably wasn’t the best idea to do my long run after racing the Forrest Spence 5k yesterday (recap here). But I decided to anyway since my long run right now is only 6 miles. I got up super early so I could drive out to where my parents live and run out there before church. I needed a change of scenery since I run the same routes by my house all the time!! I’ve run the 6 mile route that I ran this morning many times and it has a good mix of hills and flats. The temp felt pretty warm this morning and definitely humid. I was drenched by the time I finished!!
I started off my run and immediately my legs felt tired and my PF was killing me! I knew if I just made it through the first mile, my legs would wake up and the PF would disappear. And it did. The first couple miles have some good hills and I was definitely feeling it. I thought I might have to take a few breaks but I tossed that thought away, did some positive self talk, and kept pushing on! Mile 3 came and went and I knew I was halfway done and could definitely finish this run! I stopped and took a quick sip from the water fountain around mile 4.5 and then went on to finish the 6 miles! Another reason I love running out by my parent’s house is that there are some many other runners out all the time! Where I live, I think I am seriously the ONLY runner! I have never seen anyone else run!! I was tired at the end but felt pretty good! Gotta love that!! Here are my splits:
6 miles in 1:02:50
Mile 1: 11:01 (Super slow because of my PF)
Mile 2: 10:22 (Feet feeling much better!!)
Mile 3: 10:24
Mile 4: 10:30
Mile 5: 10:33
Mile 6: 10:11
Avg Pace: 10:29
I’ll take that!! Pace isn’t too bad for a long run pace. Hopefully I will be able to knock that down soon!! Overall, definitely a good run!
I discovered the BEST post-run refuel: Chocolate Milk!! Yummy!!
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And last but not least… My professional wedding pictures are FINALLY online!! If y’all would like to look at the go here. Click on Nikki and Al and the password is douglas. Let me know what you think! I am beyond happy and can’t wait to get my album!!
Have a fabulous night!!
Posted in: on Sunday, August 29, 2010 at at 6:57 PM 1 comments
Hello! Hope this nice Saturday is treating you well!! I had a great 5k race this morning! Like I said, I decided to kick off my racing season with the Forrest Spence 5K!! The weather was really nice this morning, pretty cool for the most part, I believe it was in the 70’s. It did get a little hot during the race, but luckily a lot of the course was shaded!!
My mom went with me this morning as my paparazzi and support crew!! This race was larger than the usual 5k’s we have so there was a lot going on when we got there!! Finally it was time to line up at the start!!
I really didn’t have too many goals for this race since it is the start of this racing season, I was just hoping for under 30 minutes (which I totally knew I could pull off!) My 5k PR is 26:55 from last spring so I am hoping to get back there at some point!!
It wasn’t too crowded as we started off, everyone was kind of spaced out. I hate the feeling of being smashed in between people and not being able to run the pace I want to! This didn’t happen the whole race! Love that!! Some how my camera got turned onto video so I don’t have any more pictures to share :(
Mile 1 came pretty quickly. According to Garmie, I hit mile 1 at 9:07. I felt pretty good about this. Didn’t feel to tired at this point so I kept on. Mile 2 came pretty quickly too! I had never run this route before so it was kinda nice to keep guessing what was coming next!! I hit mile 2 at 18:16 (9:10 pace). Still felt good so I was going to keep pushing at this pace. Right after mile 2 I saw my mom and some friends I used to work with at LeBonehur! I love seeing people I know when I’m racing!! Towards the end of mile 3 I started to feel tired but I knew I had to keep pushing!! I hit mile 3 at 27:26 (9:10 pace). Garmie was a bit off (or the course a bit long) so I ended up completing 3.17 in 28:45 with my last .17 at a 7:50 pace! I was booking it!! My average pace for the race was 9:05!!
I was definitely super happy with my time! I think that’s a great place for me to start out this race season!!
After the race, my mom and I hung around for the awards and then went to get some breakfast at Panera!! I got the Cinnamon Crunch Bagel and it was AMAZING!! I will definitely be getting that again!!
Well friends, I must get back to studying :( Have a fabulous day!! Anyone else race this weekend? How did you do?
Posted in: on Saturday, August 28, 2010 at at 4:16 PM 2 comments
I had to do a quick little post to tell y’all how awesome my run was this morning! It’s one of those runs that reminds you why you run and train so hard! What can be better than that??
I woke up this morning around 6am planning on doing my long run for the week. But when I woke up, my head hurt, my nose was stuffy, and I just felt blah. I definitely didn’t want to get up and do a long run. So I quickly thought about what other day I could do my long run, rolled over, and went back to sleep for another hour. I finally pulled myself out of bed and knew I had to do some kind of run today, especially since the temp was right at 70 and that’s cooler than it’s been in a LONG time!! After I got up and stretched out a bit, I felt a little better. My sinuses are just going a little crazy! I decided 4 miles at and easy pace would be doable, and I headed out.
At the beginning of my run, my PF was killing me!! But I know once I hit the 1/2 mile mark, it usually goes away. But it was killer this morning! I felt really good by the first mile and decided to pick up my pace a bit. The second mile came and went really quickly and I picked up my pace a bit more! After seeing my mile split for my 2nd mile, I knew I could really push it and have my fastest 4 miler in a LONG time! So I did!! Each mile I pushed it a little more and I felt AMAZING!! Sinus and PF troubles were out the window by mile 1 and I just couldn’t hold my legs back!! Plus, the beautiful weather was helping so much!! I finished with a huge smile on my face and after looking at my time, yelled “YES!!”. People in my neighborhood probably think I’m crazy, but I just couldn’t hold my excitement in!! So here’s my stats:
4 miles in 38:23
Mile 1:10:17
Mile 2: 9:48
Mile 3: 9:22
Mile 4: 8:58 (!! Who knew I had that in me!!)
Avg Pace: 9:36
Holy cow people, my speed is returning to me!! Thank goodness! Speed, oh how I’ve missed you :) This run has really pumped me up for the Forrest Spence 5k on Saturday!! I think all the hills and speed work we have been doing in my running group on Monday nights have really helped bring my speed back!! So yes, I’m pumped about this and just wanted to share!!
Have you ever had a run that you though was going to be awful, and turned out wonderful?? What do you think it the most important way to get speedier?
Posted in: on Thursday, August 26, 2010 at at 11:05 AM 4 comments
Today was a rest day for me, but that’s not going to stop me from telling you about my last 2 days of workouts!!
Lets back up to Monday…Monday’s are my evening group runs with the Women Run Memphis group. They always evil things planned for us (hills, speed work, etc) and this past Monday was no exception! And when I say “evil”, I’m being sarcastic! It’s the kind of workouts that are super tough that only someone else can push you and make you do because you aren’t about to give up if everyone else is doing it! Know what I’m talking about?! Ha! On tap for us was 400 repeats, not on flat ground people, but on hills!! It was tough! The downhill part was very nice but the speedy uphills were killer! We did a little over a mile warm-up, 6X400 repeats, and another mile cool down for a total of 4 miles. It was great in a I don’t think I could run another step kinda way!! And the best part was that my stomach behaved the entire time! No cramping, gurgling, or side stitches. It was amazing. I really look forward to running on Monday nights with this group! I’m usually a solo runner, so it’s nice to mix it up a bit. I’m going to be sad when it’s over.
And on to Tuesday… My legs were super sore from the speed work we did Monday night so I knew a run was not going to happen. So I did the next best thing…bike!! The weather was actually pretty nice, except for the breeze that made the ride tough and messed up all my downhill’s! All in all it was a good, hilly ride that made my legs even more sore, again in a good way :) Here’s my stats:
10 miles in 40:35
Avg Speed 14.7 mph
And like I said, today is a rest day. My legs were begging for it!! I am doing my long run tomorrow since I decided to go ahead and run a 5k on Saturday!! I will be doing the Forrest Spence 5K. Forrest Spence was a little baby who passed away in our unit a few years ago and his parent’s set up a foundation in his name to help assist the non-medical needs of critically or chronically ill children and their families throughout the Midsouth. So it’s a GREAT cause and I have actually never run that race route before! So it will be a new course for me! And I hear it’s not very hilly :) Will anyone else be joining me on Saturday at this race?!?
Well friends, gotta get back to studying for my HUGE drug test that’s less than 2 weeks away! Yikes!
Posted in: on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at at 4:43 PM 2 comments
Hello friends! Happy Monday to ya!! Hope the beginning of the week is treating you well :)
I had a really nice run on Saturday. I set out to do my long run of 5 miles (I know, not really LONG but it is for me at this point in training). It was hot, I let myself sleep in a bit, but luckily there was a lot of shade for the first half of my run. I did my hilly route, which most all my runs are done on. It felt hard, but in a good way! I was pretty happy with my time too!
5 miles in 51:39
Mile 1: 10:47
Mile 2: 10:16
Mile 3: 10:11
Mile 4: 10:24
Mile 5: 10:03
Avg Pace: 10:20
It’s a good start. I would like to be a bit faster but I know it will take a bit more time for my speed to come back. I am looking forward to my LONG runs getting longer and longer!!
I’m debating kicking off my race season this weekend with a 5k. I was going to wait a few more weeks because I’m super competitive and want to do really well and I don’t feel like I’m there yet. But, I really want to do this race!! Thoughts?!? I need to register tonight if I’m going to do it because the price goes up tomorrow!
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I made a super yummy dish the other night!! It was a Quinoa Mix! I’ve never made Quinoa before and I just kinda threw a bunch of stuff together and it turned out great!! Hubby loved it as well!
Cooking the Quinoa. It has a texture between rice and pasta.
Then, I cooked up some onion, garlic, grape tomatoes, spinach and shrimp in the skillet in EVOO.
Mix it all together and top with some feta cheese! Yummy!! Have you ever made Quinoa??
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Well guys, that’s it for now! Have a great Monday! How many of you are into Bachelor Pad? I can’t stop watching all the drama! Ha!
Posted in: on Monday, August 23, 2010 at at 3:56 PM 3 comments
TGIF!! I have a lot to talk about today! Let’s start with some yummy food talk first!! I got the recipe for Red Lobster Garlic Cheese Biscuits from my friend Brandi the other day, and they are AMAZING!! I have made them twice in 3 days! Haha. I know a few of you on Twitter have asked me for this recipe, so here it is!! But beware, they are so addicting!!
Red Lobster Garlic Cheese Biscuits
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
2 cups Bisquick
2/3 cup milk (I used nonfat)
2 TBSP melted butter
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp parsley flakes
Heat over to 400 degrees. Mix cheese and Bisquick. Add milk, stir until combined and moist. Drop onto greased cookie sheet.
Bake 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Melt butter, add garlic salt and parsley to melted butter. Brush over biscuits. Enjoy!!
Like I said, fabulous! They reheat well too. Just stick them in the oven for a few minutes to heat up and they turn out perfect!!
In other food related news… I tried out another kind of cereal I received from the Foodbuzz Tastemakers Program.
Kelloggs Fiber Plus Antioxidants Cinnamon Oat Crunch. It was pretty cinnamony, so if you like cinnamon then this is a cereal for you! Unfortunately I am not a huge cinnamon fan, so I just thought it was ok. Plus, it didn’t pack enough punch to keep me full for long. But, the nutrition stats are really good and if you think it’s something you would like, check it out!!
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Let’s get on to some training talk!! I’ve had some good, and not so good workouts since we talked last! Let’s start with the not so good…
On Wednesday, I had planned to get my butt up at 5:30am to run before class. Yea, didn’t happen. I just wanted to sleep more than I wanted to run. It happens. So when I got home from class, around 3pm, I knew I needed to get that run in. To the treadmill it was since at 3pm around here, the heat index is usually 110-115! I started out feeling good but about 5 minutes into my run, my stomach just went crazy. Cramps galore! Note to self… a veggie sandwich for lunch is not a good idea when you plan to run a few hours later. For some reason, veggies just don’t seem to agree with my stomach very well lately, causing tummy pains and cramps. Take this and multiply it by 1000, and that’s what it felt like running. I kept stopping and trying to stretch out my stomach, but nothing worked. I finally called it quits after a slow and painful 2 miles. Oh well, you win some you lose some, right?!?
So on Thursday, I decided to go check out my school’s indoor pool since it is free after all. It took me a bit to find it, it’s pretty hidden, but it was great! It is a 25 meter pool with 5 lanes and NO ONE else was there! I had the whole pool to myself! I hope it’s like that all the time! I swam a total of 1000 meters in about 30 minutes. Here’s how I did my swim: 400 meter freestyle, followed by alternating 100 meters of breast stroke and freestyle. My goal that I’m working towards is to increase my initial freestyle swim to 1 mile (1600 meters). I was definitely tired after the first 400 and that’s why I started alternating with breast stroke, I find it a lot easier. I am completely clueless on drills and such for the pool so as of right now, I’m just trying to get my distance up! If you have any suggestions, feel free to share!!
And then this morning, I had a great run! I set out to do 3.3 miles (to even out my 3.7 miles from Monday, yes I’m crazy like that) around 6:30am. It was nice to sleep in a bit. My PF was really hurting the first 0.5 mile or so, as it always does, although now it’s bilateral instead of in just one foot. But after the 1st mile it was fine. I pushed it a bit at the end and it felt good to run hard. I wasn’t trying to push myself too hard though because I’m going to do a longer run tomorrow. Here are my stats:
3.3 miles in 32:14
Mile 1: 10:19
Mile 2: 9:45
Mile 3: 9:29
Mile 3-3.3: 2:41 (9:02 pace)
Avg Pace: 9:46
I’m just glad to be picking up my speed bit by bit! And happy for my average pace to be below 10:00!! There is definitely something to be said about consistency!!
As for races and training, I’m kinda just keeping up and building my base before I start half marathon training the beginning of September!! I am still planning to swim and ride at least once a week because I want to continue to improve on those for my Triathlon’s next season! And yes, I realize that’s a long time from now, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared!!
Well friends, that’s all for now. I think I may go get into some cupcake baking :) Have a great day!!
Posted in: on Friday, August 20, 2010 at at 3:36 PM 2 comments
Hello friends!! Happy Tuesday!! The weather has been really quite nice today, as in heat index below 100! Hopes it stays like that!!
Thanks to a sweet blog reader, Courtney, I now have my official race results from Tri Oxford! So here they are…
Swim: 8:49
T1: 1:06
Bike: 53:27
T2: 1:21
Run: 33:36
Total: 1:38:18
I have got to work on my transition times! My brother tells me they are too slow, haha. I thought I was going fast! But what do I know, right?! LOL.
They also got a nice picture of me on the bike. Click here to check it out. What do you think? I look like I’m concentrating pretty hard!! Haha.
I decided to take Sunday off from running since I did the Tri Oxford the day before, but it didn’t stop me from getting a nice swim workout in!! Memphis folks: I am in need of an indoor swimming pool for the fall/ winter so I can keep up my swimming. Do y’all have a favorite gym that has a indoor pool? I probably will be leaning towards the cheaper ones since all I really need from a gym is the indoor pool. Help a girl out!!
Last night was my Women Run Memphis group. The weather was so much nicer than the last couple weeks and I didn’t feel like I would die from heat stoke, just from exhaustion! Haha, they really know how to work us! I love it :) We did 6X400 with a 1 mile warm-up and cool-down. That gave me a total of 3.7 miles in 34:37! It was tough but I love doing 400’s! Probably my favorite speed work distance. Something about running hard for a short distance is a nice change!!
And I was definitely sore this morning! So biking it was!! I rode 12 miles in 49:29 with and average speed of 14.6. It was pretty windy so that made it hard going one way, which of course was on the way back!! I’m hoping my legs are less sore tomorrow for my morning run! I think some stretching is in order tonight!!
And last but not least… look what I picked up today:
Triathlete Magazine!! Can’t wait to read it tonight!! I hope y’all have a fabulous night!!
Posted in: on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at at 5:18 PM 1 comments
Hello everyone! Hope y’all have had a good weekend! I sure have!! The most exciting thing I did this weekend was race the TRI Oxford triathlon!! It was a great race!!
My mom went down to Oxford with me on Friday and we had a fun girl’s night that consisted of eating dinner at Old Venice on the Oxford Square and coming back to our hotel room and eating Hampton Inn cookies while watching TV in bed! Have y’all ever had the Hampton Inn cookies?? OMG, so good! I will stay at the Hampton Inn from now on just for those cookies! Haha :) We turned in early since we had a 5am wake up call to head to the race!!
I woke up easily to my alarm and tried to eat a bagel and PB, but only made it through half. I was too nervous and it was definitely too early to eat!! We got to the transition area pretty early and I was able to get an end spot for my bike. Makes it a lot easier to find it during the transitions if its on the end! So I was happy about that. We had about 45 minutes until race time, so I went and got my chip and got marked with my number, and then we just hung out and talked about all the awesome bikes there!! Makes me want a brand new bike! They are so pretty! I’ll have to post a picture of my bike, Buck, soon!
The swim portion was in a pool, which I was a little nervous about. The course was set up in a “serpentine” manner, where we swim up one lane, go under the rope, swim down the next lane, go under the rope, swim back up the next lane, and so on for 300 meters. Let me just say this… it was CHAOS!! I will take an open water swim any day over this pool swim! People were everywhere!! The bad thing was that the 30ish male age group started one person behind me so they ended up swimming over us from the beginning, not fun!! But, it was nice to be in a pool where I could see the bottom! I did like that aspect. I don’t have my official breakdown times, only my official total time so I really don’t know how long it took me to do this! Not very long because I was swimming (fighting) as fast as I could to get out of there! Haha :)
Here I am jumping into the pool. They wouldn’t let us dive because it was too shallow. See those tall guys behind me waiting to go? Yea, they were the ones whole swam right over top of me and the girl behind me in the very first lane! Guess they wanted us out of their way, ha!
That’s me swimming in the yellow swim cap in the very far lane. At this point I was still swimming all alone… too bad it didn’t last!
There I am swimming again (yellow swim cap), in the middle lane.
Finally done and running out of the water!! I was so ready to get on my bike!!
Not sure of my transition time, I can’t find the breakdown of times anywhere on the internet. I wasn’t superfast, but I wasn’t slow either. I was pretty nervous about this ride because my mom and I drove it the day before and it was literally ALL HILLS!!
It was a tough 13 miles but I survived and actually got up to 30mph on one of the downhill's!! I am getting a lot better at using my gears so that made the hills a tiny bit better. My legs were definitely spent by the end of this ride!
Almost to the transition area!!
Yes, they made us ride up this steep hill to get up to the transition area! Haha. My bike time according to my Garmin was 52:xx. Faster than I thought I would go on all those hills! I was definitely happy with that!
Again, no transition time but this one was even quicker. All I had to do was thrown on my shirt, hat, and grab my Garmin off my bike, and then I was off for a 5k!
My mom told me she knew I was still feeling ok at this point because I was smiling and waving at the camera! Haha. I did feel ok, better than my last Tri. And I am totally attributing that to me drinking a half Gatorade/half water mix on the bike instead of just water. Definitely makes a difference!!
The run portion was tough too! There were so many hills, and some that were super steep too! I definitely had to walk some but was happy with my time! I chit chatted with this older man for a bit, so that was nice!! Other than it being super hot and hilly, I don’t remember very much! It seemed to go by really fast!! I was happy they had water stops at mile 1 and 2! Seriously y’all, it was so hot! It was only like 9am but I swear it was 90+ degrees! I felt pretty good the entire time and ended my run with a smile on my face!
My run time from my Garmin was 33:xx, so definitely not my fastest 5k, but given the circumstances (swimming and biking prior, and the heat) I felt good about that!! I was definitely happy to be finished!!
I finished my 2nd Tri! Yay!! My official time was 1:38:18… which ended up giving me FIRST PLACE IN MY AGE GROUP!! Holy cow! I definitely never expected to win anything on my 2nd Tri!!
This is me and the girl who won 2nd place in our age group!! They gave out cash prizes, which was nice!!
And here’s the nice certificate I got!!
I am so loving Triathlon’s!! I can’t wait to do more! I am definitely addicted and am so pumped about it! And a big thanks for my mom for being my crowd support and paparazzi this weekend!!
If anyone knows of any awesome Triathlete blogs or magazines, please let me know!!
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In other news…. my running shoes died this weekend, so I had to get another pair!! I was so happy with my Nike Vomero’s last time, that I knew I wanted them again!
Look how new and pretty and white they are! Won’t stay that way long! Haha.
I got some new orthotics put in that hopefully will help with my plantar fascitis. Can’t wait to run in them tomorrow night at my Women Run Memphis group!
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And last but not least… I made some awesome Mocha Brownie Cups yesterday that I got from Lizzy’s blog! Yum, yum, yum! Go there and get the recipe! These are fabulous!!
Have a great night!
Posted in: on Sunday, August 15, 2010 at at 5:56 PM 3 comments
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