Speed Work + Me = Love; BUT Long Runs + Me= Nothing Good :(

So as the title of this post might imply, my long runs have not been super fantastic.  Last weekend I had 10 miles scheduled and I did 7.  Hey, both numbers end in "n" so I was kind of on track.  Not.At.All.

But, all of my short runs and speed work/hill runs have been great.  On Monday nights I attend a free running group through Biffledinked Running, and this week's session felt great.  Wednesday I had 9x400s scheduled and I nailed them at the paces I wanted.

BTW, this is what I came home to after my Wednesday morning run.  It was about 5:45 am when I got home from the gym.  Guess he's not a morning pup.

Today I completed the run that I was scheduled to do on Thursday, but didn't make it b/c of time issues.  I did my normal routine of 3 bridge repeats over the Great Neck Bridge.  It was hotter than it's been all week and more humid, but my run felt GREAT!  Once again Speed Work + Me = Love!  I spotted these tally marks at the bottom of the hill and knew that my running group friend had done her own hill work here recently.

Ignore my creepy shadow.  One day I'll learn how to take normal pictures, or at least better ones.  Tomorrow I'm supposed to run a 15K race.  I couldn't find any, so I'm mapping out a route around my neighborhood.  Wish me luck!  I'm also in a weekend challenge for Fitbit, so that might motivate me to complete the long run.  Need those steps!

Challenge Preparations

So today was Day 1 of the AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge.  And it's gone GREAT! :)  Food tasted yummy and I got some great speedwork training done.

But, before the whole clean eating thing got kicked off today, I had some super dirty food yesterday. \ Dirty, ya see what I did there?!

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Man, I need to work on my picture cropping skills.  And by work on them, I mean use them.

Anyhow, while those treats might be decadent and sinful, they did NOT include any soda or fast food.  Haven't touched either of those since I did my first challenge.  Yea for small victories.

More on Day 1 tomorrow!

Running Research

So I conducted some very official running research today.  I'm thinking this is good practice for if/when I ever begin a doctoral program.  Now, based on my past career as a science fair judge, I believe I need to repeat this trial at least 3 more times to truly reflect on my data.

At this point, I'm sure your bursting with curiosity about said running research.  Whelp, I busted out some new running shoes today to see if it would jump start my long run slump.  I decided that since I've had some issues with my toes hitting the top of the shoe (yes, I have the right size...) I would attempt a strategy that I came across on Pinterest.  I figured it wouldn't hurt the situation and it's a free potential solution!

**Ignore that fact that the source appears to be drinksvelte.com?  I sweat I've seen this many other places, but this graphic was the most succinct.  Anyhow, today I tied my left shoe with this new way (top configuration)

and my right show the regular old way...

Here's the side-by-side comparison.

1. Laces Out!  Ace Ventura, anyone?!
2. I don't understand how the single foot shots are facing one way and the feet shot is facing the other.  I swear I took them all back to back.  Weird.

Anyhow, I know that you are DYING to know the results of my lace-off.  Yes, the left toes definitely seemed more comfortable and didn't seem to get pushed towards the front of the shoe as much.  BUT, while both feet had some blistering, the left foot had slightly more.  The blisters showed up in the area where they always do and there could be many factors-new shoes, recent pedicure, or the lacing pattern.  I'll let you know how trials #2 and #3 go.  I'm leaving them as they are for now.

And this is what I came home to...

Ruff life!

AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge

Yesterday something very exciting arrived in the mail....

My AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge products!  I am SO excited to kick off this challenge and get back to eating clean.  Dropping the 5-10ish lbs that I gained this summer would be a nice bonus too.  You can check out the products here.  Drop me a comment if you want some suggestions on how to cut costs (although it's tough to not want ALL these wonderful supplements).

The Challenge starts with a 10 day cleanse which detoxes your body and helps restart your metabolism.  The cleanse and fiber drink are gentle and won't have you running to the bathroom urgently...I promise!  I actually felt the need to urinate more frequently rather than, you know, the opposite end.

After the 10 day cleanse you can pulse check by hopping on the scale, which I will be doing and then you start the 14 day max phase.  Here you continue eating clean and bump up your vitamin intake.  I had some GREAT runs the last time I did the Challenge during this phase.

The Challenge even comes with an app available in iTunes or the Google Play Store.  I love it because I'm Type A and it let's you check off little boxes as you move through the day and log your meals, supplements, water, and exercise.

Finally, we have a Challenge group going on the FB.  If  you're interested in following us, you can find us here.

Have a wonderful weekend.  I've got a 10 mile run (fingers crossed it's good!), lunch with my little sissy, church, and then dinner with my grad cohort family!

Taking Time Out

So this weekend, I did something that I rarely do.  I took the entire weekend off from running.  I actually took a long weekend, including Labor Day.  Not a bit of running or gym time was put in.

So how do I feel about this break??  One word.  AWESOME!  My two runs thus far this week have been wonderful.  I feel like I'm re-energized and ready to tackle the rest of my half marathon training.  I seem to hit a wall about halfway through a half marathon training cycle.  I think I took an entire week off last time!

I decided to repeat last week's training because I had some craptastic runs and I have time built in to my training calendar.  So Tuesday morning I had 4.5 miles on tap and I think I did about 3.25 before I had to cut it short to, um, ahem, head home and hit the restroom.  #runnerproblems

Yesterday I hit treadmill and did the same 40 minutes that I attempted last week. You can read more about that here.  This is how this week's redo run went.

Ignore the insanely sweaty hair (which I JUST had did last night and promptly messed up with this run) and super twisted necklace; focus on the thumbs up!  The long weekend break definitely did me good.  Here's the final shot of this 40 minute workout.

I took this picture as I was starting to cool down.  I basically ran almost an entire half of a mile more than I did in the same time last week.  I started my speed at 5.5 and increased by .1 every 10 minutes(ish) until I was up to 5.9.  Yup, I'm slow, but this is actually an improvement for me.  Anyone can become a runner!!!

Not so great runs

So yesterday I had a 40 minute tempo run on deck.  I made the decision in the morning to sleep more and not hit the gym as planned before work.  As a result, I had to go after work.

Yesterday was a LONG work day.  We arrived at our normal times and had to stay until 6:30 for our meet and greet night.  This is for parents and students to come and meet their new teacher.

Don't tell anyone, but I snuck out around 5:45 to head to the gym.  Hey, I was meeting a friend for dinner at 7:15 and had to be done!  Also, I had been there since 8 am!  Anyhow, I got to the gym, changed into my clothes, and saw my lifting friend on a treadmill.  She had an open one next to her, so I hopped on and we chatted for a bit.  She said seeing me motivated her to do extra cardio (she's more into weights, which I get!).  We took a quick selfie once she finished her cardio and headed off to do some chest work.  BTW, she's and awesome fitness champion and has a great FB group called Getting Fit For Life.  Look it up!

If she hadn't said that to me, I might have quit my run altogether.  Her words literally propelled me to finish my run.  I'm not even sure that I can call it a run, because I walked more than I should have.  Ugh.  Here's the end result.

And here's how I felt once it was done.

I know that not all runs are good, and this doesn't stress me out like it used to.  I was also reminded that what you put in your body affects your performance.  I've eaten like total crap, enjoying all the yummy food that is offered during teacher week.  I guess pizza for lunch isn't the best fuel for a 40 minute run...