My First Blog Meet-Up and Funny Running Shirts

While we were in Houston for the Olympic Marathon Trials, I got to meet Laura, one of my blog buddies, at the Children's Museum. It was my very first blogger meet-up, and it was really fun. Too bad we don't live closer because I think we'd be good mom buddies, and good running buddies.  

After the Children's Museum, we had a much needed long nap back at the hotel, and then we headed to the Houston Marathon expo. I love walking around big marathon expos! The free samples might have something to do with that. I loaded up on Larabar minis, and sadly I just ate my last one yesterday. 

I saw several funny running shirts at the expo, so I took a few pictures of my favorites.

 As a new owner of a Garmin, this one made me smile. This one was probably my favorite. 

The truer they are, the more funny they are. Running is definitely my therapy, and my sanity. 

Scott pointed this one out. 

Ya, what could possibly go wrong? 

Do you have a favorite funny running quote?

Scott bought me a shirt last Christmas that says "Run Like a Mother" on the front, and on the back it says, "26.2 Miles of Peace and Quiet." Ha ha. Very true. I love it.  

Race Recap: My First 10 Miler

I had a feeling I was going to like the 10 mile distance. It's long enough to make it an endurance challenge, and short enough for a little bit of speed challenge as well. Since it was the first time I had ever raced a 10 miler, I wasn't sure what my time goal should be. The last race I had run was my half marathon at the end of October, and based on that time, I thought running under 70 minutes for the 10 miler would be an ideal time. Shooting for under 70 would be a little ambitious for me since I had only done 1 speed workout since my half marathon, but I told myself that if I didn't run under 70, at least I would get an awesome workout trying! 

Race morning breakfast was my usual breakfast these days. Plain rice cake with almond butter, honey, and a banana. I also ate 3 shot bloks before the race started. 

After packet pick-up, me and two of my running buddies went for a 1 mile warm-up run. It was a chilly morning, around 45 degrees, and perfect running conditions! I wanted to run with my buddy Ashley, but was really nervous I would go out too fast and die at the end if I tried to stay with her. I decided to take my chances and start with her anyway. 

I ran with Ashley for about 2 or 3 miles, and then she took a 50-100 meter lead the rest of the way. Ashley kept her lead as first place girl all the way to the end of the race! She finished in 67 minutes. Lucky for me, I get to train with this speedy girl. 

I was in second until just before the half-way point where I got passed and became the third female. I ate a vanilla gu around mile 5 and was able to pick up my pace from about a 7:10/mile to a 6:50/mile. Even though I had picked up my pace, I still got passed by another girl and slipped into fourth place around mile 8. I stayed in fourth place until the hills hit around mile 9. I knew if I was going to pass the third place girl, the hills at the end would be  my chance. I had run this course many times before, so it was to my advantage that I was expecting the hills and knew exactly how long they were. I have no idea if the other girl  knew the course, but I sure was grateful that I did. About 1/2 mile before the end of the race I was able to take third place again. Yay for all those hilly runs around my house with a 50 pound jogging stroller! 

I was very happy to finish with negative splits, and under 70 minutes like I hoped with a time of 68:51. 

Ashley and I were bummed they didn't do overall awards, just age group awards, but we both got 1st in our age since we're in different age groups, and my other running buddy got third in her age. I love my Texas running buddies! I remember being worried about moving to a new State and having to meet all new running buddies. Turns out, I had nothing to worry about. I have some awesome running buddies here. We're all so different in personalities and stages of life, yet we get along perfectly bright and early every Saturday morning on our long runs. That's what I love about the running buddy bond. 

My little running buddy deserves the medal. He's been a trooper his whole life letting me drag him along on my runs and workouts. Not to mention freezing his little hands off that morning while waiting for me to finish and cheer me on. He was pretty excited when I gave him the medal.

He even ran up to these cops to show it off. It was pretty funny. 

What's your favorite weather to race in?

Around 50 degrees and overcast like it was for this race. 

What's your favorite pre-race breakfast? 

Do you run with buddies or by yourself for long runs? 

I don't know what I would do without long-run buddies. 

It Was Worth a Try

Last Wednesday I was planning to do a quick track workout to get ready for my 10 mile race on Saturday, but when we woke up it was raining. I love running in the rain, but I didn't want B to get all wet and muddy at the track. Plus it's kind of hard to do a track workout on a dirt track when it's raining. I don't know why most of the tracks around here are dirt! I'd never even seen a dirt track until I moved to TX. 

I was planning to meet my running buddy Ashley at the track that morning, but I told her to meet me at my apartment gym instead so we could do our 400's on the treadmill. I had no idea how B would do in the gym, but I decided to give it my best shot. I brought his little car bed, snacks, a movie, and a coloring book to keep him entertained. 

He did awesome for about 25 minutes, but this workout didn't go quite as smoothly as our first toddler track workout. He got a little restless and didn't want to watch the movie after awhile. He wanted to explore the gym. There were so many fun "toys" to check out. The weight bench lifted at an angle looked like the perfect slide, and getting soaked in the water fountain is so much better than watching a movie. We were almost done by the time he started roaming around, so he didn't have time to get into too much mischief. (Good thing we had a short workout planned.) We were able to get 6x400 done as well as 2.5 miles of warming up and cooling down

After Ashley and I got off the treadmills to start stretching, B wanted a turn on the treadmill. I turned it on speed 1 and let him have at it. He loved it and didn't want to leave when I told him it was time to go. Then Ashley commented that he might like to walk next to me on the treadmill the next time I wanted to do a treadmill run. I thought she might be right since he seemed to be having so much fun. 

Two days later I wanted to do a 2 mile run so I could get my legs warmed up and moving for my race the next day. (I decided to follow Josh Cox's running advice and rest two days before the race and then do a short run the day before the race.) I thought that 2 mile run would be the perfect opportunity to see if B would walk next to me on the treadmill while I ran. He did! But only for about 3 minutes. Darn. He had much more fun getting soaked in the water fountain again than he did walking next to me on the treadmill. 

Although those workouts didn't go as smoothly as I hoped, I was glad B was still good enough so I could at least ge them done. I might try one more time on the next rainy day just in case the third time's the charm, but I think I better stick to the outdoor track until he gets a little older. There's a lot less mischief to get into when you're in a big open field. It was worth a try though! 

What's the last workout you did that didn't go as planned?  

My First Track Workout With My Toddler

I mentioned awhile ago in my 7 Workouts for Stay-at-Home Mom's post that I wanted to try taking B to the track with me to see if he'd let me get an interval workout in while he played on the football field. 

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Well, I finally took him this week, and I was completely prepared to be disappointed. I imagined he would want to run with me and cry if I didn't wait for him. I imagined he would be really needy and clingy and require me to stop 100 times. I also imagined he might dart right in front of us as we passed by, or run away beyond the football field perimeters.  

I was beyond thrilled when none of those things happened. He had a blast. It was a win-win situation. He was happy running around with his little buddy (one of my running buddies also brought her toddler), and I was happy running around with mine! 

We set the little boys up in the middle of the soccer field with snacks, a frisbee, a tricycle, a soccer ball, a stroller to push around, and I even had the ipod ready to play a movie if I needed to. We never needed the movie. The two boys were in heaven running around, rolling in the grass and dirt, and playing the entire time. I'm sure they got just as good of a workout as we did. (They were so cute. I wish I had brought my camera!)

Our goal was to do 6 miles with 3 of the miles being 800 meter repeats. I thought there was no way B's attention span would last long enough for us to get through all 6 miles. I was wrong again! We finished the 6X800 workout along with a 1.5 mile warm-up and cool-down, and the boys still weren't ready to leave. 

B was a good little coach too, making sure we didn't rest for too long between intervals. Every time we stopped between the 800's, B would run up and say, "Go run mommy!" Maybe I should buy him a whistle for Christmas...

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It had been way too long since I'd done a track workout, and it felt so good to do one again. I was in a fantastic mood the rest of the day because of how well the workout ended up going.  The endorphins may have had something to do with my good mood too. 

When we got home I gave B a bath because he was filthy from rolling around in the dirt and grass, and then he took a 3 hour nap because he did such a good job wearing himself out at the track. He was still sleeping when Scott came home from work at 5PM! I think the only reason he woke up was because he heard Scott and I talking. 

I love being able to get my workouts done before Scott gets home so I can just hang out with him and relax at night. 

I hope there's more successful track workouts like that in the future. I think there will be because this morning as I was taking B for a jogging stroller run, he said, "I want to go to track and play with Kayden." Way to make your mommy smile B. That sentence was music to my ears. :) I told him we could go next week. We'll start with once a week and if it continues to go well, maybe I'll even do some regular runs there. I don't mind running in circles if it means not having to push a heavy stroller, and B certainly doesn't mind not having to sit in it! 

What's the last workout you did that put you in a good mood? 

And don't forget to enter my giveaway! 3 winners, and only about 20 entries so far, so your chances of winning are good! 

Friday Fitness Survey

I saw this fitness survey on Carrots 'N' Cake this morning and thought it would be fun to play along. Feel free to join me if you want to do it too!

Five Fitness Things I Can’t Live Without:

1. Jogging stroller 

2. Running buddies

3. Road races

4. At-home workout dvds

5. The stick

Most Embarrassing Song I Listen to While Working Out:

Most of the time I don't listen to music while I run because I'm either pushing a jogging stroller, talking to my running buddies, or watching TV on the treadmill at the gym. 

Favorite Pre-Workout Snack or Meal:

It changes, but currently it's almond butter and honey on rice cakes with banana on top. 

On My Fitness Bucket List:

1. Complete an olympic distance triathlon, and if I survive that, then maybe a half-ironman someday. 

2. Run a marathon in the 3:20's.

3. Run the Boston Marathon with the new time standards and without getting sick. (I've done it twice and both times I had some pretty bad luck. You can read about my last Boston Marathon here.)

Must Have Tech Tools:

(The top two are want tech tools, but maybe someday they'll be have tech tools.)

1. Garmin 410

2. Treadmill

3. Heart rate monitor

4. iPod  


Top Exercise Gear:

1. Adidas capri running tights

2. iFitness belt

3. Water belt

4. Pink New Balance Boston shirt

Motivational Mantras:

1. What doesn't kill you, makes you a runner.

2. No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch.

3. You only regret the workouts you don't do. 

5. Only exercise on the days you want to improve your mood.

5. If you went running when you first started thinking about it, you'd be back by now.

6. Sweat is fat crying.

7. Keep calm, and run on.


Favorite Cardio Exercise:
1. Long runs!

2. Track intervals (when I have running buddies to do them with.)

3. P90X Plyometrics 

4. Biking with B

Favorite Strength Moves:
1. Any ab exercise

2. Lunges


3. Bicep curls

4. Any plank exercise

 Tell me what fitness thing you can't live without.

What's you favorite pre-workout meal? 

What's on your fitness bucket list? 

5 Things That Made Me Smile Today

1. Hearing B sing to himself when he woke up this morning. He's so cute. 

2. Taking B for a run in this weather. It's payback time for all those hot, sweaty, humid summer runs we endured this past summer!

3. This apple pie oatmeal I created today. Yum. That's comfort food for ya. Here's what I put in if you want to try it: 1/3 C. oats, 2 honeycrisp apple slices cut up, 1 egg white, almond milk to wet (didn't measure sorry), 1 sugar free packet apple cider, and pecans to top. I just mixed it all together and cooked for 2 minutes in the microwave. (Two things I've discovered lately are that honeycrisp apples are the best. My friend introduced me to them. They are a little more expensive, but worth it. And egg whites taste really good mixed into oatmeal.)

4. Watching Lion King with B. This song always makes me smile. 

5. Last, but not least, my parents and older sister are coming to visit today! B cannot wait to see his grandparents. I gave him a timeline of today leading up to when we would go pick up his grandparents, and he keeps repeating it over and over. It's so cute. It goes like this (imagine a really cute 2-year-old voice), "Go running, watch a movie, go to store, take a nap, (then his voice gets a few pitches higher), pick up Grandma!!"

Number 5 means I won't be blogging for the next few days. I'll be soaking up family time and touring around doing the usual San Antonio touristy things like dinner on the Riverwalk, The Alamo, and shopping. 

Good luck to all my friends who are running in the San Antonio Rock'n'Roll race this weekend!!

What's something that made you smile today? 

What Runners Have to Understand About Tapering...

It's time to do a little more of this...

And a little less of this...

Today's 8 mile long run was the start of my taper week leading up to my half marathon next Saturday. I'm half excited to see what it will feel like to not be sore for a while, and half nervous that I'm going to go crazy during this rest week. That's why I'm going to write up a taper plan today and stick to it like I stick to my grocery lists at the store. Actually, I better stick to it better than that or else I'll be pretty sore on race day. I like following training plans and setting goals, so this week my goal will be to rest!

Even though running is hard a lot of the time, not running is a lot harder for me. I've known this for a long time, but it seems like it's even more apparent lately just how addicted I truly am to running. I guess I didn't realize it before because I'd never considered quitting my running addiction until recently. (I'm not quitting running by the way. I've just been considering turning this taper week into a few taper months.) This running addiction of mine has gradually crept up on me over the years. When I first started distance running about 6 years ago, I had to mentally gear myself up for my long runs each weekend. I used to kind of dread them/look forward to them at the same time. Now I just plain look forward to them. No more dread or pep talks, just some Friday night texts to my running buddies to figure out exactly when, where, and how far we're running the next day.

I pulled up an article on Runner's World about tapering after my run this morning to get myself in the  tapering mind frame, and I saw this quote that made me laugh. "Runners have to understand that they won't be fat by Thursday or lose their fitness by Sunday." (Janet Hamilton, M.A., C.S.C.S., an exercise physiologist at Running Strong in Atlanta.) 

So here's my half marathon taper plan for next week:

Monday: Pilates

Tuesday: Track Workout: 20 min. warm-up, 6x400, 20 min. cool down.

Wednesday: Pilates

Thursday: 3-4 mile run

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Fresh legs for race day! 

Janet Hamilton also said, "One of the best gifts you can give yourself is well-rested legs on race day."

I'll admit I have a little bit of anxiety looking at that taper plan. I know all you runners out there can relate, and all you non-runners are probably wondering what the heck is wrong with me. Tapering just might be the hardest part of race training, but I can do it!

Training Log Tuesday: 9/19-10/2

Since I didn't do last week's training log in lieu of this post, I'm doing two weeks worth today. 

Training Log Tuesday is a summary of my workouts for the week so I can look back on them someday and see when and what I did for my workouts in different stages of life. 

And like usual, here's the color code: 

Running=Red

Swimming=Blue

Biking=Purple

At Home Workout DVD's=Orange

Elliptical=Green

Walking=Pink

Free Weights=Grey

Monday: Pilates on the ball (40 min.)/7:30AM, Jillian's Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism (40 min.)/8PM.

Tuesday: 6-ish mile jogging stroller run (60-ish min.)/8AM, Jillian's No More Trouble Zones (40 min.)/9AM.

Wednesday: 4 mile jogging stroller run (About 40 min.) + jogging stoller walk (About 30 min.)/8AM.

Thursday: Pilates (30 min.)/8AM, Track Intervals: 1 mile warm-up, (4x1 mile @ 6:27, 6:29, 6:29, 6:29), 2 mile cool down/6PM.

Friday: Jillian's Ripped in 30 (20 min.)/3:30PM, Casual bike ride with Bos (About 45 min.)/4:15PM.

Saturday: 12 miles (About 1:40-1:45. We didn't have a GPS with us)/6AM.

Sunday: Rest

Total running miles week one: 29

Monday: Jillian's Ripped in 30 (20 min.)/8AM. 

Tuesday: 7 mile jogging stroller run (68 min.)/9AM.

Wednesday: 6-ish mile jogging stroller run (60 min.)/ 8:20AM.

Thursday: Intervals on the treadmill due to rain 2 mile warm-up + (10x400 at 9.5 speed (6:19/mi.)) Free weights (10-20min.)/6PM.

Friday: 3 mile jogging stroller run (30 min.)/9AM.

Saturday: 15 mile run (2:02, 8:08 avg. pace)/6:30AM. 

Sunday: Family walk. 

Total running miles week 2: 35.5

It's been fun trying new workout dvds from the library, and I'm loving the new tradition we're startting of Sunday morning family walks now that it's cooling down a little. My favorite workout of the week was my 15 miles run last Saturday. The weather was nice and cool, and both my friend and I felt better than we expected. We gradually sped up as the run went on. We always seem to have a better overall pace when we don't stress about our pace at the beginning. If we let ourselves gradually speed up throughout the run rather than thinking we need to be at a low 8:00 pace right from the beginning, we will usually end up with a better overall average pace. We were talking about this during our run on Saturday and told ourselves that this would be a reminder to us not to start too fast during races. Starting at a comfortable pace=faster overall pace at the end! That's what I've learned through personal experience both in training runs and races. 

What was your favorite workout this week? 

What are you most excited about for Fall? 

Me? Everything. The smells of Fall, cooler weather, pumpkin everything, Fall clothes, etc. etc. Bos is up, and it's time for the second half of potty training day one! Wish me luck!