Run Mom Run

I feel the need for speed.

2012-01-30T21:37:00.000-08:00

Speedwork is back, again.

3 x 2000m

It was a gorgeous night out, it was actually pretty warm out, it wasn't raining, and it's starting to get lighter.

However my legs haven't done speedwork in a month, and I haven't done it regularly in two.

It was tough to get them going.

My goal pace was a 6:16 /mi, and considering my break I did okay (6:01/mi, 6:10/mi, 6:25/mi) but obviously my pacing wasn't there.

After the first one I was actually surprised at how quickly the feeling of going fast came back to me. It was during the second one that I realized that I was going to have to fight for the rest of them. It was a little rough, but again, considering my break I'm feeling okay. (Okay, that's slightly a lie, I'm totally mad the last one was so far over my goal pace.)

After the speedwork Terra, Vaughn and I did Iron Strength again. I'm really digging that workout these days. Hopefully it helps me to be a stronger overall runner. I have big goals for the year and I don't want to waste effort on things that aren't going to help.

Speaking of which, thanks everyone for all your comments yesterday about running marathons. I've decided to just buckle down and do one more. I'm going to train as hard, and smart, as I can, and then leave the watch at home for the race and just enjoy it. (Hopefully I don't go insane.)

My goal in running another marathon is just to feel like I beat it and not to let it beat me. So time shouldn't be important. I just want to feel like I did my best at the end.

Although I hope my best is really hecka fast.

So Newport Marathon on June 2nd it is! Anyone up for a road trip to Oregon?

Decision 2012

2012-01-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

I've been a little wishy washy ever since I finished the St. George Marathon last October.

I don't know if I want to attempt another marathon.

I'll decide I never want to do one again and there is no way I want to do another one.

Then I decide I hate that it's beaten me and I'm doing another one.

Back and forth, back and forth. If you've been reading this blog for awhile you've seen a lot of that.

I still don't know what I want to do but it's sure making planning my races for the year difficult.

So tell me, why do you run marathons? Why will you never attempt one?

Help me decide.

Maybe I need to just go watch The Spirit of the Marathon again.

In which my running buddy ditches me

2012-01-28T19:42:00.000-08:00

Source: accidentalmommies.com via Amy on Pinterest

Terra and I had planned to hop on a run put on by South Sound Running for their training group that's getting ready for the Capital City Marathon in April. Neither of us are planning on running that marathon, but hopping into a run that someone else was organizing sounded great. (No, I haven't signed up for the program, but other than using the same route I didn't eat or drink any of their stuff, grey area?)

I showed up in the morning and Terra wasn't there. Since this was the first time they met they went over a few things about the plan before starting the run so I had plenty of time to wait for her. 20 minutes later we finally got started and before we left I ran to my car to check my phone to see if I had a message from her. Nothing.

There is something so energizing about leaving for a run with 50 other people. It's so fun. Martinho and I quickly ended up close to the front of the pack and were keeping a good pace. I have to admit that I was having a little bit of a hard time. I haven't done anything longer than 6 miles in awhile and just knowing that I was running farther than that was mentally difficult.

It was a cold day, but it wasn't raining, which always makes it a good day around here. Other than having to use the restroom (as usual) I actually felt really good. But my mind was having a hard time wrapping around the fact that this was a longer run. I didn't check my garmin much, and just ran the speeds I felt like running.

8.79 miles, 1:11:08, 8:04 /mi average pace

I want to know when almost 9 miles started feeling like a long run when six months ago I would have jumped for joy at a rest week. Crazy. I'm happy with my overall pace since it's longer than I've run in awhile, but I know I need to start getting back to where I should be.

After the run I gave Terra a call. She's been late, but she's never completely ditched me on a run before. Turns out she slept through her alarm.

I needed motivation to get my second strength training workout of the week in so I told her to come to my house later and we'd do the Iron Strength workout again. When she got to my house I was working on my puzzle and we discovered something about our friendship that we didn't know before, we are both total puzzle nerds.

After working on the puzzle for an hour (which was longer than our workout was) we finally buckled down and did the workout. It's getting more manageable every time, but man, it's a killer workout. (The fact that I was able to complete this workout after a "long" run proves to me that my struggle this morning was mental, not physical.)

After laying on our mats in exhaustion for a few minutes we got right back to work on our puzzle. After a brief break to make some pancakes with nutella smeared on them (it would be so much easier if kids only got hungry once a day!) and a little more work we finally finished the puzzle.

(You can tell from the amount of toys in the background that the kids were largely unsupervised while the puzzle making was happening. Good thing I only pull out a puzzle once a year or so.)

Things I say (often) while running

2012-01-27T18:18:00.000-08:00

(Despite what the title of this video may make you think, it is not vulgar, feel free to watch it!)

I've seen a lot of videos spotlighting the typical things athletes from specific sports recently. I think this one is the funniest (even better than the running one I saw) because it cracks me up how it says "You can follow all my training on my blog." because I totally do that. Sometimes I'm amazed anyone ever reads my ramblings about running. How do I manage to talk so much about something that's so simple.

Anyway, I got to thinking about the typical things I say on a run:

"I kind of need to go to the bathroom, but I think I can hold it."

"Never mind, I need to go right now."

"Let's go get some cupcakes after we finish."

"What's our pace for tonight?"

"Rest intervals are never long enough!"

"I hate speed workouts."

"Speed workouts are my favorite workouts of the week!"

"I'm super nervous about the race this weekend!"

"I'm so over this run."

"I forgot all my electrolyte pills, can I have some of yours?"

"I love putting my compression socks on after a hard workout." (CEP are my favorite in case you were wondering)

"It's a good thing I love running and food, because if I only loved food I'd be in trouble."

"I'm hungry."

"My legs feel heavy today."

"How many miles do you have on those shoes?"

Hum, a lot of the things I say while running are complaints. It's amazing I can find anyone to put up with me. (Terra and I often say that's why we are good training buddies, we complain the same amount and we know what percentage of those complaints are empty.)

So, what do you have to add to my list? What things do you typically say on a run?

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

2012-01-26T12:06:00.000-08:00

AWKWARD:

As a follow up to yesterday's light bulb/radio incident Vaughn gave me the following update:
They came were outside when we got home and asked if they could walk around the outside of the house with Walkman in hand. I said that was fine. It looked like a scene from Ghost Busters where he was pointing his Walkman at the house finding the highest concentration of radio interference. Luckily it was coming from the garage and not our master bathroom or something. So I opened it up and started turning things on and off. Turns out it was a battery powered lantern that I had plugged in to charge. When charging it would create the interference, when it was unplugged and turned on it didn't do anything.

Quite the funny episode, I never would have put that together that some electrical powered object was causing radio interference at between 100FM and 102FM.
I started a puzzle while the kids were at school (I'm a total nerd, I love doing puzzles) but I didn't put it away before they got home. And of course, they broke apart in 30 seconds what took me over an hour to do. I'd like to say I took it well, but I didn't.
I went to the store to pick up a few things, but one item had highest priority. I got all the other items I needed, plus a few more (I went to Target, it's hard not to pick up extra stuff) but completely forgot the item I went for originally.

AWESOME:

I have the BEST awesome for you today, remember I told you there was a secret about the Doughnut Dash 5k my club is putting on? I'm super, duper excited to announce who's coming to it:

(In case you don't know, that's Ryan Hall, American record holder in the half and he just made his second Olympic team at the Houston trials.)

Um, that one above is so exciting it deserves two bullets. I'm totally excited about it. Sign up here.
The other morning Vaughn and I were the only ones awake when all of a sudden we heard Henry say loudly "What the?" It was so surprising and random it completely cracked us up.

Okay, I know more awesome stuff happened, but I'm stuck on the Ryan Hall thing, it's hard to think of other stuff. So this short list will have to do for today.

Interesting day, good stories

2012-01-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

Source: Uploaded by user via Amy on Pinterest

(I don't know how these people overheard this conversation that Vaughn and I had...)

Today was, well, interesting.

The kids were back to school today (finally!) after a week and a half off. I was joking originally when I said it was winter break two but that's exactly what this snowstorm turned out to be. But it was raining buckets this morning. It was a rough day to have to remember how far away school is (it's just under a mile, which is really far when you've got the short legs of a 3 year old or 5 year old). Both the kids tripped over branches that are still strewn everywhere, and of course they both landed in puddles. They also hate it when it's raining because I only can hold one kid's hand (the other is holding an umbrella), and I usually hold Henry's because he's slower. Poor Tyler was in tears by the time we go to school. So like the good Mom I am I bribed him, I told him that if he chose to be happy at school I would take him for chicken nuggets for dinner. Henry didn't even have school today so he had to walk back home (up the super big hill).

My poor kids have it super rough don't they. (NOT!)

Husbands are sometimes really handy to have around. After the drama of the morning walk I asked Vaughn (who's car was in the shop so he took my van to work because he had to take some stuff that couldn't get wet so he couldn't ride his bike) to pick Tyler up from school on his lunch break. It's a 15 minute drive from his office. But thank goodness he was willing because it made my life a lot easier!

A while after Tyler got home from school he asked if he could call Dad at work. That hasn't ever happened before so I said yes and dialed and handed him the phone. At that moment my neighbor knocked on my door to tell me that their radio wasn't working so they thought we had a broken lightbulb (yeah, I was confused too) so I didn't get to hear what Tyler said to Vaughn. After calling Vaughn back he told me that Tyler said "Dad, we are going to get chicken nuggets for dinner and you can come if you would like." Isn't that polite of him to invite his own father to dinner (and pay).

After picking up the car, and paying up on previously promised chicken nuggets, I headed over to Olympia for my club run.

It was warmer than I thought it was going to be outside so I was way overdressed. On top of that I had eaten dinner just before I went. The combination of the two made for an uncomfortable run. I did the 5 mile run at an 8:01 pace, which is a full 45 seconds per mile slower than my long tempo runs a month ago were. Yeah, I'm feeling super duper out of shape. Blah.

As we were standing around talking at the end there was a homeless man sitting at one of the benches at the park humming. Apparently one of the other homeless men who was walking by took offence at his humming because they started fighting.

I took that as my cue to leave.

As I was leaving they were chasing each other down the lake threatening to kill each other.

Like I said. Today was interesting. But life is full of interesting adventures.

Muscle Soreness, Dancing, and Food

2012-01-24T19:51:00.000-08:00

Source: fitisthenewbeautiful.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

Folks, I'm totally sore today.

Like pathetically sore.

But even more pathetically, this is way less sore than I was last time I did this workout.

There is something so satisfying about being sore though. I know that you don't have to get sore after a workout to get stronger, but for some reason it makes me feel like I worked harder and I'll be stronger because of it.

Besides, when I'm sore my muscles are usually slightly swollen and it makes me look totally ripped. Well, more ripped than usual anyway.

Speaking of muscle soreness, my books I'd been waiting on all last week finally arrived. Well, they arrived a few days ago (long enough that I've already finished the Mary Higgins Clark book, but that only took me a few hours anyway).

I haven't really started the Ryan Hall one yet, but the Runners Body one is fascinating. (When did I start reading text book type books for fun?) I finished the chapter on muscle soreness a few days ago and it's been stuck in my mind every since.

Basically, in my simple understanding, your body sends down a bunch of extra cells to repair your muscles after a hard workout. The amount of cells depends on how taxing it was on your muscles and how many microscopic tears are in there.

As your muscle swells it squeezes your nerves a little bit down there which is why it is tender when you move. The swelling is a good thing (it's usually not really noticeable at all) because it means your body is working hard to repair the muscles and so taking an anti inflammatory can actually hinder your recovery process.

Basically it said the best thing you can do to get over muscle soreness, is wait.

Really, you should all just read the book because it's fascinating and I'm sure I'm butchering the explanation.

Since I am so sore from yesterday's workout, I stuck to a nice simple hour spin on my bike for a workout this morning. It felt nice to get my legs moving again without working super hard. It's amazing how much better I feel when I do a light workout the day after a hard one.

My kids (who since we keep having late start days because of the continued bad road conditions haven't been back to school since they only go half day in the AM) have been going stir crazy of late. So they were thrilled to have been invited over to their cousin Max's house for the afternoon.

(If you're reading this in google reader make sure you click to my blog so you can see the video of Henry dancing. Okay, you might not find it as adorable as I do, but as his Mom I think it's the best thing in the world.)

I was thrilled too and took the opportunity to make Vaughn go out to lunch with me. Even though he was starving and wanted to eat about an hour and a half earlier than I could get there, he waited patiently for me. We went out to a yummy thai restaurant. I had something with peanut sauce, and Vaughn had something with red curry (yes, in fact Vaughn is thrilled that I'm posting this picture).

I don't know what we ate, but it was really good. When I took Vaughn back to his office he asked if he could keep the leftovers to eat for lunch tomorrow.

Since I was full at the moment I said yes.

Yeah, I'm regretting that.

It's been a good day. I might close out the evening with a little bit of yoga, but if not I'll just do it in the morning.

Life is pretty good!

The dancer in my heart

2012-01-22T20:10:00.000-08:00

Source: facebook.com via Amy on Pinterest

There is a part of me that is sad every time I see a ballerina. They are so beautiful and graceful yet so strong.

I wanted to be one of them for most of my growing up years and a part of me aches to be a dancer again.

Unfortunately, I was a pretty mediocre ballerina. Although I was a part of an awesome company and made lifelong friends I still keep in touch with today, I was never anything more than a chorus girl.

Even though I have resigned myself to the fact that I'll never be the gorgeous dancer I wanted to be, I'm grateful to the lessons I learned in my dancing years.

I learned hard work, discipline, and learned to take constructive criticism.

I learned that I could get farther on hard work than I could on talent alone, which was good because I didn't have a whole lot of talent.

But the hardest lesson I learned is that no matter how hard I worked and wanted to be a beautiful dancer, it wasn't really for me.

Today there isn't much evidence of the years I spent dancing other than a box in my attic with every pair of point shoes I ever wore (I can't bear to throw them away). But the lessons I learned are still there.

Life took me in a different direction, and I'm happy with where it took me. The discipline I learned as a dancer helps me as a wife, mother and a runner.

But sometimes if you walk past my house at the right moment, you'll still see me twirling in the kitchen like the dancer that still resides in my heart.

Rejuvenated!

2012-01-21T20:57:00.000-08:00

Source: gaininglifelosingweight.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

This snowstorm may be the best thing that's happened to my fitness in awhile.

I've been feeling a little runners burnout. So last week I did one running workout and took it relatively easy (I still did three spinning sessions, 2 strength training sessions, and 1 yoga session).

I would have jumped (or run) back in with both feet this week, but Mother Nature had other plans.

Running outdoors was absolutely impossible. I couldn't have done it safely even if I had wanted to. So instead of jumping back in too soon and probably burning out again, I was forced to take another week off.

And it's been awesome. I've gotten to do a lot of other fitness activities that I don't normally do.

This week I have done one snowy 6 mile run (before the weather got too bad), three sessions on the trainer of 45 minutes or longer, 1 hour of yoga, two sessions of strength training (1 hour each), 30 minutes on the rowing machine, and I ran two miles on the treadmill twice.

It was the perfect "off" week for me. I got in some really great workouts and they have gotten me super pumped to go running again!

I'm so glad I'm starting to get my running mojo back! I've really missed it!

I've had a lot of fun with new and different fitness routines. I'm going to add more variation to my cross training/strength training workouts and hopefully I'll be able to keep things a little fresher!

The snow is starting to melt, and so is my attitude. Life is looking good.

~~~~~~~~~~

On a completely unrelated note I went shopping for new jeans tonight because my one pair got a hole in them. I went to one store, and tried on one pair and they fit so I bought them.

How weird is that.

Coated in ice - but warm inside

2012-01-20T08:41:00.000-08:00

Last night we heard frequent crashing all around us. We are surrounded by trees and they were loosing limbs like my kids shed clothing - all over the place.

Thankfully this morning we woke up to a warm house. After waking up to a freezing one yesterday, and knowing many of the people around me are doing that again, I was very grateful to be warm today.

Poor Vaughn has a giant board meeting to get ready for next week and has only been able to stay home one day this week. I hate knowing that he has to be out in these conditions with downed trees and power lines everywhere. But the man has to pay for my shoe obsession somehow! (Bless his heart.)

Unfortunately his departure this morning was delayed by most of the major branches of the tree out front being in the road.

Notice the roads, that's is why school gets cancelled at the hint of snow. They just don't have the resources to plow them.

Those pictures don't really do justice to the situation, but since most of you guys aren't really all that interested in the tree in my front yard anyway they'll have to do.

Once I looked at the individual branches I realized why the trees are falling.

The whole tree is coated in ice like that! I would be beautiful, if it wasn't so dangerous.

I'm actually pretty excited about the tree in our front yard. It's our biggest leaf dropper and I complained endlessly about having to rake it up. And having most of its branches stripped gives us the possibility that our garden will get more than a half hour of sunlight this year. Wahoo!

Yesterday I had no desire to exercise while I was so cold. I wanted to move around to keep warm, but I didn't want to sweat. Many of you know that after you sweat and it dries it makes you even colder.

As soon as the heat came on and I put the kids to bed (it all happened at about the same time) I went out the garage (which ironically is where I work out because of the cool temperature) and spun for an hour.

I may not be able to run outside right now, but I'm grateful there is no damage to our house, our persons, and we have a warm house and food.

I know most of you read this blog for the running content, but running just doesn't seem like a major priority right now. (Although I have to admit that if it wasn't for the danger of the falling trees and the impassibility of the roads I would totally go.)

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

2012-01-19T19:42:00.000-08:00

AWKWARD:

We woke up this morning to no power and had the power out until about 6:00 this evening. (It's actually flickering again, hope it stays on!)
Since it was really cold in our house I layered the kids clothing. I realized that Henry didn't have any pants that would fit under his jeans so I put some of my wool arm warmers on his legs. (They totally worked.)
Winter in our house means this (let me tell you how much I love it when this happens).:

I'm expecting two packages in the mail, one with three books in it (including two running books!) and one with shoes in it. I'm super excited about both of them. Both packages are in the area, but since the roads are so bad delivery services have been suspended until further notice. Three new books would really come in handy with the power being so questionable! The shoes however would be useless, they're loafers. But they're cute. (Though not as cute as they would be if the camel color had been on clearance too instead of just the black with over a $100 difference in price.)
Vaughn - he gets really antsy when he feels like he should be productive but can't be. This is why I always made him go back to work immediately after our babies were born. He's trying to be helpful, and he often is, but he chooses different chores than I would choose for him. Oh well, he's still doing stuff so I shouldn't complain!
My Mom was supposed to fly in this evening for a visit. Unfortunately her flight was cancelled so she rescheduled for February. We were really looking forward to her visit too. (Especially since she told me she has a surprise for me but won't tell me what it is. It's killing me! I hate surprises. I want to know what it is!)

AWESOME:

I am so grateful that our power was restored this evening before the kids bedtime so we have a warm house to sleep in. Okay, we were hanging out at Vaughn's parents house this afternoon so we were already in a warm house, but we're glad our house is warm. It's always better to sleep at your own house, especially with kids.
Yesterday was awesome. We got a foot of snow in 24 hours yesterday (completely unusual for WA) and had an absolute blast! Vaughn and I played Scrabble, one of our favorite games, in the middle of the day! I won.

Thanks to my friend Dedra for sending one of her kids over with butter and chocolate (can you believe that I was out of such necessities when I knew a major storm was coming?) so I could make a beautiful chocolate cake yesterday.

We also made a giant snow slide (not pictured) and a fort. Though after seeing the snow forts that some of our friends made on facebook Vaughn and I realized that we need to step up our game big time! We're researching options on how to make a better one and the next snow storm you'd better watch out because our fort is going to be the coolest one on the block!

Because of the snow and the lack of shoveled sidewalks and plowed roads running outside is not an option around here right now. I still managed to get in a pretty good workout yesterday with 45 minutes of spinning, a yoga video, and 2 miles running on the treadmill at an easy 8 mile pace (why is running on the treadmill so hard? An 8 mile pace on the road would be nothing but on the treadmill it was such a mental battle to stay on.). Not bad 'eh? I'm glad I got in a good workout yesterday because I'm not sure one will be happening today!
Nothing makes me love my husband more than watching him be a good father to our kids. I was listening to a sweet conversation that Vaughn and Tyler were having the other night. Tyler was asking Vaughn some important life questions and Vaughn was doing a fantastic job explaining things in a way that Tyler could understand. It was beautiful.

I know most of my readers aren't in the Puget Sound area, but I hope everyone is safe and warm tonight! There are 200,000 in the area without power and we feel so blessed to have had ours restored so quickly. So if you're nearby and need a warm place to crash give me a call! (Of course, if your power is out you're probably not reading this anyway.)

Seriously? I have to think of another title?

2012-01-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

It's another snow day around here folks.

I won't bore you with my snow day adventures, because really, it's pretty much the same as the past few days.

Instead I'll leave you with this well done video about safe driving around cyclists.

Since my husband spends a lot of time on the roads it's important to me that people know how to drive around a cyclist, and what the rules really are.

Time to pump myself up for a treadmill run or another ride on the trainer!

For more cyclist safety videos click here.

Winter Break - Take Two

2012-01-17T15:57:00.000-08:00

I totally called it yesterday, school was cancelled today. I'm willing to bet school is cancelled again tomorrow. Therefore week will be heretofore referred to as "Winter Break Two".

We have been having fun just hanging around the house.

Vaughn built a snow fort for the kids before work and they've had a blast playing in it all day long.

And now I have wet clothing hanging all over my house. And as soon as Vaughn gets back home from his ride I'll have a bike in my bathtub too because that's how he rolls in the winter. (It's so it will dry off and not rust.)

I got my workout on by spinning on the trainer for and hour and then doing an hour of weights.

I did a workout video that I'd done a lot in the past:

I haven't done this video for at least a year (probably longer) and I remembered it being harder than it was for me today.

Of course I was only using 5 lbs weights and I should have been using 8's and 10's. I did add weights on a few of the squats, but I need to remember if I do it again to add weights to all the squats/lunges.

I was actually secretly relieved that it was easier than I remembered because I wasn't really in the mood for a super hard workout.

I'll probably still be sore tomorrow because I'm a wuss like that.

I love seeing progress when I'm not expecting it. I don't strength train as much as I should, but it's nice to see I've gotten stronger over the years.

~~~~~~~~~~

Since I'm going to be home for the foreseeable future, tell me something interesting about what's going on in your life?

PS - at this rate we'll never get to do a giveaway for 150 followers! It has to happen because I've already started collecting goodies!

Snow Day Fun!

2012-01-16T18:46:00.000-08:00

The snow is still falling in western Washington.

But we didn't let that stop us!

Vaughn went for a nice long bike ride today on the trail. He was excited to find miles of trail with untouched snow, which makes for much better traction.

He rode for a few hours and was a happy man when he got home.

Terra, Martinho and I set out for a run after Vaughn got home. It was snowing more when we were running than it did when Vaughn was biking.

(Martinho is in the background throwing snowballs at us, note the evidence on my shoulder.)

It was snowing a lot harder than it looks in the picture, but rest assured there was plenty of snow both on the ground and falling from the sky.

I did about six nice easy miles. I've been putting a lot of pressure on myself the last few months to be fast. It was so nice to go on a run that had no possibility of being fast because of the condition of the sidewalks. So I was able to just run and enjoy myself. And enjoy myself we did since our average pace was only 9:11.

I was warm, I had good friends to run with, and the weather wasn't too terrible (especially when we weren't running into the snow). It was a great run.

After the run Terra and I headed over to one of our favorite establishments for some spring rolls and peanut sauce. So yummy.

Okay, since the snow was really coming down we actually got or order to go and this picture is from another time we went there. But it was super delicious none the less.

The only things left to do are to be watch the snow falling from the sky with my family and know we'll probably get to do this again tomorrow because I'm betting school will be cancelled.

I'm off to hang out with Sheriff Tyler.

(The scarf is his lasso in case you were wondering.)

The Twilight Zone

2012-01-15T11:46:00.000-08:00

Guys, hold on to your hats because we've officially entered...

Bum, bum, bum! (Insert dramatic music.)

Seriously. This is a strange time where I don't want to go running all the time.

Where I (me!) made homemade cinnamon rolls:

Where church gets cancelled because of snow:

(I know, you're probably worried about our survival right now, but rest assured, everyone is okay.)

Thinking about the twilight zone makes me think of the Tower of Terror which makes me think of Disneyland which makes me think of our trip there in 2010 and really makes me wish I was there.

Guys, I really love Disneyland.

Tangent.

Today is a strange day. But sometimes a strange day here and there helps to make the rest of my life seem normal.

Iron Strength - is what I wish I had...

2012-01-14T16:58:00.000-08:00

Last night in my post I put in a little line about maybe doing a strength training workout afterwards.

I almost bailed.

But after admitting to the whole world (because I'm pretty sure the whole world reads my blog) that I was going to do it I couldn't do it.

So I searched the Runner's World website for a quick strength training workout.

And I found this, a little workout called Iron Strength.

It kicked my trash! In an awesome way.

It was fast, fun, and super hard because I'm a wuss.

Lots of planks, burbes, lunges, squats, and lots of plyo. All you needed were some light weights.

I'm totally doing it again next week. Maybe I'll even finish out the time on my super sets (because they kicked my trash).

I'm totally the right amount of sore today. It's great.

Looking back at my week I actually did a pretty good job with my workouts. I did a speed training session, a bike ride, a yoga video, an hour spinning and a strength training routine. Plus I took my kids swimming twice last week (Can you say pool sprints while holding a kid who wants to go fast and is holding two pool noodles? Hello!)

Whadyaknow.

I also ate less junk food than normal, ate more fruit, and got more sleep.

I'm totally giving myself an A for the week.

(Though I might make some cinnamon rolls now, so it might not be less junk food after that.)

~~~~~~~~~~

I had a huge disappointment today. I was unable to watch the US Marathon Trials when they aired on TV this afternoon. I can't believe I didn't schedule my day around that.

Okay, actually I did. Just around the time it aired on the east coast, not where I live on the west coast.

I'm brilliant like that sometimes.

But it sounds like it was awesome. And I'm totally excited about the results.

Life is pretty great isn't it.

Source: weheartit.com via Amy on Pinterest

I did it! I wasn't lazy today!

2012-01-13T18:21:00.000-08:00

As of this writing I have 136 followers. When I hit 150 followers I'll do an awesome off the hook giveaway!

Source: agracefull-life.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

You guys should be proud of me. After sitting on my duff for the entirety of yesterday (seriously, the whole day) I finally got up and exercised this morning. It was just an hour or so of spinning on the trainer, but hey, it totally counts.

And the miracle of exercise happened again and it made me much happier than I had been before I exercised.

That's why exercise can be so addicting. Because it makes you feel so good.

My running slump is still there, so I'm excusing myself from the need to go running tomorrow, but I'm feeling more positive about the situation than I was yesterday.

I'm actually feeling good enough that I may throw in a strength training workout tonight just for kicks. (And because I'm feeling totally weak.)

I am often amazed at how tied together our physical and mental well being are. If I feel terrible physically, it is so much harder to rally myself mentally.

I missed one run on Wednesday. And it's amazing how much better I feel about the whole situation. I've been in a slump, but I'm already feeling better. Hopefully by Monday I'll be ready to go!

Sometimes the best, and hardest, thing to do to improve your running is to give yourself a break.

So much easier said than done.

Source: 3goodthingsme.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

2012-01-12T17:43:00.000-08:00

AWKWARD:

Folks, I'm in a major running rut. I haven't gone since Monday, and guess what, I don't even seem to care (I've got a major case of the blah's). I'm giving myself a few days to decide if I really need some time off or if I'm just being lazy. If I really do need time off I'll be re-evaluating my race plan for the first half of the year. I hate feeling weak though, even though I know in the long run breaks make you strong. Does that even make sense?
At dinner tonight Vaughn was flexing his pecks (we have strange antics that happen at dinner sometime) so Tyler started to try and do it too. It was hilarious.
My in-laws went to visit Vaughn's sister in Houston for the next week. Most of you who read this blog probably know of the big event happening down there this weekend. They're not even going to take a glimpse of it. It kills me a little. (Click here for a video about some of the front runners). I want to be them.
My diet has been horrific of late. I need to find out if my insurance would cover seeing a nutritionist. I would love to do that. Although I'm not sure if I'd love it when they told me that dipping oreos in milk, even if I use a fork to do it the right way (by sticking the fork in the creme so the whole oreo can get in the milk without your fingers getting in the milk) isn't a nutritious snack.
I need some new jeans, the ones (yes, I'm down to one pair) I have are getting a hole in a very awkward location. I can't decide what style to get. I want to be trendy, but I'm totally over skinny jeans and I'm not a huge fan of the wide leg. What's your favorite brand/style? I did find some cute j brand jeans, but at $200 I couldn't pull the trigger.

AWESOME:

I read this article earlier today about a woman who started running in 2001 and at 40 years old is toeing the line at the marathon trails on Saturday. That is pretty awesome. The front runners have times 20 minutes faster than hers, so chances of her making the team are slim, but hello, awesome! That gives regular old folks like me who also started running after kids hope of still being an awesome runner.
Butternut Squash - super delicious, crazy nutritious.
Whenever I see/say "crazy nutritious" I think of this youtube video which many of you might not appreciate if you're not familiar with BYU culture, but it's been a favorite of mine for years:

Wow, I guess I'm a little slim on the awesome's tonight. See awkward number one. Blah.

Fitness in the media

2012-01-11T19:01:00.000-08:00

I read this blog post earlier today, and I loved it.

It discusses how fitness magazines, movies and pictures often depict borderline pornographic images.

They bother me.

Why is it that a person (because males and females are depicted in an overtly sexual manner, though women are more prevalent) has to be half naked and/or posing provocatively to be associated with looking "fit"? Let's face it, it's often the covers of the "health" magazines that make it so I will never push my grocery shopping cart down the magazine isle.

I completely believe it's possible to look fit, healthy, and yes, even sexy, without looking like you just finished your shift at a strip club.

I'm interested in content. A good workout. Good information.

I work really hard to only post images on this blog, or bring books/magazines into my home that are appropriate.

Now don't think I'm the person who wears full length yoga pants when I run. I believe in wearing appropriate gear for the activity I'm doing. So if I'm running the St. George Marathon in 94 degree weather you bet I'm putting on some short running shorts and a tank. (Not that they prevented my heat exhaustion.)

I may miss out on a super good workout because of the pictures included, but you know what, I'm okay with that.

What are your thoughts on the topic?

Because it's Tuesday. That's why.

2012-01-10T17:48:00.000-08:00

This first item is very important to me.

If I happen to disappear, get kidnapped, mugged, or hit by a car while I'm running and it happens to make the news (heaven forbid!) please make sure that I'm referred to as a runner, not a jogger.

Promise me.

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This picture has nothing to do with anything that I'm writing about today. I just think it's hilarious. Because let's face it, we've all been there.

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I have been doing lots of handwriting worksheets with my kids lately. I'm left handed and they're both right handed. I still need to help Henry a lot. I'm really hoping that by the time they can both write I am ambidextrous because that would be awesome.

(Click here to make handwriting worksheets for your kids. Or yourself if you share my desire to be ambidextrous.)

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I've mentioned before that biking buddy April and I are pretty fair weather riders. If it is raining or too cold or we're sleep deprived we've been known to cancel rides.

The weather report yesterday evening showed 0% chance of rain.

This morning it showed rain for the 8 o'clock hour, but only a 10% chance from then on.

So we decided to risk it and going riding.

Guess what, it rained.

Even though it started raining within the first 10 minutes of our ride we hung on and managed to ride our entire route. (Don't be too impressed, we only ride 12 miles on Tuesday, it takes less than an hour.)

Luckily it wasn't the drenching downpour rain, just enough to get you wet and be annoying, but not uncomfortably so (especially after we turned around and weren't riding into the rain anymore).

I know, you guys are thinking I'm super tough stuff right now. I pretty much am.

Riding in the rain isn't my favorite, but a workout I finish is always better than one I miss.

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I was going to make calzones for my kids for dinner. So I got out some rhodes rolls to thaw.

Well, my plan for dinner unraveled. So I just baked up the rolls and fed them to my kids for dinner. Just the rolls. (With butter, peanut butter and jelly, or other fillings as requested.)

I may have reached an all time low as a mother.

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Now I'm off to practice writing with my right hand the worksheet I made myself that says "Amy runs very fast."

(If you thought I was joking you don't know me very well.)

Oh, and if I get one more person to like my facebook page I'll have 70 likes. That would pretty much make my day (you'll make tomorrow too if I get more than that!).

Good weather makes for good runs!

2012-01-09T20:28:00.001-08:00

Guys, something weird happened today.

It was warm.

I mean if it was July we would all pull out our winter coats. But temperature is relative, so warm it is!

Another awesome thing happened tonight.

It wasn't pitch black during our run!

Don't get me wrong, it was still dark, but it didn't feel like midnight, it was definitely twilight (anyone else feel like the book ruined that word?).

Put those two things together and it made for one great evening for a run!

Terra and I went to the track tonight for our speed workout - 6x800 goal pace 5:57/mi. ( I haven't checked my garmin yet so I have no idea if I made my paces).

It was a tough workout, as many speed workouts are - but the awesome conditions left me in a good mood.

It's so much easier to run when the weather isn't terrible!

I love a good speed workout. My favorite of the week for sure!

After the track I headed to South Sound Running for a meeting about our doughnut dash 5k (it's march 3rd, you should run it).

I can't divulge anything right now, but something awesome is in the works and if it happens you are all going to wish you were here to run this race. So mark your calendars people. Even if this awesome possibility falls through, you'll still get doughnuts at the end and it really doesn't get much better then that.

Running is awesome.

Race pictures, outfit pictures and more

2012-01-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

After my race, and Vaughn's 80 mile ride yesterday, we finished our reverse relay triathlon by taking the kids swimming. There aren't a lot of places to go swimming around here without monthly memberships so we don't go all that often.

I unfortunately have zero pictures, but the kids had a blast! We will be going again soon!

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I am in mourning.

In the three days it took for me to get my gift card to Piperlime in the mail the Jessica Simpson shoes I wanted sold out in my size.

I'm totally bummed.

So does anyone have any favorite shoes they've been eyeing at piperlime? I now have a gift card with nothing to spend it on.

I know, the trials of my life.

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A few more pictures from yesterday's race:

Club Oly Crew at the start

The start:

(Bonus points if you can find me, my face is showing.)

Me looking like an idiot waiving to my kids as I finish:

(That's my headband ear warmer thing around my neck. Yes it was driving me crazy. I should have ditched it with the arm warmers.)

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Okay, so for those of you who care this is my new dress:

(Dress Asos, shoes Jessica Simpson)

I found it extremely difficult to get good pictures of because of the dark color and my poor photography skills.

Obviously I don't have very many poses. But I still couldn't capture the essence of the dress very well.

So here is the picture from the website (let's be honest, it looks a lot better on her than on me anyway):

White Elephant 5 Mile Race

2012-01-07T11:49:00.000-08:00

As many of you already know I'm not in peak condition right now. I've done a lot of races recently and peaked a few weeks ago.

But when I saw there was a local race on a Saturday near me that was only $5 I had to do it!

I knew I would have to treat it more as a tempo run than a race. With all the racing I've done I've really been getting a little concerned about getting injured or getting burned out.

There are two types of small local races, the kinds that are "fun runs" and attract a lot of first timers, walkers, and a few runners. And then there are the type that are hard core races. Though there are some walkers and newbies for the most part there are hard core runners (read fast).

This race was the second for sure.

There were only about 75 people, but they were FAST people.

I brought my entire family, because the race started at 9:30 and Vaughn had a team ride at 10 that started about a quarter mile away. So I had to run fast enough to get him to his ride in a reasonable amount of time.

The race started and we were off! The first mile is downhill, so it was easy. Though I knew I was going too fast, it's hard not to when it's downhill. (6:03)

The next mile leveled out. I could tell I had overdressed. I pulled off my ear warmers, stuffed my gloves in my pants, and threw my arm warmers on the side to pick up later. (6:44)

I started getting passed by a few people which left me in position as the 4th woman overall. I knew there was no catching up to the gals in front of me, they were seriously hardcore, but hopefully I could prevent others from passing me. (6:59)

Then the uphill section started. It was brutal. Although I could already tell that I wasn't as well conditioned as I was a few weeks ago it really hit home on the hills. The first quarter mile of it was really steep. I tried to power up it best I could but I could tell I was a little out of shape. After the first quarter mile it wasn't quite as steep, but it was still very uphill. (8:03)

Thankfully the last mile was pretty flat. I burned a lot of energy going out too fast and trying not to die on the hill. There was a guy a few steps in front of me and I knew if I wasn't going to have much of a finishing kick so if I was going to pass him it had to be before we got to the finish line. After a little jockeying I managed to pass him, and I hoped I broke the elastic and he wouldn't pass me at the finish.

Unfortunately that didn't happen, and he passed me at the finish. But I was spent and I didn't really care. It was fun to see my boys at the finish and hear them cheering for me. Their little voices aren't super loud, but they probably give me more of a boost than any of the other voices out there. (7:01)

As Vaughn saw me coming down the finishing stretch he hopped on his bike and was out of there before I was out of the chute (as planned, don't think he was being rude) to head off to his 80 mile ride. (I know, makes me feel like a wuss too.)

It's strange to work so hard at a race and feel so mediocre about the results. I know you can't stay in peak condition all the time, but it's still hard to see my results not be quite as good as a few weeks earlier. I know it won't be long until I'm able to work my way back up to another peak, I just need to be patient, and more importantly, smart.

I still managed to be the fourth woman overall (6:58 average pace), and since one of them was a masters women I still got to take home the third place prize!

You can't really see it in that picture, because it's clear. So I took another one below that shows the cool white elephant etching on it.

Heather was waiting at the finish line with a super yummy hot chocolate! (It was seriously delish, I need to find out where she got it!) And between the doughnuts, fruit snacks, suckers, and hot chocolate my kids had a blast!

It was such a fun event! I always love hanging out with other runners. It's so fun to have some awesome friendly competition. Runners are the best and they are always so nice. It's great!

Oh, and on the way home I did swing by and pick up my arm warmers, I'm super glad no one took them because I really like them!

A workout video that everyone can do

2012-01-06T19:47:00.000-08:00

(Okay, I lied, not everyone can do it. I can't. Because it makes me laugh. But if I manage to not laugh it makes me light headed.)

I have a special treat for you guys today. A long time ago (you know, when I was in collage) a roommate of mine had an awesome workout DVD.

Awesomely bad.

We never actually did the workout, but we watched it a million times because it is so freakn' hilarious. Vaughn and I hadn't seen this video for about 10 years, but it still comes up frequently in our conversations (I'm pretty sure we were even talking about it last night).

Watch, and enjoy. (The first minute is a little dull, but trust me, it's worth the wait.)

I guess Tony Horton from P90X doesn't seem so cheesy now does he.

Your life will never be the same again.

You're welcome.

(A giant shout out to Brittany for posting this on Facebook this morning so I could see it again.)

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

2012-01-05T15:36:00.000-08:00

AWKWARD:

If you call me on the phone during the day and you can't hear my kids it's probably because I'm hanging out in my closet. It happens sometimes when I need a quiet moment. (I have also spent the night in the closet once or twice when I was sick and it was the only quiet place, and no it's not as big as you are now imagining it to be.)
Tyler discovered a "feature" in his underwear that was previously undiscovered. (You know, the flap.) He loves this feature. It pretty much rocks his world. Though he still pulls his pants down to his ankles, and than uses the flap. Hilarious.
My kids have been referring to me as "Mama Odie", you know, voodoo witch from The Princess and the Frog. Please tell me my chin really doesn't look like that.

All through my P90X workout last night I had a super weird cramp in a muscle between my shoulder blade and spine. It made doing pushups really hard. But I'm still sore today. What does that say about my fitness level? I'm a big fat wuss.
Speaking of being a wuss, my workout today was supposed to be 1 mile warmup, 4 miles mid tempo (7:00 /mi) and 1 mile cooldown. It ended up being 1 mile warmup, 1 mile tempo (6:56) and three miles of "forget it, I don't care that much, yes I do a little, no I really don't care, no I care a little, forget it - I shouldn't have eaten so much breakfast" (7:14, 7:48, 8:28).

AWESOME:

I got a new dress in the mail yesterday. I spent my Christmas money on it. And a new pair of Jessica Simpson pumps (a different pair than I posted about earlier this week). I haven't done any outfit posts in a long time, because mostly people didn't care, but when I finally wear them you're getting an outfit post, whether you like it or not.
My kids got to play outside today for about two hours. I don't know why it's so hard to play outside in the winter (yeah I do, it's raining, and I only let them use their umbrellas for walking to and from school otherwise they break them) but today it was nice outside. So they played, and played, and played. It's amazing how much well behaved they are when they aren't so squirmy.
I know this is a topic that there are polar views on, either you love them or you hate them, but cadbury creme eggs are in season again. I'm super duper happy about that. I especially love the mini ones, those are the best.
One of the fellows at the running store said he'd come and teach us how to run hurdles at the track sometime when it stops getting dark at 4:00 in the afternoon. I'm totally holding him to it. I have no need to learn how to do hurdles, but it sounds like a blast to try.