My first fitness blogging conference was Fitbloggin’ 12, which was a wonderful experience in so many ways. If you are going to Fitbloggin next week (squee!), or to any of the other great blogger conferences (like Fit Social in September), here are a few tips for based on my experience last year as a first-timer.

First Things First: Packing Tips

You probably will want to bring your laptop so you can follow along during the blogging session, your phone/camera and chargers for taking pictures, and blog business cards if you have them.

I’ve Checked In–Now What?

 If you have been to a blogger conference before, what tips would you add?

If you are going to a blog conference for the first time, what do you want to know? 

Tips For Attending Fitbloggin originally appeared on Running With Perseverance on June 18, 2013.

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While my main goal is to Run faster, get stronger, and remember to breathe.

a secondary goal has emerged: learning to use clip-in shoes on my bike.

The first day I tried clip-in shoes, I scraped up my knee.

The second try–my first ride on the bike path–went much better.

20 miles! No blood!

But, the third time was not the charm.

I had a pretty major wreck that left its mark on my knee.
It was still looking pretty ugly a week later, when I ran the Lawyers Have Heart 10K.

Luckily it didn’t hurt when I ran.
The next weekend, as we were getting ready to head to the bike path again,
I had a knot in my stomach.

I wanted to tag a picture of me on my bike with #fearless,
but I knew that wasn’t true.
I was scared.

I pushed through those fears for 23 miles with only one minor fall,
but that added a new bruise to the same knee and a big bruise to my other thigh
(from my brakes? my pedal?).

This weekend, I was looking for an excuse not to ride.
Would it rain?
Should I risk another bruise when my old bruises haven’t quite healed yet?
What if I really hurt myself this time?
But I knew I had to get back on my bike,
before my fear took root,
before I decided that I am just too uncoordinated,
before I give up.

I remembered my favorite Under Amour What’s Beautiful poster

and decided to get out of my own way.

I am happy to report that my 9 mile ride was uneventful. I rode cautiously, and unclipped at the first sign of danger ahead–a boy on his tricycle on the wrong side of the path, a man walking four dogs, busy intersections.

I’m still not confident of my ability to clip-out on short notice, but I know I need to keep riding–and practicing–to develop that skill. Yet, I find myself wondering if I am being badass or dumbass when I climb on my bike and hear that “click” as my shoes lock into place.

Have you ever given up on a goal?

I Am Not Fearless (What’s Beautiful) originally appeared on Running With Perseverance on June 17, 2013.

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I was annoyed by the barrage of “Your Dad Will Love This!” marketing emails that were flooding my in-box as Father’s Day approached. They grabbed my attention more than usual this year, and had me wondering, would Dad have liked this? I know many people don’t celebrate Father’s Day for many different reasons, but I guess the marketing gurus have determined that we are a tiny minority and don’t need to be handled with care.

Of course, I will be celebrating my husband today. I’ll probably bake a batch of his favorite banana bread, go on a bike ride with him, and let him grill for dinner.

(click image for recipe)

I always feel like finding a good Father’s Day card is like finding a needle in a haystack. I don’t like the sappy cards with too many words, and neither my Dad nor my husband golf, fish, hunt, drink a lot of beer, or watch a lot of TV, so those cards are out. Luckily, neither my Dad nor husband had/have belching or flatulence problems, but even if they did I would never by those Father’s Day cards either! Really, all I want is a simple card that says “Happy Father’s Day!” You wouldn’t think that would be so hard to find!

Do you have a hard time finding the right greeting card?

Are you grilling tonight?

Father’s Day Cards originally appeared on Running With Perseverance on June 16, 2013.

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Summer race directors–take note!

The next race after that is the Army 10 Miler, which isn’t until October 20.

I’m going to take advantage of this break in my race schedule to focus on cross-training. While I still plan to run three days a week, my week day runs may not include as much speed work or as many hill repeats, and my weekend long runs may be shorter.

In the weeks leading up to the Lawyers Have Heart 10K, I did 6 weeks of Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred, doing it three days a week, and spending two weeks on each level. I love the short workouts and love the crazy core work in Level 3, but I am ready for something different. That’s why I decided to sign up for Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp (BBB).

The 8-week program starts Monday, June 17, but you can still register. (Friday June 15th is the last day to register at the regular price, but late registration will remain open through June 23rd.) I have heard so many good things about BBB, and Tina is really taking it to the next level with this session, with video demos of every workout, a private group site for questions and support, and a beginner’s series. As always, there will be a weekly newsletter and prizes! To learn more, check out Tina’s BBB page and the BBB FAQ page.

I’m looking forward to this training program for summer running, even if it involves more cross-training than running!

Do you switch up your fitness routine with the seasons?

Have you done Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp before?

My Training Program For Summer Running originally appeared on Running With Perseverance on June 14, 2013.

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I didn’t have time to make kale chips out of it all, so I did some crowd-sourcing and some Googling and found a simple recipe for sauteed kale at eatingwell.com.

(My variation is in the Recipage section below.)

It’s hard to tell how much kale this really is, but it was enough to have as a side dish and omelet add-in for most of the week!

I love that my Mom loves to garden–and lives close enough to share her bounty!

Speaking of green veggies, has anyone tried the Evolution drinks that are now sold at Starbucks?

I was most interested in the “Sweet Greens” flavor, which has only 40 calories per 8 oz. serving and a very simple ingredient list:

Ingredients: Juices (celery, apple, cucumber, spinach, parsley, romaine lettuce, lemon, lime, wheat grass, clover sprouts).

I finally tried it last week. It was very green. And tasted very … green.

It was hard to tell which of the ingredients was dominating the flavor, but it wasn’t the apple or lemon! It was fine, but I’m not likely to get it again–especially at $5 a bottle.

Did you plant a vegetable garden this year? 

Have you tried any of the Evolution juices?  

Sauteed Kale And Evolution Sweet Greens originally appeared on Running With Perseverance on June 12, 2013.

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When the tickets went on sale in November, I checked the calendar and looked at flights, but my family situation was too much up in the air to make plans. Would one or both of my kids be home from college that weekend? Would I have a conflict with a work conference? I decided that Fitbloggin’ was not in the cards for me, and signed up for the Fit Social conference in Boulder/Denver in September.

As the months passed, more and more of my favorite bloggers were talking about going to Fitbloggin’, but I had a work conference in Colorado the week before Fitbloggin’, and a work conference in D.C. the week of Fitbloggin’. I tried to ignore the excitement and not feel left out. I wondered if I could filter all my social media feeds to block Fitbloggin’ posts.

But last week, I couldn’t take it anymore. After seeing Carla’s post about why she makes Fitbloggin’ a priority, I checked flights to Portland again. I found a direct flight that I could catch after my work conference ends on Friday that should get me to Portland by 8:00 pm Friday night. I checked the Fitbloggin’ schedule, and saw that there were plenty of fitness classes and sessions on Saturday that I was interested in. Even more importantly, I figured that I could catch up with and get to know lots of great people in the 37 hours I would be there. (I can sleep on the flight home, right?)

I talked to my husband. I hovered over the “select this flight” button on Expedia. I typed in my credit card information.

I’m not going for the yoga, JumpSport and CrossFit workouts (yes, all of those are on Saturday). I’m not going for the sessions on setting fitness goals, creating a media kit, or learning how to use Google Analytics (those are just a few of the sessions on Saturday). I’m not even going for the incredible swag from the generous sponsors.

I’m going for the people.

To see the people I made friends with at Fitbloggin’ last year.

Amanda @ClicktheGoodNews

To meet the bloggers I’ve become friends with this year.

 Carrie @FamilyFitnessFood

And to make new friends.

Have you been to a blogger conference?

Are you going to Fitbloggin’?

Can you join me at Fit Social?

Fitbloggin — It’s About The Friends originally appeared on Running With Perseverance on June 11, 2013.

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I even wore two Garmins when I was comparing
my old 405 to my new Forerunner 10!

I know there are good reasons to leave my Garmin at home once in while, and other reasons to run without music, but I love getting lost in my tunes as I run, and I like reviewing all the data that my Garmin collects.

Last week I had a different experience of feeling naked. When I got to work, I realized that I had forgotten to put on earrings. It drove me crazy the whole day. If the Starbucks downstairs sold earrings, I would have run down to buy some, especially even if they looked like little coffee cups. I felt like I was missing a piece of myself, even though I knew I probably was the only one who noticed, since my hair pretty much covered up my ears.

I think you can see a glimmer from my earrings.

Another thing I kept noticing last week was how my hair smelled! I usually use this Rene Furterer shampoo from my hair stylist

but I was using samples of this L’Occitane shampoo for a change.

I don’t think that the fragrance was any stronger than my regular shampoo, but it was different enough that it caught my attention every once in a while–in a pleasant way.

Is there something that you usually wear that you feel naked without?

Are you loyal to one specific shampoo or do you try different shampoo brands?  

What Makes You Feel Naked? originally appeared on Running With Perseverance on June 10, 2013.

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First, I want to thank everyone who supported my fundraising efforts for the American Heart Association. Your generosity and support pushed me way past my goal, on to the next level of giving. I thought of each and every one of you as I pushed myself towards the finish line on race day. Thank you!

I woke up to perfect weather for the Lawyers Have Heart 10K. The rain from tropical storm Andrea had moved out, but it was still overcast. While I prefer to race in cooler weather, I can’t complain about the upper 60s in June.

I started my day with a quick shower, a Kashi 7 Grain waffle, and coffee.

Of course I used the mug that was my  fundraising thank you gift from last year!

My knee still was tender to the touch and sporting a multi-colored bruise, but it didn’t hurt when I walked and didn’t seem to have been aggravated by Friday’s dog walk.

I took some Advil just in case.

Even though I was driving myself and a friend, my husband was up, so I got him to take a pre-race picture.

It was hard to find a shirt that wasn’t too obnoxious with my neon socks and shoes!

I was worried about the race logistics with a 5K, 10K and 3K fun walk sharing the same out-and-back course, but it worked out. The 5K started first,the 10K started 1/2 hour later, and the 3K started after that. The start corrals were set up in the center of the road, the 5K finished along one side, the 10K finished through the corrals, and the 3k finished on the other side. We got to see the first 5K finishers before we started, but it was hard to cheer them on since we were already packed into the corrals.

Despite the near-perfect conditions, I still had a rough time with the Lawyers Have Heart course. Reviewing my split times, it looks like I did a pretty good job of pacing myself during the first mile, but then that second mile was too fast. You can see that I really struggled in mile 3 and mile 5, and I was really pushing myself in mile 6 to finish strong. Just keep running, Just keep running.

I don’t have a lot of confidence in the elevation profile, because it should look pretty much like a mirror image after the central turn-around point. The slight differences at miles 1/5 make sense because we were on different ramps of the freeway, but I don’t understand why miles 2 and 4 look so different!

I think the main reason that the Lawyers Have Heart is so tough is the heat. Yes, it was only 70F, but it was in the 50s and 60s during my spring 10 mile races. Also, except for the last few tenths of a mile there is absolutely no crowd support anywhere on this course. Thank goodness I had my tunes to keep my going–I actually used the playlist I created for this race 2 years ago!

I thought I was way off my goal of finishing in about 52:30, but I still saw 52:xx on the race clock as I approached the finish line! As it turns out, I was only a few seconds off that goal.

6th in my age group? I didn’t expect that!

(Not a PR–I found a race bib from 7 years ago where I finished in 52:21,
but I bet I beat the line!)

I made my way through the finish area, got my the Lawyers Have Heart finishers’ medal, and took a few moments to enjoy the mist from the fountain!

If my shoes weren’t so new, I would have joined the kids who were playing in the spray!

My friend found me as I was walking towards the celebration area–she said my socks were easy to spot–and we enjoyed the post-race festivities for a bit before we braved the line at Starbucks and headed home.

All in all, it was a much better race than I expected, especially considering that I hurt my knee and didn’t run at all this week. On my “notes for next time,” here are the few things that I wish I had done differently:

• I wish I had taken my inhaler. Since I hadn’t run all week, and I only use it for running (and only recently even for that), I just didn’t think about it. I think I would have been able to recover faster from my too-fast mile if my lungs weren’t struggling with the humid air. 
• I wish I had put Gatorade or at least ice in my water bottle. It was almost chilly before we started, but it warmed up quickly and even got sunny a few times. My luke-warm water just wasn’t refreshing.
• I wish I had eaten something closer to the race start time. I’m pretty sure I had burned off that 75 calorie Kashi waffle that I ate at 5:30 by the 7:30 start time. I had stashed a mini Lara Uber bar in my fuel belt, but forgot about eating it until I was a mile into the race.

Did you race this weekend? 

Do you adjust race goals for summer heat? 

Do you make a list of things you want to do differently next time?

Race Recap: Lawyers Have Heart 10K 2013 originally appeared on Running With Perseverance on June 8, 2013.

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At first, I wasn’t too psyched about the race, and focused my efforts on fundraising for the American Heart Association.

To everyone who has donated, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

To everyone else, it’s not too late!

But then, my training was going pretty well. I was doing fun speed workouts without getting injured. I was keeping up with Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred three days a week without getting injured. I was balancing all that with some Rodney Yee.

I hadn’t set a race goal yet, but I was toying with the numbers I would plug into the race pace calculator. (This really cool one from Runner’s World will calculate goal times for each mile.)

And then I decided that it was time to learn how to use clip-in shoes on my bike. And then my third “lesson” didn’t go so well. So, now, on the eve of the Lawyers Have Heart 10K, I am wondering if I will even be able to run at all.

Does this knee look ready to run 10K?

Honestly, since this race means so much to me personally, I am bound and determined to run, even if it means that I am sidelined for a few more days afterwards. So, on to race things.

We have the same cool design for our team shirts as we did last year, although this year the shirts are a neon yellow instead of a neon green

I really love this design!

None of the races I enter have really good swag, but I do like the full-sized reusable bag and love the Soyjoy bar!

A pencil?

I am a bit skeptical of the race logistics because they have added a 5K “fun run” that will share the 10K course (with an earlier turn around) and start about 1/2 hour earlier. It’s already a crowded course with several hairpin turns, but that’s just one more reason why this race is not good for a PR.

The weather looks iffy with hurricane Andrea bringing rain up the East Coast, but we might get lucky and have an overcast or drizzly morning–either of which would be much better than the heatwave we had the last time I ran.

My race outfit depends on the weather, but I will definitely be wearing these, although probably not with our neon yellow team shirt!

Check out Jill’s Fitness Friday link up for other great fitness posts today.

Are you racing this weekend?

On The Eve Of The Lawyers Have Heart 10K originally appeared on Running With Perseverance on June 7, 2013.

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(Click on the images to see the original posts.)

My Motivational Mantras

Is The First Step Really The Hardest?

(my guest post on Christine’s blog, Love Life Surf)

 On Setting Race Goals … Or Not

Favorite 20 Minute Treadmill Workouts

Why I Am Running To Support The American Heart Association (Hopefully!)

You can follow me on Pinterest through this link.

Check out the Lean Green Bean blog for other fun posts.

HAPPY PINNING!

Pinspirational Pin It Party originally appeared on Running With Perseverance on June 6, 2013.

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