Oh, I suppose I am an athlete, huh? And while I do try to eat healthy, I know I can do better. When I saw The Athlete’s Palate was looking for Ambassadors, I jumped at the chance to apply. I’m thrilled to have been chosen to be a part of the team!

I’m just in the early phases now. I’m starting journal my meals and snacks to share with Julie, and we’ll work together to come up with the best plan to fuel my racing and training.

I’ve already been able to fix some of my problems (sinus and skin) by eliminating dairy (most of the time). I’ve always wondered if there are any other things I’m eating that are working against me. I’m excited for this chance to work with a pro!

Our team has some great sponsors, so please check them out.

Sponsors, thank you for supporting us!

I realize nobody’s following me anymore, but I want to try to start documenting my life and races again. Even if it’s just for myself.

There’s no way I could write up race reports of everything I’ve missed, but here are some highlights:

October 2015: Ironman Maryland

My first Ironman! Our race was originally scheduled for October 3rd, but storms/hurricane threat caused them to cancel. Fortunately, they were able to reschedule two weeks later, and we raced on October 17th. Choppy waters delayed our start and caused our swim to be shortened to two miles. It was pretty cold and windy all day. Tough for sure, but I loved it!

October 2015: Marine Corps Marathon

I should have had three weeks to recover, but due to the rescheduling, I only had eight days. That’s still probably not enough, but it was the 40th anniversary and my 5th time running MCM, so I didn’t want to miss it. I did a run-walk, and amazingly didn’t feel that bad.

Oops, I neglected Instagram over the weekend. When I decided the Marine Corps Marathon was a good recovery run 8 days after Ironman Maryland. I survived, and even had fun. This is around Mile 22!

A photo posted by Lauren (@mostlyirun) on Oct 27, 2015 at 9:41am PDT

November 2015: Philadelphia Marathon

Yes, another marathon a few weeks later! My friends were going, and this race had been on my bucket list. I was a little tired, but ran reasonably well and enjoyed the course.

Another marathon done. And my medal rings! #runchat

A photo posted by Lauren (@mostlyirun) on Nov 22, 2015 at 9:46am PST

January 2016: Dopey Challenge

So maybe it was a little crazy to run four races in a row just a few months after my first Ironman. Well, a bunch of my friends were going, and I did Goofy in 2010. I was dying to go back and tackle the Dopey Challenge!

June 2016: Eagleman 70.3

Similar to the IMMD course, I did Eagleman as a training race for my next full Ironman. It was HOT and my run was slow, but I managed to get a 70.3 PR.

3rd 70.3 done! That was a slow hot run … but overall PR so I’m happy!

A photo posted by Lauren (@mostlyirun) on Jun 12, 2016 at 12:19pm PDT

July 2016: Ironman Vineman

Yup, I did my second Ironman less than 10 months after my first. It was a new race to the Ironman brand (and turns out, will be the ONLY Ironman Vineman. The course is moving for 2017 and is now Ironman Santa Rosa). This was much more difficult than Maryland. Weather was beautiful, and wind wasn’t really an issue … but there are hills! I was quite a bit slower, but I still had a great time. Two friends raced with me, and we did a bit of wine tasting post-race!

October 2016: Chicago Marathon

Once again, I was back to running once Ironman training was over. I loved the Chicago Marathon — great course and amazing spectators! My time was kind of slow, but it was a beautiful day, and I had fun.

October 2016: Patapsco Valley 50K

And then I did the Patapsco Valley 50K two weeks later. That kinda hurt, but I (just barely) made the time cutoff, and I (just barely) wasn’t last!

November 2016: Disney Wine & Dine Lumiere’s Challenge

I had some time left on my parkhopper pass after Dopey, since we were too tired to go into the parks every day. And Disney created a new challenge, so I had to go back! Only a 10K + Half Marathon this time, so at least it wasn’t quite as exhausting as Dopey! But I spent quite a bit of time on my feet in the parks so I was just as tired!

Half Marathon done. At least some of you are awake by now!

A photo posted by Lauren (@mostlyirun) on Nov 6, 2016 at 5:30am PST

Phew! And that’s not even all of them. I just really enjoy races!

I decided to try something both functional and fashionable, and chose a new-to-me brand, Sockwell. I chose the Chevron Sock in Teal.

I love the colors, and the design is so cute. They are a blend of Merino Wool, Bamboo Rayon, Stretch Nylon and Spandex. I’ve only just worn them around the house right now, but I imagine they’ll keep me toasty warm in the winter.  I actually had to postpone this review a number of weeks — my air conditioning was broken all summer, and I couldn’t give a proper evaluation. Finally, many thousands of dollars and a new HVAC system later, it is now chilly in my house.

I’ve had a chance to test them out a couple times now. I like that they offer two sizes for women’s socks, Small/Medium for sizes 4-7.5, and Medium/Large for 8-10.5. As a size 6, one-size-fits-all socks often have extra material at the toes, or the heel doesn’t line up in the right place. These are a perfect fit!

I haven’t tried running in them yet (it’s too warm for that!), but they seem like they should be suitable for active use as well. It was definitely a touch choice picking socks, as there are so many great styles at BrightLife Go. Check out the cute VIM & VIGR everyday compression socks!

Want to win a pair of Sockwell socks for yourself? BrightLife Go will give one of my readers a pair of Chevron Socks too! (Your choice of color / size).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I received a pair of socks for free in exchange for my review. Opinions are my own.

Well, I still would like to share an abbreviated version.

It was kind of cold (upper 30s) and a double-loop course. It started to rain as I neared the end of the first loop. The course got sloppy. Many people dropped to the 25K distance. I feared missing a cutoff once I learned they had them (uh, as I started the second loop) — and came really close. In fact, a volunteer at the last aid station asked me how I was feeling, and said he was supposed to start pulling people one minute ago. He asked if  I thought I could finish within the eight-hour time limit. Glad he let me keep going, I had plenty of time!  (07:42:31)

I was nearly last (only five people behind me), but I think most of them I managed to pass in the last few miles. There was at least one person who got pulled at an aid station (I saw it mentioned in a Facebook comment), and a lot called it quits after one loop. I’m proud of myself for pushing through. And the finish time is EXACTLY the same as my NorthFace 50K a couple years ago. Crazy!

After Phunt, I took a little race break except for a 5K in February. But I was working on bigger things …

Like running a marathon on my birthday!

The B&A Trail Marathon (right up the road from me in Severna Park, MD) originally would have been a race where I tried to run fast (for me). But after Phunt, I had a fracture scare (shin). Turns out it was muscular, but I took a few weeks off as a precaution. So I went into this marathon a little bit undertrained (only made it to 17.5 miles in training). It worked out fine, though. My friend Dan was much more undertrained and was looking for a race buddy. (He’s a seasoned ultrarunner, though, and knew what he was getting himself into.)

We took it easy and stuck together the whole race, which otherwise would have gotten quite lonely. It’s a small race with a 1,000-runner limit for both the half and full marathons … but only 300 do the full marathon. It was a beautiful, though chilly, day, and I was happy to start my new age group with my 13th marathon finish!

That ended up being my last long run before my next big adventure race.

More on that later. Hopefully it won’t take me another six months for a race report!

In mid-July I did the 45-mile Tour de Keuka bike ride in Western NY with one of my college roommates as part of an unofficial girls reunion weekend. At the end of the month, I ran the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon marathon. Did you know there was a Grand Canyon in PA? Neither did we, so naturally we had to run it. It was really hilly and hard!

In August I went to Ireland to run the Rock ‘n’ Roll Dublin half marathon, and spent a week touring the country. I also did the Iron Girl Columbia triathlon for the seventh time.

This morning I ran my first international race! Not my best, but walking 8-10 miles all over Dublin the day before is not the best race prep. Beautiful day, and had fun! (Have walked an additional hour or so today. Ow my feet!)

A photo posted by Lauren (@mostlyirun) on Aug 4, 2014 at 10:22am PDT

September I headed to VA Beach for my 10th time running the Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon there. Our favorite end-of-summer trip (that just so happens to include a race). The following week I headed to Dover for the Amish Country Bike Tour. We did the 50-mile ride this time. I hadn’t ridden in awhile and it was a little uncomfortable, but at least it’s flat!

The end of September was the start of a challenging fall race season. A friend and I headed up to Philadelphia for the Sloppy Cuckoo 12-Hour race. The race is on a 6.55-mile trail loop, and you run around it as many times as you can (or choose to) in 12 hours. We made it around six times for an official distance of 39.3 miles, but ran out to a milestone marker to round it up to 40 miles for the day. Holy cow, that’s far!

 

Today is my 1/2 birthday. 6mo to 40. Yesterday I ran my birthday miles! #runchat #ultrachat #bestfoot

 

A photo posted by Lauren (@mostlyirun) on Sep 29, 2014 at 7:53am PDT

 I had some IT band issues following that race, but sought help and kept moving! The first few runs post-race were a bit painful, but I made it through the Baltimore Half Marathon comfortably in mid October. At the end of October, I ran the Patapsco Valley 50K with a group of friends. That was an interesting experience! We started at 6 a.m. in the dark with headlamps. Patapsco Park is full of challenging trails, and I was still babying my knee/IT, so I took my time and enjoyed a gorgeous day.

Another ultra done. Great race & perfect weather! #runchat A photo posted by Lauren (@mostlyirun) on Oct 25, 2014 at 2:07pm PDT

I wasn’t done with the distance after that race, I was just getting started! That was my last long run before the JFK 50 Mile Race — my first 50-mile attempt. Emphasis on attempt. Going into the race, I knew I was super slow on trails, and that the 12-hour time limit was going to be a challenge. But only the first 16 or so miles are on trails, the rest canal towpath. My strategy was to do run-walk intervals once I hit the canal to keep an even pace.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t run/walking fast enough. And I didn’t realize how far behind I had fallen until it was too late. The checkpoints along the way required different paces to meet the cutoffs. I got through the hard part with nearly 30 minutes to spare, but just barely made the mile 27 cutoff. I was technically 10 minutes late to the mile 34.4 aid station, but they didn’t seem to care. I kept moving, skipping many of my walk intervals to try to make up time … but how fast can you really move after 34+ miles? I stayed hopeful as I inched closer to the next cutoff time, wondering where that 38.4 aid station was … and when I finally got there, I was six minutes past the cutoff. But this time they cared. My bib tag was pulled, my race was over. DNF.

 

Sadly, my first 50-mile attempt ended in my first DNF at mile 38.4 (@biasport watch gave me extra credit!) when I missed a cutoff by 6 minutes. I knew it was going to be tight, but I still felt I could have finished in the 12-hour time limit.

 

A photo posted by Lauren (@mostlyirun) on Nov 22, 2014 at 6:18pm PST

In a way, I was kind of glad to stop. I was tired! But I also knew I could have managed another 12 miles in the nearly three hours left before finish line cutoff. It was heartbreaking. A lot of people were pulled off the course at that station. The man next to me on the shuttle bus was only two minutes late.

38.4 miles is still really far. I’m still proud of what I accomplished. I loved the race, and I will be back to finish what I started. Probably not this year, but definitely in the future.

I finished out 2014 with a few shorter races. The Thanksgiving day 10K just five days after JFK was pretty slow and painful, but I recovered well enough a couple weeks later to place third in my age group in a local 5K! The Celtic Solstice 5-miler in Baltimore is always a fun time. And the last race of the year was my running club’s 15K anniversary run. Not a great race day for me, but I got it done.

On to 2015!

I train a lot. There isn’t really an off season … maybe just a little downtime before the next challenge begins. I have to be careful I don’t push myself too hard.

You’ve all heard the saying, “you never regret a workout.” Sometimes it might be appended with, “only the workouts you don’t do.”

That isn’t true for me, though. I don’t regret skipping workouts. I can’t even count how many times I went back to sleep after my 5 a.m. alarm went off. As much as I enjoy my 6 a.m Bikram yoga classes, and as much as they help me stretch and stay loose, sometimes I just need more sleep. I can get an extra two hours if I skip the class. I feel like I’ve become a pretty good judge of when I need a little more rest, and when I should push through the desire to stay in my nice warm bed. I make sure to take at least one or two rest days per week, and I’ll often skip boot camp classes when my body is feeling a little beat up.

When I was contacted by a representative at ENERGYbits to see if I wanted to try RECOVERYbits, it was good timing. Allergies were making my throat itchy, people are starting to get winter illnesses, and my training was at its peak. RECOVERYbits are 100% non GMO, organically grown chlorella and a natural way to boost your immunity. 

Now, I only got a couple days worth to test with, not long enough to see any immune-boosting powers. But I’m a health-food person. I like consuming products that are good for me, and I definitely believe the claims. It will take a little getting used to, swallowing so many tablets (they’re food, not pills!). Chewing them is OK too, but it’s a strong taste that might take some time to get used to.

I sampled ENERGYbits a year or so ago. I like both of these products — they are natural ways to get really good nutrients. It’s pricey, and I haven’t taken the leap yet to make them a part of my everyday routine. But definitely something I’m considering as I continue to push my body and improve my health.

Want to try RECOVERYbits? Enter below to win a sample! (U.S. only, sorry!)

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And today only … shop ENERGYbits’ “Cyber Monday” promotion. For the next 24 hours you can order as many bags from www.energybits.com as you like and you will be charged just $5.00 shipping. So, stock up on your Christmas gifts now because it doesn’t matter if you order 1 bag or 100 bags, you will only be charged a flat rate of $5.00 for shipping! (USA orders only)

I’ve written about my love of costumes before, but it’s been awhile. I’ve missed sharing quite a few here, so let me go back a few years:

The tree was worst for mobility, but I tried to top it this year:

Though, I actually made it farther in the fun run this year than I did the tree year … if you call a 50+-minute 5K (that I cut short) “running,” LOL!

This year’s costume cost $2  — for blue paint from the “oops” shelf at Home Depot. Everything else was created out of things I already had at home. Just a little time, but I obviously have a lot of fun with this.

Do you love dressing up as much as I do? What’s your favorite costume?

EveryMove gives you points for your workouts, which you apply towards rewards. There’s a huge database of activities to choose from. Everything I do I’ve found easily (running, biking, swimming, yoga, boot camp classes), but you can find just about anything in there. Roller Derby?  Shuffleboard? Mopping? They’ve got you covered!

Most of the rewards are discounts, but you can also earn donations for a charity. It seems the choices rotate — the first three rewards I worked for were $1 donations to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  Lately I’ve been working towards donations to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. I’ve earned $4 for them so far, and I’m getting close to another dollar!

You can manually enter workouts, but EveryMove can also link it to dozens of apps/sites. Running, of course, is my favorite way to #sweatpink … and I import all my runs into Strava, I was able to link Strava to EveryMove and it’s fantastic — all my workouts are automatically imported!

I still have to manually add other workouts, but it’s quick and easy to do from my phone. Earning points gives me incentive to keep my EveryMove account up-to-date. In addition to the rewards, there are badges. I’m not sure what they all mean, but so far I’ve earned Bodhisattva for logging 10 yoga activities within 30 days, Road Warrior for running 26.2 miles in a week, and Orange Crush for earning seven orange hearts in a row. (You get an orange heart every day you log an activity. This means I did not take any rest days in seven days … but don’t worry, I”m not overtraining. My ‘rest’ days often still include yoga!)

The orange heart can also be flaming of you unlock a very active bonus. With many long workouts and/or multiple workouts a day, I earn these quite frequently! Consistently working out also increases your Level. You ‘Level Up’ by earning a certain number of points in a timeframe. I seem to be quickly climbing!

There is a social aspect to the app, too. You can add your friends — Facebook, Contacts, RunKeeper or Fitbit. I haven’t worked with this feature at all yet. I’m still pretty happy using it solo for now.

EveryMove is available for iPhone and Android, or you can use the website at http://everymove.org. The iPhone app was recently updated, but I’m still waiting for the new Android version. It’s still fully functional, but I think there are some design changes coming.

Disclaimer: I reviewed this app as part of a SweatPink campaign … but EveryMove is a free app. I was not compensated in any way. Opinions are my own.

I did my first sprint triathlon in 2008, and continued with a once-a-year shorter distance until jumping to the Olympic distance in 2012. I’d been thinking about moving up again, but needed a little push to pull the trigger.

That’s where the Annapolis Triathlon Club comes in. I had joined the club and made some friends, and when a few of them decided to race Raleigh, it didn’t take much arm-twisting to get me to sign up. I was ready for it, I just needed to know I wouldn’t be racing alone!

We ended up with a large group down in Raleigh, with 17 of us participating in the June 1, 2014 race.  I drove down the Friday before the race with two friends who would be my roommates for the weekend. We stayed just outside of town at the Residence Inn, which was more like a townhouse than a hotel room, complete with a loft, murphy bed and two bathrooms. And plenty of room for three bikes and all our gear.

We watched the Iron Kids race on Saturday morning before hitting the expo. Not too big, but I got some excellent souvenirs — a bike jersey, a visor and a T-shirt with all the racers’ names on the back.

After the expo, we headed over to the lake for a quick swim. There wasn’t access at the race site, but there were public areas open so we could get a feel for the water. It was nice! Next we went over to the transition area where we’d rack our bikes, but went out for a short ride first. I was a little nervous about riding before race day, but took it super easy. One of our tri club members wasn’t so lucky — his chain broke during his shakeout ride, and he crashed. Probably a bit bumped, bruised and sore from that anyway, but a gash on his leg was too deep to risk lake swimming. He was unable to race, but was a trooper and provided excellent support, cheering and taking photos of us on the course.

We didn’t have time to head back to our hotel to shower before dinner (oops!), so we had to settle for a quick change in the car. Good thing it was a casual place. We were able to get two huge tables at an Italian restaurant in a back room … that we were sharing with two birthday parties! I got pasta primavera with grilled salmon — a perfect pre-race meal. Salmon has been kinda lucky for me, resulting in lots of good races and PRs!

When we got back to the hotel, we had a bit of packing to do — T1 and T2 were in different places (we biked from Jordan Lake back to downtown Raleigh). We would set up our run gear before boarding buses in the morning, plus had a bag we could gear check pre-race in the morning, and another to pack up our swim stuff before hitting the bike. We’d claim all our bags when we picked up our bikes post-race.

It took a bit more thinking to make sure everything was in the right place than when you just have one transition area! We were all a bit nervous and got to bed later than we should have, but who sleeps well the night before a big race, anyway?

I got a little sleep, at least, but it was a very early morning. We prepared our breakfast (peanut butter sandwich, which I would eat on the bus ride), grabbed our gear, and headed downtown in the dark. Parking was easy and close by, and we quickly got our run gear set up and hopped on a bus.

It wasn’t until the bus ride to the start that we learned the race would be wetsuit legal — just barely at 75.4. That was definitely the news I wanted to hear!

I had a lot of time to kill before my swim wave would start (women 35-39 went off at 8:10, wave 19 out of 21), but it want quickly. I got my tires pumped, waited in a ridiculously long porta-potty line, and then hung out with my fellow tri-club members until one by one they started their races.

And then we were off. The lake is beautiful, and I was calm right from the start. I remember thinking how this would be the most relaxing part of my day, and tried to really enjoy it. It got a little crowded at times, but nothing too crazy. I’m a non-aggressive swimmer and I’d rather just move out of the way. I finally found some open space after the final turn … when I realized I drifted a bit far from the buoys. Oops! I pulled myself back on course and swam to shore.

I had my first experience with wetsuit strippers once out of the water. I had unzipped myself on the way there. Two people would pull the suit down, sit you on the ground, pull it off, and help you back up. Awesome!

The transition lot was pretty big, but my bike was in an outside row so it was easy to find. I packed up my swim gear, and quickly got ready to ride.  I stopped briefly for some volunteers to spray my shoulders and arms with sunscreen — another new amenity!

And then I was on the road. I started slow, well, because I’m a slow cyclist! I’m also pretty conservative on the bike. I was especially cautious around other cyclists because I don’t want to end up accidentally drafting! It would be really silly to get a drafting penalty when only riding 14mph …

The ride was great, though, and I was well prepared. I had simulated the course on a CompuTrainer, and done some hilly outdoor rides. I was ready for the elevation.

It was still pretty exhausting, and I found myself itching to be finished around mile 43 … only to get a second wind around mile 50. I actually passed a lot of people going uphill!

It felt great to return to downtown Raleigh and get off the bike!

I racked my bike, got my run gear on, and hit the porta-potty before hitting the road. I knew I’d finish at this point … I felt pretty good!

Not as good as a guy who flew past me in the first quarter mile, shouting, “I finally got to my sport!” I yelled back, “Me too, but I’m not going any faster than this!”

I didn’t know how fast “this” was … so I glanced down at my watch, only to see it in mph. Oops, forgot to change sports! I changed it then, which restarted my run.  I’d be a little bit behind every mile marker, and I had no idea how much time had passed already. My run finish time would be a surprise!

The course was a double out-and-back. The ‘out’ portion was mostly uphill and in the sun, while the ‘back’ portion had a little shade and some downhill. My first ‘out’ went pretty well, I had a decent pace. I slowed a little on the way back, starting to feel the hills, and by the time I got to the second ‘out,’ the heat and the hills had taken a toll. I was walking through every water stop, taking sports drinks and dumping water over my head.

Around mile eight I started losing speed. And so did that excited runner, I recognized him walking up a hill. I asked, “are you the runner that was so excited to run?,” and he sighed, “yeah.”

I fought to keep shuffling up that hill. Even though miles 10-12 were in the easier part of the course, I slowed quite a bit, probably extending my walk breaks. But after mile 12, I picked it up a bit. Rally to the finish!

I ended up with a 2:12:49 half marathon time — and I was thrilled! While I can run faster in a standalone race, 2:13 is kind of a benchmark for me. From my second half marathon in 2005 until the summer of 2009, my PR was stuck at 2:13:11 … and I’m still happy enough finishing races in that timeframe.

Going into the race, I had given myself a 7:30 goal. A bit conservative, but realistic. That’s a long time to race, and I didn’t know how my body was going to react. I thought that 7:30 could possibly be a best-case scenario …

It was a good day!

But I’m still failing with clean eating when fueling during workouts. I’m still a Gu eater! When I’m doing two, three and even four-hour workouts, I’ve got to make sure I’m fueling properly!

I’ve been planning on finishing up my Gu stash and focusing my efforts on finding something healthier. It’s taking awhile … I buy in bulk! But I’ll be there soon. When I heard about Vega Sport‘s #fuelyourbetter campaign, I jumped at the chance to try Vega Sport Gel. It seems like the perfect Gu replacement.

I broke all racing rules and tried my first Vega Sport Gel during a race — a sprint triathlon. I wasn’t too worried about having any problems. It was a short, flat course, and I was treating it as training rather than a race. I ate my gel as I headed out on the bike course.

First impression — the texture is a little gritty when compared to traditional Gu, but the taste is pretty OK. It doesn’t particularly taste like raspberry like it’s supposed to, but it’s fine. I happened to have a very good race, too!

I’ve also started eating Vega Sport Gel as “breakfast” before pre-work bike trainer workouts. I don’t always eat before these shorter rides, but some days I wake up hungry. It’s just enough to cut the edge.

The more Vega Sport Gels I eat, the less I notice the texture difference that surprised me the first time. I’m glad I could get used to it, the ingredients are a lot more in line with what I want to be eating:

Overall, I liked the product. It might be on my shopping list once the Gu runs out!

Disclaimer: I received  Vega Sport Gel for free through my involvement with the Sweat Pink Ambassador Program.  I was not compensated any other way. Opinions are my own.