Juneathon: Day 21 & 22

Sugar House Park

So, running in Utah sure is tough, but the scenery isn't too bad.

Day 21:
I had a rest day, but I went out for a walk with my friends 6 year old son.  He was on his bike while I walked.  I didn't bring my Garmin so I'm only estimating, but I believe we went at least a mile.  When we got back we grabbed her other son and walked to 7-eleven, for another half a mile.  It wasn't much, but it was something. Later that night we had barbecue and I definitely over ate.  I was ready to get my long run in the next day to work off some of the food.

Day 22:
Today I had 10 miles on my Chicago training plan.  I found a good route from my friend Megan's house.  I ran 2 miles to Sugar House Park, which was basically flat, thank goodness.  The elevation is tough enough so I didn't need hills to make it harder.  I wasn't sure what to expect when I made it to the park but I was hoping there would be water fountains and a bathroom if necessary.  I don't usually need one, but when you start adding the miles you never know what's going to happen.  The water fountain was a bigger deal because I brought my fuel belt with 20oz of water and I was going to need to fill up.  Megan told me there were fast food joints around so if worse came to worse I could always fill up there.

The park was beautiful.  As you can see from my photo the backdrop was picturesque.  It was a great park designed for walkers, runners, cyclists.  There was a separate lane for us, which I thought was great.  I believe the loop around the park was 1 mile.  After I did 2 loops I ran up a different street toward Megan's house into the Harvard district, which had gorgeous homes, back to the park and then ran back to Megan's house for a total of 10 miles.  It was very hard for me to do, but I did it :)

Juneathon: Day 19 & 20

I have arrived in Utah safe and sound :)  My flight from DC to Denver was a little choppy and my flight from Denver to SLC was delayed, but all in all it wasn't so bad.  I will be here for a month relaxing, visiting friends and enjoying life.  I have also managed to complete all my workouts so far since I've been here, but the stopping to blog about them is tricky.  As much as I love Juneathon and Janathon, I'm not sure I'll participate again.  I feel like the posts get monotonous.  However, here's a run down of what I've been doing here.


Day 19:
Yesterday was a cross training day and my running coach recommended a good walk in the elevation could be enough so that's what I did.  My friend and I took her 2 boys out on the bikes and walked around her neighborhood.  She lives near the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and it is pretty hilly.  We only walked 2 miles, but I felt like I got in a decent workout.

Day 20:
Today I had to do 2.5 miles of fartlek for a total of 4 with the warmup and cool down.  Whew!  It was tough with the elevation.  On top of the elevation change there were some crazy hills.  I'm not a fan of hills, but I know they're good for training.  My pace was 2 minutes slower than normal so that was kind of depressing.  I planned on doing a half marathon next week, but hadn't registered and now I'm questioning if I should do it.  There is a time limit that I might not make if my pace stays at 2 minutes slower than normal.  Ack!  I have a 10 mile long run on Saturday so I'll see how that goes before I make a final decision.

Utah Bound

I am on my way to Utah and Idaho for 4 weeks. I can't wait to see what adventures lie ahead of me.  This is the one time of year that I love my job because I can leave town for weeks at a time!!

Juneathon: Day 16, 17 & 18

Day 16:
Well, I guess I've fallen off the bandwagon for a couple of days.  The 16th was a rest day in both the ab challenge and my training program, but I did manage to walk a few miles with a friend so I still got in my exercise.   It was nothing too exciting. 

Day 17:
Yesterday was a cross-train day so I got out on the bike for 11 miles.  I'm using my Mom's hybrid bike, but when I come back from vacation in July I will get road bike shoes and start using my sister's road bike.  I'm told I'll go a lot faster because the bike is lighter and you gain momentum from pedaling because you're clipped in so as you go up you're also propelling the bike forward.  I'm looking forward to starting that when I get back.

Day 18:

Today I had to do a 2 mile tempo run with a warmup and cool down so I did 3.5 miles today.  It was awful!  I hated every single step.  I couldn't get to my tempo pace and it was so humid I was dripping sweat.  I also ate very little for breakfast and was hungry by mile 2.  I really hope that one day soon I will be able to get out of my head and each mile will float by, but for now every single step feels like so much work.  I just want it to be easy.  I hope that as I continue to focus on consistency it will be easier.  I guess I just have to be patient.  Ugh...I want it to be easy now!

Juneathon: Day 15

This is a short and sweet phone post. I will do a full race recap this week.

Today I completed the Life is a beach triatlon down in Hampton, VA! It was so much fun. It was shorter than an official tri, with a 200 meter swim, 5 mile bike ride and a 2 mile run. It is specifically designed for beginners and also is very kid friendly. It was also a pretty good workout and the run was on the beach. That was not easy. I have been admiring my friends who do tris and thought this would be a good way to test the waters. It was awesome and I definitely want to try to sneak and sprint triathlon in my 2013 race calendar if possible. I hope it works out.

After I returned home I completed the ab challenge. I decided to modify it because it was increasing too much too soon and I started cheating. So, today I did 45 full sit-ups (no cheating), 90 crunches, 20 good leg raises (I'd been cheating a little on those too) and a 1 minute plank. It's going well, but I think I'm going to drag it out to 2 months so I can build up slower.

Juneathon: Day 14

Today is a rest day for running because I'll  be doing my first triathlon tomorrow and need to rest up so I can be ready for that.  I'm definitely a little sore from yesterday, which I find odd since I only ran 2.5 miles.  In the spirit of Juneathon and the need to do something everyday I did complete the 14th day of the ab challenge.  It is definitely becoming a true challenge.  Today was 65 sit-ups, 85 crunches, 42 leg raises and a 55 second plank.  I definitely cheat on the sit-ups because it hurts my lower back to go all the way down so I go down about 2/3rds of the way and come back up.  I'm sure that impacts the results, but I've already dealt with lower back issues from running and don't need to make it worse.

Juneathon: Day 13

This week I had a major breakthrough in my workouts.  I actually hit all of my workouts in my training plan!  I have seriously struggled with inconsistency the entire time I started running.  I hired a running coach and my plan started 3 weeks ago, but even the first 2 weeks I missed workouts.  However, this week I did not.  It helped a lot that I am off work right now and have a lot of time on my hands if something gets in the way, but I'm also tired of skipping workouts and being disappointed when I don't do all I can.  I know what it's like to run a marathon when you're not ready.  I don't want to do that again.  I want to get to Chicago knowing I did everything that I could to prepare.  Even though I missed a few workouts my first 2 weeks I can still get back on track.  I have 17 weeks left until the infamous 26.2!  Also, there is a lot more variety in my training plan, which helps tremendously.  I was bored with just straight running.  Now I have speed work, biking and swimming.

Yesterday I did a 2.5 mile run with a mile worth of fartlek training.  There was a major storm that came through right before I was supposed to run, but thankfully it cleared quick.  My running buddy also canceled on me, so it was a prime situation to call it quits and skip out on my workout.  But, I kept telling myself to just get out there and do it even if I didn't want to.  So, I went out on the W&OD trail and did my 1 mile warm-up, 1 mile of fartleks where I tried to sprint every other electric pole, which are ever a 10th of a mile apart, and then I did my half mile cool down.  I ran a few sprints in a 7 and 8 minute pace so that was cool.  If I want to qualify for Boston I'll have to maintain an 8 minute pace.  I have A LOT of work before that every happens, but if I can do it just for a little sprint then there's hope yet :)  It was a great run.  There was almost no one on the trail.  I left my music at home in case it rained and just enjoyed being outside.  It was very humid and hot, which was the only downside, but I'm so happy I got it done.