Consistency in Mileage

I recently listened to a Real Talk Radio with Nicole Antoinette with Jason Fitzpatrick.  This is from the first season of the podcast, which I am trying to get through all of the episodes that are out, having become familiar with it during Season 10. 

It was fun to listen to a running coach talk about, you guessed it, running.  One takeaway I had from listening to this is the importance of consistency.  This was not the first time that I have heard of the importance of consistency in running but given that I am trying to improve my consistency this year, it was a message I was open to hearing.

Consistency is what I am banking on to get me through the half marathon in a 1:28:xx this year.  I have NOT followed my 18 week training plan to a T and when I get down on that, I think of how much more running I have been doing this year than last.  This led me to wondering, I wonder how many more miles have I run leading up to this race than last year?

Last year I ran the PNC Milwaukee Running Festival Half Marathon on Nov 7.  I used Kara Goucher's 10 week training plan for Oiselle, which I started on August 29.  I logged 250.66 miles using that plan prior to the 13.1 which I ran in 1:29:22 (6:49 avg pace), significantly under my 7:00/mile goal pace that I trained for.  The day of the race was PERFECT for running.

This year, I planned on running the same half marathon which went through a name change and a management change, and thus, a course change.  So while it won't be perfectly correlated with last year, it will be similar.  The race this year is also 3 weeks earlier - so greater chance of being warmer.  I picked an 18 week, Hanson plan to train this year.

July 4 would have been day 1 of an 18 week training plan for the race last year.  I logged 340.95 total miles for the 18 weeks leading up to my half last year.  At this point, I am 15.5 weeks into an 18 week training plan.  15.5 weeks in last year would be Oct 13, 2016.   During July 4 - Oct 13 2016,  I logged 254.91 miles. 

I began training on June 13 this year for my 18 week training plan.  During June 13 - September 21 2017, I have logged 497.14 miles which is already more than I did in the total 18 weeks prior to last year's race.  Day for day, I am 242.23 miles ahead of last year.  That is pretty incredible! 

I plotted my monthly mileage totals for the last 3 years (through August) below.  Purple is 2017, Red is 2016, Blue is 2015.  You can see peaks in spring for all three years because I have trained for and ran a marathon all 3 years.   I anticipate that the purple line will have a similar peak as the red line once I get through the remainder of training.  My goal for 2017 is to hit 100 miles every month (dashed black line below) and so far (*knock on wood*), I have met that goal.

2016: Year in Review

2016 has come to a close and what an amazing running year it was for me!  I set PRs in the 5K and Half-Marathon and did a lot of self-reflection and work on mindset which has helped in running and in life.  Here is a recap of my year:

Goals

In January, my goals for 2016 were:

1. Run 3:15 in the Boston Marathon
2. Run a sub 19:00 5K
3. Incorporate core work 2x a week.

I poured everything into that first goal for the first 3.5 months of this year.  When that was a flop, I revised my goal list:

1.  Consistency

I am really proud of my consistency this year.  Even with an injury that led to no running for a month, I logged more miles than 2015.  I would like to continue to build on this in 2017.  I also transitioned to becoming a morning runner for several months, which ended up gelling BEAUTIFULLY with my schedule.  (Until ice and tons of snow messed it up this month!)

2. Strength training

Like core work, strength training is haphazard at best.  Still have not incorporated either core/strength in a routine way, although have some momentum to build on from my participation in the #AMRStride plan

3. Break 19:00 in the 5K

CHECK!  I ran 18:53 in the Run Tosa Run in May.  Sadly, I did not run anymore sub 19 5Ks as I had a foot injury right before all my 5K races hit the calendar.

4. PR in the 8K

Womp Womp.  My 8K time this year was 32:50, far off my 32:12 PR.

5. Do a half marathon and attempt a PR

CHECK and CHECK.  My half marathon PR went from 1:33:23 to 1:29:14 !!!!

Races
I ran 10 races this year, which is 2 more races than 2015.

January: Icebreaker Marathon Relay
My team came in first place!  This was my first Oiselle Volee meet up and it was so much fun that I signed up for it in 2017.

April:  Boston Marathon
3:31:49
1,497 in my age group
1,899 female finisher
8,240 overall finisher
Read my recap here.

May: Run Tosa Run 5K
18:53 (NEW PR!)
1st female
1st age group
8th overall
Recap here

June: Silver Lining for Kids 5K
19:17
2nd female
2nd age group
13th overall
Recap here.

July: Acuity Health Challenge 5K
20:38
4th female
1st age group
13th overall
Recap here.

July: Race for the Bacon 5K
19:49
2nd female
2nd age group
15th overall
Recap here.

August: Hank Aaron State Trail 5K
19:58
1st female
1st age group
31st overall
Recap here

September: Briggs and Als 8K
32:50
5th female
1st age group
58th overall
Recap here

October: Pink Pumpkin Run 5K
19:20
1st female
1st age group
1st overall
Recap here

November: PNC Milwaukee Running Festival Half Marathon
1:29:14  (NEW PR!)
7th female
1st age group
42nd overall
Recap here

Thank you to Athlinks for all of this data!

Mileage
Official 2016 mileage count:  1,206.37

I recognize that this is actually on the low end of annual mileage, but it is what it is.   Mileage for 2016 was 15.7% higher than 2015 total mileage.  I was happy with the amount, considering I had 5 weeks of 0 miles this year, four due to injury and one post-half-marathon.

Shoes
I retired 4 pairs of shoes this year!  (This sounds like a lot because I carried 3 of those over from 2015 with varying amounts of mileage).

Brooks Glycerine
Mizuno Wave Rider
Adidas Boost 2s (Navy)
and finally, my pink Adidas Boost 3s (December 2016 goal acheived!)

I will be carrying 2 pairs of shoes into 2017 with me : Adidas Boost 2s (Magenta) and Mizuno Sayonara 3s.  I really like both of these shoes and have just under 300 miles left on each!

I have a new pair of Saucony ISOs to start using and I won a pair of Asics running shoes in a local running contest.  I have yet to pick those out.

Nutrition
2016 was also a year that I stepped up my nutrition game.  I did a Whole 30 in May which helped form some new habits - namely eating more fats, eating eggs + veggies for breakfast, and decreasing sugar (which admittedly TOTALLY went out the window in December - hello Christmas cookies!).  Another good habit that I picked up was eating something immediately after a run - either a Picky Bar or a Rx Bar.   I am still trying to hydrate more.  I don't know why this is so difficult for me!

I stuck with Nuun for the majority of my sports drink and did gu packs for my marathon.  I switched to Gen UCan for my half marathon and had a lot of success with this so stockpiled for spring 2017 marathon training.

Clothing
I replaced the majority of my running wardrobe this year.  I still had running clothes from early college!  I also had a lot of running clothes that I didn't really love.  I donated all of my shorts and bought several pairs of Oiselle Distance Shorts, which are my favorite.  I also beefed up my winter running gear by buying several pairs of new tights and a few new lightweight jackets and long sleeve shirts.

2016 was the year I tried, and loved, compression sleeves/socks, trucker hats, and a gaiter!  I do not know how I got through winter running last year without a gaiter!

Reading
I read A LOT about running during 2016.  Yes, there are my Friday links, but I also read several running books:

Boston Bound
Running:  A Love Story
Mile Markers
Hanson's Marathon Method
Ready to Run
The Runner's Brain

Ambassadorships
I renewed my Oiselle Volee team membership this year and participated in the Nuun and Momentum Jewelry ambassador programs.  I also had fun helping out a friend by serving as the runner in some photos taken for his business, Serpentijn Art & Athletics.

Best Prizes
I won some fun race awards this year!  Run Tosa Run always has an amazing prize pack full of gift cards to Wauwatosa businesses.  I won a COOLER FULL OF BACON at the Race for the Bacon and a Bartolotta Restaurant gift card at the Hank Aaron State Trail race.

Best Contests
I enter a LOT of contests.  As my friends like to point out, I also win a fair number of contests!  This year I won some fun running items through contests:

Entrance to a 2017 race via Facebook contest hosted by Lighthouse Events
Asics running shoes via Facebook contest hosted by Lighthouse Events
Oiselle Flyte LS via #rungiving contest hosted by Oiselle
CEP Compression socks via IG contest hosted by CEP
Nuun + Nuun water bottle via Nuun Twitter contest
Nathan water bottle from @divasrunning on Instagram

Point being - ENTER THOSE CONTESTS!  (My friend Erica hosts a lot of running/fitness related giveaways on her blog!)

Enjoy your New Year's Eve!

My Answers to Three Questions to Ask Yourself Before the New Year

This week's Friday Links pointed to the article outlining three questions to ask yourself before the new year.  Here goes!

1.  What were my three favorite athletic moments of 2016?

First, running the PNC Milwaukee Half Marathon.  It was a textbook great race for me and culminated in shaving over 4 minutes off my half-marathon PR AND my first half under 1:30! Hands down my favorite race of 2016.  I was proud of pushing through pain for the last few miles of this and not backing off the pace.

Second, FINALLY breaking 19:00 in the 5K at Run Tosa Run.  I loved the competition of this race. Without the woman who finished second, I don't know that I would have ran this as fast as I did.

Third, my sometimes training partner Bettina and I had the most amazing 22 mile run leading up to the Boston Marathon.   You can read about it at the end of this post.

2.  What were my challenges this year?

Same challenge I always have - staying consistent.  I think I made a lot of progress with this but December was a hot mess.

I also was challenged with a stress reaction in my metatarsal which threw off my 5K training for summer.

My biggest challenge that I started working on is mindset.  The biggest example of this was the Boston Marathon where I physically felt off from the beginning and let my mind get sucked down as well.  In several other races, I gave up or backed off when the onset of pain came.

3. What inspires me now?  Write down three goals for 2017.

First, I want to PR in the marathon.

Second, I want to challenge myself with something new.  To that end, I have signed up for a duathlon in July 2017.  (Run 2 miles, bike 14.7 miles, run 2 miles.)

Third, I want to incorporate more yoga and meditation into my routine.  I read A LOT about meditation in 2016.  This started as a task for work.  I was reading medical literature about health impact of meditation/mindfulness.  That lead to a colleague and I taking a 6 week course in mindfulness, offered by my employer.  That lead to me reading a few books on meditation:

10% Happier
Do Your Om Thing

I took a yoga for runners course earlier this year and played with some yoga out of the Hit Reset book. I took the plunge and subscribed to JasYoga (due to a free month code we were sent via Oiselle).

Last week in Review: Low Mileage, But Lots of Other Stuff!

Moving onto week 3 of the AMR Stride plan!  And My #RWRunStreak is going strong at 5 days...even though I REALLY wanted to stay in bed this morning.

Last week was a short mileage week.  I just barely cleared 20 miles for the weekly total but I did a track workout, a lot more yoga that usual, and a strength circuit (twice).  At this point, since I am not training for anything specific, I think the tradeoff in miles to gain diversity in workout was worth it.  My daughter also came out on a run and made it a mile (with a few stop breaks).  I was super excited about that.

Another thing I am trying to do more at work is use the standing desk options.  We all know sitting all day is terrible.  But it is easy for me :)  I gained a renewed motivation for interrupting my sitting ways after reading this book: Ready to Run: Unlocking Your Potential to Run Naturally  I actually have colleagues remind me to go use the standing desk and peer pressure works.  :)  (For reference, we work in an open concept "Google" type office where we can rotate work stations throughout the day.)

One crazy thing I was able to participate in over the weekend was being a running model for a local organization, Serpentijn Art & Athletics.  (Yes! A model! Not gonna lie - it was super fun!) The organization was founded by a friend's husband to bring art and athletics together to support organizations that benefit kids.  They collaborate with artists to design products, and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the products benefits one of two organizations: Dreaming Zebra and Milwaukee MTB Kids Mountain Bike Team.

Their newest product is a beautiful gaiter designed by Emily Balsley.   I spent my Saturday wearing it running by Lake Michigan, running through Lake Park and running with Mags.  I also spent a lot of time wearing it while running errands, decorating our house for Christmas, playing spies with my kids.  If you are so inclined, you can check it out here (including some photos of me wearing it).  I am already anticipating that it will be one of my winter running staples.

Full disclosure - I will probably overshare more of the amazing photos taken by Darren Hauck on my Instagram account (@amyschlott) because they are AMAZEBALLS.  And how often do you get AMAZEBALLS photos taken of yourself?!

Here was my last week:

Monday: 30 minute Zen Run followed by Legs Up the Wall.
Zen Run = Basically trying to practice mindfulness while running.  Holy shitballs.  It is difficult, but rewarding.  I'm glad these are a weekly staple of the AMR Stride plan.  4.03 miles

Tuesday: off.  This was an unintentional day off, but looking back, it was appropriate since I technically will not have any off days until 2017!

Wednesday: Negative split run followed by Pigeon Yoga
First block:  2 miles, 15:39, 7:48 pace
Next block: 2.2 miles, 16:00, 7:20 pace

Thursday: Track workout!
1.78 mi warm up (run to track)
4 x 400 (1:24, 1:25, 1:26, 1:28) with jogging 400s in between (1:53, 1:54, 1:50)
1.83 mi cool down (run home)

Friday: 4 mile easy run, 30:53/7:38 pace followed by Lizard Yoga

Saturday: 1 mile run with Mags, 11:30 pace (plus "running" for photo shoot)

Sunday: 20 minute run, followed by 2 x BAMR Strength Circuit followed by Hamstring Yoga

Friday Links!

This week I joined and started following the Another Mother Runner Stride Through the Holidays plan for Heart Strides.  AND WOW.  I am sore.  Not from the running - no, running is the easy part.  It is the cross-training workouts that I always say I want to do but then never do them.  This week, I did a strength circuit (twice!) with things like burpees, Russian twists and other intimidating names, AND 30 minutes of yoga targeting my hamstrings.  And I am still feeling it. I am hoping that by the end of the 5 week plan, I will be more consistent about incorporating these beneficial workouts into my weeks.

Now the links. 

How A Step Back Was the Way Forward

Love Sarah Mac.  And my main takeaway from this article (and learning lesson from this past week) is that it might be worth dialing back on miles/running days to incorporate these workouts that I always want to get in, but then never do.  I also have learned that I need to be intentional about non-running workouts.  Having a running plan helps me stay on track with getting running in so it should come as no surprise that having a plan for things like yoga and strength training might also be helpful.  (DUH.)

Runners Try: Jasyoga

I first heard about Jasyoga from Oiselle.  I bought the Hit Reset book, which I (and my daughter) like.  Having the book was not really helping me incorporate yoga in a more consistent way so I have considered purchasing a Jasyoga subscription to have access to the videos.  I have had some hesitation in doing so because I own yoga DVDs and still...I do not do yoga regularly.  I liked that Oiselle has some free Jasyoga videos hosted on their blog so that I could try them out before taking the subscription plunge.  I really liked the hamstring workout.  It was hard for me (hello! tight hamstrings) but I could feel (and am still feeling) a difference after doing it.  All I want for Christmas is a Jasyoga subscription! 

8 Ways to Become a Morning Runner

Morning running is where it is at!  The quotes in this article are spot on.  It hurt a bit to get out of bed this morning.  The hubs and I went to a neighborhood social where I had 2 glasses of wine and because I am getting old, that was enough to make me feel not so great this morning. It was time to Woman Up! so...at 5:06 AM, I slid out of bed, scrolled through my Instagram feed for motivation, and got out there to slog (and I mean SLOG) through a 30 minute run.

What Does Sub-Elite Mean and Race Offerings for Sub-Elites

I have heard this term ("sub-elite") and didn't know what it meant.  Thank you Salty Running for this series.  And...some of those half-marathon sub-elite times are NOT too scary to me. I loved my recent half-marathon experience and it was not an easy race...and yet, it wasn't god awful.  I have room to push there. (2017 goal?!)  

Have a great weekend!

The PNC Milwaukee Running Festival Half-Marathon Race Recap

omg.  Omg.  OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Buckle your seat belts, this is going to be a LONG post.   It was a day where every.single.thing went so right and hairy scary goals were achieved!!

To refresh - my goals for the race:

1. Time goals

A goal: Run 7:00 avg pace.  Finish in 1:31 zone.

B goal: PR - Run faster than 1:33:23

2.  Master the Discomfort.  Embrace the intensity at the end of the race.  No backing down when things get tough.

3.  Negative split the race.

Someone on the Oiselle Facebook page asked us all to write down our "hairy scary goals" (Shalene Flanagan verbage).  I hesitated, then typed "Run a sub-1:30 half-marathon".

Now. Let's recap!

Saturday

I ran a 2 mile shakeout run.  Maggie decided to accompany me for the first 1/3 mile which was fun. I had to pick up my race packet at the Harley Davidson Museum.  My family decided to accompany me. (After the Boston Marathon Race Expo, they are all about them :)  I had to let them know that it was highly unlikely to be as large as the Boston Expo!)

The race expo was packed and I stood in line to get my packet.  I got my number and we tooled around the expo for a bit.  I entered a few contests.  My kids did some cool bike pedal thing which created painted spirograph-looking posters.  We decided to leave.

We were in the car, ready to leave when I pulled out my race number and saw "BILL".  WTF.  I ran back to the expo, stood in line again, and exchanged my number.  PHEW.  I was fuming the entire time I stood in line, and then realized that I should have looked at the number when I was initially handed it.

That night my husband went out with his brother and the kids were driving me slightly insane so I had a beer with dinner.  The kids went to bed early, I set all the clocks back, cleaned up the kitchen and folded some laundry.  I got all of my stuff ready to go.  I had read something on a Facebook thread about making the Gen UCan the night before so I prepped that in a blender bottle.  I was in bed, no joke, at 7:40pm.  (It was really 8:40pm).  I tried reading my book but I was zonked.

Sunday

Imagine my surprise when my alarm was what woke me up at 5 AM.  After months and weeks of waking up all night long with one or both children, magically both of them slept through the entire night.  THANK YOU GOD.  I woke up feeling AWESOME.

I got dressed, went downstairs, made coffee and shoved my stuff into my gear check bag.  I had a multi-grain muffin (Runners World cookbook recipe) with cashew butter and blended my coffee with coconut oil, per usual.  I was set!  I left my house at 5:30 AM.

I was in the car, blaring some radio station.  I was belting out Aerosmith..."Tell me what it takes to let you go..." and then Katy Perry's Roar came on and I seriously started tearing up.  I was so excited to run.  At this point, I started having a minor panic attack.  I had to take a different route than I usually take downtown due to construction and I wasn't sure that the way I was going was correct.  Added on to that, I realized that I had forgotten my wallet and had no money for parking.  Then I had convinced myself that I was going to get pulled over speeding and not have a license on me.  After a few deep breaths, I realized that I had left early enough that I would likely find a street spot and if not, I thought there might have been enough change in the car to scrape up a parking fee if need be.  By this time, I realized that I had taken the right route.  Beyonce came on the radio.  Things were looking up.

I exited the freeway and no joke, there was a street spot waiting for me.  THANK YOU GOD.  It was a bit away from the start line but I took it.  I started walking to the start line, drinking my Gen UCan.   I made bathroom pit stop #1.  It was a beautiful morning.  I walked over to the spot where Oiselle Volee were to meet and talked to some people.  It is so weird when you meet people you follow on Instagram in real life.  Like, I know you, but not really.  ha ha ha

A group of us made pit stop #2.  We took a group picture and then dispersed.  I gear checked my stuff and was in shorts, a tank and a throwaway long sleeve.  I decided against wearing my calf sleeves because I hadn't been training in them and was worried I would get hot.

I had to go to the bathroom AGAIN.  By this point, the lines were really long and the marathon was about to start.  The half-marathon was scheduled to start 15 minutes later.  I took my chances and remained in line.   Of course all the lines EXCEPT for the one I was in were moving.  I finally went to the bathroom.  I was very glad I waited.  I was a little concerned that I was having so many bathroom trips but pushed those thoughts out of my mind.  It was time to get in the corral!

I made my way to near the front, threw off my long sleeve and it was time to go!

One of my goals was to be in each mile and I did so well with this during the race.  It made for a really enjoyable race!  It is also going to make for a long recap. :)

Mile 1
Run relaxed. Run relaxed. Run relaxed.  I felt really good.  I felt like I was running slow, but i knew based on my position in the crowd that I was not running slow.  There were some crowds and I remember a dog that was barking and it sounded like he was cheering.  It made me start laughing.  I approached a Team Triumph pack near the mile marker and they were playing the Try Everything song from Zootopia, which my daughter loves and again, my eyes started tearing up.  
Mile 1: 6:45

Mile 2
I was feeling good and we were approaching the big hill in the course.  I literally felt like I floated up that hill.  It did not feel like I was running up a hill - it was the weirdest feeling.  I passed a few people on the hill and appreciated the guy with the monster cowbell at the top.  Once I reached the top I knew I was going to see my sister soon.  I was approaching the intersection where she was going to meet me and I was thinking, "Is that her? Where are the dogs? That can't be her."  Then I heard her yell, "Geez.  Why are you running so slow?!"  It made me laugh.  She rode her bike a block or two next to me.  It was so fun!  At the mile marker she turned around and went back home.
Mile 2: 7:04

Mile 3
At this point, I was running in a pack of 2 men and 2 other women.  One of the guys was named Steve and he was getting a lot of cheers.  I jokingly said I was going to pretend my name was Steve. One woman said, "Are either of you (referring to me and the 3rd woman) 40 years old?" and I said, "Nope 35".  The other woman also said, "Yes, I'm 35".  The 40 year old said, "Alright then" and I said, "Yeah you're good but you on the other hand (looking to the 35 year old), are going down."  Oh the jokes at mile 3.  Seriously I still felt like I was barely moving but knew that it was too early to go crazy.  I also thought it was a little early to be planning age group awards but it was fun to have some conversation.
Mile 3: 6:54

Mile 4
I was really enjoying the course so far.  We ran over a cool bridge, along some beautiful flag poles. This was a fun mile because it was lots of turns, and seemed to go by quickly.
Mile 4: 6:53

Mile 5
At this point, I was running by myself.  I hadn't stopped at any of the water/gatorade points and began the slow grind up Wisconsin Ave.  There were a few people watching but not many cheering.  This part of the course I thought of my family because we had passed it on the way to packet pick up and it is the reverse of the Briggs & Al's run route.
Mile 5: 6:55

Mile 6
I began to see the half-marathon leaders as they were running back along the opposite side of the course.  I could not believe how many women were ahead of me.  FAST.  I reached the turn around and was relieved that the wind was finally at my back.   The Wisconsin Ave climb seemed to take a long time.  I started to have thoughts that I wasn't doing very well based on my place.  I told myself over and over again that I was not running for place - I was running for time.  I saw two Oiselle birds on my way back down Wisconsin Ave and exchanged cheers with them.  That was awesome.  I still felt really strong.
Mile 6: 6:51

Mile 7
I had a new pack that I was running with - a man and a woman.  There was no talking though.  I just tried to stick with them as I liked their pace.  I felt like they came out of nowhere.   I liked running down 16th street, except for the bridge.  The grates hurt my feet a bit.
Mile 7: 6:47

Mile 8
I was still with my pack and it felt like they had picked it up a bit.  I was still feeling good so I stuck with them.  At this point, I started thinking that I could break 1:30 if I really kept at it.
Mile 8: 6:28

Mile 9  
The mile 8 split freaked me out a bit.  Did I start running too fast? I don't think so.  I called to mind my recent 8 mile run where I ran a bunch of miles in the 6:30s.  I liked this part of the course - we were on a bike trail or something.  I saw the mile marker clock and thought, HOLY SHIT.  I really could break 1:30 today.  Today is going to be a hairy scary goal day!
Mile 9: 6:29

Mile 10
Just keep with this guy. Just keep with this guy.  My legs were feeling tired.  We had made it back to the lake.  You will master discomfort.  You can master discomfort.  You got this.  I still hadn't needed a water stop.
Mile 10: 6:33

Mile 11
At this point I had passed the man and woman that I had been packed up with and started passing various guys.  I had this single vision of breaking 1:30.  My legs hurt but I just kept thinking of previous workouts where I only had 2 mile tempos.  I had never thought of previous workouts in a race before but it was really working for me mentally.
Mile 11: 6:31

Mile 12
I was slightly confused at this point because we were staying along the lake but my memory of the race map had us circling the lagoon.  I was thinking, "There is no way we can be going around the lagoon and have a mile left."
Mile 12: 6:39

Mile 13 - 13.1
I was tired.  I just tried to keep my legs moving.  I knew I was probably slowing down but I could not make my legs go faster.  I saw my family right at the start of the finish and started waving frantically.  I tried to sprint.  I know I was not sprinting and I do not want to see video of myself at the finish because I am sure it was ugly.  I saw that the clock had just turned to 1:29 and I started freaking out.  "yes, yes yes!!!"
Mile 13: 6:50

Finish: 1:29:14.65 (chip) 1:29:22.42 (gun)

I can't wait to see the finish line photos.  In my head, I have this glorious race photo because I had lifted my arms above my head and was basically smiling unicorns.  I.WAS.PUMPED.

So many goals achieved with this race.
1.  I broke my half-marathon PR by 4 minutes and 9 seconds.  I broke my hairy scary goal of 1:30!
2.  I mastered the discomfort.  I maintained positive self-talk throughout the race.
3.  I negative split the race!  My 10K split stats were:
7:01 min/mile pace
2nd in my age group
13th woman
70th overall.

I finished with 6:49 min/mile pace
1st age group
7th woman
40th overall

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday Links!

It's FRI-YAY! Extra YAY as I am with some girlfriends in Cape Cod (well, I wrote this yesterday in anticipation that I would be in Cape Cod).  Looking forward to running my long run on part of the Falmouth Road Race course tomorrow!

Here are this week's links:

Secrets to Success: Dynamic Warm Up
Do you do anything like this?  I would like to start.

Fertility and False Choices
I am a big Laura Vanderkam fan, particularly of her blog, although I have read her books. I can always gain some insight/wisdom of how to make time for things from reading her work.  Her comments about "work/life balance" in this post resonated with me.

New Season, New Goals
"When I was training for Twin Cities last year, I learned there is an unbelievable amount of magic in utter belief, and when training for the Trials I learned that you can do everything perfectly for 4 months, and it might not matter.  Even though that sounds like a crappy lesson to have learned, it's actually kind of liberating."

When I read that, I thought of my Boston 2016.  She's totally right.  It is a crappy lesson and all these months later, I do feel liberated by it.  I don't need to put all this pressure on myself to have good races!

What Do You Like About Yourself?
I like that I keep showing up, dark morning after dark morning.  I like that this year, I have consistently reflected on running and have grown from that practice.  I like that I can run fast when I am not afraid.

In Running and In Life...

I tend to silo my running into something I do for roughly 30-60 minutes each outing and that is it. Check it off the list.  Move onto the next thing.  Of course my ability to go for a run often depends on several things, mainly that my children are cared for by someone that isn't me for that period of time.  Over the last few years, I have worked hard to limit that list of dependencies (some might call them excuses) and make running more of a priority.

One excuse that I am working on getting rid of is, "I'm skipping this morning run because I didn't get a full night of sleep last night."

Despite the fact that my children are 2 and 6, we still deal with one (or both) waking in the middle of the night once in a while...or in the case of a few weeks ago, every.single.night for a week.  Anyhoo, I noticed that if my kids did not sleep through the night, and hence, I would not sleep through the night, I took full license to shut off my early morning alarm and skip running in the morning which would consequently throw off my whole day because I would have this underlying anxiety of "when am I going to get my run in".  And, because I have a really difficult time falling back asleep once I wake up, It wasn't like that extra hour was always affording me an extra hour of sleep.

At about 1:30 this morning, my son woke up.  My husband went to figure out what he needed and I stayed in bed.  Unfortunately I didn't fall back asleep right away but eventually I did and thus when my 5:00 alarm went off, I was SO TEMPTED to shut it off and stay in bed.  I willed myself out of that bed...stumbled into the bathroom and almost went to the bathroom without removing articles of clothing first.  Thankfully, I did rise out of my stupor enough to get dressed and out the door.

My plan called for a speed workout today...and I debated actually doing that workout and getting an easy run in instead.

"I can do the speed work tomorrow.  I am sooo tired today."

I set off for my first few steps and settled into the first mile and you know what, I felt pretty good!  At  the point that my Garmin beeped, I had a sudden change of heart and was like, "Let's do this!"

The speed workout was named the "pace checker workout" in my plan.  It is defined as, "8x800m at goal half marathon pace with 1 minute rest.  This workout should get you comfortable with your race pace.  This is a good check-in point with your half goal.  If this workout is not doable as written, consider altering your half goal."

The different (time-based)* levels of my half goal are

A: Run 7:00 mile average pace.  Which leaves me in 1:31 land.

B.  PR in this event, which leaves me running faster than a 1:33:23 or 7:07 pace.

A 7:00 pace translates to a 3:30 800.  This seems really slow to me as the last time I was doing 800s, they were at 3:15-3:20 pace for marathon training.  Trust the process though, right? 

My first 800 was a 3:28.  It felt good - not too fast.  I wanted to maintain that for the next several.  Do not run faster...do not run faster. 

It started drizzling at some point during the dark morning, which felt pretty good. 

[I should mention that because it was still dark, I was doing these on a 1/2 mi course in the adjacent neighborhood, not on the track, which doesn't open until dawn.] 

A bunch of dogs started barking at me, scaring the crap out of me, during #5.

I finished number 8 feeling strong and still relaxed at a 3:18.  

During this workout, with every 800 that I crossed off the list, I was more and more confident in my half marathon goal but also with my upcoming day.  I had a big presentation this morning that I was going through in my head.  Yesterday, I made it through a practice round, "murder-board" style, which was a confidence boost.  But you know what was the biggest confidence boost?  Finishing those 800s slightly below my goal pace, feeling awesome.  Crushing that workout just set up my day in such a positive light.  I thought, "Aha! THIS is why people do morning workouts."

And now...I need coffee.  STAT.

Friday Links: Wake Up Early: How You Can Do It

This has been A WEEK.

I have not gotten a full night's sleep all week.  For Real.  Last night before going to bed, I prayed to the gods and heavens above that neither of my children would wake up in the middle of the night as seems to be our current routine.  Turns out none of the gods or heavens like me - at 2:30 my son was awake.

Despite the fact that my eye is twitching (does that happen to anyone else when you are tired?!), I haven't missed a run yet!  I ran 4 of the 5 days so far this week.

I missed 2 of the 4 early morning alarms because I was so tired.  Luckily my afternoons this week have been dedicated to a SAS training, and two of the afternoons we were done early so I could sneak my run in during that suddenly free time. PHEW.  I took Thursday as a day off this week, which was much needed. Which left this morning, when I forced myself to get out of bed.

I still struggle with the early morning run, but it has been getting easier.  I agree with many of the tips in this week's Friday Link:  Wake Up Early: How You Can Do It.

I started trying to ease into morning runs by wearing my running clothes to bed.  While this proved useful to getting out of bed and going, it wasn't very comfortable, mainly due to the compressive sports bra.  As long as I set out EVERYTHING I will need for a run the night before, in convenient spaces, I have been doing ok.

The routine that has been working for me is:

5:00 Wake Up Alarm/stretch in bed and say mantras like nobody's business to motivate myself to not go back to bed

5:05 Get out of bed.  Stumble into bathroom and turn on shower light so as not to wake husband.  Put contacts in, change in running clothes that I have laid out night before, go downstairs.

5:10 Turn on porch light.  Go into kitchen and turn on a bunch of lights.  Get water bottle out and fill with water + 1 Nuun for after run.  Check phone to scroll through Instagram for more motivation.  Grab knucklights and watch which I also put out the night before.  Go back to front door and put on shoes which I set by door the night before.

5:15 Get out of the house and run loops around my neighborhood.  1 loop ~ 1.15 miles

5:50-6 (Depending on how far I had to go) Return back to house, grab water bottle of Nuun and RxBar, sit out on front porch admiring the quiet for a bit (unless I hear that the kids are awake, which then I usually go up and greet them).

6-6:45 Shower, dress, makeup, hair for myself.  Help kids get dressed, hair, teeth.  Breakfast for kids, make lunches for myself + kids and breakfast for myself which I take to work and eat.

6:45-7:00 Commute to work (Hubs finishes up with breakfast with kids and transports them to school & daycare)

One of the ways that I have been able to motivate myself to do morning runs is that I feel more calm during our night routine if I don't have to run after kids are in bed.  I am not nearly as annoyed with them for DRAAAAAGING out bed time if I am not itching to get out the door at 7 PM stat.  Also, I get to enjoy some time with my husband (usually watching tv) every night when I run in the morning. I think these more relaxed evenings are the biggest motivator for me embracing the morning routine.

I try to get to bed between 9/9:30 to accommodate waking up an hour before I was used to, but that doesn't always happen.  Usually I figure, if I get to sleep through the night, I am getting 7 - 7.5 hours a sleep on a week night.  I do not get up at 5 on weekends which grabs me an extra hour or so of sleep on Saturdays and Sundays.

So that's my trying-to-be-habitual-morning routine!  Anyone else an early bird?

Pain, Pain Go Away

I started investigating the impact of mindset on running earlier this year, kind of by accident as we had to read Mindset for work. And, because I am more tuned into it, it seems that "the mental side of running" is all the rage lately.  Lucky me! To date, I have focused generically on "mental focus" - creating mantras, thinking positive thoughts.  I have read about the power of habit (another work book!) and therefore started practicing mantras while not racing.  I have found that these have been helpful but still not exactly right.

Then I read Mark Remy's August 2016 column in Runner's World and CLICK!  I had it.  My issue.  Pain. Suffering. Hurt. Discomfort.  I don't like it.   I can so clearly remember a conversation back in high school before a big cross country meet where one of my teammates said, "I just don't want it to hurt" and emphatically agreeing with her.  Indeed, if I reflect back on my race history - when they started to hurt, I lost it, most of the time.  I think my marathon especially suffers from this.  I mean a 5K is so quick and while it hurts, I can easily talk myself out of the pain knowing it isn't going to last too much longer.  During a marathon? I am not successful.  Out of 7 attempts at that distance, I only have 2 that I don't remember bonking at:

1) The 2006 Chicago marathon, which was my second marathon and where I dropped 38 minutes and 16 seconds off my time from my first attempt to qualify for Boston in 3:30:20.

2) The first time I ran Boston, in 2007, where I didn't care what my time was and ran entirely by feel, and had an enjoyable time (and finished in 3:33:28, which was almost exactly 3 minutes slower than my qualifying time.)

Pain Face during Race for the Bacon

Every other marathon, I distinctly remember the point at which I backed off because it hurt.  Um, how can I be in love with distance running and be unable to deal with pain?!  Easy.  Generally, I have found minor success at running good enough.  My breakthrough moments in running have come when for whatever reason I could push past the pain.  If I can learn to deal with some pain, I can easily get my 3:15 marathon goal.  I know it.  I had an amazing training cycle preparing for Boston 2016 - including a number of long runs where everything clicked and they were amazing.  I also had a number of long runs where they didn't feel right/I wasn't comfortable and I remember dwelling on that the entire run.  

Now that I am aware of this, I can more effectively work on making this common practice, right?  So say the sports psychologists anyways.

Here are some of my favorite recent readings on dealing with pain:

Alexi Pappas, "My Pal, Pain"

Heather Stephens, Go Through It

Another Mother Runner podcast The Mental Side of Running

"There is a big difference between pain and discomfort - work on understanding why you are backing down." 

From the aforementioned Remy's World:

"Suffering is a constant.  It'll be there no matter what. Do your speed workout and you will suffer.  Put it off for weeks or months (or years) and you'll suffer.  run today and you may suffer, at least a little bit. Skip it and you'll suffer for that too.  Go get it done. you might as well choose the kind of suffering that makes you faster."

Jason Karp, via @heather_runs74 on Instagram:

"There will always be that voice inside of us that says, 'This is too hard', or 'This hurts' or 'I want to stop'. We can either let that voice get the best of us, or we can work at mastering ourselves and our emotions."

If you have any other quotes/links/etc, share them. :)

Pain Face during Acuity Health Race

Be Brave

In February, I applied to become a Momentum Jewelry ambassador.  I had admired their motivational wrap bracelets on the wrists of all of my IG "friends" and bought one for a friend for her birthday.  I felt a connection to the company as it was founded by a woman named Amy who also had her MPH. (Lame, but true.)

I found out later in March that I was selected!  I was given the option to pick a wrap bracelet and a foot note for my shoe.  I picked "like a boss" for my shoe and "be brave" for my bracelet.  Be Brave is a familiar mantra in my house.  It is one my five year old was given through some play therapy sessions we went through at the close of 2015.  I had borrowed it on a few bad runs and I also knew she would be excited when she saw it.

I was checking my mailbox like a madwoman (even more than I usually do) in the days before we left for Boston.  I so wanted those items for my race!  On Thursday morning, hours before we left, my husband even went to the post office for me to see if it was there.  (He's a keeper, that one.)

Alas.  No bling for my race.

We got back from Boston on a Tuesday evening and the accumulated mail from when we were gone was in the box.  There on top was my package from Momentum Jewelry.

Still pissed about the race that wasn't, I let out a few choice words, convinced that the universe was against me.

Nine days after the race, I am beginning to change my tune.  I think the universe knew I was going to need that motivation more AFTER the race, no matter what the outcome, than I would before.

Allow me to explain:

Last year, after my spring marathon, I was riding high.  I had run a marathon PR after some strong, but inconsistent, training.

Woohoo!

Look at me.  #likeaboss

Save for 2 5K races that I did in the month after that, I did not run.  "I earned a little break", was my thinking.

I ran a sprinkling of 5Ks over the summer but my running was all over the place.  Some weeks I ran 4 days, some weeks were 0.  Come September, when I registered for Boston, I knew I was going to have to step it up to get back into marathon shape.  It was really hard to get back into it and all fall I just tried to bring some consistency to my training, and really dedicated myself to it starting Thanksgiving Day with the Runner's World Run Streak Challenge.

I don't want a repeat of last year.  I want to have a great racing season this summer, capped off by an awesome half in the fall.  And while I am still trying to get over the race that wasn't, I know that in order to "be brave", I have to keep going.

Coincidentally, a colleague just gave me Big Magic to read.  I follow Elizabeth Gilbert (@elizabeth_gilbert_writer) on Instagram (of course) and have wanted to read this book but never pursued it.  I donned my Momentum Jewelry bracelet for the first time and started reading it.  I am not even kidding but come page 2, she is talking about bravery.

So Yes.  I think the Universe is trying to tell me something. 

It's trying to tell me to keep going.  

Be Brave.  

Even my 5 year old could tell you that :)

5 Days Until Race Day! FIVE!

541 days ago, I started this blog as a way to hold myself accountable for a goal I had:

Qualify for, and run, the 2016 Boston Marathon.

Almost a year ago, I qualified by running the Wisconsin Marathon in 3:25:50.  Step 1, Done.

In 5 days, barring any freakish occurrence (knocking on wood right now!), I will run the Boston Marathon.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK.

Ok.

In preparing for this race, I have read a lot, and have worked on mental training as much as physical training.  Last week, I finished reading The Runner's Brain.  Regardless of source, a given of race prep is setting a number of goals.  Call them what you will (e.g., "good/better/best", "A/B/C"), they all boil down to the same concept.

I have had a central goal since beginning training:  Run this sucker in 3:15.  However, I have a more nuanced race plan after talking to my coach and doing some thinking.

Worse case scenario:  In the words of my coach, this is the "oh, I feel like shit today" plan.  If I show up to the start feeling like I am on my deathbed, I just enjoy the experience and take it in.

It is good to have a back up plan, but I'm hoping not to invoke the worst case scenario.  So let's talk about how this is going down.

Start line:  START SLOW.  I want to run the first three miles at 8:00 pace, the first five in around 39 minutes.    Ease into the 7:30 pace land.  If at 5 miles, I'm feeling good, continue with 7:30.

At 10 miles, check in with my body and evaluate.  If all systems go, continue with 7:30.

At 15 miles, check in with my body and evaluate.  If all systems go, continue with 7:30.  Here is where the hills come in.  If I'm feeling good, continue to try to do 7:30 on the hills.

At 20 miles, if I'm feeling good, all systems go.  Finish strong.

What does this look like time wise?  My physical training would have me believe that a straight 7:30 pace should be doable.  Finish time: 3:16:48, within the 3:15-3:17 zone.  I would be happy with this.

Of course, I don't dream of that.  In my visualizations and deep down, I want to finish strong (7:15 pace land) and finish in 3:15 or under.

If I don't make any of those time goals, I at least want to PR, which would be to run it faster than 3:25:50 AND negative split the race.

As my coach reminded me, regardless of the outcome, I should be happy and proud of the process and my training.  I was consistent, as consistent as I have ever been, and I kicked out some hard HARD workouts.  I am proud and happy with my training.

But, if I'm honest, a little part of me will be disappointed if this is a total flop.  Luckily, I have had a great block of training and the chunking of thinking of the race in 5 mile increments is a mental strategy that I have invoked, and have had success with, in the past.  Finally, THE CROWDS!  Really looking forward to the boost that will give me as well!  

Emotionally, I am riding high right now.   If I think too much about it, I get tears in my eyes.  (Indeed, I was welling up while listening to the "race prep/race strategy" convo with my coach last night!).   Every time I imagine crossing the finish line, the tears come.  The key will be to channel that, especially at the start!

This is my last post before the race.  I am back on Tuesday night and will do my best to get a recap up next week sometime.  You can follow me via the athlete tracker system (or download the app!) and enter my bib number 14233.  And if you don't already follow me on Instagram (@amyschlott) I have been known to overgram more than one occassion :)

Thanks so much for reading this 1 year, 5 month and 29 day journey I have been on!

Well, I got that out of my system.

Last week was the worst week of training I have had in a long time.

I was supposed to do 3 x 1.5 miles last Tuesday and my coach gave me an out and said do 2 x 1.5 miles on Tuesday if you're feeling tired.  I took the out, although I could have done it.  I was on the treadmill and no matter that I have done some TOUGH workouts (hello, 18 MILES) on a treadmill in the past few months, I couldn't do it.

Then, I had an easy 10 mile run on Saturday.  It snowed a bunch of times last week and even though I have run in snow/icy conditions all winter, I was nervous to run outside with a little over a week until race day so I waited to do the run on a treadmill.  SUCKED.  I only did 5.23 miles.  And it was a struggle, mentally, to get that far.

I ended the week with a measly 18.45 miles, 5.8 miles less than my plan called for.

All last week, I was freaking out.  And today I feel calm.

I was texting with my best friend last night, freaking out about the shitty training week and the race day weather forecast (which called for 68 and sunny last night, lowered to 61 and sunny at press time).  She was awesome and reminded me that the weather is still a ways out AND "you can control your preparation and hydration, but not the weather".   True true and TRUE.  The best part of our text conversation was her reply to my sucktastic runs:

"Get those crap workouts out of the way now!"

SO TRUE!  I have had crap weeks before and you know what always followed them? A great week.

I have four easy workouts this week:
2 mile warm up, 2 miles @ 7:25, 2 mile cool down with 6 strides
30 minutes easy with 1 mile @ 7:20 in the middle
30 minutes easy
20 minutes easy with 6 strides

That's it!  Keep it loose, drink lots of water, and eat good food.

Oh.

And plan my outfit :)

Hi. My name is Amy and I am an Obliger.

I listened to a Gretchen Rubin podcast on February 1 that sparked an "Aha!" moment for me.

I was an obliger.

This was not necessarily news to me as I had read Rubin's Better than Before book a few years ago.  I enjoyed the book, as I have her other books.  The underlying premise that frames Better than Before is that everyone can be classified into one of four tendencies when it comes to habits.  From Rubin's blog, in her words, the four tendencies "in a nutshell" are:

Upholders respond readily to both inner and outer expectations
Questioners question all expectations, but will follow expectations if they think the expectations are sensible (effectively making all expectations into inner expectations)
Rebels resist all expectations
Obligers meet outer expectations but struggle to meet expectations they impose on themselves

Her hypothesis is that if you find out where you most closely align, there are different strategies that you would use to make a change in your habits.

I took the quiz to find out which of Rubin's four tendencies I was.

Except that I employed years of taking Cosmopolitan and other like-magazine quizzes and answered to get the category that I WANTED instead of the category I ACTUALLY was.

I had a hunch that I was an obliger but I didn't like the sound of it.  It sounded kind of wimpy.  "Just do whatever people tell you to do."  I wanted to be an Upholder.  

What does this have to do with running?

Well, for a while, I had a lot of inner expectations about running that I just was not following up on.  I started telling people about my goals, posting on social media and that helped me some.

Then I had a plan to follow, which also helped,  but no one was really making sure I was doing the plan so I started this blog.

Still, I wasn't exactly killing it on follow through.

Which brings me to the end of 2015 when I talked to EH and had him create a plan AND I had to email the log back to him once a week.

What happened as a result of a real, live personal accountability?

I have checked the box on all workouts (with the exception of 1).  

Little by little, I have realized that I am an Obliger.  I need those outer expectations. 

Ok, so I realize that, but I still don't like it.

Enter Rubin's podcast #37, which I listened to while on the treadmill on February 1.  The podcast is dedicated to a discussion about obligers, including Rubin's sister, who is one.  A listener wrote in with my exact conundrum: “I’m an Obliger, and I find that disturbing. I should be my own priority. Is it possible to move from Obliger to Upholder?”

The podcast talks about all of the strengths of the obligers and the fact that a big frustration can be the fact that we don't meet inner expectations.  A key to meeting inner expectations for obligers is to build in outer accountability.  As the podcast continued, I was continually relating to what was being said.  Maybe I should just embrace being an obliger and see if that makes it a difference!

I wanted to be consistent about running and meet some running related goals after the birth of my second child.  I was motivated to some extent and had a goal, qualify for the Boston Marathon.  I partially met my goals in the fact that I did qualify, but wasn't as consistent as I wanted to be.  Build in outer accountability - I got a coach.  Not only am I more consistent, I actually am back to a place of really loving running again.  Last year at this point, I was DONE with running, and still had a month to go before my marathon.  I have really enjoyed most of the process of the training over the past 4 months. Yay!

17 more days!

Am I one of "those people"?

Where do I begin.

Thread 1:  FOOD!
I hold fast to the part of my identity that loves food and will eat whatever I want whenever I want. That's not to say that I eat terribly all the time, but I don't really think about what I eat and if I'm getting enough vegetables, etc.  I love dairy - especially cheese, I love meat - especially a delicious cheeseburger, I love vegetables, I love fruit, I love carbs, I love sugar.  "Everything in moderation". Love that.  I have been known to roll my eyes at "those people" who don't eat such and such. Judgmental, but true.

Thread 2: SKIN
I have never had good skin.  Always really dry.  Always really sensitive.  I also have been struggling with acne.  Again.  For like the millionth time in my adult life. The first time I really had an intense blow out was right before a good friend's wedding.  The woman doing makeup for the event basically had to shellac it on.  I remember crying in the bathroom at the reception to one of my grad school friends at it.  I was prescribed some things, it got worse, and then magically it got better and stayed that way for a while.  When I was pregnant with my daughter, my skin was again terrible.  I was prescribed some cream that was conducive to pregnancy and breastfeeding.  Things got a little better. Then I got pregnant with my son and my skin was decent.

And now, here I am 2 years later.  Again with the acne.  Full force, cystic.  Awful.  My now five year old daughter asks "Why do you have those red bumps all over your face, Mom? I don't like them." Yeah, neither do I.  Can I put a bag over my head now?

I tried paring down products, switching to natural, responsibly sourced products.  Things got a little better, but not much.  My skin was red.  Itchy.  Inflamed.  Angry.

My primary care doctor prescribed something last fall.  Tried it, when the tube was gone, and my face was still gross, I made an appointment with a dermatologist.  She confirmed hormonal acne, and prescribed me spiranolactone.  "Spiro" is actually a blood pressure medication which has been shown to improve hormonal acne.  "You're gonna love it", she said.   I was so wanting a magical elixir that I didn't ask any questions except to ask how long I would have to take it.  She answered, "It would be something you would always take."  She also gave me some samples of Aczone, an acne cream, with a prescription for that.  I drove straight to the pharmacy to fill both prescriptions.   Pharmacist warned that the Spiro is a diuretic and also can cause dizziness.  Ok great.

$300 later, I had them in my hand.  GULP.  THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS.  And that was with a coupon.  Damn high deductible health plan.

Days later, it occurred to me that something that lowers blood pressure, causes dizziness and is a diuretic may not exactly be the greatest thing for someone training for a marathon, who already has low blood pressure.  I haven't had many noticeable side effects, but I also still have to go in for a blood test to confirm that potassium isn't ruining my kidneys.

I have been taking the Spiro and applying the Aczone 2x a day for about 40 days.  Nothing really dramatic has happened.  No changes.  I know this from experience - acne medication can take a while to work.  12 weeks is usually the magical wait time.

FOOD + SKIN
I have been researching hormonal acne a bit because I am still uncomfortable with the thought of taking this medication long term.  After reading a bunch online, some common themes, related to diet, emerged.  Dairy.  Sugar.  Something called "anti-inflammation diet".

I toyed with the idea of giving up dairy and reducing sugar.  I stopped eating yogurt - which really kills both birds with one stone.  I replaced half and half in my coffee with coconut oil "bulletproof" coffee.

And then I ate half a pan of cheesy, gooey lasagna.  Old habits die hard.

Enter Skin Cleanse and Diet Cults.

I read Skin Cleanse in about a day.  It's easy to digest, no pun intended.  It brought together the disparate threads of what I was reading online. The author is a nutritionist by training, and also developed the skin care line SW Basics. My takeaways from this book were:

1.  Reactions to skin are symptoms.  Dermatologists usually treat symptoms, but often do not address the cause of the reaction.

2.  Food MAY triggers reactions.  "For 99% of you [who suffer breakouts], it likely will be cheese."

3.  Keep a food/symptom journal to see if there are patterns.

4.  Ingredients in skin care products MAY trigger reactions, particularly if you have sensitive skin.  The author was very much from the "responsibly sourced, beauty industry is evil
 camp (e.g., the book contained a list and description of ingredients that you should try not to put on your skin, e.g., parabens) but I liked how she talked about the fact that just because the ingredient is responsibly sourced, all natural, etc, it STILL may cause a reaction in your skin.

THUS

5.  Stop using all skin products.  Use olive oil as a moisturizer if you need one.  Introduce products back one by one.  Keep a products journal with the same purpose of identifying what contributes to flare ups.  (Honestly, the author went a time where she used ZERO products - just water - to clean her whole body.  I'm not that brave.)

6.  Eat more fruits and vegetables.  Eat less processed food.  Eat more "good fats".

7.  Most people do not drink enough water.

Confession: I did not read Diet Cults, with the exception of the last chapter on agnostic eating.  The idea that there are no bad foods resonates with me.  His advice is to make the bulk of what you eat, vegatables, fruits, nuts, seeds, oils, whole grains, and high quality meats.  Try to use sugar, refined grains, low quality meats sparingly. Very similar to Michael Pollan's simple and wise, "Eat food.  Not too much. Mostly plants."

So marrying the two, I am now trying to really eat mostly vegetables and fruits.  For a time, I am trying to not eat dairy to see what will happen.  I, QUEEN OF DAIRY, BOUGHT FLAX MILK PEOPLE!  I am also trying to drink more water - always a problem for me.  Trying to limit sugar.  I am also keeping a food journal right now.  Honestly - I ate vegetables probably 2x a day if I was lucky before.  And I always tried to eat one fruit a day.  The bulk of my diet was really in the "eat sparingly" list - lots of refined grain.  I'm a runner - I'm supposed to eat carbs, right?!

Switching to eating "mostly plants" has been pretty eye opening to how few plants I ate before, even when I thought I was eating decent.  I probably have quadrupled the amount of items we buy in the produce section for the past 2 weeks.

I am also paring down the skin care products for a time.  I am using olive oil to remove makeup, a gentle, paraben-free cleanser at night only, and olive oil to moisturize.  I am still using makeup because I really can't think about not doing so right now.  So Beautycounter foundation, Beautycounter eyeshadow and Tata Harper cream blush are still being used.  I am also still using both prescribed acne medications until my dermatologist follow-up next month.

I started parts of this two weeks ago, and really got serious on Monday, after my birthday.  I already feel a lot better and my skin is not nearly so red and inflamed.  Placebo? Possibly.  But I am continuing on!

I might be becoming one of "those people".

Race Recap: Icebreaker Marathon Relay!

The Icebreaker Marathon Relay was held Saturday afternoon at the Pettit National Ice Center, which has a 3 lane, 443 m track around the perimeter of the ice rinks.  This is a great running resource in our area as winter can make it hard to get running in, and treadmills can get boring.

My participation in the event was based on our Oiselle state leader, S, organizing a large Oiselle group and forming teams for the relay. S was an organizing mastermind, getting us all signed up and organized into teams based on 800m times we submitted via Google Docs spreadsheets.  She even negotiated to get us shirts made on the Oiselle Lux long sleeves!

The logo of our shirt on the Satellite Lux Shirt

Back to the race.  Organizational prep for this race began in November when we all registered with teams.  We had to update our 800 times in late December and the "official" teams were formed.  Last week, one of my original team members was having knee issues and was swapped out for another woman, who had recently attempted to qualify for the Olympic Trials during the Houston marathon.  AKA she was speedy.

The strategy of each person running an 800 (really an 890) at a time seemed a little crazy to me.  That meant that every person was going to be running 12 890s but having a good 10 minute break in between each, in an environment that was 45 degrees and DRY.  EH told me "don't get hurt" so I was sort of paranoid about that.

Saturday morning, I arrived at the Pettit at 11 AM and met the other Oiselle peeps for the first time.  I'm not going to lie, I had a lot of anxiety about this - meeting new people always makes me feel this way.  I walked into the Petit and was freezing.  I was wearing sweats over my racing shorts, two jackets and a long sleeve shirt.  I had planned on running in my long sleeve and shorts but was second guessing that based on how cold I was waiting around.

The half marathon event was before the relay so while I thought I would be able to run to warm up for a bit, it turned out that we didn't have that much time.  I got 6 laps in for a warm up.  My team got our ankle lap counter and watched S demo how to switch the ankle monitor from person to person.  I was the first runner for our team so I strapped the monitor on my ankle and headed to the start with the other 5 first runners for the Oiselle teams.

There were 50 teams total which meant 50 people starting on a 3 lane track.  I was thinking, "Please don't trip, please don't trip."  Because the total number of laps for a marathon was 95.5, we had decided that I would run 1.5 laps to kick us off.  All those people made me nervous so I made sure to sprint out in front of most of them. I ran the first .5 laps and ran past all of the Oiselle ladies who were cheering loudly - total rush!  I ran way too fast. Totally not heeding EH's advice.

I got to our switch spot and L, our 3rd runner made the switch of the ankle monitor from my leg to B's leg and she was off.  My throat was burning.  Due to the dry air, there is a condition known as "petit lung" which S had warned us about but I wasn't really expecting that to happen on my first 1.5 laps!

L switches the ankle monitor from K to me and I wait for the calf tap - my signal to GO!

We definitely got in our groove going through all 4 runners several times when we found out we were leading the women's race by 2 laps.  At first, it was really difficult to figure out who was on which team and who we had to beat.  Then I figured out that they had our place and the amount of laps we had left to go posted on a giant screen.  Our strategy was just to maintain.  I aimed to get my 890s done in 3:15 and I was right around there for every one.  I'm not really sure how fast the other 3 members of my team were running. My strategy for each set was to run the first lap at a good pace to warm up and then run hard for the 2nd lap.

Somewhere around my 9th or 10th set, I had just gotten the calf tap indicating my ankle monitor was on and good to go, when I caught a glimpse of Nate, Maggie & Will! Maggie was holding a "GO MOM!" sign that she had made.  It was really exciting.  On lap two of that set, Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run came on the loudspeaker (they had music blaring the whole time).  That was my favorite set for sure.

As I got ready to kick off our last lap, B, our second runner slapped me on the butt and said, Let's go. I MEAN how awesome is that? I met this woman a few hours ago and she's slapping me on the butt. Ha!

We ended up winning by 5 laps.  Our finish time was 2:43:07 which is a 6:14/mile pace...which is apparently the new course record!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The second place women's team finished in 2:50:33.  The 800s strategy was definitely a good one!

I loved this event - it was very unique and fun to have spectators the entire time.  I liked the relay aspect and having a team to run with.  It felt very much like high school cross country and track felt.

I only ended up running 8 miles and change on Saturday but WOW were my legs (and throat!) spent. Thank goodness for the foam roller!

We got lots of love on social media for the event.  Oiselle posted our giant group shot on their Instagram Saturday night!  The other thing that I thought was awesome was that the Oiselle Haute Volee (aka elite) WI runner, Caitlin Comfort, came to watch us!

When the Tough Get Going...

In addition to checking my workouts off, I am working on training my brain.  I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I have a lot of books on my library hold queue!  Today, I started reading Mindset at work as my boss gave us all a copy for Christmas. Of course, part of the intent in giving us this book was for us to make professional connections to the text, but 2 chapters in, all I keep thinking about is the relevance to running.

Light bulb moment: I often approach running with a fixed mindset.  I have x amount of talent and that is the way it is.  I often give up when workouts get tough, and as a result am disappointed even though the outcome is not terrible.  A good example of this is the Wisconsin Marathon last May.  Yes it got hot.  Yes I was alone.  But I distinctly remember looking at my watch at around Mile 20 and thinking, I can really back off and still qualify for Boston.  And that is what I did.  The last 10K was miserable.  I walked.  A lot.  I zeroed in on "I can't do it" so I didn't.   In fact, probably every 5K last year, this was my mentality.  "It's too hard."

I often feel like this in workouts and so I back off.  I do not push past my comfort zone.  Here is an excerpt from the book that summarizes a new approach I am working on with training:

"Don't fool yourself.  Keep on going."  <---Mantra!

(A few quick paragraphs talk a little bit further about the mindset concept in relation to parenting in this recent Upworthy link.)

2015 Running Year in Review

It is the last day of 2015!

2015 was a great running year for me.  I ran 1,042.59 miles, which is almost double what I ran last year (566.59 miles).  (To be fair, I didn't have a newborn, nor was I nursing a child this year!)

My goals for 2015 were to:

1.  Qualify for the Boston Marathon:
This was the focus of the first 4 months of 2015 and I did it!  I ran the Wisconsin Marathon in 3:25:50 on May 2.  I received confirmation of my acceptance into Boston 7 weeks ago and our hotel and one leg of our trip are booked!

2.  Incorporate more core work:
This is a poorly worded goal and maybe that is why I didn't really nail this one.  Certainly I had periods of time where I was doing great with my core work, but nothing consistent.

3.  Break 19:00 in the 5K:
Alas.  I was 20 seconds from this.  I gave up on this after my 4th try in September.  Will this reappear on my 2016 list? You bet.

Other Fun Facts
A.  I ran 8 races in 2015.

1.  Wisconsin Marathon 3:25:50 (May)
11th female, 4th age group (AG), 63rd overall
PERSONAL BEST TIME!

2.  Run Tosa Run 5K 19:41 (May)
1st place female, 7th overall

3.  Silver Linings 5K 19:51 (May)
2nd place female, 2nd place AG, 18th overall

4. Walleye Run 2 mile 12:13 (June)
2nd place female, 2nd place AG, 12th overall

5. Not Just A Walk in the Park 5K 19:52 (August)
1st place female, 13th overall

6. TosaFest 5K 19:20 (September)
 4th place female, 2nd place AG, 27th overall

7.  Briggs and Als Run 8K 32:17 (September)
9th female, 2nd place AG,  87th overall

8. Harvest Fest Half Marathon 1:33:23 (September)
1st female, 4th overall
PERSONAL BEST TIME!

(Thank goodness for Athlinks!)

B.  I also joined Oiselle Volee this year, which has been a fun opportunity.  Word is they are opening up the program in 2016 again!  (Sign up for their email list on their website if you are interested.)

C.  I was accepted as a Nuun Ambassador for 2016!

D.  I ran 17 miles on a treadmill on Valentine's Day.  Seriously.  I don't know that I will ever forget this!

E.  I started a running streak on Thanksgiving that to date has lasted 36 days! (#RWRUNSTREAK)

F.  I used 5 pairs of shoes.  To be fair only 2 of these are no longer in my rotation.

Thanks for reading!  I am looking forward to 2016!

BAA Plan Week 3 and continuing #RWRunStreak

The BAA Plan Week 3 has come to a close and once again I finished all four prescribed workouts, and did a better job of trying to run within the target paces.  I was on the low end of the mileage ranges because it was A WEEK.  My daughter had surgery to fix an umbilical hernia (everything went great!), my son turned 2 and we had a birthday party for him, presentation to CEO at work, book club meeting, volunteer event, there was a Santa breakfast at my daughter's school, and the usual appointments/schedule that already make for a busy week.  I truly was squeezing running in whenever possible!  On top of that, I did not get a ton of sleep because I was anxious about the surgery.

Workout 1:  1-2 mi warm up, 8 x 1/4 mi at half marathon pace (7:00-7:15) with 60 seconds of jogging in between, 1-2 mi cool down

1 mi warm up @ 8:07
8 x 1/4 mi (6:36-6:53 pace each, recovery jogs at 8:00-9:00 pace each)
1 mi cool down @ 7:46

Workout 2: 4-5 mi easy run (8:15 - 8:50)

4.1 mi @ 7:55

Workout 3: 4-5 mi aerobic run (7:50-8:10)

4.1 mi @ 7:24

Workout 4: Long Run: 8-10 mi aerobic (7:50-8:10)

8 mi @ 7:28

I continued the #RWRunStreak challenge by running 1.1 miles on the other 3 days of last week.  1.1 miles is the distance of one entire loop of my neighborhood.

As I am writing this, I have completed 12 days of consecutive running...and I don't like it.  It seems silly that I am stressing out to get out to run a mile just to say I ran that day and not break the streak.  It feels like I am running to do the streak, rather than really enjoying it.  I think it is also contributing to me feeling "meh" about gearing up for another marathon.  My book club unfortunately got an ear full of negativity and as I listed to myself whining to them, I was thinking, "Boy, I do not sound like someone who is in love with running right now."

On the positive side, the BAA plan has helped me log 3 great running weeks in a row (24.6 miles, 24.2 miles, 24.4 miles).

In bigger news, I had a great running conversation with a friend and running coach last night which made me excited about training.  He is serving up a running plan in the next couple of weeks and then I will officially stop this BAA plan and use his. His philosophy about running really resonated with me.  I was slightly nervous to talk to him because I REALLY do not want to be running more than 4 days a week...and let's be honest, with working full time outside the house and wanting to see my kids, I can't really commit to more than 4 days.  To my surprise and relief, he was down with it.  PHEW!  I am a little afraid of his "two big workouts" though after he promised that they would be hard.

Now I am off to try to find a half marathon in the next month or two!

BAA Plan Week 2 & #RWRunStreak

The BAA Plan Week 2 has come to a close and once again I finished all four prescribed workouts, albeit still too fast for my target paces.

Workout 1:  1-2 mi warm up, 8 x 1/4 mi at half marathon pace (7:00-7:15) with 90 seconds of jogging in between, 1-2 mi cool down

1 mi warm up @ 7:48
8 x 1/4 mi (5:58-6:40 each, recovery jogs at 7:30-8:20 each)
1.3 mi cool down @ 7:38

Workout 2: 3-4 mi easy run (8:15 - 8:50)

4 mi @ 7:31

Workout 3: 4-5 mi aerobic run (7:50-8:10)

5 mi @ 7:00

Workout 4: Long Run: 7-9 mi easy (8:15 - 8:50)

10 mi @ 7:46

Thanksgiving day also started the #RWRunStreak challenge.  RW stands for Runner's World (magazine) and the challenge is to run at least one mile every.single.day from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day.  37 days of consecutive running.

This will be a challenge for me because I already feel that 4 days of running per week is a challenge to fit in so my plan is to do the BAA plan workouts on 4 of the days and run 1 mile the other 3 days of the week.  This will make it more doable for me mentally and physically.  Wish me luck!