Category Archives: Uncategorized

Xtend Barre – Ballet on Crack

Life after the marathon has been great. I took most of the entire first week off of any exercise at all, outside of nightly walks with Mike and the Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge. This week I switched it up completely and have started doing the P90X strength training workouts with Mike (Chest and Back Monday, Shoulders and Arms Thursday and we plan to do Legs and Back Sunday). I also joined the Movin Shoes group run on Monday for three super slow but fun miles with my friend Vicky and Asia.

Sporting My New Oiselle Gear at the Run!

But my favorite things this week have been trying out completely new workouts! First, I took advantage of a local studio’s first 6 classes free and took my first hot yoga class last night (more on that later). Then, this morning I tried a really fun new workout called Xtend Barre with my good friend Allison. I knew it was a barre class so I figured it was similar to Dailey Method, which I was doing regularly last late summer/early fall. However, it was much different and I actually really loved it!

The front of the building Xtend Barre Encinitas is attached to – I thought I was in the wrong place!

The class is very dance and cardio oriented but it is constantly challenging your muscles. It’s a great mix of both cardio and strength training and it so fast moving that you don’t have a second to think about anything other than the moves and the class literally flies by. According to the website, it is a blend of pilates and ballet. The creator and owner is a professional dancer as well as a pilates instructor. From the website:

In an effort to provide cross training and seek better results for her clients, she began to incorporate dance elements and music into her Pilates sessions in order to offer challenges in coordination, rhythm, and cardiovascular fitness. By raising her Pilates clients to a vertical position, and diversifying their range of motion, Andrea found greater results by offering Xtend Barre than by maintaining a routine of Pilates alone. Most importantly, her clients were gaining energy, enjoying elements of dance, and having fun!

First let me clarify that I’m not a good dancer. As a child I loved to dance and took tap and jazz classes, but I was never the one to get a solo, if you know what I mean. I am not very coordinated, but I do know how to follow instructors and I feel like I am a good student. I don’t have great rhythm (I distinctly remember in 9th grade when it clicked that you are supposed to move with the beat of the music – from 6th-8th grades I just kind of moved around aimlessly, not following any sort of beat or rhythm), so honestly the hardest part for me was the warm-up which included some more “dancy” moves. The rest of the class definitely required some sort of rhythm and coordination, but it wasn’t too demanding. I didn’t feel like a complete dope in class even though it was my first time (such as I felt the first time I did Turbo Kick Boxing – I learned to absolutely love that class but it was pretty embarrassing at first). At the same time, I also didn’t feel like I mastered the class, which is exactly how you want to feel the first time you try something.

By the end of class I was dripping sweat and I felt like I got a great strength training workout. The class has portions dedicated to each muscle group, from upper body at the beginning (with super light weights – 1 lbs!), to legs and tush in the middle and end, and wraps up with core work. However, it really feels like a full body workout the entire time. We used stretch bans for portions of the class and those were particularly useful in creating serious burn to my butt! There isn’t nearly as much stretching as Dailey Method and there isn’t as much holding and tucking. I think that taking both Dailey Method and Xtend Barre would actually be a great compliment since you could get the stretching and serious core work at TDM and the cardio and extra resistance training at Xtend- it’s too bad they don’t have a dual pass!

Inside the Studio

For now I plan to join Mike in wrapping up his final 5 weeks of P90X but I would definitely consider buying a monthly pass to Xtend Barre. I really liked it and I think I could see some great results if I attended classed 3-4 times a week. The instructor assured me that all classes are different which I liked – I love showing up to class not know what I’m in for! I need to figure out how that would fit into my schedule before I purchase though.

Have you ever tried a barre class? Or Xtend Barre? Do you like to show up at random classes and try new workouts like me!?

The BQ That Wasn’t

40 Replies

I just arrived home from a really fun race weekend in Eugene. All in all, it was a great weekend full of getting to know new and old friends, eating at yummy new restaurants, and lots of girl talk. Unfortunately there wasn’t as much running as I had hoped but in the end, it wasn’t all for naught. I learned a lot about myself as a runner this weekend as well as earned even more respect for the marathon distance. I didn’t earn my BQ – I didn’t even finish a marathon – but it was definitely a weekend I won’t forget.

Pre-Race Festivities

Friday morning I made my way to Eugene, prepared for a long travel day by myself. Asia was on an earlier flight with a different airline and I’d meet up with her and Page at the airport when I landed. Luckily I was reading a pretty awesome book (Gone Girl – highly recommend!) so the day went quickly. On the 2nd flight on a small plane to Eugene, I was seated next to an athletic looking woman with a foam roller in her bag so I immediately asked if she was running the race. Her name is Lora and I was right!

We quickly got to chatting about how we both were going for our BQ and shared our stories with each other for the next hour and a half of the flight. Turns out, I had just found her blog via Twitter just days before (yes we shared Twitter handles – the plane needed to go back to the terminal for maintenance check so we were able to turn on our phones and that’s when I made the connection). It also turned out that we were both on the same Google Group emails that a group of runner bloggers had created to keep track of the various meet-ups for the weekend. Small world!

Thinking About All the FAST People Who Have Run on This Track

Once we arrived in Eugene, Page and Asia were waiting with the rental car and we gave Lora a ride to her hotel ( we were not strangers anymore!). We were all hungry so we headed straight to a vegan friendly restaurant that I had found on Yelp and dug into a big bowl of chips and salsa and delicious, healthy bowls full of brown rice, black beans, sweet potatoes, plantains and tempeh. Delish! Page and I washed it down with a beer and we had a great time getting to know each other better (Page and Asia had never met IRL). After dinner we headed to the University of Oregon track where legend Prefontaine himself used to run and where the Olympic trials are held. The track also served as the finish line for the marathon on Sunday. It was fun to see it and imagine ourselves achieving our goals there.

Pre Shakeout Run with Some Awesome Gals!

After a relaxing night on Friday, we woke up refreshed on Saturday and immediately headed out for a pre-arranged “shake out run” with a big group of fellow runners and bloggers (many of which are Oiselle ambassadors). I was blown away by how amazingly welcoming and friendly all of the bloggers are. It was really fun to meet people who I have only known via their Twitter handle or blogs. It was also awesome to meet even more great women who I didn’t know via their Twitter avatar previously. The shake out run felt fine on my legs – it was just an easy run.I stretched afterward for a bit (probably not as much as I would have had I been at home) and then after more chatting we all went our separate ways in search of food.

Shake it out!

Post Shake Out Run

Vegan French Toast!

Asia, Page and I found a yummy all vegetarian/vegan restaurant that served breakfast. I was wooed by the promise of vegan french toast (although I ordered it with a side of eggs and a soy sausage so the breakfast wasn’t fully vegan) and the coffee was delicious. Post breakfast we headed back to the hotel for showers and more relaxing before heading to the expo.

The expo was small but well run. There was a banner prompting runners to send well wishes to the Boston Marathon and we all signed it. While at the expo we ran into even more of our blogger friends and also saw Lora from the plane ride as well. We went back to the room for more relaxing before heading out to a local vegan restaurant that had a simple marinara pasta on its menu for dinner. The meal came with vegan garlic bread and a yummy soup but unfortunately our pasta was stone cold. We awkwardly sent it back and started to notice some of the things we had read on the (4/5 star) yelp reviews – dirty floors, odd people. The pasta came back luke warm rather than cold but I ate it anyway. Page took hers back to the room with intentions of microwaving it later but never at it. #EugFail

Silliness at the Expo

Photo With New Friends and a Pancake

Cold Pasta in a Shady Restaurant? Perfect Pre-Race Dinner

After dinner we went back to Hayward field to get more pumped up about the race and we took a bunch of fun photos on the historic track and in front of the recently constructed finish line. We were back in our hotel room before 8 p.m. to get ready for the next day, relax and get in bed early. Once I got in bed, I got really nervous about the race and I had a hard time sleeping. My mind was racing and my heart was pounding and I just couldn’t get over the nerves. Eventually, I did and fell asleep and didn’t wake up until morning.

Hayward Field

Race morning went just as planned. First I opened the card that Mike had written to me to be opened on race morning. It gave me a boost and I also found myself wishing here was there. I ate cereal that I had brought from home with almond milk we got at Trader Joes and even drank the same type of coffee and creamer I always do thanks to a 711 being right across the street from our hotel (free entrainment from the drunk Everything seemed fine pre-race and my nerves never got as strong as they were the night before.

After bathroom breaks, warm-up, etc, Asia and I found ourselves in the front of corral C, the largest of the five corrals. We stood slightly behind the pacer (who we had talked to at the expo and had told us the first mile is usually a bit slow due to the crowds but he picks it up for the 2nd mile and t hen runs even splits. We had decided we might start with him and then play it by ear), listened to the national ant hum nervously and soon we were off!

The Race

It was incredibly crowded at the start. The most crowded start I’ve ever experienced at a race. And it seemed that despite being near the 3:35 pacer, no one was running fast. Our watches were telling us we were at times running in the high 9s. The pace group picked it up a bit through the first mile and used a downhill as momentum so my first mile ended up being just about on pace. It was really difficult for me to run anywhere next to Asia (we both had our individual plans but we had thought we’d at least stay together for the first few miles) and I kept trying to catch up to her but I’d get blocked or elbowed by someone. I finally got up near her about 3/4 of the way through the first mile and commented that we should have started at the back of the B corral to avoid all this craziness. I told her it was making me anxious. Mile 1 ticked off at 8:09 average – right on pace.

During Mile 2 the pacer started to really pick it up. My watch showed we were running in the mid to high 7s for quite a bit of it and I flipped the screen on my Garmin to the average pace for the lap and saw it was in the high 7s. I immediately scaled it back and started to fade away from Asia as she kept up with the pacer. My race plan had me going around 8:10 min/miles for the first 10 miles so I knew I had to back off from the pacer. It was stressing me out to keep up with the group and with Asia anyway so I just let myself fall off a bit. When the second mile clicked off was just a bit fast – 8:03. I consciously slowed down for the 3rd mile and kept my watch on the lap mode so I could see my average pace for that lap only, not my current pace. I felt good – it felt easy. I felt like I could maintain the pace for a long time. My breathing was easy. I was going to do it. Mile 3 -8:10. Perfect.

As soon as I started mile 4 my lap average pace showed I had actually slowed down to about a mid 8:20 pace. The pacer was getting farther ahead of me and I picked it up a bit. I looked for Asia, thinking she must have picked it up and passed the pacer by now and I didn’t see her. I told myself to focus on my run. Mile 4 was a 8:11 pace, but my average was still perfect – around 8:08 at this point.

Somewhere during the 5th mile (it was right before a short incline), I suddenly got a bit nauseous, my heart beat really fast, and my body was overcome with chills. Then an exhaustion set over me which I could feel most prominently in my arms. I suddenly went from easy running to feel like I’d hit the wall. It felt like I was on mile 22 of the marathon, not 4 or 5. I panicked a bit – wondering if I was having a heart attack or something. I wondered if this was how people felt before they died in marathons (a little dramatic but I honestly was so confused). I slowed way down. My pace dropped, I tried to catch my breath. I chugged up the hill and enjoyed the slight decline on the other side. I thought maybe my blood sugar had suddenly dropped so I took a Gu even though it wasn’t time (this makes me sure that this all happened before 40 minutes when I was scheduled to take the Gu). It didn’t help.

My legs felt heavy. My breathing was hard. I was running high 8/low 9 min miles and I felt like I was sprinting. It was bizarre and scary. I passed by the first medical station because I knew stopping meant I was pulling out of the race. I wasn’t ready to pull out yet. I needed to see if it would go away. I kept running. It kept feeling hard. I started getting passed by basically everyone. I was no longer running the right pace. I let myself run like this for another mile. I watched my average pace start to drop. I cringed as I ran over the 10k timing mat, knowing people were tracking me and would wonder why I slowed down. I felt exhausted. I slowed more.

My mind started to go crazy. WHAT WAS HAPPENING!? How could this happen? My dreams were being crushed and I felt I had no control over it. I knew I couldn’t pick up the pace and maintain it for 26 miles. I knew that my BQ dreams were over. I didn’t feel like running 1 more mile, let alone 20. I decided I would stop when I saw a medical tent. I knew that the first 9 or 10 miles of the race was a loop just south of the campus and then it headed north, so I knew we were heading back to the finish line. I kept looking for a medical tent so I could make sure I was ok. I stopped and asked a volunteer where the next one was. He didn’t know. I kept going. I probably looked miserable because I was. I knew my race was done but I didn’t want to walk. I just slowly jogged, silently crying as I was passed, as my average pace got slower and slower. My mind started racing with thoughts about which race I would try to run next. If I dropped out now, I knew that given that nothing was seriously wrong with me, I could race again soon.

I turned the corner close to the mile 8 marker and saw a pretty significant hill. I knew that it was time to walk. I looked to my left and saw a building with an empty parking lot. I veered to the side and immediately started to cry. Not cute tears, huge, aching, sobs. I sat on the curb and bawled my eyes out into my hands. A man came over and asked if I needed help. I asked him where the medical tent was and he said it was probably up near mile 8. I thanked him and kept crying. Then I called Mike who of course was shocked to hear from me. I told him everything and cried. I then texted my coach to tell him what had happened and we started to brainstorm future races.

After composing myself, I took off my bib and shoved it into the belt I use to carry my phone. That was the worst part. I’ve never dropped out of a race and this DNF came at the worst time. I walked back to the finish line, which was luckily only about a mile away. I was shivering because it was cold (yes perfect race weather!) and I texted Page, knowing she probably was finishing the half by now. I looked for medical and never saw it. By then I was feeling just fine and didn’t think I needed to get checked out. I went to gear check and soon realized Page must still be in the finishers area so I waited there for her. I saw some of the girls that I had met the day before and I tried to pretend I didn’t see them because I didn’t want to break down again. When I saw Page I couldn’t hold back the tears and she hugged me and comforted me.

I tried to look on the bright side. At least I dropped out when I did and didn’t have to wait 3 weeks to fully recover from the race. At least it happened early on. I guess. You lose some, you win some, I told myself. Everyone has a bad race, and I was due for mine. I’ve PRed at every single race I’ve ever done except one. I’ve been lucky and today wasn’t my day.

Asia About to BQ!!!

It was so awesome to go watch the marathon finishers come in. Page and I cheered on all the finishers from about 2:55-3:35 and it was an inspiring way to wrap up an emotional morning. The best part was seeing Asia coming down the street, knowing that she had achieved her goal of qualifying for Boston. At least if I didn’t do it, I knew my training partner did. After the race we ate a delicious meal and celebrated with beer then relaxed and showered before meeting up at Ninkasi Brewing for an after party. Lora (from the plane ride) and several other bloggers/runners were there and it was fun to hear everyone’s race stories. Some girls achieved their goals, others, like me did not, but everyone was still in good spirits and it was a fun afternoon of drinking good beer in the sun.

Figuring Out What Happened

I tried working though all the possibilities of why something like this could have happened. At first I considered the shady pasta I ate the night before from the dirty cafe. I considered the fact that I forgot to take my birth control on Saturday night so I took it Sunday morning instead (which I never do). I thought of everything I could. Only later did I realize after talking to some friends who have had them and doing some research, that I think I had a panic attack. I’ve never had one mine my life but the description seemed to fit. In several articles it compared the way your body feels after panic attack to having just completed a marathon. Panic attacks wipe your energy out. I think I panicked for a variety of reasons – most monumentally the pressure I’ve put on myself for this race. I’ve been training for 7 months for one goal. I’ve told everyone I know (and many I don’t know who read this blog!) that I’m going to BQ. Being around all the running friends that weekend put additional pressure – many others were trying to BQ and they all knew I was going for it. I had told myself that Eugene was my one and only chance to qualify for the 2014 Boston Marathon because I would be busy wedding planning after this. Lots of pressure on one race.

The crowded corrals didn’t help. The birth control probably didn’t help either (hormonal changes can affect panic attacks). The large coffee I drank contributed as well I’m sure. It was the perfect storm and unfortunately it hit at the wrong time. But at the end of the day, it happened and I’m moving on. I’m not letting this training go to waste – I will be running another marathon soon. Now that I think I have a better understanding of what happened I hope I can control things a bit better so that it never happens again. Less pressure, more fun. Start at the front of the corral and NEVER run with a pace group (too crowded, too many people jockeying for position). Control what I can and know that no matter what happens, I should be proud.

The Best Day Ever

18 Replies

Let’s take a break from our normal programming for a little love story.

On Saturday morning I woke up and met up with Asia for our 16 mile long run. My legs were heavy and I was tired from three days of hard workouts but I enjoyed every minute of the run. It was a gorgeous, sunny and warm day and I got to spend the morning running with my best girlfriend down the coast.

When I returned, I was pretty tired but also hungry so when Mike suggested we go to Swami’s, our favorite outdoor breakfast spot, I was more than eager to say yes. Once I took a shower, drank my recovery smoothie (that Mike made me!), put on a cute dress and got ready, I was feeling great. It was now in the high 70s and felt like a beach day. I had texted Mike on Friday after hearing that the weather was going to be spectacular on Saturday and said “Let’s do something fun!” Little did I know, he had something pretty fun planned already.

We live very close to the ocean so as soon as we left the house Mike suggested we check out the waves. We typically get to Swami’s, which is about 3/4 of a mile away, by walking down Coast Highway but since it was such a nice day (I presumed), Mike suggested we walk on the beach. This was my first hint that something might go down, because normally Mike is ravenous to get to breakfast and I wasn’t sure why he would want to walk the extra five or so minutes it takes to take the beach route. But, it was also an unusually beautiful day, so his request made sense.

The beach was unusually crowded for a winter day, but the crowd died way down as we made our way south down the beach. There isn’t another access point until Swami’s (the beach the restaurant was named after), about 3/4 of a mile away. Here we were, just steps from our home on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world on an absolutely gorgeous day.

Mike stopped, turned to me and took my hands in his. He started by saying, “I’ve been thinking about our relationship a lot lately.” At this moment, I got incredibly nervous. Either he was going to break up with me or propose, one of the two! I felt like one of hte final two on the bachelor – am I getting dumped or engaged?!

But then he told me that he loves me more than anything and that he wants to spend his life with me (in more words). He got down on one knee, pulled out a gorgeous ring and asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes, hugged and kissed him and then jumped in his arms. I’ve never been happier!

Just seconds after we stopped embracing, an older surfer came up to us and told us he would take our picture. After he took the photo he said congratulations and walked away. About two minutes later we were walking and the surfer (we know call him Surfer John), came back. He said, “How old are you? How long have you been together?” We told him we have been together 3 years and we’re in our late 20s/early 30s. He then launched into a several minute monologue about his marriage and how he met his wife when she was just one day shy of 21 years old and he was 25. He then told us that marriage is a choice. Surfer John said “when she gets fat, you will chose to love her. It’s not about emotion.” (I assured him I would not be getting fat). The story and advice just got crazier from there as he told us about remodeling his back yard in an attempt to win his wife’s heart back and she barely acknowledged him. I just ended up tuning it out and laughing to myself that minutes after our engagement we were getting marriage advice from this crazy surfer dude.

Once we broke away from Surfer John we continued to walk and chat. At this point I got a chance to actually look at my ring and I was so thrilled and amazed at how beautiful it is! Mike got it specialty-made just for me and it is the most gorgeous ring I’ve ever seen.

Next, we made our way down the beach and ate at our favorite breakfast place. Our favorite thing about Swami’s is the outdoor patio and the coffee. And since we were celebrating our engagement, we threw out our detox and indulged in coffee, omelets and a pancake. At this point I told Mike for the first time that after our first date I told all my friends that I had met my future husband and we used to refer to him as Future Husband in that first month of dating. Turns out I was right!

With caffeine highs we went home and hung out for a bit before getting ready for the next surprise. Mike told me to wear comfortable clothes, closed toed shoes (but not workout shoes), and wear sunscreen. Eventually I guessed what we were doing and I was right – we were going on a hot air balloon ride over San Diego!!!

Ironically on Tuesday of this week there was one of the deadliest hot air balloon crashes. A balloon in Egypt went down and killed 19 tourists. I had come home this week and told Mike about it and he had just booked our trip! There was no backing out because it was fully paid for. When we arrived at the hot air balloon place, they explained what happened in Egypt and put my fears at ease. I was pretty confident we’d be safe but still a bit nervous!

Watching the balloons get filled was nearly as fun as being in one! They were absolutely gorgeous and such incredible examples of human ingenuity. Once they were all ready to go, we boarded the balloon with 6 other couples and our pilot (who also was the owner of the business) and set out high over San Diego. We sailed up to 2,000 feet over the earth. It was a great time to go because San Diego is so green right now. It was absolutely breathtaking.

The ride lasted 1 hour and when we landed (the most thrilling part because it was a bumpy landing!), our pilot told us the story of the pioneer hot air balloon rides in France. After testing the balloons out on animals, they deemed them safe enough for humans. However, when they landed the balloons, the locals near their landing spot thought they were demons coming from the sky and attacked them and destroyed their vessel. Eventually they figured out if they brought champagne with them, the locals would realize they were French royalty, not demons since French royalty was the only one with access to the decadent drink. So, for tradition’s sake, Mike and I enjoyed our first glass (or two) of celebratory champagne as an engaged couple.

Cheers to Us!

After the ride, we grabbed an appetizer and another bottle of champagne and went back to the house to have a snack and a drink and call our parents and Mike’s sister to tell them the happy news. Soon after, we headed to Q’ero, our absolute favorite fine-dining restaurant in Encinitas (maybe anywhere!) for an amazing meal over our favorite bottle of wine. The fun didn’t stop there – next we headed to Third Corner down the street for our absolute favorite dessert – chocolate chip croissant bread pudding! It was the perfect ending to the most perfect day.

Q’ero for Dinner!

Bread Pudding!

Best. Day. Ever.

The Ultimate Reset – Detoxing With a Plan

I Hired a Running Coach

12 Replies

In those final three miles of the Surf City Half Marathon two weeks ago I had a lot of thoughts. Some good, but mostly bad. I wasn’t going to achieve my goal of a sub 1:45 half marathon. What did that mean? According to McMillan’s Pace Calculator, the equivalent half marathon time to my goal BQ time is 1:42 and I couldn’t even run 1:45. I had three months to get faster and negative thoughts were flooding my brain about whether or not it was even possible for that to happen.

Yeah – that didn’t happen

One of the ideas that popped up during those painful miles was to hire a running coach. I knew I had a very short window of time until my race and there wasn’t any time for errors. My performance at Surf City was a huge success in that it was a PR of 5 1/2 minutes from just 4 months ago. The race showed me that I am making progress and that there is definitely a possibly that I can continue on this path and BQ at Eugene.At the same time, it also showed me that I could possibly come very close to my goal without achieving it. Coming off of a big training year for the Ironman and now a six month training cycle for this marathon, I really don’t want to run another marathon this year. If it doesn’t happen at Eugene, I’m not sure I will be signing up for another full marathon this year. I want to give Eugene everything I’ve got.

Maybe a coach can help me look better during the race too?

A coach can be extremely beneficial to any athlete. They give you a second opinion on your training and utilize their vast experience coaching other athletes to give you solid advice for training and racing. Although training plans from books and websites will get you to the finish line, they won’t always get you there as fast as you could possibly go. I knew this when I was training for the Ironman but I decided not to hire a coach then. My goal for the Ironman was to finish and I was confident that my self-coaching would get me to the finish line. Now my goal is to run very fast for a very long period of time and I’m not as confident that I have the knowledge and experience to adjust my training plan to get me there. I don’t want to take any chances, and that is why I decided to hire a coach.

I immediately thought of two coaches. The first, Maria Simone, a friend and mentor that I met through blogging/twitter who has given me some valuable advice over the last year. Maria recently started her own triathlon coaching business called No Limits Endurance with her husband, a Kona qualifier. The second is Mike Plumb, a San Diego triathlon and running coach who coaches a free track workout on Tuesday nights. About a year ago, I attended a few of these Tuesday night workouts. Afterward, I met a triathlete who was training for her first Ironman and was coached by Mike. She recommended him highly.

In the end, I went with Mike Plumb because he is local. I wanted a coach that I could meet in person if necessary and I also liked the idea of possibly seeing him weekly at his free track workouts. Mike has been a competitive runner himself since 1977 and a triathlete since1984. At one point he was a pro triathlete and has coached high school cross country. When I went to the track workouts last year I met a girl who is coached by Mike and later found out that she regularly wins her age group at marathons. He has years and years of experience coaching runners as well as triathletes that he can use to help me achieve my goal. He is also extremely affordable, at only $85/month.

I had a very long phone conversation with Mike after a few initial email exchanges and I knew after that call that he would be my coach. He had analyzed the Garmin data I sent him and was clearly very excited to take me on as a client. He offers unlimited contact and said that since my goal is fairly unique being that it’s only 12 weeks away and I have a specific time in mind, we’d be communicating more than he does with other athletes. He is pretty confident that he can get me to where I need to be to achieve my goal and I am very excited about working with him!

This week was my first week with his plan. Luckily, he likes my routine of Sunday long run, Monday yoga, Tuesday recovery run, Wednesday Tempo/Intervals, Thursday Strength, Friday mid-week long run, Saturday recovery run. I enjoy having a fairly consistent week to week schedule and that is his philosophy as well. He also agreed that I can use the San Diego Half Marathon as a marathon-pace run and I can race the Hot Chocolate 15k.

View From my 8 Mile Run Friday Afternoon

Even though my training plan isn’t changing a lot in terms of structure, there are some definite changes in the workouts. No more Yasso 800s. Instead, there is more tempo work. There will also be tempo intervals in my long runs every other week. My mid-week long runs will have a goal pace (usually I just kind of run these easy). This week I was pleasantly surprised with my performance using the instructions he gave me. I hit all my intervals and ran all of my key workouts with a faster average pace than I’m used to running. The tempo workout that he gave me seemed like it would be easy based on the interval times and pace, but once I realized there was only 1 minute rest between, it turned out to be a very challenge, yet confidence boosting, workout.

So far, so good! Despite finally catching the cold that has been going around, I was able to have a good training week (rest if in the chest, keep training if just in the head is my motto). I am excited about this change and I think it will give me even more confidence in my training come race day morning. Now it’s time to put in the work! Only 10 weeks to go!!!

Do you use a coach? What pros and cons have you found from using one?

Strength Training Circuit for Runners

5 Replies

After I made the big decision to switch from Surf City Marathon to the half in order to ensure I show up to the start line of Eugene BQ ready, I came to the realization that I no longer have the excuse of being a “high volume” runner with a marathon in a few weeks (or months….) to justify avoiding strength training. I’ve been looking forward to getting back to weight lifting for a while now and although I plan to really dedicate time to it by completing P90X2 later this year, I know that now is the time to get started.

Knock on wood, I’ve never really been injured (I had some knee pain during IM training but luckily it only required me to cut short a few long bike rides and wouldn’t have been considered a serious injury) and although I’m sure there are a lot of factors that have gone into that, I think part of the reason is that before I went all endurance-agro, I build some serious muscle and core strength with P90X. After I finished my first round of P90X religiously, Mike and I attempted to incorporate the workouts into a second round modified around triathlon. It wasn’t easy to get in the workouts no top of swim-bike-run and ultimately we ended up skipping a lot of them. Then in October I tried Insanity, also modified to accommodate triathlon and marathon training. The good news is I was still strength training, just not as often as before.

From January-June during Ironman training I tried to get in yoga once a week plus at least one or two core workouts (usually Ab Ripper). Some weeks I was successful and other weeks I didn’t do anything but swim, bike and run. There wasn’t a single weight lifted in this period. At some point I tried to do a pull-up and discovered I still could do one so I figured I wasn’t losing THAT much muscle. After the race, I dabbled in various group fitness classes, did some P90X yoga, and then started up at Dailey Method. Although I love TDM, there is nothing that can replace a good weight session (plus my membership expired and I’m trying to save money so I decided not to renew). While we were in Belize in November, the eco-lodge we stayed at had a pull-up bar. I tried a pull-up and failed. I knew then that I had lost some serious strength (also could have been spending a lot of time in a bikini…).

So, starting last week, I’ve dedicated myself to going to the gym at least one day a week (during lunch!) to get in a 45 minute strength training routine. This is in addition to the weekly Monday lunchtime yoga class I’ve been going to and the 1-2 times a week I’ve been doing Ab Ripper! I no longer can stand going to the gym and wandering around weight machines aimlessly doing reps, so I knew I had to put together a plan for myself. I used a couple of different articles I found online about strength training for runners as well as my own knowledge of strength training and made myself a full body strength training working that I could complete two times in about 45 minutes. I tried to do as few isolation moves as possible, favoring combination moves in order to be more efficient.

Here’s what I did (12-20 reps for weight bearing exercises, to failure for planks and push-ups):

Split Leg Squats (lunge with back leg on a bench or step) with Overhead Press
Low Plank
Sumo Squat with an Upright Row
Push-Ups
Squats with Bicep Curls (this turned into squats and then bicep curls because I found it hard to focus on them together)
Lateral Lunges
Side Plank
Straight Leg Deadlift with a Row
Tricep Kickback (while in a slight squat for leg work)
Plank Punches (hold a high plank and alternate punching in front of you)
Bicycle Crunches (25 each side)

After I was finished, I repeated!

Luckily I brought a shower gear because both times I did this routine I was very sweaty! It was harder than I thought but a great workout. As expected, I was VERY sore on Friday after completing this workout last week. Unfortunately the soreness lasted until Sunday but I knew that it wouldn’t be easy getting back into things. I’m hoping that after today’s workout that I’m not quite as sore. Despite the soreness, I still had a great long run on Sunday so I think it’s not affecting my runs too much.

I’m hoping to continue this routine and eventually add in a second day of weight lifting. If not, I think that yoga, this routine and a couple sessions of good ol’ Ab Ripper will keep me strong enough during Eugene Marathon training to prevent injury (knock on wood again).

Tip: Print out the workout and bring it with you to the gym and mark your weight and reps as you complete it. I found it much more motivating doing this!

Do you strength train while marathon training? What kind of workouts do you do?

Running Roadblocks

2 Replies

Yet again this week my planned 50+ mile training week was derailed. Does a “perfect” training week exist? I’m starting to think not! But that’s life right? Nothing ever goes as planned.

This week started off well – I felt strong during my interval workout, busting out 6 800 intervals each at a 7 min/mile pace for a total of 8 hard tough miles including warm-up, rest periods and cool-down. I felt strong and great after that workout. I even came home afterward and did P90X Ab Ripper!

The next morning, however, felt pretty awful as I slogged my way through my 12 mile mid-week long run. I made the mistake of doing my hard intervals at night and then doing my medium long run not even 12 hours after that workout. At least my running buddy Asia ran the first 6 miles with me which made it much more enjoyable!

Thursday was a rest day and Friday I got in my 6 recovery miles with 6 x 100 m strides as well as more Ab Ripper. The weekend was set to be a big one. Saturday was supposed to be a tune up race according to Pftizinger’s plan but since there aren’t any 15ks in the area, we decided just to do a 10 mile run at our goal pace. I decided to try to run it at 8:15 min/miles. Last year before Surf City I did a 10 mile run on Christmas Eve at my marathon goal pace of 8:45 and then was able to run the marathon at that pace, so I figured it’d be a good sign if I could do my Boston Goal pace for 10 miles (at this point I am still likely not going for a BQ at Surf City but this was technically supposed to be a race so I figured the faster the better).

Instead of treating Friday night like “race eve,” we met up with friends for happy hour and since I wasn’t hungry before we went due to the fact that I had my birthday lunch complete with ice-cream pie at work, I didn’t eat a healthy and good dinner. Instead, I ended up eating chips and salsa/guacamole, three beers and a small bowl of black bean soup for dinner. I went to bed buzzed with a stomach-ache.

I woke up Saturday morning feeling absolutely awful. I spent all night tossing and turning with a terrible stomach-ache. Mike was meeting a friend around 7:30 to pace him on his run (he ended up running 10 miles at his BQ race pace – go Mike!!), so we woke up early and ate cereal and got coffee. My back hurt, I was tired, and my stomach ached. I felt achy so I took my temperature thinking I might have the flu. I didn’t have temperature but decided to back to bed. I woke up close to 11 a.m. and felt much better and decided I could attempt the run.

The first mile felt great – I easily hit my goal pace of 8:15. Mile two was also good – around 8:15 as well. However, around mile 3 is when my stomach started to hurt. Not terrible, just a bit. I kept going, still keeping positive thoughts that I was going to rock out these 10 miles at my goal pace and it was going to be a great confidence booster. Around mile 3.5 it quickly got worse and I decided to turn around at mile 4 to make it an 8 miler.I figured I could still keep up my good pace and it was better to have a shorter, faster fun than a longer, slower one.

Things got worse and worse but I still tried to keep at least a descent pace. I ended up finishing 8 miles at a 8:34 pace. Definitely not bad considering the circumstances, but very disappointing regardless. I felt pretty awful by the end and spent the rest of the day on the couch with little appetite. I had to run out of Whole Foods while purchasing my veggie soup for fear that I may throw up. Great way to start my holiday vacation!

Besides the stomach-ache, I didn’t have many other symptoms so I thought perhaps it was something I ate and it would go away. This morning I woke up feeling much better after 10 hours of sleep. After eating breakfast I could tell my stomach was still a little grouchy but definitely a huge improvement. I decided I’d at least attempt my long run for the day. I had scheduled 17 miles but I figured anywhere between 14-16 would be fine. By mile 1 my stomach was aching again and I quickly decided to make it a recovery run instead. 5 miles later I was back at home googling natural remedies for stomach-aches (about to make some lemon and ginger juice!) and wondering if I have a stomach ulcer or worse. Googling symptoms is never a good idea.

So things didn’t go my way again this week. Last week I skipped my mid-week long run due to rain and social obligations. This week’s long run missed. I took 9 days off for my trip to Belize. Training never goes as planned but the good news is that I have several weeks of solid training behind me and six more to go. And even better, I get to spend the next few days with family celebrating Christmas and my birthday!

Have you ever cut a long run short mid-run?

You Better Belize It

5 Replies

The last two years have been a whirlwind for me athletically – I went from half marathon training at the end of 2010 straight into P90X and marathon training in the first half of 2011, then straight into triathlon training after my first marathon in June of 2011 and then basically straight into Ironman training. Post Ironman I took two weeks away from working out and went on some fun weekend vacations but quickly got back into training for the AFC Half Marathon and the Long Beach Half. In mid-September, I started training for Surf City Marathon. While I love to always have a race on my schedule, I don’t always give myself enough down time. Mike and I rewarded ourselves for a couple of years of hard work with a 8 night, 9 day vacation in Belize.

Although this is a fitness blog, it’s also about my personal life and it wouldn’t seem right to not share a little of my trip! After an amazing Thanksgiving dinner with Mike’s family, we headed home stuffed to pack and get to bed early in anticipation of our 3:30 AM wake-up call. Our flight left San Diego airport at 6:15 a.m. and we fought the urge to drink coffee for the sake of getting some sleep on the first leg of the flight. After a drive to the airport, an airport shuttle, two flights, a two hour layover and a two hour shuttle ride (complete with two local beers and the company of another traveling couple) we arrived at our Eco-Lodge in the middle of the Belizian jungle called Lower Dover.

Beers in the van 10 minutes after arrival in Belize

Our Cabin

Family Style Dinners

We stayed in modest raised cabins with the shower and bathroom located in small rooms outside the sleeping quarters. Breakfast and dinner were served family style with the female owner and her son as well as the other guests. The eco-lodge is set on 80 acres of jungle and includes several trails that lead to un-excavated Mayan ruins! There are also several animals living on the property, including several friendly dogs, chickens, a confused rooster, three adult sheep and a baby sheep, turkeys, and tarantulas! We also saw a parrot and a family of quash (a Belizian mammal during our exploration of the grounds.

We were at the lodge for four nights and three full days. Two of the days were spent on excursions. The first excursion was to the ATM caves (Actun Tunichil Muknal) which is an extensive underground cave system with only four entrances. Tourists can only access the first mile or so of the caves via a guided tour. The tour was pretty incredible. We hiked through the jungle and then immediately had to swim through the cave’s entrance to get inside. Once we were inside, we slogged through various caverns, sometimes wading through water up to our chests and occasionally shimming through tiny passageways, with only our headlamps lighting our path. Our tour guide shared his knowledge of the caves as well as a few jokes along the way. The highlight of the tour was the Mayan artifacts that were discovered on a top level (i.e. no water). Most of the artifacts were pots used by the Mayans, but there were also the remains of five humans, including a fully intact skeleton that has been calcified and appears to sparkle. All of the human bones were believed to be human sacrifices. Unfortunately cameras are not allowed in the ATM caves now because several of the artifacts were broken due to tourists dropping their cameras on them!

Our second day was spent touring the grounds at the eco-lodge, including a guided medicinal plant and ruins tour by the family’s son. We also kept sneaking away to the recreation room which held the best wi-fi signal so we could track Asia and Jeremy as they competed at Ironman Cozumel. It was so fun to track them all day although we got quite a scare when Asia’s bike times weren’t updating and Jeremy’s were. Luckily, it was just a computer glitch and Asia was named an Ironman that night!!! I am so happy for her! Jeremy also had a great race – shaving an hour off his CdA time!

Near the Unexcavated Ruins at Lower Dover

One of the Eco-Lodge Owners on our Tour

On Monday we headed to Guatemala for a day trip to the Mayan ruins called Tikal. Our tour guide was incredibly knowledgeable and awesome and for some reason we were the only two who booked for that day so we got a private tour! The day in Guatemala at Tikal was one of my favorite parts of the trip and I was also very excited to experience a new country (I’m a little obsessed with traveling and this was the 25th country I’ve been to – I would love to see 50 countries before I die and now I’m halfway there!). I would love to make it back to explore more of it one day.

Tuesday we braved the local bus to get from the eco-lodge to the coast where we boarded a water taxi to Caye Caulker. Caye Caulker is one of two major tourist islands, and is known as being more relaxed and budget friendly. Our kind of place. The motto on the island is the “go slow” life. We definitely took this to heart and spent the next four days eating, drinking and hammocking in bliss. It rained quite a bit at night so the only choice we had was to take shelter at the local bars and make new friends. In addition to our relaxation, we rented bikes one day to explore the more remote parts of the island, rented a kayak and went on an amazing half day snorkeling tour. Since the it is so small, by the time we left, we felt like we knew practically everyone on the island!

Swings Everywhere!

Bike Ride

Our Favorite Morning Ritual

The snorkeling tour was by far the highlight of our time on the island. A group of six of us, including a couple from London and two women from Canada, plus two guides took a sail boat out on an absolutely gorgeous Belizian morning. We stopped at three locations and each one was better than the last! The second stop was at Shark and Ray Alley which is famous for the large amount of huge sting rays and harmless sharks that approach the boat to be fed. We had lunch about halfway through the tour and on the way back we drank rum punch and ate chips and fresh conch ceviche (this was one the only time I ate meat or fish the entire trip) and talked about all the places we’d traveled and gave each other advice on where to go next.

Making New Friends Over Rum Punch

Our Guide Making us Fresh Conch Ceviche

It was somewhat foreign to call myself a “vegetarian” for the entire trip, but in the end I was very glad I did! The female owner of the eco-lodge was a great cook and made us some incredibly delicious vegetarian food. We didn’t stick to anything resembling vegan food since it was very difficult to get any sort of whole grain there to help us get adequate protein and other nutrients (no quinoa, ezekiel bread, lentils, tempeh, or even brown rice, as expected), so we ate eggs for breakfast every morning and for vacation’s sake, didn’t pass on pizza and ice cream on occasion. Despite this, I ate more veggies on this trip than probably any other vacation of my life since every filler is vegetables when there is no meat to accompany it! Although beans are a staple in Belize, they didn’t seem to give us very many of them when they were included in a meal.

We gave ourselves a full day to get back into the swing of things by coming back to the states on a Saturday. We spent Sunday stocking up on tons of healthy groceries and I cooked our favorite “vegan mash” for dinner and prepared the quinoa black bean apricot salad to go with our spinach salads for lunch on Monday. One thing that is certain about vacation is that I’m always happy to be back in San Diego when I return. I’m also happy to be back to running! I missed it!

What is the best trip you’ve ever taken?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2 Replies

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you had a great day with your families and ate way too much. We decided not to go the vegan route for the holiday and we enjoyed plenty of traditional Thanksgiving indulgences. I’m stuffed!

Mike & Me Celebrating Thanksgiving With His Family Today

I wanted to get a quick post out tonight to let you know that my blog will be quiet for a while. We are off to Belize tomorrow morning for 8 nights and 9 days! We’re traveling backpacker style and staying at an eco-lodge in the jungle for four days of exploring and then heading to a beach bungalow for four days of relaxation.

Leaving On a Jet Plane!

I am so thankful today for an incredible year full of athletic achievements and celebrations with friends. I’m also so thankful for my blog and those that take the time to read it. THANK YOU!

Miles for Mokie!

2 Replies

Dedicating our long run miles (32 in total) to Mokie on Saturday!

A couple of weeks ago, a pretty amazing woman was faced with a pretty incredible challenge. In the matter of moments, her priorities shifted from training for her next marathon to surviving a brain tumor.

Monika and I met through the amazing not for profit Girls on the Run. We actually, I recognized her from my very first coaches meeting last summer. I remember thinking that she was extremely energetic and passionate about the organization (as well as noting that she was also very well organized when she explained that she would create a to-the- minute timeline before each practice to keep everyone on track). Soon after this meeting, I wrote a blog post about my experience with Girls on the Run and Monika, as Marketing Chair, re-tweeted and posted it on Facebook. We then began to follow each other on Twitter and started to follow each other’s training journeys via our tweets and blog posts.

Monika Running the SF Marathon (I hope Monika is ok with me stealing a photo from her blog….)

I saw Monika for the 2nd time in person when she was volunteering at the Oceanside Half Ironman in March. She was cheerfully helping athlete’s find their transition bags after the race. Later I found out that she had been out there for hours – first unpacking all the heavy bags from a truck and then moving them into numerical order on the asphalt – and before that she had gone for a run on her own. I would have never known that she was tired from a long day because of her positive attitude.

After IM CdA, I decided to volunteer for Girls on the Run again and Monika encouraged me via Twitter to join her team of slightly older girls for Girls on Track. I put in the request and was selected to be on Monika’s team. Also around this time I attended my first Girls on the Run Marketing Committee meeting, in which Monika is the chairperson. Did I also mention that Monika also gives back to Girls on the Run through Glam Runner, where she and a friend make awesome running tu-tus? Proceeds go to SoleMates, the fundraising portion of Girls on the Run. She gives back in so many ways on top of working full time and training for marathons (she has run 18 full-distance marathons and 19 half marathons).

Photo thanks to http://glam-runner.com/about/

To sum it up, Monika is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met. She is incredibly intelligent, hard working and above all, benevolent. When I heard the news that the 8 months of headaches Monika has been experiencing were due to a large tumor on her brain stem (read more on her blog here), my heart went out to her. Unsurprisingly, Monika has been incredibly positive throughout the process and has everyone cheering for her. She has a long road ahead of her, but her dedication to health and fitness and incredibly positive attitude will no doubt carry her through this and allow her live a long healthy life.

It’s also not surprising that Monika has inspired hundreds, if not thousands of people, the same way that she has me. A week ago today, Monika had surgery that will keep her from her passion of running for at least 6 weeks. She also had to cancel her plans to run two full marathons this fall and winter. As a result, her friends and family across the globe have come together to dedicate their miles run to her during this time. The challenge on Daily Mile and Facebook is called Miles for Mokie (Monika’s family nickname). So far, I’ve dedicated nearly 41 miles to Mokie and I plan to keep it up!

If you’d like to join in this awesome cause you can find the Daily Mile challenge here and the Facebook challenge here. Participants are encouraged to post as frequently as they want and to get creative with their dedications to Mokie!

Early Morning Miles for Mokie

Fitness Fatale

Conquering Fitness Goals One at a Time

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Xtend Barre – Ballet on Crack

The BQ That Wasn’t

The Best Day Ever

The Ultimate Reset – Detoxing With a Plan

I Hired a Running Coach

Strength Training Circuit for Runners

Running Roadblocks

You Better Belize It

Happy Thanksgiving!

Miles for Mokie!