Treadmill Tweeting

I'm sorry my workouts have not been the most thilling lately.  Trust me, I wish they were.  Just me, hanging out on the treadmill for about 35 minutes.  But once I get back into better shape, I'm sure I'll be having super awesome, fun workouts to share.  I do have a few treadmill hill workouts and repeat workouts to try, but I'm not quite ready yet!  So here is yesterday's workout:

4 Miles on the Treadmill - My intention was to do 8-10 miles as my "long" run for the week...funny how depending what physical fitness shape you are in how a certain distance can be either a long run or a normal run.  In my prime during Chicago Marathon training last summer/fall, 8-10 miles would be a piece of cake.  And now, a bit more out of shape and stuck on a treadmill, 8-10 miles seems so hard!  So yeah, I made it 4 miles...I just get so bored and restless, no matter how much I try to motivate myself.

I usually don't bring my phone with me to the treadmill, but since I was expecting a longer run and the accompanying boredom that goes with a long run on a treadmill, I brought my phone out there with me.  So at the beginning I was having a jolly good time and snapchatting some friends from the treadmill.  These only went to the closest of friends because I would not want many people to witness my sweaty-treadmill running self.  Speaking of being sweaty/using my phone on the treadmill, I tweeted:

(That's why you have to excuse my mis-spelling...the treadmill was bouncey and hard to type!)

I even considered making a video log of me talking each mile and telling you how I felt, what I was listening to, etc. but I didn't want to scare the people around me.  But really, they all had their own headphones on and I'll never see them again in my life.

I had a bunch of time though still since I only did 4 miles, so then I did:

Leg Circuit - The same one I did earlier this week - 3 sets of 10 squats and 10 lunges on each leg.  With 8 pound weights in each hand for all of it.

Core Circuit - Again, the same one I've been doing regularly.  Regular crunches, side crunches, V-ups, medicine ball ab stuff.

I managed to get a 10 mile run done outside this morning so I'll have details on that tomorrow...and I promise it was a lot more exciting than any of these treadmill runs! 

Do you use your phone on the treadmill?

Doing Strong Things

The artic temperatures are continuing here in Chicago.  Our apartment is freezing.  I still haven't warmed up from when I got back inside after yesterdayday's trip to the gym.  But I made a lot of tea.  And despite telling myself yesterday that I wasn't going to go outside today, I did.  I can't give up on the marathon training already on only Day 2.

I was about to stay inside and do a Nike Training Club workout, but they all seemed to require a medicine ball and/or dumbbells, which I don't have at my apartment.  So I decided to get bundled up and make the trek to the gym again.

My intention was to do at least 4 miles like yesterday.  (Even though I am saying that my official marathon training has started now, I decided the first 2 weeks I'm not going to have a specific plan, but try to run at least 30 miles each week to build up some endurance again and get in the groove of running most days a week again.)

So I started out the same way - 7.0 on the treadmill and increased by .1 each time the song changed.  When I got to 4 miles, I was still in the middle of Teenage Dream (at 7.8 speed) and I decided to be strong and keep going until the end of the song.  Well, the song ended and I was at about 4.15 miles, so I decided to be even stronger and go til I got to 4.25, and even did my obligitory increase in speed for that last .1 of a mile.  After I finished, I felt way better than I did after yesterday's.  Who knows why, but I did.

After I ran, I did:

3 sets of

10 x squats with 8 lb. weights

10 (each leg) x lunges with 8 lb. weights

And then this for core work:

50 regular crunches

35 side crunches on each side

50 regular crunches

10 V-ups

1 minute plank

So neither of those segments are very hardcore yet, but I'm working on it.  I am not very strong, but I will need more powerful legs if I'm going to run on the hills of Cincinnati.

Who watched The Bachelor last night??

Elf 4 Health Challenge!

Happy Hump Day!  For the next 2 weeks (actually 1.5 weeks now) I will be participating in Elle & Lindsey's Elf 4 Health Challenge!   It is a 4 week challenge over the holidays, and I missed phase 1 (the first 2 weeks) but after seeing all the fun on social media, I decided to join in for phase 2 (these current 2 weeks).

The basic premise is that each participant gets assigned an elf buddy.  Every day, there is a new challenge for all us elves to complete/work into our day.  My elf buddy and I are supposed to hold each other accountable to the challenges and just be someone to chat with about each one and give each other ideas.

My elf buddy is Shianna, who eagerly emailed me right away with so many great ideas for the whole week!  Shianna and I have been emailing for the past few days and I am so glad I have such a wonderful Elf 4 Health to chat with about this week's challenges and how we have been doing!

Here are this week's challenges so far and how we have been doing:

Monday - Do a circuit workout.

I went to the work gym at lunchtime and did my usual weight circuit.  Here's what I've been doing:

3 minutes rowing machine as a warm-up

stretching/foam rolling

2 x arm weight circuit of 3 exercises

Core circuit

2 x arm weight circuit of 3 exercises

stretching

That night after work, I went back down to the gym so I could get in an extra circuit to make sure I was fully doing the challenge and not just doing what I would've done anyways if I wasn't involved in Elf 4 Health.  I ran 3 miles on the treadmill and then did the whole core circuit again plus a few 45 second - one minute planks (regular and side).  I knew the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was on Tuesday night so that was my core workout motivation for the night.

And as an added note on the weight training, I just did it again at lunchtime today and increased my weights!  I was doing my 3 exercises at 5, 8, and 12 pound weights, but just increased them today to 8, 10, and 12 pound weights.  However, I was doing 10 reps of each, and with the increase in weight I brought it down to 8 reps and will eventually feel strong enough to get up to 10 at these weights hopefully.

Tuesday - Pay it forward.

I think Shianna and I both had a little trouble with this one.  Maybe because we are such naturally kind people that doing nice things doesn't seem out of the ordinary?  I thought my giveaway would be a good idea to "pay it forward."  If you haven't entered yet, see my last post here to win a sample of ENERGYbits!  All you have to do for an entry is comment on that post (by 11:59pm tonight!).  But then you can get a few bonus entries as well!  We thought buying coffee for the person in line behind us at a coffee shop would be a good idea, but I didn't have the chance to get coffee and Shianna is in college and she said everyone uses their meal plan to get all their food/drinks!

Wednesday - Pack a healthy snack.

I didn't exactly pack a healthy snack, but I ate one...so hopefully that counts.  My office always has fruit, pretzels, and string cheese available for the taking, so take some I did today.  But in the interest of full disclosure, I had some unhealthy snacks too.  There is a surplus of candy in the office because of the holidays, and sometimes I just can't say no.

Have you done any of these challenges this week?

What do you usually pack as snacks?

2 Months Til the Chicago Marathon!

Alright, so yesterday was the 2 months til the marathon mark.  I really haven't been getting in as high of mileage that I had wanted to over the past couple weeks, but I still have about 6-7 weeks left before I need to taper down.  And I have been happy with the long run mileage that I have done.

During my training for the Columbus Marathon in 2010, I did a 16 mile run actually on this very date.  Then, 2 weeks later I jumped up to a 19.5 mile run on the last weekend in August.  So as of now in this cycle of marathon training, I've already done 3 15 or 16 mile runs which I'm happy with.  And then can hopefully get in at least 3 of 18-20 before the end of September which I think should be doable.  I have also been doing at least a few more miles per week than I did that year and have gotten in some quality speed work already, which I never did while training for Columbus.

 

 I really don't like that picture of me, but it's the only one I have from the Columbus Marathon.  I'm jealous of people that look flawless during/after running.  I was number 217!!  I can explain that significance in another post I am planning.

In other news: One of my very best college friends and roommate and teammate and Columbus Marathon training partner, Alex, is ENGAGED!!  Alex is running the Columbus Marathon again this year and hopes to break 3 hours because she is that awesome!  We had a great time while we were training for the Columbus Marathon in 2010 as roommates - as I look back at my running log from that year, almost every entry starts with "ran with Alex today..."  I miss that!

In similar news: My cousin Jennifer has set her wedding date!!  Jennifer is the eldest Smith cousin and the first of us to get married.  We are all just a little excited for this!

Good looking family right there I tell ya.  Loads of fun, too.

This evening I ran 5.15 miles in 38 minutes - 7:23 pace.  I had no intention of running that fast.  I just went out for a what was supposed to be a normal pace run and when I got to where I knew was 2 miles away, I was at 14:55 so I knew I was going fast.  So I decided to just keep it up at that pace and finish the 5+ mile route I had planned.  I felt so strong, I think because I am still so sore from the weekend at the lake.  I could feel every muscle in my upper body working hard...and my legs too obviously, but those aren't quite as sore as my arms, shoulders, and back.


I also did the 7 minute workout again right before I ran tonight.  My cousin Joe told us about it over the weekend, and then a group of all the girls did it together (twice) on Monday morning to start our day of activity.  So  here's a link to the 7 minute workout timer, which tells you which exercise to do and counts down the time for each exercise and the transition time in between each.  And here's a link explaining the science behind it.  I think doing it just once was pretty easy, so doing it 2 or 3 times would probably be more worth it.  Or maybe increasing the time of each exercise from 30 to 45 seconds, or something like that to make it a little more intense.

And because my dad wants to be in more pictures on my blog, here are a few more from the lake with him:

(I like making faces when Mom takes my picture.)

(Boys table at dinner Saturday night)

(Mom and Dad on the dock - cloudy day :/ )

(Dad and Uncle Joe on the wave runner)

Do you have any good short/high intensity workouts that you like?

Do you like being in pictures? - I sure do, but I can do without the ones of me after running...

Fast 400s and Random Thoughts of the Day

I met Mac at the track tonight to get in a speed workout.  He came up with a few things for us to do, but for the most part we made it up as we went.  Here's what we did:

1 mile normal
1 mile of striding the straight-aways and jogging the curves
4 x 400m fast
.25 walk, .25 jog cool-down

This workout seemed short, but it was tough.  We did the 400m repeats as a partner workout so the "rest" was doing a plank while the other person ran their 400.  My times were 1:22, 1:28, 1:31, 1:32 so obviously I started a little fast.  I haven't done this type of speedwork in FOREVER so I really am not a good judge of my pace.  Even though the total mileage of the workout was short, I was happy with it because it felt like we really worked hard.

Teenage Dream was on the radio this morning.  In case you (a) don't know me well enough to know how much I love this song and (b) didn't read my post on Monday which once again reiterated how much I love this song, now you know.  It makes me the happiest when I hear it on the radio because that means that probably about 415,603 people in the Chicago-land area are listening to it at the same time as me.  But those people probably aren't having as much fun dancing in their car as me and sending 10 second videos of myself dancing in my car to my friends.  Thanks to snap chat for being such an enabler of weirdness and how to pass time while at red lights.

My mom left for Disney World tonight.  She is going with Aunt Sonja, Hanna, and Jane, for what seems like a fun little girls trip.  I went with them a few summers ago and we had fun and I got my fill of Disney theme parks for the next couple years at least.  I know it's the happiest place on Earth, but I think it can be a little too much to handle.  I would rather have a relaxing vacation.  I would like to do the Disney Marathon Weekend again though!!

 

Something else I really love is matching outfits.  In a journal last week, I started a list called "Things I Love."  One of the items on the list is matching outfits.  Hanna and I have matching outfits sort of in that first picture with our stripped shirts, green shorts, and awesome 3D glasses.  I don't think we even planned that out.  But we are cousins and able to do cool things like that.  And now I want to share other things that are on my list of "Things I Love" and I know everyone is just dying to know but I will hold off for now and highlight those in future posts.  I'll probably talk about matching outfits again too because obviously Angela and I plan to have matching outfits for the marathon!

Yasso 800s: Accomplished

Happy Friday!  It's been a good week of running so far (and a good past couple weeks of running), but I think last night's workout was my favorite in awhile.  I met Mac at the track to try the Yasso 800 workout.  Any of my past few attempts at speedwork have been short tempo runs or mile repeats on the treadmill, so it was definitely nice to get out to a track with and do this.

The Yasso 800 workout was created by an executive (the Chief Running Officer - doesn't that sounds like an awesome job?) at Runner's World, Bart Yasso.  The basic idea is that you can predict your marathon time based on how fast you can run 10 800 meter repeats with an equal time of active (jogging) recovery in between each.  For example, if I want to run a 3:20 marathon, I should be able to run 10 800 meter repeats in 3 minutes and 20 seconds with a 3 minute and 20 second jogging recovery between each one.  He specifies that you don't need to be able to do this the very first time you try it in training and recommends starting with 4 repeats and gradually building up to being able to do 10.  You should be able to do the complete workout of 10 repeats about 3 to 5 weeks out from your marathon to predict what time you could run the marathon in.

Here's how we did:

We did all 10!  The goal for each was 3:20.  I'd say we nailed it.  After the 4th repeat, we decided that if we did one over 3:20, we'd give ourselves one more chance to get back under 3:20 or else we would stop.  We never let it get to that point though!  After 7, it was pretty clear that we were going to finish the 10 repeats.  Repeats 7-9 felt the hardest and then we cruised on the last one to finish strong.  For the most part, this pace felt fairly comfortable (as much as it could) for the 800 meter distance.  It was definitely hard, but not to the point where I felt like I was sprinting or giving every single last ounce of my energy.  I don't think I could have gone much faster and still been able to do 10 though, so this 3:20 (or slightly under) pace was perfect.

I was curious to see if there was any research on how effective this workout is in predicting a marathon time.  In the video on the Runner's World website (linked to above), Yasso says that he travels to races every week and runners tell him how accurate it was.  I hit the Google machine and found a bunch of blogs and forums with stories of the successes or failures of the workout to predict a marathon time.  Some indicated that the workout should be used as a negative predictor, meaning if I can't run the Yasso 800s at 3:20 pace, I can't run a 3:20 marathon.  But even if I can run the 800s at a 3:20 pace, that doesn't mean that I necessarily can/will run a 3:20 marathon.  Most of what I read said that you should do the Yasso 800 workout during marathon training, but you should also do other types of speed work like tempo runs, mile repeats, and some shorter speed work instead of only relying on doing the Yasso 800 workout each week.

I'm glad this workout went so well and it definitely helped to have someone else to do it with!  I feel like I say all the time that I couldn't have done it alone so maybe I don't give myself enough credit for the workouts I am able to do alone, but it really is a million times easier to have someone there running the whole way with me to push through it and make it more fun...so thanks Mac!  We even got in a little core workout after the run!

I REALLY wanted chocolate milk when I got home after the workout.  After staying at home in los suburbios the past few days, I got used to this diet:

What is your favorite speed workout to do during marathon training?

What is your favorite thing to drink after a workout?

Week 3 Recap and Week 4 Plan

Here is my recap of Week 3:



I think I need to figure out how to make my recap/plan show up a little bigger.  Or just stick to it exactly so that I can just say that it was perfect and not show all the variance.  I'm going to consider last week an exception to my normal routine though so I'm OK with it.  I didn't do any core or strength training either.  I actually did feel like I was "stronger" on my run yesterday during The Joe.  Maybe that's because I had just done the long run and could feel every muscle.  Luckily, it wasn't a feeling of soreness, but just a definite feeling that my muscles are working hard.

This week is also going to be a little varied because of the holiday and some 4th of July races.  So here is the plan I came up with for Week 4:



I was talked into registering for the 4 on the 4th race this week, so I think that will at least be a good way to get in a solid 4 mile fast run.  Catherine and Matt will probably register as well, and of course we will dress festively in Red, White, and Blue.  Holiday races are the best kind.  I was already planning to do the Arlington Heights Stampede Run 5K on Sunday so I guess that means racing twice this week.  It's a great course and a lot of family members do it or come out to cheer each year.  Here's a picture from 2 summers ago...the Smith family just loves running.

So I guess some general goals for the week will be:

• 40 running miles.  I haven't hit this yet in the past few weeks because I've pretty much only been running 5 days a week.  I'd really like to make sure I get in 6 days this week.  The race days will be lower mileage, and the long run is only 12 miles, but I this plan for the week would put me at 42 miles.


• Get in core and arm weight workouts.


• Run each of the races under 7 minute pace.  I think I can do closer to 6:45, but we'll see.  As long as I'm under 7 I think I'll be happy.


• Celebrate America.  Besides Christmas, this is my favorite holiday.  I imagine after the race, I will go to the parade and then to the pool all day.  Luckily, it looks like we will have good weather finally.

What is your favorite thing to do for 4th of July?

Official Training Days 1 and 2

Plan for the week:



This was taken from the plan that I made based off some plans I looked at online and the plan from Coach Brendan, who will be coaching the Crossroads Runners.  I plan to meet up with that group on some Saturdays for long runs.  I made a plan for the entire 18 weeks, but I am pretty sure I will alter it depending on how each week goes (I already haven't stuck it to exactly).  My main focus will be making sure I get the long run in on the weekend and doing enough mileage the other 4-5 days of running to get 40 miles a week at the very least.

Angela also sent me a plan she will follow that includes a lot of core work (M,W,F) and weight training (T,Th) in addition to running and cross training.  She said she'll focus on core and weight training a lot in these first couple weeks and then cut back on that when mileage gets a bit higher.  I think that's a good idea so I'm going to try to get those workouts in also.

So here's the runs I did yesterday and today.  I just use www.mapmyrun.com and I never know quite how accurate they are, etc. but I try to be somewhat conservative with it.  Maybe I'll get a Garmin eventually.

Monday - 6.8 miles in 52:10 (~7:40 pace).  I went after work because I was so tired from the weekend to get up early.  There was crazy fog by the lake.  I thought I was going to get hit by a biker because you could not see far distances in it.  I ended my run at Xsport to do my first core workout.  I definitely could not do all of the exercises.  And I had no idea what some that were listed were, so I just did a plank or other type of sit-up/crunch as a replacement for those.

Tuesday - 7 miles in 55:25 (~7:55 pace).  Did this run in the morning...nothing too exciting.  I was sore.  Then after work I went to the fitness center in my work building for first time.  Here there are on a post-it I took to the gym with me:

The fitness center has very nice equipment!  All of the arm exercises I did used free weights so that was easy, but there was a ton of other nice equipment I will try to use too!