Thursday, June 27, 2013

"The Jam" Thursday - What is blowing up my iPod

Hello Thursday and so lovely to see you again! Tomorrow I'm off from work and the thought of sleeping in sounds completely blissful! Three day weekend FTW!

Today I get to share another "jam" that I rock out to on my iPod while I'm running and in the car driving. I actually heard this song for the first time last summer just before it was all over the airwaves. I was on a friends boat cruising around Lake Union (tough life, right?) and the friend heard this come on the radio and blared the song. I was enjoying it because it had a great beat and catchy hook, I was just surprised because this wasn't the kind of song I would think he would like. Regardless, this song has hung onto the airwaves and is still being played with some frequency still.

So today I present the "jam":

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

End of Week 8 Double Dare Training

It's Wednesday, we are over the hump of the week and I can see the weekend slowly creeping closer. This weekend's weather is going to be a doozy for us Seattleite's, in the upper 80's and into the 90's. It's a heat wave for sure! Time to slather on the sunblock and get the fans primed, it's going to be uncomfortably hot up here!

With it being Wednesday, it also is training recap for me.  I'm currently training for the Dumbo Double Dare during the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend, where I will be running a 5K, 10K and half marathon over the course of 2 days. Thusly, proper training is absolutely necessary.

Yeah, I'm excited about this baby!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Race Recap: Rock and Roll Seattle Half Marathon

A year ago I watched my friend Danielle complete her first half marathon at the Seattle Rock and Roll race. I was so inspired and motivated by what I saw around me that day, that I went to the registration tent that same day and signed up for the next years race. Never having run a distance longer than 5k, I knew that I had a lot of training ahead of me, but I was excited for the challenge.
 
Fast forward a year, I've completed a half marathon already and I ran plenty of double digit training runs to feel comfortable with the distance of 13.1 miles. And it was time to run the race I had signed up for so long ago.
 
It began with the expo on Friday, it was quite impressive and the bib pickup process was quite easy!

Monday, June 24, 2013

Momentum Monday: Good For You

Monday, you are dark and stormy and I am tired and sore. Let's just agree to take a nice long nap, shall we?

The weather has taken a turn around here. It's raining like it's January, but muggy like we're Florida. I'm sore and recovering from my race on Saturday and this weather is not helping as it is only making more sleepy. Instead of working I want to curl up with a blanket, some hot chocolate, a fire in the fireplace and a good movie. Then a nap, yeah...that sounds like bliss to me. But I digress.

Along the lines of the race on Saturday, which I will recap soon, I've noticed that the more mileage I pick up, the more I am sore and take longer to recover. Is it because I'm not fueling properly? Am I not stretching or foam rolling enough? Am I not prepping my body enough for the longer more grueling runs? What is it?

When I found this quote, I thought to myself, maybe it was a combination of all those factors, or maybe there was no correlation at all.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

"The Jam" Thursday - What is blowing up my iPod

Oh Thursday, you are the ultimate tease. So close to the weekend, but yet so far. Maybe it's good that it is only Thursday, I still have one more day to rest and get ready for the Rock and Roll Half on Saturday. I still can't believe it is here already. I think it will sink in when I go to the expo tomorrow to get my bib, that's always the thing that snaps me into reality!

Today I get to share a "jam" that I have on my running list and new ones I'm adding every week. This one has been out for a couple of years, but still gets me moving. The beat just gets me moving and I love it. It's a strong message for this artist and one that supports women and our pursuits. So without further ado, today's "jam" is:

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

End of Week 7 Double Dare Training!

Another week down and another week closer to the race! Two races actually! I have my next half marathon on Saturday with running the Rock and Roll Seattle race. Should be a fun time, but has definitely forced me to make some adjustments to my training schedule.  So my training schedule for this past week was:
 
Tuesday: Run 30 minutes
Thursday: Run 30 minutes
Saturday: Run 3 miles

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Race Recap: Fall City Days 10K

I signed up for this race less than a month before the race date, it was definitely a knee jerk registration. The reason? I needed a 10K time to submit for corral placement for the Disneyland Half Marathon and since times have to be submitted no later than July 1st, I needed to get on that and fast! So I saw this community race that was pretty affordable and thought I would give it a go!

I went to packet pick up the day before and got my bib and timing chip. Then did my pre-race ritual of pinning my bib onto my outfit and getting it all laid out the night before.

 

Monday, June 17, 2013

Momentum Monday: Overcoming

Good morning all and welcome to another Monday! It is also the 25th Monday of the year! We are almost half way through the year already? Sheesh!! Where is the time going?!?!

My weekend was busy and at the same time blissfully relaxing. Saturday morning I had a 10K race in Fall City, it was HOT and the majority of the course was in direct sunshine. YUCK! The rest of the day was spent relaxing with my hubby, doing nothing really and it was lovely!

Yesterday was Father's Day and we spent the whole day celebrating the Fathers in our lives. We took my father in law out for brunch and cooked dinner for my step-dad. It was such a nice day spent with family that it all went too quickly, of course. 

Which now brings us to Monday and the week before my next half marathon, Rock and Roll Seattle. It is my taper week but I feel like I haven't done enough to prepare myself for this race, so now I'm feeling nervous.  I ran a 10K race this past weekend and felt pretty decent about it, but knew when I was half way through the course and starting to struggle that I was going to be doing more than TWICE this distance this coming weekend. And I began to panic. Oh the head games!!!

Thursday, June 13, 2013

"The Jam" Thursday

Oh Thursday...how I adore you today. I have Friday off so technically, today is my Friday and I couldn't me happier. My main goal tomorrow? Sleeping in.

Go ahead...you can hate, it's alright, I still like you. :)

Today is a long day for me at work as I have to stay late. I'm meeting up with some friends to go running after work and they get done at least an hour and a half later than me. Ugh. We are doing long hill training in preparation for the Rock n Roll Seattle course. The route has long gradual hills, not a lot of steep short ones, so preparation and training for those is different. Doing lots of short steep hills during your training isn't going to help me with the long haul hills during the race. So that's what's on the docket for this afternoon.

Today is Thursday and time to share another "jam" for the week. This one has been out for a couple of years and you still can hear it almost daily on the Top 40 stations, so obviously people are still liking this song. The group hasn't really released anything since and have kind of dropped off the radar. So today's "jam" is:

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

End of Week 6 Double Dare Training!

So I bet you are wondering where the first 5 weeks updates are?  Well, to sum it up pretty succinctly, I didn't run too much. I barely got through my long runs and rarely ran during the week. I was pretty unhappy with my training, so I decided to not agonize over it, but rather start "fresh" with this week.

I have also changed my header to read "Double Dare Training" because I'm training for more than just a half marathon. I am training towards running, essentially, a double header. The Dumbo Double Dare is a challenge being held during Disneyland's Half Marathon weekend in August. The DDD challenge is to run the 10k on Saturday and the half marathon on Sunday. So that is a total of 19.3 miles over two days, however I'm upping the ante by throwing in the 5k on top of that on Saturday, bringing my mileage total up to 22.4. That is a hefty amount of miles over two days for someone who has only ran, at the most, 13.1 miles in a single run.

So this weeks training is as such below:

Monday, June 10, 2013

Momentum Monday: Greater Than

Ouch.

That is the word of the day for me today, ouch. I had my long run yesterday and holy cow, I'm SO SORE! I did 11 miles yesterday for the first time since February. I wish I could take the whole day to just stretch and recover, but alas, I am at work taking care of business.  I'm so responsible, I know.

Though yesterday while I was running I was having some troubles towards the end. It had been a while since I had ran this distance and I was really down on myself for not being more prepared for my upcoming half. So when I saw this quote, I knew I had to use it for todays Momentum Monday.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

"The Jam" Thursday - What is blowing up my iPod

Hello Thursday and why are you so brutal? Anyone else have trouble sleeping last night? I was tossing and turning all night and could not stay asleep to save my life. I blame the greek food I had for dinner. The hummus had SO MUCH garlic in it that it actually burned my palate as I ate it. No bueno.

Yesterday I went for a run for National Running Day at Greenlake with about a hundred other people. It was sponsored by Brooks Running, Road Runner Sports and Rock and Roll Race Series. We ran the lake and had a prize drawing, as well as a photo booth. Didn't get to take a picture with the crazy gear they brought!

Brooks was also there with Glycerin 11's for people to "test run". You signed out a pair of shoes and got to run with them around the lake! Pretty cool concept to have the ability to test out how a shoe will perform on a run longer than down the block (distance you usually get at shoe stores). I wanted to try a pair of the Glycerin 11's (especially that awesome blue color, I die!) but they were all out of my shoe size so I couldn't take them for a run. I wear a VERY common size it seems, 9.5, Brooks shoes are almost always out of my size when I go shopping.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Compression socks, anyone?

So if you have been reading my blog for a while you will know how much I LOVE my compression socks! Pro Compression is my brand of choice for sure! I have used other brands and I just don't get the same overall support that I get with Pro Compression. The colors and holiday designs are really fun additions to any runners wardrobe!
 
Today they released their Sock of the Month colors and with the Spring and Summer coming, these colors really POP! Pro Compression encourages people to share the information on their deals, and these were just too good not to pass along.
 

Monday, June 3, 2013

Momentum Monday: Sore or Sorry?

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work I go; for another Monday has arrived! How was your weekend? Mine was PACKED full of things going on and going places that I didn't even get to do my normal weekend prep for the next week! I still need to go grocery shopping! Sheesh!

Regardless, I hope you had a great weekend and are feeling refreshed for this new week! Can you believe we are in June already?!? Where is this year going? It's whizzing by so fast! So before this day ends quicker than we expect, let's get to this weeks Momentum Monday.