Last weeks training RUNdown 12/16-12/23

This long weekend went by way too fast. Anyone else feel this way?! I also feel that we should have an extra week or two between Christmas & New Years. Two holidays so close together just makes this week pass by way too fast. Last night we continued my family’s tradition of Italian food on Christmas Day- I made homemade Chicken Parmigiana and it was incredible.  

Then we proceeded to eat our weight in homemade Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. Warm cookies fresh out of the oven is my favorite.  

Also we did both cross country AND alpine skiing yesterday?!? We decided to start with a cross country ski on our lake trail (normally they groom it, but they didn’t yesterday).  

Then we decided to skin up the ski mountain that is basically right out our doorstep. I’m not sure when exactly, but someone created the ski area (with lifts and set trails) here at Stagecoach- unfortunately it never actually opened! Fortunately for us, it isn’t open and we are able to hike up it and ski down with basically fresh tracks. It really blows my mind that it took us two years to finally find this trail to hike up.  

We both definitely got spoiled with some amazing gifts yesterday and also really looking forward to spending some money that I got on some new running gear!  

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Monday, 12/17- 5 miles easy at 8:38 60’ up. Originally this was supposed to be an easy 6 mile run, but I only had a short amount of time and decided why not make it a fun little temp-ish run. It was nice to run “faster” again! First time since Vegas!  

Tuesday, 12/18- 6.04 miles easy with 360’ up & 30 minutes of strength in the morning!  

Wednesday, 12/19: Rest Day! 

Thursday, 12/20: 6 miles easy with middle three miles at goal marathon pace (8:40, 8:21, 7:59). 10 minutes of strength  

Friday, 12/21- Skin up the ski mountain & 5 miles easy afterwards at 9:44 84’ up. This was probably one of the coldest runs I’ve done (4* out?!?) and I’m honestly pretty proud of that. I survived!  

Saturday, 12/22- 7 miles easy @ 11:06 625’ up & yoga. I’m trying to listen to my body more and slow down on my runs when I feel like I need it. No shame in slowing that pace down!  

Sunday, 12/23: 4.25 miles with alternating the incline from 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5% and back down . 9:56 pace & 30 minutes of strength. All done after teaching skiing all day! Pretty happy that I still managed to get it done despite being tired (also my butt was SO SORE the next day!)  

Total Mileage: 33.29 miles  

Total Elevation: 1,129’ up 

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How was your Holiday? 

Favorite homemade cookie?!? 

Favorite trail running shoe- I need some recommendations!  

Last Weeks Training RUNdown 12/10-12/16 & I'm Totally THAT Person

Happy Humpday! I cannot believe we’re less than a week away from Christmas?!? I really love the Holidays, but they can also be difficult being so far away from family. It’s funny how ‘Christmas Day’ doesn’t exactly feel like ‘Christmas Day’ when it’s just Alex and I to celebrate. It kinda just feels like a weekend with a few presents in there. I’m all about creating traditions, so we’ll be doing Chinese for Christmas Eve (it’s been our tradition for the past few years) and hopefully we can create some sort of tradition for Christmas Day. It’s always way too busy to ski at our mountain normally, but a nice little cross country ski or snowshoe will be nice.

Got in my strength yesterday morning after an easy 6 mile run (done by 6:30am?!?). Tuesday & Thursdays are two of my harder workout days for Eugene training cycle, so I’m trying to get in a schedule now. They’ll be harder in the sense that I’ll have some sort of speed or tempo work in my run and then will also be doing strength so I can take my easy run days really easy and recover well. I normally have just fit in strength whenever I can, so I’m excited to create this habit and see if/how it helps me for Eugene!

Monday, 12/10: 5.25 miles easy 9:44 127’ up. Literally “ran” some errands during my lunch break, since it was much too cold to run in the early morning (unless I wanted to freeze).

Tuesday, 12/11: 20 minutes of strength & 7 miles easy 11:05 1, 013’ up. SO cold on this run (single digits?!?). I made it out alive though, so there’s that.

Wednesday, 12/12: Rest Day

Thursday, 12/13: 7 miles (25 min EZ/ 10 x 1 min surges (7:13-6:48 pace) with 1 min recovery between sets / 20 min EZ). 30 minutes strength. First bit of speed since Vegas last month and it felt hard, but a good kinda hard!

Friday, 12/14: 30 min hike on the treadmill @ 3.5mph 10% incline. Originally was all ready to hike up the ski mountain (and then ski down), but when I got to the base it was -10* out and honestly, I draw the line when it’s below freezing (ESPECIALLY double digits below 0!)

Saturday, 12/15: 5.25 miles easy 9:56 316’ up/ 20 min recovery yoga

Sunday, 12/16: 6.19 miles easy 9:30 356’ up/ 30 minutes strength/ 10 minutes on the spin bike

Total Mileage: 30.69 miles

Total Elevation Gain: 1, 821’ up

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Also I’m totally that person. You know, the very messy one at the gym that just leaves their stuff everywhere. I’m completely a neat-freak at home, but get me to the gym and I will sprawl out all over the place. I blame growing up at the ice rink and carrying twenty million things with me (and then proceeding to sprawl out with all my things in between skating sessions). I’m super annoying that was at the gym and maybe this should be resolved in 2019? I’m not optimistic about that.

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When do you like to get your strength work in?

How will you celebrate the Holiday?

Any fun Christmas traditions?!? —> I also heard someone say that they do a scavenger hunt on Christmas day, which sounds like so much fun so I think I may need to do this for Alex. How does one even go about putting together a scavenger hunt?!? Stay tuned..

Last weeks training RUNdown 12/3-12/9 & I NEED YOUR RECOMMENDATION!

How are we already at December 12th?!? I literally feel like it was just December 1st the other day. I’m starting to put together my 2019 goals and am feeling INSPIRED! I’m also chipping away at my goals for this month- we attempted to make a snowman last weekend, but sadly the snow was light and fluffy (great for skiing, not so great for snowmen) so at least I tried! I’m also finishing up my book, so that will be another check off the list! How’s your goals going for this month? The biggest one that I’m continuing to work on? —> Staying present in the moment! I love this and want to become a pro at it, so I’ll continue to keep trying (I LOVE and THRIVE off making lists, so it’s challenging for me!). Today is a rest day, so I’m enjoying sleeping in and will be getting in some yoga later today. Hopefully also an Epsom Salt bath too! : )

Also does anyone else’s dog become a slobbery mess whenever they have food?!? Stella is the queen for the sweetest puppy dog eyes.

I also saw this on Instagram this other day and 100% accurate.

Monday, 12/3: 5.03 miles easy 39’ up + 20 minutes of strength/ stretching

Tuesday, 12/4: 5 miles easy 9:58 48’ up

Wednesday, 12/5: rest day/ stretching

Thursday, 12/6: 5.04 miles easy 10:16 51’ up + stretching

Friday, 12/7: 30 minutes strength/ stretching/ 20 min hike on the treadmill at 3.5mph 10% incline

Saturday, 12/8: 5.04 miles easy 9:55 248’ up/ band mobility work & stretching

Sunday, 12/9: 5 miles easy 10:09 914’ up

Total Mileage: 25.11 miles

Total Elevation Gain: 1, 300’ up

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Least favorite chore —> Laundry, dishes, or cleaning the bathrooms? Laundry. It takes SO LONG for it to go from the washer to the dryer to being folded. Hours upon Hours. Who has time for that?!?

Favorite Running related book? I need a new recommendation!

What do your dogs do when you have food?

Training RUNdown: 11/ 19- 11/25

Happy Humpday! Only a few more days left in November and then it’s the last month of 2018?!? WOW I cannot believe it’s almost Christmas (or Christmukkah for us!). We’re getting our Christmas tree this weekend and then normally do one gift for Hanukkah (normally near the end of it) and then the remaining for Christmas. I LOVE the Holidays! Our decorations have already been up for about two weeks and adding the tree is the like the cherry on top for me. Anyone else feel this way? Last week was my last one without running at all, so I made sure to increase my strength and try to get in some type of cardio most days during the week (but also give myself some grace if I didn’t feel like doing anything). Still not wearing my Garmin watch to count my steps and that feels completely freeing!

Monday, 11/19: Swam .71 mile during my lunch break & stretching/ foam rolling after work.

Tuesday, 11/20: 20 minutes of spinning & 30 minutes of weights/ stretching. Yoga in the morning and then followed it up with an Epsom Salt Soak.

Wednesday, 11/21: Swam 3/4 mile during my lunch break & stretching/ foam rolling after work.

Thursday, 11/22: Turkey day! Nothing but lots of food, coffee with kitty cuddles, and a short walk by the lake later on. Today was the first day where I REALLY wanted to run outside. The temperatures were perfect and mentally- running just gives me that extra time to decompress (especially on a Holiday, where it’s normally always focused around family time & ours is far away..). Taking walks helps, but still not quiet the same.

Friday, 11/23: 30 minutes of spinning and 40 minutes of weights/ stretching. Also- LONGEST PLANK HELD EVER?!?!

Saturday, 11/24: Walked 35 minutes on the treadmill at home at 8% incline (2 miles) and 30 minutes of light weights/ stretching.

Sunday, 11/25: 2 minute Plank & went skiing! Also foam rolling/stretching at the end of the day.

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Working on Holidays- yay or nay?

Favorite early morning thing? —> COFFEE and kitty cuddles under the heated blanket : )

Training RUNdown: 11/12-11/18

Happy Humpday and the day before Thanksgiving! If you’re traveling, I hope you have safe travels. Anyone running a Turkey Trot? I’m bummed that I’m not doing ours, but know that my full 2 weeks off of running are completely necessary. I’m also all about switching up my normal routine right now- including taking an Epsom Salt Bath yesterday morning before work (it was amazing)!

Also my LONGEST PLANK EVER?!? No stops. No adjustments. Straight through. Maybe I will actually reach my goal of a 4:00 plank by the end of the month!

Brinner is one of my favorite things. Especially when Alex is away (he got back late last night)- it’s an easy way to get in a lot of veggies without much prep. I put in sauted spinach, onions, peppers, and cherry tomatoes.

ALSO- I NEED THIS!

Here’s a recap of last week’s training (sans running):

Monday, 11/12: Nothing besides this s’mores latte from Hash-House-A-Go-Go

Tuesday, 11/13: Travel day back home. Nothing!

Wednesday, 11/14: Took Stella for a few walks and that’s about it : )

Thursday, 11/15: More walks!

Friday, 11/16: 20 minutes of elliptical and 40 minutes of strength/stretching

Saturday, 11/17: Another rest day!

Sunday, 11/18: 20 minutes of biking and 40 minutes of strength/stretching

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What are your Thanksgiving traditions? ——> Watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV, normally doing a Turkey Trot, and always always a Green Bean Casserole

Favorite things to put in eggs?

Ever tried a S’mores latte?