Half Race Recap & Photos From Our Weekend!

Happy Monday! Knowing that it’s a short week, waking up this morning didn’t seem too bad. Anyone else feel this way?

I’ve got my Rock n Roll Half Marathon Recap HERE for you today!

Let’s recap the weekend shall we?

Still no running, but still getting outdoors when I can for some walks!

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THIS. Anyone else tried this? I’m OBSESSED and am trying to convince Alex that we need to move close to a Trader Joe’s tomorrow.

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Maybe they do actually love eachother (‘s butt)?

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Kitty cuddles.

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MORE snow on Sunday.

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Favorite Trader Joe’s item?

What are your plans for Thanksgiving?! Anyone running a Turkey Trot?

Do you have anyone animals? Do they love eachother?

Feature Friday: Goals For My Race!

Happy Friday from Sunny, warm Las Vegas! How was your week? Anyone else traveling to Vegas this weekend or running another race somewhere else?!? I can honestly say that I’m missing the snow 0%. ; )

Anyways, let’s chat about my goals for the race on Sunday. I’m running the 5k on Saturday to just shake out my legs and hope to keep it at a controlled 10:xx pace (expending as little energy as possible). I’ve always had the goal that if I break 1:42 for the half, then I will miraculously be ready to get a BQ in the marathon. I’ve since come to the realization that it may not happen right away and that I’ll also probably need more like a sub 1:40 time to qualify for Boston, so with that my goal is still to get as close to 1:42 as I can (my original goal). I’m not 100% positive that I’ll be able to run a sub 1:42, BUT I will absolutely give it my best shot and I also want to definitely PR my half (plus have fun ; ) …). I also want to mentally stay in the race the ENTIRE time (which can be hard! especially when things get difficult). I want to PUSH when things get hard and not give in to the pain. I would also really like to negative-split.

Flashback to the Marathon last year!

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SO with that in mind….here’s my goals laid out with some nice bulletpoints:

  • “A goal” - Half PR

  • “Also A goal” - HAVE FUN

  • B goal” - STAY MENTALLY IN IT

  • C goal”- Negative Split

  • D goal”- Get that Sub 1:42

Flashback to my medal collection last year!

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What are you up to this weekend?

A, B, C, D goals- how many do you like to make?

Ever ran the #StripAtNight?

Las Vegas Half Marathon Training RECAP

Happy Thursday! Hopefully I’ve made it to the Grand Canyon by now (I flew into Vegas yesterday and pre-wrote today & tomorrow’s posts so I could be 100% enjoying our trip) with my Mom & Grandmother. We spent the night in the Grand Canyon last night and are driving back to Las Vegas this afternoon. Expo for the race is TOMORROW! YAY! Let’s recap my 16-week training cycle shall we?

  • I ran 627.89 miles this training cycle.

  • I climbed 30, 764’ in elevation!

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  • I paced a 100-miler for 19.41 miles through the middle of the night on the trails here in Steamboat at the Run Rabbit Run

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  • I peaked at 46.68 miles in Week # 16

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  • I switched from the marathon to the half marathon after week #5, where I started feeling burnt-out from marathon training and wanted a new goal

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  • I started out running 3/4 mile repeats at my Half Marathon goal pace (7:42-7:47) on August 28th with splits of: 7:47/ 7:47/ 7:41/ 7:41/ 7:35/ 7:30. I completed my last speed workout with 1 mile at Half Marathon goal pace (7:34), 3 x 1 mile at 10K goal pace (7:22) splits were: 7:14, 7:17, 7:19, 2 x 1/2 mile at 5K goal pace (7:04) splits were: 6:55, 7:11

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  • I ran a Half Marathon PR during a workout and placed 3rd in my Age Group (first time ever doing this!!)

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  • I ran early in the mornings, in between teaching skating, after work, in the heat, in the rain, overnight.

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While it wasn’t the perfect training cycle, I feel like I definitely gained some speed and am excited to test my fitness on Sunday! BRING. IT . ON.

Las Vegas HALF Marathon RUNdown Week 16: 10/29-11/4

Last week was probably one of my worst training weeks ever. Just putting it out there. I know part of it was because I was sick and part of it was because I was tapering, but man oh man did every single run feel just TERRIBLE. My schedule called for 5 runs instead of 6 (which I did) and I did not get in my surges, I cut-out my last 2 x 3/4 mile repeats at 5k pace in my speedwork (because running fast while sick is just really not fun), and reduced down one run by 1.5 miles. Overall, I’m proud that I took the sick days and really slowed down on my easy runs to keep my heartrate low (since I was sick - my heart was already working overtime), but I would be lying if I said that it didn’t mess with my head a bit and have me readjusting my goals COMPLETELY. I’m still playing it day-by-day so I don’t want to make any rash decisions and I do still really want to mentally push hard in my race, but if it’s not there- I’ve got to be OK with that. More on my goals for this race coming on Friday!

Monday, 10/29: REST DAY / 60 minute Jumpboard Pilates class at lunch

Tuesday, 10/30: 5.54 miles easy 10:50 135’ up

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Wednesday, 10/31: REST DAY

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Thursday, 11/1: 2.51 miles at 10:09 19’ up, taught skating, then 4.5 miles at 10:33 47’ up

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Friday, 11/2: 1.1 mile warm-up @ 10:03 21’ up / 3 x 1 mile at 10k pace (splits: 7:22 - good/ 7:41 (pretty bad)/ 7:44 (really bad) + 2 x 3/4 mile at 5k pace (skipped- I just felt like my speed was not there)) / 3.0 mile cool down (accounted for the skipped 2 x 3/4 mile repeats and instead did some easy miles) at 10:39 39’ up

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Saturday, 11/3: 3.5 miles easy @ 11:15 on the treadmill because it was an icy/snowy/ windy mix outside + 30 minutes of strength (and 30s Plank for another day down in the #Planksgiving challenge!)

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Sunday, 11/4: 9.38 miles easy on the trails @ 11:56 685’ up —> basically ran this in a blizzard on the muddest/ wettest trails. not so fun and it was definitely below 30* out. SO CHILLY. Probably my slowest long run for several years. I didn’t take a photo so here’s me before my run cuddling with Brady (also I kinda wanted to be here during my run too ha)

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Elevation gain: 966’

Mileage: 32.53 miles

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Shaken confidence in the taper- how do you deal with it?!?

What’s the weather like where you are?