peak week |

04/13/2016
by She's Going the Distance 11 Comments

Wednesday Afternoon Catch Up

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 9m interval 8 x 1000s (2m warm up, 8 x 1000s all @ 6:22/pace, 1m cool down) + 2.3m walk

Wednesday: 30 min handstand skill work + 2m walk

I just realized I haven’t written a “real” post in over 22 days. Usually when I’m not posting weekly it’s because I’m injured and not ready to share or I’m a little depressed and have nothing great to write about. That’s actually not the case this time around! haha I’m in the work/run/eat/sleep grind right now. I finished up Hell Week (thank you Inverted Sneakers) or Peak Week as most of you know it as. The hardest part–high mileage and fast paces– of training is over. Several more workouts and it will be April 30th before I know it.

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In between all the running and recovery I’ve been working on being more involved in the running community (outside of the internet.) I got to work the Zooma table at the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler Expo with Zooma’s Founder & Director! Brae was so much fun and I can seriously talk about running for hours so it was easy to help out. I can’t believe I’ll be running the Zooma Annapolis 1/2 in just 6 weeks! OH and they added a 5k! If you wanted to run the race, but didn’t want to run a 10k or half you can sign up for the 5k. (use CORI16 for 10% off races).

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I’m going to switch subjects a bit in the post, but these “catch up posts” tend to do that so just roll with me.

I won coffee. 🙂 My heart burst a little when I saw I won. Coffee AAAAaaaaand Honey Stinger Waffles! Just a quick note, the coffee is Marley Coffee & it is excellent. I haven’t tried the espresso coffee just yet, but i’m sure it’s fantastic too. The Honey Stinger waffles were the new gluten free maple waffles. I had the assumption that I wouldn’t like the gluten-free, but honestly i like them more than the regular. The waffle holds together better with rice than wheat and it ends up being less crumbly.

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My Garmin broke. It was a gift 3+ years ago…and last week it just didn’t turn on. I tried all the resets, new chargers etc, but it hit the dust. I just wanted to share that I bought a refurbished Forerunner 10 off of Amazon (for about $70 + 1 year warranty) and the watch looks brand new. If it weren’t for the warranty I don’t know if i’d buy a used watch, but it’s a cheap fix since I don’t need all the bells and whistles of a more expensive watch.

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Plus i just got a Microsoft 2 Band from my job (yes Gold’s Gym is actually a great company to work for!) I’ll do a full review soon when i play around with all the features, but as of now it counts steps/mileage, does heart rate via the wrist, i get texts/call/email alerts, and it has gps so it was a big help when my Garmin died. File_000 (122)

The salon I got my hair done at wanted to take pictures for their Instagram so I spent another afternoon in the chair for them.

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and then I went online and bought the same Nume curling iron they used, because i love the beachy look. They have really good flash sales & discounts, so don’t spend the money until a sale comes up! I got this one for $35, they are normally $139.

I think that’s it. Running has been excellent. My legs are feeling the exhaustion from 9 weeks of training, but my mind is in the right place. Again–i’ll come back to this and go in depth with the mental stuff that i’ve been doing to help me run faster!

Last Week

Monday: 1500m row, 100 bosu burpees w/pushups, 50 bw squats, 50 hanging leg raises

Tuesday: 8.5m combo tempo (3m @ 6:49, 6:49, 6:44 -3:00 rest- 2 x 1m @ 6:22, 6:18)

Wednesday: 20min triceps/back

Thursday: 6m easy 9:15/pace

Friday: 8m MP easy 8:10/pace

Saturday: 3m easy 9:45/pace

Sunday: 15m long/easy 8:38/pace

Total Miles: 40.6 The Peak!

Tell me something random!

Do you own an activity tracker? Do you like it?

10/22/2015
by She's Going the Distance 12 Comments

How to Get Through Peak Week & My Favorite Pumpkin Cookies

Monday: 6.9m easy 8:32/pace

Tuesday: 9m interval (8 x 1000s- 3 @ 6:48/pace, 3 @ 6:44/pace, 2 @ 6:40/pace – 2min recovery jog in between)

Wednesday: 25 min shoulders/back

Good Morning! I think i’m super excited about blogging again since I bought my new pretty desk. So hopefully you’ll enjoy hearing from me a few times a week rather than once in a while.

Let’s talk about PEAK WEEK! This is generally the week before you begin to taper. For those of you who are newer runners, tapering is when you cut back on overall running volume to gain the fitness from your training and are well rested and ready to run your best on race day morning.

Peak week is tough for a few reasons: This is your highest mileage week. You are getting up at ungodly hours in the morning or staying at the gym or out on the trails later than usual to fit training into your everyday life. It is mentally challenging and physically demanding to make it to and get through peak week after building mileage for 8, 10, 12 or 16 weeks!

not excited to repeat the 1000s workout.

Here is how I handled it and how i’m handling it a second time (if you recall on my last post, i accidentally thought last week was my peak. whoops)

Plan out time for your workouts. Schedule these runs in and don’t skip unless necessary. You won’t really have an extra day to makeup a run.
Take one day at a time. Each day focus on the workout at hand. Do not overwhelm yourself or wonder how you’re going to run again the next day.
Run your easy days freaking easy. If your easy runs are slower than normal it’s okay!
Go to sleep earlier. Focus on the recovery.
Eat like you’re an athlete and get some good nutrition in. HRG always says junk in = junk out. If you eat junk, your workouts will be junk.
Focus on your race day “A” goal. It will push you to finish your workout, trust me. Remind yourself why you’re doing this, a PR? because you love running? so you can run the race comfortably? Qualify for Boston?

Always remember, it’s not about hitting each workout perfectly–that rarely happens for me. Focus on the effort over everything. If the effort is there, you will have a successful peak week. And if you take it one day at a time with a little extra sleep, you won’t be dragging or bite the head off a co-worker or spouse.

Recovering with LE

Now for the fun! My favorite pumpkin dark chocolate chip cookie recipe! I make these cookies every year and they are always the best dessert no matter where I take them. The only tweak i make is adding way more cinnamon than required. I love cinnamon and I like the flavor to come through. Again, never had any complaints 🙂

No these aren’t healthy, I’m still learning to bake so i’m not doing substitutions for a healthier cookie just yet. If you try these and change any of the recipe, let me know how they turn out!

Now I have to repeat a long tempo today, wish me luck. Last difficult run before an easy 11 miler this weekend, THEN I get to taper! Haha!

Best tip to make it through Peak Week?

Favorite holiday treat?

10/18/2015
by She's Going the Distance 14 Comments

I. Can’t. Count.

If I train you at the gym, you know I can’t count worth crap. But it’s getting bad dudes. Like, I just got through what I thought was my “Peak Week”–the hardest, highest mileage week of training and was SOOOOOO ready to head into the taper, but I didn’t count the weeks right. And now, i’m a week ahead of my training plan.

This is the training plan i loosely follow from Competitor.com, obviously making tweaks along the way… I have used this plan before and really love it!

Now, i’m choosing to view my mistake as a blessing—since every time I toe the line I WISH/PRAY/IMAGINE I had just a few more weeks to train. I hope I’m not the only one who has this recurring thought at race starts. The glass half empty in me is really upset because it took a lot of mental rigor to get me through this past week. All i kept telling myself was to make it through this week and it’s all downhill from here. I need to wrap my head around a repeat week and do the same week again, but this time faster, better, stronger.

from Saturday’s easy 10 miler

I’ve started doing my long runs on Saturdays and I kinda like it. It’s out of the way for the rest of the weekend and I can focus on family time! A week ago my mom came to visit & she brought her puppy Maggie to keep LE company. We thought a size comparison was important.. Maggie is probably a 5lb dog.. LE is 48lbs. And yes LE lets us hold her like that.

I haven’t been feeling 100% so I did a lot of housework & lounging this weekend. I think LE needed the additional rest from all the stressful furniture rearranging.

She was super cuddly after I got back from the 10 miler.

And I caught her passed out here…

and here…

she’s finally awake!

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And I finally got my flipping hair cut. Only took 14 months.

And I craigslisted pretty hard Sunday morning & I found my dream desk…

I’ll be re-arranging and setting up my office for blogging & PT stuff over the next month. I’ll share the progress when all is done!

Oct 5th- Oct 11th

Monday: 30 min mobility work

Tuesday: 7m tempo 7:36/pace, 20 min shoulders/core + 1m walk w/LE

Wednesday: 3m easy 9:20/pace, 15 min legs + 1m walk w/LE

Thursday: 6m easy 8:52/pace

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 13m long/fast finish 8:13/pace + 1m walk w/LE

Sunday: 5.5m easy 8:29/pace

Total Miles: 34

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Oct 12th-18th

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 9m interval (8 X 1000s)

Wednesday: 20 min legs

Thursday: 6m easy 7:56/pace

Friday: 10.5m tempo 3 x 2.5m (1 @ 7:19, 1 @ 7:13, 1 @ 7:05)- 3:00 min rest inbetween intervals.

Saturday: 10.2m easy 8:28/pace

Sunday: Rest

Total Miles: 35.7

Have you ever messed up your training weeks?

Any tips or necessities for redecorating an office?

03/30/2015
by She's Going the Distance 8 Comments

A New State!

Monday: Rest

After the Run for Haiti 5K last week, i was mentally exhausted! Goes to show that running is just as physical as it is mental. I was wiped out. I took a few extra rest days from running then got right back to planning next races & places. (One thing CrossFit Endurance–the training plan i’m following–promotes is the idea that their programs can keep you at 95% top shape so you can race more often without “peaking” or only banking on a peak week in your training. With this is mind I’m not afraid to race more frequently).

Lacrosse ball in hand for some massage torture

The Cherry Blossom 10 Miler is in 12 more days! And I’m excited to run my very first 10 Miler (hello, automatic PR!). Shortly after I will be trying another 5K or two in hopes I can break through the 20 minute barrier! Now onto the new news of the newest state i’ll be running in.

Delaware!

I have a bucket list goal of running a race (any distance) in each state. It will give me an opportunity to visit new cities, run different terrain & meet new people. On May 10th I will be running the half marathon in Wilmington, Delaware, putting a new state under my belt and giving me a starting point to measure fitness and begin planning out a training schedule for a fast fall half marathon!

One state at a time

I’m so excited to be running this race because it’s a small field, about 3500 runners and is said to be Delaware’s largest, oldest & biggest running festival. Wilmington is less than 2 hours from DC and just a short ride from Baltimore, just outside of Philly. The race is pretty flat and runs along the Delaware River & beautiful parks. If you’d like to run in the full or half use promo code GOLDSGYM for a $10 discount which will make the 1/2 $65 and the full $85. <—Super cheap entry for a local race that i’ve heard nothing but good things about! This race is on pace to sell out in the next two weeks, so if you buy in let me know and let’s meet up!!

You can register for the race here! http://www.delawaremarathon.org/registration/

from last week’s run

Weekly Recap

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 5.2m easy 9:21/pace

Wednesday: 20 min shoulders/triceps

Thursday: CFE 5 Rounds: 500m row, 20 Kettlebell Swings, 20 Kettlebell Lunge Pass Through, 20 Knees to Chest Sit Ups, 20 min core.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 14m easy 8:08/pace

Total Miles: 19.2

How many states have you run in?

Anyone ever ran in Delaware before?