June in Review

Total Miles:  68.34 miles down from 118.33  miles last month.  52.6 miles last June. Another month without 100 miles, but not for lack of trying. 

Total Time: 11:21:40 down from 20:06:49. 

Total Runs: 14 runs for an average of 4.88 miles/run.

Highest weekly mileage: 

6/11/2018 – 6/17/2018:	26.2 mi	4:11:40	9:36 / mi

Most hardcore run: I attempted to do my last speed session at 12:30pm on a track with no shade that you could see and feel the heat pouring off the black track. It would've been extra hardcore if I had finished the workout, but instead I got really dizzy and had to call it quits.

Favorite run: The one coffee run that Toni and I did this month.

Favorite Race: Garry Bjorklund half was the only race, and I didn't really love it. The race weekend was amazing, but I won't need to do the half in the future.

Favorite Jam: Weezer's cover of Africa. It's so great.

June in Review + Goals

Total Miles:  52.6 miles down from 104.9 miles last month. 65.1 miles last June.

Total Time:  9:11:57 down from 18:58:53 last month.

Total Runs: 18 runs (includes warm ups and cool downs for 5k races) for an average of 2.92 miles per run.

Highest weekly mileage: June 12-18 23.3 miles 4:10:43 10:47 pace/mile 28.7 

Favorite run: Warm up before our 5k with Toni, we hadn't seen each other for what felt like forever, so we had about 20 minutes to catch up on all the things before the race.

Most hardcore run: One and only "long run" of June. Six miles after POWER in a trillion degrees and all the humidity. Barf. I thought my heart was going to explode.

Favorite Race: Sioux Falls Parks and Rec 5k night #2. Ran my fastest pace in six years, in 85 degree temps! Can't wait to see what I can do on a decent day!

Bike Miles: 20 miles! Plus other cycling classes without mileage tracked.

Favorite Jam: None at the moment. 

July Goals

This month I have two goals I'm going to try to work on:

• Daily meditation: I've totally fallen off of my meditation practice and I desperately want to get it back.
• Water: I've been drinking so much coffee and enjoying all the beers on beautiful summer nights, and I have not been drinking nearly enough water. I re-downloaded an app to help me stay accountable. Fingers crossed!

June + July in Review

June in Review

Total Miles: 23.1 up from 17.2 last month. Down from from 61.5 last June.

Total Time:  2:45:57 up from 33 minutes last month. Ha. Last May I ran 9:57:55.

Total Runs: 5 runs, for an average of 3.44 miles per run. 

Highest weekly mileage: 11.3 miles

Favorite run: My run with Kyle on National Running Day!

Most hardcore run: 7 mile long run.

Favorite race: 
Harrisburg 5k

Bike Miles: None.

Yoga: 12 hours. Almost half as much time as I spent on my mat last month. :/ BUT I got a lot of teacher training observations out of the way, so it was worth it. I think.

Barre: 4 hours.

Favorite Jam: My iPod keeps dying so I've gotten used to listening to my haggard breathing on runs. I do have some amazing yoga playlists if you ever join me for a class!

 _______________

July in Review

Total Miles: 18.7 down from 23.1 last month. Down from 119.6 last July.

Total Time:  3:06:26 up from 2:45:57 last month.

Total Runs: 6

Highest weekly mileage: 7.9 miles :/

Favorite run: Group run at the yoga studio. First tempo run in a long time.

Most hardcore run: Same as above.

Favorite race: 
None.

Bike Miles: 26.8!

Yoga: 14 hours.

Yoga Classes Taught: 2!

Barre: 6 classes.

June in Review + Goals

June in Review

Total Miles: 73.8 up from 61.5 last month.  Up from 48.3 last June. 

Total Time:  12:28:22 up from 9:57:55 last month. 

Total Runs:  12 for an average of 6.15 miles each run.

Highest weekly mileage: 6/2-6/8 24.8 miles 4:00:18

Favorite run: A fairly effortless and somewhat speedy hilly run.

Most hardcore run: Tempo run in 90% humidity.

Favorite race: Swan Lake Half Marathon.

Bike Miles: 23 miles with Jenn. Biked to the bike trail (not fun) and then around the bike trail (mostly fun except for the really congested parts).

Favorite Jam: none really. any suggestions??

June Goals

• Run 100+ miles. I missed a couple of workouts (including a 16 miler, womp) that would've put me over the edge. 
• Run three two long runs as scheduled. My schedule was revised for the Swan Lake half marathon, so I ended up having a race, recovery week, and two long runs. Fail. Random Saturday night fun destroyed my chances of completing (or even starting) my second LR of the month.

• Do one fast finish LR. Only did one LR and it was so hot I thought I'd die if I did anything more than just "run, try not to die".
• Do one LR with 3 minute pickups every 20 minutes. See above. ^
• Run all three speed sessions as scheduled. 2/3! Not being able to coordinate my schedule with my running buddy for these has sucked. Having all city track meets on my preferred track on the preferred night to to run then hasn't helped. /excuses No track meets in July=no excuses!
• Run my 2nd fastest 10k in Harrisburg. Sub 52??  I wrote this goal post prior to signing up for the half marathon the weekend before. I did run my 2nd fastest half marathon in the past 2 years.
• Watch 2 Oscar Best Picture Nominees.
• Every other day core work, hip stretches, and drills. Wahoo! Added in glute stuff before every run as well.
• 2 buddy runs.
• Do a run with a buddy other than Jenn! Operation: more running buddies! *cough* Megan *cough* :)
• Make 2 new meals using my veggie box ingredients. I made an awesome kale salad instead of just defaulting to kale chips. And fell in love with kohlrabi. Mmmmm. Veggie box win. I also made quinoa and veggie stuffed peppers with a bunch of the veggies inside my CSA box. So good! Even Kyle ate it. 3! I made 3 recipes! I went above and beyond on this goal! hah.
• Rework budget.

June in Review + Minneapolis Recap

June in Review

Total Miles:  80.6 down from 87.6 last month. (90.5 miles from June 2010.)

Total Time: 13:11:09 from 14:05:55 last month. (14:18:41 last June.)

Total Runs: 18 for an average of 4.48/run.

Highest weekly mileage: 

6/20/2011 — 6/26/2011:

27.4 Mi

4:41:41

Favorite run: I had a lot of fun on the Runners Block group run.  Granted it was hot as ballz, but it was so fun to be out running with a group of people.  The delicious bagels after the run didn't hurt. :)

Most hardcore run:  I'd say my 4x800m repeats on the treadmill while trying not to drown in my own sweat.

Favorite race:  None.  :(  Still trying to get the bod back to 100% post-Fargo.

Bike Miles: 15.  Almost doubled last month--8.5.  Hah.

Favorite Jams:  Since I've been running with so many friends, I've been leaving the tunes at home.  Kind of a nice break.

And I was super lame and never got around to showing the tales of my Minneapolis weekend.  So here I go.  We got in to town on Friday night and got all gussied up for a night on the town.  We hit up a great restaurant with super cute and delicious drinks.  And then painted the town red with our dance moves.  I haven't danced in a long time.  And wow.  My calves were not happy on Saturday.

My bfff and I before heading out for dinner.

My bfff and I and the bride to be!

It looks like Jenn is presenting Sheana's face in this picture, and I kind of love that.

And because I can't take more than one normal pic in a row.... we end up with this.

Perhaps my eye was bothering me.... we'll use that as the excuse for the quasimodo squint.

Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed out for brunch at the Cheeky Monkey.  Mmmmmm.  It was so good.  The mimosas were amazing as well.  From there we went to the wedding venue per the bride's request and then to some patio bar for some drinks and dessert.  Hello my two favorite things.  :)  Next up was a German festival (the bride is from Germany, so she was sooooooooo excited to go).  We went out to some more bars later, but this little ol' lady was quite tuckered out.  Uff da.  I jsut can't bachelorette-party-it-up like I used to be able to.  Don't ask me how I was able to pull of a long run the next day....

Patio bar.  Cheese balls+cheesecake+beer FTW!

Mmmm bier.

Check out Mile Posts' great Saucony shoe giveaway.

Just Needed a Little SPEED to Put the Smile Back on my Face

Sorry for the woe is me and my boring training plan yesterday. Thanks for all your suggestions. :) I've never had a training plan call for easy runs back to back before, so I didn't realize how crabby it would make me. I think I'm definitely going to try some hillier routes on the Tuesday easy run, which will make it not easy anymore, and will make me smile. Then I will do an easy/recovery run Wednesday, speed workout Thursday, and easy/recovery Friday. Presto change-o, I'm a happy camper again. :) Also, to help with my training for the Wild West Relay, I may also decide to do the easy runs in one day--one in the morning and one in the evening. Just so my legs know what it's like to run 10-12 hours apart.

This morning I had a tempo run of 5 miles with the middle 3 miles at 8:14 pace and a warm-up and cool-down. It was a tough run, but tough in a good way. One of those runs that makes you feel a little stronger just by completing it. I gave myself a +5/-5 second range for the tempo miles, and pretty dang good.
1. 9:34 (warm up)
2. 8:10
3. 8:15
4. 8:10
5. 9:00 (cool down. for some reason it's REALLY hard for my legs to go slow on the cool down part of a tempo run. it just feels sooooooooooo slow after being speedy for a bit. oh well.)

My ab started hurting just the last .2 miles of the 3rd tempo mile, and I was bummed thinking that I would blow the time, thus ruining my tempo run altogether (very overly dramatic on my part, I know) but was ecstatic when the mile came in the same pace as the first. I must've been running stronger during the rest of the run to make up for it. Go me. :)

About my race on Saturday: I'm beginning to think it didn't exist. Seriously. No results anywhere. No friends or family there to see it. Still no plaque in the mail (as I was told by the race director). Did it only exist in my imagination???? Hah. Luckily I have the t-shirt, that can be my proof I guess. But I'm bummed that I'm not able to look over the stats. Secretly, I just want to know how many boys I beat, since I think only about 10-15 beat me. Heheh. Such a brat.

June in Review
I can't believe it's July already!! Holy crappers. This it the time of month that I look back fondly on my training and make you re-read some highlights for my own amusement. Seriously, how do I have any followers? jk. I hope you like my babble. :)

Total Mileage: 80.4 (increase of 6.1 from last month.)
Time spent: 11:52:52
Number of runs: 19 (I didn't miss a single run in this training cycle, ya me!)
Average run distance: 4.23
Highest weekly mileage: 24.6
Favorite run: 9 mile long run--the one that got me EXCITED for the SF 1/2
Favorite race: Salute the Troops 5k (which may or may not have actually existed...) The one where I PR'd, won my age group, and took 1st place overall woman. Holler. :p

Goals
Also, I've been inspired by aron at runner's rambles to set a mileage goal for myself for the year. Yes, we're halfway through it, so that's "technically" cheating, but I've never ran for a full year. Lame, I know. I usually only run from April-September and then quit.

For the first 6 months of this year, I ran 378.8 miles. A few years ago, when I had intended on running my first full, but wussed out, I had set a goal to run 800 miles in that year. Based on my first half mileage, and the 2 halfs I will be training for during the next 6 months, I would like to hit 1,000 miles. EEEK! No. Let me rephrase that, I WILL hit 1,000 miles. Stay tuned.