January Totals for 2,015 in 2015

For the month of January I completed 67 miles! I don't normally track my monthly mileage, so this was fun to do. It looks like Wednesday and Saturday are my prime running days.
Ever since my marathon I've been off with my running. I haven't really felt like going and when I do go it's just not enjoyable. Well, that has certainly changed this month! I am in love with running at the beach. It's challenging and peaceful all at the same time. I never leave a beach run feeling down. Life is good in the sand.

I've also started running with Coach Michael again. I've started back to my Saturday speed work and even managed a Sunday long run with them. It was the first time since the marathon (in November!!!) that I actually got to talk about the marathon with my coach. Crazy! This photo makes me laugh every time I see it...

This Sunday Coach was sick so I posted on my Team RWB page to see if anyone wanted to hit up the trails and do a long run with me. Bryan and Cecilia were all for it! We knocked out 10.5 miles before the rain came. It was great to be on the trails with friends again.

Amazing what happens when you start getting back into a rhythm. I know February is going to be a great running month - sand relay here I come!!!

End of January Camp

This is a good image for how my week went! Soaking, compression, and muscle relaxer. I pounded the legs hard with the workouts this week. There were a lot of running boards for bootcamp plus I ran 14.4 miles on my own. It was a weird week for me: I've felt swollen and puffy. My clothes are not fitting right either; they are extremely tight in the calf area so I've been living in yoga pants. None of this is helping my confidence any. I've got all my workouts on point, this upcoming week I'm going to be focusing a lot more on nutrition.

Monday's bootcamp was called Beatdown Remix. You gotta love the names Troy comes up with for these boards. We started and ended the board with "gasers" which are basically a fancy name for sprints. Throw in some bear crawls, squats, lunges, body builders, and caterpillars (LOVE these! I haven't done them since I worked with a trainer in CO) and you have our workout. It was go, go, go all morning.

I like Tuesday's because I get to do the evening workout and sleep in; which really isn't as nice as it sounds because I spent the morning in bed thinking I was late for something! Tuesday's board started off with suicides, so, yea, more running! We did three sets and each set started with a round of suicides. I actually really like all the added speed work that bootcamp brings to my routine; my only problem is that the speed work is in the field. I was hurting pretty bad with this workout and I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish. My quad muscles were tight and I had to stop several times to stretch them out. Of course this was a sign of weakness and Troy picked me for the round of ab work at the end. I had to do two minutes of boulder swings while everyone else held a plank. Squat low, hold the "kettlebells" together and swing up as you come out of the squat, then bring them back down and squat low; repeat for two minutes. Each ball was 10 lbs. I killed all two minutes!! I was so proud of myself!!!

Tuesday night I spent some time with the foam roller, then the tub, and then wore my compression sleeves until bed time. My body needed the rest day on Wednesday, but I made my legs knock out almost 5 miles in the sand. 

Thursday morning found more running on the board. This time it was a partner workout! I love those, they really make the workouts fun. I had to leave early so Chris could go to work, so I didn't get to finish the board. Rebecca ended up missing this workout, so we got together on Saturday and knocked it out. I love that we live so close and can meet up and do workouts together. 

I had a busy week and could not make Friday morning so I ended up doing two bootcamp workouts in one day. I went to the partner workout on Thursday morning and then I went back Friday night for another workout. It was a pyramid board that started with running! It was the last board of the month, so you know it was going to be challenging. I made it all the way down the board and then half way back up the pyramid. It was a great workout to end the month. I was certainly ready for my rest day on Friday!

Weekly Beach Run

 

I did my longest beach run with Nicole, one of my relay partners, this morning. We completed 4.4 miles in 47 minutes. It was pretty awesome!! We ran on NAS Pensacola; it was my first time running in the sand on base. It's not a very long stretch, we probably could have gotten 5 miles max if we would've added on a few smaller strips. We ran through a water crossing that was fun, but a little cold. A good bit of the beach had a steep slope. If you avoided the slope you sank in the softer sand. Made for an interesting run. Miles 1 and 4 were our best since the sand in those miles was a little more packed.

 

After my run I put my feet up and sipped on a coffee while watching the waves. It was an extremely relaxing morning. My beach runs are seriously turning into the best part of my week.

Week 3 of 2,015 in 2015

It was a great week of running! Last week I squeaked out 9 miles, this week I killed it with 28.25 miles. Excellent week and finally getting back on track after my first marathon and the holidays. My running week kicked off on Tuesday at bootcamp with a workout called Legs, legs, legs. I ran a mile during the morning class then I went back in the evening to finish the board and ran 2.25; making my total for the day 3.25 (a 5k).
Wednesday was a long solo run. I ran 6 miles by myself at NAS on what used to be their chip trail. I guess they decided to pave the trail; thankfully it still has sections of woodchips and sand. In another month or two when the heat starts kicking in that trail is going to be brutal - all black top and no trees for shade. Right now though it's great!

 

 

They do have nice mile markers along the trail, my only complaint was I passed the half mile marker but had no idea where the start one was! I ran a little extra to make sure it was actually 6 miles (I still don't have an accurate Garmin for my runs...soon though, very soon!).

Wednesday night I went to World of Beer for my weekly run, but because Chris is on the later shift this week I had my little ones with me. We did a 1.5 mile loop at a kid run/walk. It was a great evening with my kiddos.
Thursday morning was going to be my rest day from running, but when I got to my bootcamp class the board said "Running Tabata." Aw well, add two more miles to the weekly count!
Friday I was all prepared for a rainy run on the beach with friends, but as luck would have it the sun decided to come out for the hour we were out there. It was a great run. We got to watch people surfing in the crazy waves and I found a cool conch shell. I also snagged a few cool photos...

My team mates joining me for 3 miles in the sand!

Crazy weather, but it made for some cool pics...

 All done and still smiling. Headed to the coffee shop afterwards for relaxation and chit chat.

My Saturday morning speed work at the track added another 6 miles to my total for the week. It was a great speed session that started a little late. Both kids were wide awake before 7am so Chris and them came along. Denver ran a lap or so with me then huddled in the car for the rest of the workout. Katelynn braved a few laps too, but didn't last long either. It wasn't really cold out, just very windy. I was running a little late, but still managed to get one mile and 6 striders in as a warmup before colors started. The workout itself was 4x300, one slow lap, 8 striders, 3x400, one slow lap, 8 striders, 5x200, one slow lap. Coach Michael joined me for one of the 200's and he clocked me at a 7 minute pace - NICE!

Sunday, I finally got myself out of bed and motivated to join Coach Michael for Sunday's long run. It was my first time running with them since the marathon as well as my longest run since the marathon. It felt great to be out there again. It was chilly at the start, but it didn't take long to warm up. We ended up running a fast mile, jogging back to Suzanne, taking a short walk break with her, and then heading off on another fast mile and repeating. Our miles were averaging in the 8:40-8:50 range and we kept laughing about who was pushing who...so much for a nice, easy Sunday morning run. It was great though!

Total miles completed towards 2,015 in 2015: 60.6

Week 3 of January Camp

Week three of January camp started off with a holiday, but that was no reason to miss a workout! Troy sent us the board and just told us to let him know how long it took us, so I asked Rebecca if she wanted to do it together, at the beach, while the sun came up...with our kids. She was down and so were two other bootcampers. It was the best workout EVER!!
I got all the stuff together the night before...

Then we hit the beach the next morning! Chris and both my kids came along and Rebecca's little girl came too.

It was a little cold at the start, but it didn't take long to warm up. It was also completely worth it! Chris got some pretty great photos.

Warming up!

Our workout. It was a Tabata workout so it went really quick. The jumping jacks were definitely interesting in the sand, but really once you got your footing they weren't bad. We didn't have a wall for wall sits, so we held low squats.

 

 

So peaceful and beautiful...

The girls loved it. They spent the morning collecting shells and watching dolphins, yes, dolphins! They were so excited about seeing them. Katelynn has been talking all week about being a Marine Biologist now.

Do you see that little purple bundle next to me (I'm in all black) - that's Denver! He immediately curled up on a beach towel, covered up with my jacket and then slept for the entire workout.

 

 

Doing superman's. We laughed and called them Superwomen and joked about how funny it was to be on the beach acting like we were swimming with the ocean right in front of us. Every time I do superman's I now chuckle and think about this morning...

 

 The weights I brought were used for Russian Twists. Katarina is a rock star and used 25 lbs!!!

 

 We took the obligatory afterwards photo.

My outdoor bootcamp class is doing a competition right now that if you hold a sign that says "I am #TeamFOF" while wearing workout gear and post it on facebook that you'll be entered to win a free month! So of course we had to take those photos too.

The rest of the workouts this week were kind of boring compared to our workout in the sand. Chris was on the later shift this week so I didn't have to rush any of my workouts which was nice. Tuesday was the legs, legs, legs workout. Basically that means a lot of lunges, squats, jumping burpees, running - if it involves legs we did it. Started with 100 reps and worked our way down to 20. I did not finish this workout. I made it to the second set of 40. I hate not finishing a board, so I went back over Tuesday night and started at the 20 set and redid the whole 40 set, then I ran a few laps (2.25 miles plus one mile from the morning = 3.25 or a 5k for the day). Overall, great workout!
Thursday morning I showed up to a board called "Running Tabata." It was supposed to be a no run day - HA! The board included 1.75 miles of running, and I couldn't stop at that number, so I did one extra lap after the workout to bring the total up to 2 miles. It actually was a fun board. We'd do an arm exercise (curls, pushups, overhead presses, rows, etc) then run a lap.

Friday morning our workout was moved indoors because of the rain. It was called "12 Minute Blasters." There were three stations and each station was 12 minutes long. You start with one minute of an exercise, then 2 minutes, then 3 minutes, then 4 minutes, and we ended each station with a 2 minute plank. The fourth exercise was always the worst - burpees, mountain climbers, bear crawl (he switched it to a situp/twist/lift type exercise since we were indoors). I tried to go heavy so on the arm station I used 25 lbs for kettle bell swings and then dropped to 15 lbs for the rows.

It was another great week of camp! It was also the first week of FOF 6 Week Fitness Challenge. I did okay with this week, some of the recipes were a bit weird (sweet potato lasagna), so I didn't try a lot of them. We also had to give up prepackaged foods and since I drink creamer I failed miserably at it. Overall it was a good week for the challenge, I just didn't meet all the food requirements. Hopefully week 2 will go better in that department!

Week 2 of 2,015 in 2015

Another great week of running is in the books! I completed 9 miles this week which is really good considering I was a little off schedule since Denver has school on Monday and Wednesday now. I didn't feel like running on Monday, so I ran a ton of errands. Then on Tuesday I wanted to run and Denver was home. Of course next Monday is Martin Luther King Jr day so no school - it's moved to Friday. I feel like I'll never get back into a rhythm! Sooner or later I'll be back into a set schedule.
Wednesday I met up with Kristy (it was her Birthday - Happy Birthday Kristy!!). She wanted to run on the beach and hopefully see some dolphins. We did 2 miles in 38 minutes. We did a lot of walking since it was her first time running on the beach. I told her she was doing great, I barely did 20 minutes the first time I tried it. Our second mile was a lot faster then our first as we figured out a rhythm. Unfortunately we did not see any dolphins, but we did find some miniature sand dollars!!

Wednesday is also my Team RWB weekly run, but Chris stayed late at work to study for his exam so I missed out on the run. It would've been my third workout of the day, so I wasn't too upset about it!

I didn't get any running/workouts in on Thursday or Friday. Saturday I got in 6.75 miles of speed work at the track with Coach Michael and his wife Susan. It was another great session. I still have to laugh at the fact that we do two miles for a warm-up; really, isn't one more then enough?!? In order to help prepare me for the relay in the sand coming up he has me do slow jogs between intervals instead of walking. I felt better this week then last, so that's a step in the right direction! After our workout I went to breakfast with Coach Michael and Susan. It was a nice chance to talk running while not running! He later drafted this up for me based off the races and goals I have for this year.

Time to get busy!!

Week 2 of January Camp

Another great week of bootcamp is in the books! I made it to 3 out of 4 classes this week. I just couldn't make the Thursday/Friday workout happen, so here's to hoping this week goes better.
Monday's workout was short and sweet. We did one set of exercises 3 times. It included running 1 lap (always good because I can add that mile to my weekly total), speed lunges, pushups, v-ups, squat jacks, and a few others. I managed to finish everything before having to leave so Chris could get to work on time.
Tuesday morning I got up early and knocked out the workout which was appropriately called Get-in/Get-out. It started with 100 yards of double walking lunges and ended with 10 2-count ski abs; basically it was a count down from 100, 90, 80, 70...10. Great, quick workout. I fell behind the group on the lunges. For some reason I'm really slow on those and I'm usually dead last, but it didn't take me long to catch up to everyone else. I know these workouts aren't about competing with each other, but I can't help but notice when everyone is onto the next exercise and I'm only halfway through the lunges. I'm not sure why these are so difficult for me; I should have amazing legs soon though - HA!
This week we did a Wednesday morning workout. My trainer, Troy, was taking the same advancement exam as Chris on Thursday morning so he switched up the days. I didn't mind since it helped me out schedule wise. Wednesday was a pyramid workout. We started with one rep, went up to 7, and then back down, but we did a super set of exercises. Our first set was Pushups and Froggers, so we did one pushup, one frogger; two pushups, two froggers; all the way up to 7 and then back down to 1. We had 6 sets of exercises plus 3 laps to run (yea, another mile to add to my weekly total!!). My shoulders were on fire today; we did a lot of pushups this week and they were letting me know they weren't happy!
Thursday night I got home from Katelynn's therapy too late to make it to the workout and Friday morning it got moved inside so I couldn't make it either. I was bummed when I found out it was a partner workout - love those! My intent was to knock it out on Friday or Sunday and I just never got around to it. Probably because it was called Burpee Palooza and I just never found the motivation to do it!

10 days of 2,015 in 2015

I'm 10 days into the 2,015 miles in 2015! I've managed to do 19.2 miles with 3 of those being sand miles. I think I'm off to a great start. 

Tuesday was a gorgeous day so I headed to the beach and knocked out 3 miles. It was an awesome run! My Mom gave me a pair of neutral New Balance shoes over Christmas. They were lightweight and just perfect. Water and sand seemed to just run through them. I paired them with a pair of Injinji socks and I loved the combo.

There were not a lot of people out when I started - just me and the sand.

My cell phone doesn't take the best photo but there were dolphins jumping next to me while I ran!! It was so awesome to watch. It attracted a lot of people, so there was a decent amount of people around when I finished up.

Wednesday was my weekly run with Team RWB. It's been awhile since we've all run together because of the holidays. It was so nice to see everyone. I have no idea what my time was; I know it was 3.2 miles and it was probably around 28 minutes. It was cold out, but I love running in the cold. It was a great run! Arin was super sweet and is letting me borrow her Garmin for a little bit to give it a try since mine has been so unreliable lately.

On Thursday I was going to meet Chris to run the chip trail on Corry. I had time to kill after dropping Denver off at school, so I figured I'd walk around the exchange and see what type of running shoes they offer. I was in desperate need of new running shoes too. The two pair I've been alternating between were the ones I trained for and ran the marathon in. I figured I'd do some shopping around; I didn't find any good deals online, but when I walked into the military exchange I found this - my favorite pair of running shoes were on sale!!! I wish I'd had the money to buy 2-3 pairs. Love the color, love the price, love these shoes!!

I immediately bought them and went for a run in them. Chris had left his running shoes at home so I completed 4 solo miles around the base. They were perfect!

I gave Arin's Garmin a try on this run too. I'm in love with the fit. It's a lot smaller and simpler then the one I've been using. I'm definitely in love. The one I've been looking to purchase is a step up from this one (I can't use her's to count daily steps or ride my bike with).

Saturday was my final run of the week and it was speed work at the track. I haven't done speed work since before my marathon. I felt slow and off, but it was also great to be back at it. Coach Michael had me do a 2 mile slow warm up followed by 10 striders then we got to work. 8 x 160 followed by a slow lap and 8 striders. I was definitely feeling it. Next up were 4 x 300. I was done. I felt like I was running on jello legs and Michael said I was starting to swing my arms and hunch up. We called it a day. I was happy we'd finished at first but on the way home I was super mad at myself for having to stop so early. We still managed to knock out 6 miles in an hour. Overall it was a great session!