Training Recap: May Week 2

Below is the Another Mother Runner's Half Marathon: Finish It Training Week 6. Since Week 5 didn't go as well, I should have set that to repeat but instead I was using this week to taper a bit for the half marathon I thought I was running on Mother's Day (I'll touch on this again later). Maybe I should restart Week 5 today, May 13th.

Monday: 3 Miles + Strides or XT
The weather Monday was completely nasty, but it didn't matter since my running friend Katie (from Corral G) would be in town! We had talked about going for a run or dinner, then decided on a Hot Yoga class. The class was Be Hot and was 75mins in length. The instructor focused a lot of the class on balance, Katie and I have LOTS of room for improvement in our yoga skills. It was so nice seeing Katie, and it was so great of her for coming back to the house for dinner where Abigail covered her in stickers and she got lots of unwanted attention from Brewer.

As I walked her out, I checked the mail and my first StrideBox arrived! Through a Twitter chat sometime in April I heard all about StrideBox, it's a monthly subscription for runners to try "cool stuff". My box cost $15 and 9 items arrived, very wonderfully packaged, and I was very impressed. I had purchased/tried JellyBelly Sport Beans before but never this specific item and the same goes for the Stinger chews, I have tried another one of thier products but never these chews. I was most excited about The Klitch footwear clip! I never knew something like this existed, and I pulled it up on Amazon.com and this same item retails for $16.95.

 

Tuesday: 6 Miles
Food Truck Tuesdays has returned to a local park during dinner time, so I knew if I wanted to go I had to get my miles in early. I ran 5mi in 58 minutes, an 11:35 pace. I would have tried running a bit more but the gym's childcare closes from noon-4pm daily.

Somehow we never made it to any of the Smyrna Food Truck Tuesdays last year. Abigail & I drove straight over after her dance class, we enjoyed a popsicle each from King of Pops. Abigail chose Strawberry Lemonade and decided to indulge in their Chocolate Sea Salt! Abigail still devoured all her mac & cheese (The Mac Attack) from the Happy Belly Truck. Since it was the first week, we're hoping more trucks will rotate through each Tuesday.

Wednesday: Rest
I had a morning meeting which led to Chick-Fil-A lunch with friends. Abs & I came home to play with Brewer in the backyard before we headed to her swim class. After swim I was on a mission to find the new Chobani Flip I have heard so much about! They are currently only stocked at Target so I took a mini cooler bag to stock up. I found three flavors: Key Lime Crumble, Honey Bee Nana & Raspberry Choco Fix. I got extra lucky because Target had two of these on sale for under a dollar! I had the Key Lime Crumble for dessert and I was super surprised I had to fight Abigail for my yogurt. She loved the "sprinkles" of graham cracker crumbs and white chocolate chips and I'm thrilled, not only did she try it, but she really liked it! We'll be going through lots more Chobani in our house now!!!

Thursday: 3 Miles Speed Training
During Abigail's swim class I decided to search for race details Mountain Momma Half Marathon, my Mother's Day gift! Upon pulling up the site, I saw the race has been postponed until 2014. What? How did I not get notified? Upon further investigation, I discovered I never registered for this race! How did I miss this? Turns out only 19 people registered for this race. The race contact I spoke with said next year they plan to also allow men to register and it will not be held on Mother's Day in 2014.

I hadn't planned on running today, since I had been tapering this week for the half marathon on Sunday. When Abigail & I got home from her gymnastics class, Matt suggested I go for a run. (Well, I didn't think I was pouting.) I wasn't completely in the mood, maybe I was pouting, so I decided to use the VFuel Gel that came in my StrideBox. The flavor was Peach Cobbler and it was very yummy! Unlike other fuels, VFuel is made with only real ingredients. I have never had tummy issues from other fuels, I know other runners who have had some terrible experiences, but had a great run with the help of this VFuel. I ran 5.75mi in 60min, a 10:26mm average pace. I would absolutely LOVE! to sub-1hr at The Peachtree Road Race so I was very happy with this training run!

Friday: 3 Miles or XT
Before we headed out of town for the weekend, the mail arrived with my FREE Quest Bars compliments of Hungry Girl! I got two of Hungry Girl's favorites, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough & Apple Pie and I am so glad because these are two of my favorites too. Sometimes I warm the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough for 10-15 seconds in the microwave (I suggest you do this on freezer paper), and it tastes like a warm cookie straight from the oven. I am so glad Marcia & Lena introduced me to Quest Bars, they have become my new favorite go to bar over the last couple months.


Saturday: LR: 9 Miles
Sunday: Rest
There was zero running this weekend. Even though my race was cancelled, we still spent the weekend in Pigeon Forge. Matt & I used to make trips at least annually to Pigeon Forge but it's been THREE years since our last trip. I will post separately about our weekend getaway. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

QUESTIONS:
-Do you subscribe to a monthly subscription box service like StrideBox?
-Have you tried Quest Bars and/or gotten your two FREE yet?
-Have you ever had a race get cancelled because of low registration?