Training Recap: August Week 2 & 3

I'm not sure where the last two weeks have gone. It's been a blur of sorts, even though we haven't been super busy. So I'm recapping two weeks at once in this post.

Monday, August 12th
I spent the morning trying to get back to some resemblance of a home routine after being away for the entire first week of August. Suitcases had to be unpacked, laundry needed to be washed. For the most part it was a perfect day for "a 'jama day" (as Abigail calls it) since the weather wasn't great. The only one inconvenienced was Brewer, who would come over to me, bark in my face then go sniff at his leash. I decided to take Brewer out for a walk, in the rain with umbrella in hand. We finished a 1.7mi walk in 30 minutes.

Tuesday, August 13th
The morning got off to a rocky start. Abigail was playing with Brewer and she bumped into my coffee on the side table. The coffee spilled everywhere! All over the table and all over my training planner (which is now coffee scented). Brewer enjoyed licking up the coffee that spilled over onto the floor. I ended up having to wipe up everything, move furniture, vacuum up Brewer hair and shark the floors. Not how I wanted to spend my morning! Instead of our usual Tuesday activities of swim and dance, Abigail's class times changed for this session leaving Tuesday afternoon free, so we went to the gym instead. I was not feeling the treadmill though, and only managed 5mi in 60 minutes.

Wednesday, August 14th
Abigail decided she wanted to persue gymnastics more, so instead of registering her again for the ballet/tap class she'll be taking Tumbling once a week in addition to her Thursday Pre-Team class. She is still the youngest in her class but she's having so much fun! Her cartwheels and round-offs are constantly improving, and she's getting so close to a handstand. It's fun because I have started attempting these as well and it's my absolute favorite when she corrects me telling me to straighten my legs more or point my toes.

In the evening Abigail and I went to Matt's second softball game of the season. Abigail made a friend and was able to play and run while I kept score for the team. The weather was beautiful and we got home at a decent enough time for me to take Brewer for a walk around the neighborhood before bedtime, 1.42mi in 30 minutes.

Thursday, August 15th
Abigail enjoyed her gymnastics class and I took Brewer for a 1.66mi in 40 minutes once we returned home. Brewer seems to be content to go for walks but I know he really wants to run, too bad for him I'm taking this week easy to prepare for my double race day on Saturday.

Bonus, I hit 10,000 tweets!

Friday, August 16th
I'm still fundraising as a St Jude Hero for Dopey Challenge and am over halfway to my $2000 goal! Until August 30th you can place an order with Thirty-One and 10% of all sales will be donated back to my fundraising, and one lucky order will also win a great prize. We'll also be having a local yard sale in October with all sales going to my big goal, so Abigail and I spent the morning picking up donations from some local friends. I'm so grateful to everyone who is helping me with fundraising!

I took Brewer out for a 1.78mi in 31 minutes before we enjoyed dinner out "at the brown bread place", Abigail's name for Outback. Matt and Abigail enjoyed coloring together, even though Matt was a bit crazy about Abigail needing to stay within the lines.

Saturday, August 17th

My morning started early as I woke up to head straight over to Vinings Downhill 5K. This was my very first 5K last year so I was excited to run the course again and compare "apples to apples" to see how I improved over the last year. My 2012 time was 35:41, which is a fast time but this is a downhill course. A new PR (personal record) was achieved with a time of 28:28! I am thrilled to have a sub30 5K time too. (Oh! and I won a coupon for a Mocha Cookies-n-Cream shake from Chick-Fil-A!)

I also registered for the Area 13.1 (an evening half marathon) making this a double race day. I had heard a lot of negative reviews from the 2012 event but was still excited to run this race. I parked off site, arriving to the start line a bit later than I had hoped. In the craziness of it all, I got a bit too over confident and programmed myself for 4:1 intervals and it wasn't good. For the weather conditions (it had just rained and was overly humid) and this being my second race of the day, I should have stuck with 3:1 intervals. Overall, I did set a new half marathon PR time of 02:20:20 which is 5 minutes off my last half time from April.

Sunday, August 18th
I woke up feeling like I had been hit from a truck, and I had been so happy I remembered to stretch and foam roll before I had gone to bed. I could have felt much worse; I forget running downhill works different muscles. I was also starving! It felt good to get up and move, every bit of me seemed so stiff! After church, we went to PF Chang's for lunch where I devoured a dinner portion of their Crispy Honey Chicken. After I was no longer starving, I took Brewer for a 1.58mi walk in 32 minutes. My ITBs were sore and I felt slower than usual but getting in a recovery walk.

Monday, August 19th
Number One priority was to call Starbucks and inquire about the background check that was submitted on August 6th. I had called last week but the store manager was on vacation, so I had to wait a bit longer. Finally I spoke to the store manager and she asked me to come in with my passport to fill out tax papers, so I guess that means I'm hired! Finally! Otherwise, it was a low-key day because my legs were still sore so I skipped on the training.

Tuesday, August 20th
It became official, I filled out all my tax documents and will start training at Starbucks next week. With this news, I also learned my schedule would not be set days each week. This concerned me because Matt and I would be "juggling" Abigail back and forth with our very different schedules. I spent the afternoon revising our budget to see if 9mo of preschool tuition could be squeezed in and I emailed the school where she had been on the wait list. I had plenty to do and with sore legs I decided I needed an extra rest day.

Wednesday, August 21st
Abigail and I went to the preschooler morning at the skating rink. I was thrilled to wear my Retro ProCompression socks, and received a few envious comments from other moms! I chatted up other moms who had their child(ren) enrolled at the preschool I was hoping Abigail would be able to attend. They informed me Wednesday & Thursday was Teacher Meet and Greet, so the lady I was trying to get in touch with was very busy.  In an odd turn of events, the skating rink co-owner also chatted me up and long-story-short, she wants to hire me to help her coordinate corporate events one day a week (whenever I have off at Starbucks). This would be an amazing opportunity and our personalities are very similar. So let me get this straight? I was Starbucks #1 harasser all summer, and now I might have TWO jobs?! Yes, I'm fully away God likes to show me He has a sense of humor.

Brewer even got to go for a walk around the block. We managed 1.71mi in 40 minutes. It's really funny how our pace varies from day to day. It all depends on how many scents Brewer smells, and how many bushes and mailboxes he wants to mark along our way.

Thursday, August 22nd
Abigail had a preschool spot! I hadn't spoken with the preschool's director, we only played phone-tag. I decided Abigail and I would just show up to the Teacher Meet and Greet (technically uninvited). I filled out lots of paper work, Abigail received her "backpack" (a red shoulder bag), we met her teachers and checked out her classroom. Abigail knows two of her classmates already and she was disappointed when it was time to leave.

Matt and I (and Abigail) got to attend the New Parent Orientation that evening. The director went over the entire parent manual. It was a good introduction for Matt, who had never visited before. Abigail also took him to see her classroom, since he'll be sharing in the drop-off and picking-up as well.


Friday, August 23rd


Saturday, August 24th
Instead of registering for a small race through Marietta Square, I decided to take Abigail to cheer on my good friend Brandi and her parents.


Sunday, August 25th

Training Recap: July Week 5

Either I am getting lazier or I'm just enjoying running much more that I feel lazy during easier weeks. Or maybe I was just lazy? I only accumulated 11.5 miles all week!

Monday

After my roller coaster of emotion trail run Saturday, I was in need of a good run. I kept it simple, taking Brewer for a run through the neighborhood. He still wanted to pee on just about everything. The problem? I'm in a groove and all of a sudden I'm whip-lashed to a halting stop. Could I dislocate my shoulder with him doing this? Time to look into different collar/harness options. We finished a 2.95mi run in 31 minutes.

Tuesday

July 30th is cemented in my brain for two reasons. First, it's my Tia's birthday and second, it's National Cheesecake Day! The Cheesecake Factory discounts all their cheesecake 50%off on this one day each year when you dine in. My selection was the Oreo Dream Extreme. I eat a few bites and bring the rest home so I can nibble off of it for a couple days.

Once we got home from dinner I was stuffed, no running was going to take place, but I wasn't going to dump my behind on the couch for the night. Brewer needed to get out of the house so we went for a walk. Abigail came too and we actually met another family while we were out, the little boy is a year older than Abs while the little girl is a year younger. They got friendly fast and promises were made to play again soon.

Bonus: September 30th marked the beginning of the 100 day countdown for the runDisney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend!

Wednesday

Over the last few weeks Brewer has been getting tougher and tougher to control; he's getting bigger and stronger! When we run, if he wants to sprint I have a hard time controlling him. If there's a downhill portion, we don't run, we walk. I am not risking myself getting injured due to a puppy with too much energy and strength! I decided it would be in my best interest to check out a choker type collar. It definitely keeps him more calm, but I don't think I'd be comfortable running with him wearing it. We had a great walk with the new collar (no, Abigail did not walk him!). I'm still in my search for what will work best for us and I would love any suggestions you may have!

The three of us had another nice evening walk and chatted with a few other neighbors. I am still in a bit of shock we have almost been living here 5 years and I am just now starting to meet our neighbors.


Thursday
We started our morning with some FaceTime with my parents in Paris. Abigail has been very excited because we'll be picking them up from the airport in Tampa on Saturday night. I let Abigail have a 'jama morning (where she doesn't get out of her pajamas) while I finished typing up my training recap from the week before.

Abigail had swim and gymnastics classes as usual, this was her last gymnastics class of this session and next week we have an off week. While she was in her classes I stewed over still not hearing anything from Starbucks. I called the store I'm waiting on and spoke to a shift manager who unknowingly informed me the store manager still had not made her hiring decisions. In my frustration, I decided to call a local running store and inquire about a part time position. Now the perk of Starbucks would be getting full-time benefits for working part-time hours, this would be ideal. If this doesn't pan out, the next best option seems to be a running store. I feel like I could gain a wealth of knowledge about all things running, which would be a huge asset as I continue to train for marathons and endurance challenges like runDisney's Dopey Challenge. So for now, I'll continue to wait and pray for the right opportunity to arise.

Friday
Abigail and I attended a pool play date with some MOPS friends. It was so nice to chat and catch up with friends we hadn't seen all summer. Matt's parents were in town for an appointment so they were able to stop in and get some social time with Abigail before we all headed out for pizza. 

Saturday

I was registered for the Atlanta Run or Dye event, but decided I wanted to just get to Tampa. I have mixed feelings about skipping. While I had some friends running this event, I don't think I would have been in the mindset to fully have fun knowing I still needed to shower, pack the car and drive 8hrs. I also had re-read through all the race information and realized this wasn't a timed race, which is fine and would be more fun untimed. So still with mixed feelings that are difficult for even me to understand, I'll just leave it at that.

We stopped by the vet on the way out of town to pick up Brewer his monthly flea/tick pill and some puppy tranquilizers for his drive. Brewer does not settle and after one horrible drive to Tampa with him Easter Weekend, I asked for assistance. Brewer gets droopy eyelids, with bloodshot eyes...but he's calm during our 7-8hr drive. With him tranq'd, the drive was fairly easy. Abigail did as quite frequently some version of "are we there yet", wow. Luckily we arrived in Tampa early enough to get dinner and frozen ice cream with my grandparents. Then we picked up my parents from the airport at 11pm. It was a LONG day.

Sunday

With a late night home from the airport, and Brewer not happy with his Tampa crate, I didn't get much sleep. Then my parents (still on Paris time) were up and about at 7am. We ended up visiting my brother and sister-in-law's new home, and Abigail got to take the first jump into their pool. Abigail got to play with her cousin; he is getting bigger and moving faster and trying to talk more than two month ago when we last saw him. We got even more family time at Sunday dinner, where my dad's side of the family gather's weekly at my grandparent's house. While some of the family was missing (if we're all together, and if I didn't forget anyone, there should be 23 total spanning 4 generations), it was still really nice getting this quality time! 

QUESTIONS:

-Do you have a favorite dessert at The Cheesecake Factory?

-Any suggestions for a collar to best control my crazy puppy while we run?
-Have you ever decided to skip a race? What were your feelings after you skipped out?
-Do you live close to your family or far away?

Training Recap: August Week 1

I wasn't sure how successful my training would be while in Florida for the week, visiting family. It's a struggle to get my runs accomplished because time with family and friends always takes priority. We TRY to visit Florida family (an 8hr drive away) every other month, so we have to make the most of each visit. Our last trip was for Memorial weekend (2mo ago) and our next visit isn't planned until Christmas (yikes!). We will be in Florida for runDisney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon in early November, but currently we're not sure if we'll be able to tack on a couple days before or after the race weekend. As always the week flew by way too fast and I didn't get to see everyone I had hoped, which makes my long drive home full of guilt.

Monday

Abigail and I started our morning with a little FaceTime chat with Matt, since he stayed home in GA. Abigail ends up being silly (not looking) at the iPad, while her daddy continues the silly giving us an extra close view of his eye ball. My mom picked up my nephew, William, and we got to play with him for most the day.

We took a trip to Target and Abigail was thrilled to have someone ride in the big cart with her. Unfortunately, she did not like it when he continuously pinched her or kept dropping a shirt and wanting her to pick it up. My mom and I found it a bit amusing though, especially when she scolded him "If you drop it one more time, I'm going to leave it down there!". Yes, #AbsMakesMeLaugh.

After my Sunday evening run turned into a walk (I ate too much dinner and it was horribly humid), I decided my training miles would have to be done at the gym this week. Luckily I'm able to visit other gym locations in the franchise when we travel, free of charge. I wanted to run 8 miles, but wore the wrong sports bra and downsized my miles to 3 for the day.

Tuesday
I headed straight to the gym in the morning for an 8 miler while my mom and grandmother let Abigail tag-a-long to their nail appointments. My grandmother, I call her Abuela, is 88! Abigail loved having pancakes with Wellie, what she calls her great-grandmother; she was super sweet wanting to sit next to her and hold her hand to "help her walk".

Abigail and I headed to St Petersburg to visit with my "old" high school friend, Janet. Was it December when we last saw each other? Yikes! Janet's little boy just turned two and we got to meet the newest family addition, a beautiful daughter who is already 3mo old. And like almost every rare visit, I never remember to get a picture when we're together! We need to remember this!

Odessa Sunset

Wednesday
After breakfast with my grandparents, Abigail and I visited another "old" friend to get our hair cut. Abigail's bangs and partial self-made layers are still growing out from her own doing back in February. While Abigail's bangs look better, there are a couple still short spots that still will need months of regrowth. ::sigh::

We ended up spending the entire day away from the house, a huge communication fail between my mother and me. When I found Brewer, he had managed to scoot his crate, 8' across the room. I wish that could have been the end of that...but no. Brewer managed to pull my INKnBURN shorts off a closet doorknob (where they had been drying after being washed). There's a small 3" rip in the panty liner of the shorts, but no material is missing. My mother has said she should be able to repair this mishap. I'm sad my Leaf'em shorts will be MIA (missing in action) for a while, but at least they weren't completely ruined! Also because of the communication fail, I didn't get any training in...not even a walk. When we got home the skies were a bit stormy and didn't clear until it was too dark to take Brewer for a walk.

Thursday
First thing in the morning, I took Brewer out for a nice walk through the orange groves. The weather was way too humid for us to attempt a good pace for a run, I'm just not used to Florida summer heat. I took my miles to the treadmill again, getting 5 miles done in 52 minutes. It's surprising how difficult it is now to run on the treadmill. Last year, almost all my runs were on the treadmill (minus the couple races I did in the fall). I did most of my winter miles on the treadmill (no winter running clothes) and spring miles (pollen allergies), but since I've been running more with Brewer (gaining more confidence and a better pace) I seem to enjoy the outdoor miles so much more now.

We had another fun afternoon with my nephew William and my grandparents stopped by to visit too. In the evening we met up with family to celebrate my youngest cousin's birthday a day early since Abs and I would be heading back to Georgia on his real birthday. I cannot believe Stephen is 25! Wasn't he adorable as  baby? My mom was going through some old photos and found this shot and I couldn't resist taking a photo of it myself. I'm super excited that Stephen will also be joining me for Wine and Dine AND WDW Marathon! -- I left dinner a bit early to meet up with Meghan and Genna for dessert; they are two Tampa Bay bloggers I started following earlier as I started running and it's been fun to get to know them over the last year. Meghan is training for a Half Ironman (I am so excited for her!) and Genna is training for the New York City Marathon (this is a lottery race, and she got in!), so I enjoy reading their training and race recap...and learn a lot from these ladies! It was nice to sit and chat and eat some frozen yogurt, yum.

Friday

I took Brewer for a 30min walk to wear him out a bit before I spent the rest of the morning packing up. Abigail started her "are we there yet?" style questioning before we even made it to the interstate. Brewer was such a better passenger on the way back to Atlanta (in comparison to our trip out of town), and this made everything seem better. Instead of heading home we drove to my in-laws, to meet up with my mother-in-law's side of the family for a mini-family reunion of sorts.

Saturday
In the morning we returned to The Pittman House for breakfast. It was nice seeing this side of our extended family as it's unfortunately once a year, or less, that we see them. Some family lives further away than others, so it was a smaller crowd than Friday night and it wasn't long until most started heading back out of town. Abigail really had lots of fun playing with the cousins of her generation.

Since Matt didn't get to join us in Tampa for the week, we decided to let Abigail have some Nana & Papa time while we went on a date. It wasn't anything extravagant but it was nice having dinner together and then we popped into a few local stores before splurging on some frozen yogurt for dessert.


Sunday

We headed back home first thing in the morning, dropped Brewer off at the house before heading to Abigail's friend's birthday party. It was nice getting to socialize with friends as the summer is coming to a close and especially after being gone for a week! In the midst of unpacking and getting back to a normal home life, I was able to take Brewer out for a walk through the neighborhood and we managed 1.41mi in 30 minutes.

QUESTION:
-How do you handle your training when out of town?

Training Recap: July Week 4

After such a high mileage training week last week, I felt very lazy this week!

Monday
After the 24 miles I accumulated between my Saturday and Sunday runs, Monday was a rest day. I actually felt great! No soreness. No achy muscles. Well, my right elbow was still a bit bruised but that was from the "somersault" during my run-hike with Brewer Saturday, not actually from running. This was so encouraging! I still remember being terribly sore for days after my first (hilly) 5K last August, then after my first 13.1 last November and after the WDW Marathon in January. I hadn't run over 13.1 straight since the Half-Marathon I ran in April, so I was expecting some discomfort. I guess I just assumed I would always be sore after races. I am thrilled this isn't the case. With proper training, my body has adjusted to the increased activity levels and it also is great reassurance that I have a good training plan in place as I continue my journey to runDisney's Dopey Challenge.

Tuesday
Abigail's classes got swapped which worked out great because I had a Starbucks interview in the afternoon. I was bummed to not be hired on the spot (a girl can dream) but felt I had a great conversation with the store manager and will wait for her to make a decision on Monday.

INKnBURN has asked for 3 photos of me wearing their clothing for their Ambassador page. I have one photo in the Dragonfly Shorts after the Peachtree Road Race and one photo during the Summer Steamer 10K in the Leaf'em in the Dust Shorts, so I needed a third photo. I asked Matt to snap one of Brewer and me, wearing the Performance Denim Shorts. Brewer has become my running buddy so it's only fitting that he's also introduced in my Ambassador Bio.

After our quick photoshoot, I took Brewer for a run around the neighborhood. He must have been punishing me a bit for not taking him for more frequent runs because he wanted to pee on every single bush and mailbox! I called it quits before we even "ran" 2mi because it was so frustrating.

Wednesday
Abigail attended a little ballet play date another mom I met during Abigail's swim lessons was teaching. I had committed to this play date before Abigail informed me she no longer wanted to take dance. It was a bit of a rough drop-off but Abigail enjoyed her morning, especially the princess crown craft. While Abigail was playing, I headed to a local consignment shop as I've been purging through my closet. I have accumulated four different sizes of clothes plus maternity and whatever doesn't fit needs to go. It's too much of a pain to store and keep organized just in case. I'm in a different life season and most of the clothes aren't even "my style" right now...and those larger sizes I do not plan to be in again, ever.

Thursday
After our Thursday swim and gymnastic afternoon combo, I headed out to Phidippides for their group run. The extra perk was having Mizuno there letting runners test out the Wave Sayonara. I originally tested these shoes on July 10th (read about that experience here) and wanted to give them a second chance. We ran a 3.5mi loop through Piedmont Park, and it was gorgeous. Since we don't live in the heart of Atlanta, I am still not super familiar with Piedmont Park but it has some really great pathways and I hope to run more with this group in the future.

It turns out while the Wave Sayonara's look amazing, they aren't the right fit for me. I did get great information from a Phidippides employee about shoes that will better suit me when I do need shoes again, so I know what shoes to keep an eye on (hopefully I'll find a great sale) when I need a new pair.


Friday
I spent the morning trying to finish typing out my training recap for the week before. Abigail and I dropped Matt off at a friends so they could go camping for the night. Abigail and I had a surprise visit from Nana (Matt's mom) before heading to pizza dinner with friends. Abigail and I snuggled to watch the beginning of Rise of the Guardians before her bedtime, then I watched Identity Thief since I usually have Matt-less insomnia when he's gone.

Saturday
Abigail and I had a sweet morning, and I planned for a trip to the gym to get some miles in. Turns out I got the childcare hours wrong so my morning treadmill run got nixed.

Abigail attended a painting birthday party where they were instructed how to paint this beautiful beach scene. I thought it was very ambitious for a group of 2-5yr olds, but the instruction was surprisingly easy with simple steps and most of the 4 & 5yr olds finished with excellent paintings. Abigail got a little over zealous with her palm leaves but she had fun. (The sample painting is on top, and Abigail's masterpiece photos are on the bottom.)

In the evening I took Brewer to the same trail we ran-walk-hiked last Saturday. I was hoping to have another great run and take all the correct turns so the 5 Mile Loop, wouldn't become an almost 8 miler again. Our run started great but before Mile 2 I got a call from my grandparents informing me my great-uncle had passed (my grandfather's brother). My heart broke, and I was out on the trail trying to run while wiping tears from my eyes. Homesickness overwhelmed me, even more when I remembered my cousin wasn't able to say goodbye to her grandfather in person because she lives in TX while her family is in VA. While I haven't lived in Tampa since 1999, I always feel homesick when I am miss out on family events. We make every effort to be with family for milestones (most birthdays, baby showers, weddings) but when the unexpected happens, it's really tough for us to travel. Anyway, Brewer and I were able to correctly finish the 5 Mile Loop and I look forward to running it more with him...just with no more bad news phone calls, because that was awful.

Sunday
I never got enough energy to go on a run but I forced myself out of the house to take Brewer for a walk around the neighborhood. We walked 1.5mi in 30 minutes. I really should take him on more walks, even if we don't run.

QUESTION:
-When your training plan has low mileage scheduled, do you feel lazy or do you enjoy the break?
-Have you visited the INKnBURN website yet? What item is most catching your eye?

Training Recap: July Week 3

It's now Thursday/Friday, ideally my weekly recaps would post on Sunday or Monday immediately when a week is finished. This rarely happens. There's no one specific reason, life happens. We go to church Sunday mornings and usually get together with our community group in the afternoon or evenings. It's a major plus if I'm able to squeeze in some sort of a run. So as much as I really enjoy my recaps, I'm happy if I get something posted regardless of when.

Monday

My morning started off fairly lazy, including re-entering my application into the Starbucks online system. I was feeling defeated because this was application #3. The most convenient location to me was over staffed and after a couple interviews with another location, our schedules weren't lining up. Sigh.

Abigail and I were finally getting out of the house when I realized I had numerous text messages from Linzie telling me INKnBURN announced their Ambassadors and I made it! I was confused, in a bit of denial, and while I did apply to be a brand ambassador I really was not expecting to land a spot! I am crazy excited and look forward to representing INKnBURN.

I was so excited I threw on a pair of INKnBURN shorts and went to the gym to ran 6mi on the treadmill. As an InB Ambassador I will be getting a discount code to share with my friends and family! I hope you'll go window shopping so you'll have an idea of what you'll try first. :)

Tuesday

My morning started bright and early as I dropped Brewer off for a temperament test at a local Doggie Daycare. It was a peaceful morning without him, he's usually jumping and biting me as I check email or try to drink my coffee when it's hot. When Abigail and I picked him up 4hrs later he was worn out, and he received a good review so he'll be going back in future weeks!

Abigail had her usual swim and dance classes scheduled. She actually informed me she would no longer like to take dance, wanting "only gymnastics". I have to admit, it broke my heart a little. She seems to have so much fun in her class her teacher, Miss Ashley, couldn't be more wonderful too. I headed to the gym after where I was able to get in a quick 3mi run before the CORE class. 

Wednesday

Pictures posted from the Summer Steamer 10K and I was super excited to discover a race photo good enough to share and purchase! Finally. Training wise, I took a rest day since hadn't taken one since the Thursday before. My runs are feeling great, and I love that my speed is improving. It's honestly not about speed, I just appreciate the fact that it's not taking me as long to run certain mileage. This leaves more time for cross training (especially when I'm limited to 2hr time limits with Abigail in gym childcare) or just being able to get more in a day because running doesn't consume every waking hour.

Thursday

Abigail's swim coach peaked my interest on Tuesday mentioning he uses the stairs outside the building for a workout. So I "delivered" Abigail to class then headed outside to run some stairs. I ran a loop through the parking lot, up and down the stairs, then repeated x5. Goodness gracious, this was tough! Probably due to the extreme heat and there is absolutely NO shade. I lasted a measly 11mins in the heat. I seriously considered diving head first straight into the pool after I was finished. If I had a change of clothes and an extra towel I would have, otherwise I would have been even more of a wreck taking Abigail to her gymnastics class after swim!

Later that evening, I went to the gym and had an awful time trying to run on the treadmill. My shins were bothering me a bit, which was completely new to me. I felt like a quitter, but I called it a day and headed home early. I am hoping my five laps up/down the stairs worked different leg muscles and needed rest instead of also running same day. 

Friday
I took Abigail to a local indoor "playground" of sorts to play with some friends in the morning. She was able to jump and run around and I was able to catch up a bit with another mom friend. Later we had to run around town a bit to drop off a few things and since they were going to be quick errands, we decided to bring Brewer along.

Brewer wears a harness I can loop the seatbelt through, and it really helps keep him contained when I'm driving. We rode with the windows open, which Abigail and Brewer both enjoy. On our way home, we picked up a pizza since Abs and I would be solo for dinner as Matt was meeting his softball team at a local brewery for beers. Knowing what was in store for my back to back run weekend, this was a nice rest day from training.

Saturday
I decided to take Brewer to a local trail to attempt a 5mi loop with me. He normally runs with me through the neighborhood so getting off the pavement would be a pleasant change of scenery. The trail was absolutely beautiful! The paths were different widths in different areas but were all well kept, some with mulch or hay. The first portion of the trail crossed over a creek numerous times so I let Brewer walk through and drink from it. There were also a couple of water fountains on the trail. Somehow I took a wrong turn and our 5mi loop ended up closer to 8mi. We didn't run the whole thing, since the there were hillier portions we ran, walked, hiked. It was great but Brewer needed to cool off when we got home!

Sunday
After church I headed to the Silver Comet Trail for my long run. My training plan called for 15 miles. Now if you're familiar with my race schedule (always posted on the right side column of this blog), you might think back to back runs (a 5mi and a 15mi) might be longer than necessary since Dopey isn't until January.

Have I mentioned yet I have a Goofy weekend in October scheduled? For those of you not aware, runDisney's Goofy Challenge is held during Walt Disney World's Marathon Weekend in January and the challenge is finishing BOTH the Half Marathon on Saturday and the Full Marathon on Sunday. The last weekend in October, I will be running a Goofy weekend here in Atlanta! While this is a bit extreme, I feel like it will make sure I'm keeping up with my training and give me an early deadline to best gauge how my training is going so I can tweak as necessary before heading into the last two months before The Dopey Challenge. I'll be running this challenge as a St Jude Hero and I really want to make sure I've done everything I can do to train and do my very best in this challenge.

I chose the Silver Comet Trail for this long run because it'd be an out and back course. I knew I would feel great during my first 6-8mi so as long as I didn't turn around before Mile 7, I knew I would get my full miles in regardless. I had not run 13mi straight since April's Finish on the 50 Half Marathon and while I did 13 total on July 7th, it was very broken up mileage. I decided to run intervals of 3:1 to keep my endurance up. I forgot my Nike+ watch but used the RunKeeper App, which signaled each interval change and gave me 5min updates with mileage and current pace. Somehow, while I thought I was taking this run easy (I felt great!) my split times were faster than I was expecting. I cannot believe how great I felt after these miles! I stretched, used my foam roll and made sure to drink plenty of water and NUUN to keep me hydrated. So thrilled to end this week on a high note!

QUESTIONS
-Does life "get in the way" of other unimportant deadlines you give yourself?
-Have you ever been selected as an Ambassador for a company?
-Are you familiar with INKnBURN? Let me know what's at the top of your wishlist!

Training Recap: July Week 2

I was a little worried about getting back into a decent routine after all the Forth of July fun last week, but it turned out to be an excellent week of training! I'm a little bummed I didn't make it to one of the Power (weight) classes at the gym this week so I'll just have to coordinate a bit better next week.

Monday
I decided it'd be best to take a rest day since I did my first 13mi run (even if it was broken up) on Sunday. It must have been a bit of a lazy day because I cannot even remember what we may have done.

Tuesday
After Abigail's swim and dance classes we headed to the gym so I could get in some indoor miles. I ran Brewer a lot through our neighborhood during the Runner's World Summer Run Streak that I was curious to get back in a controlled environment and test myself a bit. My plan was to get in 5mi with the mid 3 at race pace. I had my training plan with me so I could do my normal over-analyzing.

I have Jeff Galloway's Training Programs all transferred into my planner. The Dopey Challenge training is 28 weeks long, and officially started last week, so this was Week 2 of Dopey Training. The Wine and Dine Training is an 18-week plan for time improvement, and training began this week. Jeff's plans all include 30-45 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday, then there is a Saturday assignment. I am using these training programs as a guide and have two others I am also incorporating into the mix but am intending to write an entire post just about my training plan...so let's see if that happens sometime in the near future.

Wednesday
For the last few weeks, social media has been exploding with chatter, reviews and giveaways for the new Mizuno Wave Sayonara shoes. They look pretty snazzy, in pink and in white! I got to check them out a bit at The Peachtree Road Race Expo last week, they are very light weight and airy. When I saw West Stride would have the Mizuno Rep out to let runners test run the Wave Sayonaras, I knew I really wanted to attend. I had never been to West Stride before for a group run so I opted for the 4 mile (instead of the 6 mile). This also turned out to be a good choice since I was testing out the Wave Sayonaras. While they were great to walk around, I think I over thought the running portion. I was too attentive to ever little feel and possible quirk of the shoe, so I'd like to give them another go. Luckily there are a couple other dates upcoming where the Mizuno Rep will also be appearing for future group runs. Hopefully I'll be able to test them again.

Thursday
I ended up taking a Rest Day. Abigail attended her swim and gymnastics classes and while I was hoping to take Brewer for a much needed run, I ended up in the kitchen cooking up another huge batch of Beef Pasta Bake. It's my go to meal of choice when it comes to loving on a family. My mom's group organizes meal calendars when new babies are welcomed home, it's a simple dinner on my part and really is appreciated by friends during their times of transition. I freeze the Beef Pasta Bakes and then can pull them out when it's time for me to deliver.

Friday
Abigail and I met up with some friends to see Dr. Seuss's Cat in the Hat at The Center for Puppetry Arts in the morning. If you live local to Atlanta, I highly recommend attending a show as we have loved ever performance we have attended.

We ran some afternoon errands before heading to the gym where I knocked out 4 quick miles on the treadmill. I'm glad I was only running 4 because I was super hot and sweating so nasty, but maybe it's me and not the gym (yuck!).

It was also "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick-Fil-A and if you dress like a cow, you get free food! A couple years ago Matt got the genius idea to cut holes in an old undershirt and wear it over a black shirt. Abigail sported a white tank with black running shorts and an "Eat More Chicken" sign. Abigail was super excited when the little girl cow was greeting families because she has never met her before. Honestly, what's best about this event is people watching.

Saturday
We headed to Newnan, GA to celebrate our nephew's 4th birthday party. Abigail had lots of fun playing with her cousins outside in the pools, sliding down the slip-n-slide and in the crazy water sprinklers. It was a fun afternoon!

Sunday
I headed out early to run the Summer Steamer 10K in Kennesaw. My first ever 10K was the Possum Trot on June 1st and I ran it in 01:03:59. I felt good during that race but knew I had a little more and could definitely sub-60 soon. I had wanted to reach this goal at Peachtree last week, but after my trail run, I knew it was going to be very unlikely. The course was packed and I was prepared for rain. My time was consistent with 01:04:06 and with the hills of Peachtree, I knew I had improved. I ran hard today, maybe a little too hard because I had forgot my Nike+ watch and was relying on the RunKeeper App to give me updates every 5mins. I knew I had a good time buffer during my last mile and mentally gave into run/walking uphill after the Mile 5 marker. Once up the hill, I had recouped a bit of energy to sprint to the finish. I crossed the finish right as the finish timer clicked to 58min and I was thrilled! The final time came in at 00:57:34. I couldn't be more happy with this time, but I will continue to be a bit hard on myself about walking a bit up that last hill. Oh well, I just keep reminding myself that I will only continue to improve.

QUESTIONS:
-Are you doing anything fun and different this summer to occupy your days?
-Do you like to dress like a cow to get a free meal?

Training Recap: July Week 1

Monday
Abigail and I enjoyed a fun morning at a local playground with friends then met up with my in-laws for lunch. With some rain coming down and us stuck in the mall without an umbrella, I decided to let Abigail play in the little indoor mall playground area for a bit. This is NOT a usual occurrence for us, but to entertain myself I started making random observations on Twitter. I ended up providing lots of entertainment for many Twitter friends...if you want to check it out yourself, search for #indoorplaygroundobservations on Twitter. Brewer and I got our run in, we ran 1.85mi in 19 HOT minutes.

Tuesday
I knew with our full afternoon and evening, I had to get my run in first thing. I parked Abigail on the couch with cinnamon toast and strawberries while I took Brewer for a run (Matt was home!). We ran 1.51 in 17 minutes. Abigail and I then packed up to head to the 2013 Peachtree Health and Fitness Expo at The Georgia World Congress Center. To read all about the Expo, click HERE.

The Expo was excellent, especially since I was reunited with Marcia! She drove into town to work Expo as the social butterfly for the 26.2 with Donna event in February and it was so fun to have her in town, especially since the last time we briefly saw each other was during Princess Half Marathon weekend. After the Expo we met up with a few other friends at Gladys Knight & Ron's Chicken and Waffles. It wasn't my restaurant as another local friend made the suggestion as a "must" for friends coming from out of state. The food was good, but the company was even better! Abigail even found ways to amuse herself.

Wednesday
Another early morning run with Brewer to start another full day. We ran 1.25 in 14 minutes

And just like that we are carb loaded!

Cheers! with Cami Cupcakes

Thursday
After months and months of anticipation, the Peachtree Road Race was finally here! This is the largest 10K in the US and it's known as an Atlanta tradition, and I had been very much looking forward to this race! To keep it short and sweet, I finished and am happy with my time...and that it didn't rain during the race! I'll be posting my entire race recap separately. Forth of July also ended my Run Streak! I had been running at least one mile every day since Memorial Day.

Friday
The fun had to come to an end, so we went to Waffle House for a couple free waffles with Marcia and Katie before Marcia had to head back to Florida.

Matt, Abigail and I headed to Studio Movie Grill for a family fun afternoon. We walked around NorthPoint Mall a bit while waiting on our movie. This was our first visit to Studio Movie Grill, instead of watching


Saturday
What a lazy, rainy day! During the rain, Matt and I caught up on a few shows we haven't had the chance to watch over the last couple weeks (The Glades, Royal Pains, Franklin and Bash, Necessary Roughness). I finally decided to make a run for it, pun intended, and try to get my miles in before the rain started back up. Brewer and I trucked through some rain but the bottom completely dropped out right before we hit 4 miles. I'm very happy we got these training miles in today with all the rain (3.97mi/41mins).

Sunday
Matt and I serve during with the youth's church service once a quarter, and July is one of our months. We went to lunch after church then it was time for my long run. Today called for 13 miles, and I'm pretty sure the last time I ran 13mi was at Auburn's Finish on the 50 event in April. I broke up today's miles, ran the first two with Brewer, went to the treadmill for the next 9 (until gym closed), then finished up the last two with Brewer back in our neighborhood again.

QUESTIONS:
-Have you ever participated in the Peachtree Road Race or a race that's an annual tradition to your city?
-Are there any summer TV shows you like to watch?

Training Recap: June Week 2

I am so happy I am writing these weekly training recaps! While it's to help hold me more accountable, even if only to myself, I also use it as a weekly recap of life. I tend to not write in detail as much about what Abigail is doing day to day, so I know looking back months or years from now I will really appreciate the little daily write ups. Honestly, each week I want to start every recap with "I cannot believe how fast last week flew by"...which carries over to months disappearing too. And in similar fashion, we're now halfway through June. Wow.

Monday
Abigail had an amazing swim lesson, it actually looked more like swim team practice in comparison to a lesson for a 4yo. She is becoming such a good swimmer! When I swam in high school, I never cared for backstroke but Abigail seems to favorite it.

Abigail wanted to go for a run, but I talked her into riding her bike thinking she'd be faster on the bike. We also were going to deliver blueberry muffins to the sweet elderly couple we met last Monday, so the basket on her bike was needed. This bike ride was not ideal, I ended up walking the majority of the time, pleading Abigail to keep pedaling. When we chatted with Mr Charlie, I forgot to stop my GPS watch, but he seemed so happy that we remembered him and brought him Abigail's Blueberry White Chocolate Chip Muffins.

I ended up taking Brewer for a real run once Matt finished up work, we finished 1.3mi in 14.55mins. Brewer was very distracted this run, wanting to stop for every car or squirrel. He is very strong, pulling when we get started on our runs or pulling in the opposite direction when he hears another dog barking. I keep reminding myself he is ONLY 6mo old.

Tuesday

Abigail and I met friends at an indoor playground before her swim and dance classes. It was nice to chat and have some adult conversation while our kiddos played together. In the evening we met up with Matt, another friend and her kids at Food Truck Park. It was extra hot while we ate and played, and I still hadn't gotten my run in yet.

I decided to try to run a different path, instead of just running in our neighborhood. It's an extra wide path for walkers, runners and bicyclists and the landscaping is beautiful. The path is even off set from the road so you don't have to smell car exhaust the entire time. Most of the path can be seen easily from the road so I felt safe, until I entered a portion completely hidden from the road. I was running completely alone and while it's a safe neighborhood, I started panicking and questioning my decision to run alone. I finished a 1.5mi run in 13:44, but will have to revisit the 'how to be a safe runner' topic sometime soon.

Wednesday
Abigail and I visited with MOPS friends for a pool playdate in the morning. Abigail had lots of fun swimming and playing in a shallow kiddy pool with lots of friends. She wants to swim all the time but we don't have a neighborhood pool so our options are the swim lesson pool or waiting for invites from friends.

Brewer and I headed out in early evening for a run through the neighborhood. Before our usual first turn, I saw what looked to be a deer down the street, so we kept running. It was a deer! I couldn't believe it, we live in a very residential area but other neighbors confirmed this doe has been feeding regularly one street over. I forgot to pause my Nike+ so I ended up restarting after a good few minutes admiring the wildlife. We completed a total of 3mi but only have accurate time for 2.6mi, which we finished in 29min.

Family photo, Brewer thinking he's a lap dog!

Thursday
Our morning was a bit lazy, the Sweaty Bands giveaway had ended Wednesday night and the Chobani Flip Giveaway officially started (ends June 18th so there's still time to enter!). After Abigail's swim and gymnastics, it was time to get my run done. Abigail insisted she wanted to come with, so I decided to take her first then I would take Brewer after. Maybe it would have been better if I had tied her to me, and just drug her along. Yes, it was that bad. She ran past the first few houses, then walked and ran very minimally after that. I kept running, at the slowest pace possible and would run to the next mailbox then turn back and run back to Abs and repeat. It was painful but we finished 1.35mi in 29min. I'm going to have to figure out a "solution" for us running together. I do want her to run with me if she'd like, but I want her to actually run if she is coming with me.

I went back out with Brewer and he didn't pull like he usually does the first mile. I knew I wanted at least 1.5mi since my mile with Abigail was at a walking pace (after all the stopping) and Brewer and I were enjoying ourselves. Slowly I started noticing the clouds were darkening and there was a nice breeze, well right before our last turn back towards the house tornado sirens went off. The clouds were moving fairly fast so we ran faster to get home. I wasn't aware we were in for bad weather and immediately turned the news on when we got home. There were tornado warnings issued until 8pm the sky turned super dark and the winds were being reported over 80mph. Very scary! We ended up with some branches in our yard but were fine otherwise.


Friday
Matt took a vacation day and we spent the day with our nephew and niece. While our niece took a nap, I took Brewer for an afternoon run. It was 85* out but felt much hotter when we were not shaded by trees. We finished 2.8mi in 33 minutes (11:44 pace), I wasn't thrilled about our pace but know runners should keep a slower pace in hotter weather.

We took all three kiddos and met up with Matt's parents for dinner at one of our favorite pizza places. I completely devoured some garlic rolls, BBQ Chicken pizza and shared a pitcher of sangria with Matt. I was SO hungry....maybe RUNgry and enjoyed every bite!

Saturday
After the kids had their bacon and pancakes, I took Brewer out for a run through the neighborhood. It was a beautiful morning! I could tell Brewer was getting hot, as his pace slowed. When we came upon a neighbor watering his lawn I asked if he would water Brewer. Brewer loved the mid-run drink and walked all through the water, I decided maybe our run should be done so we headed home. We finished a 3.78mi run in 43min (11:16 pace).

Abigail and her cousins were playing outside when we got home and Brewer decided he was going to cool off in the pool and the kids had fun spraying him too.

We spent the afternoon at Turner Field watching the Braves host the Giants. We went with Matt's family, to celebrate June birthday's (my sister-in-law, Matt and mother-in-law all have birthdays in June) and to celebrate Father's Day. This was the 4th Braves game this season for Matt, Abigail and I and we have been loving the Club Level discounted tickets from Goldstar.com. This was the first game we were in direct sunlight the entire game (we have always been shaded) but were able to walk into the air-conditioned club area to cool off when needed. I highly recommend checking out Goldstar if you plan to purchase tickets for any upcoming games or shows (Atlanta has so much offered on Goldstar).

Sunday
I took Brewer for his longest run to date! We finished 4.15mi in 45:49 minutes. Ideally, I would love for him to be able to run 8-10mi with me as I continue to add more and more mileage to my runs training for runDisney's Dopey Challenge (January'14). As I mentioned above, I will be revisiting 'how to be a safer runner' topic and I do feel more safe running with Brewer than alone. It would be great if I could run with a friend but it's not always easy matching schedules, and honestly a bunch of my running friends and I all run at different paces. So I will continue training Brewer to be my running partner, and it serves as a dual purpose since it exhausts some of his crazy puppy energy!

Questions:
-Do you get distracted by wildlife while running?
-What makes you feel/keep you safe when you are running, or doing things alone?