Europe

So Erica, Lindsay, my Dad and I are heading to Lithuania where us 3 coaches will speak at a Swim Conference, then my Dad and I will head out to Estonia and Latvia to travel! However................

the first day we drove from Pullman to Seattle with my roommate Chelsea and got to Sea-Tac with plenty of time before our 2:05 p.m. flight. Good thing too, because it is now almost 24 hours later and we are still in Sea-Tac. Papa Ron had to fly to Warsaw by himself, then eventually to Vilnius by himself where Rugill will pick him up and we'll arrive (hopefully) about 14 hours later!

Our trip has been delayed but we are still in good spirits and unfortunately the only place my new version of my same running shoes has seen is this airport. But I look forward to many new roads they will run on and hike through!!!

I hope you all are getting more training in than I am.......

Happy Training All!

Lately......

Whew, I can't believe it's June 19th already! Today is my dear friend Chrystal's birthday and Hazel's 1st birthday was yesterday! Amazing how time flies, it seems like it was just the first of May and now it's middle of June! At least the weather is still the same as May 1st though........ I have to admit, I'm getting frustrated and gotten a case of the blahs with this weather. But we persevere, not much use dwelling on things we can control now is there???

So I'm off to Lithuania on Wednesday to speak at a swim conference there during the Lithuania National Swim Champs so I'm looking forward to that. My Dad is going with me and after the week in Lithuania him and I are taking off for Latvia and Estonia and I am SO excited! I never thought about going to the Baltic States but now that we are, I have heard such good things about traveling over there, especially with my Dad being such a history buff, it's going to be a great experience.

As for workouts, it's been a crazy summer with work, I'm back working with football so I"m up bright and early everyday now!! It kind of cuts into my energy levels for workouts but such is life, I absolutely LOVE working with football in the summer and have really missed it these last 2 years, thankful to be back with them.

My little brother, his wife Nicole and my beautiful niece Hazel visited last week and we had a blast, walked down to Farmer's Market, walked to Black Cypress then Licks, and walked Kamiak, above are some pics from their visit. Even Hazel loves my turquoise shoes!!! I absolutely love her.

I have been doing a lot of swimming, cycling AND running, but getting a ton of work in. I was going really hard for about 3 weeks and then last weekend, just crashed. I was exhausted and hit a wall, could barely run 10 miles last Saturday, then to top that off I headed up to CDA to swim in the lake and whew that was tough and I cramped like a son of a *itch. Rough first open water training swim but it was a good experience.

Some of my greatest workouts have been:

Swim workout:

Warm up 2 x 100

3 x 25/1 x 75

3 x 50/1 x 150

3 x 75/1 x 200

Rest

2 x 25/1 x 75

2 x 50/1 x 150

2 x 75/1 x 200

1 x 100 Cool Down

That one was tough but really fun and felt great to achieve it, the most yardage in the pool I've done in one practice!

Another day, the day before I ran 10 miles, I cycled for 18 miles, then got off and ran 2 miles hard, averaged 6:46 minute/miles so felt good about that. Then I totally bonked the next day during the 10 miler but oh well.

Two weeks ago I did a 17 miler while Michele did a 12 miler and I felt good, I averaged 8:05's and it was hard but good. I ran from my house to the Chipman Trail, took that all the way out past Eastside Marketplace, turned around and ran back to the U of I soccer fields and met my roommie who drove me home.

Yesterday I ran 20 miles, the first time I've run 20 miles in 6 years and I felt incredible. Michele ran 15 miles and she killed it, I was so proud of her, of us, it was a GREAT day. Amazing how conquering a hard run can just make you feel giddy, we both were, it was awesome! Then friends took us out to Swilly's that night and we had a great time, talking to Lori and Dan about their 4 weeks in Italy, talking about my upcoming trip to Lithuania, and just catching up in general. Great food, even greater friends, thanks Rob, Sara, Zach, Michele, Dan, Lori and Brady!!!

So those are just a few of the workouts I've gotten in, nothing too exciting but it feels good to be feeling this good, especially when I said I would NEVER RUN ANOTHER MARATHON! Now I"m running the same one I ran in 6 years ago and I won! I think I will PR though, on this 20-miler I ran 12 minutes faster than my 20-miler 6 years ago, 34 seconds faster per mile!! I was really excited, it was a hilly run and I felt good. My last 3 miles were 7:57, 7:52 and 7:29! That made me feel the best, that I had negative splits.

So despite the blisters (which I have WAY too many to count, and they look disgusting), I have no pain in my back and that to me is a miracle. So blessed.

Happy Training All!

May 2011

The beginning of May was a bit busy and stressful and hectic with the end of school and starting teaching summer school so I won't talk much about those workouts. I got some good ones in, some not so good ones in, but it was a good break for my body and mind.

May 9th - 11 miles on the trail in the wind and monsoon-type weather we had. It was my first longish run since Whitefish 1/2 Marathon and after my first set of neural ablations and SI injection and I had NO pain!!!! I ran most of the miles around 7:40-7:55 min/miles so felt good about that.

May 10th - Swam!!

May 11th - Track Workout: 1 mile warm up, 4 x 800 with 400 recovery

May 12th - 3 miles moderate

May 13th - OFF: We drove to Hood River (Willard actually, woo hoooooo)

May 14th - 14.2 miles!!!!!!!!!! It was a beautiful run, I felt great and I averaged 7:45's and felt like I could keep going. That was great for my confidence, at about Mile 8 it suddenly dawned on me that I did not have any pain in my back/SI joint and I almost started crying ;-) The best part though about the day was that Ms. Cyndi did 5 miles, Chelsea did 7 miles and Michele did 9 miles! Great great weekend, we had a lot of fun and I was very proud of the girls.

May 15th - OFF: Headed back to Pullman

Good week of training, excited to be feeling good with my running and other workouts.

Some More.

First I want to say CONGRATULATIONS to one of my closest friends for getting engaged last week! I'm so happy for Jen and Greg and thrilled they found each other.

Thursday P.M. - Swim workout earlier in the day, then ran 3 miles easy on Thursday night after personal training. Felt really good.

Friday - Since I'm training for my first Tri (and it's a small one but I'm still doing it and SO excited) and I'm not able to run back to back days yet (or not supposed to, I'm not going to say it doesn't happen every once in a while.....) my awesome brother has given me some great cycling workouts.
Warm Up - 10 minutes 85+ RPM's
30 minutes - Hill 30 sec/Ride 1:30
Cool Down - 5 minutes
Stretch

Saturday - BOOT CAMP!! 75 minutes of circuit madness as Ficer says :-)
15 stations
Treadmill Hill
Treadmill Speed
Ab
Treadmill Speed
Ab
Treadmill Hill
KB Squat w/Upright Row
MB Drop Squats
DB Step Up w/Shoulder Press
Push Up + Close Grip Push Ups
Cable Overhead Tri Ext.
Pull Up/Dips - 8 of each, repeat
Plate Bentover Back Rows
Elliptical - 9 incline/90 resistance
Squat with Bicep Curl
45/60/75 sec

Sunday - 8 mile moderate run, heavy legs from Boot Camp on Saturday (and maybe a bit too much wine at hospital gala Saturday night......) but this was my first longish run since my ablations and it felt great, not much pain and it wasn't a struggle. Mile times were good, finished strong.

Cleansing this week, feeling hungry but good!

I hope everyone had a very Happy Easter and enjoyed the sunshine this weekend!

Happy Training All

This Week

Tuesday - Speed/Power Cardio Circuit
1 mile warm up jog -
64 minute cardio circuit -
Wow, awesome awesome awesome!

Wednesday
OFF - between the race on Sunday, hard spin workout on Monday and that cardio circuit Wednesday, I was toast!

Thursday - Swim Workout! It felt good, did 45 minutes, 10 minute warm up and cool down and 35 minutes of Interval type work. Total of about 1100 yards.

Great week so far of training, I feel good and that's about all I have to say!

Remember that if you ever want help with training programs, don't hesitate to ask!

Happy Training All

Recent Activities

So since the ablation I've been working out, different that I normally do, not stressing so much about intensity, just getting the work in. In response to that, my body has been feeling sluggish, heavy and slow so I when I told Jason Sampson that I would run Brady's leg of the WSU 100k, which was only 4.2 miles, I was a little nervous. That team has seen me run pretty well and it was a little nerve wracking since I had hardly any miles under my belt this winter/spring. But it started off okay, mile 1-7:20, mile 2-7:06, mile 3-7:13, mile 4 (up stadium way, ick) - 7:53. So I was pretty happy with that and it gave me some confidence to keep doing what I'm doing and not stress about only being able to actually run 2-3 days a week and cross-training the rest. My running/competition schedule looks like fun and I'm really excited to do some different things this summer. I'm really bummed that I can't do the Spokane to Sandpoint, but I'm making it up by some other races! June 4 - Timberline 1/2 Marathon (well actuallly 14.2 miles, mostly on trail) FUN!!! June 22 - July 7 I will head to Lithuania with Erica, Lindsay and Papa Ron to speak at the Lithuanian Swim Conference that surrounds Nationals for swimming, then travel with Dad!!! So excited to do some running in another country this summer! July 17 - Lake Chelan Try-A-Tri!!!!!!! My first! I'm getting really excited for this, it was something I've been wanting to do but haven't had the time and/or guts to just jump in and start training. I'm doing it now! I have no excuse since I can't run everyday, what else can I do but bike and run! July 30 - Juneau Marathon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the marathon I won (not a very fast year), it was my very first marathon and I qualified for Boston even! I'm nervous to run it again, the last few years have shown some very fast females in this race, but excited that a few friends from Pullman and California are coming up for it, we're invading 2116 Radcliffe Rd. thanks Papa Ron! August - ?? Not sure yet, I'll do something though! September 11 - Two Bear 1/2 Marathon in Whitefish again! So those are the upcoming events for me and some of my homies from P-town, looking forward to it all! I had some great workouts last week and it's fun having something new to train for and change it up a bit. I hope the weather continues to get better (with that being said, continuing to get better would be at least hit 50 degrees with NO wind!) Saturday - easy 3 mile run Sunday - 4.2 moderately hard miles Monday - Spin Bike Madness 10 minute Warm Up 10 minute Intervals - 30 sec stand and sprint/60 sec sit down and ride 5 minute Core/Strength - 1 minute of each: split squat w/sho press, bicycles, mb seated v twist, plank/side planks with rotation, db rdl with upright row 10 minute Hill Intervals - 2 min @ 75-80 rpm's/ 2 min @ 15 sec hill standing up, 15 sec hill sitting down, repeat 5 minute Core/Strength 10 minute Hill Intervals 5 minute Core/Strength 10 minute Steady State + Cool Down 65 minutes of work, it was a great workout. Happy Training All!

Neural Ablation

Well............
I slept through the night without waking up to pain for the first time in a very very long time on March 11th!!!!!!!!!!!! This is huge for me and I'm thrilled. Do I still have pain in other parts of my back, yes, but I'm headed up for more procedures next week so never fear. Maybe my SI joint won't bother me while running and for hours after, after they do the next one?!

Sunday March 6th - At Dad's house, 30 minutes on treadmill, it was 7 degrees outside so there was no way I was running out there!

Monday March 7th - we ended up getting stuck in Seattle on the way back from Juneau so by the time I got to Pullman and worked all day, there was NO way I was working out. Day OFF.

Tuesday March 8th - 54 minute Speed Ladder: 6.5 miles including warm up and cool down

Wednesday March 9th - 4 miles

Thursday March 10th - OFF..... Neural Ablation!

Friday March 11th - OFF...... Recovery Day

Saturday March 12th - Boot Camp with only walking on Treadmill stations and partial squats. had some pain after it, but it dissipated after a few hours and I recovered pretty well. It's mostly point tender now on the spot of the procedure, especially during any abs that I'm directly putting pressure on that spot. Note to self: STOP DOING THOSE.

Sunday March 13th - 30 minutes Elliptical

Monday March 14th - SPRING BREAK!!! Boy did I need this week! Wish the weather was better but such is life, can't get everything we ask for right?! 40 minute lifting circuit with Erica and Kerry, then 50 minute Elliptical. Sweated a lot but somehow never feel like I accomplished much when I'm not running. I have to keep telling myself (this'll sound familiar to some of you.....) that sometimes it's more about "time on your feet". So I'm good with it mentally, I think.

Tuesday March 15th - OFF, busy day getting all my clients in and getting ready to go to Mom's house on Wednesday

Wednesday March 16th - 15 minute Elliptical Warm Up
-Weight Circuit #1 - Olympic Lifts: 3 sets/5 min Versa
-Weight Circuit #2 - Legs/Back + Chest/Tri/Abs: 3 sets/5 min Treadmill
-Weight Circuit #3 - Auxillary Lifts/Abs: 3 sets/5 min Treadmill
Good workout with Erica and Kerry, it's always more fun to lift with friends! Then we drove 8.5 hours to Mom's!

Thursday March 17th - Happy St. Patty's Day! Mom worked in the morning so we slept in then I made breakfast, puttered around, enjoyed the views from Mom's house, then I did 63 minutes on the Treadmill. I walked for 10 minutes to warm up and see how my back felt after the drive. Then I did 52 minutes, every 5 minutes I increased by .5 mph. At 30 minutes I eased back down to a 9:00/mile pace for 5 minutes, then started ramping it back up again. Ended at 9.0 for the last 5 minutes. I think I logged somewhere around 6.5 miles so I was happy with that, especially for walking the first 10 minutes. My back felt pretty good!!! Then Mom made Corn Beef & Cabbage and I made a super salad with a homemade dressing, full of antioxidants, it was a great dinner!

Friday March 18th - OFF. I had intended to do a speed ladder, but Mom took the morning off and we were going to go run errands and spend the day together so I just used it as an off day. It was a wonderfully relaxing day, love being on the farm!

Saturday March 19th - 3.5 miles easy Treadmill. Then we headed to Lava Hot Springs where it snowed huge snow flakes and we had a great soak. Felt wonderful. Then dinner at Grandma Bean's house where I got to see my aunt and cousin who live in Anchorage, haven't seen them in years so that was nice. Drove home and vegged on the couch in front of the fire til bedtime. That night I had a horrible time trying to sleep, my back hurt a lot, even with drugs. So I retired to the couch and slept 5 hours, then we got up Sunday morning to drive home.

Sunday March 20th - Drove home, it was a beautiful drive saw some swans, beautiful western landscapes, 2 bald eagles and no snow on the road which is always nice! Got home and jumped on the treadmill right away, ended up doing 54 minutes. 3 minute jog/3 minute walking a hill. Sweated a lot!!

All in all I haven't been getting a ton of miles in, but I'm feeling good about where I'm at and looking forward to this summer of races and spending time with friends! My goal is the Juneau Full-Marathon again on July 31st, hope my friends can join me too!

Happy Training All!!!!