adjusting expectations and the resulting lightness

I am 3 months out from marathon #3, and admittedly, though I am 10 kinds of excited to run Route 66, this training cycle has been fraught with some frustrations of slow, injury-riddled summer and losing some serious mental battles. Aka, talking myself out of my training plan and being absolutely intimidated by it.

So I did a little soul searching yesterday, and thus a little googling for a beginner’s marathon training plan. This may sound counterintuitive, but I didn’t feel as prepared as I wanted to for my last two marathons. Was I happy with my performances? Absolutely for both. In this case, I want to  continue to give myself a fighting shot at a shiny new PR, and my original plan was not going to get me there.

Thankfully, Google quickly brought me to this plan from Popsugar, running 4-5 days a week, with foam rolling and strength training written out for me! These are two areas I need help with, and it’s what sold me on this plan. So I am jumping in at week 6, and was absolutely encouraged by my 4 miles this morning, after a great foam rolling session before bed last night.

I’ve been jamming out to the Gilmore Guys podcast (hilarious, add immediately) and laying out clothes the night before and quieting excuses Truthfully, this has been a summer of struggle running and easy discouragement. To start off strong, I’ve printed it out to go with a squat challenge on paper, and I am taking great satisfaction in checking off my workout for the day.

In other great news, I’ve EXCEEDED my fundraising goal for the Nautica Malibu Triathlon! Thank you to all my dear friends supporting, and congrats Joe on your Starbucks tumbler! 🙂 If you would still like to donate, you may do so here by August 27!

Do you ever struggle with your training plans or mental blocks?

2015 Bolder Boulder 10k: Sea Level is for Sissies

Long overdue and needed to be said, I had a GREAT time at this year’s Bolder Boulder, America’s All-Time Best 10K! This race has been a family affair, and I can remember staring at my mom’s posters from participating and enjoying her stories of participating in the race from before my sister and I were even thought of. I signed up with just a little trepidation, but was ready to hit the ground running.

Here are some immediate stats that you may want to know if you are considering the Bolder Boulder:

Race Date: Memorial Day (the holiday in May ;)) The 2016 date is May 30!

Altitude: pretty serious, Boulder sits at 5430 ft above sea level

Field Size: Thousands on thousands. The energy is crazy, man.

Corral seeding?: These guys were SO easy to work with. They want proof of you finishing under 68 minutes since the last Bolder Boulder. You can do this via email for any race 2 miles and above. If you’re local, you can go hop on a treadmill at a designated running store for a 2 mile time trial!

Packet Pick Up? : plenty of opportunity to go get your race packet prior to the race in Boulder, or you can opt to have it mailed to you for an addtional fee. I went the mailing route and loved getting my bib and chip in the mail, as well as my participant tee and included calendar!

Swag?: You choose what kind of shirt you want when you register, from short sleeve cotton, to long sleeve tech. They send an awesome participant calendar with your packet with your final race instructions. The calendar pages themselves are pre-filled with important race dates from all over the world. After the race, you get a sweet re-usable sling back filled with snacks, and participants 21+ get a craft beer! ALSO FREE RACE PHOTOS THAT ARE LEGIT. (see below)

Would I do this again?: I signed up the week after this year, if that tells you anything. the TL;DR version is below (but do read it!)

Week 1 of #2015in2015

Confession: I’ve become apathetic towards New Year’s Resolutions because I am terrible at keeping them past a week. A college classmate of mine talked about how she was adopting the word “discipline” for 2015. This made me consider picking s couple goals that required slow and steady work. To that end, I committed to logging my food to make myself more mindful of what I’m putting in my body (thanks MyFitnessPal!) and to covering 2015 miles in 2015. The miles seemed challenging enough, but manageable if I put in a little dedicated work every day. And with marathon training, I’ll be hitting some pretty high mileage for 8 months of the year. 2015 is already off to a great start.

January 1 – Stephanie and I kicked off 2015 with 3 miles at one of our favorite run spots, complete with photo shoot afterwards. You can blame her for introducing me to this challenge.