Fartlek Follow Up and Few Things F

Feeling a little lame writing a blog on a Friday night but this is actually pretty heavenly to just write, process my day and have some quiet time after a long day with kids.  Apparently my husband reads my blog without me asking him to.  Even on his guys weekend away.  I just got this e-mail from him after he read my last blog post talking about his guys trip:


Subject:  Really?


"I do not talk like that...what did you say I say?  kickin it and trickin it?  how about rippin it up?"

Okay, so I might have made him sound a little different than he really sounds.  Basically he told me that I am making him sound like a bone head.  So, let it be known that he doesn't really talk like some skater dude.  Made me laugh to read his e-mail and made me so happy to know he read my blog on his vacation. 


Fartlek Workout:


Dynamic Stretching.  If you didn't see the video I posted on Dynamic Stretching and you're interested in making this part of your routine before hard runs, then check it out. 


Proprioceptive Cue (this is part of the brain work for helping me to improve my form) this week:  Driving the thigh.  To read more about this and other sensory cues that I am working on, here is an Active.com article by Matt Fitzgerald called Sensory Cues.  Great read.  Hard mental work but helps me stay focused and I definitely notice much improvement with my form.  

6.2 miles (I figured that I might as well make it a full 10k by adding the .2)
46:04
Average pace: 7:25
6 fartleks for 2 minutes each.  1. 6:15 pace 2. 6:15 3. 6:15 4. 6:18 5.  6:25ish 6. 6:15
Felt great! Was tired but definitely had more in me.  :)  


Flavor
This stuff tastes like chalk!  Ugggh.  I bought it and I'll use it because it was expensive but oh my, it does not taste good. "Delicious Vanilla Bean" it says on the label. Not sure who the taste testers for this were but it is certainly not delicious. It has some good stuff in it though and I'm glad I'm getting good nutrients and lots of protein.  It helped to blend it with some plain yogurt and frozen berries.  I can do it like that.  But with just water?  Not for me.  

Fun
I am not a baker.  
I don't LOVE to cook.  
But I love to make memories and make the time with my kids fun.  
Since we don't have our main man here tonight, we canceled Family Movie/Game night and we made these:

And then after about 5 minutes of making them, they were done.  
We had a HUGE mess.
My 19 month old was eating chocolate off the floor, crying for more cookies, smearing his dirty hands on our new white molding 
and 
My girls looked at each other the wrong way,
Tried to pull each other's hair out,
Cried,
Whined,
Insulted each other some more,
And argued over who had prettier hair.  
The cupcakes were cute though.  
I guess.
In a Martha Stuart/Family Fun kind of way.  
Not so sure I'll ever
do 
it 
again.  


Do you drink a protein drink?  How do you make it and what kind do you use?


Do your kids fight with each other?  


Amanda

Fartlek Friday, Dynamic Stretching, and Guys Trip

Today is the day that Matt Fitzgerald tells me to do some good ol' Fartleks. (If you are new to Fartleks see here.) I'm beginning to look forward to my Fartlek Friday workout. Instead of doing it at my usual time of 6 or 7 at night when I'm pooped from the long day, my mom is generous enough to come over around noon so I can go after lunch.  We'll see if my body has more energy.  Not so sure about this since most my energy is going into taking care of my three sick kids while my awesome and well deserving hubby is off shredding it up on his snowboard with his buddies.  I know that we all need these getaways with our best friends.  A time to refresh and let go of our normal responsibilities....

                        freedom, vacation, escape.

 It is good for our marriage as well as our well being as an individual. When things get crazy and I find myself trying to dig up a babysitter so I can go on a run, I keep reminding myself of my trip to Napa Valley with my girls.  

 I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid.  You know, what is it about guys' trips where men get their balls out of their lady's purse (just teasing, I'm a cool wife), start drinking beer and thinking they are 20 again?  Hopefully he will remember that he isn't 20, hasn't "shredded it up dawg" in years and probably should try to keep his "wicked and kickin' tricks"  to a minimum.  I am already holding my breath just thinking about him trying to pull off a 360 while his friends encourage him by video taping.  Good grief...who knows what kind of stupid tricks they are trying to pull of.  Testosterone is a dangerous thing when you put a bunch of it together. I'm hoping that they will all act their ages (ranging from 32-40's) and remember that they have families to come home to.

I'm still only on week 7 of my 24 week plan so my workouts are still pretty easy....I'm just building a base here.  In a couple weeks I start with Build 1 Phase.  Then I will start some mile repeat and Tempo run workouts on Fridays and some mixed interval workouts on Wednesdays.  Looking ahead, some of the workouts planned in the Build 1 and Build 2 Phases look INTENSE.  I hope I'm cut out for this plan. This is why it is even more important for me to be keeping myself injury free and doing preventative things now!  Yoga, adjustments, dynamic stretching, rolling, icing, sleep, eating right, etc.  I'm thinking I'd be happy if I just stayed in this Base building phase for the entire time.  Here's my Fartlek Friday workout that Mr. Fitzgerald has planned for me on week 7:

Dynamic Stretching warm-up

6 miles @ base pace (7:50-8ish) w/ 6x2 minute intervals at 3,000m pace "sprinkled in"  (I'm shooting for a 6:18ish pace)

Here's a Runner's World Video on Dynamic Stretching that shows some of the stretches I do before runs like this:

Do you and your significant other make time for trips away with your friends?  If so, what kinds of trips?

Do you do Dynamic Stretching?  

Oh, I almost forgot, Please please go visit Eat, Pray, Run...a new blog that I love. Lisa is a great writer with a fabulous sense of humor.  What she has written so far is worth catching up on and she's definitely deserving of a "follow" from you!  So, go check her out!  Eat, Pray, Run.

Happy Friday!

Amanda

Listening To Our Bodies

I think we've all been there before.  We've been so determined. So focused on a goal.  So absorbed by our training, our plan, our goals to get to where we hope to be.  To accomplish the feat that will make us feel victorious.  Glorious.  Successful and satisfied.  Sometimes we get so focused on staying on track and following a "plan" that we forget to listen to our bodies.  We forget to realize that it is always okay to go off our path for a quick change of pace or direction if it means keeping our bodies healthy and injury free.  Just like with a good road trip...sometimes we need to take unexpected potty stops or we get tired and have to pull over for a pick me upper!  Without these stops or breaks we might not get to our destination at all. Isn't changing our plan or slowing down more important than never getting there at all? 


This is where I'm at this week.  I'm pulling into a rest stop with my training plan and I'm listening to my body.  This isn't always something I would have done but after reading so much about injuries and broken hearts of athletes who pushed themselves too hard or had the misfortune of hurting themselves and now can't run at all, I'm trying to learn from their stories as much as possible. My own recent injury is fresh in my mind as well. We all know that as runners, we can be a bit neurotic or obsessive sometimes (not all of us) and missing a day or two sometimes seems like the end of the world.  It is easy to feel Out of Control when we don't stick or our plan as we had expected.  Not to mention how our mood changes when we don't get our running "fix" that we are used to getting. But, I'm trying to play this thing smart.  I only have one body. One pair of strong legs, arms and feet.  One.  And I have to take care of it.  


As most of you who read my blog know, I've been experiencing some pain in the side of my leg and was thinking it was IT Band pain.  After so much great advice, googling it , and talking to friends, I'm thinking I'm right about it being my IT band. RockStarTri mentioned that sometimes woman feel the pain more in the outside of the hip rather than the knee.  This seems to be the case for me. 


I plan on posting a blog soon with all of the wise advice I received from everyone.  I also found a good video that shows me some good stretches and ways to roll it out.  Thank you everyone!


As of now I'm:
*  Taking it easy
*  Slowing down with my plan this week.  Yesterday I didn't run...only rolling and stretching
*  Tonight still not much running...spin class and then Yoga
*  YOGA...I am going to make this part of my weekly workout routine.  I think it is so important.  Meg from Meg Runs mentioned a few yoga stretches that help her with her IT band.  
*  Jill advised me to roll it and stretch it every day whether it hurts or not. She has also e-mailed to check in...thanks Jill.   
*  Miss Zippy (Amanda) has really been good about reminding me to NOT PUSH IT. Thinking of her and her recovery and hoping she can be running strong again soon!
*  LISTENING to my BODY.  


Today it is a pretty dull pain so I think it is getting less angry.  I feel pretty sore for some reason in my lower back and hips...probably from all the painful rolling and stretching.  


Thanks again to all of you for your advice and wonderful and wise reminders!  Once again, this blog is a HUGE blessing to me.  I've learned so much and I am so grateful for the resource that it proves to be for me in so many areas of my life.  


Are you remembering to listen to your body? 
I am now but I have not always done this.  When I was younger it used to be all about being tough and pushing through pain that I should have listened to.  


Would you describe yourself as obsessive, needing to be in control, or a bit neurotic about running or other things in your life?  
Once again, I am much less so now that I'm older.  I still get obsessive about things...if I have something to plan that is important...a presentations, training for a race, etc.  Training for a race and being on track with my plan helps me feel in control with other areas of my life.  


Do you feel okay about going off track of your plans when you need to or when things come up?  
After experiencing what it is like to be seriously injured (my complete hamstring tear in August) I realized just how precious my body is and how I have to take care of it in order to keep my lifestyle the way I want it to be.  I'm pretty good at reevaluating things in life and changing direction if I need to.  



Happy Thursday,
Amanda

Date With Matt Fitzgerald

Today was one of those days that I did not feel like working out.  After a girl night with my mom last night, eating half a pizza, having a beer, a PMS like never before, and staying up too late, I was left feeling like a pile of poo and I really just wanted to sit on my bum and do nothing.  But I pushed myself to the gym anyway and I am so glad I did!  Do we ever regret working out?  Especially running.  I am always glad I did.  


My Workout Today
Dynamic Stretching with Matt Fitzgerald (I'll get to that in a minute)
4 miles at base pace with 4 x 1min intervals @ 1 mile pace sprinkled in

4 miles in 30:42 (don't get confused at the 29:18 showing...it is the time remaining...I started with 60 min)  at a 1% incline so about a 7:40 average pace.  This is with the first .25 at a 9ish pace and then rest of the first mile at about a 8:13 pace.  
1st three intervals were at a 6:00 pace (10.0 on the TM)
4th interval was at a 5:56 pace (10.1)


I feel great!  I have that red faced, sopping wet sweaty feeling that makes me feel tired and happy!  I feel myself returning!  


Date with Matt Fitzgerald
This morning I was away from my kids and the Internet and I had time at my mom's house to just have my coffee and catch up on some reading.  As many of you know, I am reading Brain Training for Runners by Matt Fitzgerald and using his 24 week plan to train for the Newport Marathon in June.  I am a little behind with my reading so I've been doing what I can.  Today I caught up with his chapter : Cross Training as Brain Training.  Matt says :  "...I don't believe any runner can achieve his or her full potential without cross training."  He talks about three basic categories of cross-training:  resistance training, flexibility training, and nonimpact cardiovascular training.  He says : "Each improves the stride by modifying brain-muscle communications." I practiced some of the resistance training exercises this morning and now I'll be using them 2 times a week as part of my weekly workouts. 
Fitzgerald recommends doing dynamic flexibility stretches as a warm-up before a high-intensity workout so today I took my Brain Training book and went through these recommended dynamic stretches.  They are much like I remember doing in college during indoor and outdoor track seasons.  Dynamic stretching exercises allow you to increase your flexibility through movements or exercises that mimic the way your muscles and connective tissues actually stretch during running.  All the dynamic stretching exercises take about 5 minutes so it isn't very time consuming to do before a workout.  A couple of these exercises include forward leg swing, lunge walks, lateral lunges, lateral leg swing, heel bounce, etc.  

Here I am trying to learn the Tilt Walk.  Thanks for the pictures Matt!  

I have to say that I did feel good and ready for my workout today after these dynamic stretches!  I'm so happy to be making my way through the book.  Amazing how a day mostly away from the computer allows we to get so much accomplished!  Matty and I greatly enjoyed our date! 

Oh, and did I say that I love my new Saucony Kinvaras?!  

Next Posts
I've got so much running through my head that I want to write about.  Next posts I'd like to mention:
*  Answering some questions by some of my readers about ways to get protein in their diet without meat.  I consulted my mom (she is so smart with this stuff) and a friend who also knows a ton about nutrition, fitness, etc.  
*  Sharing my new favorite way to eat Quinoa
*  Listening to an interview on NPR this morning with the author of the book Alone Together, Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other. I'd LOVE to read this book or at least talk about the thoughts I had when hearing about it. I'd also love to hear your thoughts regarding the topic. In the meantime, check out this article on Newsweek:  One Hundred Tweets of Solitude and let me know your thoughts if it strikes a chord with you.  
*  To Soy Milk controversy... What is up with people being so scared of soy now?  


Thankful for:
*  Reminders to be in the moment and pay attention to what is important in life...giving my full attention to my kids at certain times during the day
*  My awesome workout
*  Beach house this weekend!  Yay!  
*  Girl night with my mom last night
*  My blog
*  Thinking about building on and remodeling our home!


Oh, and thank you for all your funny comments on my post Hot Sexy Bitch.  I told my mom last night that I was kind of worried about my title since who knows who might find my blog searching for words like Hot Sexy Bitch.  I also told her that I bet more men might click on my blog with a title like that.  Funny thing is...I woke up with 4 new readers/followers and 3 of them were men!  Ha, do you think it was the title? 

For those of you that missed it, this was a post about me wearing my pants on backwards to the gym.  I included a picture for those of you that wanted to see one.  This doesn't look too bad from the picture.  I took a picture of what the back might have looked like with my undies hanging out but my husband says he'd rather me not include it.  

Amanda