2020, June Challenge, Long Runs

Unless you've been living under a big boulder these days, you should be aware of the current political, and social climate of our country. Yes, Black people are still fighting for the end of blatant and systematic racism as we have been for hundreds of years through voting, protesting, rioting, speeches, and marches. In 2020, unfortunately, we're still at it. That being said, that is the reason for this mural that was painted on both the wall and the trail grounds of the Eastside Beltline here in Atlanta.

I and a few folks in one of my run clubs set out for a 45-minute out and back route through Midtown this morning. My goal was to run 10 miles. I am apart of a Nike 100-mile June Challenge and I am also trying to build my base to run a virtual half marathon at the end of next month. It would be great to do this while I have so much "free" time and before busy seasons starts back up.

3 out of 4 weekend long runs this month, I ran 10 miles. Father's Day I cut it short to 8 so I could get back home quickly to begin the festivities. I am definitely ready to ramp my training miles up to 11 next week (fingers crossed that the home schedule will allow).

During this month I experienced the routine knee pain that I always experience whenever I start running further. I iced and really stretched like you're supposed to. I'm known to skip proper stretching which is such a no, no. That pain went away. Thank God. It was time for some new shoes as well. 

On today's run around mile 7, a little hamstring pain seemed to come out of nowhere. Maybe I stretched a cold muscle this morning? To remedy this, I stretched and took an old fashion ice bath when I got home. We'll see if that did the trick during tomorrow's recovery run.

Today's run was also very HUMID as I don't know what, but my pace ended up being the same as my last 10-mile run. Listening to my body and running in this Atlanta heat, I'll definitely be bringing my fuel belt along next week. When I used to distance run in the past, some things that helped me were Gatorade and Jelly Belly Sports Beans around the 8-10 mile mark. I have some Energy Gels in the pantry right now I'll be experimenting with. If someone told me I needed to run 3 more miles this morning, I wouldn't have made it, which is how I know I was becoming dehydrated and my carb-loaded dinner from last night had burned away. 

I bet you can tell where the hills were on my route. The Beltline is a steady incline, but it's not that bad (plus I've been stroller running it a few times). But, if you guessed mile 8, you are correct! If you've ever run UP 10th strength starting from the bottom of Piedmont Park, you KNOW that LOOOONG incline is a beast! I made it up without stopping though. The last hill I had to conquer was at mile 10 going up the 17th street bridge.

Anyway, I was so happy to be done, back in my car, and to my water. I guzzled all 32 oz of it on spot. After this 100-mile challenge is over, I think I am going to run longer on fewer days (depending on my children) and continue strength workouts during the week.

What have been some of your summer fitness goals?

Feeling Proud!

I woke up yesterday morning a little under the weather and I thought about sleeping in for a half of a second. The other day at work I kneeled down to speak to a kid and she straight up, no warning coughed in my face. I could feel every drop of germs just cover my entire face. And for the rest of the day I felt a twitch in my eye. For the 6 or 7 weeks we've been in school so far I've managed to not get sick. Can't say the same for my son. So to have this girl sneeze in my face was utterly disgusting. I didn't let that deter my plans though. I was hoping I could sweat the cold out or something.

Another reason I thought about sleeping in was my son was on his 10th or 11th hour of sleep from that night. Woo-freakin-hoo! I so didn't want to wake him. Well he awoke on his own 10 minutes later anyway...lol.

So we choose a spot to run and got started. The route was pretty flat, which is great because I hadn't run with the jogger in a while and didn't feel like even attempting hills with a jogger.

I pushed the boy for the first 4 miles until the hubs took over. I was amazed at my pace even while running with him because it had never been that fast before and especially because of the long break. I guess it was because of the flat terrain.

The last 4 miles had it's rough patches. I went from motivated, to wanting to stop, to needing to stretch during (and as I type this right now I notice I'm not nearly as sore as I'd normally be...no ice bath for me...yet.), and to using this old guy as my pacer.

The last 2 miles were more mentally painful then anything. This was an out and back route so I had to look at the same thing I'd already looked at. Good thing there were a lot of other folks out biking, walking, and running. I just imagined I was at a race and didn't want to let the onlookers down. Hey, it works!

When I finally finished, one of the most perfect ratchet songs was playing so I just had to do a little dance. The hubs and son (with his feet propped up in the jogger) were just finishing so we high fived...and then I was tired for the rest of the day. ;-)

I have another 8-miles scheduled for next Saturday. This whole week will be challenging as I start Week 5 of the Nike training plan. It has me down to run 6 miles on a weekday...ugh. We'll see how this goes. Wish me luck :)

What's your favorite recovery snack or drink after a long run?

How do YOU simulate outdoor running indoors?

Hope your day is going well. This post is more of a poll or question post rather than a express-my-opinion-or-experience post. Okay? :-)

Much like many other runners, I'd rather run outdoors than suffer through treadmill running. My music and mentality have to be just right to get through and to not constantly look at the numbers on the screen. Now since I have a young child I can't just drive downtown and run with run buddies like I used to or sometimes I don't feel like running with the jogger. That being said, most of the time I drop my son off at the Kids Club and do my Monday through Friday running on the treadmill.

I've Googled and searched Runner's World, but haven't really found a good answer for the following question (if you have a good link, please do share):

How do YOU simulate outdoor running on the treadmill?

What I normally do is run on the hill setting at least at level 3 and just pray my next outdoor run doesn't feel like I hadn't run at all. I'm curious as to whether this is really effective or could I be doing something else to help. I do feel a little slower after doing this. So what can I do to maintain my pace while switching back and forth? What do you do? Please, please, pleeeeease share below.

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Meanwhile, I had 3 miles scheduled for today. I dropped my son off as usual and 27 minutes later at mile 2.80 as you can see, the attendant called for me to get my son because he needed a diaper change. Siiiiiiigh #momlife

My 1st WIAW

For about 75% of my 10k training I was on Mission: No bread, No white, No sugar, No processed foods except for cheat days. Plus, I did a 30-day green smoothie challenge for the month of May (see pics on my instagram). I saw a HUGE difference in my abdominal area and I lost the last 5 lbs of my baby weight and then some. Maybe one day I'll have the nerve to post the progress pictures. But, side note: my ab area looks better NOW than before I was even pregnant!!!!

I decided to jump on the bandwagon for WIAW or What I Ate Wednesday posts for a few weeks. Almost every time after I meet a goal, I relax a little too much for days afterwards. These past couple days of "relaxation" has involved too much bread. Or maybe my body craved the carb? I thought by posting pics of my food for a little bit may help keep myself accountable until my half marathon training starts in August. Once that starts, I'll be motivated by performing well on my long runs.

So here's what I ate today...

Breakfast - On July 1st I started the 30-day green smoothie challenge hosted by Simple Green Smoothies, so this is a strawberry & banana smoothie with frozen spinach cubes (to keep my spinach longer, I blend it with a little water and freeze it in ice cube trays). I'm on Day 9.

Lunch -  An open-faced chicken salad (store bought) sandwich

Dinner - You know how you have random ingredients in the fridge and you don't want them to go bad? This is how this little concoction was created. This could actually be a real recipe, but idk. This is boneless pork with sliced tomatoes and green bell peppers (EVOO, salt & pepper). Pork fajita, maybe? It taste good.

No need to lie. This temptation said, "drink me" everytime I opened the fridge. The hubs just looooves to bring tempting foods in the house, ahem. I hadn't had a Coke in a minute, so I gave in.

Snack 1

Snack 2

After dinner I did around 30 minutes of Jillian Michael's Hard Body DVD and ran/walked 3.5 miles. Snack 3 was 2 tbsp of Greek yogurt with a little all natural honey and a sprinkle of granola on top.

How do you stay motivated to eat healthy? Have you caught onto the green smoothie craze yet?

Upcoming Goals: Fall Half Marathon Season

Now that the Peachtree is over, I have a lot more confidence that I can go to my next challenge, running my fifth half marathon. I call it a challenge because, of course, I don't know how even less "perfect" training will be with a baby. Can't just get up and go, ya know.

My original big plan in the beginning of my pregnancy was to start training for my next half marathon 3 months post partum. This was supposed to be my motivation to get back to running. Good thing I didn't need that; I had clothes to get back into, and there was no way it was that serious to go running with my son in his stroller in the cold temps we had. I had him in October and wanted to run a half at the end of March, which means I would of had to start training in December/January. Umm, yeah, that was a little far-fetched. Not saying one couldn't do it, but I couldn't for so many reasons. I did run a 5k, though.

I haven't registered yet, but the race I'm thinking of is in November so I will start a 12-week program on August 18th. I really don't want to register until I'm at least half way though training. The price increases are only $5. Expensive is expensive period and I've already missed the much lower registration fees. Maybe I'll find a discount if it turns out I'm able to run it. Off topic, but in the past, I've never paid over $55 for a half marathon, but I've been wanting to do this race for forever. Sigh.

I've decided to try the Nike+ Coach feature. In the past I've used Hal's plan, but I want to give Nike a try for the extra motivation. I like that it prompts you that you have a run the next day. I already track my miles with it, so it will tell me if I am on track with my time goal, and I love the interface. A big plus, I don't have to constantly refer to a document or sheet of paper to check which day of training I am on. It'll all be on the app.

An even bigger plus is that my husband has accepted the challenge of training himself. This would be his first. So at least I'd have someone alongside me during those long runs. I can't make the group runs much, or rather the places they meet aren't really stroller friendly, so he'll have to do. LOL. J/k... 'cause he reads my posts.

My focus from now until August 18th is to build strength. I'm going to focus even more on incorporating weight and running less often. I just want to maintain a 4-mile outdoor run until next month. Yesterday's workout felt pretty good. I did a body works plus abs class at the gym and ran 2 miles on the treadmill hill setting. My next workout will be Wednesday... and it may have to be a Jillian Michaels DVD day.

Now it's time for Nike and I to have a conversation...

If you run long distances, do you follow a set plan or make up your own? What's your favorite way to cross-train? :-)