I used to think that two-a-day workouts were for hard core football players and young people. After going though a week where I did two workouts a day on four different days, I’m inclined to say I was right in thinking that. At least about them being for young people!
Although crazy hard, I had another great week of training and I’m psyched and ready for the NYC Half-Marathon on Sunday!
RUNNING: I ran a total of 35.6 miles and my toughest of the week was 5 x 1 mile repeats. I did them at a local indoor track because there’s ice and snow still covering everything else. The problem with this particular indoor track is that no one seems to know what the measured distance of the track is. It’s definitely not a standard track and weaves around the indoor playing fields, which are the main focus of the owners. When I called to ask how many laps equaled a mile, I was told it was 4.5. Ok, no problem. I set off for the workout feeling a little sick knowing how hard it was going to be. I was supposed to be hitting the mile splits at 6:11. My first one was 6:25. What? Second one – 6:25. Third – 6:31!? What the …? This is what the chatter in my brain sounded like:
“You’re overtraining. No, you’re just having a bad day. You’re overtraining and you’re not as fast as you think you are. Not sure you’re going to be able to get that 1:30 half time again. Maybe I need more rest days…”
And on and on in my head. By the end of the workout, I was feeling a little defeated but I knew I ran as hard as I could, plus I was meeting Coach Rocket Scientist afterward.
The meeting with Coach went GREAT and my form has improved tremendously! The film from my running three weeks ago looks completely different from what she filmed that day and I was ecstatic….but still thinking about my slow splits.
The next day I got an email from CRS:
On those mile repeats the other day, I found out that the Star Hill track is 363 m in lane 1. That means a mile is 4.4 times around the track. If you were running 4.5 laps, and not in the first lane, no wonder you weren’t hitting the mile repeat targets! Just saying. I could also accuse you of trying to overachieve again… 🙂
but I won’t.
*breathes deep sigh of relief*
How many laps does it take to get to the Tootsie….um, I mean to equal one mile?
CYCLING: I was able to spend a good chunk of time on my real bike (as opposed to my spin bike) this week and I’m really loving it. I absolutely cannot wait to take it out on the road! I also had two great spin classes this week with zero talking by the class. What more could a girl ask for?
CROSS-TRAINING: In addition to a great Power Sculpt class this week, I was able to go sledding with my whole family (hubs, dad, stepmom, niece, nephew, my kids and my brother!) at a hill that my brother and I used to sled on when we were kids. The weather was in the 40s (balmy!) and the sun was shining. It was so much fun and we ran back up the hill after each zippy descent, sometimes with a passenger in the sled. Talk about dead legs!
How many cousins can you fit on one toboggan?
RACING: It’s finally here! The NYC Half-Marathon is less then a week away and I can’t wait! I’m so excited for a weekend in the city, to test my abilities and for a pre-birthday celebration! As usual, I have three goals going into the race: #1 is to finish strong and uninjured, #2 is to finish in 1:30 or better and #3 is to meet up with as many of my blogging friends as I can! My 39th birthday is March 21 and I’m a big celebrator of birthdays. I’m especially going to enjoy this one since it’s my last year in my thirties and man, have they been good!
FUEL: I finally tried the Honey Stinger Waffles on a run/bike workout I had and I loved it. Unless I can try it again this week, I probably won’t use it for the half but I’ll definitely get more so I can use them in Spain. YUM!
Another fuel discovery I made this week was
Ladera Granola. I like to put granola on everything and this did not disappoint.
Ladera’s original granola is made up of only eight, all natural ingredients like almonds and whole grain oats, and tastes good on everything or all alone. Plus, they gave me a free bag and a sticker. I’m a sucker for a good sticker.
THINGS I LOVE: Being with my brother and his family all weekend. All the cousins are at a perfect age to play together which means more drinking down time for the parents.
THINGS I DON’T LOVE AS MUCH: How quiet and empty the house seems after a wild weekend filled with family.
MUSIC: I finally had to break down and buy a new iPod. Mine was about 8 years old and I marveled at the “new” technology of the 7th generation. It’s touch screen, it has Nike+ built in so you can record time, distance and pace without one of those annoying shoe thingys. I have a Garmin watch but I decided to give the Nike+ thing a try. Big mistake. I set it for a 10K. It told me each time I completed 1K, which inturrepted my music, plus I don’t even know what a 1K is. I mean, of course I know a 5K is (3 miles) but, like I said, I also had my Garmin so my watch was beeping every mile and every 1 freakin K I was hearing about it in my ears. I felt like a running robot. The worst part was that the Nike+ was so far off it was ridiculous. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:
6.7 miles at 7:18 pace from my Garmin vs…
9.14 km (less then 6 miles) at an 8:39 pace!
Let’s just say I will not be using that again! It said something about calibrating it for better accuracy, but I think I’ll just stick to the good ol’ Garmin. I like the silent, strong relationship we’ve developed.
READING: I mostly loved reading text messages like this from my friend this week:
How did she know exactly when to send this? It was just the “stop feeling sorry for yourself” thing I needed at exactly the right time. Now my definition of living the rest of my life “as a champion” may be a tad different from Muhammad Ali but still…
I also started reading Uganda Be Kidding Me by Chelsea Handler. It is a pee-your-pants kind of ridiculously funny book with just enough raunchy and I love every bit of it.
Clearly it’s a memoir about her African Safari trip with three of her besties.
TV: The worst TV I watched this week is a horrible fashion show of hair which is on a loop at my new hairdresser’s salon. It’s a long story but, they play this looped video promoting Bb hair products. It’s one crazy hair style after another, on models with 15 stylists working on them with such ferocious intensity you would think the girl’s hair was curing cancer. Which is a hell of a lot more then I can say for my hair. I would have been happy with one stylist working on it so I could have cut down on the three hours I spent there. I swear I’m just going to start shaving my head.
RANDOM THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: According to the movie Prisoners Pennsylvania has the worst police force on the planet. If you have kids and/or a low tolerance for mumbling, I do not recommend watching it.
What was your favorite workout this week?
Reading any good books? Do you use the Nike+ device on your iPod?
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Allie we must meet up! It’s goin to be tricky since all my time is going to be spent with my college buds catchin up but where and when are you meetin up with other bloggers??
We haven’t set a time and place but have exchanged cell phone numbers. I’ll send you mine though email. We also may meet up at the expo. I’m planning on being there on Saturday…how about you??
I am so adding that book on my list and right now I am reading a book to review and will be sharing the next few weeks on my blog. But I could use a good laugh, so like I said adding it to my list now. And yay to a great week and can’t believe the marathon is this weekend. Wishing you tons of luck and know you are going to do great 🙂
You will love it Janine! It’s hilarious and just a good break for a lot of the dramas I’ve been reading lately.
Thanks for the good luck 🙂
Two a days fry me. I will probably never be a triathlete or at least not for a while. I tried but the two a days buried me. I just can’t find the time to train for all the disciplines with being a Sherpa, working outside the home, and having two kids that run in every direction (did I mention I am a Sherpa?). LOL.
Good luck in NYC! And that quote by Muhammad Ali is my FAVE!
OMG I would never be able to do it if I worked outside of my home!! The only way I make it work is doing one when the kids are at school and then schlepping them to the gym later in the day. It makes for a LONG day but I am seeing the benefits. I could never keep it up for longer then a few months.
Are you a sherpa for hire? I need someone with your level of experience!!
NYC plus running plus birthday celebrating sounds FANTASTIC! Love that y’all spent the weekend sledding…what a cute picture! So glad that you solved the mystery of the crazy track…how annoying! You are a rock star, and I can’t wait to hear how it goes this weekend…something tells me you will meet your goals for sure! :)-Ashley
Thanks Ashley! I’m super excited for the food I’ll be eating in the city AFTER the race.
Sledding was a BLAST but now I hope it all melts and we can have Spring! Of course there’s another forecast for a storm this week.
March babies rock – I’m the 17th! Woot woot! Nice week of workouts! I’m kind of exhausted just from reading.
SO cool! Happy Birthday month to US!!!
Too funny about the track–running on non-standard tracks is SO frustrating! I was on vacation last year and could only find this really funky sized track (and wasn’t wearing a Garmin) so had no idea what distance I was doing. It drove me crazy. Glad you got the clarification AND that you were hitting your targets!
I hate the house silence after guests leave, too! Glad you got to enjoy your family, though.
I’m glad you understand! I’ve been to outdoor ones on vacation like that but I usually have my Garmin. It’s beyond frustrating.
I hope I can meet up with you when you are in NYC this weekend!!!!!!
I saw Chelsea Handler live on Saturday night. She was really funny. The show was not very long. I think 45 minutes for the warm up chick and then she was on for about an hour. She told a really funny story about a vacation in the Caribbean. I was dying. She is pretty crass though!
Me too! I’ll have to email you my cell and we can text when I get to the city on Saturday.
A few of my friends went to see her at a casino close by when I was in Vermont. I was so bummed I missed her! Yes, she can be very crass, even for me, but still so damn funny!!
So excited for your race this weekend. Can’t wait to hear all about it. Have no doubt you’ll crush your goals and have a fabulous time celebrating with all your blogging buddies. So jealous! And definitely need to check out the new Chelsea Handler book. She’s so freakin’ hilarious!
Thanks so much Nicole!! So wish you were closer so we could run it together. Ah, someday!
Definitely need to check out the book if you like her sense of humor. Hilarious!
In college we ran twice a day every day except Wednesdays when we were supposed to hit the pool in the afternoon (not my favorite, but it is where I got to be friends with my hubby) and weekends, because we were racing then. I almost never run twice a day now. Kudos to you!! Good luck this weekend!
That’s what I mean – it’s for YOUNG people who are falling in love and in college 🙂
Thanks Michelle!
I see the Nike+ icon on my iPhone but I’ve just ignored it. Looks like I made the right decision! Please don’t shave your head, Allie – those headbands you wear would look a little silly if you were bald! Although if anyone could rock it, you could.
HAhahaha!!! You’re right! I forgot about my headbands. I guess I’ll have to suffer at the hairdresser. Thanks Dana!
Great recap! So cute that the kids were all together! That quote is something I need once in awhile to kick my ass into gear. I love my Garmin GPS watch. It’s hasn’t failed me yet. My youngest had the Nike+ watch and that thing broke after about a year. Quite an expensive piece of junk.
At first I thought a lot of those quotes were just corny but, when you’re in the moment, they really do help push you though! Not surprised you had the same experience with the Nike+ and YES very expensive waste for sure.
Crazy tracks!!! Way to stick with a hard workout!!!! I do think it is funny how if we are having one bad workout we start to question everything! I am the same way!
I did my first speed work in months this week and it went great. I did 3x1mile repeats….I wanted to do 4 but I felt a little something in my hip and got all paranoid that I was pushing too hard too fast. What do you do in-between your repeats. One thing I want to start doing is more active recovery…I didn’t this time because I needed the walk and to ease back into it. I have a 5k on Sat and a half on April 12th.
Super excited for your 1/2…you will nail it!!!!!!
Thanks Jen! Those repeats are tough. For the ones I did, I jogged 2 laps in between each and grabbed my water for the first lap so I could sip as I jogged. It’s definitely ok to walk during “active recovery” if you’re just starting to do repeats. They can beat you up but are also SO effective. Nice job and good luck with your half in April!! Hopefully it will be a lot warmer by then.
Isn’t it crazy that we think 40 is balmy after our winter?! Today in Chicago we’ll hit 50 – just in time for 4 inches of snow Tuesday night – this winter just won’t end!
Love Chelsea Handler – she’s so funny.
Yes, it’s insane! We had ONE “nice” day and now it’s back to 30 and clouds with a storm looming for Thursday – which I imagine is the same one hitting Chicago on Tuesday. Enough already!
I once did a few 2-a-day trainings back when I knew nothing about proper nutrition. And for the rest of the day I ended up feeling like broiled rats oats dipped in seaweed sludge. Big mistake.
As you know my dear – food is fuel!! I’m sure you’ll never make that mistake again 🙂
Awesome week! I am so looking forward to running those paces (or close to it) again someday. 🙂 Mile repeats are one of the toughest workouts. Way to go! Can’t wait to hear all about the half!! I’m still debating going in to watch… I’ll let you know!
Oh I so hope you come to watch!! Please let me know if you do so I can try to find you 🙂
Great week of training!!
I knew that you must have been running too far for those repeat -you are far to with it and on your pace to miss all 3!!!
Can’t wait to hear all about the New York half!!! I know you are going to crush it!!!
Glad that you had some fun family fun this weekend!!
Thanks Kim!! I’m so excited to run the city and temps my even reach the mid-forties – imagine!! I know you were basking in flip flops today. I hope it lasts for you.
I did two a day training for 4 weeks a couple of years ago, I was insanely tired afterwards…I don’t know if I could ever do it again!! Chelsea Handler is awesome a few of my coworkers went to see her live this weekend! I have never used nike + for my phone!!
I don’t think anyone over 25 could do it for more then a month. It’s pretty intense but very effective!
Chelsea made the rounds here about a month ago but I was in VT so I missed her. I bet she’s great live!
Stay away from Nike+, unless you want to work harder for no good reason 🙂
I love Chelsea Handler books! And Christine of Love, Life, Surf is running the NYC half this weekend.
Also, I will tell you my best workout – Hartford Launch. Allie, it was incredible! Scarlet loved it but what I didn’t expect was that Des loved it. And my in-laws came and they got into it too! We were all sweating and starving after so we went to a burger place in Manchester.
Anyway we are definitely going back but I want to go on a weekday since it was pretty intense on a Sunday.
Yes! Christine and I are going to try and meet up sometime during the weekend. Very exciting.
SO glad you loved Launch! Did you eat at Catsup & Mustard? So good!!
We should plan a meet-up during the week with all the kids. My boys loved Flight and, it’s basically the same thing. FUN!!!
Oops I never saw this! I’ll have to subscribe. We ate at Shady Glen – know it?
And we’d love a weekday at Launch! I don’t know which is closer for you. Launch is about 40 minutes from us – not bad at all, and Des naps the way home.
Of course I know Shady Glen!! It’s historically infamous in these parts. They have fried cheese on the burgers and the best ice cream ever. Launch is probably closer to us and would take maybe 30 minutes. I’ll email you so we can figure something out!
I’m excited for your NYC Half race. I really wanted to come to town and attempt to run this race but alas, not this time.
It sounds like you are working hard and I know it’s going to pay off.
BTW, I just got a sample of those Honey Stinger Waffles and they rock!!!!
Birthday countdown is coming!!
Thanks Melissa. If you were coming to town that would be a bonus but, I’ll bide my time until June 🙂
I saw that you got those waffles. They are great fuel and delicious. I ate one before I got on my bike so not sure if it would be manageable to eat on the run. I mean, it’s a waffle!!
Yay for birthday countdown 🙂
Good luck this weekend for your race!
Echoing Tamara – Christine from Love, Life, Surf is also running the half (she lives in Brooklyn) and is awesome.
Yes, I know!! We’re going to try and meet up 🙂 Thanks Alison.
CRS didn’t accuse you of being an over achiever but I am. Two a day? Yikes.
Good luck in the NYC half on Sunday. Can’t wait to hear how you do.
She’s the one giving me the two-a-days. The accusation came from running more then a mile on my splits 🙂
I’m getting really excited for NYC. I hope that excitement translates into energy in the late miles of the race!
GAHHH!!!!! 1/2 marathon is coming and so is your birthday! I am your birthday genie and I will make sure your running goal comes true for your BDAY! 🙂
Thanks for taking care of that GiGi! One less thing to worry about… 🙂
Great week of training! I seriously think that I would break if I did two-a-days. The closest that I’ve come lately is two yoga sessions or running and yoga on the same day. My husband keeps reminding me that I’m no spring chicken anymore. ha! Can’t wait to meet up! Trying to figure out my plans with my husband and kids and will let you know once I figure that out.
Two sessions of yoga would literally break me!! I feel like my flexibility is shot these days even though I do pre and post run stretches. I need a good long dose of yoga when all this racing is over 🙂
No stress with meeting up. Of course I want to make it happen, but I know how family logistics can be on race day. I totally get it!!
You’re going to have so much fun at the NYC Half!! I ran it years ago and it was one of my favorite races. I’m so sad I didn’t win the lottery for it this year. I hope you make all your goals.
That’s so annoying about that track measurement, if only because you must have been getting so discouraged by your splits, thinking they were mile splits. I mean, awesome that afterwards you found out what happened, but sometimes that mental kick in the shins sticks with you. 🙁
I’m so excited to run the city and I hope I feel well though out so I can enjoy it! So cool that you ran it last year.
YES, it was definitely a mental kick in the shins. I would have much preferred to run the actual distance and make my numbers. At least I’ll never make that mistake again!!
NO WAY! NYC half is so close! BEST of luck and can’t wait to follow you and read all about it!
I know!! Thank you 🙂
I am incredibly impressed with your work-out schedule. Way to go! 🙂
Thank you and thanks for taking the time to read! I hope you had a great SITS day.