Progress!

It's possible that I'm finally adjusting to the heat. That, or I'm just getting some of my fitness back.

I didn't feel like driving to the gym just to run four miles, so I waited until it cooled off a bit before I dragged myself out the door. It wasn't an amazing run. I didn't want to just keep running. I wanted to be back home in the air conditioning.

But when I got home and checked out my stats, my stride rate was almost back to my pre-injury rate, and my pace was completely reasonable. The last mile was even under 9:00 pace, which I haven't seen in a while.

It's nice to finally feel like I'm seeing some progress!

Scout helped me stretch after my run. And by helped, I mean he took over half of my yoga mat. That's the same thing, right?

Buddy has an amazing amount of patience with Scout.

A seriously amazing amount of patience.

My Marathon Training Must Haves

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Now that I've (mostly) made it through my marathon training, I thought I would share a few things that helped me make it through this training cycle.

Shoes (duh) - I used to do most of my running on trails and the treadmill. This time around I was 100% on the roads, which meant that some of my favorite shoes didn't work as well for me as they had in the past. I used to do most of my running in Brooks PureFlows, but for most of this training cycle I have run in Mizuno Wave Riders and Saucony Zealots.

I have mixed things up shoe-wise for shorter runs, but for long runs, those are my go-tos.

Calf sleeves - This is the first training cycle I have run with calf sleeves.

I love the compression and support of PRO Compression Marathon socks (and wear them for post-run recovery), but the foot part doesn't work for me when I'm running. I need more cushion. I have had problems with my calves cramping during half marathons before, so I figured these couldn't hurt. I wore them for all of my long runs and I really feel like they have helped me. It's possible that it's all in my head, but either way works for me!

Shorts - Until this summer I pretty much always ran in capris. I could do that because I had my treadmill in our air conditioned basement. I haven't used my treadmill since we moved because it's currently in the garage, which is definitely not air conditioned. Every single run has been outside, which means I had to find some shorts that worked for me. Loose shorts ride up, move around and generally drive me insane, so I ended up finding a couple of pairs from Oiselle (the Long Flyte and Vela shorts). They have perfectly respectable inseams, so I don't feel like things are exposed. They're also super comfortable and don't ride up.

Body Glide - No matter how in shape I get or how thin I am, my thighs will always touch. That's just life. Body Glide has saved me from some serious pain this summer. It's cheap, it's easy, and it makes it so you can run chafe-free for hours. Necessary.

TomTom Runner Cardio - I'm addicted to the data. I need to know how fast, how far, the elevation, my heart rate (with no chest strap!) and anything else my watch cares to tell me. I have gotten better about not checking my pace every three seconds, but I love having the stats to check out after my run. Plus I'm terrible at planning my runs, so I'm a big fan of running out until my watch tells me I'm halfway, and then I turn around and head home!

Road ID - Especially if you're like me and you don't usually run with your phone (I pretty much only take it on long runs), a Road ID is a great idea. Mine has my name, birth year, Tom and my mom's phone numbers, my blood type, and the fact that I don't have any known allergies. All great information to have readily available just in case. You can personalize them however you want, and there's even space to add a motivational quote if you want. I keep mine with my watch so I actually remember to wear it on my runs.

Sunscreen - You don't need me to tell you to wear sunscreen, right? I'm a fan of the spray kind for my body because I'm lazy, and I absolutely love the Peter Thomas Roth Instant Mineral SPF for my face. If you read the reviews, you'll see that some of the bristles fall out, and that if you don't follow the directions you can make a big mess with it. Neither of these things is a big deal to me, and I love not putting goopy sunscreen on my face. I somehow made it through summer marathon training without getting a sunburn this year - gold star for me! The only sunburn I've gotten is when I was spectating at Tom's adventure race and completely failed to put sunscreen on my legs.

Hydration Pack - I hate carrying things when I run. I will do everything in my power to not hold anything. I have a Nathan Trail Mix fuel belt that has worked alright for me in the past, but the water bottles are tiny, and I knew they weren't going to cut it for my longer runs this summer. Enter the Teton Trailrunner 2.0 - you can't escape the sloshing sound no matter how you carry your water, and there is a slight plastic taste, but this pack does the trick.

It has a small mesh pocket on the front where I keep everything from my fuel to my phone (in separate ziplock bags). It is open at the top, but I never once had anything fall out. The only thing I really wish this pack had is a place to clip my house key.

Race day is officially a week away - I can't believe it's already here!

Sleep in Sunday

My recent Sunday tradition of sleeping in continued this morning. I keep staying up too late on Fridays and waking up early on Saturdays to run, so by Saturday night, I'm exhausted.

Buddy comes downstairs for breakfast with whoever wakes up first in the morning, but if anyone is still sleeping, he heads back upstairs to go back to bed. Goofy dog.

We watched Guardians of the Galaxy last night, it was a fun movie, lots of fighting and explosions.

We took Buddy on his first ride in the new truck today. He likes his window out the back.

The afternoon was spent watching football - hooray for the Giants actually winning! As for the 49ers, well, there's always next year.

I got 4 miles in on the treadmill this afternoon. I have less than 40 miles to go before I hit my 1,000 miles for the year!

I really need to start thinking about races for next year, especially if I want to do an early spring race. It seems far away, but training for something in March could start as early as January.

Have you started planning your races for 2015?

Saturday in pictures of Buddy

Buddy and I had a really mellow day today.We didn't accomplish much, but it was still nice.

We went to the dog park for a bit.

I always have him sit before I tell him that he can get in the car. He laid down today instead.

On the way home he somehow managed to get underneath the seat hammock thing I have in the back seat.

He seemed happy in his fort.

In the afternoon, I decided to do some creepy drive bys of a couple of houses we have been looking at online. Buddy came along for the ride - he loves being in the car.

It's been too hot here lately for me to want to cook. I've been eating a lot of salad kits. Sometimes I add a little extra protein (usually in the form of fake crab because it's easy) and tonight I treated myself to some steak. I even managed to not overcook it. I win!

The beauty of this weekend is I still get another day!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

4 mile warm up kind of day

That was one of the most difficult 10 miles I have ever run. I felt terrible for a lot of it, but not a legitimate reason to stop level of terrible.

I wanted to stop at about here:

It took me about 4 miles to feel warmed up, which is only 3 miles more than usual. And I didn't feel awesome at the end. But I was determined to get my miles in. There were walk breaks. And I don't think I have ever sweat so much in my life (it's in the 80s outside, but was somewhere in the 70s in the basement).

This picture doesn't really demonstrate just how sweaty I was. That's probably a good thing.

The Runner's World quote of the day was something along the lines of "Running is 50 percent physical and 90 percent mental. Or something like that."  It seemed rather fitting today. 

My foot was feeling off for the first little while, but seemed to loosen up after a few miles. Plus the weird popping feeling seems to have stopped for now.

I (finally) have both my lesson plans and newsletter done for June. My boss was insanely busy on Friday, so she wasn't worried about the fact that no one them ready for her. At least we were all in the same boat!

It's looking like summer around here, now I have to get used to being warm all the time. I've never lived anywhere that has an actual hot summer. And don't get me started on the humidity. I'm from the West Coast, I don't do humidity unless it's raining.