Ready, set, go!

The two weeks following the Mesa Marathon actually went fairly quickly. When you throw in a little vacation in there, it really helps you not go stir crazy from laying low and not doing any activity. I did my daily yoga practices, kept my body pretty mobile, and felt pretty dang amazing. I'm still kind of shocked at how good I felt after the race. My body doesn't hate me after all!

We'll touch base real quick on that lull time. We went to California for a week for my husband's birthday getaway. We're only around 2.5 hours from the border of the state which still blows my mind. It seemed so far away when we lived in Michigan BECAUSE IT WAS. I honestly hate traveling to California, mainly if we're headed to the Los Angeles area. Everyone drives like a crazy person and traffic sucks 24/7. We drove somewhere that was only 6 miles away and it took us over 30 minutes. So we stayed in Universal City for a few days and visited Universal Studios. Neither of us had been there before and I'm a big Harry Potter nut so I was pretty jazzed on the idea. Hold for photos:

 

 

The first stop was Voodoo Donuts. Now, this isn't the original location but it was as close to them as we could get for the day. Their vegan donut selection is LEGIT and they actually taste super good. We ended up there the next morning as well. Then we explored the park. We saved most of the Wizarding World for the second day. The studio tour was my favorite attraction. The Minions ride was super cute and fun. I could give you a review on everything else but I'll save you the time. Harry Potter world or whatever you want to call it was great. They did a fantastic job on Hogwarts. Overall, I definitely like Disney a heck of a lot better than Universal. Disney just knows how to do it up and create an overall amazing experience for their guests. Would I go back to Universal? Probably not. We headed to Ventura for the rest of the week and visited Ojai, which is an awesome little town. I would definitely go back there. We hung out a local vineyard for a bit (Old Creek Ranch). It was such a cool place. We headed home that Friday and then came time to snap back to reality, Eminem style.

The one announcement I'm super excited to say is that I'm back with my coach, Kristen Griffin, of Find Your Stride Coaching. Kristen has been such a great help to me in the past and I missed working with her so much. She's an amazing athlete herself but also an incredible mom and wife. I think she was equally as excited as I was when I messaged her and told her the news. Week one started on February 24th. Since then it's been base building. Slow-paced runs to get the legs turning. I program my Garmin for the length of time I should be out as well as what pace range I should stay in. While I am not a fast runner by any means, I have a hard time staying in that recovery pace area. It helps to have that thing yell at me to keep within my limits. Remember when I said I felt amazing after my marathon? My first day of training included a 2-mile time trial and boy were my glutes sore the next day but that definitely means the activation is there. The first week went by great. It took me a few days to get into the groove of that recovery pace but it set in about midweek. I told Kristen to make sure I kept up on my PT exercises and keep me out of therapy. I'm a huge advocate for physical therapy, as it's helped me tremendously, but I will do whatever it takes to keep myself injury-free. I do my exercises EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. This is non-negotiable. I do a big dynamic warmup before every run and do a stretching routine after. Most people say they "don't have time" and skip this but let me tell you, you can take as little as five minutes to do something that will help. A little goes a long way. Your body won't stay in tip-top shape forever. Save yourself now before you can't turn those legs anymore. *steps off soapbox*

The one thing I didn't really line up properly was the fact that I had forgotten I signed up for a local race. If you remember, last year I ran the Mountain 2 Fountain 5K as a "comeback race" after nursing an injury. It was awful and I said I'd never run it again. Well, here's my finisher's medal.

I should preface I did this for my Volée team. This time, I signed up for the 15K, which made us eligible to win our weight in beer. You need a team of at least four people to qualify for this and finish in under 2 hours. While we ended up not having a full team, it was nice to meet up with two of my fellow members and hang out for a bit. The race was basically a fun run for me. The hills hit hard as I had not run any in two weeks. I don't understand why they don't close the road down for this race from the point you leave the park to where you enter back into town. Running the majority of it on the shoulder of a road which is essentially two feet wide is uncomfortable. The road slightly slants at parts to allow rain to run off. Needless to say, my right ankle got a workout. I did finish pain-free, which is all I ever want nowadays. One of my teammates and I determined we won't run this race again and I actually mean it this time. I think the organizational skills of whoever runs it nowadays is way out to sea and they cut costs in areas they shouldn't. Don't advertise there will be Nuun on the course when in fact, there wasn't. I carried my own water and Nuun in my vest but many runners didn't. Last year, I spectated after I ran my race and many runners were dying because they had run out of water. Anyway, I won't rant too much. It's over! We had amazing weather. I got to hang with two amazing ladies. The end.

Okay, I think that's the best update I can give you right now from the past few weeks into week one of training. Unrelated but I hope to get back to recipe sharing soon. I have a few new things on my list to cook so we'll see if they make the cut! 

Whatever It Takes

"If you push through the dark moments when everything hurts, you will find another reserve of strength you didn’t know you had. Know that a high is going to come again." - Courtney Dauwalter

That quote basically sums up everything about race day. There were a lot of highs and a lot of lows all in less than 30 minutes. If someone asked me what's the easiest way to have something slip away because you got into your head too much, it'd be running. This sport is such a mental battle and you either end up really happy or extremely pissed off for a moment right after crossing the finish line. We'll get to the race recap and takeaways in a moment. Let's not skip too far ahead and remember, we did finish another week of training. Here are the numbers from week 5:

• 

  2/25 - Easy miles w/strides

• 

  2/27 - Fartlek

• 

  2/28 - Recovery miles

• 

  3/2 - Shakeout run

After having what felt like the worst workout last Saturday, I felt 110% better after Monday's run. Everything just clicked back into place and I knew I had to give it my all because it was the last week to really test my limits and listen to my body. Come Wednesday, my last speed workout, I knew I had to put forth the most effort possible. I couldn't find my breath and then I get in my head thinking almost immediately that this run is going to suck. Don't do that! Negativity, in fact, kills the vibe real quick. Instead of only focusing on what didn't happen, I checked my stats and noticed I hit all of my 'on' paces pretty damn well. "Okay, you're doing alright", I said to myself. Sometimes you need a little pep talk between you and the mirror. The last two remaining runs felt great. I locked in the thought that I was ready for whatever came on Sunday. My husband cooked my traditional pre-race meal of spaghetti and you better believe I ate two bowls!

My alarm went off at 4:45am Sunday. I woke up more than ready to run. I ate my pre-race oatmeal, I did my pre-warm up exercises, and set out for my warmup run. Coach had me do a specific warm up and it really got me amped up. As I was running, buses passed me that were on their way up to the mountain for the 15k. The sun was rising as I turned back to home and the weather was perfect. I don't think I've ever raced in more perfect weather. It was always really cold or really hot. It was also the closest race I've ever ran, being roughly a mile from the start line. We opted to drive anyway because I knew I wouldn't want to walk home after running my ass off. I lined up at the start around 7:20am right in the front. Hello confidence, where have you been? Never have I ever been in the front. I always thought I was too slow or not good enough. Today, I was not messing around. Right at 7:30am, we were off. Mile one, strong; Mile two, slightly less strong; After that, lost control. This is why I hate when people say "it's just a 5K". It's never JUST a (insert distance). A run is a run. I went into this race feeling super confident and finished feeling defeated. I did not PR. I did not even beat my last 5K time. I slowed my pace down for the last tenth of a mile knowing I failed. Just give me my medal and my free beer. After crying for a slight second and feeling like a piece of garbage, I checked the race results: 26:29, averaging 8:30/mile, 4th in my age group, 11th overall female. Okay, not terrible. I may have not gotten my sub-25 but 11th overall female out of 121? That's pretty awesome.

• 

  Finisher's Medal

• 

  Post-race burrito

• 

  Around mile 1.2

• 

  Free swag! Buffs!

My friend Jenn gave me a subtle but huge reminder that I hadn't run for two months straight and only trained for 5 short weeks for this race. When you put that all together in perspective, I did run a good race after all. Once I finished, checked out the small expo, and got some free goodies, we headed to get food. I always joke and say I'm going to make shirts for this blog one day that say "will run for burritos" on them. We got our food to go because I wanted to spectate the 15K since they ran right past our street. This is the first time I've ever spectated a race and it's a lot of work! We were cheering and had the cowbell for everyone that came past. It's really incredible to be on the other side of things and makes you appreciate how strong we are as runners no matter how fast or slow you may be. Which brings me to my post-race thoughts. Yes, I sulked about my finish, but after some great encouraging words from my husband, my coach, and my friends, I stepped back to look at the bigger picture. I ran the fastest average pace I had ever done in a race, I still placed pretty high overall, and I felt pretty strong most of the time. My husband, who is my biggest supporter, told me that I need to remember why I do this first and foremost: because it's fun. I run because I enjoy it, not to go out there and beat myself up for nothing. As I watched the 15K racers, I thought to myself, 'damn, us runners are amazing and our community is incredible'.

So, what's next? These next few months, I plan to focus on getting stronger and still building my base. I feel like base building never really stops but there comes a time where you don't focus on it as much. I plan to get more into trail running (I live in Arizona, after all) and enjoy the nature of the outdoors over the treadmill as much as possible. Even when we are not training for a race, we are still training ourselves. It never stops. I do have another raced lined up but that will be announced at a later time.

I don't have a recipe to share because we were just so busy last week and, well, we cooked stuff I've already shared! BUT fear not, I will be trying a new one this week and will most definitely post it up if it's worthy. I do, however, want to share a book I dove into recently. It's a great read even for you non-runners out there. The first few pages alone are inspiring enough to make you want to conquer your own inner demons. Rob's story is incredible so far (I'm on Chapter 3) and I can't wait to see what else has to come. You can check out more about him, his book, and access his podcast on his website: trainingforultra.com.

Building Momentum

Going into week 4 of training, I had one thing in mind: crush it. My coach had set a new pace to hit on my speed workout, I was feeling the strongest I had ever felt, and I was also hitting all of my nutrition goals (according to My Fitness Pal, anyway). The weather was all over the place this past week; From the most rain I feel like we've had since we moved here all the way to snow. Yes, I said the big 's' word. My friend texted me Thursday evening with the words "Go outside" and I knew that only meant one thing.

Friday Morning's View

Un-fucking-unbelievable. I guess this is the first snowfall Fountain Hills has seen in over 15 years or something? As we drove through town Friday morning, there were tons of cars pulled over on the side of the road with people standing outside of them taking photos and selfies as if they had never seen the dreadful white stuff before. Sure, it's pretty, but only when it's seen far up in the mountains! Either way, we all survived the blizzard of 2019 and now, as I write this, it's 72 and sunny. It's as if our regularly scheduled program was interrupted by a paid infomercial that lasted longer than it needed to. Okay, enough about the weather. Let's take a look at our training recap numbers:

• 

  2/18 - Easy miles w/strides

• 

  2/20 - Fartlek

• 

  2/21 - Recovery miles

• 

  2/23 - Easy miles w/faster finish

Yes, three runs on the treadmill (dreadmill). I know I speak for many runners by saying running on the treadmill straight up sucks. With the rain and Saturday's post snow and cold temperatures, I wasn't about to risk unsafe conditions. Wednesday's fartlek run was literally gold. If I could frame every moment of that run, I'd hang it on the wall for everyone to see. If you remember last week's fartlek, it wasn't 100% great. I had to walk 4 of the 8 recovery intervals. I don't know what sparked inside of me but this week was money. Out of the 12 intervals, I only had to walk half of one; give or take, 30 seconds. After Thursday's recovery run, I did my scheduled yoga session. This time, it was in my living room since we had a lot of chores to take care of before our guests arrived. What better person to turn to for yoga at home than Adriene Mishler (Yoga With Adriene). She is a great yoga guide for those of you who prefer to practice at home. I'll be back in the studio next week. Fast forward to Saturday and it's as if I had just started running again. My body just wasn't in the game. We had friends come into town this past week so my sleep schedule was off, my eating times were off, everything was off. My 'fast finish' turned into intervals. I could have easily quit and went home but I stuck with it. You can't win them all. If you went through an entire training cycle without at least one run feeling terrible, then you deserve a noble peace prize. These workouts, however, are what turn us into stronger runners mentally.

Back to friends being in town. Our friends Kyle and Tania (my designer of all things pretty on this blog) flew into Phoenix Thursday night. It was great to have them here. It almost felt like we were home for a moment. I also love that we have a home large enough to host people now. We adventured to some pretty neat places including Biosphere 2 and went up to Jerome. Although we spent most of the weekend in the car driving places, it was great to spend time with them and see some amazing scenery that even Adam and I had yet to witness since moving here. We're big science geeks and Biosphere was spectacular. To think eight people spent two years inside it is incredible. I doubt the world will ever be as sustainable as it is capable of being because, well, humans are careless, but dare to dream! Sunday, we drove up to Jerome. It's all the way up at 5,000ft and the views are spectacular. It's an old mining town. We had lunch at The Bordello of Jerome. Its history is in its name! It really was a fully operating bordello for the men who mined. Hey, they needed some action too. Amazing food and I highly recommend stopping there if you ever venture up to the small town. I mean, how could you turn down a salad that looks this good:

Another great feature of Jerome is wineries! Well, to be more specific, wine tasting rooms. They don't grow the grapes up there but it was nice to try a wine that's from the state we live in. I learned that Arizona has a designated area for growing grapes to produce wine with. We hit up Cellar 433 to see if it would please our palettes. Spoiler: it did! They have two levels and even have beer on tap for those who may not like wine. I suggest heading downstairs, especially if Tony is serving. Down there, you will find a delicious Syrah as well as some other grand choices. He was super knowledgeable about all of their wines and serves each one in the perfect fashion. Don't even get me started with the views. You literally won't want to leave.

My recipe share for the week is a curry! Probably the simplest curry you could ever make so there really is no excuse not to try it. Amazing taste, not many ingredients, and the best part? It all cooks in one pot! Well, not including the rice. I cook my rice in a pressure cooker so it only takes 6 minutes but you do you! My biggest piece of advice for this one is to cut your carrots small. They'll cook more evenly and won't be crunchy. Don't cut corners by using unsweetened coconut milk either! If your grocery store has sad looking kale like ours does, spinach works just as well. As I said, it's simple, nutritious, and delicious. Peep the photo down below of the final product and click here for the recipe!

I swear, I'll get better at this photo thing. I had my DSLR out more this past weekend than I have in the past five years. Oh 50mm 1.4f, how I missed you.

That's all she wrote this week, folks! Next week is our final four workouts before race day. We'll see how performance improves and what the finishing result brings. I'll also share some of my favorite podcasts that keep my mind occupied while I'm pounding the belt on the treadmill.

Hello Again, Fartlek

First and foremost, happy (late) Galentine's and Valentine's Day. I hope you spent it with someone special; maybe a person or your cat; or a bottle of wine you love more than humans. Either way, spread the love! Galentine's Day is "only the best day of the year" as Leslie Knope would say.

As I've mentioned previously, speed work has never been my strong suit. I like to blame that on never really working on it. Ever. I think I just dreaded the thought of dying while trying to keep upright on the ground at a pace I'm not used to going. But it's 2019 and I told myself I would build the foundation of my running career from the bottom up again and that includes working on speed. Do I want to be the fastest runner out there? Hell to the no. I like to think I'm a 'middle of the pack' kind of runner. Are there still some personal records I'd like to smash before coasting it? Absolutely. Speed work and I will become good friends whether I want to extend that welcoming hand (foot) or not. Week 3 of training introduced my first speed-focused workout in over five months. As my coach said, "it's going to be a real rust-buster" and boy, was it. But first, let's take a glance at the numbers for the week:

• 

  2/11 - Easy miles with strides

• 

  2/13 - Fartlek

• 

  2/14 - Recovery Miles

• 

  2/16 - Long run with faster end

Not going to lie, I felt super strong this week. I don't know if it's because I've upped my carb intake by almost 100g or if keeping up with my current lifting workout program has helped (it has). Either way, I didn't drastically fail my first Fartlek workout. I also didn't go into it thinking I would because that only sets yourself up for defeat. When Kristen (my coach) told me my current threshold pace, I literally said out loud "Seriously!?". I think I underestimate myself as a runner all too often and I don't believe I'm capable of the things I do sometimes but damn, this whole thing is working out to my benefit and is really getting me psyched up for race day. But before we're waving streamers in the air and having celebratory drinks, we still have two more weeks of hard work and keeping the mindset level. With a specific pace to hit on the next Fartlek workout and an increase in the number of intervals, we'll see if we proved more successful than the last. Saturday was my longest run of this cycle topping out at 50 minutes. My fellow Volée bird, Jen, back in the Mitten, sent me some Run Gum samples because I was curious how it worked. I tried it before both my Fartlek and long runs. I was honestly surprised at how much energy I felt from just chewing a little piece of gum! I am definitely now a team Run Gum believer and I highly suggest trying it if you haven't. If you click HERE you can get $5 off! Thanks again, Jen! Heads up, Wings out!

Saturday morning's run views

As mentioned before, I've upped my carb intake by about 100g. Eating carbs are actually good for you? Shocking, I know. Can you hint the sarcasm? In all seriousness, yes. As a runner (or a normal human being), we feed off of carbs. Eat the right kinds and your body will love you. I'm not a nutritionist nor do I claim to be one but quinoa rocks. It is not only an amazing complex carb but also has a good source of protein. This week, I'd like to share the recipe we prepped for lunch. Of course, it comes from my favorite recipe website, Simply Quinoa. You can click here for the deets. It's a quinoa fried rice with tofu made in my pressure cooker in 6 minutes. You really have no excuse not to meal prep with this one for how quickly it's done. If you aren't rocking the 'No Meat Athlete' lifestyle like I am, you can certainly add chicken or maybe jazz it up with some shrimp.

Quinoa Fried Rice

Lastly, I'd like to leave you with a great quote I shared earlier in the week on my Instagram. It's from the book I've been reading in my spare time, 'Eat & Run' by Scott Jurek. I think it really resonates with me finally coming to terms with enjoying running as a whole and not just focusing on what I can't do but rather what I've accomplished.

Getting Comfortable

Honestly, is it just me, or has this year already gone by fast? Here we are, accomplishing week 2 of training. My goal this week was to set out earlier for my runs. Back in Michigan, I would be the crazy one running the streets of Clawson at 4:00 AM while the rest of the world was still sleeping. While I won't be doing any runs that early (yet, at least), I do prefer the quietness of the night, less traffic, and well, it's just fun to run in my Tracer 360 vest (use my discount code BRITTERS for 35% off). Who doesn't want to be a running rave party? I do think I need to get a headlamp with more lumens because let me tell you, it is dark as dark can get around here. We live in an "International Dark Sky Community". Yep, it's a thing. Google it! Great for seeing some epic skies filled with stars. Let's take a glance at this week's numbers:

Monday - Easy pace w/Strides

Wednesday - More easy miles w/Strides

Thursday - Straight easy miles

Saturday - Easy miles with a faster finish

Clearly, I didn't feel like getting fancy with graphics this week. Still keeping the pace light and slowly building speed. Speed is a word we'll touch base on next week once I face my first Fartlek run in over 5 months. That 5:07 AM start for Thursday made me so happy. I set out very early that morning because I had planned to make a new breakfast dish for my husband and I that involved quinoa. Quinoa for breakfast? Crazy right? I had the quinoa cereal at Tempe Public Market Cafe and it blew my mind away. Naturally, I hit up my favorite website for a recipe that was similar (click here if you're curious for it). I highly suggest trying it.

Strawberry Quinoa breakfast bowl

One thing I did new this week? I went to a yoga class. The type of class I had to get in my car and drive to instead of pressing play on YouTube in my living room. I was nervous because Lord knows I don't know many yoga moves nor am I comfortable doing something I'm not familiar with in a room full of people who are complete strangers. I consulted with my friend and fellow blogger, Stephiee Cowan, who also happens to have her RYT and teaches at Bliss Yoga back in the Mitten, to see what would be best or if this class was worth trying. While I was probably more than half of anyone's age in that room (snowbird city), it was exhilarating and felt so good. It was a Gentle Yoga class that lasted 45 minutes and included meditation toward the end. Nicole, the instructor, was very easy going and so nice to speak with afterward. I definitely plan on making this a new habit and incorporate it into my weekly training schedule. Namaste, my people!

Last but not least and slightly not running related, at least this next part anyway: I got a new library card! Honestly, I'm probably more excited than most about this. Do you still know how to search for books using the dewy decimal system? While I love the feeling of holding an actual book in my hand, I do dabble with the feature of digitally checking books out via OneDrive on my iPad. While I'm transitioning into the plant-based life and always wanting to learn more about running and performance, I've started diving into Eat & Run by Scott Jurek, American ultramarathoner. I mean, why wouldn't I read a book that has my two favorite activities in the title? I also hope to gain some inspiration for my future ultra marathon dreams.

That's all I have for this Tuesday's segment. Bring on week 3!

Pressing Start

If I had to describe the first week of training, I would have used the term "exhilarating". I'm sure if I hadn't kept up with my fitness during my post-marathon injury, I would have felt like a big heavy brick with super glue stuck to the bottom of my shoes but man, nothing felt better than pressing start on my first training run Monday morning. This week was all about easy pacing. Building a base is what our main focus was all about. I'm honestly terrible at keeping pace, especially slower paces. I took this time to take advantage of the 'workout' setting on my Garmin Fenix 5X and created workouts specifically tailored to my training calendar Kristen created for me. Yep, who knew you could set paces to stay in? I've had this watch for quite some time now and am still learning new bells and tricks on it. Whenever I would either be going too fast or too slow, it would start beeping at me. It took me probably two-three out of the four runs I did to get comfortable with easing up and keeping a solid cadence. Once you get in the mindset, it just comes naturally. Oh yeah, and trying to find a course without any type of incline or decline around here is damn-near impossible. I better be a pro at running hills if they ever (which they will) come in a race course after living here. I'm talking to you, Brooksie Way. I will have my revenge on you one day even if it means flying back to Michigan for the weekend.

Week 1 at a glance (sorry, hard to read!)

I'm honestly surprised how well my paces lined up for the first three workouts. Saturday we incorporated strides to the end of the run. If you aren't familiar with running terms, strides basically mean you go faster for a designated period of time. My recovery for each stride was a steady walk. It felt so good to get out in the early morning but damn, it is so dark around here. Street lights and whatnot are pretty non-existent as they follow a "no light pollution" rule. Thank the lord for headlamps and my Tracer 360 vest! *SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT: I have the privilege of being a Noxgear Ambassador and right now they are offering 42% off if you use my code BRITTERS at checkout today (2/10)! You can head here to check out their products. If you are reading this at a later date, you can still get 35% off with the same code. You're welcome!

Tracer 360 Noxgear Vest

All-in-all, I am happy with how week one went. I'm also paying close attention to my pre-run warm up and I believe it's helping. I'm sticking with being consistent with my hip exercises I was given in therapy last spring and do them before every run. I traditionally do a dynamic warmup before and then static stretch and foam roll after. These all add up to me keeping my hands off the Aleve bottle more, that's for sure. Another thing I'm trying to change up is my diet. Yes, if you know me, you know I eat pretty clean most days, so you're probably wondering 'well, what's there to change?' if I eat relatively healthy. I've been eating more of a plant-based diet since November. I don't really like to use the label of 'vegetarian' or 'vegan' as I will most certainly not skip out on a burger from In 'n Out but my wheels are following the veggie road route more than ever before. Why did I choose to do this? I honestly don't have a clear explanation. I'm not looking to lose weight or save the animals (I do love them, though). I definitely feel a difference in energy levels and my digestive track is certainly friendlier, for lack of better terms. As promised in my Instagram post from yesterday, I wanted to share a new recipe I'm trying this week for breakfast. Well, in my case, this is second breakfast. I really hope you get that joke from Lord of the Rings.

Mango Smoothie Bowl

There she is, in all of her glory. I'm basically eating ice cream for breakfast. This bowl is packed with nutrients and is seriously more delicious than I thought it was going to be. I hit up Simply Quinoa for a lot of my plant-based recipes. They have a great filter option that I hope you can use to try something new to make! Oh, and you can click here for the recipe for that yumminess up there.

Next week, we focus on more strides and slightly longer easy-paced runs. The forecast is dipping down a little bit into the 50s but that's perfect running weather if you ask me.