3 Things Thursdayyy

I'm still running on a high from a great run this morning so I'm in a superb mood.

Which brings me to 3 things thursdayyyyyyyy!

1. I guest posted for Britt, so you should go check it out! You can read my post here :) I adore her, so I was thrilled to post for her!

2. I did end up signing up (gah, I'm so last minute about these things sometimes!) for a 5k this weekend. I just couldn't pass up paying only $18 to race out in the heat and humidity this weekend. Hopefully I'll come back with a nice PR.

3. My best friend's hubby is coming home tomorrow! He has been gone since January (he's in the Navy) and I could not be more excited for her!

Tell me something (or 3 things!) about you! 


Anyone else running any races this weekend?!

Competitiveness

Merriam-Webster defines the word compete as follows: to strive consciously or unconsciously for an objective

Taken in that context, I am a very competitive person in just about every aspect of my life. Especially running. Nine times out of ten I have some sort of goal that I want to meet. Usually it's a time goal that I've arbitrarily picked out. Sometimes it's that I want to place in my age group. Sometimes it's both. For instance when I ran the 10k, I had several goals set, the most important of which was that I wanted to run it under 53 minutes. I finished in 51:13 and finished first in my age group. 

Within 20 minutes of finishing almost 2 minutes under my desired time, I already was plotting out the next time that I wanted to beat. My thought process went something like this: 


YES! I DID IT! I AM AWESOME!


::20 minutes later::


Hmm... I should run it under 50 minutes. I will be really fast then. 


And thus the new goal was born and now I won't rest until it's accomplished. The same is true for everything from 5ks to marathons. I set goals and if I reach them I immediately start to plan out how to exceed them.

Don't get me wrong - I think having goals is one of the best ways to advance in anything and everything. But Em wrote a great post the other day about giving yourself some credit. And it really got me thinking - as competitive as I am, I'm doing some pretty awesome things right now.


I had a really sucktastic 16 mile run on Saturday. I bitched about it, both mentally and verbally, all day long. But I RAN 16 MILES. It was hard, it was miserable, I walked a lot, heck I stopped a lot, there wasn't a single step that I took on Saturday that didn't cause me some sort of mental or physical pain, but I did it. And if I can run 16, I can run 18. And if I can run 18, I can run a marathon. And that is a-freaking-mazing, whether I BQ or finish in 6 hours.


Sometimes I think I let my competitiveness with running get the better of me. Sometimes it causes extreme negative self-talk conversations in my head. And sometimes I need a good kick to remind me that every single day I'm working towards incredible things.


And a big tribute to Em for writing the post that sparked this post.


THAT BEING SAID, LB came over last night to run with me. It was a 2 mile training run for me, supposed to be easy, and I figured it'd be a cake walk for him. Needless to say, it was a very humbling experience for me, one that reminded me that we all start at square one. 

We ran at about an 8:45 pace give or take - sometimes faster, sometimes slower. But by mile 1.5 he was dying and I could see it written all over his face. 


So I stopped my Garmin and we walked. I started it back up and we ran. I let him walk while I ran back and forth until we hit roughly 2 miles (my Garmin died at about mile 1.83). And in that last half mile and for the rest of the night, I remembered everything about when I started running. I remembered getting winded after a mere 5 minutes. I remembered hating it. I remembered my first 5k and how freaking exhilarating it was. 

1.5 miles at an 8:45 pace is pretty good for someone that never runs. 


Oh and after taking our picture, Sean had to take this picture "for the blog" (his words) so that everyone knows that he was working while we were running, not sitting around eating bon-bons. Even though when we got back 25 minutes later he was sitting on the couch in the dark.

Are you competitive by nature? With what?


Do you set new goals immediately upon breaking old ones? 

Weekly Workout #8

I'm pretty bad at posting workout recaps on Sunday and workouts on Monday, huh? Ohhhh wellll...

THIS WEEK:

Monday: Rest/Cross-training day

Tuesday: 2 miles @ 9:54 min/pace

Wednesday: Rest/Cross-training day

Thursday: 6 mile tempo run; 4 miles @ 8:26 min/pace

Friday: Rest/Cross-training day

Saturday: Rest/Cross-training day

Sunday: 18 miles @ 9:54 min/pace

This actually isn't very accurate. I'm SUPPOSED to be doing this:

Monday: Rest/Cross-training day

Tuesday: 6 miles @ 9:54 min/pace

Wednesday: Rest/Cross-training day

Thursday: 5 miles @ 9:54 min/pace

Friday: Rest/Cross-training day

Saturday: Rest/Cross-training day

Sunday: 6 miles @ 9:54 min/pace

HOWEVER I am going out of town next weekend so there's absolutely no way that I will be running 18 miles. And let's be realistic here, I would rather give up training then run 18 miles on Friday before work. So I swapped the weeks :)

I've also managed to "gain" 3lbs. in the past 2 days. I'm positive it has nothing to do with the 5 rounds of thin mints I ate before going to Yogurt Cup Sunday or the 15 different meals I ate yesterday. So I don't know what that's all about.

I am pretty cyclical with foods. I tend to get really into one thing and eat it ALL THE TIME for a few weeks straight and then get tired of it. Right now I'm OBSESSED with overnight oats (again). 

These are actually "in the shower" oats because I decided at the last minute this morning that's what I wanted for breakfast. 

I challenge you to get your peanut butter oats jar this clean.

What breakfast foods are you loving now that it's summer?

Weekly Workout Recap, Week 6 + I am so lazy

Right now Sean is busy being productive and sweating out in the Houston heat.

I, on the other hand, am sitting in the AC, reading blogs and calling it "productive". I also have managed to change out of my real clothes and into my workout clothes, even though I haven't worked out today and have absolutely zero plans of doing so. Oops. And I'm debating eating for the third time today.

And I'm eating for the third time today. Oh and I'm being so lazy that even though the Patriot ended 30 minutes ago I have yet to turn the TV off so I'm listening to the theme music over and over again.

I'm also (im)patiently waiting for Sean to finish doing whatever he's doing (ok, he JUST started doing it) so that I can force him to drive me to Yogurt Cup where I can indulge in the source of my broke bank account yet again. If you know us in real life you know that Sean and I are arguably the cheapest people in the world when it comes to stuff and are master clearance shoppers with anything and everything, so why we're willing to fork over $10+ for fro-yo all the time is beyond me. Oh wait, it's because I force us to go AT LEAST once a week. My bad.

So why do I have the luxury of doing absolutely nothing today? Honestly, I should be doing a lot of things but I'm going to blame my lack thereof on my sucktastic run yesterday.

And ya know, actually, now that I've read over all that, I'm doing quite a bit today. So I don't feel so bad afterall.

What I was supposed to be doing:

Monday: Rest/Cross-training day

Tuesday: 2 miles @ 9:56 min/pace

Wednesday: Rest/Cross-training day

Thursday: 5 mile tempo run; 3 miles @ 8:23 min/pace

Friday: Rest/Cross-training day

Saturday: Rest/Cross-training day

Sunday: 16 miles @ 9:56 min/pace

What really happened:

Monday: Not.A.Thing.

Tuesday: 2 miles @ 9:50 min/pace, 30 minute Pilates class

Wednesday: Jackie Warner's 40 min. Total Body Circuit

Thursday: 5 mile tempo run; 3 miles @ 8:20 min/pace, 10 min long & limber Pilates

Friday: Jackie Warner's Upper Body Circuit and Abs Circuit, 2 miles walking

Saturday: 16 really awful horrible miles somewhere between a 9:50 and 10 min pace with lots of walking; 10 min Total Body Circuit Pilates, 10 min long & limber Pilates

Sunday: Eat ginormous baked potato with BBQ turkey, watch the Patriot, eat more baked potato, wait for Yogurt Cup. Eat Girl Scout cookies while waiting. Exhausting.

Overall planned miles: 23

Overall actual miles: 23 (running); 2 (walking)

Yeaaahhhhh about that run yesterday....

I made it to mile 8 before I had to stop. I walked around the house, chugged a bottle of water, laid on the living room floor. Got up, ran to 10 with some sporadic walking. Back to the floor. Ran to 12 with sporadic walking. Back on the floor. Ran to 13. Floor. Ran and walked to 16. Died. It.was.horrible. No clue why. Don't you love that?

LB (little brother) is coming over Tuesday and we're going to run together, so I'm hoping that starts a track of superb runs this week so that I can forget about the awfulness of my run yesterday.

How's your weekend going? Anyone do anything exciting?!

Long runs or races this weekend? I feel like it's been a while since I've raced. I'm going through slight withdrawals. There's a really cheap 5k this next weekend that I'm thinking about doing - $18 entry fee... Hmmm...

GIVEAWAY WINNER!

And the winner of the Gotein giveaway as decided by Random.org is...

#2 - Jenna Z!

Congratulations! Email me your shipping address and information at happyhealthyrunner (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll get that shipped out to you ASAP!

Hope you're all enjoying your Friday so far... Can't wait for the weekend!

3 Things Thursdayyy

There's still time to enter the giveaway!

1. I hit a really bad lull this week with training. I've been going at marathon training pretty hard lately and this week I hit a big fat brick wall. Every.single.workout has been a HUGE struggle. Once I get there I'm OK, it's just the getting there part that has been a little rough...

2. This little book, courtesy of this beautiful BFF of mine, has been a HUGE lifesaver. HUGE. I love writing in my workouts and how I felt during them so that I can look back and see what factored into what when I'm reviewing my weekly workouts.

3. I am the most miserable shopper known to man (woman?)... And I hate the mall. With a serious passion. I used to be a magnificent shopper, but I think after working at the outlet mall in San Marcos that it stripped me of my desire to shop.

Hate the mall or love it?


Do you track your workouts? If so, how?

Weekly Workout Recaps & Weekly Workout #7

I know, I know... I'm behind. So I'm combining. We'll start with Weekly Workout #6's Recap... Oh and I don't feel like uploading new pictures right now (I am lazy, I know) so I'm going to supplement this post with some of my old favorites. :)

What I was supposed to be doing:

Monday: Rest/Cross-training day

Tuesday: 2 miles @ 9:57 min/pace

Wednesday: Rest/Cross-training day

Thursday: 4 miles speed work, 2x1600 in 7:56 with 800 jogs in between

Friday: Rest/Cross-training day

Saturday: Rest/Cross-training day

Sunday: 14 miles @ 9:57 min/pace

What really happened:

Monday: 10 min Long & Limber Pilate's; foam-rolling

Tuesday: 2 miles @ 9:50 min/pace; 30 min Pilate's class

Wednesday: 15 min L5 speed intervals on stair stepper, 15 min L10 elliptical, 15 min L5 hill intervals on bike

Thursday: 4 miles speed work, 2x1600 in 7:53 with 800 jogs in between; 10 min Long & Limber Pilate's

Friday: Walked 3 miles @ L 4.5, I 1.0 

Saturday: 14 miles @ 10:00 min/pace; 10 min Pilate's Total Body Stretch; 10 min Pilate's Long & Limber Stretch

Sunday: 1 mile @ 10:00 min/pace; 10 min Core Basics Pilate's, 10 min Lower Body Basics Pilate's, 10 min Upper Body Basics Pilate's; 1 mile @ 9:50 min/pace

Overall planned miles: 20

Overall actual miles: 20 (running); 3 (walking)

If you're wondering where any of the strength-training was... well, so am I. I really have no good answer other than I just didn't do it and wasn't feeling it. This is 100% against what I believe in, because I am a firm believer in strength-training, but.... I don't know, it just didn't happen. OHHHH WELLLLLL.

THIS WEEK:

Monday: Rest/Cross-training day

Tuesday: 2 miles @ 9:56 min/pace

Wednesday: Rest/Cross-training day

Thursday: 5 mile tempo run; 3 miles @ 8:23 min/pace

Friday: Rest/Cross-training day

Saturday: Rest/Cross-training day

Sunday: 16 miles @ 9:56 min/pace

I'll tell you right now that I'm having a very hard time getting motivated so far this week. I don't know if it's from the long weekend or what, but the workouts I've done so far have been a struggle. 

What do you do when you're lacking motivation? I tend to not give myself any time to think about what I'm doing. I just throw on workout clothes and tell myself to do just a little bit of what I had planned and usually I get through it OK.


How do you do with long weekends? I totally did not do well as far as "healthy eating" went on Monday.... or last Friday... but Saturday and Sunday I was OK. No not really, the whole weekend wasn't what I normally eat and I felt it Monday evening.