Motivation is a Funny Thing…it is Always Changing

• Upcoming race = motivation but too much training = burnout 
• Huge race PR = motivation but thinking you can eat whatever you want and not workout for a week = total FAIL 
• Fellow bloggers with great training weeks = motivation but wondering how they do it can make it seem unattainable 
• Morning runners at Wash Park = motivation but getting out of bed when it is dark is hard!

These are just a few things that I have struggled with over the past week. After the half marathon, I came off a huge high and was so excited to get back out there! I knew tri training was starting and I was so excited to get back at it!

With that great accomplishment, I thought I deserved a good meal that day and the next day off! Well one meal turned in to one week and the next day turned in to the next week! Before I knew it I suddenly was feeling horrible, lazy and unmotivated!

How does one combat this?

Well I knew I needed to get back up so –

Step 1 – Make a PLAN!

• During the foot of snow we received on Saturday – I decided to craft! I made a colorful calendar that plans out activities and workouts. I have this in Excel obviously, but I wanted something hanging in the kitchen that reminded me every day what I had coming up the next week/month and how I can fit in workouts! Just like food, it is always more satisfying when you make it yourself!

 

Step 2 – Get an ‘AH-HA’ moment! 

• Maybe you already had this – but when I stepped on the scale not even 10 days after the race I knew I could not keep on the same track! Sure lots of it was water weight from not eating great, etc – but there was NO excuse to undo everything I had just worked on for months!

Step 3 – get INSPIRED

• Looks to friends, look to family, look to strangers for encouragement, for motivation, for the strength to get started or keep going

• I had 100s of blogs to catch up, I spent a few days catching up on everyone’s accomplishments. Seeing what others can do in a day, what others are enjoying, what others are achieving really got me revved up to go J

Step 4 – Take ONE day at time

• Take one day at a time, focus on small accomplishments and how you can achieve them.

• Tuesday – ran 3 miles during lunch. Felt HARD. Felt SLUGGISH. But I ran! I took the first step! I felt good about my self

• Wednesday – AM: knew work was going to be busy so I went in early to spin for 35 minutes, yay me! I felt good.
• In the PM – I planned my evening and went to Yoga! Yoga was hard, I felt weak – but I felt great about going.

Walking to yoga!

• Thursday – AM swim! First time in the pool in months, felt amazing! I only did a slow 750m but it started the day off on the right foot. Getting out of bed in the dark isn’t fun – nothing before 6 AM is fun (yet), but driving to the pool at Wash Park – seeing lots of runners with headlights and reflective gear – got me excited that I share interests with these people – being healthy and taking charge of your life and doing something about it

 

I always get rings under my eyes!!

• PM: Wash Park run with AA and the pups! AA got the green light from the doc for activities! Planning activities with friends/family is a great way to keep in touch and lighten you spirits (and body!) Though this run did not go well! I ran with Scarlet who did well, but my lungs really hurt!! I think it may also be because I gave blood last week! I love giving blood but it sure wipes it out of me!

• The eating side has been going well too – planning meals, eating at home, and consciously thinking about what you are putting in to your body helps so much.  Someone recently told me – don’t tell yourself that you CAN’T eat something because of a diet, say you don’t WANT to. Don’t control your eating but decide it!

Step 5 – Reward yourself!

• It is far too early to reward myself after 3 days of working out! But along those lines – treat yourself once and a while!

• AA and I received a package from my mom with some sweet new workout gear! This always helps!

• REI dividends came out this week and I have my eyes on a bike computer trainer! I can’t wait to hop on the bike after the winter

• My birthday is coming up! I already picked out some clipless pedals and new shoes!

Step 6 – Be excited for YOU

• I’m not the fastest, I won’t train the most, I won’t make every workout but I am excited I am trying!!! I deserve that :-)

While this post may seems like I hit rock bottom and needed divine intervention to get me going, it wasn’t quite that bad. But I did throw my working out and good eating habits out the window for too long. I know here and there it’s great to splurge (and I do) and there will be slip ups (and I do) – but this feels like I was starting fresh and am really excited about it! Since moving to Colorado that is the longest ‘non working out’ break I had and I didn’t like one minute of it!

How do you deal with post race blues and ruts?

Dovergeddon

I can’t believe I haven’t updated in a week! It has flown by! Last week we were getting ready for Aa’s parents, they came Thursday and left yesterday!

Overall it was a great week for workouts as you can see below. The third row in each box is my actual activity – the top two are what I planned a few weeks ago.

Running – 11 miles
Biking – 26 miles
Swimming – 2700 meters


Thursday (6/14)
AM: 800m swim, 3 mile run
It was going to be a busy evening, so I got up early to go do an open water swim at Grant Ranch! I was about 2 minutes away when I realized OWS were only M/W/F. I decided to head to Wash Park and still get in my first brick workout! I did 800 meter swim in the pool, threw on my sneakers, put stuff in car and then did a 3 mile run around the outer loop! I even had negative splits for my run – I was very pleased!

Friday (6/15)
Horseback Riding ☺
AA, his parents, and I headed up to Beaver Creek for a horseback ride! It was such a fun time! We did a 2 hour tour and my horse, King Kong, was awesome! I’ve never had an easier time gaining 1600 ft in elevation ☺ We went to Beaver Creek Stables – great experience!

Riding along ridge

Happy Fam!

Sweet Bandanas

Gorgeous Aspen Forests

Hello Beaver Creek!

Group Shot!

Saturday (6/16)
AM1: 5 mile run at Wash Park
AM2: 9 mile bike up Lookout Mountain

Early to bed meant early to rise! I think we were all up by 6:30 and headed to Wash Park for a run! AA’s dad (Kit) and I decided to try and do 2 outside loops (5 miles) and Aaron walked with his mom since his foot was still hurting from the Tough Mudder! It was an awesome run. Kit was aiming to do 10 minute miles – which is slower for him but since he just came from sea level it seemed reasonable! At one mile I updated him it had been 10:06, and I shortly noticed him one by one passing people. After a few tenths I looked down and our pace was in the 9:40s! The run felt good and I was definitely trying to keep up with him! After the first mile of 10:06 our times were 9:44, 9:48, 9:33, 9:27 for a pace of 9:44! (For comparison, my run last Sunday, by myself…right after my OWS was paced at 10:46 for the same route). Even though I felt I was trying to match his pace, he was also trying to keep up with me so it was great motivation!

Kit and Me!

After, I wanted to get in another practice bike ride at Evergreen. Aaron was excited to try it with me so we pumped up the tires and headed out while his parents relaxed a bit! On the way there was a sign on I-70 that route 74 (which we needed to take and bike on) was closed from 10-1. I quickly started looking for alternate routes and Aaron suggested we try Lookout Mountain – which we were quickly approaching but was on the way. I had never done Lookout Mountain, only driven up it a bunch! It is all uphill, around windy roads to the top of the mountain where Buffalo Bill’s grave is and some amazing views in to Golden, the foothills and even Denver. The people climbing up this always seemed crazy good bikers and when I first moved here I never imagined I could ever do it. Luckily I did not have time to think about it so I said that sounded great! We came from the backside so actually drove down the part we were going to be biking up and as always, it looked crazy. I should also note Aaron also only has a single speed bike – so that was going to be challenging ☺

Top of Lookout!

Way down

Anyways, we started out and my goal was to just take it slow and steady! Aaron thought it was around 5 miles and I had my watch! I quickly was short of breath but my legs were feeling pretty strong and I was pretty excited to just be trying it! Aaron went ahead but waited for me after about a mile and then just followed me up the rest of the way. Around mile 2 he told me to look left and I saw that we had just passed a deer on the other side of the road! It is super narrow road with no shoulders – but obviously I was so focused I missed the deer 10 feet from me! Even though we got passed by other bikers along the way, I was happy I didn’t need to stop at all and kept going. The first miles had gain of 280 and 293 and a break in the third at 249. I could definitely tell the fourth was the hardest at 342. This is great practice for Evergreen and a little bit steeper! The biggest miles for Evergreen were 305, 210 and 194! All in all it was about 41 minutes up and 12 minutes down ☺ GREAT time!



 
Sunday (6/17)
750m open water swim
It was another early morning and I headed off to Grant Ranch for a swim in the lake and I double checked that I could go ☺ I ended up doing the triangle that is about ½ a mile. I started with the bobbing and got used to breathing in a lake again. I was still a bit nervous. I started out and switched to breast stroke for sighting every once and a while. I got short of breath for a little bit and really tried to get those scary thoughts out of my head. All in all a decent swim, still work to do! I flipped over on my back once on each of the 3 legs so sort of take a moment and regroup – which I didn’t have to do during the clinic last week. I am planning on trying the Boulder Stroke and Stride again on Thursday so I am hoping my two OWS will help out this time around! Slow and steady! And don’t freak out!

Cutest baby award from BBQ on Sunday

Monday (6/18)
3 mile treadmill run
Weights (arms/abs/push-ups/planks)

Slow and steady run – not very exciting.
AA also took me to a park nearby for the sunset and took some cool pics!

Tuesday (6/19)
1250 meter swim
11 mile bike ride (Kickball RT)

AA and I headed to Wash Park in the AM – I swam laps and he did a gentle run to test out his foot. Kickball tonight so that will be an 11 mile bike ride! Theme: cartoon character! We’ll try to stay cool in this 90+ degree weather!

Superman and Alvin!

Plan
As I mentioned I am hoping to do the stroke and stride (750m swim + 3 mile run) on Thursday if I can leave work on time. I might bike to work tomorrow, or atleast a bike ride at work tomorrow. I am taking Friday off because a college roommate is coming to visit for the weekend! We are going to head to the mountains for a scenic bike ride, so I’ll get in a little exercise, but not sure how long it’ll be! I am hoping to do a run at Wash Park Sunday – but other than that I’ll be focusing on hanging out with Tink!

Does Racing Improve Speed?

This weeks workouts have felt good so far! It's a bit of a long post! I think the length and amount of pictures relate to how great I felt after the GoG race :-)

Monday
Kept things simple and did 30 minutes of cycling at the gym and some free weights


Tuesday

AM: 4 mile course - 1.5/1/1 with .2 walk between

Improvement of 1 min and 45 over previous best

I decided to 'spice' up this workout and took pictures as I ran!
I think the race on Saturday helped me realize I can actually run a little faster than I do...I beat my previous best for the course by a minute and 45 seconds! That is a lot for only 4 miles, over 26 seconds per mile!
It wasn't a perfect blue sky day, but it was pretty nice!

Leaving work - about .2 miles to intersection

Running by start of Orchard Hills Park route - which is the 3.2 loop

Pretty flowers above me

On a clear day - this is all the Rocky Mountains - my favorite part of run and ultimate vitamin D kick!

Almost home - Jen's neighborhood!

Middle Earth

Okay so maybe that was not super exciting, but it made the run a little fun! Since I didn't stop they are not the best quality, but after the race on Saturday - this run felt great! I also tried to get some action shots running, but I could never hit the button!

PM: swimming 46 lengths - 15/15/16

I almost forgot to write about the swim! I hadn't been in a few weeks and as always it felt great to get back in the pool! Happy with my progress. I did 3 sets of 15 lengths (added one on last leg to get back to the right side). I am going to try and continue to do more lengths - maybe up to 60? Twice the distance of the open swim. I am still learning what good swim works are!

Wednesday
Rode my bike to work!!
Course was 16.4 miles and gained about 550 ft of elevation. 
As I mentioned after my previous ride home from work, it would take a bit longer since it was all uphill. I was very pleased with my 1 hour and 17 minutes! I was super energized at work too. My goal is to try and do this once a week. I rode the light rail home :-)

Right before entering in Cherry Creek Park

Thursday

AM - 3.2 mile course (intervals) .5/.5/.5, walk .2, .5/.5/.5

improvement of 45 seconds over previous best

Interval training! I decided to do the 3.2 Orchard Hills loop doing intervals - this is one of the things I have been missing in my training.
After reading lots and lots of blogs - I realized that if you hit the 'lap' button on the watch it restarts the auto-lap. I reset mine to .5 miles today so that would be my interval length. Since I walk .2 in the middle - I can just restart the lap and know exactly what I get for my running part after I walk. It is so simple, but I was SO excited that it worked! Can you tell I have never run a lot?

Below are my laps - my plan was to run normal for the first .5 miles, run fast for the 2nd and then recovery for 3rd. Then walk .2 miles and repeat.
The first set of that went great, I had 10 min pace then 9 mile pace then 11 min pace! For the second set, my first and second were almost the same pace (9:45ish) and then cool down of just over 11 min pace. If you take out the running, it works out to a 10:15 min/mile pace. I also beat my previous record for this course by 45 seconds!

.5 mile laps (with .2 walk in the middle)

Wheel of fortune is almost over and I need to stop blogging so I can go swim!

PM: 30 lengths - continuous! 20 minutes

Tonight was a shorter swim, but the longest I have ever done without stopping! I was telling my sister on the way home when I first started I would do 4 lengths and stop for a few breathers. Tonight I did 30 lengths! It is great to see my progress of the past few months!

Rec Center where I swim!

Volleyball craziness at Wash Park - every night of the week!

View from light rail bridge - why I don't drive :-)

Sorry for the length and excess amount of pictures! Lots to update I guess!

Tomorrow I am hoping to do arms/abs/push-ups at the gym. Maybe a little cycling if I am not too tired. Saturday we want to go for a long hike, but the forecast does not look promising!

From all my new blogs - I like how people end with a question. I talked with my sister Molly today who has been doing great on her quest to run her first 5k! We talked about motivation and how this is the first time she has ever looked forward to running! 

What keeps you motivated? What activities are you looking forward to this summer?

Inspiration...big or small!

A lot of workouts to catch up on, but I wanted to first touch on how inspirational every day life can be, and how inspiration can come from so many different things! Today I was really tired after work! As I ate my dinner (crockpot ham lentil soup - yum!), and watched Jeopardy, my mind weighed the pros and cons to go swimming. In the end I thought about how hard athletes train to do what they love (my friend Jen ran her first marathon yesterday (Boston Marathon) in 90 degree heat after months and months of grueling training). So as I drove over to Wash Park Rec Center - I was so happy to have gotten off my butt. Runner after runner after cycler after walker cruised around the loops in Wash Park. It is so great to see so many active people! My swim turned out great (below). Then, as I walked the pups after the swim I thought of other recent inspirations. My sister, Molly, called me yesterday to tell me she signed up for her first 5k!! I thought back to my first 5k when I was actually visiting her in NC. All it took was that first hurdle and each one after became easier and easier. These are just a few (athletic) inspirations and I know there are so many more! Aaron got a promotion and will now be supporting a few Sales Managers for the hotel! He faced a lot of closed doors before this one opened - but his perseverance and determination showed me not to give up! Over the weekend Aaron and I were able to see my godparents in New Mexico. My aunt was very diligent to provide us with healthy snacks and dinner while we were there! I feel like sometimes I am short changing myself while doing all this training! For the most part AA and I eat healthy, but with all the activity we probably take a few shortcuts knowing we worked out that day! So we decided to be even more conscious to eat healthier over the next few weeks as we prepare for the Bolder Boulder. OK on to the workouts!

Tuesday - 4/10
Becoming routine!

Day: 4 mile loop at work. 
walk .25, run 1
repeat 2x then walk .25 
=3 mile run, 1 mile walk

Evening: Lap Swim
10x25 meters
repeat 3x
=40 laps


Wednesday - 4/11
My friend Hartford Jen and I were supposed to ride in Cherry Creek after work (second attempt). When it was time to leave, there was a severe thunder storm warning, tornado warnings, hail, T-storms, rain. We decided to postpone and I just did 30 minutes on the cycle bike at work instead. Hopefully this week!

Thursday - 4/12
3.2 mile Orchard Hills course. I struggled. 
My stomach felt funny and I finished the run hunched over - no bueno!
Run 1 mile, walk .2, run 1 mile, walk .2, run .8 = run 2.8 miles and walk .4


Weekend intro: Aaron and I headed down to the Hyatt Tamaya Resort in Albuquerque, NM on Friday morning. It was a great weekend away - still filled with lots of activities!!!!


Friday - 4/13
6.5 mile bike around on the trails at Tamaya Resort in ABQ! We got a little lost and it ended up being longer....on cruisers! Fun times :-)

AA - Sandia's in background

Panda with Sandia's and Rio Grande

Tamaya Resort in Background!

Does a few rides down the water slide count as 'cross-training'? :-)

Water slide - AA is waving from the top left!

Saturday - 4/14
The weather was calling for 40 mile per hour winds in the afternoon so AA and I went out early for a run around the trails at Tamaya (where we had biked). 

2 mile run

walk .25

2 mile run

walk .25

1 mile run

It started out slow - but that is OK for long runs, right?? 10:50 pace for first 2 miles. The third was about the same, the 4th and 5th felt great actually! The last .5 miles was a 9:50 pace! Great run with AA in NM :-)

 Sunday - 4/15

AA and I met my godparents (Auntie Annie and Uncle Brian) for a hike in the Sandias at 8 AM!! It was overcast for the hike, encountered some chilly temps and wind at the top - but it was a beautiful hike and a great time! It was neat to see the different landscape that is in New Mexico. As we progressed up in elevation the landscape actually started to look more like CO and then back east which was very neat! Auntie Annie and Uncle Brian were marathon hikers! They did great! They were blazing the trail the whole time and I tried to keep up and hydrate! Face definitely got purple on the way up :-) They will be coming out to Colorado this summer for their first 14er, which they will have NO problem with! Aaron's blog has a great recap! http://coloradorambler.blogspot.com

Distance: 9.15 mile hike 

Elevation gain: 2,760 ft

Time: 3 hours, 32 minutes

Elevation

Mile times + Elevation

New Yorkers at the top!

AA, the pups and me!

Monday - 4/16

Nothing! Break!

Tuesday - 4/17

Day: Same as a week ago!

4 mile loop at work, alternating walking .25 and running 1 mile

=3 mile run

=1 mile walk

My time this week was faster than last week and I felt strong!

Evening: Lap Swim

I kicked up the laps by 10% so I did 44 laps!

I also increased the laps I did before taking a break

Instead of 10 (25m) laps - 4 times

I did 16 laps, then 16 laps, then 12! = 44

Breathing felt good! Plus it was not crowded!

So the past week has been busy but I am feeling healthy! My legs are a little tired, so early to bed tonight! I also have been trying to ice to ankle, and need to find the band to do my exercises!

Tomorrow cross your fingers the bike ride will happen at Cherry Creek!!