Favorite Running Workout, Happy, and WINE

Today's workout:
10 miles on the treadmill @ easy 8:34 pace with 8x1 minute Fartlek intervals @ 6:40 pace (target 10k pace right now)


For those of you that are unfamiliar with the word Fartlek, here was the definition I included with my fartlek post from last November:

fart·lek (färtˈlĕk)
noun 

1. An athletic training technique, used especially in running, in which periods of intense effort alternate with periods of less strenuous effort in a continuous workout.
2. A workout using this technique.

Fartlek intervals are my favorites at the start of a training program or for getting back in running shape because:

1. They break up the monotony of a run (especially on a treadmill)
2. They are great for improving overall running fitness and getting your easy/base pace at a faster speed.  Before you know it, what once felt fast, starts feeling easier and easier.
3. They are just enough to get your legs awake to the idea of speed without doing too much too soon.  

Happy and Thankful

This week I'm feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude, happiness and abundance.  So much to be thankful for.  The small things really.  The everyday things that are so easy to take for granted.  Just a few things that I'm feeling rich with:

• The ability to run.  Oh, such a blessing.  And one that I DON'T take for granted.  After a serious hamstring injury back in August 2010 (the reason for starting this blog), I know that every day that I am out there running strong and improving, it is a gift.  
• Some of you know that after my 8 mile recovery run on Sunday, I felt a ripping feeling in my left foot.  Both of my feet were feeling awful.  This scared me.  But after a day off on Monday and a light 6 miles yesterday, I am feeling strong again.  I am so thankful that A.  I was able to pull back and listen to my body.  and B.  It wasn't anything serious but just my feet saying "I need a break.  Gee, lady you just ran 12 miles @7:36 pace with the last mile @6:53 on impulse.  Take a day off already!!"  
• Wine, pasta, and salad.  Wine.  Did I say wine?  I don't drink very often during training.  Maybe once a week if that but tonight I'm enjoying some wine and it is so good.  
• My husband is home from work tomorrow and we get to have a family day before Christmas.  
• This time with all of my kids home from school can be crazy but I'm really soaking up this time I have with them.  We've been sleeping in, making gifts with clay, watching movies, using our imagination and so much more.  Oh, and fighting like freaking crazy!! Don't let me make it sound like all roses.  :) Plenty of eyepoking hours that make me wish for routine if I forget to savor the moments with them.  
• If you don't count the feet hurting this week, I'm feeling stronger than ever with running.  My body is responding so well to the higher mileage and I'm so excited to see where this season takes me.  I feel myself starting to fly like never before.  The mental stuff that help me back before is GONE!
• Thankful for my home, my husband's job, and that we can provide for our children.  So many people are struggling right now and I'm so thankful for what we have. 
• Gingerbread houses, Christmas movie and cuddle time with my family tonight.   
• I am planning on catching up on blogs soon...I'm so behind
• Oh, and a new favorite wine that is under $20:

Found this pic on google and it led me to a great new blog, The Reverse Wine Snob, about good wine under $20.  Well, I only scanned the first post I saw but it looks promising.  

1. What special things do you have planned for this week?  Do you celebrate Christmas?  
2. Do you have a favorite $10-$15 dollar wine??


Amanda

Fartlek Follow Up and Few Things F

Feeling a little lame writing a blog on a Friday night but this is actually pretty heavenly to just write, process my day and have some quiet time after a long day with kids.  Apparently my husband reads my blog without me asking him to.  Even on his guys weekend away.  I just got this e-mail from him after he read my last blog post talking about his guys trip:


Subject:  Really?


"I do not talk like that...what did you say I say?  kickin it and trickin it?  how about rippin it up?"

Okay, so I might have made him sound a little different than he really sounds.  Basically he told me that I am making him sound like a bone head.  So, let it be known that he doesn't really talk like some skater dude.  Made me laugh to read his e-mail and made me so happy to know he read my blog on his vacation. 


Fartlek Workout:


Dynamic Stretching.  If you didn't see the video I posted on Dynamic Stretching and you're interested in making this part of your routine before hard runs, then check it out. 


Proprioceptive Cue (this is part of the brain work for helping me to improve my form) this week:  Driving the thigh.  To read more about this and other sensory cues that I am working on, here is an Active.com article by Matt Fitzgerald called Sensory Cues.  Great read.  Hard mental work but helps me stay focused and I definitely notice much improvement with my form.  

6.2 miles (I figured that I might as well make it a full 10k by adding the .2)
46:04
Average pace: 7:25
6 fartleks for 2 minutes each.  1. 6:15 pace 2. 6:15 3. 6:15 4. 6:18 5.  6:25ish 6. 6:15
Felt great! Was tired but definitely had more in me.  :)  


Flavor
This stuff tastes like chalk!  Ugggh.  I bought it and I'll use it because it was expensive but oh my, it does not taste good. "Delicious Vanilla Bean" it says on the label. Not sure who the taste testers for this were but it is certainly not delicious. It has some good stuff in it though and I'm glad I'm getting good nutrients and lots of protein.  It helped to blend it with some plain yogurt and frozen berries.  I can do it like that.  But with just water?  Not for me.  

Fun
I am not a baker.  
I don't LOVE to cook.  
But I love to make memories and make the time with my kids fun.  
Since we don't have our main man here tonight, we canceled Family Movie/Game night and we made these:

And then after about 5 minutes of making them, they were done.  
We had a HUGE mess.
My 19 month old was eating chocolate off the floor, crying for more cookies, smearing his dirty hands on our new white molding 
and 
My girls looked at each other the wrong way,
Tried to pull each other's hair out,
Cried,
Whined,
Insulted each other some more,
And argued over who had prettier hair.  
The cupcakes were cute though.  
I guess.
In a Martha Stuart/Family Fun kind of way.  
Not so sure I'll ever
do 
it 
again.  


Do you drink a protein drink?  How do you make it and what kind do you use?


Do your kids fight with each other?  


Amanda

Fartlek Friday

Feeling Glorious
Victorious
Fabulous
Strong
Amazing
Capable
Energized
In the Zone!
Accomplished.
Back From An Injury!
Darn right Happy!


After this:

5.52 Miles in 41:16.  7:28 average mile pace.  Six 75 second intervals spiced in the mix:
1.  6:15 pace
2. 6:11 pace
3.  6:11 pace
4.  6:11
5.  6:15 pace
6.  5:56 pace


I felt strong.  My form felt great.  I felt like I could have kept this up for at least another 5 miles if not much more.  Hopefully for 26.2!


Here is my "I'm Tired (but not too tired) and Sweaty" picture in the locker room afterwards.  I really don't like to take pictures of myself with others around so I was kind of embarrassed to snap the shot.

A little word (or just for you Kovas and Chris K, I'll make it many words) about music while running.  I have never really been a girl to listen to music while I run.  I've recently tried it and it is nice sometimes, especially on long runs.  But on speed days or tempo runs, It's Go time for me and music seems to be more of distraction than a help.  I much prefer to go within my mind, get in the zone, feel my pace and focus on my goals.  With music, I find myself slowing down or speeding up based on the rhythm of the music.  Here is a little of what goes on in my head during a run like tonight:


*  I focus on my form.  Tonight I focused on several of my cues from my Brain Training book...leaning forward, walking on water, my cadence, etc.


*  I tell myself that I am strong and capable.


*  I remind myself that I have so much more within me than I've ever unlocked and I try to push away any negative thinking


*  I think of my goals...You can break 20 minutes in the 5k, you can run a sub 7 min mile pace for a long time, You are strong, beautiful and gifted.  


*  I think of my life and my many blessings


* I visualized myself running my races and looking beautiful in form, body, and reaching my time goals.


Basically, these runs are my time to just be in the zone and visualize!  Music distracts me from this sometimes.  Tonight was just one of many runs lately that have made me feel so thankful to know that I'm not only recovering from my injury with strength, but I am at a point where I believe that I will be able to finally push myself to the levels of running that I've always been capable of but never been ready for emotionally or mentally because of difficult life circumstances that I needed to work through.  I feel like I have arrived.   It's my time to be the runner that I've always known is within me!  The runner my Dad and Grandpa would be proud of.  So thankful.  So excited.  


We only have one life to push ourselves to new levels and see what we are capable of.  We only have this one life to be the best US that we can be.  I think Running is so much more than exercise or a way to stay fit...it allows each of us who call ourselves a runner to challenge ourselves, believe in ourselves, and overcome new heights in our life.  Training for a race, no matter your level of fitness, no matter how fast you are or what place you come in is empowering and it carries over to all the other areas of our life!  


So Thankful for Running!  Here's to a Happy Weekend!



Amanda

Fartleking. It's Okay For Runners.

It's Fart LEK people.  Not Fart Lick! 

fart·lek (färtˈlĕk)
noun

1. An athletic training technique, used especially in running, in which periods of intense effort alternate with periods of less strenuous effort in a continuous workout.
2. A workout using this technique.

What about you?  Do you use the term Fartlek?

Happy Fartleking,

Amanda