Month: January 2018

Drake Road Races Half Marathon: Training Starts Today!

- Mel 1 Comment

After a few weeks off to recover from fall and winter races, I have been easing back into running a couple times per week. After pondering “what’s next,” I selected the Drake Half Marathon as my first race of 2018. I’ll actually be participating in the Bulldog Double by running the Blue Mile that same week.

So, yeah, I know that I rebranded this blog for my ultra adventures (more to come on those plans later… oh, and I guess that I should get around to actually reviewing my 50k in this lifetime), but I’m kind of obsessed with breaking my half marathon PR right now. This will be a good way to get back into the swing of race training while going to school full-time with the benefit of a shorter training period AND, well, a shorter race.

Hello, speed work!

Training starts today (with the usual Monday rest day)! My plan is 12 weeks and I’ll be incorporating a lot of what I learned while working with a running coach. Boxing has been an awesome workout and stress-release for me – and includes 10 minutes of core, which will benefit my running. I plan to keep up my 3x/week classes and doing yoga once per week. I think I found my sweet spot in my workout schedule, so looking forward to seeing how the regular cross-training will aid in my training.

Big goal: SUB TWO.

Drake won’t be a gimme – I’ll have hills to train for! But since our running club’s group runs will be mostly around Drake’s campus, I will have plenty of opportunity to practice. I was registered for Drake last year, and decided not to run it because of ugly weather. The date and course are both different this year, but Drake relays notoriously have awful weather luck. I will have that as a potential challenge to work through.

Bonus: I get to implement some of the mental training into my own program to practice that I’ve learned so far in my grad program.

My RACE day half marathon PR is a 2:12:16 (Des Moines Half Marathon 2016) – I have since had SEVERAL runs under that, with my fastest 13.1 miles at 2:07:57 (I did the front half of Route 66 Marathon in a 2:09:49 even with THOSE HILLS). Best of all, a friend of mine has offered to run with me and be my pacer to help meet my goal.

BRING IT, BULLDOG!
Drake Bulldog half marathon

Weekly Therapy: New Year, New… Face?

- Mel

the week:
Wordpress has been having some wonky-ass glitches in the editing panel, so this post has been sitting for almost two weeks. They STILL haven’t responded to any of my tweets – despite figuring out what is causing the edit task bar (where you can add links and change font) to disappear. I can’t even go to Visual mode either because while I SEE it, I can’t click it. I also cannot add tags or any photos to my posts. It seems tied to how many drafts of a post are saved – or maybe something with one of my plug-ins. All this happened right after the last WP update, so something is incompatible now. SO FRUSTRATING!

Anyways…

I got my first retinol chemical peel (which I’ve been sharing to my Insta Stories) because I wanted to see if it would work to clear up some of my old acne scars and sun spots. WOAH BOY, has this been an interesting experience! I experienced a couple days of disruptive and uncomfortable annoyance (read: burning, itchy face peeling)… and even if the results were awesome, I’m not sure that I’d do it over again. 😬 I’m not at all embarrassed by how my face looks – then or now; I went to both yoga and boxing AND fancy dinner at our club in the midst of major peeling – though I find myself not wanting to wear a lot of makeup anymore. And when I DO wear makeup, my skin just looks awful. So that was what spurred me to do such a thing.

Spoiler alert: I have definitely noticed some positive changes in my skin – and the aesthetician warned me about having unrealistic expectations. But still. I guess for ACTUALLY BURNING SEVERAL LAYERS OF MY FACE OFF, I had some bigger expectations than the results that I have. 60% chance I do it again.

I know.

weekend:
Despite us having a brief temperature warm up this week, we’re back to just about freezing again. But I’m planning some trail miles this morning at Brown’s Woods and a gathering with my fellow Turkeys.

Also, pretty sure I want to go to 80s/90s Skate Night.

See also: HOMEWORK.

seven things, seven days:
1. We bought a new couch… but because it had to be custom (due to the small size of our living space), we’re not getting it until March.
2. My hot pink boxing gloves are ALSO back-ordered through March. BOO!
3. In the meantime, I finally purchased a curtain rod set with my Restoration Hardware gift card that I received on my birthday. In May. 😬
4. And some new throw pillow covers from West Elm – that are even better in person! 😍
5. I’m starting to play around with heart rate monitoring during my runs. Any resources to recommend to learn more?
6. Why January is your least productive month {via Fast Company}
7. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting VERY excited about the upcoming Winter Olympics. Here are 3 steps to handling pressure like an Olympian (from a sport psychology alum of the program that I’m currently in!)

Weekly Therapy: Happy Shiny New 2018!

- Mel

the week:
I’m still working on my race schedule for this year… which is a little difficult to complete, as I do not have the confirmed dates for my summer internship (for which I’ll travel to the west coast). My goal focus will be my half marathon PR, and I am still undecided if I want to train further than my 20-mile trail race scheduled for summer. I think doing the shorter distances of some local trail races throughout the year would be fun, still keep me in good training condition, and allow me to focus on my graduate studies. I am tentative on a few traveling opportunities later this year (for races) – though my husband and I have two non-running vacations on the calendar!

weekend:
The Health & Fitness Expo is happening at the Iowa Events Center in downtown Des Moines this weekend, so I plan to check it out and participate in some of the free fitness sessions (yoga mimosas early Saturday AM, hello!). Also: weekend runs begin again this Saturday for Capital Striders from Drake University!

Meanwhile, I’ll be starting some assignments — winter quarter begins on Monday. YAY!

seven things, seven days:
1. No cavities! Great way to start the year.
2. In 2015, I completed a 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge. While I don’t believe I can complete in addition to all my school assignments, I set 24 (2 books per month) as my Reading Challenge goal for 2018.
3. More yoga in 2018! Keeping with that promise to myself, I went to an amazing Good Vibes yoga session at the Windsor Heights Community Center this week. Every Wednesday, yoga for everyone, donation class. Come out and hug some strangers and connect deeper with your own practice and the Des Moines yoga community.
4. Another visit to the vet for my middle cat child. Because of our adventure before Christmas, I was worried that she was obstructed (given her litter box behavior) and seems the poor kitty’s stress has inflamed her bladder. 😿
5. Want to say “no” more in 2018? The Art of Saying No (to prepare you for saying “yes”). {TED Talk}
6. What are your predictions for fitness trends in 2018? {via Outside}
7. This is an excellent piece from Runner’s World on how to incorporate “gains” into your 2018 goals. All of their suggestions (except for maybe the cold showers, because NOPE I’d rather just run outside) are realistic and easy improvements to goal-setting that I plan to incorporate into my upcoming training schedule.