Week 34 of 2014

Goals for week 34:  Run further than last week with a long run of 9 miles or more.  Run 4 separate times in the week. Bike twice, try and swim once and do yoga once.  Stretch a lot, foam roll a lot.  Walk a lot.  Run 5K on Saturday with lots of energy and strength.  

Monday:  Sculpt
Tuesday:  ran 4 miles, Sculpt
Wednesday:  Sculpt. Ran 5.05 miles
Thursday:  Biked 5.50 miles
Friday:  Ran 4 miles
Saturday: Ran 10.33 miles (1.04 miles was a warm up, 3.17 was the 5K race, 6.12 was the cool down) 2.63 mile bike ride with Scott.
Sunday:  a long walk, will update later how far I went.

Totals for week 34
Ran 23.38 miles
Biked 8.13 miles
3 Sculpt classes

Good for week 34:  I ran 4 separate days/times in the week.  I biked twice.  I had a day with more than 9 miles for mileage running.  Total mileage is 23.38 miles!

Bad for week 34:  I didn't swim or do yoga once again.  I need to make time for those.

Totals for year:
Elliptical 22.26 miles
Running 519.61 miles
Swam 22,137.30 yards (12.58 miles)
Body Sculpt classes 95
Zumba classes 20
Biking minutes 762 (12.7 hours) Indoors
Biking miles outside 241.53 miles
Step classes 2
Yoga classes 6
Nia classes 1
Cross Fit class 1
Push ups on toes outside of teaching class:175

Goals for week 35 of 2014:  Run 4 separate times, mileage more than week 34. Bike once.  Swim once.  Do 25 pushups on toes outside of class.

St. Judes Sweet Corn Festival 10k - Saturday, August 9, 2014

The morning was cold for an Iowa summer. Let's say it was a perfect day for running in August in Iowa.  It was about 64 degrees with a breeze and lower humidity than usual.  I thought, this is a day I could finally PR my 10K distance!  Jason, Alyssa and I were all volunteering at this race as well.  Jason and I were helping with the packet pickup for the 1.5 hours before the race and Alyssa was helping at the main water stop.

Packet pickup went smoothly and then it was time to start the race.  I got a short quarter mile warm up and a few exercises in before the race started.   Jason stayed with me to push me to a new personal record.  I'm so grateful he helps me out since I know he could have ran this race in about 55 minutes or less, and instead we finished  together in 59:23.  The course measured long  on my Garmin to 6.38 miles and we definitely cut all the tangents.  I asked around to other people about the distance and everyone was saying the course was long by .18 to .25. One guy said he measured 6.45 miles on his watch.  All I can say is this.  I don't mind that the course way longer, however it advertised it was only 6.21 and a 10K distance is 6.20.  I know had it been closer to that distance my time would have been around 57:45 something because when I looked down at my watch when the distance was at 6.20 it was around 57:45.  Wow what a PR that would have been.  I still did PR by 2 minutes and 5 seconds and I'm really grateful for that. I hope to continue to PR for many years and someday run a 10K at 55 minutes or less and a Quarter Marathon under an hour, which will help me achieve a Half Marathon in under 2 hours which is my ultimate goal.

   Our race splits were as follows:
Mile 1  9:02
Mile 2  9:31
Mile 3  8:52
Mile 4  9:45
Mile 5  9:17
Mile 6  9:38
.38 of next mile 3.18

Great things about this race:
bib for your scrapbook
chip timed for a starting and ending time (Gun time and chip time)
printed out immediate results for your scrapbook
food at the finish line
awesome looking shirt.
Medals for all the places in age groups
door prizes

Not so great things about this race:
The course measured long.

The results are HERE !

Alyssa and I right after the race.  Alyssa helped out at a water stop as a volunteer.

Jason and I right after finishing the race.  We finished in under an hour!

Our race numbers.

To my surprise I acheived 3rd place in my age group and received a medal.  Pictured with me is Muriel.  She achieved 1st in her age group.  She ran really fast.

Jason's and my race results.

Back of shirt.

Front of race shirt.

Jason won these Theifosi sunglasses.  They are super awesome. The best prize on the door prize table.

After the race we went to Red Robin and I had a Chocolate mint shake.

This was a picture of my dinner.  I only ate 1 bite of the sandwich and a few fries then packed it all up to eat later on.

Alyssa got the burning love burger.  It had a jalapeño on top.

Jason with his new sunglasses on.

Alyssa trying on a mask at STUFF, which is a local consignment store.  We went there to shop while we were in Cedar Rapids.

Week 33 of 2014

Goals for week 33 were these:  Bike twice, one ride more than 10 miles, Run 4 or more times.  Running mileage more than last week.  Swim once and try Yoga once.

Monday:  Ran 5.10 miles, taught Body Sculpt
Tuesday;  Biked 11.60 miles, taught Body Sculpt
Wednesday:  taught Body Sculpt, Biked 10.20, ran 2.03
Thursday: taught Body Sculpt. ran 1.37 miles
Friday:  Ran 5.20 miles
Saturday: Ran 6.08 miles
Sunday:  long walk

Totals for week 33:
Ran 19.78 miles
Biked 21.80 miles
lots of walking
4 Body Sculpt classes

Good for week 33:  Ran 5 times and ran further than last week by 1/2 mile.  Taught one more class of Body Sculpt than usual.  Biked twice and one ride was more than 10 miles.

Bad for week 33:  Didn't swim or do yoga.    Probably should look at my week before I try to think that I can fit in swimming.  Since I don't live near a pool it's harder to swim.  Didn't schedule a yoga class.
Totals for year:
Elliptical 22.26 miles
Running 496.23 miles
Swam 22,137.30 yards (12.58 miles)
Body Sculpt classes 92
Zumba classes 20
Biking minutes 762 (12.7 hours) Indoors
Biking miles outside 233.40 miles
Step classes 2
Yoga classes 6
Nia classes 1
Cross Fit class 1
Push ups on toes outside of teaching class:175

Goals for week 34:  Run further than last week with a long run of 9 miles or more.  Run 4 separate times in the week. Bike twice, try and swim once and do yoga once.  Stretch a lot, foam roll a lot.  Walk a lot.  Run 5K on Saturday with lots of energy and strength.  

Crossroads Sprint Distance Triathlon - DeWitt, IA - Saturday, August 2, 2014

I wasn't going to do this race this year.  I hadn't signed up for any triathlons at all.  I wanted to, but the first one of the year that I thought about was on a day that I was in Ohio.  The next one was a super hilly one that  I did last year that I'll probably never do again, just didn't enjoy the run course at all.  The next one was the week before my marathon and as awesome as Quad Cities Tri is, I just couldn't do a race like that 1 week before a long running race.  There were others, but they happen to fall on Sundays and I don't race on Sundays. Then there's this one.  It's well organized, in a small town and just plain fun.  I planned on it, but then dismissed the thought and decided not to do a tri this year.  I have been feeling spent ever since my marathon.  I've still been swimming, biking and running, just having felt that into it.  I signed Jason up to do this over a month ago.  He has told me that he will do this triathlon every year as long as he isn't injured.  I was going to just go as support and take pictures.  Then he mentions to me a few days ago that the race had 20 spots left.  I checked the weather for Saturday and it seemed favorable for a triathlon.  I decided on a whim to just do it.  I asked him to sign me up since I was on my way to work.  He did just that, he signs me up and then I have second thoughts like, "What was I thinking?"

If you are confused at this point and don't know what a Sprint Distance Triathlon is, first you swim 500-600 yards, then you bike 12-15 miles, then you run a 5k.  This particular course said the swim was 500 yards, although a guy with a triathlon watch said it was closer to 600 yards.  The bike was 15 miles and then it was a 5K distance.  If you think this sounds easy, then please sign up for one and try it.  When I got out of the water I was thrilled beyond anything I can describe.  I was so happy to finish the hardest part of a triathlon for me.

This was the first time I felt comfortable in the water and that is a complete miracle.  The first 5 outdoor triathlons would go like this:  The gun would go off for us to start and my heart would start to race, my breathing would be out of control.  I felt like I was going to die, literally right there, drown and be gone, swallowed by the lake.  I felt like I was having either an anxiety attack, or a panic attack.  It was horrible.  Every single time I would flip to my back and swim backstroke, not knowing where the heck I was going and thus running into people a lot, having to flip over a lot to see where I was going and re-direct myself again and again.  This time at the first first part of the swim I started breathing weird, thought I was starting to have a panic or anxiety attack.  I flipped to my back and floated for a couple seconds, said a prayer that everything would be fine and then proceeded.  To my surprise when I flipped back over my breathing was normal.  I could put my face in the water.  I could swim normally.  All was well in the lake.  I wasn't going to die.  The bike and run went well.  I could have pushed a little more on the bike and run, so I know for next time that I can give a little more. Transition 2 was only 29 seconds so that is a personal record. Sweet.

Here are the Results if you have to see them!

A friend of ours named Elaine and her two daughters were there.  Elaine participated in the race and actually won 1st in her age group.  Her daughters snapped TONS of pictures so here are a bunch to look at.

Kind of scary when you get to the lake that you will be doing the triathlon in the next day and you see this sign.  Gross.

Signs like this telling you where everything would be.

The bike transition place.

Signs like these were already up in all the places and all the transition places were set up with our race numbers on the poles.  Everything was so well organized.

Front of shirt.

Back of shirt.

The place we had to swim in.  It was a fishing pond.  Gross.  Look FAR out to your left for an orange buoy and that is where we had to swim first, then we take a right turn and swim all the way to the right orange buoy and then swim in.

The morning of the race.  Jason and I wearing our Tri Suits.  You can swim, bike and run in these.  Jason wore a wetsuit for his swim, but I chose not to this year

Our results.  As you can see my division said I was 4th, however the top girl in my age group won overall, then the 3rd girl in my age group was actually in the Athena division so that bumped her out, which made it so I was 2nd place in my age group out of 7.  Not bad!!!  A sweet suprise.

Jason coming out of the water to get his bike.

Me running out of the water to go to my bike.  I was EXTREMELY happy by this point to be done with the hardest part of a triathlon for me.

Jason in transition 1.  Get his feet dry, socks and bike shoes on and ready to bike 15 miles.

Here is me in transition 1, almost ready to bike.

Me leaving the bike area.

Jason finishing the triathlon.

Me running in for a strong finish.

I won 2nd in my age group and received a really neat Tile as an award.  So excited to achieve such a neat award for all my hard work.

After a shower in our new race shirts.  We like them a lot.

Week 32 of 2014

Goals for week 32:  Run 4 or more times.  Mileage 15 miles or more.  Bike twice.  One time of 10 miles or more.  Swim at least once.  Run 10K on Saturday in record time.  Try for under an hour.

This is how the week went:
Monday:  walked .5 miles, Ran 3.05, Sculpt class
Tuesday: Body Sculpt
Wednesday: Body Sculpt, 8 miles biking, 6.03 miles running, 2 miles walking.
Thursday: Some walking
Friday:  2 miles running with Abby.  6 miles biking.
Saturday:  Ran 8.12 miles (1.74 of these miles were warm up and cool down miles) 6.38 miles was the 10K race I did.  It was slightly longer than a 10K distance.  I thought maybe it was just me, however everyone with measuring devices said they were getting anywhere from 6.37 to 6.45 so it was definately longer than it should have been.
Sunday:  3.04 miles walked.

Body Sculpt classes: 3
Running: 19.20 miles
Biking: 14 miles
Walked: 2.5 miles
Swimming:  None

Good for week 32:
Ran 4 separate times.  Achieved mileage of 15 miles or more.  Biked twice.  Ran my 10k race in record time. Knocked off 2 minutes and 5 seconds off my personal record and FINALLY achieved running a 10K under an hour!

Bad for week 32:
Never swam.  Both times when I biked neither time was over 10 miles.  Other than that great week.

Totals for year:
Elliptical 22.26 miles
Running 476.45 miles
Swam 22,137.30 yards (12.58 miles)
Body Sculpt classes 88
Zumba classes 20
Biking minutes 762 (12.7 hours) Indoors
Biking miles outside 211.60 miles
Step classes 2
Yoga classes 6
Nia classes 1
Cross Fit class 1
Push ups on toes outside of teaching class:175

Goals for week 33:  Bike twice, one ride more than 10 miles, Run 4 or more times.  Running mileage more than last week.  Swim once and try Yoga once.

River's Edge 10K- Cedar Falls, IA--Saturday, July 12, 2014

On Friday the 11th, Jason, Scott and I traveled to Cedar Falls to stay with our friends the Helland's. We all took a turn zip lining in their side yard.  We went out to dinner with them and then went to the race with them the next morning.

The next morning it was pouring rain.  We weren't sure if there would be a race.  It was lightening, thunder and lots of rain.  The humidity was horrible.  Then the rain stopped right before the race started so we had the race, but I didn't warm up so that was really stupid of me because I felt horrible for the first mile.

The race was called River's Edge 10K and it was put on by Trekman Racing.  We love all of his races so we try to do all of them if possible. He's an awesome race director and does everything he can to make a race a great experience.  Here are the RESULTS if you want to check them out.  Our friend Dean achieved 5th overall.  Pretty sweet.  I had one of my worst 10K times ever.  It was 1:02:52.  It was super humid out and I just couldn't cool down and I was wheezing.  I ended up being 18th of 33 in my age group of 40-44.  122nd of 214 females and 218th of 336 overall. So not my best race, but hey I finished and even though this race seemed really hard for me I did it.  My goal for the year is to get a 10K under an hour.  I know I can do this.

Great things about this race:
Flat course
Course in a park that is shaded for most of your run so you don't get direct sun.
well marked course.
lots of volunteers
bib for your scrapbook
chip timed so you have accurate results
food after the race
water stops on the course.
medals for those in the top 3 in their age group.
Chairs to sit in after the race if you want to have food and relax.
Plenty of port-a-potties.

Not so great things about this race:
nothing because the race director does an amazing job to pay attention to every detail.

Okay one thing, but this isn't because of the race.  I had to go to the bathroom before the race and the port-a-potty lines were way long so I went in the woods. The mosquitoes were massively bad, like worse than I've ever seen them in my life and I didn't have any protection on.  I got bit on my butt.

There are more pictures from this race, but I'm waiting for them from a friend.  I will update when I have them.

Scott about to zip line.  He looked scared but loved it and jumped right off.

Scott during the zip line experience.  This picture is blurry, but you get the idea.

Me on the zip line, way too scared to jump, so Lisa is climbing up there to push me off.

Scott and I with cups of sausage.  No I didn't eat these.  This race gave away pancakes and sausage, however as a group we all went to Perkins for breakfast so I didn't eat a thing here.  I only drank water after the race.  The sausage was for Scott and the other children in the car.  Ok, maybe I had one sausage.

I think I look like a drowned rat and it's a horrible picture of me, however, it was a great picture of the three of us.  Jason and I did the 10K, Scott came along to watch us.

Here are our race bibs with our timed results.  

After the race we went downtown Cedar Falls to get popcorn at a store called "Here's What's Popping". Then we went to the Farmer's market.  This is Scott with Kyle and Lisa's son.  They were being goofy.

Jason and Kyle at the farmer's market, probably not sure why I took their picture.

Pickle Days 5K- Walker, IA--Saturday, July 26, 2014

Another nice cooler July morning. It was humid out, but such a nice temperature.  This race happened to fall at the end of Girl's Camp, which for Alyssa and I wasn't good timing. In order for us to get there we had to leave camp, which was in Boone, IA, at 4:30 a.m. to travel to Walker, IA.

Both Alyssa and I ran our slowest 5K to date.  She just wasn't into it and wanted me to run with her, which I did.  She complained the whole time how tired she was and she wanted to walk again and would ask how much further it was.  Seriously I wasn't happy, but it's family togetherness right?  Overall a fun great morning.

Great things about this race:
Chip timed for accurate results
Bib for your scrapbook
Cutest 5K shirt I have ever seen, which is one reason I come back to this race every year.
Food after the race
Instant results printed out for your scrapbook.
Some door prizes were given away.
Lots of volunteers on the course telling you where to turn.
Fireman's breakfast just around the corner from the park.

The Clark and Helland family before the pickle days race began.

All of our race feet.

Front of shirt

Back of shirt

Our race bibs.

Our official race times.  Jason, Alyssa and I did the 5K.  Jason ran off ahead with his friend Kyle.  I ran with Alyssa to help her finish her first 5K in a very long time.  Scott did the 1 mile kids race.

This is what it looks like when they don't want their picture taken.

They think if they can't see me that I didn't take their picture.  Too funny.  Nice try.

Lisa and Kyle's son finishing in 2nd place with a 7:12 minute pace.  WOW!!!!  Way to go.

Scott finishing his 1 mile kids race.  This is the fastest he has ever ran a 1 mile.  Great job Scott.  You ROCK!!!

Week 31 of 2014

Goals for week 31 were these:  Run 3 or more times.  Try a new class, bike at least 10 or more miles or do a long ride of 20 or more.  Swim at least once.  Stretch a lot!  Complete all scheduled classes.  Do your triathlon and relax in the swim.

Monday:  Sculpt and 22 mile bike ride
Tuesday: Ran 1 mile, cross fit class, Sculpt class
Wednesday:  Sculpt class
Thursday:  Ran 4.27 miles, swam 300 Yards
Friday: Just some walking
Saturday: Swam 500 Yards, felt longer than that.  Biked 15 miles, Ran 3.1 miles, walked a bunch at least 2 miles.
Sunday:1.35 miles walking in morning, hoping for another walk later on, will update later.

Totals for week 31:
3 Sculpt Classes
1 Cross Fit class
Ran 8.37 miles
Biked 37 miles
Swam 800 yards, maybe further, both times swimming in a lake, hard to measure exactly.

Good for week 31:  First time ever doing a triathlon and NOT panicking in the water.  So I met the goal of relaxing in the swim. Placed 2nd in my age group, that was fun!  Tried a new class this week called Cross Fit with my friend Maryanne.  That was different and fun.  Got out and ran 3 times, but not far each time.  Swam twice, both times in lakes.  Biked really far on Monday 22 miles and then 15 miles in the triathlon.

Bad for week 31:  I need to stretch more.

Totals for year:
Elliptical 22.26 miles
Running 457.25 miles
Swam 22,137.30 yards (12.58 miles)
Body Sculpt classes 85
Zumba classes 20
Biking minutes 762 (12.7 hours) Indoors
Biking miles outside 197.60 miles
Step classes 2
Yoga classes 6
Nia classes 1
Cross Fit class 1
Push ups on toes outside of teaching class:175

A question I had about running shoes answered HERE!
Want to see how many calories you REALLY burn when running:  Click on this link

Goals for week 32:  Run 4 or more times.  Mileage 15 miles or more.  Bike twice.  One time of 10 miles or more.  Swim at least once.  Run 10K on Saturday in record time.  Try for under an hour.

Solon Beef Days 5K- Solon, IA--Saturday, July 19, 2014

Such a gorgeous morning it was. It was humid, but cool out at 64 degrees which is unheard of for July. I ran 1 mile to warm up then did this race. I felt good about my run and even though I placed 6th in my age group, I still felt I did my best in this race.

Good things about this race:
Chip timing for accurate results
Bib to wear and have for your scrapbook
Cute shirt
food after the race
some doorprizes they give away.
Well marked course, knew where to turn always
LOTS of volunteers

Not so good things about this race:
It's really hilly so if you don't train hills you will not like it.
Lots of turns on the course.

My race number.

Brenda used to be the running coach in Solon.  She is an awesome example of fitness.  She used to take my Body Sculpt class in North Liberty and I ran into her here at Solon Beef Days.

My individual results.

Front of shirt

Back of shirt

Running in for a strong finish.

Elaine, her daughter and me.