Week 15

Goals for Week 15 were these:  Complete all scheduled classes.   Run 4 separate times.   Swim once, Bike outside at least once!

Monday: Sculpt, Zumba and 2.45 mile run
Tuesday: Sculpt
Wednesday: Sculpt and 5 mile run
Thursday: Sculpt
Friday: Sculpt and 2.5 mile run
Saturday: Ran 7.20 miles
Sunday: Nothing at all, totally lazy.

Totals for week;
5 Body Sculpt classes
1 Zumba class
Ran 17.15 miles

Good for week:   Completed all scheduled classes.  Ran 4 separate times.   On Saturday ran 2 5K races in the morning.  One at 8 a.m. and placed 4th out of 39 in my age group.  Then one race at 11 a.m. and placed 1st in my age group.   Totally cool.

Bad for week:  Didn't swim or bike.

Totals for year:
Elliptical 14.46 miles
Running 179.96 miles
Swam 13,967.30 + yards (7.94 miles)
Body Sculpt classes 39
Zumba classes 17
Biking minutes 573 (9.55 hours)
Step classes 1
Yoga classes 5
Nia classes 1
Pushups on toes outside of teaching class:168

Want to see how many calories you REALLY burn when running:  Click on this link

Goals for Week 16:   Run 4 separate times.    Swim once, Bike inside at least once, and  outside at least once!  Get on the elliptical and do at least 1 mile.

Week 14 of 2014

Goals for week 14 were these:  Run according to Marathon schedule, which means a 9 mile run next Saturday and 2 3-5 mile runs.  Swim, bike and get on the elliptical during the week.  Complete all scheduled classes.


Monday:  Body Sculpt, ran 4.07 miles
Tuesday:  Body Sculpt, ran 2.63 miles
Wednesday: Body Sculpt, ran 2.22 miles
Thursday:  Zumba, climbed 1/2 mile on stair stepper.  Walked 1 mile, ran .5 mile.
Friday:  Taught a new class called Fitness fusion.  Basically Body Sculpt, but only 45 minutes with different equipment.  Fun.  Elliptical .50 mile.
Saturday:  Ran 9.05 miles
Sunday:  Walked 3 miles with Jason

Totals for the week:
Ran:  18:47 miles
Body Sculpt classes 4
Zumba classes 1
Swam:  Zero yards
Biked:  Zero minutes
Elliptical 1/2 mile

Good for the week:   I did some cross training, and ran 5 different times.  Walked 2 different times.  Completed all scheduled classes, even adding a new class.  Tried out the Stair stepper machine that I haven't used in a long time, did 1/2 mile on that.  Over 50 floors of climbing up stairs.  Made me super tired.

Bad for the week:  The pool never saw me.  My bike collected dust this week.  Boo.  Other than that I would say I did AWESOME.

Things I learned this week:   I can push harder than ever when racing.  I achieved 28:11 in a 5K I did on Saturday, that was after running 2.5 miles to warm up. This race where I achieved this time, I ran in 32:00 last year, same course, same types of temps.  So I have improved almost 4 minutes with my running a 5K in 1 year's time.  Just think what I can do with another year of training.  All this when I'm training for a marathon and my times usually slow down.

Totals for year:
Elliptical 14.46 miles
Running 162.81 miles
Swam 13,967.30 + yards (7.94 miles)
Body Sculpt classes 34
Zumba classes 16
Biking minutes 573 (9.55 hours)
Step classes 1
Yoga classes 5
Nia classes 1
Pushups on toes outside of teaching class:168

Want to see how many calories you REALLY burn when running:  Click on this link

Goals for Week 15:  Complete all scheduled classes.   Run 4 separate times.  Complete all scheduled classes.  Swim once, Bike outside at least once!

Fool's 5K--Saturday, April 5, 2014--Cedar Falls, IA

A gorgeous, yet cold, but perfect morning for a race. We had to get up super early for this one, but that's okay, it's worth every second of lost sleep.  We woke at 4:45 a.m. so we could leave at 5:08 a.m to pick up Tyler and then head to Cedar Falls and be in the park before 7 a.m.   We wanted to be in the park early to get super awesome parking and we did.  We parked right by the tents.  I think we were one of the first 20 people in the park.   This race takes place in Cedar Falls, Iowa which if you don't know where that is, it is Northwest of Waterloo. Here is a description of Cedar Falls by Wikipedia.  The actual race location is in George Wyth State Park

Jason and I both won FREE entries to this awesome race.  So we paid $0 to be in it.  I couldn't believe our luck.   However that aside.  I would have paid to be in this race no matter what, it's that amazing.  Best 5k around for sure.

Cool thing about the results:  Last year my time was 32:00 on the dot.  This year my time was 28:11.  Almost a 4 minute improvement.  Feeling pretty awesome about my time.  Full results are here. and my results and video are here.

A bunch of Roosters.  We are still missing a few, but here is a picture from Jill's camera that was taken at this race.

Good Points about the race:
Chip timed--Starting and ending time.
Dry fit shirt that is accurate to size
Really cute bib for your scrapbook.
Super organized race down to EVERY detail.
Flat course.  Super flat, so flat that you never even see a hill anywhere.  It's awesome.
Certified course.
Packet Pickup a couple days before and the morning of if you need it.
Chip timing system in the bib, so you don't have to worry about returning the chip.
Miles marked, (Even mile 3 marked so you can check your splits)
Printed out results at the end.
Lots and LOTS of food at the end.  Yummy awesome food.  There were the usual bananas and bagels, but then in addition to that there was chocolate milk, oranges, donuts, cookies, yogurt, gourmet popcorn, water, AND home made breakfast burritos.  Maybe there was even more, because there was so much to choose from, if you went hungry then you didn't get in line.
Contests on facebook to win things before the race.
Very well marked course.  You knew exactly where to go at all times.
Loud speakers at the beginning.  You could hear all announcements at all times.  Seriously this was great.
A large amount of port-a-potties.

Not so great points about the race:
No water station on the course.  Not that I needed it, but for those slower runners/walkers who take 50 minutes or more to complete the race they I'm sure would have loved to have some water.  I will let you know that any longer distance race that is put on by this race director always has LOTS of water stations.

No finishing medal.  Although I don't care and really feel that finishing medals should be for LONG races only like 10 milers and above, but it's a nice touch and some 5K's have those.  Not that I need anymore medals, just pointing this out, that some 5k races have them and some don't.  This one doesn't.

Only an overall award for #1 Overall Male and Female.  Personally a race of this size should have, in my opinion, overall awards for Top 3 Male and Females.  This race is HUGE and to be Top 3 out of everyone is a big deal in my eyes.

Would I personally do this race again? You bet.  The only thing that would keep me from this race would be if my one of my children had an event I needed to be at.  I would even show up if I was injured to cheer on my non-injured friends and take pictures of them running.

A bunch of us Roosters before the race.  Still missing a few because they weren't in the park yet.

Our racing bibs.

Front of shirt.

Back of shirt.

Our printed results

A kinda cute selfie right before we went out to run.

Happy Running feet.

Jason and I with Tyler Sullivan before the race.

Lucky Run--Saturday, March 29, 2014--North Liberty, IA

It was a cold morning, but a clear weather morning for a race which in Iowa you are super happy about.  I didn't have to get up too early because this race was just in North Liberty which is only about 15 minutes from my home.   I saw many running friends, and got to run with all my Rooster friends.

Good things about the race:
You get a race bib for your scrapbook
There are photographers on the course to catch shots of you that you never could.  This was super awesome and I appreciate it greatly.
Organized for the most of the race parts. (I'll get to that later).
Announcements and facts about the race on facebook before the race so you knew what to expect for the most part.
Chip timing for a Gun time.
Food after the race of all sorts.  Stuff for serious racers like the bananas and bagels, then stuff for kids like granola bars and fruit treats.   There were even home made baked goods.
Dry fit shirt that was true to size that you received for your registration fee.
Finishing medal
Organized packet pick up.
A packet with LOTS of goodies inside the bag.
Some door prizes.  Even though I didn't win, one of our Roosters did!
Lots of Volunteers.  (My company Hills Bank and Trust Company) was a HUGE sponsor and even had a water station that passed out water to racers.

Not so great things about the race:
Like in past races put on by this race director, you can't hear her announce anything at the beginning of the race if you are in the back of the crowd.  She needs some serious speakers and more of them to hear.  
Pacing signs would be super helpful so people know where to line up.   No one knows where to line up and so everyone crowds the start line.  Everyone is saying, where do we go?  Where do the walkers go?  I can't hear anything? This is hard for those who want to run fast who have to weave around walkers and slow runners at the beginning.
Note to people who run slow or walk races:  Line up in the back PLEASE!
No one knew if we were to run over the starting timing mats or not.  We all thought we were, the comments in the crowd were, "Hey stay to the left because you have to go over the mats."  Then you get to the start and hear yelling saying, "Go either way, just go, no start time, you don't have to go over the mats."

Since there were timing mats, many of us thought that we would have starting time, thus not worrying about lining up at the front.  You didn't know until you got to the start line that it was Gun time, so the 30 seconds or more that you wasted getting to the front was actually against you in your time.  So if timing matters to you, then you have at least 30 seconds less.   Just something I would have liked to know before starting the race. This affected me since my real time was 28:22 and the Gun time says 28:55.

You had to return the timing chip, so hopefully you had a volunteer who remembered to pull it off your shoe.  If not, hope you remembered to turn it in.  This point isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if the chip isn't returned then you pay a fee of anywhere from $25 for some races to up to $50, so return the timing chip.  This is why I LOVE the new disposable timing chips that built into your race bibs now.

Part of the Rooster Team.  This is only a very small handful of us.  There are many more fun people in this group!

Rooster feet.  

My racing bib

Back of shirt.  Personally I feel all the sponsors should be pictured on the shirt no matter what.  Those sponsors paid a lot of money to be a part of the race, or they gave either a lot of time or gifts to be a part of the race and should have their logo pictured on the shirt in some way.

Front of Shirt

Here is my friend Lisa and her daughter.  Lisa looks so happy to be running!  I love this picture.

Here I am about to finish the 5k.  I don't look like I was working too hard and that is because I wasn't.  I still had more miles to run that day so I didn't give it my best.  This run was a warm up.

Off the to the far right of this picture is me running in for the finish!

Kyle and Jill running in.  Kyle was finishing the 5k and Jill had another loop to do her 10K.

Dean starting out the race!

Kyle, Jill and I starting out the race.

Kyle and Lisa's son.  He is flying!

Week 13 of 2014

Goals for week 13 are these:  complete all classes.  Swim laps of at least 2000 yards.  Run according to marathon schedule this week.  Bike at least an hour.

Monday:  Swam 1100 Yards, 1.05 miles on Elliptical.   3 minutes of Squats
Tuesday:   15 minutes on Bike, 1.64 miles on Elliptical, Body Sculpt class
Wednesday:   .42 miles on the Elliptical, Body Sculpt class, 4.27 miles running
Thursday: 1 mile on the Elliptical, 2.30 miles running, Zumba, 1000 yards swimming
Friday: 1 Body Sculpt class
Saturday: Ran 6.26 miles  (5K of it was a race and my REAL time was 28:26, even though their chip time said 28:55, they went by Gun time and didn't do a starting time.  Had I known this I would have been near the front)  Anyway, I know my real time.  Then I ran 1.1 miles after the race with Jill to finish with her for her 10K.  Came home and ran 2 more miles (speed training)
Sunday: Walk

Total for week:
Swimming:  2100 Yards
Elliptical:  4.11 miles
Bike:  15 minutes
Running:  12.83 miles
Body Sculpt classes: 1
Zumba classes: 1

Bad for the week:   I didn't bike an hour.  It aggravated my tailbone, so I haven't been biking until I can get that new bike seat.  I have almost budgeted for it.  The times I could have biked I got on the elliptical, so I wouldn't waste workout minutes.

Good for week:  I was able to swim two separate times, I ran according to my marathon schedule.  I took time to get on the elliptical a lot more than in the past.  I spent the time I would have on the bike on the elliptical so I could get some cardio in.  I completed all my scheduled classes.

Totals for year:
Elliptical 13.96 miles
Running 144.34 miles
Swam 13,967.30 + yards 7.94 miles)
Body Sculpt classes 30
Zumba classes 15
Biking minutes 573 (9.55 hours)
Step classes 1
Yoga classes 5
Nia classes 1
Pushups on toes outside of teaching class:168

Goals for week 14:  Run according to Marathon schedule, which means a 9 mile run next Saturday and 2 3-5 mile runs.  Swim, bike and get on the elliptical during the week.  Complete all scheduled classes.

Week 12

The goals for week 12 were these:   Run, Bike, Swim and do elliptical further than the week before.  Keep eating well and paying attention to including ALL food groups in my diet.

Here is how the week went

Bad:  No measured distance of laps in a pool, but I did swim twice.

Great things about week 12:  All of my goals were met!!!  I ran a great amount of miles (met goals for marathon training).  Ran, biked and did elliptical further than week 10 and 11.  Even did a Yoga class.
Tried out the app on my phone called My fitness Pal since last Saturday and it has been awesome.  I am super pleased with it.  I have lost weight this week and I know it's because I'm finally eating right.  I saw a dietitian and she showed me that I wasn't eating enough on days that I work out hard.  We talked about the right amount of fats, proteins and carbs runners should take in.  I need more fats and I wasn't taking enough in.  Thus, why I was continuing to gain weight a little each week. Who would have known that I actually needed more fat in my diet?    I have followed her advice on foods I should have and I have tracked everything on My fitness pal for a week and lost 4 pounds.  Amazing.  After this I only expect to loose 2 pounds a week, but I'm excited because I feel amazing finally.  AND for the first time ever I totally understand how to eat.   I can eat whatever I want, as long as I take in a certain amount of fats, proteins, carbs and so on for me and my activity.  Days I work out hard, I may need 2600 calories, other days that I do next to nothing, then only 1460 calories.  So it varies and it WORKS!  Here's to another great week.

Monday:   Ran 5 miles in interval sprints, Biked 30 minutes, Elliptical 1.20 miles
Tuesday:  Swimming and stairs
Wednesday:  swimming and stairs, Ran 4.10 miles
Thursday:  1 mile run, body sculpt class,  Zumba class.
Friday:  1 hour biking, Elliptical .75 miles
Saturday:1 yoga class, 1 Zumba class, ran 8.06 miles
Sunday: Rest--walked 2.12 miles

Total Elliptical 1.95 miles
Biked 1 hour 30 minutes
Ran 18.16 miles
1 Body Sculpt Class
2 Zumba Classes
1 Yoga
Some swimming, no measured distance


Totals for year:
Elliptical 9.85 miles
Running 131.51 miles
Swam 11,867.30 + yards (6.74 miles)
Body Sculpt classes 27
Zumba classes 14
Biking minutes 558 (9.3 hours)
Step classes 1
Yoga classes 5
Nia classes 1
Pushups on toes outside of teaching class:168

Goals for week 13 are these:  complete all classes.  Swim laps of at least 2000 yards.  Run according to marathon schedule this week.  Bike at least an hour.

Week 11

Goals for Week 11were these:

Complete all scheduled classes, Run further than the week before, swim further than the week before, bike further than the week before.   Find a yoga class and do it.  Get on the elliptical and go further than last week.  Continue with eating well, as much clean eating as possible.  Try a new vegetable.

Good:  I ate pretty well, tried a new vegetable and ran 12.56 miles for the week.

Bad:  It was a rough week.  I didn't do all my scheduled classes since I was sick for one of them.  I didn't run, bike, swim or do elliptical further than the week before.  Heck I never even found a yoga class.  This week is pretty much a wash.  Crap and BAD.  But that's why I make goals one week at a time, so I only feel like a failure for one week.  This is how the week went and as I can see it started out amazing, but went seriously downhill after that.

Monday:  Body Sculpt, 7.21 mile run
Tuesday:  Body Sculpt
Wednesday:  Ran 2.10 miles
Thursday: Ran 1 mile, 1 Zumba class
Friday:  Rest
Saturday:  Ran 2.25 miles, walked a bunch, probably close to 2 miles.
Sunday:  Rest

Totals for year:
Elliptical 7.90 miles
Running 113.35 miles
Swam 11,867.30 yards (6.74 miles)
Body Sculpt classes 26
Zumba classes 12
Biking minutes 468
Step classes 1
Yoga classes 4
Nia classes 1
Pushups on toes outside of teaching class:168

So the new goals for week 12 are these:   Run, Bike, Swim and do elliptical further than the week before.  Keep eating well and paying attention to including ALL food groups in my diet.   Good news is I did start the week right with biking, elliptical and running so far for week 12, so if I continue week 12 this well, it will be an awesome week meeting all goals.

Shamrock Shuffle 3.17K--Iowa City, IA

The morning was super cold. Ok, not that bad, it was about 32 degrees, considering Iowa has only seen a few days above 30 degrees since November, but it was cold enough to have a few layers of running clothes on.

Friday night Kyle and Lisa arrived to stay at our home.  We let them stay in the Hawkeye room for fun!  You'd have to visit us to know what I'm talking about.  Anyway we all went shopping to get some fun St. Patrick's Day stuff to run in and then went to dinner together.

The guys found kilts.  Too funny.   They looked awesome.  This race was in our home town and only about a 5 minute drive.  I thought about running there, but it was so cold that I was afraid my clothes would be all wet with sweat and then I'd freeze before the race.  So I didn't run there.

Great points about the race:

Chip timed so you get an accurate time
Great Nike dri-fit shirt that I will wear again.
Bib for your scrapbook
Instant results that print out for your scrapbook
Food after the race--bananas, bagels, water.
Lots of door prizes!  I won $15 to Running Wild running store!
Lots of volunteers.

Jason and Kyle wore kilts

All four of us.  Such a fun morning.

Our cute socks and fun colored shoes.  Well except for Jason who forgot his
shamrock tights under his kilt and had boring shoes.  Next time Jason needs cool
socks too.

A quick shot of Lisa and I before the race, not sure what's up with my hair though, it was all pushed up from my ear band and I think looks funny like a muffin.  Oh well, can't look cute all the time.

Really nice shirts that fit true to the size.  This was the front of the shirt.

Back of shirt

Our race bibs

My final time was 19:12 which is a 9:45 pace per mile, placed 9th of 18 in my age group, 110th place overall out of 180 people and 49th out of 104 women.

Week 10 of 2014

At the start of 2014 I didn't make New Year's resolutions.  Why?   Because I've done that before and like most people I do well for about 3-4 weeks then the goal is gone.
Also because I like to make weekly goals and feel that when you make smaller goals you are more likely to achieve them.

I do have 3 main giant goals this year and those are:
1.   to complete a marathon this year and run most of the way if not all of it.
2.   to do my Sprint Triathlon in less time than I did it last year.
3.   complete an Olympic distance triathlon this year .

Plus my ultimate goal is to do a Half Iron Man.  If you have no clue what that is and kinda care, then click HERE.

Goals for Week 10 of 2014 were these: Swim once of 1000 yards or more. Run 3-4 times with total mileage of 14 miles or more. Do all your scheduled classes. Do a Yoga class. Bike at least 1 hour this week. Do more on the elliptical this week than last week. Do push ups outside of class and go for 60 of them! Continue with clean eating.

Here is how the week went:

Monday:  Body Sculpt
Tuesday:  Body Sculpt and 35 minutes biking
Wednesday:  Ran 4.15 miles
Thursday: Ran 1 mile before class,  2.05 miles after class.  1 Zumba class
Friday: Biked 15 minutes, Elliptical .75 mile, Body Sculpt Class
Saturday: Swam 1300 Yards, 7.04 miles ran, 1/2 mile elliptical   60 pushups on toes
Sunday:  Rest


Totals for the week:
Elliptical 1.25 miles
Ran 14.24 miles
Swam 1300 yards
3 Body Sculpt classes
50 minutes of biking
1 Zumba class
60 push ups on toes.

Bad things for the week:  I didn't do a Yoga class as planned.  I only biked 50 minutes instead of over an hour like I planned.

Good things for the week:   I felt like everything else went well.  I am eating better and feeling amazing.  The workouts are going well.  I was able to run my long run of 7 miles for my marathon training.

 Totals for year:
Elliptical 7.90 miles
Running 100.79 miles
Swam 11,867.30 yards (6.74 miles)
Body Sculpt classes 24
Zumba classes 11
Biking minutes 468
Step classes 1
Yoga classes 4
Nia classes 1
Pushups on toes outside of teaching class:168

Goals for Week 11
Complete all scheduled classes, Run further than the week before, swim further than the week before, bike further than the week before.   Find a yoga class and do it.  Get on the elliptical and go further than last week.  Continue with eating well, as much clean eating as possible.  Try a new vegetable.

week 9 of 2014

Goals for week 9 of 2014 were these: Run 4 times. Achieve mileage of 12-14 miles for the week. Get on the elliptical and go over a mile. Get on the bike at least twice and bike over an hour for the combined mileage. Swim once of 1000 yards or more. Continue with clean eating. Do pushups outside of class, 55 of them on toes. Take either Jason's Step or Pump class.

 This is how the week went:
 Monday: Body Sculpt and 1202.30 yards swam
Tuesday: 1.15 miles on the elliptical, 58 pushups on toes, Body Sculpt
Wednesday:3.68 miles running, 500 yards swimming.
Thursday: ran 3.0 miles, Zumba class Friday:Rest
Saturday:5.38 miles run, Biked 65 minutes Sunday:Rest


 Bad: I didn't do one of my Body Sculpt classes since it was cancelled. I didn't clean eat on Sunday. I didn't get on the bike at least twice. I didn't run 4 times. I never made it to Jason's class. Simply ran out of time. Took my daughter to get a pedicure during the time I could have taken his class. That was time better spent in my opinion!


 Good: I ran 3 times and had mileage of 12.06 miles! I did get on the elliptical and went over a mile. I did get on the bike and did 65 minutes. I did swim over 1000 yards once, but actually got in the pool a 2nd time for the week and did more yards. I ate almost perfectly for 5 days out of 7. I did pushups outside of class. I felt amazing this week!


 Totals for year:
Elliptical 6.65 miles
Running 86.55 miles
Swam 10,567.30 yards
Body Sculpt classes 21
Zumba classes 10
Biking minutes 418
Step classes 1
Yoga classes 4
Nia classes 1
Pushups on toes outside of teaching class:108


 Goals for Week 10: Swim once of 1000 yards or more. Run 3-4 times with total mileage of 14 miles or more. Do all your scheduled classes. Do a Yoga class. Bike at least 1 hour this week. Do more on the elliptical this week than last week. Do push ups outside of class and go for 60 of them! Continue with clean eating.