So…I’ve clearly been slacking on the blog posts lately…life
gets busier = Jen is a bad blogger J I’m well overdue for an update, and to
anyone who reads this-I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I CAN’T believe it’s December 1st! This year flew by (even though I pretty much
say that every year).
The past couple of months I’ve been enjoying just running,
without training for anything specific.
I ran the Gilbert Half Marathon a couple weeks ago and ran a PR of
1:39:21. I wasn’t shooting for a PR that
race, since my calf had still been acting up some…but I felt good most of the
race and just went for it. I have a
really really really hard time entering a race to “just run for fun” without
getting competitive with myself.
Something I’m working on J
Last weekend I FINALLY registered for the Phoenix Marathon,
which is 13 weeks from last Saturday.
Pretty sure it’s time to start training J…so I finalized a
training plan over the weekend, and officially began today. Running just for the sake of running is fun,
but I was starting to crave more structure again. I’m keeping my plan pretty similar to what I did to train for St.
George, with a few tweaks. I also plan
on continuing with my cross training in the same way that I did last time, if
things go according to plan J
Monday morning is still reserved for speed work, so I kicked
off my training with some treadmill mile repeats after a few miles outside to
warm up. I love love love the
adrenaline rush of speed work. No other
workout makes me sweat as much, and that feeling at the end of that last
interval is just awesome. Ohh how I
missed thee. Feeling awesome after a good run...
This time through, I AM going to give a lot more attention
to yoga. It’s generally been more of a
once-in-awhile-when-I-feel-like-it kind of thing, but I’m going to start
incorporating it weekly into my routine.
I’ve done some of THESE videos before from Runner’s World,
and they are great because they are not too long, but they make me feel all
stretched and relaxed after.
This time of year, people start to get worried about not
gaining weight over the holidays. One
of the best ways to stay on track…train for a marathon over the holidays!!
(kidding….J
) Seriously though, in my opinion it
doesn’t need to be a big deal. These
are the things I think about when faced with tons and tons of food choices
during this season:
1. Eat the foods that you enjoy, that are specific to the season. No need to deprive yourself of all fun
treats-just try and choose ones that aren’t available all year round. Just because the M&M’s are in a plastic
candy cane, or the cookies have green frosting doesn’t mean they are any
different than the M&M’s or cookies available year-round. Those special treats that you just love…eat
them and enjoy them. Eat them slowly
and really taste them. If you eat it
quickly and in a distracted way, it’s defeating the purpose of enjoying it in
the first place!
2. Plan your workouts.
As we (myself included) get busier, planning is so much more
important. Schedule times when you know
you can work out and commit to them.
Sometimes that sweat session is all you need to re energize.
3. Don’t go to parties or events hungry. No need
to “save calories” for big events…because then you lose touch with what
your body needs and just go into it starving and likely to overeat and feel
sick.
4. The holidays are about family and friends and memories, not
about obsessing over food choices or trying to do it perfectly. Life is already too short. If you want the pie, eat the pie, just maybe
not the entire pie J It all comes
down to balance…don’t deprive yourself.
(and other holidays)
Are you training for any upcoming races??
What is your favorite holiday food??