{Wisconsin Marathon Training-Week 10}

Posted in Wisconsin Marathon Training by sneaksandstilettos

This week presented several opportunities for cross training and enjoying winter outside. Overall mileage was disappointing, but we moved our long run to tomorrow so we both felt more like running. Ryan has a cold and we both stayed up WAY too late on Saturday night. Staying up until 3:30 in the morning does not make you want to run your long run. Oops!

Monday-5 miles (Sarah)

Easy miles outside

Tuesday-8 miles (both I us)

Wednesday-Ice Skating for 1 hour

Thursday-4 miles

Friday-New Sneaks for both of us

Ryan needed new shoes and I forgot mine, so we stopped at a sporting goods store. Ryan tried on three pairs of shoes-Asics Gel Nimbus (too cushioned), Mizuno Wave Riders (not enough cushion/support), and the Brooks Glycerine (a perfect balance of cushion and support). I bought the latest version of the same shoe I have earlier versions of and love-Mizuno Wave Rider 17’s.

Saturday-6 mile snow trek to Apostle Island Sea Caves

After over four hours hiking through the snow and ice we were wiped. We decided to count those miles as our run.

A full post with lots of pictures coming later this week!

Sunday-Hour long yoga class
Moved our long run to Monday.

Ryan’s Tip of the Week-See Sarah’s tip

Sarah’s Tip of the Week-When training for your first marathon one of the most important purchases you will make is your running shoes. It is extremely important that you purchase shoes that fit your feet and your body. Initially I purchased shoes based on trial and error. Most shoes I’ve purchased, I’ve been very happy with minus a few exceptions. Over the years my shoe styles have changed slightly.

Training for my first few marathons I felt I needed the extra cushioning of the Asics Gel Nimbus for my joints. I also got lots of miles out of this style of shoe, usually around 450-500 miles, which did wonders for my wallet. I stuck with this style of for a long time. Once you find a shoe you love, buy multiple pairs. I often buy the same older style of shoe in multiple colors when the newer model comes out to save money.

It usually only takes buying the wrong shoe one time to make you realize how significant the right shoe is. Training for my second marathon I thought I needed a more expensive shoe since I was a more serious runner. I bought a “better” pair of shoes, or so I thought. Eight miles out on a sixteen mile out and back run and I was in significant pain. When I got home I had a blister on each arch, both two and a half inches in diameter. I had to drain the blisters multiple times a day, and the foolish act on my part left me sidelined from running for more than a week. Once you find a shoe you love, don’t think buying a more expensive pair is better. The best shoe it the one that fits you well.

As my training has progressed over the past years I wanted a less bulky and lighter shoe, but that would still provide comfort for long training runs. I found that perfect combination in the Mizuno Wave Rider’s. Every year they’ve updated the shoe I find they only get better.

When deciding on what shoes are right for you I’d recommend going to your local running store and having them perform a gait analysis while watching you run on a treadmill. With the right fitting shoe you can enjoy more pain-free miles, decrease your chance of injury, and perform even better on your runs. I also like to keep two pairs of running shoes in the rotation so the first pair can bounce back after a long run. This is also a benefit when the roads are wet and sloppy. Dry shoes make happy feet!

Total Weekly Miles-23 miles + ice skating + yoga class

Happy Training!

7Mar2014

{Friday Fab 5-ice skating, badgers, ice caves…}

Posted in Friday Fab 5, Uncategorized by sneaksandstilettos

Little less work this week and more time to play!
{#1-Ice Skating}

We were in Madison to go to a Badger game on Wednesday, and I knew there was a winter activity we had yet to accomplish-ice skating. For the first time in 16 years I laced up a pair of skates and hit the ice of the Tenney Park lagoons. It was my first time skating on a frozen body of water rather than a rink.

{#2-Go Badgers}

March Madness is almost here! Badgers D was looking much better than earlier this season.

{#3-Go West}

Now that these babies arrived intense planning for our summer road trip is under way! Any suggestions are requested!

{#4-Solid Miles Ran}

With taking almost an entire week off from running last week, I can happily say it felt AMAZING to get outside and run some miles this week. Our 8 mile run on Tuesday felt like nothing as the miles ticked by. Let’s hope the same can be said for our long run this weekend.

{#5-Apostle Island Ice Caves}

Credit: Philip Schwartz Photography
Today is a half day at school for parent teacher-conferences, so we are headed north after to visit the ice caves. I’ve alway wanted to go, and last weekend we missed out going with some friends, so we are taking advantage of one more winter weekend outdoors!

Happy Weekend!

3Mar2014

{Motivation Monday-More Bang For Your Buck}

Posted in Motivation Monday by sneaksandstilettos

Tight on time this week, but want to get in a quality workout? Looking to burn a set number of calories in less time? Running short on time for that last mile on your training plan. Whenever I run on the treadmill I always set the incline to at least 1% to better simulate the uneven ground I’d be running on if I were completing the same distance outdoors. I never thought about the workout also burning more calories until I came across this chart. By increasing the incline on the treadmill you challenge your body to work harder and burn more calories.

Check out the chart below to see how you can up the challenge and calorie burn on our next indoor run. Adding in a variety of inclines throughout the workout will make your muscles work in new ways and better simulate outdoor running. Changing up the incline on your run will also help cut down on boredom and the feeling of wanting to throw your iPhone at the wall on yet another treadmill run this winter.

Happy Monday!

2Mar2014

{Wisconsin Marathon Training-Week 9}

Posted in Wisconsin Marathon Training by sneaksandstilettos

For me I would call this the training week that wasn’t. I ran one day this week…and I don’t even feel (that) bad. I know, what happened? Work. Work happened. I put in 80 hours at school this week in crunch mode between grading with mid-quarter grades due in a few days and cramming with kids to prepare for their Science Olympiad competition. I typically spend 10-11 hours at school or working on school stuff on a school day. This week I spent 12 hours at school Monday through Thursday. Friday I got to school at 7:15 a.m. and left at 11:45 p.m. after which I put in another 30 minutes at home for a total of 17 hours. Saturday I was up at 4:30 a.m., left the house at 5:00 to get school vans gassed and loaded, spent all day at our competition (which went well), and returned home at 7:00 p.m. for a total day of 14 hours.

Today I woke up with a pounding headache, a nauseous stomach, and just felt bad. My body was coming down from a week fueled by constant caffeine, adrenaline, nerves, and sugar. I spent all morning laying in bed and on the couch trying to get my head to stop feeling like I drank two bottles of wine the night before (which I didn’t, but sadly I do know how that feels). I finally started feeling better this afternoon, but not enough to run on a treadmill. It is once again below zero here. Shocker right?!

The positive to the week off from running is my foot feels almost perfectly normal. I doubt that would be the case had it not been for the extra work load this week. Normally I would be a freaking mess at missing this weeks miles, but oddly I’m not. I’m too mentally exhausted to care. It was a down week in miles for us too which helps. I worked my arse off this week and deserve to give myself a break over missed runs. I should be content with my own miles since ultimately no one else cares!

There is someone who had a solid workout week. That my friends, would be Ryan. Below are his workouts from the week. He is doing so awesome training for his first marathon. Not that I’m surprised, but yet I am slightly. He is so motivated, undeterred, and in shape. His body is responding to the miles just the way a runner would hope it to.

Monday-4 miles on treadmill (Ryan)

Tuesday-5 miles on treadmill (Ryan)

Wednesday-Ryan lifted

Thursday-4 miles (both of us)

We had a solid run on the treadmill. I was in a weird, stressed, and pissed mood so I ran intervals to some new party-pumping songs and rocked out 4 miles in 32 minutes. I was not pissed after.

Friday-Ryan lifted

Sunday-12 miles on treadmill (Ryan)

Ryan’s Tip of the Week-Don’t train for a spring marathon in Wisconsin. It was below zero all week. Kidding…sort of!

Sarah’s Tip of the Week-Don’t stress over a week off from running if it is for a good reason such as injury, emergency, or a work load that just won’t let it happen. One week off from running is not enough to have major cardiovascular or muscle strength/endurance loss. More than a week and you will experience setbacks. There is a difference between making excuses and truly not being able to run. I literally had no time on any day this week. Even my lunches were spent fundraising for my students’ team. If I used work as an excuse all the time, then that is exactly what it would be-an excuse. The important thing is to get back to your training plan right away. Like stat (as long as you are not injured)!

Ryan’s Total Weekly Miles-25

Sarah’s Total Weekly Miles-4

27Feb2014

{Friday Fab 5-Map/Photo Wall Art, Med City Half Marathon, Reading…}

Posted in Friday Fab 5 by sneaksandstilettos

This week has been super busy. Thank goodness I had some time last Saturday to hang pictures, read, and relax!

{#1-Map and Photo Wall Art}

I finally had time to hang photos from our travels around the U.S. I love how the wall turned out. Love, as in I stop and stare at it as I pass by! Photos on the bottom are from the south, photos on right are from eastern U.S., top photos north, etc. The open space is just waiting to be filled with photos of our trip west this summer!

{#2-Time to Read}

And enjoy the new wall art. It wasn’t as much time to relax as I’d hoped, but I took what I could get before my crazy week.

{#3-No Contacts or Makeup}

Relax time meant wearing glasses and no makeup. You will likely never see this bare face again. I wear makeup EVERYWHERE. Always have and likely always will. Props to those of you who don’t, but this girl isn’t that brave!

{#4-Date Night Pizza}

Monday brought an unexpected date night as I needed to buy some last minute supplies for the Science Olympiad kids I coach. The actual date was 20 minutes, but it was great to check in with the mr.

{#5-Med City Half Marathon}

Also a surprise this week was registering for this half marathon on May 25th in Rochester. A friend texted me earlier this week wanting to get a group to run together. I love racing (especially with others) so I was definitely in. It will serve as my last easy long run the Sunday before my big race-Chester Woods 50k!

Anyone have any fun, unexpected race plans that were a blast?

Happy Weekend!

24Feb2014

{Motivation Monday-We are Marathoners (or Half Marathoners, or 10kers, or 5kers)}

Posted in Motivation Monday by sneaksandstilettos

When trying to plan another state to cross off the list yesterday, I came across this video sponsored by Asics (my first love in running shoes). The video so reminds me of what an awesome group of people runners are. The comradery of a group focused on a singular goal-all with different journey’s getting there is never lost on me. Watch and enjoy. #betteryourbest this week!

Happy Monday!

23Feb2014

{Wisconsin Marathon Training-Week 8}

Posted in Wisconsin Marathon Training by sneaksandstilettos

Another week of training is over.

Tuesday-4 miles (Ryan), I rested the foot

Wednesday-7 miles, Ryan lifted

The weather was glorious. I seriously felt some warmth radiating off the ground and smelled that warm smell that comes with spring. I soaked up as much of this bliss as I could in preparation for the impending rain, sleet, and snow that was coming Thursday and Friday.

Thursday-4 miles at the gym
As hinted at above, the weather conditions were anything but stellar. When the sleet is instantly freezing into ice when it hits the ground it is time to go inside. I’m so glad we did. We had an easy four on the treadmill, and I was able to up the pace a bit since we were running on a flat and even surface. I was surprised how easy the pace felt as I started to increase the speed a mile into my run. To ease boredom and preserve mental energy for future winter runs outside this weekend, I ran my first mile at warmup speed, then at 1 mile I increased the speed every tenth of a mile by .1 miles per hour. At two miles I ran at 8 mph for a mile, then lowered the pace to 7.5 mph, and started my decent downward, lowering the speed .1 mph every tenth of a mile until I got to 7 mph. We finished our four miles in 33 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this felt. Great to know those outdoor winter miles are paying off.

The best part of going to the gym was seeing a friend who inspired me to run my first marathon. She had a baby six weeks ago and worked out her entire pregnancy. The night before she delivered her beautiful baby girl she was at the gym working out on the elliptical bump and all. This Thursday she was working out on the elliptical again, this time baby girl was strapped to her in a front carrier. She was rocking out a nice and easy workout while baby girl was instantly lulled to sleep by the soothing motion of the elliptical. Way to go fit mama! Such a wonderful and inspiring person!

Friday-7 miles (Ryan on treadmill)
Ryan had a strong run on the treadmill. His miles have increased by a fair amount, but his body is adapting to the work load well. He felt a bit stiff going into Saturday’s long run, but nothing major.

Saturday-13 miles (Ryan) and 9 miles (Sarah)
Where do I begin with this run. We knew it was going to be cold and slippery and snowy on our long run today, but we were optimistic because the sun was shining. Steps into our run we encountered slippery roads and we both almost fell. As we approached the lake we were met with snow drifts and wind gusts from across the lake. Our path is below.

We pushed onward still determined to get this run done. We were slip sliding every few blocks, but most the time this induced laughter as we made fun of each other. Miles 1, 2, 3 ticked by. Soon we were hitting miles 4 and 5. The run actually was going pretty well. We found a bike path that was bare in few rare spots or snow-covered in others so we were able to get some traction with our shoes. However, they say all good things must come to an end.

As we headed into mile six and turned directions, the direction of this run took a dramatic shift. We ran the next four miles into head on winds. The wind had also made this part of the bike path very slippery. Some parts were all ice, which was making our hips sore. We were freezing cold. By mile eight my legs, arms, and face felt numb. I likened the experience to what the tin man must have felt without oil. My mind was telling my legs and arms to go, but they just didn’t want to.

When we got back to the house to get a drink, I was done. I was frozen to the bone. Near tears. It just wasn’t fun. Running shouldn’t be that unbearable; it just wasn’t worth the extra few miles I was supposed to run. I knew I could run those miles if I had to, but today I didn’t. I checked the weather forecast and found out why it felt so damn cold. It might say 20, but it felt all of 6. The wind was terrible.

The wind was relentless.

Ryan being in his first marathon training mode, headed back outside to finish four more miles. I don’t know how he did it. He came back talking in explicatives and unkind words about running. I had taken a warm shower and was sitting in a cozy blanket by the fireplace reading an issue of Trail Runner magazine. I think we all know who made the smarter choice here.

Sunday-5 miles (Sarah), Ryan lifted
Ryan had a rest day since he actually followed the training plan this week, unlike me. He felt a bit sore today, but totally earned it with the mileage he put in this week. I’ve heard almost no complaining of muscle soreness, aches, pains, etc. from him which must mean he feels pretty good. I feel great muscle wise, and my foot feels better with each passing day.

Ryan’s Tip of the Week-Don’t let weather by your excuse for missing workouts. Have a gym membership or pay a daily fee when the weather gets too cold or slippery. Having the option available helps you stay committed to your training plan no matter what the weather is like.

Sarah’s Tip of the Week-Listen to your body. With first time marathon training sometimes it is hard to decide whether the aches and pains you feel are really an injury or your body just getting used to higher mileage. My rule of thumb has always been if the pain feels sharp, intense, or worsens with continued activity it is time to rest, ice, compress, elevate, and get it looked at if it lasts more than a few days without improvement. If the pain is more of an ache or muscle soreness, then I try to run through it and make sure to stretch or get it massaged by a certain training partner. I’m no doctor that’s for sure, but this is what has worked for me. Please listen to YOUR body and do what YOU feel is best.

My foot still hurts a bit today, but is feeling much better than it did all week. I sat out a couple of runs this week to give my foot some rest time. I also lucked out with dress up days at school and was able to incorporate running shoes into three days of dress up (blaze orange day, twin day, and favorite occupation-Olympic Runner.) Wearing supportive shoes gave my foot the rest it needed to heal faster. Pushing through the pain might have left me sitting out for weeks at a time. Better to miss a few runs than miss a few weeks of running. Plus, Ryan said he’d be ticked at me if I really hurt myself and couldn’t run the marathon.

Ryan’s Total Miles-35 miles

Sarah’s Total Miles-25 miles

Happy Training!

21Feb2014

{Friday Fab 5-Running Route Art, BTN 10k, Truths, Words to Think About, …}

Posted in Friday Fab 5 by sneaksandstilettos

{#1-Running Route Art}

Monday I wrote about the awesome running app I use each week, Runkeeper. Statistician, Nathan Yau, from FlowingData gathered data about running routes in major cities using public information from the Runkeeper App. From the data, maps were created of various running routes. The darker or thicker areas of maps represent more popular routes, while lighter or thinner routes are less traveled. Check it out for your next vacation or to hang on your wall.

{#2-Words to Think About}

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot of excuses from people. I can’t do this because… It won’t work out because… I was going to, but then… What if we forgot all those reasons, and we just did it? Accomplished it. Achieved the goal!

{#3-More Picky Bars}

This week’s new flavor I tried was Lauren’s Mega Nuts. If you like peanut butter, then you’ll love this flavor.

{#4-Truth}

{#5-Big Ten Network 10k}

Nothing says love like running together. Since the husband and I are both big Badger fans, and I love Chicago, this race was a perfect one to add to the race calendar. I first heard about this race through Run with Jess‘s blog. Her goal to run a half marathon in every state is inspiring and she is midwest Badger fan! The registration fees were part of our v-day gifts for each other. Over the past few years we are much more interested in buying experiences to do together for holidays and birthdays rather than a material gift. I CAN’T wait to run this 10k. It looks like so much fun! Go Bucky!

Anyone have any fun races you’d recommend to others?

Happy Friday?

17Feb2014

{Motivation Monday-Runkeeper App}

Posted in Motivation Monday by sneaksandstilettos

An app I’ve had for a couple years that I find super useful and motivating is the Runkeeper app. In warmer weather I often use it to track my miles as I run so I only have to bring my iPhone along on my run. In winter months the phone battery won’t last, so I rely on my Garmin. Despite not using the app all winter to track my actual runs, I still use it to log my activities after each run. Tracking my weekly, monthly, and yearly miles is very motivating to me.

This winter my motivation has been all over the place so this has really helped me. Knowing I will get to enter my miles into Runkeeper after a run has motivated me to complete runs I might have other wise skipped. I also find myself wanting to run further than the month before or complete more activities than the month before. After entering each run it automatically calculates my progress towards the yearly goal I made for myself (to run 1500 miles). Seeing that percentage increase and the bar grow keeps me wanting to run my miles.

I also love the graphics and home screen. Looking over data from past years is encouraging, too. If you don’t have the app or don’t use it often consider using it to track your future runs and measure your progress!

Happy Monday!

16Feb2014

{Wisconsin Marathon Training-Week 7}

Posted in Wisconsin Marathon Training by sneaksandstilettos

and in the snow, ice, and slush!

Let me preface this post with what an awesome week of miles I had. I’m excited to see my miles increasing, and to be feeling as in shape as I do.

Tuesday-4 miles (Sarah)

Even though most weeks in January I was a few miles under my weekly mileage goal on my training plan, I’m really feeling strong going into February. Today’s 4 mile run felt so easy and effortless. Yoga on Sunday definitely helped stretch out some tight muscles. Running through snowy and icy miles throughout the winter has also helped build endurance for runs where I get some sections of bare road like tonight.

Wednesday-4 miles

Wednesday was four easy miles. Ryan had parent-teacher conferences two nights this week and reffed baseketball a different night, so he didn’t get many miles in during the week. We both planned to hit the weekend up for miles.

Friday-5 romantic miles…err something like that (both of us)

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After an easy five miles and a little romantic sunset, we came home and got ourselves ready for a night out and dueling pianos with friends. I’ve been to dueling pianos in Minneapolis several times, once in Austin (amazing!), and a couple other smaller places, but never locally. They were good, and dueling pianos is always a great time.

Saturday-7 snowy miles (both of us)

After enjoying myself perhaps a bit too much the night before it was amazing that I ran seven miles on Saturday. Once I got myself out the door, the miles flew by. Ryan and I had so much to talk about, the snow was falling lightly, and we just enjoyed the run. We talked about how we love to run in freshly falling snow. It surprisingly isn’t all that slippery, has such a silent beauty, and there is a rhythmic relaxation to the sound of your own crunching feet hitting the ground. Even though I didn’t feel the greatest earlier in the day, sometimes you just have to do something!

Sunday-14 miles (both of us) Ryan’s longest run ever!

To fuel up for today’s run we went to brunch. I had whole grain blueberry banana pancakes, apple chicken sausages, and egg beaters. The pancakes were amazing! I forgot how much I love fruit and pancakes together. This was the perfect pre-run fuel.

Despite fueling properly pre-run, I have to honestly say I was not looking forward to my run. The weather was sunny and probably the warmest its been this year (24 degrees), so I’m not sure exactly what my funk was. I am just really getting sick of running in the snow. The night before it was all silent and peaceful. I knew today the snow would be packy, slippery, slushy, and hard to run in. I was exactly right.

My foot has also been bothering me all weekend. I have no idea what is going on with it, and the pain isn’t intense, so I did what any runner does…and ran through it. We’ll find out if that was a good idea Monday morning I’m sure. Again, not all things I do are advice for others.

To make this long run seem less daunting, Ryan’s longest EVER, we broke it into two halves. The first seven miles were decent. The snow and slush was annoying, but there was some open road. Ryan and I chatted some of the time, while other parts we were silent. I think he was afraid to poke the bear-that was me :(.. Luckily I snapped out of it after a few miles. For part of the first seven miles I wasn’t sure if I’d finish as my foot was sore.

Halfway through our run, we stopped at the house to grab a drink, a GU, and for Ryan to apply some Body Glide to his foot. He had a hot spot started, and we wanted to prevent it from becoming a full on blister. Then we were back on the road. I brought my music with for the second half. Music is so motivating to me and makes my runs significantly more fun, feel easier, and go quicker. Ryan still refuses music for reasons I still don’t completely understand, but everyone trains differently. Some runs and races I don’t use it, but most of the time I enjoy my runs more with music. I made sure to belt parts of every chorus out so Ryan would know what song was playing at all times. I’m sure he loved it!

We both took GU’s at mile 10 to prevent the long run hangry experience we had with our 12 mile long run two weeks ago. Properly fueling before and during the run made these miles so much more enjoyable. Enjoying runs also builds confidence that you can complete the entire 26.2 distance. Ryan and I both felt great on our run. When asked about his training so far, Ryan says he feels strong, in shape, and confident about the marathon distance. I feel like the 14 miles was not a challenge, and that I could have easily ran 20 with some more open road. Now I’m sure I just jinxed my next 20 miler. I am fairly superstitious when it comes to running.

My foot is still sore, so we will see what develops from that. Hopefully I’ll have nothing to report back. If I do, I blame Ryan and his heel incident as I’ve NEVER had a foot problem before. I know there is no way the heeled wedges I wore to work followed by stilettos I wore Friday night to dueling pianos have anything to do with the pain (17 hours in heels). I wear heels often so I’m seriously doubting it, but who knows. I’m optimistic it will be back to normal in a day or two!

Post-run hydration-Fruit Punch Nuun for me, Grape Nuun for Ryan.

Ryan’s Tip of the Week-Train with a partner who is reliable and encourages you to complete your workouts. Train with someone who doesn’t make excuses for why not to do a workout. If you don’t have someone to train with, then find someone who shares a common goal or interest of running to discuss your training and workouts. Hearing about another person’s training can both reassure and motivate you in your own training.

Unfortunately, Ryan’s advice this week also applies to me. I wasn’t very encouraging before our long run. I actually suggested multiple alternatives to running our long run even though I didn’t really want to skip the run (much). Once I get going, I’m all lovin’ every minute of it. It is just the getting going part that gets me sometimes. Ryan helped ME a lot to get my butt out the door. I’ll work harder next week to not whine and complain before our long run. It should be noted that during the long run I was completely supportive. 😉

Sarah’s Tip of the Week-Make a playlist of songs you like, that are upbeat, and that motivate you to push yourself and complete those miles. Music is one of my biggest motivators. Having the right songs on my playlist can make or break a longer run. I change up my playlists every month or two to incorporate new songs and so I don’t get bored. Some songs make it a year on my playlist while others only last a month or two. Once a song loses its mojo, its gone. This keeps my playlists new and exciting all year round. My current long run playlist is below! Don’t judge!

Week 7 Total Miles-
Ryan-26 miles
Sarah-34 miles

Happy Training!

*All opinions are my own. I’ve not been paid or compensated in any way for any products mentioned in this post. They are simply favorites of mine I’d recommend to other runners.