{Friday Fab 5-Juicing, Bear Trax 20k, Go Badgers, Oiselle, Trampled by Turtles}

Posted in Friday Fab 5 by sneaksandstilettos

Another crazy week, another day closer to spring weather. Or so we better be! Those of you living in the midwest and northeast I know you know exactly what I’m talking about.

{#1-Bear Trax 20k}

Even though I’ve been resting my foot for this past week I desperately felt the need to get a race on the calendar this spring. Last year at this point in the year I had already ran two marathons, a half marathon, and was about to run a couple more half marathons. This year I had a much more consistent training throughout the winter, but have had the nagging foot issue and have ran no races yet. I guess the positive is I bought more shoes that are flat. 🙂 Shoes make things better! Since I will be running my first 50k in early summer, I wanted to make sure I have several trail races on my training calendar. This will be the first one! Oh, and I’m scheduled to go skydiving the day before. AHHH…so excited!

{#2-Juicing}

I have been busy eating Easter candy in place of fruits and vegetable this week, so I had an overwhelming craving for fruits and veggies later in the week. Juicing is a great way to get a fast dose of lots of the good stuff. The recipes in this book are great, and I felt better immediately after…almost as if I had eaten a few less chocolate eggs. And we had been doing so well with keeping candy out of the house.

{#3-Trampled by Turtles…I know again}

Last Friday we went to our first Trampled by Turtles concert. Now I know I posted about this band last week, but they blew my mind. This is a band who is great on a recording, but phenomenal live. Ryan couldn’t believe how great they were live, too. Check them out!

{#4-Oiselle}

Through other bloggers I was introduced to this brand. I love the brands spirit, message and their running gear. This postcard came with an order from earlier this winter and its message (head up, wings out) has been following me around in my work planner. This year has been filled with so many new opportunities, challenges, and rewards. I’ve been carrying the postcard around to remind myself to keep my head up through the rough parts and keep my wings out to embrace the opportunities. I need the reminder sometimes (ok, who am I kidding…very often. I might as well tape the damn postcard to my shirt!) that even though new things can be scary and challenging, they can be so rewarding afterwards. BUT in order to get to the rewards, we have to have our wings out and head up and accept the challenges, not shy away. Being comfortable doesn’t usually take you as far as you could go with those wings! Trust me! Get those wings out.

{#5-Go Badgers}

Love my Badgers! Elite Eight baby! After last nights win we are moving on for the first time since 2005. Oh, and all my final four teams are still in the running! I probably just jinxed myself, but I’m excited (and Ryan only has two left). Go BuckY!

Happy Weekend!

I do plan to do some running this weekend…especially in the 60 degree weather on Sunday.

26Jan2014

{Wisconsin Marathon Training-Week 4}

Posted in Wisconsin Marathon Training by sneaksandstilettos

Despite less than stellar temperatures to train in this week, both Ryan and I had some solid runs this week.

Monday-6.25 miles + HIIT Workout (Sarah)

Post-run in my new favorite winter running jacket. More on the jacket later!

Cherry tomatoes, carrots, starfruit, mangos, apples, oranges, lemons, raspberries, blueberries, and, blackberries.

Getting a healthy dose of vitamins! We threw in some starfruit this week-yum!

I didn’t have school on Monday, so I had a chance to get in a solid run outside before the temperatures started dropping followed by a HIIT workout that left me sore for days. One of my new years resolutions was to add in a few HIIT workouts this year.

Tuesday-off
My whole body was sore from yesterday’s HIIT workout.

Wednesday-6 miles (Ryan)

Ryan ran at the gym at his school followed by a good lifting sessions. Then it was time to cheer on the Badgers during their upsetting loss to the Gophers. My legs were still sore today.

Thursday-6 miles (Both of Us)

His face says it all…treadmills are awesome. Awesome as in watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians with my wife.

We hit the gym today as it was too freezing outside to endure six miles (temps were below zero). It was not a fantastic run, but not terrible either. In all honesty, I am not totally confident I would have made it to the gym had it not been for Ryan. Having a training buddy is awesome. The time went by faster than I expected as I watched last week’s episode of The Good Wife on my iphone. Ryan still refuses music or specific TV reactions. What a weirdo! Or he is just significantly tougher than me. Probably the former.

Friday-3 miles (Sarah)
I took advantage of the warmest temperatures all week and ran after work. In a strange turn of events for Wisco winters, the temperatures actually increased throughout the day with the high temps occurring at 10:00 p.m. Even with warmer temps, the wind was fierce. After my run my muscle soreness returned. Very strange. I say very strange because I’ve never experienced random muscle soreness before. I also drank way more water than normal this week since purchasing my new water bottle. Staying hydrated is so important if you want to feel good while training. Take a fun bottle to work to encourage yourself to stay hydrated throughout the day.

Saturday-10 miles (Both of Us)

It was a familiar scene again…the gym and sore muscles (so weird). Ryan didn’t get home until 3:00, therefore we didn’t make it to the gym until 3:30, so we had to cut our run a mile short as the gym closed at 5:00. By the end I was so ready to be done. Outside runs are so much more interesting. My legs were very heavy and still sore so I didn’t mind. My quads felt like I had run a PR half marathon. I’ll spare you all the treadmill photos this week mostly because they shut off after an hour so I couldn’t capture a ten mile photo. You’ll just have to take my word for it.

Sunday-Skiing date for 4 hours instead of a 3 mile run
Most my muscle soreness was gone today. Ryan’s heel was feeling great. With more winter weather advisories and windchill warnings starting in the p.m. we wanted to get outside. We decided to hit the slopes to cross train instead of our 3 mile run. Windy, but so worth it to enjoy winter outdoors. The only downside of the 20-25 mph winds was some of the slopes were icy. Not much you can do. It was great to get some fresh air before we are trapped inside for the next couple of days. Looking at the forecast over the U.S. some of you southerns are in for some cold and winter too. Stay warm!

Warming up and where I sit writing this week’s training post.

Ryan & Sarah’s Tip of the Week-Like a newbie, I totally forgot to put on Body Glide prior to our ten mile treadmill run. Like a newbie, oh wait he is, Ryan didn’t put Body Glide on his nipples. As I felt the familiar rub and burn of chaffing setting in around mile six or seven on the treadmill, I knew I had messed up. It was around this time that Ryan mentioned his sore nipples. As I stepped in the shower post-run the all too familiar sting set in. For long runs where you will sweat (for most of you this is all long runs, unless you too live in the frigid North) make sure to lube up any areas that rub. For me this is under my sports bra’s elastic band, sometimes between my thighs, and even my feet. For guys this includes your chest and nipples. Ryan also says his chest chafes more when it is unshaved, so I guess guys shave your chest, too. Hopefully that last sentence is never advice I’m having to give from experience! Body Glide has been my go to since my first marathon in 2008 and has yet to fail me when I remember to put it on.

Week 4 Mile Totals-
Ryan-22 miles
Sarah-25.25 miles

Stay warm everyone! Happy Training!

31Dec2013

{2013 Goals in Review}

Posted in Uncategorized by sneaksandstilettos

Review of last years goals…
1) Cross train at least one day a week.

–>So spinning lasted a few months-until track started, I did start biking this summer and realized I like it, and I did start doing yoga…so I’d say that was mostly successful.

2) Beat my yearly half marathon number. Last year I ran 4. This year I’d like to run at least 5.

–>Even with my first DNF race ever (Dances With Dirt Half Marathon), I managed to race seven half marathons this year and earn an unintentional PR! Success.

3) Explore local races I’ve never done before.

–>In addition to getting to race in many places this year, I did try out 5 new races in my area. Loved doing that. Success

4) Continue lifting one to two times per week. I don’t like doing it, but I like it after.

–>Epic fail! Once I quit prepping for my PR marathon, so too ended the lifting. Other than a brief reinstatement while I was injured and couldn’t run, this goal was not achieved.

5) Do bodyfit five days a week.
–>See above!

6) Complete my double weekend (1/2 marathon and full marathon on Sat. and Sun.) in February with minimal setback in training.

–>Done! And with a positive experience that left me wanting to do it again.

7) Start making smoothies with veggies and fruits.

–> Juicer bought as anniversary gift. We tried many flavors and mixtures this year with many more to go!

8) Read more.

–> Not sure. I don’t think this happened. I sure had good intentions though. I have five books right now just waiting to be read.

9) Qualify for Boston.

Maybe if this had happened I’d have qualified.

–> Didn’t happen, but I came close (missed new qualifying standard by 1:36). In my second training attempt I badly sprained my ankle so there was not a second chance this year. I will accomplish this goal one day.

10) Enjoy the simple things.

–> Maybe?! Sometimes I did this, but far too often I get caught up in life and forget to slow down. Still a work in progress.

Tomorrow’s post…my 2014 goals. I’ve got some good ones!

9Sep2013

{Workout Recap}

Posted in Workout Recap by sneaksandstilettos

This past week I ran more miles than I have since mid-July. Some of these miles seem small compared to what I am used to running, but when I consider than I haven’t ran 5 days in a week in two months, I am grateful and feeling like myself again. Today’s long run was difficult. I am so out of shape, but I knew I just had to get it done. I put one foot in front of the other and held on for just over 13 miles WITHOUT music. My pace was slow for me. Keep in mind everyone runs a different pace. My slow might be your fast, and my fast might be your slow; the point-we all know how it feels when we run “our” slower than slowest pace. Today was about being mentally tough.

I feel surprisingly good tonight and my ankle is only moderately sore. I think it had something to do with the awesome juice we made in our juicer after our runs. The juice had 6 oranges, 4 apples, half a big bag of carrots, a lemon, 2 cups of blueberries, 2 cups of raspberries. The result=awesome!

This past week looked like this:

Monday-2.5 miles at cross country practice

Wednesday-3 miles at cross country practice + 6.25 miles on my own=9.25 miles

Thursday-1.5 miles at cross country

Friday-5 miles at cross country (in the 90 heat)

Sunday-13.13 miles (First run this long in 9 weeks!)

Total Weekly Miles=31.45

6 days to Big Cottonwood Marathon!!

30Aug2013

{Friday Fab 5}

Posted in Friday Fab 5 by sneaksandstilettos

{#1-Pool Party}

This past weekend we held our annual pool party. I love hosting parties with a theme and like beer, too. This beer tasting theme was a duh for us. We had snacks like beer bread and beer dip, pub mix, and wings (Honey BBQ and Buffalo) for starters. Later we had potato skins while I was making personal pizza crusts for people. Once the crusts were done friends added their choice of sauce and toppings before putting them on the grill. Dessert was Blue Moon Cupcakes (these were my favorite!) and VooDoo (Guiness) Cupcakes. I used another stout beer, VooDoo, in place of Guiness. I’ve linked the recipes I used in case anyone is interested. We had a great time!