Mid-week Musings

If you follow me on Facebook then you’ve seen a few posts of things that have caught my interest. In the rare instances I have a few spare minutes, I like to scour the internet for current events, interesting stories, random ramblings.

And here are few things I’ve come across–

Oprah Bashing

My buddy Sara@Running On Healthy wrote a very interesting post (all her posts are interesting) about an article she read on how Oprah ruined the marathon. This guy wrote how Oprah caused a surge in interest in people to run a marathon.

So what, you ask?

Well, the author basically says that because of Oprah, the marathon is no longer competitive and American marathon times have plummeted because regular Joes think they can run it and are running it but according to him, in absurdly slow times.

Wait, what??? People are interested in running? People want to challenge themselves and do something different? People want to do something…..good for them??

And this is bad???

I never understand people who get upset at those wanting to better themselves. I get being concerned they do things the right way, the healthy way, but to blame people for the “demise of the marathon” just because they’re not fast? That is what’s absurd.

This ties in to something else I came across.

Excuses??

I’m a pop culture kinda gal and like to be in the know all things celebs, so every now and again I check out People.com. There was an article about a woman the other day who posted this photo on her Instagram account.

The mom got so. much. backlash.

And if I’m going to be completely honest with you, I don’t feel a whole lot sorry for her. While I do not think women should be criticized for their commitment to staying fit, there’s something about the “no excuse” mantra trend that’s been going around that kind of bugs me.

Kids are not an excuse. I know that many women want to work out but because of life, they’re just not able to. It’s. not. an. excuse.

People always tell me how much they admire my commitment to running considering I have a full-time job, two kids, and a husband who enjoys my company. It’s definitely tough balancing everything and yeah, I find time to make it all work, but I’m not going to sit here and say that it’s easy and that anyone can do it. That everyone else who is not working out is making an excuse. I would never want to make other moms feel guilty–I have no idea what they’re going through. What I do know is how difficult it is finding time and a way to prioritize yourself (no matter how important you know it is).

I think had this mom used a different slogan, catch phrase, caption, words of advice, something a little more encouraging, inspirational—beside the “no excuse” thing, I’d be more apt to defend her. I admire any woman who commits themselves to fitness, mom or not. It’s what motivates me to keep at it.

The photo is motivating. The words are not.

Ultra Crazy?

Finally, I found this article on msn.com about this guy from San Francisco who ran 7 marathons, in 7 continents, in 7 days.

Yes, you read that correctly.

At first, I was like, “Coooool!” Then, I was like, “Oooooouch!”

It’s called the World Marathon Challenge and 11 other people made the attempt.

At one point, Durbin, the American runner, ran 3 marathons on less than 9 hours of sleep! Could you imagine??? He said that he started feeling the effects of the running and travel before his 5th race in Morocco. Lactic Acid anyone? The first race in Antarctica did a number on his body — because of the extreme temperatures — and the last one in Australia. Talk about extremes.

Isn’t that insane?

I’m exhausted just reading about it.

——————————————

So, those were a few things that caught my eye this past week. What are your thoughts them?

–Did Oprah ruin the marathon? (She’s motivated the hell outta me; I’m still gunning for her time!)

–Was it poor word choice on @SuperAbs mom?

–Would you consider a World Marathon Challenge? (And we thought Dopey was tough!) (Wait, I still do!)

Week 11 Marathon Training Recap

It’s the 5 week countdown!

Last week was pretty productive considering I’d run a speedy 1/2 marathon on Sunday.

Monday, I went out for an easy 3 miler (9:39) to shake the legs off from the previous day’s race.

I met up with my run club on Tuesday and got in the 5 miler I had scheduled (9:22). My husband ran as well and we enjoyed this beautiful sunset

Photo: ABC 15's Facebook page

Photo: ABC 15’s Facebook page

Wednesday we were supposed to continue our Yasso’s at the track but the high school had a soccer game. I ended up doing 3 negative split miles around a local park: 9:34, 9:14, 8:44

Thursday and Friday I foam rolled, stretched, and rested. It’d been 4 days straight of running and I wanted to make sure all was well for…..

Saturday‘s 20 miler!!

My plan had been to run part of the 20 on the actual course but–I was in a car accident on Friday. I’m okay; it was just a fender bender (and my kids weren’t in the car, thankfully!) but I was pretty shaken up and not at all comfortable being away from home so early in the morning. My car (barely 2 months old 😦 ) got some rear end damage…

So, I hit the good ‘ol canals nearby and met up with a friend, who was also doing twenty, at 5 o’crazy clock in the morning.

I loved that my buddy is pretty much the same pace as me so it was a stress free run. I struggle running with people faster than me because 1. I don’t like feeling like I’m slowing them down and 2. I don’t like pushing myself unnecessarily trying to keep up.

There was none of that on Saturday as my buddy Jen and I cruised along stopping for a quick Gu break every 5 miles (and a bathroom break at mile 17). We knew we wanted to take it easy and not over exert ourselves on this long run–no need for speed here.

For the most part, we stayed within our desired pace of 9:45-10:00 with the occasional over 10 minuters that didn’t bother us at all.

We talked and laughed and sometimes ran silently and it was just an overall peaceful run. I really could not believe that I could honestly enjoy 20 miles, but I did!

We were feeling so good that at the end we felt we could pick it up a bit and our last mile, mile 20, clocked in at 9:18!

I experienced 0 cramps (a first for me in a run of that distance) and overall felt pretty good. I mean, I didn’t feel like I could go do another twenty, but if it’d been race day, I certainly felt I could have gone another 6.2. I was just really happy that I ran it conservatively, comfortably, and that I finished feeling like I still had something left in the tank.

20 miler 1 of 2: DONE!

20 miler 1 of 2: DONE!

The rest of the day was actually a busy one. My daughter had soccer

My sassy soccer player <3

My sassy soccer player ❤

and it was 2 weeks in a row of Anna and Elsa!

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Me and 3 princesses (again)

 

It was Frozen/snow day at my kids’ school on Saturday–Unfortunately, my son was napping and missed out on the fun 😦 but, he did get a haircut when he woke up! 🙂

My lil handsome stud

My lil handsome stud

Overall, a busy and productive week!

Total Miles: 31.04 When I uploaded my runs to GarminConnect, I saw that I had reached 100 miles! This totally shocked me as I hadn’t been trying nor has it felt like a 100 mile month.

There's still a week left!

There’s still a week left!

Water Intake: D-

Eeeek :(

Eeeek 😦

How was your running week? Do you track your monthly miles?

Have you been doing better than me at hydrating?

Who was the last character/famous person you had your picture taken with?

Week 8 Marathon Training Recap–Halfway there!!

Wow. Time has been a-flying!

I can’t believe I just finished week 8 and am now counting DOWN the weeks til Phoenix Marathon!

2 DAYS AWAY!!

#itsgoingdownatphx

 

I’m pretty pumped 😀

So, this was my last week of vacation from work and again, I took full advantage of the time off.

Monday, I got in a tough 6 miler on the treadmill. It’d been a while since I’d gotten on one of those things and I could definitely feel it. I still was able to maintain a good pace at 9:22/mile though which pleased me.

I took the day off on Tuesday but I wanted a good last run of 2014 so on Wednesday I headed out for a neighborhood run..

my adios run to 2014

my adios run to 2014

With two kids, very young kids, we were in bed on New Year’s Eve at 9. We try every year to make it to 10 to at least see the ball drop in New York but this year, it just didn’t happen. We were out! And sure enough, at 5 on the dot, my son woke up and woke us up for the first day of 2015 🙂 So, Thursday I hung out with the fam, relaxed, and welcomed the new year.

My kids went to school on Friday and I took advantage of a free morning to get in a cold 5 miler with friends.

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#frozen

My buddies made me work! I don’t know why this pace was so hard; I’ve done it before, but I was def lagging behind them on this one. I’m blaming the cold.

I was worried running, and running so fast, would mess with my long run planned the next day. It was my dreaded 16 miler that for some reason has always given me trouble. My last 16 miler when I trained for MCM was very respectable at a 10:06/mile pace but when I get to mile 16 in the marathon (the two that I’ve done) it’s where I start to go downhill–and not good downhill lol.

But this time I was ready. Like I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, I’ve really been working on my fueling and it was on this run that I really put it to test.

So Saturday morning, my alarm went off at crazy o’clock (4:15) and I met up with some friends (aka: other crazy people) who I was able to convince to meet up at 5 to start our long run.

It was effing cold (I wore 3 layers) and we didn’t chat much but got straight to it.

I was doing great, the miles were going fast, and at mile 6 we met up with our other run club friends who were starting at 6 a.m. Here, I made a pit stop to use the potty.

As I got back into the run, I took my first Gu. The whole thing. At mile 12, again, took my second planned Gu. All of it.

Other times I’ve barely squeezed out half of one in a long run such as that.

But this is a new and determined Helly–I ate all that shi-stuff.

By the time I got to mile 14, I was so pumped that I had made it that far and only had 2 miles left. I was rocking this long run!

And then I was done!

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I totally felt like a BEETH after finishing that run 😀

On Sunday was my usual Bun Day (and leg). I’ve been working my quads in prep of that eternal downhill that is Phoenix Marathon…I did take it easy though because I was suuuuper tired from Saturday.

Overall, this was one of my best running weeks ever! Each run I was able to keep pace and feel good. I finished off December with 103 miles and the year with exactly 1000.

Total mileage for this week: 34.09

Oh, and I’m happy to report that I met my water goal the last three days. After seeing the poor water drop’s sad face I couldn’t let that happen again lol!

Happy Mr. Water Drop! Or as Salt refers to him: Party Drop :D

Happy Mr. Water Drop! Or as Salt refers to him: Party Drop 😀

How was your running week?

When’s the last time you’ve felt like a BEETH?