Nothing like starting your day with 30 minutes of pain and pancakes.

Let’s rewind to Tuesday morning——>  My run was 30 minutes long and it definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone.  

My coach’s instructions for the run:  

“Start with dynamic drills first.  To find your Lactic Threshold Heart Rate do a 30-minute time trial all by yourself outside on a flat course – the track is a good place to do this. No training partners and not in a race.  Again, it should be done as if it was a race for the entire 30 minutes. But at 10 minutes into the test, click the lap button on your heart rate monitor. When done, look to see what your average heart rate was for the last 20 minutes. That number is an approximation of your LTHR.”

Improving your lactate threshold heart rate is part of becoming a better endurance athlete.  Now that I have done this lactic threshold heart rate test my coach is able to now see what kind of shape I am in.  The data from the run (pace/heart rate etc) shows him where I can improve and what workouts will help me to hit my goals.   It will be fun to see how it changes over the months too!

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GREAT ARTICLE HERE about what our lactate threshold is and why it is important for endurance athletes:

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PS sometimes I get questions about what I do with Brooke when I run early in the mornings—>  we just sleep at my parents’ house.  I run early and then get back before she even wakes up.  She likes to sleep in a bit so it works out really well.  

Here is how it went:  Oh and I don’t know what the dip was at about mile 1 in my pace but I did this run non-stop.   

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It was pretty warm even though I started early (74 degrees is warm for me) and windy outside so overall I am happy with how the run went.  

I listened to my favorite angry playlist for the run.   Eminem’s beats just keeps me moving.  

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I wanted to quit approximately 8,000 times during those 30 minutes because running fast (fast has a different pace/definition for everyone) is hard.  It just is.  There is no way around it.  I kept reminding myself throughout the entire run that runs like this are going to get me to where I want to be in 3 months and 1 days (aka my next marathon).  

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I went straight to bootcamp after my run because my coach put that on the schedule for after my run.  The hardest part of the class was the portion where we went from weighted squats to jump squats to holding an isometric squat and then repeating those three moves.  My legs were toast.

Lindsey was rocking her patriotic nails at bootcamp today.  Love.

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I got back to my parents’ house and chatted with them while I stretched out and once Brooke woke up we hit up Magelby’s for some breakfast.  I have worked at 7 different food establishments in my life and this place is one of them.  Good memories.  Mainly because the syrup is the best you will ever eat. 

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Brooke was only really interested in the powdered sugar.  I think it may have been the first time she has ever had it (that I remember at least) and so she was quite fascinated by it.  

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Last night I tried a new place for dinner.  I know, I know.  I actually branched out.  We tried Sweeto Burrito and I had a chicken burrito with all of the normal fixings along with tater tots inside of the burritos.  It was incredible.  I will be back for many many more.  The rice bowl was yummy too!

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Ever worked at a restaurant?  Which one(s)?  Did you enjoy it?

Last new restaurant that you tried?  What’d you think of it?

What was your workout today?  Was it hot?

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36 comments

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I could go for some pancakes right now! The elliptical wore me out this morning!

I worked at Cracker Barrel for almost 4 years. It was my first job out of high school and still on of my favorites, but I don’t think I could go back to the restaurant business.

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I’ve eaten in a bazillion of them, does that count? ;)

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Loving your coach’s suggestions! I worked at Friendly’s in high school and then as a server at a local steak place in college. I loved Friendly’s but didn’t like the second one because it was nothing but 12 hour shifts with no breaks and it would exhaust me!

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I worked at a small, family owned Mediterranean restaurant for two weeks when I was 20. The family was French, so it was cool being around that language all day, but I QUICKLY learned I don’t have the patience/personality required to be a waitress.

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I love that view of your workout!! It is awesome to see your pace stay so consistent through a really tough workout!! Keep it up. I know you will get that sub-3 :)

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I hated being a waitress but I think it was more our manager than anything else. If one of the waitresses got a really good tip he’d ask if they’d been “under the table” getting their tip. Yes, it was definitely sexual harassment but when you’re 16 you don’t really know what to do about that.

Bacon and pancakes sound really good right now!!

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Wow, that backdrop on your runs…! Beautiful!

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That sounds like a tough run, but the scenery is gorgeous! I love running in the morning just to see the sun rise. Starts your day off perfectly!

I’ve never worked in the food services but I did help out at my church’s pancake dinners and spaghetti dinners as a “waitress”. I was pretty terrible and have the worst balancing skills so I could never do that!!

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Gorgeous sunset picture. And great job on your time trial run.!! That would be soo hard. Augh. But you rocked it.
I’ve never worked at a restaurant, and for good reason, I would suck at it. Lol

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Those pancakes look delicious! I worked at Cheddar’s when I was in college. I hated it. For a while I was a hostess, and the waiters always got frustrated if we double-seated them, but some customers are really picky about where they sit. Also, I stood right by the bar, so I always left reeking of smoke. Ugh!

That seems like a great (albeit, tough) workout you had! I might have to try it. Thanks for always sharing such great running tips and workouts with us!

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I never worked in a restaurant, but I did work in a few Hallmarks and now I always feel the need to put the cards in order when I go into one!

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My very first job was at chuck e cheese….all the free frozen pizza and iceberg lettuce I could eat! LOL

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Never worked at a food joint, but secretly want to work at a coffee place even as an adult.

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I worked at a couple of on-campus pizza/cafe places during college, and was a (very bad) waitress at another, off-campus. I actually dumped a pizza on someone (accidentally, I swears!). I didn’t work there long…although, strangely enough, that table gave me my biggest tip I got there. I think pity was involved.

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Good job for doing a run like that AND boot camp. That’s intense.

I never worked at a restaurant but they are all my favorite. I love food. And I love when I don’t have to make the food or clean it up.

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That workout sounds so intense! I think I would have a really hard time pushing myself for 30 minutes straight without it being a real race. I never worked at a restaurant…I think I would have been really bad at it because I am pretty clumsy!

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-I was a “bus girl” for 1 month when I was in high school at a local Italian place in town (it’s now closed). I then started working in Veterinary medicine and have been doing that for 16 years ( aka half my life!) LOL
-It never ceases to amaze me that you can go into public after a workout. I am such a hot/sweaty/stinky/ gross mess and I’m pretty sure I don’t work half as hard as you. :)

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I think I may need to break down and get a heart rate monitor one of these days!
I have worked at a few restaurants just small local ones and I also delivered pizza at Dominoes for a short time when I was in high school. The only restaurant I really liked working at was my Mom’s Cafe that has since shot down it was a great place filled with great people.

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I was a server in college and it was the toughest job I’ve ever had!
I always over tip when we dine out, because I know how hard they’re working!!

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Hubby and I own a pizza shop!! I live it! Ran my best half on Sunday (with the flu)and wrecked myself..had to go to the docs and get fixed up..Im not allowed to run for a few weeks..ugh! Oh well..im stubborn like that!

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That sounds like quite the day of workouts! How did you decide to start working with your specific running coach? This is something I am interested in but I’m not sure how to find/determine the right fit in a coach.

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There’s a restaurant in a town that I go hiking in once a year. I have only gone twice but it is amazing. Best fries ever. It’s called Gladstone Tavern. And it is in Gladstone NJ. The deserts are pretty stellar too!

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Great info about how to find your LT heart rate! I have only gone by feel because generic charts are way off. I will be doing this! My biggest improvements have been when I incorporated a lot of longish LT runs.

So is the pace for those 30 minutes at 5k pace?? Half marathon pace?

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That little blip could probably be from your chest strap heart rate monitor. My Garmin does that to me sometimes. I started using saline gel on the contacts as per some reviews I read on it and it seems to help. It’s like it looses synch or something for a brief second. Drives me batty, happens more when I wear it in fitness classes than running.

I also saw this today, s’mores bar party!!
http://www.laurenslatest.com/smore-bar-party/

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go girl!! so speedy!!
I worked as a hostess one summer and felt like I was always being yelled out by the servers for not giving them the big parties. Stress dot com.

I did a 10 mile trail run this morning and loved every second of it! How lucky are we to be able bodied, up with the sunrise, doing our fave thing ever :)

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I did a 5K run today. It wasn’t as humid as most of the past few days have been but I was still sweating like crazy!

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I swam today at the Y in the indoor cool water lap pool… definitely appreciate that on days when it’s hot!

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Awesome job on the 3 mile fast run!! Even more awesome that you went to boot camp afterwards! :)
I have never worked in a restaurant, but I appreciate how hard they work.

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It has been so hot! Not only is it a bit too warm for comfort but it is humid. It actually sprinkled when I ran my five miles this morning.

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Running outside the comfort zone is definitely a challenge! Good job for sticking wiht it!! :) I worked at Fazoli’s in high school! My first job :)

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I have never worked in a restaurant but I did work in the dining hall during college… lots of time spent in a steamy dishroom stacking piping hot plates and trays! It was not the most enjoyable job but I had a crush on the cute manager so I didn’t mind :)

My workout today was 6 miles easy, and got to watch Netflix while running so it was pretty awesome!

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my workout was hitting the snooze for an hour–my body decided sleeping was more important than working out yesterday.

that burrito joint looks delicious <3

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I got in an 11-mile run to celebrate my one-year anniversary in Chicago!

So many fun memories working in restaurants – I hostessed at Max & Erma’s, waited tables at Marie Callender’s … PF Chang’s … And this random diner in Chandler, Arziona called Wonderful Wanda’s.

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Awesome workout and that lactate threshold stuff is super interesting!
I used to work at Panera Bread in high school and then at a country club as a server and Bev cart girl on the golf course during the summer. I’m telling you, I made bank doing this and it was so fun! Oh, to be young again; drive a cart, get tipped well all while getting a tan ;-)

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Omg tator tots inside the burrito?? That sounds like heaven haha

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Those pancakes look amazing! I cross trained, sports agility and then the exercises from PT. the weather has been pretty nice lately, mornings are in the upper 60’s.

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