The storm showed it’s face in Utah this morning.
Andrew and I had a chance to go out for a run together but we decided to hit some treadmills next to each other instead of the roads. None of the sidewalks are plowed or anything and it is SO crazy slick out… it warmed up yesterday so a lot of the snow melted and then froze again today with some new snow!
Because we took it inside I decided to get my tempo done today instead of tomorrow like I was planning.
2 mile w/u 8:12 average pace
5 miles @ 6:51 average pace
1 mile c/d 8:34
0% incline for the tempo miles because I was just trying to survive.
A picture of what I look like when I’m really hurting and wanting to quit at mile 4.67 of the 6 mile tempo. Next week I will be doing a six mile tempo and we will build from there! My 1/2 marathon is 1 month and 20 days away and I’m LOVING having a race to work towards. It really is the thing that gets me to do the hard workouts, otherwise I’ll just do the medium long easy runs everyday for the rest of my life.
Why we tempo. I’ll try to get up to an 8 or 9 mile tempo before race day and I’m excited to see how my tempo pace drops a bit while feeling like I am putting in the same amount of effort.
After my run I worked on my plank. Palms down and 2.5 minutes… my goal is to hit a 6 minute plank! Anyone else have a planking goal right now?
Amen to this. And add hitting a speed workout to the mix and nothing can bother me ha;)
The kids are excited about the new snow because it means they get to build their snow reindeer. I do not know how we will make a reindeer out of the snow but we will give it a solid try.
My mom has been wearing a new fitness tracker that she got for Christmas and setting goals for her steps and it inspired me to wear mine again. Only problem is that Andrew has his on at all times too so this might turn into a competition for us. He is ahead of me in steps today so I need to find a way to change that.
Knox was all about helping Andrew shovel, Brooke and I stayed nice and warm in the car.
And one of their friends gave them bubbles so they did that for a bit until both bottles were dropped and spilled.
This lunch was amazing. Chicken tortilla soup (from Costco, in the refrigerated area) with some eggs/zucchini/squash and corn tortillas. I was stuffed after this lunch but that felt nice after feeling hangry from my tempo miles.
Oh, and an update on Beretta because I haven’t shown you a picture of her in a while. The snow and scratching her belly are still her two favorite things right now.
I cut Andrew’s hair (well, I just do the back part) and don’t mind the 4 loads of clean clothes that need to be folded on the bed. I’m sure they will find a way to be folded eventually.
Knox told us that he does his best cleaning with a batman mask on. We’ll will just go ahead and go with that.
———————————————————————–
Andrew and I are going to do a vlog tonight… any topics you would like us to talk about?
What was your lunch today?
How often do you get in a tempo run when you are training for a race?
Do you wear a fitness tracker type thing throughout the day to see how many steps you get in etc?
31 comments
Fiona @ Get Fit Fiona
How is he shoveling snow in shorts?!?! I would have been frozen!
My lunch today was leftover curry that I took with me to school to eat between classes. I made some rice to go with it and it was delicious. I got myself a Fitbit Charge with some birthday money a few months ago. It’s pretty addicting once you get started.
Nicole
2.5 minute plank = im impressed!!
Jarrelle
Love tracking my steps and my hubs does it too so we have made a game out of it!!!! He does not run and I do. . . SOOOOO you know I am beating him with my steps!!! We have fun with it!
Lunch. . . I made home made tuna burgers with stir fry veggies!!! SO yummy!
And its going to snow here in Charlotte, NC so you know everyone is going crazy! LOL! This northern soul is soooo happy!!!
Tiffany @ The Chi-Athlete
Let’s talk about ——-> RACING TOGETHER! My husband and I (we met at the 2009 Chicago Marathon, were friends for a few years, then he asked me out on a date after we met up again at the 2012 Chicago Marathon — we both ran our first sub-4s in the 2014 Chicago Marathon) love to travel and race together. Do y’all have some races planned for this year yet?
(I’m looking forward to a chance to run St. George this year! Woot!)
I love doing tempo runs every other week. On the alternate weeks, I do intervals for speedwork. Mixing it up is always key for me.
Sally @ sweat out the small stuff
I just started to plank again after a very long time. Right now it’s 35 seconds. I hope to get to 2 minutes by march.
I had spinach pancakes and a slice of cheese and turkey sausage for lunch. Bizarre combo.
Annie R
Tempos are my favorite speed workouts! I try to alternate between those and track when I’m training for a race. But I always feel the most pride with a successful tempo run for some reason.
I had a tuna sandwich for lunch today…followed by some peanut butter Oreos (they’re beyond amazing).
Right now I don’t wear a fitness tracker but I really want the FitBit Alta in gold (https://www.fitbit.com/shop/alta) except maybe I want it more for how pretty it is versus the functionality…
Does Andrew have any upcoming races? And are you thinking about a marathon again this year?
Abbey
Question for you and Andrew! What are your nicknames for each other? And does Andrew still try to get all sneaky and scare you?
Jessica
Maybe THAT’S why I don’t like cleaning- I don’t have a batman mask!!! Too cute!
Sarah @ Smile & Conquer
Oh the snow, being from Alberta I feel your pain! I’ve always wanted to get a fitness tracker to track steps but it feels weird to me to wear one at my fairly professional office. Someone really needs to wear a tracker that looks like a fancy watch! My phone also tracks steps but I just don’t carry it with me all the time. Stay warm!
Jen M
What do you think is the easiest way to figure out what your tempo pace should be? I have read all sorts of articles about how to figure it out, but I find it super confusing. And I don’t have a heart rate monitor. Thanks!
Jenn
Oh I am very curious about this, too! I feel like I have a difficult time knowing how much to push myself. :)
The Hungry Runner Girl
Okay… Can I do a full post about this soon? I have a novel to say about this and a lot of different references etc but I’ll talk briefly about it too on the blog.. is that okay???
Jenn
That sounds great! :) Thank you!
Rebecca@RunningFoodBaby
I try to run at least one tempo run a week. I did that for the first time in my last half cycle and it worked. I would have had a great half marathon if I wasn’t sick and wanted to sleep in my hotel room instead ;-)
The Hungry Runner Girl
Getting sick right before a race is the worst.. I am so sorry Rebecca and I hope that your next training cycle and race day go perfectly!
Megan D
I got a fitness tracker a little while before christmas and I loved it. It totally motivated me to get up and move more throughout the day (and showed me how little I do move sometimes, ha) and I loved that it tracked my sleep. But after a few days it really started to bother my wrists. As in, gave me bruises. Ross has the same one so I know it isn’t the watch, but my wussy body that cant handle it. It even bothered me so much when I slept that the pain would wake me. Lame.
Way to go on your plank. I need to work on my core A LOT more. Maybe just text me daily and tell me to stop, drop and plank. And your run? You amaze me. It makes me tired just reading about it.
I am so over this cold. When I took my kids to school today (Anna was adamant that she walk. I was like ummmm no) it was -3 degrees and my van doors had froze shut.
Nathaly @ NathyCure
My current goal on planks is to hold one for two minutes!
And I also HATE folding clean clothes. But what I do is that I sit in front of my TV, with a cup of coffee or tea. Before I realize, all of my clothes and towels are perfectly folded. I can’t imagine to fold clothes for an entire family though!!
Tempo runs are once a week for me when I train for a race.
I would really appreciate if you guys could talk a little bit about nutrition and running. Do you take any supplements? What are your personal recommendations on fueling before a long run/race?
Michele at Everyday Snapshot
I had a strange lunch. Carrots and peanut butter (together) and popcorn. Hey, my Aunt works at Wahl. Great clippers huh. OMG, I can’t imagine and 2.5 minute plank let alone a 6 minute. I am starting to shake at 45 seconds. But I’m building and getting there. I do wear a fitness tracker. I never really was obsessed with it. My husband doesn’t wear one, so no competition. But I like to see my steps and make sure I get my 10,000 a day or more. I also think it’s fun to check out my crappy sleep patterns. I mostly wanted it for the GPS for outside runs. But I found I love it for the simple reason of having a watch for the time too.
Marie at the Lazy W
I’m finally getting “comfortable being uncomfortable” doing speed work on the treadmill. Seems like I’m reduced to this option for running more and more lately, and I guess I started trying to go faster just out of boredom. This article is great timing for me because I can sense a purpose in the indoor running for a while, thank you!!
Kids are adorable as always. In Oklahoma we might get a dusting of snow tonight, but nothing like what you’ve got there. Enjoy! Stay cozy!
Elizabeth
Tonight for VLOG I want you to discuss how Andrew stays warm wearing shorts while it is snowing. Or maybe he doesn’t and he is just down with being cold?
My lunch today was good old pbj. I wear a Fitbit Surge. I just started. It is the fanciest watch I’ve ever owned and I love it for the basic things it does. I’m not sure I’ve ever done a tempo run. Maybe it’s time I sign up for a race and try a few out.
Jesica @rUnladylike
Awesome job on your tempo! Tempos are by far the workouts I dread the most. No ability to ease up or get a rest interval. They probably unnerve me more mentally than anything else. I do wear a Garmin Vivosmart HR to track my steps and sleep. It’s helpful to me since I work out of the house and can easily get tied to my desk with no movement other than my workouts. Glad your 2017 is off to a good start. xo
Jenn
I’m curious about your current training plan. Are you making it up based on your experience/previous plans; are you just ‘winging it’ week by week in terms of thinking “i’ll do a tempo one day” etc. and then, if so, do you pre-plan what pace you want to hit or how do you determine that? I’m so curious because there are so many training plans out there, so many different ways to train and curious how/what you are doing now that you don’t have a coach and aren’t super strict on a running goal/just trying to get faster again.
Hope that makes sense. Eek.
The Hungry Runner Girl
HEY JENN!!! Great question and I will talk about this a bit in the vlog. But for here I will leave a link to some of the workouts I am doing:
https://runnersconnect.net/coach-corner/half-marathon-specific-training/
I found that training plan and while the entire plan doesn’t work perfectly for me, I am taking out a workout or two each week from that plan along with using previous workouts that have worked for me in the past when training for a half marathon! I’ll talk more about that asap! Thank you for the awesome question! Hope you are having an amazing week!
Lauren
I’ve only just started to increase tempo runs – I’ve ran half marathons before but I’ve trained by running the same routes at the same pace and I’m starting to realise it’s important to get in a variety of runs! I’m still not very good at tracking them though when I road run so I have a feeling these might be treadmill runs instead!
I’m seriously impressed on the 2.5 minute plank – I can only manage 30 seconds! I really need to improve my core, it’s pretty shocking!
I wear a fitness tracker when I go running but not during the day – I walk to and from work and go out in my lunch break, as well as the gym / running so I know I get my steps in :) But I find it dead useful when I’m out running – I wouldn’t be without it!
Cori @ She's Going the Distance
i’m following the brooks hansons half marathon method right now, so my tempo was done today. 5 @ 6:53/pace! tempos once a week minimum!
Kristen
I got a fitness tracker for my birthday. My insurance company has a wellness programs where I can get $$ for fitness activities and linking a tracker to it can get max points. I’ve been loving using it to track my sleep. Ive learned so much about myself! Like that the dsys I’m really dragging are often when my sleep was really restless (even though I don’t wake up knowing/remembering being restless).
Lisa
I wear a FitBit and LOVE it!! I am obsessed with data. I used to wear bracelets and so I’m kinda bummed because I do not think that the FitBit is attractive, but I cannot be without it. I try and hit 20,000 steps a day.
My daugther and her husband live in Provo and they were visiting me here in AZ for Christmas. When I would show her your posts, they kept pushing back their trip back because they hate the cold and snow up there. Hahaha! (They did finally make it back safe yesterday.)
Katelyn
Janae! Where is your white coffee table from?
Betsy
I love my FitBit Alta. I got my first FitBit for Christmas two years ago and then for Mother’s Day last year my husband and kids upgraded me the Alta. Since I got my first one I’ve turned my step-mom and sister-in-law on to trackers and we all love it. I gave my dad (most anti-tech person, hee hee, love ya dad!) the FitBit One???……..Zip???………He keeps busy but needs to incorporate a tad bit of cardio. I recently found out he’s been going to the local mall and walking. Yay Dad!!
Ashley @ Saving Money in your Twenties
I cut my boyfriend’s hair, too! I am trying to master a fade with the clippers so he can have it longer on top and shorter on the sides.. it is HARD!! But I’m gonna figure it out one of these days, haha
Mary
Wow impressive plank time and going for 6 min goal. Awesome. I’m good for a minute or minute 15 seconds. My shoulders seem to give out and burn more than abs do. Guess I’m weak there? DO you have major shoulder burn?