A running first and one way ALL of us can improve our speed during hard workouts & races!

These two were happy to see each other again!

Let’s start off with the morning…

A new running first for me:

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After 32 years of having this brother of mine, we had our first run ever together yesterday.  He is training for his first half marathon (Mt. Charleston, that’s why I am doing that one too) and he is rocking his training.  We did 6 miles at a 9:05 average pace and we started at 4:45 in the morning.  It was the only time that I would have to get in a run and you gotta do what you gotta do.  Luckily, my brother was super excited to join me because otherwise I would have hit up the treadmill.  I finished off with 4 x 20 seconds at a 6:10ish pace (one minute walking recoveries after each one).  For most of the run we ran on dirt and I used my phone flashlight so we could see where we were going.  It was an adventure.  My brother is even more of a morning person than I am and he was already up and working before our run?!

PS my body naturally woke up 3 minutes before my alarm clock went off?  Do you ever do that… It is so weird whenever that happens.

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When we came back to their house their oldest son was already up and about.  Maybe morning people runs in our family?

I sure wish our kids could all grow up together:(  We do have a big vacation all together soon and there will be 14 kids (and six adults) staying at my brother’s house in Kentucky for a few days.

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Then we were out the door at 6 to get to the airport!  We got to the airport in enough time but the security lines were SO long and we barely made our plane.  If we were 3 minutes later we would have missed it.

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Skye did really well until the last 15 minutes.  I was very thankful for the people around us telling us to stop worrying that she was crying because they didn’t mind, they made it a lot easier for us.

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Brooke did all of her favorite things this last weekend and she was so excited to see us!

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We met up with my mom to celebrate her birthday.

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My mom’s request = Waffle Luv.  My dad is allergic to eggs so she rarely goes to places like this to eat but she was really craving it for her birthday breakfast.  I had the waffle sandwich full of an egg, cheese and bacon.  I highly recommend it.  Brooke had the kid waffle with nutella, strawberries and cream.

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Turns out those early flights are rough on everyone but they were so dang cheap ($110 round trip)!

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Our afternoon involved gymnastics!

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I brought this delicious snack. Once the apples were gone to dip into the almond butter, I just had a few spoonfuls of AB.

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Andrew created a balance beam for Brooke at home.  She was pretty excited about it!

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Sweet potatoes—>  Home sweet home.   We tried something new with our sweet potatoes and we added garlic butter, it was an excellent idea.

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We put some ground turkey, peppers, onions and guac on top.

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Dessert included handfuls of this cereal that General Mills sent us while I walked around the house rocking Skye.  Delicious.

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I’ve got a speed workout to get going on tomorrow and I put the workout below!  I’m weirdly excited about it.  It’s strange but after years and years of stressing out over hard workouts leading up to them, I don’t really do that anymore.  I have gotten to the point with running where I realized, who cares if I don’t hit the paces?  I’ll do my best and as long as I’m putting in a good effort, then I’m good to go!

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One of the things that really helped me to realize it’s time to relax going in to workouts was something we talked about in my coaching classes last year!  There are actual physical benefits that come along with relaxing.  This is something that we can all do to improve our speed!

Next time you are getting stressed out about a workout/race, realize that stressing out/worrying is definitely not going to help you to hit those paces!  A little nerves can help us to pump up and get excited for the workout/race but make sure to relax at the same time!

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(Source: RRCA)

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Do you ever wake up right before your alarm clock?  Do you get up after it first goes off or do you push snooze?

Almond butter lovers—>  what is your favorite thing to eat with almond butter?

Random question of the day—>  If you are a fan of Instagram… do you tend to go through the IG stories or scroll through people’s posts more often?

What was the last snack that you had? 

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37 comments

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Looks like you guys had an awesome mini vacation. Happy birthday to your mom–those waffles look amazing!

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Thank you Julie! I hope you have a really great day!

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I wish I could wake up right before my alarm every time I use one. I hate waking up to an alarm. I feel like it gives me a mini panic attack. It does happen som times though.

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Yes to the mini panic attack! I think my body does it because it is worried about sleeping in on accident! I hope you have a really great day with your kiddos! Park date soon?

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Yes let’s do! It’s starting to warm up.

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I wake up before my alarm from time to time. Never on the days I have to wake up real early :)

I have to look at both on Instagram. People’s posts are my favorite but I can’t stand seeing that I haven’t gone through the posts. It’s like having notifications and not checking them. That’s my OCD kicking in :)

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I am the same way… my ocd kicks in too! I hope you have a wonderful day Sloan!

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When it is one of my favorite peeps, it honestly is both posts and stories.
last snack was a bagel thin with PB and banana.

PS. Alaska with you guys, yes please!

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If I have an early run/workout scheduled, I get up immediately. For everything else, I snooze at least 3 times. Priorities :)

Favorite things to eat with almond butter:
-Teddy Grahams (the honey ones)
-Pretzels
-Tortillas … I know kind of weird … But it’s really good. The extra fluffy mini tortillas are perfect with a big spoon of almond butter spread on them

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Arthi, you are brilliant! I haven’t tried any of those things with almond butter! I’m going to today now:) hahah yep, running is the thing that gets me up and going right away too! Have a beautiful day!

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Oh my gosh I can totally relate! I want to get the run over and done with and it makes me more productive the rest of the day.

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I wake up before my alarm every once in a while, but that hasn’t been the case lately. My body has recently been telling me that I need more sleep, and this morning I overslept a little, so I’ll be running after work now.

I usually go through all of the posts on Insta, and then I pick and choose which stories to watch. And those peach Cheerios sound like a really good idea!

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I definitely wake up minutes before my alarm sometimes and I always think it’s so funny/ weird!

That workout does sound fun! I like 1000s/ 12000s because they’re over relatively fast but you don’t have to go all out and do a million reps like with the shorter stuff. And I like multi-part workouts because you can compartmentalize and just focus on one part at a time – and when the first part is over, it feels like a mini win!

I’ve found that I also am not as nervous for workouts as I used to be. I think I’ve gotten better at just knowing something is going to hurt and being ok with that. And I know I always feel amazing afterwards. And like you said- if I have a bad day or don’t hit the paces, it’s no big deal.

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I totally agree with you on 1000s and 1200s… it’s that medium/hard pace for longer that I like:) oh I love what you said about knowing something is going to hurt/be hard and being totally okay with that! Yes! I’ve got about 23 minutes of pain ahead of me! Have a great day Diana!

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Oh my gosh, I might need to drive to Utah for those waffles!

Does running at sea level or closer to it feel noticeable to you? Sometimes I can’t tell if its the dry air in Colorado or altitude but I still feel like the warm up in altitude is much harder.

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Hey Emma!! I 100% notice a difference when I go down in elevation with my running! Breathing feels so much easier:) I think you are at an even higher elevation in Colorado so I bet you really feel it there! I hope you have a great day!

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Those waffles look delicious!

I generally look at both the stories and regular posts on Instagram, though I usually look at stories first. Video is finally starting to grow on me.

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What program do you use to log your workouts? I just use Google sheets since it’s easy, but doesn’t look quite as nice as the screenshot you showed above.

I also flew with my daughter when she was about 3 months and sounds like we had similar experiences – awesome on first flight, so-so on the second flight. I also had the nicest lady next to me that just kept talking to my daughter while she was crying and would get a few smiles out of her :)

Throw back to childhood for my almond butter snack – ants on a log (celery + AB or PB + raisins). Also spoonfuls with chocolate chips… a little less healthy.

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Hey Abby!! So the program I use is https://vdoto2.com !! My coach puts my workouts in there and I record them and write any notes there too. I am obsessed with it… it is so easy to use! I highly recommend it. Oh I am so glad you had a nice lady on your second flight too, she saved the day ha. Well, I’m going to have to make some ants on a log for Brooke (and me) today! Thanks so much Abby and I hope you have a great week!

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I wake up before my alarm goes of almost every day. I don’t mind when it’s just a few minutes, but I’m really annoyed when it’s 15-20 minutes. That is not enough time to go back to sleep.
I love IG because I just love looking at pictures. I scroll first and then look at stories.
Happy Birthday to HRG Mom!! You are so lucky to have such a sweet and special lady for a Mom. Thank you for sharing her with us!! Those waffles look AMAZING! Great choice for a birthday treat.
I’m so glad y’all had a nice trip to AZ. I was watching when the Angels played the TX Rangers…hoping I would see you on TV!! haha

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That is so interesting that you always wake up right before your alarm clock! I wonder if your body just knows it’s going to go off soon so you might as well just get up:) Thanks so much and how cool would that have been if you did see us! Have a wonderful day Elizabeth!

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AHH I feel like I got jipped when I wake up right before my alarm. The pic with the balance beam….I love your floors! Beautiful style and color. Last snack – an orange. Oh my I have a really good batch of them right now ! Inhaling them. I’m waiting for the day when the good batch of cantaloupe come in !! Apples is probably what I eat most with Almond Butter, or nothing and it eat it right off the spoon. Yum ! Or with jelly on a sandwich.

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Almond butter on the pretzel bagels from Trader Joes sprinkled with a little coarse sea salt and cinnamon… SO GOOD.
I rarely look at stories – but we can talk about how much I hate the update and how Instagram doesn’t show things in order anymore? Whatever their algorithm is for “predicting” what posts I’d most like to see is not working. I miss the days when social media was uncomplicated and just showed things in order.
I have to tell you, on Sunday I hosted a bridal shower for my best friend – I also had an 8 mile run planned for that day, and I had planned to go in the AM, but it was weirdly cold and foggy. So I waited and ran after the shower when it was sunny and in the 50s. By the time I got out of my car at the location I was running, I hit my 10k step goal… before I ran 8 miles. My legs were BEAT for all the running around setting up and then standing at the shower! But I used your advice and I focused on things that felt good – how great it was to feel the sun on my skin, how easy my breathing was, how relaxed I was over a successful shower, and how grateful I am to be able to run – so THANK YOU for that advice! I ran a little slower but I got it done!

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I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU! 100%… I miss the simple day of social media too! Way to go on your run on Sunday after such a crazy day already! I love that focusing on what wasn’t hurting was able to help you so much! You are amazing Rhiannon!

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I tend to wake up right before my alarm too. Wow your nephew looks like he can be your son! You are so blessed to have to many neices and nephews.

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I really am so lucky!! My brother and I actually look a lot alike so our kids look alike too:) I hope you have a wonderful day Christina!

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I love almond butter with apples!! My favorite snack! I usually don’t wake up before my alarm… and I do tend to hit snooze a few times before getting up… my husband loves that. ;) I really like instagram.. I usually go through the stories and then scrolling through the feed! :)

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I almost always wake up right before our alarm and I typically just get up.

I had an acai bowl last night with almond butter, coconut slivers, and banana. It was amazing!

I much prefer going through people’s stories than their feed. I don’t know why. It’s quicker and I can pick up where I left off. I feel like there’s more of an interaction with stories.

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Have you thought about signing up for TSA pre-check for you and Andrew? It costs a little bit of money, but it is SO NICE if you fly often (which it seems like you do). You get to skip the long lines, and even if there are long lines for pre-check they go fast because you don’t have to take your shoes off or take your liquids out, etc. I believe you can take kids traveling with you through the pre-check line until they are 12 years old.

I recently got pre-check and it’s been amazing. We fly a few times a year (sometimes with kids, sometimes not) and it makes traveling so much less stressful, and means less time at the airport :)

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You read our brains… we were talking about doing it yesterday! You have officially convinced me, thank you! We travel a lot to take Brooke too so this will be so helpful, thanks Sarah!

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4:45am! That is quite the early run!
I usually wake up 15-20 minutes before my alarm clock, and I usually get up! Our alarm clock is across the room so we have to get up to push snooze…and by then we’re already up!
I love apples and almond butter!
I like both stories and posts on Instagram!
My last snack was baby carrots!!

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Woah woah woah hold up RIGHT THERE!!! PEACH CHEERIOS?!? Super psyched for those, they sound RIGHT up my alley!

As for insta… I have a love for insta above all other social media. I used to just scroll, but now that stories have taken off I really enjoy watching stories, and find myself wanting to “catch up” with the folks who post often at the end of the day! I have much less time for blog reading/writing at work in my current position, and when I get home I don’t log into a computer – so instastories are sort of my new catchup whereas that used to be more blog-related.

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I prefer Instagram to most other social media. I like to scroll the pictures and I watch stories of about 1/2 of them. (For instance, I may like to see an outfit of the day but not necessarily watch that bloggers stories. On the other hand if it’s a recipe, my friend’s kids, or an exercise tutorial I will watch).

I am usually up before the alarm and I tend to get up. Pushing snooze just has me tense and waiting.

I had half of thin rice cake that had dark chocolate on top.

I like almond butter on toast with fruit – banana, apple, peach, or strawberries depending on the season. I prefer fresh fruit to jelly or jam. :)

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Happy birthday to your mom!

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Lately my go to snack is a smoothie. Almond butter actually tastes really good on sweet potatoes!
I should probably mind my business, but as a nicu nurse I can’t help myself… please know that I mean well ! It’s obvious that you were awake to take the photo of Andrew sleeping with Skye, but please be careful falling asleep on the couch with her. You are both great parents and I hope you don’t think I am shaming you… I just caution that if you are tired enough to fall asleep, little Skye should be somewhere besides in your arms. Once again, I know you must have been right there and awake, but accidents can happen so quickly. Just please be careful ?

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incredible, you are very reliable in making delicious and nutritious food, I really intend to learn to cook to you so that my husband is satisfied, I really like your writing

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Almond butter with carrots

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