Road to BQ: Marathon Training Week 6

Week 6 was a good one, but I deviated from my coach's plan a lot.  Part of it wasn't really my fault - I was traveling for work and didn't have control over the fact that I couldn't find a track for my speedwork and/or I just didn't have time to get the workout in.  Part of it was my fault for going rogue.  But Sunday's long run was one of the best long runs in my running life.  I hope that makes up for it.   Oh and I got in a swim! At  a hotel pool!  I was wholly unprepared to swim, so thankfully the pro shop had swim goggles.  I was rockin' this look:

No bathing suit.  No swim cap.  Preeetttty awesome.

I'm in disbelief in a way that I only have three more long runs before Steamtown.  And I think one of those long runs is going to be a taper.  I could use one more week.   OK, two.  

Week 6: 5:30:34 hours

Swam:  28:52 minutes ("1,450" yards -- my watch says 1450, but I'm not so sure ...)

Biked:  0 hours (0.0 miles)

Ran:  5:01:43 hours (34.4 miles -- no aqua jogging miles oops) 

Workouts:

Monday: 35 minute easy run
Tuesday:  45 minute easy run 3 mile tempo run*
Wednesday:  50 minute aqua jog
Thursday: Speedwork! (and nice fun easy recovery swim in hotel pool)
Friday: 35 minute easy run
Saturday:  35 minute aqua jog
Sunday:  Long run: 18 miles

* not approved, or appreciated, by coach (oops again)

Monday's easy run was just that: nice and easy.  It was the day after my 16 mile the day before, so I wore my compression socks and enjoyed a nice pace.  I ran 3.41 miles and averaged an 8:47 pace.  With tired legs on top of a hard run the day before, I was super psyched with this run.

Tuesday I was supposed to do 45 minutes endurance pace.  However, I had to pick my kids up at CCD and because it was their first class, it was only 30 minutes instead of the normal 75.  So I thought I'd get more bang for my buck and just tempo run that mo fo.  I ran 3 miles in 23:45 (7:55 pace).  I was pumped!  My coach ... was not.  He reminded me that 95% of the time, it is a mistake to train really hard.  I told him I knew I'd get in trouble and he laughed so we're good.  And I'm hopeful that this was one of the 5% where train hard = ok.

Wednesday was supposed to be an aqua jog but I was traveling. I scrapped it.

Thursday I was away for work in the middle of Pennsylvania.  I had a pretty challenging speedwork workout which was supposed to be done on a track: 20 minutes endurance + 4 x 1 mile at 7:30-7:45 & 2 minute endurance recovery + 10 minute endurance.  I didn't have access to a track and the road that I ran on (partly with Amy) was pretty damn hilly.  Plus it was super humid.  So rather than kill myself (I'm ascribing to Bill's Ironman mantra of "this isn't a suicide pact, it's a training plan"), I modified it to account for the elevation, which Amy dubbed "nature's intervals".  I did 20 minutes endurance + 3 x [as hard as I could do on those effing hills] & 2 minute recovery + 5 minute endurance recovery.  The workout took me 53:20 and I ran 6.2 miles.

Afterwards, I hit the hotel pool, which was amazing! It wasn't exactly a 25 yard pool but felt pretty close.  The only thing ... I didn't have a bathing suit.  Or a swim cap.  Or goggles.  Luckily, the pro shop outside the pool sold goggles, so I bought a pair and just wore my black sports bra and black compression running shorts.  This sexy beast attacked that hotel pool with wild abandon.

Friday was just an easy endurance run.  Nothing much to say about it.  It was 35 minutes, and I ran 8:40 pace and 3.89 miles.

Saturday was supposed to be an aqua jog, but in keeping with my track record for aqua jogs this week, I bagged it. I had the kids, it was raining, we were scheduled all day ... so the aqua jog didn't happen.

Sunday:  LONG RUN!!! Amazing long run!!! It was an 18 miler all at endurance pace (8:45-9:15) and the kids and I visited my parents in South Jersey so I could get it in early on Sunday morning.  The run took me 2:40:54 and I was an average 8:56 pace.

Honestly, I was faster.  But I had to stop and walk 7 times because of dogs.  Dogs ... why's it always gotta be dogs?  I could only see 3 of the 7, but those that I saw were scary.  I am, admittedly, afraid of dogs, having had some scary experiences in my life with dogs.  So when I see one while I am running, I slow to a walk move away from his territory and stay calmly walking until I'm far enough away. Most of the dogs were ok and just barked, but one (thankfully behind a fence) was growling and snarling at me, which was terrifying.

In any event, when I was done, I was psyched.

And I celebrated in the proper way this time!

This week is more of the same: runs, aqua jogs (please, for the love of God, be the last week of the aqua jogs) and the Philly Rock & Roll Half Marathon on Sunday.  I am racing it (my friend's plans changed so I'm no longer pacing her).  Hoping for a big fat PR that day.

See you swoon,

What I Wore {post 49}

Wow, it's the middle of September already.  I'm still clinging onto Summer with my kung fu grip, but I can tell Fall is right around the corner.  Here are a handful of late Summer outfits.  

* Printed Grey Top & Emerald Green Pants *

I bought this top at Target a few years ago.  I never seem to have enough prints, so any time I find one that I like, I grab it.  I liked the way the two colors complimented one another.  I wore my double strand belt from Athleta to tie in all the grey.  

* White & Navy Striped Dress & Coral Sweater/Belt *

I just blogged about this dress!  I wore this a bunch every Summer.  In this case, I wore it with a bunch of coral: coral cardigan and coral belt.  I like that the dress works in Spring, Summer and early Fall. 

* Orange Sheath Dress & Printed Flats *

I bought this dress at Old Navy last year around this time.  I know it was on clearance for around $12. I couldn't resist!  I love the fit, even if the fabric wrinkles like crazy after half a day's worth of use.  I've worn the double-strand grey belt with this dress in the past, but I wanted a brighter look on this day, so I left the waist alone.  I wore my new favorite flats - printed floral flats from Boden (ooh it looks like they're on clearance- get them!)  I love them!!!  They are really sweet and cute and comfortable.  

There you have it: three new looks.  Soon enough these posts will feature all things Fall.

See you swoon,

Stairwell Gallery: stage 1

Finally.  Finally!  I finally got started on my stairwell art gallery project.  

My stairwell is right in the center of my home and is very open.  It is begging for something on the walls, and I felt a gallery of frames filled with art, kids' art and family photos would be perfect for the space.

For the better part of the last year, I've been going back and forth on whether to paint the house first and then do the gallery or do the gallery and then figure out if I should even bother painting the house.  I went with the latter.  I'm hopeful that once this space is transformed, I won't feel that overwhelming need to paint the house.  That's wishful thinking, of course, because this paint color is awful and I want to murder it every time I look at it.  You know ... if one could actually murder a paint color. 

It's also taken me awhile to get to this point because I had to buy a bunch of frames of varying sizes.  Rather than drop hundreds of dollars and do it all at once, I have been buying a few here and there on my many trips to Target, Home Goods and Ikea.  I also bought a gallery set from Pottery Barn right around Christmas when there was a big sale with free shipping. Behold: Frame City:

I stored the frames in my dining room for the better part of this year.  My thought was if I saw them sitting there, I would be inspired to get the wall hung sooner, since they would sit and taunt me.  This was a good idea in theory, but a little thing called Ironman demanded all of my time and energy.  So the frames sat until the week after Ironman.

I decided to break the project into two stages: (1) stage 1: I would hang the frames and (2) stage 2: I would fill the frames.  I had a handful of things that I knew would go up, but by and large, I had a bunch of empty frames.

I had some pieces that I knew I'd use: the picture of the kids and their cousin that my mom drew and framed for me:

The awesome print I picked up at the Hatch printing company in Nashville:

I framed one of my favorite literary quotes ever:

I incorporated the adorable art that Little made out of a coaster:

As for the rest, I had a bunch of kids' art work and prints and figured I would decide which photos to order and put in the frames once everything was up on the wall.  I got started by placing all of my frames on the floor in groups.  I had four walls to work with, but I only worked on three, because I want to have a shadowbox of my Ironman pictures, medal and race bib professionally framed, and will base that wall around that piece.

It took a little trial and error, but that's the way these things go.  Once I made my arrangement on the floor and liked it, I traced the frames on paper and used painters tape to hang the paper on the wall, following the steps that I used in this tutorial from a few years ago.  It's also key to measure on the paper where your hook is, so you can simply nail through that, remove the paper and put up the frame.

Here are my three walls!  The first wall I did was the one at the very top of the steps.  Ignore the artwork in the two white frames at the top. I'm going to switch them out.

I mixed things up a bit.  I felt that four walls with tons of frames may have been a little much, so I did two walls with a lot of frames and one wall with four oversized IKEA Ribba frames, which have my very simple and easy DIY art that I blogged about last week.  That wall was the tallest one and the hardest to hang the frames, so I wanted to do it just once.

The one wall on the main floor leading to the downstairs playroom has the DIY canvas that I blogged about last week and the picture of the kids my mom painted.

Next up: I have to get my Ironman shadowbox done!  Once that is done, I can hang that final wall and then I can figure out what goes in each of the empty frames!  That's the fun part! 

See you swoon,

Road to BQ: Marathon Training Week 5

Hello and Happy Monday!

Week 5 is in the books.  After what was an unbelievably perfect and temperate Summer, the past week has been hot, humid and super uncomfortable.  I am not complaining at all: I would much rather deal with the humidity now vs. all Summer in Ironman training.  But it has made for some pretty tough runs.  I lucked out, though, that my hardest runs (speedwork on the track and my long run) were on very comfortable days. 

I used this week to search for blog recaps of the Steamtown Marathon.  The common theme: the first 7 miles of downhill is great ... as long as you take it easy and don't push too hard, or your quads will be destroyed later in the race.  I can do that.  I also checked out the course profile and read the turn-by-turn directions.  I happily discovered that one of the streets at the end in downtown Scranton is Electric Street.  I wish they had named it Electric Avenue.  What a missed opportunity.  I would have rocked down to it ... and then taken it higher. 

As for me, I am feeling really good.  I bought new shoes this week.  Amy mentioned on our long run last Sunday that she was due for new ones and I did the math and realized I bought mine in late June and put a real heavy load on them since that time.  I ended up buying the same pair that I have now - I absolutely love these Sauconys and if I had the extra cash, I would have bought more than one pair!   

Anyway ... back to the recap!

Week 5: 5:40:05 hours

Swam:  0 minutes :( [it was thunderstorming the day I wanted to swim]

Biked:  30:02 minutes (don't know mileage; did on trainer)

Ran:  5:10:03 hours (30 miles + additional miles in the pool via deep water run {aka aqua jog})

Workouts:

Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday:  45 minute endurance run 3 mile tempo run
Wednesday:  speedwork at the track
Thursday:  longer aqua jog
Friday: 35 minute endurance run
Saturday:  aqua jog + swim easy bike [thunderstorms]
Sunday:  long run: 16 miles (with 5 miles of fast pace)

Monday was Labor Day and I was with the kids, so a rest day was perfectly timed!

Tuesday. UGH.  Tuesday was hard. It was literally the hottest, most humid, day of the year.  I had a 45 minute easy run scheduled and the only time I could do it was in the mid-afternoon before I picked up the kids from their first day of school.  Not ideal.  I went to the park near their school, which has a 1 mile track around it, and gave it a shot.  It was brutal.  I did two loops and felt pretty good, but half way through that third loop I realized it was just too hot.  I decided to cut it at 3 miles.  I was also running more of a tempo pace than endurance.  But when this is the weather, running isn't the smartest choice.

Wednesday's speedwork was fantastic.  Speedwork is a necessary evil in marathon training or if you want to get faster.  I like to do it at the track, and I really like to do it on Wednesdays because my running club has a group speedwork night (which my coach leads).  My workout was different than the group's, but I decided to go that night and just do it earlier than the club, which would give me a chance to see my coach and say hello.  This particular workout was: 20 minute endurance + 3x1 mile at 7:30-7:45 pace & 2 minute endurance recovery + 10 minute endurance pace.  My three fast miles were really fast: in the 7:20s and I was thrilled that even my recovery intervals were in the 8s.  The run felt really good.

Thursday was a longer aqua jog: 9 minutes easy + 1 minute really hard x 5 and 2 minutes easy.  I did this in the Y's outdoor 50 meter pool, which was surprisingly fun and went by really fast.  The pool is only 4 feet deep but with my belt, I don't touch the bottom.  Yay.

Friday was an easy 35 minute endurance run. It was really humid again, so I left the house at 6:10.  It's getting lighter later ... but not so late that I need to bust out the headlamp and singlet.  Yet.  The run felt good despite the humidity.

Saturday was supposed to be an aqua jog with easy swim recovery.  Mother Nature had other plans.  There were nasty thunderstorms in the late afternoon and evening, which is when I had time to work out.  So, instead, I biked on my trainer for 30 minutes.  I am bummed I didn't get to swim this week.

Sunday I had a 16 mile long run.  IT WAS AWESOME.  shouting!  all caps!  ALL CAPS SHOUTING!!!!!  Wow.  Ok.  So, first, it was nice and cool and comfortable and very low humidity.  The thunderstorms from the night before really broke the weather.  Second, I wore my new but same sneakers! Look how shiny and new!

I always forget how huge a difference new sneakers make.  Third, I made a new running playlist and it was epic.  And when I say "epic" I mean probably pretty dorky even when these songs were released and in popular rotation.  Because I have no shame (and I have to think somewhere out there, someone else likes my kind of music), I will share my new running playlist at the bottom of this post.  I named it Pretty Awesome New Songs That Are Awesome.  Anyway ... all those things made the run great.  It was 10 miles of endurance pace (8:45-9:15) + 5 miles at 8:20 pace + 1 mile at endurance pace.  I am thrilled that most of my endurance miles were in the 8:50 range and 4 of my 5 fast miles were around 8:08!!  YEAH.

The best part was how sustainable it felt.  Yes, it was hard, but I was able to do it and I could have kept on going.  I finished the run a bit sweaty but psyched. Even if I don't look psyched in this picture [I don't run with my iPod like that. I just moved it from my fuel belt].

And then I had this waiting for me in the car.

Note: 7-Up is not as good as Sprite. The only reason I bought it was because there is this spot on the Schuylkill River Trail near Conshohocken where there is an old 7-Up truck in the distance and every time I passed it in IMLP training, it made me want a 7-Up.  Not so much.  I am a Sprite girl all the way.

Have a great week!

See you swoon,

New Playlist!  Pretty Awesome New Songs That Are Awesome.  Go ahead ... feel free to use it.  It will make you run so fast.

Every Woman In the World (Air Supply)
Best Day of My Life (American Authors)
Eternal Flame (The Bangles)
Woman In Love (Barbra Streisand)
If I Had $1,000,000  (Barenaked Ladies)
More Than a Woman (Bee Gees)
Ain't No Rest For the Wicked  (Cage the Elephant ) 
Morning Has Broken (Cat Stevens)
Got to Be Real (Cheryl Lynn)
Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is (Chicago)
You're the Inspiration (Chicago)
Higher (Creed)
Karma Chameleon (Culture Club)
She's Gone (Hall & Oates)
Private Eyes (Hall & Oates)
I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) (Hall & Oates)
Let's Hear It for the Boy (Deniece Williams)
It's My Turn (Diana Ross)
I'm Coming Out (Diana Ross)
Reflections (Diana Ross)
Let Me Clear My Throat (Live) (DJ Kool)
Heaven Knows (Donna Summer feat. Brooklyn Dreams)
Electric Avenue (Eddy Grant)
My Way (Elvis)
Bridge Over Troubled Water (Elvis) (Live version)
Here Comes the Rain Again (Eurythmics)
You Are the Woman (Firefall) 
Over My Head  (Fleetwood Mac)
Baby, Now That I've Found You (The Foundations)
Let's Hang On (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons)
Double Dutch Bus (Frankie Smith)
Midnight Train to Georgia (Gladys Knight)
Sundown (Gordon Lightfoot)
These Eyes (The Guess Who)
Smile a Little Smile for Me (Rose Marie) (The Hit Crew)
Tonight Tonight (Hot Chelle Rae)
On Top of the World (Imagine Dragons)
Never Can Say Goodbye  (Jackson 5)
Let's Wait Awhile (Janet Jackson)
Right Time of the Night (Jennifer Warnes)
Since U Been Gone  (Kelly Clarkson)
Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) (Kelly Clarkson)
Freedom Street (Ken Boothe)
This Is It (Kenny Loggins)
Mrs. Robinson (Remastered) (The Lemonheads)
I Dreamed a Dream (Les Misérables Original London Cast)
Long Long Time (Linda Ronstadt)
Dancing On the Ceiling (Lionel Richie)
The Boomin' System (LL Cool J)
Working for the Weekend (Loverboy)
Ho Hey (The Lumineers)
Always Be My Baby (Mariah Carey)
Love Will Find a Way (Pablo Cruise)
Happy (Pharrell Williams)
Timber (feat. Ke$ha) (Pitbull)
Jump (For My Love) (The Pointer Sisters)
Never Gonna Give You Up (Rick Astley)
Forever Young (Rod Stewart)
Ruby Tuesday (The Rolling Stones)
Emotion (Samantha Sang)
Games People Play (The Spinners)
Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now (Starship)
While You See a Chance (Steve Winwood)
Betcha By Golly, Wow (The Stylistics) 
Once In a Lifetime (Talking Heads)
Ain't Too Proud to Beg (The Temptations)
Don't Leave Me This Way (Thelma Houston & George Benson)
My Love (Wings & Paul McCartney)
Groovin' (The Young Rascals)

DIY Art: easy and chic canvases!

Hey hey! Happy Friday!  I don't know about you, but the shorter weeks always feel the longest.  I am so ready for the weekend!  Long run, ocean water swim, kids' first soccer games and projects! 

I think I've mentioned on the blog that once Ironman was behind me, and once I took a week or two of just enjoying doing nothing, I was ready to get back to my project list.  I've put everything on hold basically all Summer so that I could focus on training, and now that I am done the race, it's time to get back to the projects! 

One of those projects is to hang a gallery of frames and art in my home's massively tall, three floor high, stairwell in the center of the house.  It is a lot of unused wall space and pretty cavernous.  A total blank slate that definitely needed something.  This is just one of the walls (and yeah, that's popcorn ceiling.  it's really great #sigh):

So for this big wall, which is the tallest one, I knew I needed some large art for the wall.  I am doing a gallery of frames on the wall adjacent to it, and I thought adding a bunch more frames on this wall would be a little too much.  Not to mention ... I wasn't sure how I would be able to actually hang the frames on this really tall wall.  So, I decided to buy four oversized square Ribba frames from IKEA and create my own simple, chic artwork.

I was inspired by the home of the blogger Monika Hibbs (formerly The Doctor's Closet).  Her house is amazing and exactly what I want to do in my own home.  It's like she opened up my brain and my Pinterest boards and was able to do in her house exactly what I love and want.  Amazing.  Ahhh-maz-ing.   I fell in love with, well, everything, but in particular in this case with the simple abstract shape art prints and the tone on tone striped painting over her fireplace.

First, the prints.  My frames were silver, but I liked the silver and gold mix, so I decided to replicate those shapes using gold paint.  It was very simple.  I bought two pieces of heavyweight poster paper from Target ($.49 each) and cut them in half.  Then I lightly sketched the shapes in pencil and brushed on the gold paint.  And ... done!

I had to hang them, which was daunting for several reasons: (1) it's one really tall wall and I don't like heights and (2) hanging Ribba frames (because they are hung by a cable in the back) is a pain in the neck.  I found this incredibly clever suggestion on the View Along the Way blog -- I used a paint stirrer and screw to do it!  You've got to click over to see the ingenious idea.  I am sold! In any event, hanging them wasn't bad at all.  Only the top right print was scary but I managed to do it.  Here they are in place on the wall with my apologies for the poor lighting.  

I will eventually replace them with actual art, but for now, I'm really happy with how they look!

I had another canvas to do - one that will hang on one of the stairwell gallery walls.  I wanted to keep the canvas very soft, so I drew my inspiration from the same photo above.  This was super simple and Little helped.  We taped off a canvas with painters tape in two inch segments.  

Then we used a champagne metallic paint on the white spaces.  We brushed it on and before it dried, we pulled up the painters tape.  Then I used the same metallic paint and added a bunch of white to it, and we brushed that on the stripes that had been covered with the painters tape.  We also brushed over some of the painted stripes, just to soften the look.  Here's the finished product:

I'll be sure to add a picture of the canvas among its friends on the wall soon.  Just like the prints above, this isn't a forever piece - it's a temporary solution that will blend in nicely with the rest of the photos and art.  Stay tuned for more progress on the stairwell walls! 

Have a great weekend, all. 

See you swoon,