Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

Ironman Challenge

As the Holiday Booty Buster Challenge winds down I find that I will miss it. I like having challenges, a little extra motivation never hurts! So I was excited when I saw that my gym (24 hour fitness) is hosting an Ironman competition. According to the instructions we have from January 1st until February 15th to complete the full ironman distances. What could be more perfect for me while I am training for Coeur d’Alene?!?

Also you can enter as many times as you like as long as you swim 2.4 miles (or 84.5 laps), ride 112 miles on the bike (each 60 minute spin class counts as 12 miles) and 26.2 miles by foot (running, walking, elliptical). I hope to complete at least 3 “Ironmans”. I have already almost completed the swim and run portion but I think the bike will take me two weeks to complete.

Do you like competitions like these? Would you participate in an “Ironman Competition” at your gym?

Also I have added two races to my 2012 calendar. The first is Aimee’s fault, she posted about doing the Greenland Trail 25k on May 5th and it sounds like too much fun!

So I hope to see you there Aimee!!!

The second race is the Wild West Relay

The WWR is a 200 mile relay on August 3rd and 4th. Cory and I were invited to join a team today and we are SO in!!! That will be my second relay in less than a month since I am going to run the EPIC relay with a team from work in July. Now I just need someone to invite me to run Hood to Coast (please)!

Supplements For Endurance Athletes

This morning was a bit rough, I was lazy and slept in almost every day while on vacation so this morning when the alarm at 4:20 am I was not very happy about it. But I drug myself out of bed and to the gym where it was about twice as busy as normal. I don’t mind the newbies too much and hope that their new year’s resolutions stick! I was happy to find an open treadmill and bust out 5 miles of intervals.

One of the things I am trying to get better about is taking supplements. I am asking a lot of my body so I want to make sure I am giving it everything it needs. Here are the supplements I currently take:

  • Glucosamine for joint health
  • Fish Oil
  • Vitamin D
  • Vitamin B complex
  • Multivitamin
  • Iron (Not everyday)

I am curious about some of the supplements specific to endurance athletes like beta-alanin (you can read about it here) or some of the other sport specific supplements (some are listed here). But by nature I am skeptical, do the supplements really help with anything or am I just paying for really expensive pee.

All of this came from watching a video of someone running the Devils Mountain 50k that I want to run in September. The video was to advertise Extreme Endurance supplements and it got me thinking.

What do you think? Have you taken any port specific supplements? If so do they help?

Snowshoeing and IMCDA Week 9 Training Plan

On the schedule today was a rest day so Cory and I talked my parents into going snowshoeing with us to celebrate our last day of vacation. It was a little windy but still had a great time


I was a little cold so Cory let me wear his coat that he didn’t want to use, such a nice hubby!


When we are done we stopped in at a Brewery in Nederlands for Beers. Cory and I decided to split a hard cider.


It’s organic so it must be good for me. Also I think this sign needs to be in my kitchen!


We then headed to the grocery store to stock up on healthy food for the week since we both go back to work tomorrow, WAH!

This weeks training plan has a focus on recovery. I am a little bummed that I will be ending the Holiday Booty Buster Challenge on an easy week but I do believe that recovery is important so I will try to stick to the plan!

Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: am: 80 min Interval Run pm: 60 min strength training
Wednesday: 120 min spin class and 60 min pilates
Thursday: Distance swim workout 2.1 mi (getting closer to ironman’s 2.4miles) pm: strength training
Friday: 60 min easy yoga or pilates
Saturday: 8 mile endurance run, hopefully on a trail
Sunday: 30-40 mile hill bike workout, I really hope the weather holds so we can be outside and a strength session

Now that I look at it all together I am not seeing all the recovery?!?! I guess it’s because we have 2 rest days (Monday and Friday) instead of 1. My goal for the week is to hit every workout and pack yummy healthy food to take to work with me.

What does your week look like?


Hungover Half Marathon and Virtual Resolution Run

Happy New Year everyone!

The title of this post might be a bit of a lie since I was NOT hungover but I liked the alliteration. It was cold today 32 degrees plus a wind chill but it was beautiful up in Boulder today in the Flatirons. Cory and I found a trail and set out to put in 13.1 miles today just because it feels nice to start the year out with a half marathon like we did last year with the Huge Ass Half Marathon.

I signed up for Run to the Finish‘s Virtual Resolution Run so I printed out my bib and made the resolution to “Follow my Training Plan”


It was a nice trail


there was still a lot of snow and ice in sections and some mud but overall I really liked it.


Sometimes we had to dodge cows


Overall it was a great run, it took a long time given all the ice (not pictured).


Cory and I are now going to eat some good food, cuddle and watch the Bronco game.

I hope your first day of 2012 was healthy and fun!


2012 Resolutions

Happy New Years Eve everyone, I hope you all have happy and safe celebrations tonight!

I have a tendency to set very ambitious goals and then be upset with myself when I don’t meet all of them. This is true for 2011 as well. But I met my big overall goals of running my first marathon and half ironman and I am very happy with that.


Source
2011 resolutions:
1. Prepare more healthy meals (Cory is our main cook, I would like to start cooking about twice a week) Success, I have tried many new recipes and am much more comfortable in the kitchen. I hope to continue this in 2012.

2. Work on my core, I know my core is weaker than it should be so I plan on doing plank every night in January and will move on from there. Hmmm, half fail. I did pick this up in November/December but when I got busy with marathon and half ironman training I let it slip.

3. I would like to PR in a 5k, 5M, 10k, half marathon and marathon. This should be easy given that last year was my first year racing and I only ran one (maybe 2) of each race and I have never ran a marathon, guaranteed PR =) I am happy enough with this one, I PR’d in 10k, half marathon and marathon but I didn’t take speed work very seriously so that is something to work on.

4. Work on sticking to my training plan. I know there are times I won’t be able to stick to it because of outside influences, but when I just don’t feel like it, suck it up! Giant Fail, I am working on it

5. Take off a few pounds (10-15) I am not technically “over weight” but I know that being lighter will be easier on my joints. Well I took off 5 and I am happy with that.

6. Be better about blogging (i.e. more consistent, better pictures, etc.) Overall Yes I posted a total of 31 times and 155 times in 2011

7. Run 1,000+ miles Nope, but I got very close around 950 miles, I just couldn’t get there with my knee injury.

Overall I didn’t make all my goals but that’s ok it just means I can learn from my mistakes and try again 2012. So I am going to continue to shoot for the stars in 2012!

Goals for 2012:

1. Follow my training plan as best I can. I am TERRIBLE at this, I know you can’t control everything so following 100% of the time is not reasonable but I need to be better. What is the point of hiring a coach if I just do whatever I want anyway?

2. PR in half and full marathons

3. Complete the ironman (most important goal)


4. Complete an ultra marathon

5. Get to my training weight by April (10-12 lbs lighter than I am now) and racing weight by June.

6. Be better about blogging (i.e. more consistent, better pictures, etc.) This is a repeat from last year but I want to continue to improve.

7. Run 1,000+ miles and ride 3,000+ miles

8. Focus on strength all year

9. Stay injury free, this will be most important in helping me reach all other goals

It’s a long list and it will take a lot of work and discipline to make it all happen, but I am ready and excited about getting to work. I plan to set monthly and weekly goals to keep me focused and on track


Source

I have a weird feeling that 2012 is going to be a wonderful year for me and I can’t wait to welcome her with open hopeful arms tonight!


2011 in Review

2011 was a good year for me, it is the first year in a long time that I didn’t have a significant change. But I did reach some significant goals of running a marathon and completing a half ironman. It was fun to share these accomplishments with my hubby.

January started off just the way I like it with a half marathon on new years day

I traveled to NYC for work

And Cory ran Frosey’s Frozen 5 Mile race while I cheered him on because I had food poisoning

In February It snowed a lot and we ran a lot while training for our first marathon

March took me to Portland to visit my parents

and Cory and I ran the Boulder Sprig Half Marathon

In April Cory and I ran a lot!

May 1st we ran the Colorado Marathon

And we went back to Oregon for a weeding and some quality family time

June was a big month for us we completed our first olympic distance triathlon and traveled (back) to Oregon for our first half ironman. It was so much fun I hope to race Pacific Crest again someday, unfortunately it is the same weekend as IMCDA . We also celebrated 5 years of marriage.

July was a lot of travel for me, I went to San Diego for work

I work hard people!

Then Cory and I headed to Oregon (see a pattern here?) for another wedding

July also came with a knee injury that kept me from running for many months. This was a dark part of the year but I healed and will work very hard to make 2012 injury free

In August we celebrated Cory’s birthday and my parents moving to Colorado

September was busy with two triathlons, a half ironman and the only sprint triathlon of the season

I went to Atlanta for the AZA conference

We celebrated my brother’s and my birthday

October is always one of my favorite months. Cory and and ran 2 5ks and enjoyed lots of fun fall activities.

November We flew to Oregon and drove back to Colorado

I bought a new bike

And ran a turkey trot with my mom and husband

And we started training for Ironman Coeur d’Alene

December was full of swim/bike/run, family and fun

I hope your 2011 was wonderful and here’s to an even better 2012!!


Blogger Gift Exchange

Jill organized a blogger gift exchange again this year, thanks Jill, I am sure that’s a lot of work!

I opened my gift earlier this week and we so touched, Christy sent me a very thoughtful gift full of my favorite things.


The snickers will help me through my 2.5 hour trainer today and I love burts bees! Christy (TXRunnerMom she has a great blog, check it out!) even included an iTunes gift card that I can’t wait to spend, I need some new music!

What are your favorite songs to help you get though a though workout?

Thanks Christy!


Holiday Detox and 2012 Race Plans

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I have been busy with family and training. I took a couple days off of eating healthy to celebrate Christmas and it feels good to be back to eating healthy and focusing on nutrition.


This week in training is supposed to be a recovery week but since I am on vacation and have extra time Coach decided he would push the recovery week to next week and load me up this week.

As 2011 winds down I am excited to plan my races for 2012. There are two goals for next year so the first half of the year will focus on training for Ironman CDA and the second half will focus on training for a trail ultra marathon. My race plans are set for the until July (weird to think about July when there is snow on the ground) plans are a little more up in the air after that.

Here are our race plans for 2012:
January 21: Frosty’s Frozen 5 mile


February 18: Snowman Stampede 10 mile


April 1: Boulder Spring Half Marathon


April 21: RAGE half ironman (Vegas)


May 20: Colfax Marathon


June 24: Ironman Coeur d’Alene


July 20-21: Epic Relay


Late September/early October: Devils Mountain 50k


There will be some more small races and we will fill in the Aug/Sept races later but so far I am excited about 2012 races season! I got a little sick this morning when I realized that I have a half ironman in April!

Do you have your 2012 races planned? What are your “A” races?


Healthy Penne Vodka Sauce & Vegetables

Tonight’s dinner was fairly easy and quick! I used this recipe for healthy penne with vodka sauce.


I enjoy trying new recipes and this one is pretty good and healthy.


Ingredients

16 ounce multigrain or whole wheat Penne
1 pound zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch quarter-moons
1 cup frozen peas
8 cups baby spinach
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
6 ounces sliced Canadian bacon, chopped
1/2 cup vodka
1 15 ounce can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
1 8 ounce can no-salt-added tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 – 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup fat-free half-and-half
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese


Directions
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add penne and cook following package directions, 11 minutes. Add zucchini and peas during last 3 minutes. Stir in spinach. Drain and place back into the pot.



2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally; add Canadian bacon and vodka and cook 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt and red pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.


3. Stir half-and-half and 1/4 cup cheese into the sauce. Toss with pasta and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir and spoon into serving bowl and top with remaining cheese.


If you need more carbs you can add some bread on the side. For nutrition information you can visit the website

If you try it let me know! Do you have any healthy recipes you love, want to share?


Epic Weekend and Ironman Week 6 Training Plan

It was an EPIC training weekend, and will be leading into a pretty heavy week so I am enjoying a little of this and some Christmas music on my rest day and enjoying every minute of it.

This weekend started out with a three hour trainer ride. It’s so much harder to do long rides inside compared to outside but I try to think of it at mental toughness training and move on. We had an evening strength session after watching the Kona coverage twice (serious awesomeness). Then on Sunday we had an easy morning before dropping the kids dogs at my parents house and head to Teller Farms in Boulder for a trail run. We did a 11 mile out and back, it was a little snowy on the flat parts and really snowy and muddy on the hills. My calves are seriously sore today. But it was beautiful out and I really enjoyed getting off the treadmill and back on the trail.

Taking it very seriously as usual

The trail runs through open grazing land so we got to run by cows so close I could have touched them. I was seriously tempted to try to pet one but I resisted.

I took a video during the run I sound like darth vader, and please don’t watch if you get sea sick! I really need to work on my skills and probably get a cool flip camera!

Please forgive me for the video of you watched it, I’m special.

Moving on to this week…..Charley surprised us with a pick up in intensity in the next couple weeks, I say bring it, let’s see if I can keep up.

Monday: Rest day, and I need it!
Tuesday: am: 80 min Interval Run pm: 60 min strength training
Wednesday: 90 min spin class and 60 min pilates
Thursday: Swim workout (2800 m) pm: Hill training run (80 min)
Friday: 2.5 hour trainer ride (how is that going to happen before work?1?)
Saturday: 5k race and swim workout
Sunday: Hill training (80 min) and 60 min strength

That’s it for this week, lot’s of running, I am already feeling stronger and still loving it!

What is your plan for the week?

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