Dear Marathon Training

I'm about to make you my bitch. Hope you're ready.

Love, Heather

Three Questions

One of the things I love about the running/triathlon blog community is all the great advice right at my fingertips. So I've decided to take advantage of all my expert readers and pick your brains . . . hope you don't mind!

Question #1: Seeing as how I am now the last person in the world to finally get an iPhone, what are your favorite running/triathlon/nutrition apps? I'm a teensy bit addicted to the new phone and would love to hear what might be more productive than my suduko game.

Question #2: This one's for the triathletes - How do I bit the bullet and sign up for a half ironman? I really want to. I know I can do the bike and the run. The swim scares the crap out of me. I swam 1+ miles several times last summer, but I am seriously slow in the water. Can I do it?

Question #3: How many days of winter are left? Okay, maybe I already know the answer to that questions. But seriously. Perhaps if I keep whining and complaining winter will get over with faster . . .

Thanks for your input!

Hibernating

Excuse me while I crawl out from the hole I have been hiding out in for the last week . . . It has been ridiculously cold here. One of those weeks that makes me remember why I hate winter in Minnesota. I ran last Sunday (when it was a balmy 5 degrees) and then watched the temps steadily drop all week. Finally I thought today would be warmer (with a predicted high of 10) and planned to run this morning. And woke up to -22 degree temps. Lovely. The only thing that has kept me from rocking back and forth on the floor and crying is swimming and kettlebells. But I need a run. Hopefully tomorrow after work.

Of course, watching the Packers take the NFC Championship and having the Super Bowl to look forward to helps relieve some of the pain!

Still Here

Wow, I am a terrible blogger. 2011 is starting off to be a crazy busy year. So here's a little catch-up, bullet style:

• I am gradually ramping up my miles and getting back into my "regular" workout routine.
• The office is ridiculously busy. Thank goodness. Should be able to feed the kidlet this month.
• My little brother is moving to Colorado. Anyone have any race suggestions for near Denver? May need to plan a well-timed trip to visit him in his new home . . .
• I registered for Grandma's Marathon yesterday. So Fargo on May 21st and Grandma's on June 18th - guess I better get running!

I am looking forward to catching up with your blogs. Oh, and come back tomorrow (or Friday), because I'm having a little giveaway. :)

2011 Goals

Happy New Year! I had a great New Years' Eve ushering in the new year with some fun friends, and then spent a relaxing first day of the new year with my family. Today I managed to get the Christmas decorations down and the house all put back together, so I feel like I am starting the year with a clean house, and clean slate.

Running goals for 2011:
1) Run a sub-4:30 marathon. My PR is 4:31:ish, so this should be doable.
2) Run a sub-2:00 half-marathon. My PR is 2:02:08, so again, doable.
3) Run at least 75 miles every month. I thought about setting this at 100, but my miles have been low the last few months and I didn't want to set myself up for failure right away.

Triathlon goals for 2011:
1) Do at least three triathlons this summer (hopefully at least one Olympic distance).
2) Swim twice per week starting this week!

That about covers it.

I have been ramping up my training, trying to get a good base for the start of Fargo training at the end of the month. This week:

Monday: Pilates
Tuesday: 1 hour kettlebells class
Wednesday: 4.5 mile run (hills)
Thursday: 3 mile run (easy)
Friday: rest
Saturday: 3 miles (1st run of 2011!)
Sunday: 3 miles

I had planned on running at least 6 miles today, but it was below zero out and my face was just frozen. Gotta love January in Minnesota.

Geared Up

I had this brilliant idea to take a picture of all my awesome running-biking-swimming related Christmas gifts piled in front of tree and do a great post about how spoiled I am. But on Christmas Eve the memory card in my camara crapped out so I didn't really have a camara. And since Christmas my external hard drive (where I back up all my pictures) seems to have fried itself. And Sophie took off with my zip drives (where I store pictures) and stashed them in one of her hiding places, yet to be discovered.

So you'll have to settle for my much less interesting recitation of all my awesome gifts.

My running partner got me an awesome legit bike helmet that matches my new road bike. I am so excited to get my bike out on the road. Hell, I might even wear the new helmet while I ride my bike on the trainer. Just because it looks so cool. My old helmet was a purple monstrosity from Target that cost $8, was too big, and had my sticker from the Chisago Lakes tri permanently stuck to the side. I can't wait to throw that thing in the garbage.

My running partner also bought my some CEP compression socks - bright pink. I have been wanting compression socks forever, so I was super happy about these. Now I just have to start doing some double digit runs so I feel like I deserve them!

My hubby bought me a new pair of Brooks Adrenaline, about 800 pairs of Under Armour running socks, and a whole stocking full of Gu. You know you are a runner when you get all whipped up about a Christmas stocking full of slimy, questionably flavored, quasi-food products.

My brother bought me the Triathletes Training Bible. Before you go thinking he is so perceptive for knowing I would want such a thing, let me clear that up - I e-mailed him my Borders 50% off coupon and told him to go buy it. But still, I'm looking forward to reading up and hopefully seeing some improvements in my triathlons in 2011.

Finally, the day after Christmas, with my Christmas money from my grandparents, I bought two new Nike winter running tops on the cheap at Sports Authority. I love them because they are a little longer and keep my tummy warm.

I'm all set and ready to run for another year!

2010 Review

Now that I've made it through the Christmas holiday intact, it's time to wind down 2010 and get ready for a new year. The end of 2010 - opening my own law office - has been front and center, so it's nice to look back at the goals I set at the beginning of the year and see my progress.

My goals:
Run at least one race every month Yep. Some of them weren't very pretty, but I did do something every single month of the year.
Run a sub-2:00 half marathon. Fail. Came closer, but still about two minutes shy.
Run at least one marathon. Yep. I actually completed two marathon training cycles, had a DNF at the Madison Marathon in May, and then finished Twin Cities in October.
350 minutes of exercise a week. I did really well with this until the stress-fest that was November and the holiday madness of December. I have had a couple of months this summer during which I did some sort of workout every single day. I am working back to that!
Spend less money. I would say I've done this. May husband would say otherwise.
Read at least 50 books. I've finished 56, almost done with #57 - finishing up the year with a running book, Again to Carthage by John L. Parker, Jr.

My best 2010 accomplishment wasn't even on my mind when I set my goals last January - triathlon. But this year I trained for and completed three triathlons. Some triathlon-related goals will definitely be making their way onto the 2011 goal list!

I have felt a little bit down about my athletic side the last couple of months - all the stress of finishing up at my last job and starting the new office sort of took over. But reviewing my goals and recalling some proud running (and swimming and biking) moments from the year have helped me put it into perspective a little bit. I am very excited about turning the fresh page on a new training calendar!