Changing things up + FREE 50 meter outdoor pool!!

I was dreading my workout this morning...until I decided last night to change it up and make it a little more enjoyable, and beneficial! I had planned a 4 mile workout at 5:29 pace but then I realized that with the near 100 degree temps here in NYC today, the temps in the morning were guaranteed to be similar to AZ, but WITH humidity, especially at 8:30 am, around the time I'd be starting. I decided to do 4 miles worth of work at a faster pace (8x800 with 200 run recovery) all in 2:40 or faster. I immediately felt better last night after changing my mind and I also know that I need the faster pace work, so I benefit mentally and physically! :)

I realized right as the subway doors were about to shut "CRAP I forgot my water bottles and electrolyte drink at the apartment!"...I decided I'd just have to use my empty bottle in my bag and fill it when I got to Van Cortlandt/Manhattan College track. However I had my GU recovery brew in the bottom, waiting to be mixed with cold water after my workout. I poured my recovery powder into my empty GU chomps little bag, put a rubber band around it and then used the bottle for water during my workout, haha. The workout went pretty well and I ran them all in 2:40, a couple in 2:41, which made me mad, so on the last one I ran 2:38 :) I came home, showered, ate, rested a bit and just did my core and strength work. Pretty proud of myself for sticking to my routine when I'm tired, can't breathe out of my nose, coughing up shtufff, etc. :)



Before I started my warm up I wandered around looking for a drinking fountain and stumbled upon the Van Cortlandt pool. I found the entrance, talked to the girls working and they told me it's open for only three more days!! It's FREE, OUTSIDE and it's long course!! I think my Splish Awesome Girl is finally going to get some use while I'm here :) I'm pretty sure the pool in Central Park is still open and it's also long course, but I am not sure. I'll find out and then decide which one to go to.

Have I mentioned I'm excited to go back to AZ? LOL...the official hours countdown has started...146 :):)

Pics: From XC at VCP this past Sunday

Quote for today: "Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice." -Wayne Dyer

Silly Sally...rookie move ;)

Racing cross country this morning was incredibly fun...until about 2.25 miles into the 4 mile race. My right heel started to feel like it had a flame burning it...the blister forming hurt so bad..I wanted to stop and rip my shoes off, lol! Definitely a rookie move to wear new spikes that I hadn't broken in at ALL..oops :/ Other than the quarter size blister that developed on my heel, the race was super fun and I ran pretty fast considering the GIANT hills and the 80+ degree super warm and sunny weather. I finished in 23:28, first female and 8th overall. It really cracks me up when a guy sees me about to pass him and he either speeds up or just plain cuts me off so bad that I almost fall. Today I was in no mood to deal with it again so when a guy looked over at me before we entered the woods and stepped RIGHT in front of me, I jumped to his left and said "If you're gonna cut me off, give me some room!" and sped off. The guy running right near me started laughing, HAHAHA...seriously what the heck? If a woman is going to pass you, get over it. :) I REALLY like Van Cortlandt though and I'll for sure head up there this week for some runs or track workouts at Manhattan College track right next to it.

Anyway, Sam got me a big band aid from the medical people and I managed to get in a cool down before we hit up Dunkin' for some coffee and hopped on the subway to get back to Manhattan. I took an ice bath afterward, ate a little something and then did my core and strength work. I've enjoyed relaxing all day and catching up on my favorite TV shows tonight :)

I realized after adding up my mileage from this past week that I had meant to run 75 miles but I must've miscalculated because I only ran 71...oh well...this week will be 80 which is plenty, especially for my last week here in NYC. I'm looking forward to having a week without any racing, yet I'm really nervous for my track workouts on Tuesday and Saturday. I hope they go well and I hope my blister is healed by the time I have to run tomorrow morning!

My sickness is still present, and has started to move up to my throat/jaw area to the point where I don't really like to talk, and when I try to fall asleep at night it's really hard. grrrr GO AWAY!! :)

One week from RIGHT NOW I'll be all packed up and ready to go HOOOOOME to AZZZZeeee :):)!!!! One week from tomorrow morning I'll fly high in the sky back to my loves and all my fave people..and good Mexican food for crying out loud! ;)

Pic: mom and I in the Hamptons at the beach..I miss her :(

Quote for today (LOVE it): "Undertake something that is difficult; it will do you good. Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow."- Ronald E. Osborn

XC in Van Cortlandt tomorrow! + Letting go of one dream to pursue another,...for now

I'm in my final days of being in NYC and until the 6th I'll be staying in Manhattan, steps from the south entrance to Central Park. It's a perfect location for running, grabbing any groceries I need, subway stations, the bank, etc. I'll be doggie sitting while I'm here, and training of course. Other than that, lots of relaxing and counting down the days until I can see MY doggies! :)

Tomorrow is my final NYRR race while I'm here in NYC and it's a 4 mile Cross Country race at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. I did a run there this morning while also cheering on my sister and her teammates while they did their pre-season time trial. The last time I ran in VCP was back in Feb. 2006 for the USA XC championships. It felt like just yesterday, which is kinda scary since it was over 4 years ago! I'm looking forward to racing on different terrain and also testing out my new purple Brooks Mach Spikes. I really like running in VCP so I think I'll go there a couple more times before I go back to AZ. The subway ride is not that long and I like running on softer surfaces for longer runs, especially with all the running on cement and asphalt that I've done in the past weeks.

The rest of the week I have hard workouts on Tues and Sat and then a 17 mile long run on Sunday. My first day off in about 3 weeks will be on Monday, the day I leave. My mileage will hit 80 this upcoming week and then I'll go down to 75 the next week and gradually back up again until I hit 100, for the first time ever! I'm looking forward to being able to say I finally hit the triple digits in mileage, lol.

My sickness seems to have hit a plateau. It hasn't gotten worse and the other night I slept 11 hours which I think helped! I'm just happy it's not getting worse. Let's hope I can keep it that way and feel normal again soon...

Well, I officially withdrew from the Ironman World Championships and cancelled my condo reservation. It was extremely hard to do, but once I had my offer from the NYRR regarding the marathon a couple months ago and being that Kona is only 4 weeks prior to the marathon, I chose to go after the marathon. I have big dreams with my running and having a breakthrough marathon time is something I know I have in me. I fully plan to go to Kona in the future and race incredibly fast and strong, yet this year I finally accepted that it's not great timing. If I had two months after Kona to be rested and ready for NYC then I'd do both, but I don't think it's realistic to have a fabulous race at both. After the marathon I look forward to joining a masters swim group in the Phoenix area and making more of an effort to ride with others rather than always suffering solo. I miss rockin' my Splish Awesome Girl bathing suit (looks like Wonder Woman, lol) and getting out and riding Mr. Specialized farther than I drive!! :) Hopefully this great risk of letting go of Kona will result in a rewarding fast race in NYC in November!

Quote for today: "Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission"- Neil Kendall

Sleeeep, stubborn + small pains... but continuing to smile :)

I'm pretty sure I have bronchitis but I am failing to really do anything about it such as stop running, go to a doctor or get meds. Instead I continue to train, sleep more, drink tea, eat well and hope for the best! It seems to be getting worse though, so if it sticks around as long as I'm in NYC, I'll go see someone right when I get back to AZ. The tea I bought today is super good though and makes my throat feel better. I have NEVER been a tea drinker, except maybe chai tea lattes years ago before I started on coffee :) However my friend Lindsay gave me some sleepytime tea at her house a couple days ago and I put honey in it and I really liked it! Today I bought some honey vanilla chamomile by Celestial Seasonings and I added honey again and it was delicious.

I know that taking a couple days off from running might help but I'm too friggin stubborn and I don't think that only a couple days off from running will really make it go away. Yes, it's me being stubborn..I know. I just don't want to stop running until it literally prevents me from running or if running actually is painful. Yesterday I did my 15 miler averaging 6:50's with my fastest mile being 6:40. I purposely didn't push super hard since I knew I had something going on in my chest, and it was pouring rain for the last 80% of my run. I ran in Liberty State Park again and it was peaceful once again and seeing the fog covering all the buildings in the city was really cool. I am having a little pain in my left foot where my fascia attaches so it seems maybe my body wants to balance me out and give me PF pain in BOTH feet! grrr...I'm hoping massaging it and taking care of it early will prevent it from getting bad. I also have a little thing in my left upper hamstring at the attachment point but I think it's from a lot of walking and sitting yesterday after my 15 miler in the cold. I'm sure with a lot of good stretching it'll ease it's way out :)

Today I did a hilly 12 miler with 12x1 min hard with 1 min off and I averaged 7 min pace for the whole run, with one mile being a 5:53 somewhere in the middle. I felt very strong and besides some coughing I felt good. I did my drills afterward and have been relaxing most of the day. Sam and I took the bus to get bagels at this amazing family owned bagel place a couple miles from her house. They are seriously double the size of any bagel I've ever bought in AZ, haha. I can't wait to have one for dinner with my gnocchi and sweet pepper marinara sauce :p

My training hours that I've been calculating have gone a little something like this the past few weeks...11, 13.3, 16.25, 15.1 and 17.6. With this week being a 75-77 mile week I'm sure my hours will be even higher. I'm in the process of finding a marathon racing shoe because I think the Brooks T6 is a little too minimal for me. I'm pretty sure I'll order the Brooks ST 4 because it has some stability, so we'll see how it fits and feels in a couple weeks!

Despite all the training, being sick and missing home, I'm still managing to do things to make me smile:) Today I was screeching and talking to my baby loves on gmail video chat with my mom, hahahaha. She put them in front of her camera on her computer and they eventually realized my face was on the screen, but not until I started telling them they were going to go on a car ride, get a treat, mommy misses you, etc....that got their heads moving and their ears perked up! I miss them more than words can explain and my heart aches for the damn day I fly home!! I seriously doubt I'll sleep the night before because I'll be so antsy...11 more full days until I head to AZzzzzz :):)

For a nutrition update...I'm doing great with not eating sweets and junk food! Passing on chips, fries and dessert actually feels good and although it's tempting for 20 seconds, I'm much happier not eating it :) After today it will be 10 days of my no drinking/eating junk food/sweets quest...and yes I'll continue to add up the days, ha.

Quote for today: "Where the way is hardest, there go thou: Follow your own path, and let people talk." - Dante

Sick in the City...:(

UGH...for some reason my body has decided to get some sort of sickness the past couple days and I NEVER get sick :( Maybe it's a combination of more training, slightly less sleep than when I'm at home, staying at different homes, running in different weather, more contact with germs on the subway, busses, etc..who knows, but it's not fun and I'm not sure what I should do. I don't take medicines usually because I don't think they really help and I prefer to take a more natural approach and just let the sickness run it's course. I've been eating and drinking good things that supposedly fight off illnesses but we'll see if it works. I'm supposed to do a 15 mile moderately hard run tomorrow but I will likely take it easier than my 14 miler last week! After I see how it goes and assess how I feel, I'll decide whether to take a day or two off before the race this weekend. UGH this is not fun :(

On a more positive note, I enjoyed a peaceful run this morning in Liberty State Park and I got to see the Statue of Liberty for the FIRST time!! Yes I know, pathetic, considering I've been to NY/NJ probably a dozen times! It was so incredibly cool though and it made me feel so happy and grateful for my life that I have, my amazing friends and family, and my dogs, DUH :):) The park is really pretty and there were a few small trails with softer surfaces so I liked that.

My GU electrolyte drink before each run has been going well and it doesn't bother my stomach on my runs at all, so that's great! When I get back to AZ I'll start experimenting more with different gels and whether to do caffeine or the 2x caffeine :)

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to going out to lunch with my agent and one of my big sponsors, John Elliot from Marathon Guide.com. It'll be nice to see John and get a chance to give him a big THANK YOU for all his support so far this year. I always love talking and meeting up with the wonderful people and companies who help me train day in and day out :)

Off to dinner in Jersey City at a cute little Mexican food place that looks reallllly good! :)

Quote for today: "Be sure to take the most direct route to your dreams. Never take your eyes off your goal, or you will lose course. Never look back in sorrow, or you will trip"- submitted by Joe Brown

Hustlin' Through Harlem!

Wow, what can I say..this morning I headed to Harlem thinking that my body couldn't possibly ache more than it did at that moment. Everything ached from my hip joints down and all I could think of was an ice bath! :) My sis scouted out the scene and thought she saw a local Ethiopian runner who might give me a run for my money. I had originally thought I could just run sorta easy enough to win but I soon realized about 1/2 a mile into the race I was going to have to hurt if I wanted to win. I hit the first mile way too slow, most likely due to the big hill at the half mile mark, haha. 5:50 (eek) About 100 meters before the mile mark I passed Muliye (the Ethiopian) and she latched onto my heels. I continued to push the pace hard to try and drop her. She stuck around until about the 2 mile mark and from then on I was hustlin' as fast as I could to get to the finish. My miles dropped significantly with the second one being 5:29 and the third 5:13, woo hoo! That makes me happy that I was able to run the race getting faster and faster. At the awards ceremony they said I broke the old course record by 30 seconds, so that was a nice bonus after missing the one at the Bronx Half last weekend :) I loved the course and it went by really fast. NYRR put on another great race and I really like Harlem; it's a cool area of the city. Van Cortlandt XC 4 miler next weekend is my next and last race while I'm here in NY and I cannot wait to get out and do a XC race. This will be my first in a while and my first at Van Cortlandt since I last raced USA XC Nationals there in 2006.



My ice bath felt soooo good after the race...30 pounds of ice and cold water..does a body good :) I'll try to get another one in before the weekend and then another after Van Cortlandt, and I should be good until I get home. I'm looking forward to getting up early tomorrow and hitting the soft surfaces in Central Park for my 10 mile run and strides. The cement and asphalt has really taken a toll on my legs, especially the 14 miler the other day in the warm weather, all on hard surfaces.




My foot has been feeling so great lately. It's not 100% healed but it's a complete turnaround than a few months ago. I'm just so happy it has improved so much and it really makes me love my runs so much more. The biggest thing I think has been staying off my feet more (not teaching everyday, and not much at all obviously all summer), wearing my Birkenstock sandals and also getting back into my training gradually. It gets old not being able to wear whatever shoes I want but being able to run without sharp stabbing pain is priceless :) Now I can only hope it continues to get better and not any worse!

15 more full days until I see my boys....:(:(

Quote for today: "The unfortunate aspect about living life without your own goals is that you may very well reach a point in your life where you will wonder, ‘what would have happened if I had only done'…" -Catherine Pulsifer

Progress, Guzzling GU + Staying Committed :)

Right now I'm pretty sure my water count is at least a gallon since my run this afternoon. Running a 14 mile run at a pretty hard effort in the 80+ degree heat left me feeling like I had just run in Phoenix, except this was at 3 in the afternoon, not 5 am :) Anyway, I'm really happy to see progress in my training right now. This is my first 14 miler in months and it was one of my moderately hard moderately long runs :) I averaged 6:41 and hit some miles as fast as 6:21. The terrain was also quite hilly so I thought about the bridges in the NYC marathon and how I need to push push push to maintain pace and stay positive, as if I were in the marathon in November...good practice visualizing :) I ran all over Queens and on some bike paths that had quite a bit of shade so I liked that! I got superrr thirsty late in the run so I stopped at a park and quickly drank some nice cold water. I seriously could have stood there guzzling until my belly was bursting but I forced myself to quickly get going again.

One thing I'm starting to do before my runs is to drink about 10 oz of my GU Electrolyte Brew to get my stomach used to it, rather than just start drinking it on only one run per week (long run). I figure the more my body gets used to metabolizing it and using it while I workout, the better I'll do on race day. I'm also going to start practicing eating a gel with caffeine, or perhaps the Jet Blackberry GU flavor with 2x caffeine, during my runs and harder workouts as well. That way I don't have to worry about getting used to a flavor at the last minute.

I'm craving an ice bath right now, so I hope I can get one in this weekend after the Harlem 5k. I never thought I'd like them this much but when little aches and pains start to show up despite all my foam rolling and rope stretching, I know it's time for one! Whole Foods might be selling me quite a few bags of ice on Sat :) If you have never taken one, I highly recommend it, especially after a really hard workout or race, as good prevention, not just treatment when something starts to bother you.

I've decided to start adding up the hours I spend training, stretching, ice bathing, etc. to show myself how hard I work as a professional runner, and before my big races I can look back and see the hundreds of hours I spend to go after my dreams! Lately my weeks have been in the 15 and 16 hour range, and that's with only 55-62 miles per week! I can't imagine what it'll be at 90-100, geez :)

Being totally out of my comfort zone here in Queens and Manhattan has really prepared me for any situation I may come across in my travels in the future. Not having my favorite places to run, my comfy amazing bed, MY DOGS, my brother and his gorgeous house that I live in, my friends, etc. makes it hard to stay motivated every day. However at least I have Sam here and I can continue to help her be ready for school and being a Div 1 athlete. I'm seeing progress day to day though and I know it will all be worth it in a few weeks :) On my little handmade motivation training calendar for these weeks I'm in NYC, I wrote "Wherever you are, there you'll be...still an athlete- get it done!"..when I read this it helps me a lot..I'm so happy I put it on there when I made it a few weeks ago :)

Quote for today: "Commitment is essentially a state of going somewhere wholeheartedly, without regret or reservation"- (a team commitment card)

Lovin' Life! :):)

As I sit here updating my blog, I'm at an incredibly beautiful house in Southampton enjoying some delicious coffee and sitting on the patio looking at the gorgeous property. If I had one wish it would be to have my handsome loves here with me and I know they would LOVE to be running around with Caroline's dog Bomber. The beach, which they love, is also only about 200 meters away. Howard Stern lives next door so I'm hoping I see him out running or something, haha :) I'm very grateful to be here relaxing, eating exquisite food and just looking at all the beautiful houses while I stroll on the beach...I'm lovin' life right now ;)

Yesterday I raced the Bronx Half Marathon and it went pretty well. I realized before the race that the last time I ran 13 miles was back in April!!, and that was for the More Fitness Women's Half Marathon in Central Park. The night before the race I only slept about 2 hours (seriously) because I had to be up at 3:45 to catch the bus and then the subway to get from Queens where I was staying, up to the Bronx. I went to bed pretty late and then kept thinking of things I needed to look up on my computer or little worries in general. Race morning I woke up, got everything together with mom and Samantha and then we headed out with all of our stuff (we brought our bags for the Hamptons with us to the race, lol). I got my coffee from Dunkin and we made it to the race safe and sound with about 30 minutes for me to warm up, etc.

I started the race running high 5:40's and then slowed to low 5:50's and then according to my Garmin averaged 5:57 pace for 13.25 miles (course must've been a bit long or I didn't run the tangents perfectly:) ). My body never got into extreme oxygen debt and I felt like I was doing a comfortably hard tempo run, so my final time of 1:18:47 was fine. Not fantastic but fine for my first 13 miler :) I didn't know the course record was 1:18:27 though, so of course my competitive self got annoyed that I was close and could've pushed harder to try and get it, haha

Overall though, I couldn't believe the support from the crowd, volunteers, police officers, and other runners!! during the race. I really enjoyed being able to see thousands of fellow racers going the opposite direction and they were cheering and saying such encouraging things to me. It was very nice and I couldn't have run up some of the hills as fast as I did without them screaming. The course had a ton of long gradual uphills so it was a pretty challenging race; perfect for getting ready for the NYC marathon!

Anyway, training has been going well and last week I hit a little over 60 miles. This week I'll run around 65-67, with a 5k race in Harlem on Saturday. I'm looking forward to something short and fast! I have done my core and strength routine a couple times since getting to NY last Wed, so my goal is to keep it up and do it at least 3 times per week. If I can do that I'll be happy.

I cannot believe the marathon is only 12 weeks away!! It's going to be here before I know it and it seems like just yesterday my countdown said 16 weeks. It's time to seriously get down to business and make bigger sacrifices. I haven't had an alcoholic drink since Cabo and I've decided that I won't drink again until after the marathon...so hmmm around noon on November 7th..Mimosas, Margaritas, Beer...Bring it on!! haha :) I've always believed that runners and athletes can definitely have balance in their life, in moderation of course and it won't hurt to have a drink every now and then. For me though, with this marathon, I want my training and everything going into it to be harder. I want more suffering, more sweat, more tears and more sacrifices than ever before. When I look back on my training even as far as high school and my best seasons in college, the times I sacrificed the most and took things up a few notches, I had breakthroughs; plain and simple. It didn't lead to injuries or burnout because my coaches trained me smart. I've also never gotten a major injury while training myself because I've taken everything I learned from them and some other things I've read in books and applied it to my training to see what works.

I have to admit, my hardest thing to battle is my eating habits. I love sweets, pastries, cookies, ice cream and anything that tastes so yummy and isn't the greatest for a serious athlete trying to get lean! LOL...so right NOW is the time to get stricter with myself and stop allowing myself to eat it. My goal from here until the marathon is to cut it out cold-turkey. I did this in my junior year of high school track...no sweets (except fat free hard candy), no chips, no cookies, no ice cream, etc. and had an amazing breakthrough season running 10:40 for the 2 mile, 4:53 mile and 2:11 800....However this time I'm going to cut out ALL sweets, chips, junk food, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love to eat healthy and I do a great job of not BUYING the junk food, because if it's in the house and I look at it everyday, it's very hard to resist. As long as I don't buy it I'm ok; it's not like I sit at home at night and want to go drive to buy ice cream. I know you can change your cravings for things and mine is to change my body's craving for sugar and some of the fatty fried foods I like :) THIS is going to be my biggest sacrifice for the marathon...No more gigantic Crumbs Bakery cupcakes for me while I am in NYC! :)...:(

Pic- from the race yesterday off the NYRR website...my mom took some but I don't have my camera cord with me in NYC :(

Quote for today: "To get what you've never had you must do what you've never done"

Positive direction...:)

Overall, things in my life are really going in a positive direction and I couldn't be happier:) This morning the Arizona Road Racers put on their final summer series 5k of the summer out at South Mountain, at the entrance off of Central Ave, a little bit south of Baseline. There were a TON of people out racing and it made me so happy to see that many people out running and then socializing afterward. I have met so many nice people at ARR events and I'm so grateful they put on so many races all year long. The last time I raced the S. Mtn. course was in 2008 and I definitely was in better shape at that time! I looked at my running log today and I ran a 16:56 that year! This morning I definitely fell short of my sub 17 goal, with a 17:27. The course is pretty hilly and I didn't feel that great going into the race, sort of "out of it" and lethargic. 5 minutes before the start I had to sprint back to my car because I realized my chip wasn't on, so that woke me up a bit! lol..needless to say it was just a decent performance and I look forward to running a stronger race next weekend, the Bronx Half Marathon, put on by the New York Road Runners.



Today will be my first double-run day since returning to running in June. It's a bit toasty outside so I think I'll wait a little bit to head out there for my 4 miles. After the race this morning I ate, showered, etc. and then took a nap. I did my core and strength work after my nap so my run will be my third workout today. I'm really starting to feel like a professional athlete as all the work continues to add up day after day; it's exciting :)

I had the pleasure of getting my August issue of Running Times in the mail yesterday and the little article Gordon Bakoulis wrote about me and the mental aspects of racing, turned out really well! She did a great job and I enjoyed reading it. I also got to meet her when I was in NYC in April for the More Fitness Magazine Women's Half Marathon and she is a fabulous runner still to this day, after being a top American runner in her younger years. It's on page 70 if you want to read it :)

Speaking of NYC, when I'm there for almost a month starting this Wed, I'm super excited because my last weekend there (Labor Day weekend), I'm going to go to the US Open Tennis Tournament!!!! I'm super happy because it's something I've wanted to do for years and I hope I get to see Serena and Venus play, especially Serena. I think they are amazing athletes and I'd love to see them kick some booty! I can't wait :)

I also can't wait for the new Dunkin Donuts on the corner of McClintock and Warner to open!! hahaha I LOVE their coffee and there isn't one super close to my mom's, but now there will be!! woo hoo...now when I work out in Tempe I'll have a great post workout coffee option. ahhh the little things that can really make my day...:):)

I forgot my camera to take pics this morning so until I have new ones I'll keep putting up fun ones from Cabo :)

Quote for today: "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined"- Henry David Thoreau

Ice ice baby, hydrating like crazy and racing again this weekend!!

I never thought I would ever say that I love ice baths, but I do, and I definitely believe they help my body from the waist down. I try to take at least one per week, since it takes a little while to accumulate enough ice in our freezer and I am not going to go buy huge bags of ice every other day; at least not until I am running 90-100 mpw. In college I NEVER took them. I hated them. I went to the locker room to take a hot shower instead of going to the training room to sit in 45-50 degree water that almost always put me to tears. After college I learned that the water was actually supposed to be around 50-60 degrees to actually give you the benefits, and any colder was actually detrimental. Therefore now I can handle doing them after I get numb and make heaving breathing noises that freak my dogs out when I first get in the tub ☺ I really think the icy water helps prevent muscle soreness, relieve any aches and pains I’m having and overall just refreshes my legs for my next workout session. I love the winter here in Phoenix because then I can just use my mom’s pool as an ice bath and I don’t have to make them in my own tub, lol.

I’ve noticed lately I’m drinking soooo much water, more than usual it seems. Yes it’s pretty hot here and you definitely have to stay hydrated but I think I need to start mixing in some of my GU electrolyte blend and it might help my body retain some of the water for a little longer and give it some flavor, haha. When we were in Cabo Liz and I bought a 1.5 liter bottle of water to drink before we went into the dance club. We soon were laughing our butts off because we thought we physically were going to get sick if we finished it. I started chugging as much as I could while we people watched before we went in and it definitely helped keep me hydrated all night, lol…when in doubt, always get the bigger water bottle. Right Liz? ;) I ended up finishing it (see picture) and felt pregnant afterward! HAHAHA

I’m pretty pumped to race at the Arizona Road Racers Summer Series 5k this coming Sunday at South Mountain. My training has gone very well the past 3 weeks since the last 5k I did at Kiwanis so I’m hoping I can dip under 17 minutes at this one. My training has gone up and therefore I’ll be going into this one with more mileage in my legs from this week, but I know I’m fitter so we’ll see how it goes. I’ll try to aim for 5:25 miles and run controlled and hard ☺ My singlets got screened with the Endurance Rehab logo so now I am all set, except for Triple Sports. When I have theirs screened on I will be done and ready to go the rest of the year.

Quote for today: “Do or do not. There is no TRY”

I Got Your Back Boy(s)...:):)

I cannot get enough of T.I.'s new song "Got your back"...it makes me think of my three boys who I love more than anything and would protect with my life...Wilbur, Barney and Winston, LOL :):) (Yes I practically treat them like they are my children) My picture is from when I started to get things ready for NYC and Winston would not leave the spare room where I got the big suitcase out. He sat there watching me and then proceeded to fall asleep on my shoes, maybe thinking if he slept on them he could go with mommy! :) awwww my babies..I'm going to miss them so much when I'm gone and I really really wish I could bring them with me...I'm enjoying my time with them until I leave in a little over a week, and I'll just have to tell them over and over again "I'll be back baby"...they know what that means, haha :)

Anyway, training has been going well. Last week I hit 50 miles and this week I'll get to 55. My patience and my decision to really take my mileage up gradually since coming back from my time off has been a very smart decision. It keeps me excited for training every day (although nervous for workouts sometimes!). It also seems like it's helped my foot not flare up really bad. Today I didn't run and just did my core/strength routine. It felt nice to sleep in a little bit and not wake up at 5! Tomorrow I'm doing my typical run + 10x300 at the track afterward. Every week my times get a little faster and I feel more comfortable and controlled hitting around 56 for each one.

My eating/nutrition has gotten so much better the past few days and I really cracked down after I got back from Cabo. I've been eating very healthy and cutting back the volume that I eat as well. So far my weight has not dropped so I'm hoping it starts to come off soon! For years I have not weighed myself regularly, so it gets annoying and stressful to get so uptight about a dumb number on a scale. I have to stop freaking out a lot or worrying so much because often when you want something so bad and stress too much, the opposite happens...you don't get what you want...We'll see how it continues to go.

Quote for today: "The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them" -Denis Watley