September Rewind

September was a month of trial for me. After walking into a door at the end of August and severely hurting one of my little toes, I continued to run on it. That act hurt worse, and finally I benched myself like a good little runner.  I spent two weeks on the DL in which time I got real close with my bike. I closed out the month by running once again... 13 miles on Sat and another 3.5 on Sunday. The toe felt good so I'm giving myself clearance to proceed (with caution) in marathon training.

MILES OF TRIALS
Sept run miles: 73
Longest run: 19.2
Sept bike miles: 141 + 4 Spin classes
Races:  IVS Half Relay (recap)
   Sept. 9 - 6.55 miles in 58:47
Air Force Half Marathon (recap)
   Sept. 15 - 13.6 miles in 2:06:47
Quad Cities Half Marathon (recap)
   Sept. 23: DNS, but PR'd at cheerleading!

IT'S NOT FAT, IT'S FUEL
Monthly weight loss: +4.5 lbs
Seriously?! Take running out of the routine for several weeks and the pounds come clammering back on. Admittedly, I've been lazy on the grocery shopping, meal prep and what I put in my body overall. I need to regain control in October... plan the meals, create the shopping list and make time to prepare meals so they are ready when I'm hungry. I need to hike up my water intake and start counting calories again. I gotta get back in the 150's before marathon day (Nov. 18). That's the goal. Bottom line... it's less painful easier to run when I weigh less. (...and I run faster too)

MIND OVER MILES
Books I'm reading...  I finished Dean Karnazes' 50/50 book just in time to meet him at the Air Force Marathon expo. Highly recommend this book, especially if you're on a quest to Race All 50 like I am. I found his journey to run 50 marathon in 50 states in 50 days enthralling.

The other books that I'm nibbling on are pickups from the library. The Runner's Rule Book (Mark Remy) is a classic that I've never read somehow. An easy entertaining read that I am enjoying.  The Ultimate Bicycle (Richard Ballatine) is teaching me a lot of history and mechanics of the bike, which I need to know if I plan on doing more of these distance rides. I am totally eating up the Triathlon 101 (John Mora) book. I'm so excited to do another triathlon next year and this is giving me some great information for training.  I have only skimmed through Strength Ball Training (Lorne Goldenberg), but it is chalk full of well illustrated exercises to do with big and small balls. I actually think I want to buy a copy to keep in our basement gym.

ROCK ON!!
Song downloads this month...
"Secrets" by OneRepublic
"Lose Yourself" by Eminem
I haven't been listening to music much anymore while I run. It's become annoying background noise for me... kinda like the kids chattering nonstop. Yeah, I run to get away from that. This past weekend I ran while listening to the football game and I may be onto something there. I was completely distracted (debatable whether that is good or not) and the run flew by. This may be a good option for a long run in the future, especially if I have to do it alone.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

"Tough runs don't last. Tough runners do."

MONTHLY CONFESSION
I need to get control over the chocolate consumption. Seriously. Those Reese's peanut butter pumpkins? Yeah, not safe around me... and we got a long way to go before Halloween.

LET'S BE HONEST
What I'm doing right... I took care of my injury (toe). Now that I'm back running, I feel proud of myself for taking the needed timeout.  Running through an injury never makes it better. While it was extremely hard to bench myself, it was definitely the right decision. I stayed focused with cross training on the bike... and my legs haven't completely turned to jello.
What I'm doing wrong... I'm not eating right (see above). I'm not strength training enough. My body craves more yoga. Just do it.

OCTOBER OBJECTIVES
I've had to revise my current training plan. I prefer to have three 20-milers in the bank before marathon day. With the latest injury setback and less than 7 weeks to go until the Route 66 Marathon, I'm going to have to settle for two. With that in mind, I also have to be realistic about my marathon goal... odds are likely I won't be PRing in Tulsa... gonna have to save that for Eugene in the spring.

My workout goals for October...
• Run 5x each week, one of each: interval, easy, tempo, long, and recovery.
• Continue to cross train with 2 bike rides and 2 Spinning classes each week.
• Yoga 2x each week
• Core Strengthening 3x each week
• Boxing once a week (My arms are feeling jiggly all of sudden.)
• I should get my butt back in the pool, although that may be biting off more than I can manage this month.

Races this month...
Oct. 14 - Cupcake Classic 5k... Are you signed up for this FREE virtual race yet? Do it here!
Oct. 20 - ZOOMA Great Lakes Half Marathon (Lake Geneva, WI)... still time to join me for my "birthday race". Use code GLAM5 to get a $10 off the Half or $5 off the 5k.