4.5 weeks to TCM

No, I haven’t died. Just OMG, XC season has started and I’m in the middle of a marathon training block!!!

I have been more focused and productive than ever before. Does it matter? If it is not that important (checking facebook, reading a lot of news, cleaning more thoroughly, and ahem, blogging…), then I simply don’t allow myself to spend time doing it. The Get it Done Guy’s podcast (which I listen to regularly, it is great!) once had a tip about printing off a spreadsheet and keeping track of every bit of your day. He said that you’d be surprised at the amount of harmless 2 minute social media breaks that end up taking 15 minutes — that end up taking up to 30-45 or even an hour of your day!

Admit it, you’ve been known to read your phone for 15+ minutes before shutting it off before bed. Am I right?

I am absolutely loving this job. There have been some fun stories already… as you can imagine :)But yeah, SO MUCH TIME! A lot of it is just setting things up for the first time, doing things from scratch, etc. So it can only get easier from here… right?

Training continues to be up and down, but there are enough ups to keep me going & keep hope alive. I recently nailed an 800m workout, averaging 2:47s. I couldn’t wait to tell Jerry about it :). Seriously, guys and gals, if you don’t have a coach in your corner, consider one. It makes training so much more enjoyable and fun to have someone to report your success to… and also pour your failures onto.

(Not a plug for me as a coach, just a general recommendation)

Another successful workout I can remember as of late was a 2×2 mile tempo workout where I felt so in CONTROL, cruising along at 6:11s. Nate rollerskied beside me. I felt strong – and somewhat fast! Love that feeling.

The 1/2 marathon I posted about last didn’t go well at all. I stopped to try to loosen my hip about 6 times. I was super rushed to get to the start line (as in, got there with 45 seconds to go… not recommended) and didn’t do any of my self-correction techniques or hip stretches that really help. I finished 6th in 1:29. Not going to lie, I was a little down afterwards: there is no way I’ll be able to run sub-3 at TCM, I thought! But then I reminded myself of how good I am at setting crazy goals (my goals coming back after pregnancy are blogged about here) and somehow pulling enough of the little things, putting enough grit into my workout, that somehow, miraculously, it all comes together. I’ll put stock in that thought, because I know, and all of you know, a 1:29 1/2 does not equate to anything near 2:59 in a full.

My watch measured the MN 1/2 marathon long, so it shows a 1:28 here. PRs across the board, it looks like!

Later this week I have another epic tempo workout: 20/15/10/5. I asked to add this into my schedule, so it’s my own doing :).

I momentarily peeked ahead at what comes after this workout and I saw the beginnings of a taper. Say, what???? YIKES!

Just for fun, an updated family picture. Look-alikes, by chance?

Oh, and did I mention we have started landscaping? Because we aren’t busy enough…