training

Just Keep Running // Training Update

July 29, 2014 by Rachel 1 Comment

A while back I set what seemed like a lofty goal. Scratch that — while I was running the Akron Marathon Relay last year I made a promise to myself that I would run the Akron Half Marathon this year. That’s right. I decided in the middle of my first major race that I would run the same race the following year — but in doing so I would complete my first ever half marathon.

I knew then and there that the energy and excitement I felt during the relay race would be enough to push me through a half marathon. Plus, seeing the hundreds of other men and women pumped up for 13.1 miles was inspiring. If ALL of these people could commit to finishing 13.1 miles, what could possibly be holding me back from doing the same thing!?

Well now I’m on week SIX of my training plan — I’m halfway there!! And over halfway there in distance!

Here’s how I’ve been working in my training runs:

3 mornings a week I get up early and head to the towpath trail to fit in 3 or 4 miles (usually 4 miles, 3 miles and then 4 miles another day). The other days I do my best to fit in some sort of strength training (which for me has been HIIT workouts via Turbo Fire — they are quick and intense!). Additionally – LOTS of stretching; even on days that I’m not running. And on Sundays I gear up for my ‘long run,’ which I’ve been trying to do with a group or partner (it makes the time pass by much more quickly and the miles not seem as long).

This past weekend I planned on using my long run day (Sunday) to run 7-miles. I started with a group of women from Cleveland MRTT. They were planning on running 9 miles at a 10-minute mile pace. But instead of turning around at 3.5 miles, I kept on.

… but I ended up running 8-miles instead. I just felt so awesome that I didn’t even need to stop!

The best part? I finished with a 9 minute, 13 second per mile pace!! It was incredibly consistent for my longest run to date! And I set a couple of PR’s! Woo hoo!

And yes, I’ve been taking post-run selfies every time I run. No, not because I’m super vain, but because I want to document my progress and how I’m feeling via pictures while I go through this process.

Sidenote: I am growing my hair back out and I am HATING the length. So right now I do what I can with it. Which isn’t much. Ugh. Oh well.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be fitting in a couple more long training runs, including the Perfect 10 Miler! I hadn’t planned on running a 10-mile race before the half marathon; but after talking to some of the MRTT ladies, my plan is to run it as a training run versus a race. That way I get some race-day jitters out of the way, plus knock out 10 miles I’ll need to do anyways!

Hopefully over the course of the next couple of months, the half marathon race course will start to look a bit less intimidating…

And I’ve yet to set a timed goal for the race. Right now my only goal is to finish. Any suggestions for goal times??

race playlist //

June 1, 2014 by Rachel 1 Comment

T-minus 20-minutes until my first race of 2014. I’m honestly ashamed that I haven’t yet run a race this year.

But I’m planning on rocking this 5k today. And I’ve got a playlist to support it.

I definitely think that you need 2 things to prepare for a 5k race:

1. Practice.

2. Good music.

My 5k music is kinda different than what I listen to on a normal day. I listen to a LOT of Coldplay, Lana Del Rey and Of Monsters & Men. But the Havana Brown & Kanye?? Wayyyyy outta my element. No joke. (Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Please see THIS Portlandia skit. I am Fred Armisen. Fo’ sho.). But I rock some Kanye on race day. Stronger? Hell-to-the-yes I am!

So what music pumps you up for a big race??

Gathering my thoughts.

May 26, 2009 by Rachel 3 Comments

I’m feeling like I have a lot to catch up on today… The long weekend may have done more harm than good. I’m not complaining, I’m just saying that in life, I need as much time to focus as possible. I haven’t posted anything since Saturday; I had over 200 work emails this morning; I have three presentations/trainings to give this week; and about a million deadlines to meet! Not to mention a trip to prepare for (yay!).

So in a (sad) attempt to gather my thoughts after the long weekend… here it goes:

– The girly-ness that is now me (thanks BF, thanks). I never used to be girly. I was the girl without the emotional attachments. I didn’t want anything serious and I always grew tired of the other and got rid of them. Not so much anymore. BF has changed things. How, you ask? Well, I watch (some) chick flicks now. It’s horrible. I cry. He asked me if I want to watch Bride Wars the other night (yes, HE offerred to watch!). I cried. WAY TOO hard. For real. I don’t even want a big wedding. And. I. Bawled. But yes, I said “I don’t even want a big wedding,” meaning, I want one. Just not a big one (other HUGE thing he changed – I never wanted to get married. EVER.).

– Speaking of girly. John & Kate Plus 8. I can’t help it. People hate them (BF hates them). But I love them. I think the children are adorable. But this season is (already) tearing me apart! They CANNOT get divorced! And I refuse to believe that either one of them cheated.

– Work is dragging me down. BIG time. They “released” someone of their duties last week (AKA fired them) and now I feel like I’ll be even more overloaded with work. BLAH! That’s not what’s supposed to happen. WTF.

– Just gotta make it to the weekend. Then fun, sun, rafting and BF! 🙂

domestic bliss.

May 1, 2009 by Rachel Leave a Comment

Where has this week gone!?! Last night I literally had to ask myself, “What the heck did I even DO this week?” It seems as though the week flew by! I have been overseeing two trainings at work all week, and keeping pretty busy when I leave work.

OH! I almost got ran off the road by a crazy person with some serious road rage and anger issues. That was… terrifying! It turns out the police cannot actually do anything unless they witness the incident. WTF, police. Then what can you do?

BF and I were supposed to go to a yoga class Wednesday night, but that didn’t happen. He got called out for work after hours. It was a bummer. So instead, I went for a nice run outside. Running has been great lately. The only problem is, I cannot run on a treadmill. I hate it. It hates my body. It makes me ache in ways I never imagined possible. I’m not sure why this occurs when I run on a treadmill but not when I am running outside.

So Wednesday night when he got out of work, we went to grab a bite to eat from this local place I had never been to before. During our meal, I found out that he will be leaving to visit Denver with his mother on his birthday. I don’t know if it was the PMS or the stress (or both?), but I started to cry. It seems that birthdays mean more to me than they do to him. I suppose this could be his age, but I was temporarily broken-hearted. So bummed. I love planning birthday celebrations. And I’m aware that we are taking a trip shortly after he returns from Denver, but I was still so bummed. It made me uncomfortable to even be that bummed. Which then I realized that this was probably PMS-induced craziness. Sigh. The joys of being a chick.

Yesterday I ended up getting out of work an hour and a half early. I decided that since I hadn’t been to a yoga class in two weeks (the longest it’s been in a REALLY long time), I would go to an early afternoon yoga class in Hudson. It felt great! There were only a few people in the class, but I definitely kicked butt (are you allowed to say that about yoga? I dunno, but I did!). I had an awesome practice and my form was amazing.

After yoga I went over to BF’s and I cleaned myself and the house up! I decided to be very domestic and bake some cranberry-oatmeal-chip cookies! (BTW-Lately I have found the joy in domesticity). I also “cooked” (which really means picked up Chinese takeout). By the time I got home with dinner, BF had just arrived and was munching on a (still warm) cookie! So I dished out the meal and we sat down to enjoy it in front of the most recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. We love Bill Maher!

BF had previously agreed to come with me to see a friend that was bartending at a local establishment. So we made the journey. They just so happened to have karaoke going on last night. BF has never really heard me sing before, so I knew I wasn’t making it out of there without singing. And I rocked it! 😉

And now it’s finally Friday. Thank goodness! Tonight is the big girls-margarita-pottery nite! We’re going to grab some dinner and spend the night with Mr. Jose Cuervo! Should be a good time! I will keep you updated!

Live out loud.

April 28, 2009 by Rachel Leave a Comment

“I am here to live out loud.”

-Emile Zola

This week is going to be a crazy one at work. I’m training 2 classes 8-5 through Friday, which leaves me practically no time to do other work that is required of me. In past training classes, I’ve really let this bring me down. But with new hopes on the horizon, I’m really trying to let all of the work nonsense roll off my back. We shall see…

So no, I still have not heard about the job. Which leaves me in a constant state of anxiety. Please continue to cross your fingers for me. But I have heard from other people that there is a hold up with the hiring process.

On a better note, I am really looking forward to the rest of this week (outside of work). BF has agreed to come to a beginners yoga class with me tomorrow at Cleveland Yoga. I’m SO excited. I’ve been trying to convince him to come with me for a while, so his agreeing to come is thrilling. Friday night I have my Margarita Girls Pottery Nite. I’m pretty pumped. Especially since BF has offered his place up to my girlfriends for our post-margarita hang fest. We are going to grab some dinner and drinks prior to our pottery girls nite. I’m not sure where yet, and it really depends on how much time we have. Ideally, I would like to go to the Barley House, if not, somewhere like Rockne’s or Aladdin’s perhaps. The girls and I have been pretty busy with work and other priorities, so I’m pretty pumped to get to spend some time with them.

Saturday BF and I have a packed day! We are walking in the Relay For Life Cancer Walk in remembrance of his grandmother that just passed away. We are walking with some other members of his family. It should be nice, if for nothing else than to spend some time with some great people and be outdoors. Later that afternoon we plan on going to an outdoor festival in a neighboring town. Our area is known for their maple syrup production so every year there is a festival… celebrating nothing… but… maple. Ha. Funny, I know. We are going to get some food and walk around. Nothing too exciting, but nonetheless, I’m looking forward to it.

With so much to look forward to, I’m starting to stress more and more about the future. It doesn’t help that I have family members breathing down my neck about my life and over things that will do nothing but stress me more in the meantime.

Oh dear, I need to hear something about the job. ASAP.

an attempt to organize (thoughts).

April 2, 2009 by Rachel Leave a Comment

1. finish this gosh darn training! grr! i’m tired of talking about telecom crap!

2. go to the bank. gotta finally do this. (so there’s really no reason that i’m avoiding this other than i’m lazy)

3. check out a new yoga class at the Yoga Lounge in Hudson. pretty excited to check out a new teacher.

4. very excited about my yoga masters class with Kinndli McCullom on saturday. should be different and challenging!

5. debating whether or not to go to the krishna das performance on monday.

6. having trouble concentrating on things of value (ie. life, money, ME). not sure why. i’m just really dazed. i blame it on stress.

7. did i mention i’m really looking forward to the yoga practices i have planned? seriously. very excited.

8. wanting to organize. big time. when i’m stressed or under pressure or need to relax, i have an urge to organize everything. if i had to self-analyze, i’d say that this probably comes from an urge to control the things that i can have some control over… or, in other words, i have an urge to control everything, but since i can’t control certain things in my life, i will control everything else.

9. i have an itch to get outside and enjoy this beautiful weather.