I've been a slacker

Sorry I haven't updated my blog in awhile, I haven't found time to do so. Let me give you a quick update about what I've been up to...

Sunday, July 10: Muddy Buddy Ride and Run Series at Stoney Creek!

This was definitely a fun yet challenging race. There were obstacles, hills and of course the mud pit. I think the most challenging part of the race was biking up this huge hill. Mostly everyone, including myself, ended up walking our bikes up the hill. It was so big! Finished in 1.15. Not bad!

Catherine and I before the mud pit. We were "Team X" a.k.a. "Team Suck It"

After the mud pit! 

During the mud pit! 

Saturday, July 16: Shores-Pointe Triathlon in St. Clair Shores and Grosse Pointe 

This was the inaugural event of the Shores-Pointe Triathlon. They offered a couple of different races triathlon, which included kyaking, biking and running, duathlon, which was running, biking and running, and a 5k. i participated in the duathlon. 

I ran my first 5k in 31.24, biked 13 miles in an 1.01, ran my second 5k in 34.35 with a final time of 2.09. I took some Gu beans at about 1.15, I figured that I better take them or I would be exhausted. It was the first time I ran a race with a fuel belt. Not bad. I ended up winning my age group. Only by default, I was the youngest person to participate in the duathlon. 

The most challenging part of this race was the transitions and biking. I took one full minute transitioning from running to biking. I had to get my bike off the rack and put my helmet on. Plus, you had to walk out not ride out of the bike area. Transitioning from biking to running was weird. My legs felt like jello and I felt like I wasn't even running. I didn't like it. I ended up doing 2 and 1's to get my legs back to normal. 

Next time, I'm for sure going to train for the transitions and biking in general.

Running to the biking transition area. Thanks for the pictures, Mom!!

On my way to the bike drop. Thank God!

Me with the race coordinators! What a great experience!

I can't believe I did two out-of-the-box races in two weeks! I'm so proud of myself. The next race I'm doing is Run For a Remedy on Sunday, July 24 in Auburn Hills. Goal time: sub 30! I ran it in 27 before, I would like to do that again. I'm ready! 

I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading! 

Happy running!

Full Day of Fitness

Two-a-days? Pshh...who does that anymore? How about three-a-days. Okay, so it wasn't on purpose. Well, two of the three workouts were the other one was totally spontaneous. 

Yesterday, I started instructing Women & Weights. It's simply a weight lifting class for women. But, some men do join the class. I like to make it fun but also challenging for the participants. I had a couple women complain that the class was going to fast and that they're not as young as I am so I need to slow it down. 

Of course I have to adapt to my class, so we did "12 days of summer" similar to the song "12 days of Christmas". We started out with one lap (walking or running) around the gym then did two push-ups and then did the one lap, two push-ups and the third exercise. We did this all the way to twelve. I believe the class enjoyed it and had a great workout. 

After W&W, I met up with one of the Fraser Varsity cheerleaders. She's interested in becoming a college cheereleader so, I became her "mentor". It's moments like this that make me happy I'm a coach.

Then, I went to Yin yoga. Roxanne (one of my running partners) is an instructor at Practice Yoga in Grosse Pointe. Since I had nothing to do and we were going to run after her yoga class, I thought why not go to her class? It was awesome! Yin yoga is different from other practices of yoga because it's more stretching than it is changing positions continually. As a runner, this class was awesome! I have really tight hip flexor muscles so it was great to finally do something that actually stretched it out. Being an athlete all my muscles are really short, they don't need to be long. I felt so refreshed after this class. I recommend this class to all athletes!

Finally, after Yin, Roxanne and I ran 4 miles in 42.30. My Garmin was messing up throughout the run so that was really irritating. It was gross, hot and humid out. Not ideal running conditions but, I pushed through it. I may have told Roxanne to "suck it" a few times. But, hey, I got through it and I felt good afterwards. 

This morning I did hot yoga and tonight I have running club! It's going to be a great 6 mile run. I'm going to be lovin' the hills tonight...

Happy running! 

Danielle

Conflicting Schedules

Last week, my schedule was jam packed. It was seriously insane. I was able to get a couple runs in but not as many as I hoped. Needless to say, I fell behind on my homework. But as always, runners come together in the end. 

I ran about 2 miles with Catherine, 3 miles with Roxanne (in a PR of 30 minutes!) and then ran another 3 miles with the GP Runners (another PR of 27.57!). That's two PR's in one week! Insane.

Photo courtesy of John Martin

John Martin, friend and member of GP Runners, decided to invent "Fourth of July Fishfly 5k". We treated this run as a race and their goal for me was to be my PR of 31.15. I need to check what my average pace was but, I know I was running in the 9's and I never run in the 9's. It was definitely a struggle for me to stay at that pace but, I knew I had to push myself. It wasn't comfortable but, I wanted to push my boundaries. So, I did. 

I ended up finishing in about 27.57 which is phenomenal for me! Even though time doesn't matter, I still enjoy seeing the numbers go down.

There are some things I still need to sort out for my long runs. Such as, shorts vs. running capris, Gu, water belts, socks, etc. 

If you have any recommendations on what works best for you, please share! 

Also, I think I'm going to start a cross training program. Maybe do some Insanity or Turbo Fire DVD's. I want to be a strong runner and I know these programs work well for a lot of people.

Thanks for reading! 

Happy running! :)