5ks and turkeys and Flagstaff

Three weeks ago I was in my home state of Michigan 

I had a 5k sandwiched in a 20 mile session) leading up to CIM marathon.

The day was warm and grey. Overcast. Felt good. Strong. 4 mile warmup. Changed out of warm up gear. Ran to the start. Found the pace. Held it. 

Yes 

First women. Lovely.

5ks are not not my race ever of choice, but I am getting better at them! Happiest with the win

Then I jogged into my 10 mile session.

My best Friend ran as well and came in first in her age group!!!!!

Next I had a 5 mile turkey day race

Cold cold cold

Warmed up with three

The race was good. My watch stopped after 2 miles lol so I just gauged the pace.

On track and strong. 

Came in fourth women and 1st age group 

Fun day with teammates

This was after a brilliant weekend running in Flagstaff AZ for training. All at 7,000 to 10,000 alt

Brilliant in Flag. Excellent training miles I had there 

Ready to go back ............

Back to back

Akron

It was planned far in advance I was trained and fit

Ready for 26.2

Not ready for the heat 

Prepared well and arrived at the start early- not ready for 67 degrees.Started and was drenched by mile2, I pushed and followed my plan. At mile 7 I decided to stop at 13.1. I made this choice as it was not a PR day for me and I was really quite overheated then. I picked up the pace and brought it in. Finished out with 20 miles.

Regret? Yes

A PR I could of had? Perhaps 

Lesson learned? Gut it out

The next day I raced a 10k with my CMS team

I felt great even only after 3 hours of sleep. Legs not ready for an all out, but definitely a solid effort

Brought it in and scored for the team! Thrilled!

We came in second!

So happy and a small piece of redemption from Akron.

Again lesson learned. Arrive and do not think too much, just RACE

Inside Tracker part 2

In June I had my blood tested by InsideTracker https://www.insidetracker.com/  Best choice ever. I had high levels of cortisol, liver enzymes were high along with my inflammation group.

I had a lot of work to doI started by following their dietary recommendations of increasing spinach, wheat germ, nuts, peanut butter, wheat germ, whey protein, cocoa, and avocado.

I slowly integrated these into my weekly routine by following InsideTrackers  https://www.insidetracker.com/online recipes and food basket tailored to my needs. Easy to do and it took about 2 weeks, but I started to feel a bit more energy come into my day. In order to reduce my cortisol level it was recommended that I do meditation or yoga daily along with reducing some hard interval workouts.

I added reading nightly for 15 minutes and I reduced screen time as well. I stopped taking Tylenol PM

I added whey protein weekly with CocoaElite https://cocoaelite.com/protein powder and started to feel stronger overall in my workouts.This has paid off in my health.

I retested in late August and all three of my high areas are now optimized, except for liver enzymes.

This, was influenced by working out the morning of my blood draw and that was why it was so high!! Lesson learned!!!!  I still need to work on my inflammation group but definitely will over this fall. 

So happy for Inside Tracker https://www.insidetracker.com/Since incorporating their suggestions I have never slept better. I have PRed in the 20k distance, and have had the best speed workouts to date thus far. Brilliant 

2 weeks 2 PRs

It started with the NH 10 mile , 2 weeks ago

Man it was hillyThis was a race to get good leg turnover and a mrbtal race game plan .

Good start, although out too fast.

The hills started at mile 3, whew!!

I threw up , totally nauseous, effort, heat, and lack of breakfast.

I got it back together and truged on. Pace back on track for the last 3 miles. Managed a PR from 3 ago. Cool.

Learned to eat more breakfast to not gun the gate and to have nutrition on me!20miles total

Race 2 days ago the New Haven 20k. Great overall race. Got to meet McKirdy Teammates and had a prerace stretch and prep talk.

I stayed to the plan, race MP for miles 4-8, then pick up the last 2 miles.

I felt the tiredness in my legs from last weekends race and 90 miles this week, but that was ok as I knew this was a race for marathon confidence only

Got bogged in people at the start so my first mile too slow. Then back on track to mile 5,

Got real hot too hot for racing for me

Made it to mile 10, picked it up

Made my PR and confirmed my marathon Akron coming up confident goal.

I felt I was riding the pace- not pushing )))

20 miles total for the day. 

Big thanks to my coach Michael Crouch

Shoes- Skechers GORUN 5

CocoaElite post race

Swiftwick socks

RaceDots

Spandits post race

LaceLockers 

Amrita. Bar breakfast 

Honey Stinger- gel