Track (Ladder) Tuesday

There is nothing better than coming home from a tough track workout and having a delicious BLT sandwich and a huge side of watermelon. It may be hot out but nothing beats some good summer eats!

Last night it was hot and humid but I still braved the track for my run clubs workout.  Running in the summer heat is so different that the winter or spring.  My stomach always gets kind of funny feeling when I run in the heat, but thankfully it didn't cause any real problems last night and I was able to finish the workout.

The Ladder:
2x1600m at threshold pace
2x800m at interval pace
2x400m at race pace

I have done many different ladder workouts, but this was the first one where the paces got faster with each set.  Here's how it went:

1600s - 7:07, 7:10
800s - 3:14, 3:17
400s - 1:29, 1:25

By the end I was soaking in sweat - a shower never felt so good and the watermelon just hit the spot!  What a difference in post run foods - I remember when I was chowing down on hot tomato soup and grilled cheese back in March!

Does your favorite post run foods change with the seasons?  I am loving the watermelon this summer! I just can't get enough!

Have a great day!

Fitting it all in and No race July

Last week was a marathon of all things wedding, but somehow with a little planning I was able to fit all my runs in.  Taking time for a run sometimes seems impossible but here are a few tips:

1. Schedule your run - I always put my run time on the calender.  That way I block out time in the day to get out and run before all the fun.

Last Friday's schedule - July 8th, 2011

2. Try to run in the morning - now with the temperatures soaring, running in the morning not only is cooler than in the afternoon, it also allows you to see great sunrises and get your run done first thing!

Morning run sunrise!

3. Lay out your clothes the night before - whether you are getting up in the morning to run or going to run club after work, laying out clothes is helpful.  That way if you are running in the morning, your clothes are all ready to go when you wake up.  And if you are running at night, all your clothes are packed so you wont forget something important (like socks or a sports bra) as you are rushing out the door!

Clothes laid out and ready to go!

No Race July

After my 10k race in June and not gaining entry into the Boilermaker 15k, I decided to make July a month of no racing.  I am trying to learn from my training mistakes of the past and thought this would be a good idea because:

• Previous July's have been jammed packed with races leading to burn out and injury.
• The heat does not agree with my stomach and after racing in the high temps I often feel sick for days.
• July is a hot and humid month - enough said.
• Focusing on workouts and enjoying the run may help to inspire me as to what I should train for next!

Any suggestions as to what I should train for next??  Have a great Monday!

My Best Friend's Wedding

Friday dawned cool and sunny - a perfect day for my best friend to get married!  I woke up early partly because I was so excited and partly because I wanted to get out for a nice quiet run before all the festivities started.

3 easy miles later, I returned home to shower and get ready to head over to my best friends house.  At 10am the excitement started with hair and makeup!  After 3.5 hours we were finally all ready to go!

We went back to my best friends house to get ready to go and start taking pictures!

 

From there it was a whirlwind and the day went by so much faster than I wanted it to!  I had hoped to make it through my Maid of Honor speech without crying but I just could not hold it together.  Then we enjoyed a great dinner, some awesome carrot cake and then danced the night away!

 

It could not have been a better day and I am so happy for my friend!  I can't wait until her professional pictures come back! I am sure they are awesome!

Wedding Talk: Invitations!

I have been waiting and waiting to share these with you! Since the invitations were sent out Friday and most have been received I thought it was time to share!  I ordered my wedding invitations almost a month ago from Wedding Paper Divas and they came out better than I expected.

The process was simple and I would definitely recommend ordering from them for not only wedding invitations but for any type of invitation or cards - WPD is under Tiny Prints which sells cards.  When I received my shipment of invitations, I noticed that my outer envelopes were damaged by water.  I called up the WPD customer service and they were understanding and immediately shipped out replacements.  That definitely helped to make me feel better.

I worked all last week to hand address the envelopes and then Brian and I stuffed each envelope, sealed them and had them all ready to head out in the mail on Friday!

All the cards ready to be stuffed with invitations!

Sealed and ready to go!

I picked up these cute stamps just for our invitations!  I love the wedding cake!

I did the calligraphy/cursive addressing myself which was a lot of work but it was well worth it and they came out great.  Wish I could show you more but I have to protect people's privacy and I didn't make up a mock one because I was just ready to be done when I finished.

Our invitations!

Friday during lunch, Brian and I headed to the post office to send out all the invitations.  It was just another moment where all this felt real and it felt like this whole production was going to happen!  Brian took all these pictures of me mailing out the invites!

Walking up to the outgoing  mailboxes...

Here they go!!

And I am all done!

See - they are all mailed out!

It was a fun experience - definitely a little bit more stressful than I wanted but that is life!  And now just to wait for all the response cards to come back to see who is going to attend our wedding!

Happy Wednesday!

Enjoying the long weekend

In order to get ready for the marathon wedding week in which my best friend gets married, I took the entire 4th of July weekend off from all things wedding and stress.  Instead, I ran a lot and sunbathed even more.

Saturday = 8 miles @ 8:42 pace
Sunday = 6 miles @ 8:26 pace
Monday = 4 miles @ 8:18 pace

Friday, I stopped at the post office and mailed all 80 of my wedding invitations.  Then Brian and I headed home to his parents house for a weekend of fun and sun.  Every morning I woke up early and headed out to explore the roads and then returned to change into my bathing suit and sit by the pool.

It was so hot out that Brian choose to stay in the pool most of the day...

while I hardly moved from this chair except for the occasional dip in the pool.  My tan is coming along nicely and still no running tan lines!

It was a delightfully relaxing weekend and exactly what I needed - I feel rejuvenated and ready to tackle this week of wedding fun!  Now all I have left to do is get a pedicure and write my maid of honor speech for the reception....I better get going!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July and/or Canada Day weekend!