It felt so good to be back to my training routine this week! Vacation was great but this week we got back to running at home, which is just lovely! During my time away I experimented with a different type of gel which did not agree with me at all. I tried Gu last season and I didn't like the consistency. I tried it twice in the past two weeks and my stomach let me know Clif Shots are the ones for me. I usually stick with Chocolate but I found this Chocolate Cherry variety in the running store and it was simply delicious. I do like the caffeine on mine as well. I know that the Chicago Marathon uses Gatorate products on the course, which means I'll be traveling with my Clif shots (as I should).
Another new thing that happened this week was I gave the Nike+ Running App a chance (again) and left RunKeeper on vacation. The Chicago Marathon has a couple of challenges going on and if you win you get some perk on Marathon day. I thought I'd try the Nike+ app and see how I enjoyed it this time around. Almost 2 years ago when I used it I didn't really like it but now I see they have made a lot of improvements. My favorite one: auto pause. I enjoy the RunKeeper maps but having to pause my runs is quite annoying. You also need to know that I use the free version of most Apps I have which means RunKeeper might have auto-pause in the paid version of it and I just don't know.
Last week I got a sports massage and it was painful but fantastic for my muscles. I didn't know I had muscle knots. My muscles felt really detangled and I can say I ran much better afterwards. While I can't put sports massage in my budget yet, I will still consider it going to it when I need it.
My long run went well. I started to get tired at the end but I was feeling well overall. I had a change of scenery and that was smart. I'm thankful to my have my running buddies to start my long runs with me. It's challenging to be out there for hours by myself so their company is very refreshing.
Nutrition has been great since I've been back home. It's easier to control everything I eat when I'm at home. Every time I find myself eating 'boring' foods (like a bowl of beans, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots) I think about how much that will fuel my runs. Something that hasn't been boring at all is my latest discovery: Brazilian Tapioca. I've been eating mine with eggs. Super filling and super delish.
Just for the fun of it I'll show you how to burn calories super quick:
I can say I've burned thousands of calories since I've been married to Zeke. I couldn't resist it friends, this is too funny!
I appreciate your prayers as the miles start to climb to 17 miles and above for my long runs. The run is often the easy part for me. Recovering is a challenge but with God's help I'll be able to do it. Next week I'll tell you how my first 17-miler went. Have a blessed week!
Training Archives:
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• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
Sports massages are the best! I have learned that they really are an important part of recovery while training for a marathon (or in your case, 2!) so I decided to sign up to get them monthly at Massage Heights! They are amazing there!
I'm encouraged by your training. I prefer the nike app over runkeeper. I may have to upgrade as I was not familiar with auto pause - which sounds like a great feature.
I didn't like Nike + either. And I always use the free apps.
Schedule a massage for the second day after your marathon. The best thing ever.
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