1 year Blogaversary!!

1 year ago today I wrote my first ever blog post, and it's been quite the year. I feel like my fitness has improved so much over the year and I have met so many wonderful people throughout the year through blogging and the running community. I even felt confident enough with my abilities that I am currently a pacer/mentor for the Fleet Feet Winter Warriors group.

Looking back over the year I tackled a few things that I never thought I would do:

• Complete a marathon - The words " I will never run a marathon" came out of my mouth when I was just beginning to run about 4 years ago. At the time it was challenging to run for 60 seconds at a time with a rest break for 20 minutes. It seemed impossible at the time and now it's something I can knowingly tackle and will be doing another this year. 

• Complete a triathlon - I've watched the Ironman Championships on TV before, but never thought is was a sport for me. As I become a runner this actually seemed possible as biking and swimming were sports I enjoyed, but it meant actually training in the sport and correctly learning it's aspects. The task seemed daunting at first but I wanted to give it a shot. I put my neck out there and I love the sport now.  

• Spend $$ on a sportswatch - I finally broke into the age of technology and with the thought of doing a triathlon I did a lot of research between Timex and Garmin and decided to go with the newest and greatest Garmin 910XT. I have thoroughly enjoyed using it and I know there is still plenty for me to learn with it yet. I am looking forward to learning how to use the courses and virtual partner to help me with my speed.

I also spent a good portion of the year planning my wedding and finally tied the knot on August 24. It only took me 29 years, but I finally met a man that makes me happy and loves me for everything that I am. There were points in life where I wasn't sure that I would ever find someone that would fulfill those areas in my life.

I completed the most races ever this past year, and may even tie the total number I've done in my young running career!!

Point Bock 5 miler (March) - I walked this one due to injury

Oshkosh Half Marathon Relay (April)

Soleburner 5K (May)

Bellin Run 10K (June)

Winneconne Sprint Triathlon (June)

Fremont Sprint Triathlon (July)

Seymour Bun Run 5K (August)

Justiceworks Just Run Half Marathon (September)

Fox Cities Half Marathon (September)

Whistlestop Marathon (October)

Festival Foods Turkey Trot 5 miler (November)

I did not begin tracking my mileage until 2012 so I don't have a benchmark number, but here is where I ended up this year.

Running (590.19 miles)  - You can tell when I peaked with my marathon training.

Cycling (311.70 miles)

Swimming (14.93 miles) I will spare you the graph on this since it's only a few miles a month 

I did get in 25 walking miles when I could not run early in the year and I picked up yoga late in the year. Mixed in with this were plenty of weights workouts to help with my strength and injury prevention.

Overall I managed 947.05 miles for the year. I know many of you have run this many miles or more and I commend you! I have become addicted to my workouts and I have missed them this past week being sick and stuck on my couch for the last few days. I am looking forward to starting fresh tomorrow 

2013 will be scary in the fact that I will be turning the big 3-0 but really I am looking forward to a great year. Here are my time goals for the new year; mentioned in an earlier post.

• Run a sub 26:00 5K
• Run a sub 2:00:00 half-marathon
• Run at least 1 marathon and PR (sub 4:50:00)
• Complete the Fremont Sprint Triathlon sub 1:00:00
• Finish an Olympic Distance Triathlon

I am a little more afraid to put a total mileage goal out there as I have learned how much of a struggle in can be to remain uninjured and sometimes life just gets in the way. But here is what I am going to try and shoot for, along with not lapsing in keeping up my swimming & biking year round.

• Swimming: 50 miles
• Cycling: 500 miles
• Running: 1,000 miles

Here's to a Happy and Healthy 2013!!!

Gear Must Haves

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!! I had a great time catching up with family and now I find myself sick and stuck at home feeling miserable. There were some family members sick and I blame one of them on getting me sick. I received a little bit of cash for Christmas and I'm trying to determine what gear to buy myself for Christmas.

Here are some of the few things that I am thinking about getting:

The stick

Item # 080188

Wool socks

Swimming suit (cool thing about this one is it's reversible)

I am debating about getting some elastic laces sometime this Spring for use in triathlons. I am loving the ones that came on my Merrell Hiking shoes and just need to decide which kind to get.

What are your favorite gear pieces??

What a Week

This week was the first of me working 2 jobs, being a running mentor and my own training plan. I am trying to focus on my 2 weaker areas which is swimming and then biking. I also tend to slack off on strength training so I'm trying to get at least two workouts per week. I only had to make a minor adjustment due to not exactly having energy after working 13 hours on Wednesday. I moved my bike/swim workout to Thursday which I ended up skipping altogether due to feeling completely relaxed after yoga. Not bad for only miss 1 planned workout in one hectic week.

12/3/2012	Run	3	4 - WW				5 - WW	3
	Cycle	7			7m			11
	Swim				800m			1200m
	Other		Strength	Rest (W)	Yoga	Rest (W)	Strength

I still ended up with a total of 34.75 miles for the week broken down as follows:
Run: 15 miles
Cycle: 18 miles
Swim: 1200 meters
Strength: 2 workouts
Yoga: Intro to Yoga -1 hour class

As mentioned last week I tend to do better when my schedule is full and this is proof!! I don't push things off and do them as I think of it or as planned because I can't push it off. I am excellent at procrastinating when I have the opportunity.

In other news, I am now a member of the lost toenail club. I have had a toenail that I thought was going to come off in September, but after I cut it down realized there was a massive blister underneath it and proceeded to relieve the pressure on it. Since then it's been alright and it finally let go on Saturday. I just hope it grows back without looking too hideous.

Sunday I woke up to SNOW and I was so excited for my run. Here is a little glimpse into what it looked like  right after I got back.

Sorry for the slightly fuzzy photo here :(

I had my bag packed for the gym so when I got home I could grab that and get to the gym for a bike and swim. In the evening I made 2 different vegetable soups for the week and a veggie pizza for dinner. I was able to use up almost all the vegetables I had bought from the store and now I have great food for the week since I have little time to cook during the week.

Here is to another great week!

Let the Chaos Ensue!!

I love this time as year as it makes most people generally happy and I just love the spirit of the season. I am feeling a little lackluster in my spirit this year and I'm waiting for it to sneak up on me. I have yet to even think about putting my tree or Dickens Christmas Village up and I'm not really sure if it will end up happening. My life is about to get ultra busy, although it seems the busier I am the more I get accomplished. I guess when I can't procrastinate I just shut up and do it instead of find time to push it off to!!

I mentioned last week that I am mentoring the Winter Warriors 15K program at Fleet Feet Sports and we have group runs every Tuesday night (6 pm) and Saturday morning (7:30 am). We had our first run on Saturday and I'm so excited to help everyone in the group improve their running and making new running pals! The training plan calls for 4 weekly runs and 2 cross training days and I will also be fitting in 2 strength days and maybe a yoga class. I basically only get Friday off each week as a rest day before the long run day.

It is year end coming up and in the accounting world it only means one thing.....it's time to get it together! We are trying to wrap up financials and clear out any lingering issues from the year to keep the tax accountants off our backs. I usually end up working at least 45 hours each week and things will just be a little more chaotic in those hours for the next few months.

I also am starting a seasonal retail job at my favorite craft store and I will be working 16 hours or so each week. Meaning I work 2 4-hour weeknight shifts and a 8 hour shift on Saturday after the group run. I am thankful they don't follow the super crazy hours most other retailers do and it's also where I worked in college so I at least feel comfortable with the store, just need to learn the new register system and I will be golden.

All of this means the days are going to feel really long and I think I'm going to struggle keeping my energy up and getting my workouts in. It also likely means I will have less time for blogging so I may end up disappearing at times. I know it's all for my benefit in the long run and I will just need to remind myself of that when I get stressed out. At least by the end of February I will be back to my normal life again :)

Have you found your Christmas Spirit??