Category: Uncategorized

Ugh. The dreaded topic.

Side note: I really wasn’t wanting to write this post, but I managed to leave my keys in Daniel’s car and he is working all day today, so it’s just me, Brooks and my thoughts here at the house today. Here we go …

Second side note: This post is mainly about running (duh!), but burnout can happen in many different areas of your life as well. About a year and a half ago I experienced career burnout. After 7 years of working 70+ hour weeks during tax season I was just done. I realized that the goal I had been working towards (making partner) was not at all what I actually even wanted. It was one of those things that I just thought I was supposed to do (you have really got to watch out for those “supposed to dos” in life), when in actuality it was the farthest thing in the world from what I wanted.

Burnout is one of those hazards in life that over-achievers should really be keeping a close eye out for … but because of the “I can do everything” mindset, you rarely see it coming. Because you are often passionate about what you are doing, you tend to ignore the fact that your’re working exceptionally long hours, taking on exceedingly heavy work loads, and putting enormous pressure on yourself to excel, thus creating the perfect storm for burnout.

Psychology Today defines burnout as “a state of chronic stress that leads to physical and emotional exhaustion, cynicism and detachment, feelings of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment.” Burnout doesn’t happen suddenly. You don’t wake up one morning and all of a sudden “have burnout.” It happens subtly, creeping up on us over time, making it harder to recognize.

Physical and mental burnout can be correlated. Physical burnout can lead to mental burnout and vice versa.

Signs and symptoms of physical burnout include sleep loss, weight loss, increased resting heart rate, increased exercise heart rate, higher incidence of colds and respiratory infections, increased blood pressure, increased muscle soreness and chronic muscle fatigue, decrease in muscle glycogen and loss of appetite.

Signs and symptoms of mental burnout include lack of desire to get out the door and run, increased perception of difficulty on runs, even easy runs, depression, decreased motivation and anxiety about next workout/race.

I think I’ve been teetering on the brink of burnout for several weeks now. My last post “Just Keep Swimming” was my last ditch attempt to convince myself that what I was feeling was normal that I need to push through. Of course it is easier to recognize this in hindsight.

The physical signs were there: I was unable to hit the paces in workouts that I should’ve been able to (based on other recent workouts, races, etc.) on three workouts in a row, I was crazy sore after these workouts (not normal for me) and I was fighting a random stomach bug and respiratory infection. I also went back and tracked my resting heart rate over the last few weeks (#nerdalert) and it was pretty consistently 10 – 15 bpm higher than my typical resting heart rate. Yikes!

As a marathon runner, you will certainly be stiff and sore on some runs and having a bad workout here and there is inevitable. There are very few marathoners that don’t have at least one or two really bad workouts during a training cycle. The key is to realize when it is becoming a trend and when it is an isolated incident. I typically do two hard workouts per week and so to have three in a row not go well definitely meant something was up.

The mental signs were there: I was dreading my workouts. That is absolutely not normal! I mean, sure I can procrastinate a workout with the best of ’em, but dread … that was a new one. The motivation was gone (left the building)!

I have been worked really hard in my training this summer. I’ve put in a lot of long hours (i.e., miles), with a heavy work load (i.e., stress workouts) and somehow I ended up feeling like there was too much pressure on running.

Running is something that I am truly passionate about, but I feel like it’s time to take a little step back and re-evaluate exactly why this is. What I do know is that a lot of things in my life are tied to running right now. I run. I coach runners. I write about running. My shared hobby with Daniel is running. Most of my friends are runners. The list goes on and on. The other thing that I know is that while yes, I am a runner and I [usually] love it, running doesn’t define me as a person and my self-worth is not defined by paces and race times.

I knew that I had to talk to my coach about the possibility of backing off the training a little bit. I was really dreading that conversation. In my mind, I thought telling him that I needed a break was like I was waving the white flag of defeat. I would be saying that the training was too much for me to handle and that I might as well hang up all of my goals right then and there.

He told me, “Admitting you are  human is the first step towards becoming super-human.” Um. Yes! I think I need to frame that somewhere. He also said that it is better to listen to my body now than to fizzle out mid-cycle, which totally makes sense. I am still in the early weeks of marathon training and taking a break from stress workouts for a week or two now isn’t going to completely derail my training (contrary to what the voices in my head were trying to tell me).

What’s next? The plan is to take some time off, mainly from stress workouts, for a week or two. Next week’s schedule says “4-8 miles easy or a rest day” each day. I know that it is going to be hard. At this point, taking a rest day takes more discipline than actually running does.

I am going to focus on being honest with myself and listening to my body. I know that this doesn’t make me weak or a quitter. Hopefully I’ll come back stronger and ready to fight!

Hey guys! Happy Monday!

We are almost to the last week of August, football starts next weekend AND the shrimp boats are back in the bay. Do you know what that means? We are getting closer and closer to fall!

The goods news is that there is in fact a light at the end of this summer heat and humidity tunnel that we have been running through. The bad news is that it might get worse before it gets better. I promise it will get better. Until then … just keep swimming.

It seems to me that sometimes towards the end of the summer, training gets even tougher (mentally) because you think it is *supposed to be* already getting better. Shouldn’t we be acclimated by now? Perhaps to an extent, yes. But as you know, it’s never black and white. You don’t wake up one day magically adjusted and able to run the same pace that you would in cooler, drier conditions. When those cooler and drier conditions come … now that’s another story!

Hopefully you aren’t having to adjust your pace by quite as much as you did at the beginning of the summer though, right? You are making progress!

If you have been training throughout the summer, you have to remember that you have been running in the heat and humidity for several months now and your body is just likely a little bit drained and just worn down. I’m really not trying to be negative (just realistic). My point is that you have to remain diligent in your training and your recovery and patiently wait for the drier air and cooler temperatures.

Keep hydrating and recovering like a champ! We expect our bodies to do a lot for us, so in return we have to do a lot for our bodies. Practice some self care and self love and don’t beat yourself up if your workouts still aren’t going exactly as you hoped (P. S. I’m totally talking to myself right now).

In the spirit of embracing the remainder of the summer weather, Daniel and I decided to hit the beach for a short run yesterday afternoon! He needed a few miles to get over 50 for the week and I was happy to support his need for even numbers.

I did a similar run a few weeks ago. This time we did a little bit of a shorter route, but with the same general plan. We ran 2.5 miles on the road and then headed down to the bay and ran back home on the beach.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to plan this run at low tide. We checked the tide charts, but low tide was at close to 10 p.m., so that wasn’t going to work. We decided to give it a go anyway, but the water was pretty high and the bay was choppy.

I don’t know if “running” would really be an accurate description of what we did. There was some running, but mostly wading, hurdling and rock climbing. I think we will count this as a cross training day!

We had fun! We both agreed that we would like to make a beach run part of our semi-normal routine. We would also like to make yoga, strength training and cooking part of our semi-normal routine as well. Don’t hold your breath!

Tell me: What is something that you have good intentions of doing but that sometimes gets overlooked?

Hi! I hope you had a wonderful week and are enjoying your weekend!

Our second tax season (you know, the one they don’t tell you about when you are in school) is in full swing, so this was a busier than normal work week for me. Thankfully, it was also really productive! There is something very satisfying about getting lots of returns finalized. Nerd alert.

We had our pictures made for our new website a couple of weeks ago. Here is the finished product! I am so thankful for my work family.

In other news … marathon training is officially underway!

Technically this was the 3rd week of training, but I wasn’t really counting the first two weeks as marathon training in my mind. Mentally I felt like I needed a little bit of a break from “official” training. Since there wasn’t an actual race at the end of my last training cycle, the cycle didn’t really have formal closure. I still ran 31 miles, but it wasn’t a race so it just didn’t *feel* the same.

I decided (in my head) that this week was going to be the first official week of training. My head and the rest of my body were apparently on different wave lengths though, because the week was definitely less than stellar.

I started the week off with some sort of weird stomach bug, which wasn’t really ideal. I was supposed to do a 3 X 2 mile workout Tuesday, but I decided to give myself an extra day to recover and I ended up doing that workout Wednesday instead.

The schedule called for a 2 mile warm up, followed by 3 X 2 mile repeats with a goal range of 6:15 to 6:25 pace and a 2 mile cool down. I typically do these longer repeat workouts on the treadmill, but Daniel agreed to do the workout with me this week so we *attempted* it outside. It didn’t go exactly as planned. You win some, you lose some.

My average paces were 6:25, 6:40 and 7:00.

I kind of let my perfectionist, overly self-critical tendencies get the best of me and I was definitely a bit discouraged after this workout. It is so easy to let a bad workout get in your head and make you feel like you have (oh.my.gosh) lost all of your fitness (every single bit of it). On the other hand, it is also easy to not give yourself credit for the good workouts. It’s just like meh, that’s what was expected of me (which is definitely not the best outlook).

There are positive and negative takeaways from every workout and race that we do. Sometimes you just have to do a bit more digging to find those positives. In hindsight, here are a few positives …

1) I did the workout outside (meaning that it was dark, it was humid and there were hills … how rude). I have to learn to give up the security of the treadmill every now and then. I don’t mean security in a safety sense, but rather the security of having the treadmill control and maintain the pace for me. The treadmill is a wonderful pacer and it is a good tool to utilize sometimes (especially if you need a confidence boost), but doesn’t need to be used all of the time.

2) I didn’t give up. I seriously considered calling it a day after the second set, but I stuck with it. It’s better to keep fighting and run a little bit slower than your goal pace than to give up all together. Not every workout goes exactly as planned (pace wise) and I will still benefit from the work that was put in.
3) Daniel and I got in a good workout together. Couples who do LT (lactate threshold) repeats together stay together LT (long-term)! That’s what I decided anyway.

Daniel was not available for a comment or a picture after the workout, so Brooks filled in for him for a post-workout picture. Thanks Brookser!

My legs were incredibly sore from this workout. It felt like I had raced a half marathon or something. I’m not usually that sore from a workout. Now I’m wondering if I actually had some sort of virus or something that was lingering a little bit longer than I realized. Either way, it was bizarre!

Thursday morning Rebecca, Jessica and I had a nice, easy run and came back to a beautiful sunrise over the bay. The mornings are definitely getting a little bit darker (bummer!), but the views are worth it.

Saturday morning I had a 16 mile long run with the last 4 miles up-tempo (with a 6:45 to 7:00 goal range). I ran 12 miles with the group from Running Wild and then headed back out to do the last 4 on my own. It was a bit of a struggle, but I averaged 7:03 for the last 4 miles. I can live with that!

That’s where we are now. I’m pretty much in a run, work, eat, sleep and repeat cycle right now. I’m going to do my best to work posts back into my regular schedule. It just takes me a little while to settle into a good rhythm.

Talk to you soon!

Hello!

Good news. I figured out the issue with the recovery time on my Garmin. I know you were all super interested in that … I’m kidding. BUT apparently some others were having the same issue (this is for you Lizzie and Jill). It’s a pretty easy fix. You just need to set the maximum heart rate in your user profile.

This can be done directly from your watch: go to My Stats > User Profile > Heart Rate Zones > Max Heart Rate or from the Garmin Connect app: go to More > Click on your Device (in the top right corner) > User Settings > Heart Rate Zones > Max Heart Rate.

Once you are here, adjust the maximum heart rate. If you aren’t sure what your maximum heart rate is, in the Garmin Connect app: go to Health Stats > All Day Heart Rate. You can see your low and high heart rates for each day for up to the last 12 months. I would recommend finding a hard race or fast repeat workout that you did and basing it on the maximum from that day.

At the two mile race I did last week, my maximum heart rate was just over 210. This is the highest heart rate that I have seen since I got my Garmin Forerunner 235. I adjusted this setting on my watch and the recovery feedback that I have been getting makes much more sense! Yay.

If you don’t go in and adjust the setting, the default maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. For me this would be 189. Since my max heart rate is actually a decent amount higher than this, before I adjusted this setting my watch thought that I was basically redlining on all of my runs. No wonder it told me I needed to cool my jets!

Unfortunately most Garmin watches don’t automatically update these stats based on your actual data. The built-in heart rate sensors are still a relatively new technology. According to Garmin, “While our wrist HR monitor technology is state of the art, there are inherent limitations with the technology that may cause some of the heart rate readings to be inaccurate under certain circumstances. These circumstances include the user’s physical characteristics, the fit of the device and the type and intensity of the activity as outlined above.”

I try to pay attention to my heart rate levels after each stress workout that I do, as this gives you good feedback as to whether you were training at the correct intensity to get the desired adaptation from the workout. An elevated resting heart rate can be a sign of over-training and/or dehydration, so it’s a good idea to monitor your resting heart rate as well.

I mainly just wanted to share this info today, but since we are here I might as well fill you in on my weekend runs as well …

Saturday morning I ran with Daniel and his training buddies. My schedule called for a moderate pace long run and their normal long run pace is basically my long run pace, so that works out pretty well.

I wasn’t quite in the range that I was supposed to be, but I’m still happy with this run overall! Post run we did the usual breakfast and hang out at Warehouse thing. After this run my Garmin told me that I needed 19 hours of recovery, which makes much more sense than the typical 72 hours that it has been telling me. Success.

This morning I met the girls at the pier and did 11 easy miles. We had a great run! Post run we did the usual caffeinate and hang out at Coffee Loft thing. Daniel came and met us and brought the iPad so that we could watch the Women’s Olympic Marathon live. We had three top-notch women representing the United States and they all ran their hearts out! It was very inspiring to watch.

I hope you had a great weekend! See ya soon!

Happy Friday!

Is it raining where you are? We are getting soaked!

It feels like it has been raining for days and it doesn’t exactly look like it’s going to let up anytime soon either. Might as well make the best of it I reckon!

I’ve decided that Fridays on the blog are going to be Fitness + Pinterest = Fitterest. The name might change, but that’s what I’m going with for now.

I’ve pretty much been doing this anyway, but on Friday I will do a weekly run down of my training and share some wonderfully random pins that I find during the week. Let’s go!

Monday: 8 easy
Tuesday: 4 easy + 2 mile Race
Wednesday: 8 easy + 5 easy
Thursday: 8 easy
Friday: 8 easy 

Just easy miles this week to recover from the 2 mile race, so nothing really major to report. My legs were definitely feeling that for a few days.

I’ve got lots of partying on tap this weekend! How about you?

Running and napping are two of my favorite pastimes!

Who knew that Pooh was so wise. If I don’t get a smallish nap or two this weekend … oh bother!

I think this rain has me super sleepy today! Lots of napping quotes. Let’s see what else I can find.

Ahh, yes! #truthbomb

And since it is Friday afternoon after all …

I. Can’t. Even. Isn’t that little guy the cutest?

What is the weather like right now where you live? Are you going to take a nap this weekend? I hope you have a great weekend doing whatever it is that you are doing!

Hey friends! Happy Monday!

We are in Destin and headed home tomorrow morning. Let’s back up …

We spent the weekend in Destin, Florida. Daniel went to an allergy conference to get some continuing education hours in and I was more than happy to tag along! I mean, I can think of a lot worse things than being *forced* to go to the beach for a long weekend. He was only in class from 8 to 12 Saturday and Sunday, so it wasn’t bad at all. We tacked an extra day on to the trip and stayed all day Monday and Monday night as well.

Speaking of continuing education, I’ve got to get on that myself here soon as well. I’ve got to get 24 more hours for the year before September 30th. My CPE will consist of me sitting in front of a computer all day watching webinars. Not quite as glamorous as a conference at the beach.

Daniel worked half a day Friday and then we packed up, dropped Brookser off at the doggie spa and headed to Destin.

Friday night we went to a “meet and greet” with the other doctors, nurse practitioners, medical reps, etc. that were attending the conference. Lots of small talk. My favorite! Ha. It wasn’t really that bad. Daniel knew a couple of people, which made it nice.

After the meet and greet we went to dinner with one of the doctors that Daniel works with and a couple of the medical reps that call on their office (I think that is the correct terminology, but I’m not completely sure). I do know that I was the only person at the dinner table not in the medical field. We went to Seagar’s, which is a fancy steak and seafood restaurant.

A little piece of me died when I saw the prices on the menu. Whoa. I just don’t understand spending lots of money on a fancy meal. I know that a lot of people enjoy and appreciate it, but I am definitely not one of those people. Give me a bowl of cereal and I’m perfectly content. Spending money on running clothes … now that’s something I can get behind and totally support! To quote Daniel, “I don’t claim to make sense all of the time.”

In the spirit of rolling with it, I ordered a $50 8 oz. filet. Eek. I don’t even know who I am anymore. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t delicious though.

This was without a doubt the most expensive meal that we’ve ever had, but it was very good and I guess it’s okay to splurge every now and then. The chocolate soufflé that we ordered for dessert was just the proverbial icing on the cake.

Our fancy-smancy dinner lasted until almost 11 p.m., so by the time we got back to our room and to bed it was after midnight. Again, this is highly unusual in our world. We like to be in bed by 9 at the latest. When you wake up at 4:30 to run, you pretty much have to be in bed at a decent (read: grandma) time. We had good intentions of running Saturday morning before Daniel had to go to class, but we both opted for extra sleep.

In fact I didn’t get up until after 9 Saturday morning. Our room was so dark and cozy that I didn’t really even want to get up then. I just hung out and watched the Olympics for most of the morning while Daniel was in class. It was glorious!

After being inside all morning, Daniel and I were both ready to get out and do something once he was done with class. Get out and do something = go running! We ran. 8 miles. At noon. In August. In Florida. I don’t necessarily recommend this. This is one of those do as I say, not as I do things. I kept thinking to myself (and also said out loud), “I’m so glad Rebecca and I decided not to do that relay last weekend!” We would’ve been running mid-day and that would have been brutal.

Side note: Did I tell y’all that only one team finished the relay? Yikes.

There were several good loops and running paths near our hotel. Of course Daniel already knew this because he had scoped the area out on Strava before we got here and he had some segments that he wanted to go for. Saturday afternoon we ran over to Baytowne Wharf and ran two of the segments (a 3.1 mile loop and a 2 mile loop). He wanted to make sure that the segments registered correctly on Strava before he tried to chase them down the next day.

He did in fact get the “Clockwise Baytowne Loop” segment in 20:39 (6:35 pace). King of the mountain (it’s a Strava thing)!

I kind of feel like Strava is a runner’s version of Pokémon Go. You go out and try to collect all the segments. Although I don’t know that I really understand Pokémon Go at all, so I could be totally off base with that comparison. I’m pretty sure that we did almost get run over by a couple of teenagers on bikes who were playing Pokémon Go while we were running though. I do know that they weren’t paying attention to where they were riding, but I’m unsure of the actual reason for the distraction. I’m going to blame it on Pokémon.

I hung back and tried to just survive take in the scenery. The run was pretty enjoyable, but I definitely didn’t have that “I LOVE RUNNING” feeling that I usually have on a run. There was a decent amount of shade though, so that definitely helped.

This is not one of the shaded places …

After our run we headed to the pool for a little bit to relax.

We found two chairs together (which is a feat in and of itself) with one in the shade for Daniel and one in the sun for me. It was a beautiful day!

I enjoyed reading the Runner’s World Olympics viewer guide and Daniel enjoyed a little cat nap. Once we came back inside from the pool, I was drained. The sun will definitely do that to you. I got a proper nap (i.e., in the bed) before dinner while Daniel read.

We opted for a more low-key dinner Saturday night and we ate outside by the pool. We got a tuna dip appetizer and I also got tuna for my meal. Tuna is one of my favorites, especially when cooked well (i.e., medium rare … how’s that for an oxymoron). I’m not sure when I decided to turn this into a food blog. It’ll be short-lived I promise. Vacation eats are so much more exciting than everyday eats. The tuna was delicious.

I decided to hit the beach for a few miles Sunday morning while Daniel was in class. I LOVE running on the beach! It feels so free and peaceful out there. I also feel totally safe. I don’t have that feeling very often when running by myself, but for whatever reason when I am on the beach I feel totally comfortable and not on edge at all.

I ended up running 4 miles one way and then 4 miles back for a total of 8 miles on the beach. After the first mile, I didn’t see a single person for several miles. It was just me, my thoughts and the birds.

I hated to miss my usual Sunday morning group run with the girls (especially because 1) Lizzie made an appearance and 2) they sent me a picture of all of their yummy Coffee Loft drinks (and I got the picture while I was about halfway into my run and I would’ve gladly welcomed any sort of beverage)), but I spent some quality time with the gulls. I couldn’t resist. Major cheese factor.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with the beaches along the Gulf Coast, they aren’t like the hard-packed beaches on the East Coast. They are so beautiful, but so tough for running. My feet basically sunk a couple of inches into the sand with each step. I struggled to keep my pace under a 10 minute mile.

I wasn’t worried about my pace, but I also couldn’t help but wonder how much the sand affects it. It’s kind of like running in windy conditions, or humid conditions for that matter. There is a lot of added resistance, so you are working a lot harder than the data shows at the end of the run. I wish there was a sand adjustment pace calculator. I’m sure my “suffer score” would’ve been pretty high.

My Garmin told me that I needed 56 hours to recover from the beach run.

Speaking of … Does anyone else with a newer, built-in heart rate model Garmin get crazy recovery times after your run? Daniel’s typically tells him that he needs 12 hours or something like that, but mine is always a lot longer. It has even told me that I need 3 days. I don’t really know exactly what it is using to come up with that information. Sounds like a good research project for a later time though.

I left that paragraph for a little bit and of course then I couldn’t resist, so I just did a quick Google search. Apparently it seems that the recovery time is a suggestion of how long to wait before the next hard training session, so the next stress workout, not the next easy run, which makes more sense. Sometimes it will tell me that I need 3 days to recover and then 3 hours later it’s all like, “MOVE.” I mean, which one is it? Get it together Mr. Garmin.

It also supposedly factors in cumulative fatigue and overall training stress, but I am still a tad skeptical as to the validity of this calculation … mainly because I can’t find anything that tells me the actual calculation. There has to be a formula of some sort … I will find it and I will let you know.

Oh well … so since my watch told me I needed to recover, I listened and Sunday afternoon we did something that we haven’t done since our Honeymoon … we got a couples massage! We both opted for the deep tissue sports massage and loved it. Sometimes I enjoy a nice massage and sometimes not so much (there’s just something a little odd about strangers touching you), but this was nice. It was a little intense at times, in a hurts-so-good sort of way, but I know that it helped flush the lactic acid out of my muscles. We were able to use the spa beforehand and afterwards too, so we both took advantage of the steam room, sauna and hot tub for a little bit. Lots of relaxing and recovery!

Sunday evening we decided to go to the outlets for a little bit. Unfortunately, all the stores closed at 7 and we didn’t get there until about 6:45 so we only had time to go to one store. We got some frozen yogurt and headed back to the hotel. Daniel ordered a 16 inch pizza for lunch that day and had plenty of leftovers (go figure). We happily ate pizza and watched more of the Olympics. I can’t wait for the running events!

This morning we did our 8 mile route again, but ran the loops (the 3.1 mile loop and 2 mile loop) backwards. Daniel was done with his classes at this point, so we were actually able to get out there at a decent time (i.e., not noon). The humidity was higher in the morning, but the heat wasn’t quite as oppressive. It’s almost like you have to pick your poison on the summer runs, go super early and battle the humidity or go later in the day and battle the heat. Regardless, all of the battles we fight will make us stronger for our fall races!

Ahh, fall. Not too much longer! I really think I felt some cool breezes this weekend (that could’ve just been me hallucinating in the heat though), reminding me that fall is just around the corner.

After our run today we decided to go (aka, I convinced Daniel to join me) for a walk on the beach. The water felt great!

I want to call it a mini-ice bath, but the water wasn’t really cold enough to justify it being an ice bath. I just really don’t like those things, so that was about as close as I get to an ice bath. Works for me.

Later this afternoon we explored the Baytowne Wharf area (while not running for a change).

I think Olympic gymnastics might be to blame for this, but I have been going on and on to Daniel about how I really want to go to the new indoor trampoline center, The Factory, in Gulf Shores. They have 12,000 square feet and over 50 trampolines. I’ve seen lots of photos of kids (and some adults) playing there and it looks like an absolute BLAST! I was able to get my trampoline fix in (at least temporarily) at Baytowne. I still want to go to The Factory soon though.

When we got over there, I saw that they had a bungee trampoline and that was it. I HAD to do it. I’ve never been on one of those things, but always thought that they looked fun. I loved jumping on the trampoline as a kid, but this was like a trampoline on steroids! I don’t know how high I was flying, but it felt really high. I loved it. I want to do it again. Right now. I might be one of those adrenaline junkie types.

#flipout

After the bungee excursion, my trip was made. Goals met. Life complete.

We walked around and looked in some shops (mainly just to get out of the heat), but it was so stinking hot that we didn’t last too long on the shopping.

We enjoyed our dinner by the pool so much Saturday night that we decided to do that again tonight. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful vacation!

We are headed home in the morning and I am running a 2 MILE RACE tomorrow evening! Woo hoo. We shall see how a post-vacation race goes.

I’d love to hear your feedback on the Garmin recovery data if you have any! What ranges have you seen?

Hey guys! I am SO EXCITED because I have a special post to share with y’all today. Daniel wrote a post about his running story. I hope you enjoy it! P.S. The color coding (pink for me, navy for Daniel) and pictures are courtesy of yours truly. You’re welcome.

Without further ado …

Sam and I have talked about me doing a guest post blog takeover for a while now. I was unsure what to write about initially, and also let me apologize up front as I am not a good writer and this is a longer post.

I decided to share my story of how I started running and where running has led me to now. Let me start by saying, I have never been a good athlete. I am the epitome of your average guy. Average at pretty much every sport, subject, or anything else known to man. Growing up my school never had a track or cross country program so I never ran. Both of my parents ran 5ks and 10ks but neither my sisters nor I ever ran with them.

Sam here. Just wanted to interject and say that he doesn’t give himself enough credit! He is above-average at everything that I can think of. He also works very hard and is one of the most caring, compassionate men that I know. Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in 🙂

My second year in college I began feeling convicted, you see for as long as I can remember my biggest fear in life was to lose my legs. I thought that was the worst thing that could possibly happen to me and at that time, I would honestly have rather died than lose my legs. I know this sounds crazy, I don’t claim to make sense all the time.

I remember studying Colossians 3 and being convicted regarding how I was using, or NOT using, my legs to glorify God. I thought to myself, if my biggest fear is losing my legs, then what am I doing with them to glorify God right now? I realized I was wasting a gift (yes having legs and being able to walk/jog/run is a gift that can be used for His glory).

I began running 20 minutes a day on the treadmill. (Side note: I wore soccer shorts and tall soccer socks (one maroon and one white – because I thought this was cool)).

Sam again. Sorry, I’m going to stop interupting, but y’all … I died when I read this. I had never heard the story of the mismatched (on purpose) socks, but I can totally picture it in my head and the thought process behind it and it is HILARIOUS! LOL!

This progressed over a couple of months to 2 miles a day. One day, a friend of mine told me he was going to do a marathon and said I should do it too. I thought as long as I ran slow enough I could run forever (this is a myth).

I began training using Hal Higdon’s beginner marathon program and ultimately had some knee issues after a 15 mile run and I ended up doing the half marathon instead. I ran the First Light Half Marathon in January 2007. My goal was 2 hours and I ended up doing 2:01.  I was pretty happy with that and was ready to run another one.

My dad was still running some at this time and we decided to do a half together. We both trained (me at school and him at home) for the New Orleans Half marathon a little over a month later in February of the same year. I remember him asking me one day why I never ran faster and I was like, “I’ve never tried. I don’t want to crash out there and be empty at the end.” He convinced me to try a faster pace one day on a training run while I was at home and we ended up doing 10 miles at an ~8:30 pace. I did my second half in New Orleans in 1:47.

This ended up being my dad’s last race before having to have a knee replacement. He was a power-lifter in college and seminary and the heavy weights took a toll on his knees, NOT the running. I continued running around 3-4 miles 5 times a week and trained to get faster and faster. I was able to walk on the cross-country team at my university, as they were just starting the team up, and I ended up becoming the team captain my senior year.

Shortly after graduating college, I found myself meeting a girl to run. We only knew each other because we were from the same home town, had a lot of mutual friends and were friends on social media. We had literally never spoken one word to each other. Sam and I were supposed to run 4 miles (2 laps on a 2 mile trail I knew about) and we ended up doing 4 LAPS that day!  

We continued running together 1-2 times per week. One day I stood her up (accidentally) for an early run. See I was working night shift at the time and somehow my clock was set to 5 P.M. and not A.M. That evening I asked her to go out to dinner (because I felt terrible for the stand-up). I think this was maybe 2-4 weeks in to us knowing each other. After this night, I knew she was the girl that I would marry and actually I remember calling my parents and telling them and their response was, “We thought she was the one.” How awesome right! We got married a year later and this is the best decision I have ever made.

Today some of my closest friends are my running friends. We meet friends to run several times a week and I enjoy doing long runs and catching up on the weekly football games. We do track workouts together. Having a group to run with has helped me tremendously. We push each other to be better and we support each other regardless.

Sam again. I know. Last time. Promise.

Over the course of the last 5 or so years after graduating from college, Daniel has taken his half marathon time down to 1:23. He didn’t want to write about his current times, but I just wanted to share that because I think it is really encouraging. He has gone from 2:01 to 1:23! I think his running story shows you just how far hard work, dedication and perseverance can get you. Cool, right?! Carry on.

I look back to my second year of college when I first began using my legs for His glory. My goal has always been for running to never be about me, but to allow me to glorify God. By my simple obedience in this, I met my best friend & bride and many of the closest friends that I have. I have found my community.

My dad and mom have stopped running now due to various injuries, but funny enough, both of my sisters and I now run and we have done several half and full marathons. They passed the torch to us and now we’ve been able to carry on this lifestyle. Running has meant something different to each of us, but it is something that has been a part of each of our lives.

Thanks for reading to the story of how I began running, how I met my wife, and how running impacts our life now.

Daniel Gardner
Never Sacrifice the Gift

HI!

After deciding that we weren’t going to be doing the “group run” previously known as the Big Butts 100K Ultra Relay, Rebecca and I started scheming to come up with a good alternative.

She still needed a 26 to 28 mile long run (she is training for a 50 mile race) and I wanted to get in my 31 birthday miles. My birthday is still a week and a half away, but we are going to be out-of-town next weekend and I wanted to go ahead and get the birthday run done. The main reason that I wanted to do a 50K in general was just to get 31 miles in for my 31st birthday.

I think I started this tradition at 29. Although I didn’t have a blog yet, so who really knows what I did back then. One thing I like about blogging is the ability to look back and see exactly what was going on. I’m pretty sure that for 29, I did 29 miles, but it was a run/bike/paddle board event … so technically it was more like a birthday triathlon. The actual distances of the running and biking are fuzzy at this point. I know that I paddle boarded 2 miles, so 27 miles between biking and running … I think it was 14 running and 13 biking.

Actually the more I think about it, that was partially a lie. Not intentionally of course. It started at 26, not 29. I just remembered that on my 26th birthday, I tried to run 26 miles the day of my birthday, which was mid-week. I hadn’t done a marathon before, so that would’ve been the most I had run in one day. I got up really early and went to the gym before work and ran 13 miles. Daniel and I were going to run 13 more miles that evening after work. I made it 10 miles into the evening run and I was done. So close! And yet so far.

After that failed attempt, I must’ve spent 27 and 28 licking my wounds because I don’t remember even thinking about trying to do anything cool those years. Fun fact: I ended up running my first marathon when I was 26. Even though my birthday attempt wasn’t a success, I got it done a few months later.

Last year I ran 30 miles, but broke it up into two runs.

I texted Coach to see what he thought about still doing the 31 miles, breaking it up into two runs again. I decided that if he didn’t think it was a good idea, I wouldn’t do it. He responded saying that he was going to suggest that anyway, but didn’t want me to feel obligated. What?! Sweet. Didn’t have to twist my arm one bit.

Part I

For the first run of the day, we decided to run our “special occasion” route, which starts across the bay and runs along the Eastern Shore Trail. We usually do this as a 20 mile route, but the trail actually goes a good bit further. Rebecca mapped a 26.2 mile route for us. Rebecca, Jessica and I met early Saturday morning and headed across the bay to get going.

I actually walked out of the house in sandals and forgot my running shoes. How does that even happen? Luckily I had a (new) pair in my car and I had a pair of socks too. I really wasn’t planning to wear my new Launches yet, but … it happened. They are really nice and broken in now!

We started around 5:30 a.m. at Battleship Memorial Park. You can see the USS Alabama in the picture below.

The first few miles run along the bay on the Causeway. By mile two or three we were all drenched. It was pretty humid out and we knew that it was going to be a long day.

We saw the sunrise over the Delta. It was really pretty!

The route is really nice as far as bathrooms and water stops go. We stopped at mile 5 at Meaher State Park for bathrooms and to fill our bottles. We made it across the bay and stopped again at mile 9 to refill our bottles at Bayfront Park.

Miles 10 through 16 are fairly hilly and there aren’t really any places to stop for water, so we stopped again at the gas station at mile 10 and got some Gatorade. We decided to utilize a walk/run strategy on the hills to conserve our energy for later in the run. We walked up the hills. This will be a crucial strategy for Rebecca in her 50 mile race and Jessica and I were more than happy to help her “practice.” We took our gels around mile 13 on an uphill. Also good to practice fueling on the go (as opposed to stopping completely).

Before we knew it we were done with the hills. We made another water stop at a gas station at mile 16. In case you haven’t noticed, hydration was key on this run. I wasn’t really sure exactly how far I was going to go during this first part of the run. I was just playing it by ear. Once we got to 16, I decided that 22 was probably the most that I wanted to do at one time. I knew if I went much further than that my legs would be toast and it would be harder to recover and be ready for Part II.

Daniel ran with his buddies Saturday morning and then came out to check on us save the day. He had a big water cooler in the back of his car and he brought us all cherry limeades for a post-run treat!

He found us around mile 21 and I decided that would be a fabulous time to call it a day (for Part I at least). I hopped in the car with him and we drove to the end of the 26.2 mile route and waited on Rebecca and Jessica to arrive.

Daniel filled up the windpouch and we hung out for a little bit and cooled down.

Y’all. Something is going on with my hair! I know that in general humidity makes it do crazy things, but it has been exceptionally bad lately. I’m not sure that the picture below even does it justice, but that is the remnants of a braid. The braid used to keep it from going crazy, but now … not so much.

Suggestions? I need help.

While we were waiting at the “finish line,” we found this handy map. Jessica and Rebecca ran from my left hand to my right hand. I stopped somewhere a few inches above my right hand.

They made it! So awesome! This was Rebecca’s unofficial 40th marathon and Jessica just ran a marathon on a whim. You know, no big deal.

We did our usual post-run hang out and drink all the drinks at Coffee Loft thing. It was a great morning!

Part II 

I had 10 miles to conquer this evening. Thankfully, Daniel agreed to bike half of it with me and run half of it with me. We have a standard 5 mile loop that we run pretty often, so we decided to keep it simple and do that twice.

He biked the first 5 with me. Action shot!

After 5 miles we stopped by the house and he hopped off the bike and got in a little brick run. This got us on the topic of triathalons. Daniel is thinking about training for a half Ironman after his next marathon. I’m going to stick to the running.

After 5 more miles … DONE. 31 miles for the day. Glad to have that out of the way!

We caught the sun just as it was going down.

I think it is time for me to find a new birthday tradition … Who am I kidding? I love it. Seriously though, I might have to switch over to kilometers soon though. 32 kilometers is *only* 19.9 miles. That’s a little more doable!

I’ve got over a year to figure that one out. Right now I am thankful for the ability to run and for my wonderful running friends and husband who all helped me get through the miles today.

See ya soon!

First things first … The 50K (aka the 100K relay) that I have been training for got cancelled. Womp. Womp.

We got an email from the race director (RD) late Wednesday afternoon that basically said that because it has rained a lot in the last few days, the trail would get very damaged if were to run on the trail. Instead of cancelling the event outright, the RD is actually moving the “race” to his house, but stressed in the email that it would be a fun run and not a race. It would just be running loops on the streets and/or sidewalks of the RD’s neighborhood. So technically, I guess it wasn’t cancelled. Just changed.

Rebecca and I went back and forth about what to do and ultimately decided that we aren’t going to go. We were planning to leave around 3:30 a.m. to drive 3.5 hours to get to the race in the first place. That was crazy enough when it was actual trail race, but now we would be driving 7 hours round-trip just to run around a (potentially sketchy) random neighborhood that we aren’t familiar with at all. In the middle of the day. By ourselves.

It stinks to not do the race that we trained for, but in the spirit of letting it go and rolling with the flow, we might as well make the best of the situation. I was a little disappointed at first, but I feel good about the decision that we made, especially because now we have come up with a good substitute. I’ll tell you all about that soon, but I’m still planning to get my birthday miles in!

This week turned into a weird week training wise. Here is what I did:

Monday: 8.35 easy (half on the beach)

Tuesday: 13.75 miles (w/ 4 miles of speed-work)
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: 7 easy + 5 easy
Friday: 8 easy

Monday’s run was awesome and so refreshing. I was supposed to have a track workout (8 X 800) Tuesday morning, but I could not drag myself out of bed. I knew that Tuesday was really my only shot at getting the workout in. At this point the race was still on and I wanted to have a few easy days before the race. We usually go to Running Wild for the group run Tuesday evening, but I didn’t want to go this week. I usually love group runs at the store, but sometimes I just can’t do it.

The bottom line is that group run at the store is primarily a social gathering, which can be an emotionally draining situation. Introverts have to expend energy in social situations, unlike extroverts who gain energy from such interactions. I enjoy one-on-one (or small group) conversation, but chit-chat is definitely not my thing. Introverts can come across as being shy, anti-social or avoidant, but we’re really not. I promise.

Tangent complete.

I was planning to run on the treadmill after work Tuesday and attempt some sort of workout. I didn’t really like the idea of doing 800s on the treadmill because the speed would have to be too fast. The treadmill is a good option for slower repeats (AT/LT work as opposed to V02 max work), but the faster stuff needs to be done on a track (in my opinion). I ended up doing a wave tempo, which basically means I was alternating between two paces. I did 4 miles of “work” alternating between half marathon and 10K pace every 5 minutes for a total of 25 minutes. I covered the same distance as I would have in the 8 X 800 workout, but it just went a little bit differently than planned.

Apparently differently than planned became a theme at this point. Wednesday we got the email about the race. By Wednesday evening I still wasn’t sure what we were doing, but the one thing that I definitely knew was that I was tired and I needed a day off. It was storming when I got home from work, so that pretty much solidified the rest day decision.

Brooks was not about to let the mini-hurricane outside deter his playtime though.

I had to bundle up and hunker down to survive out there.

Rocking the rainboot and dress look! Dressy casual?

Rain also made for glorious sleeping conditions. I woke up Thursday feeling like a new human. Daniel and I ran together before and after work Thursday and then Friday morning I ran with Rebecca and Jessica. After a day off and 2 days of easy runs, I feel good!

Check out this new Galatians 5:22-23 tank top that I got! You can get one here.

This tank top with a purpose is a wonderful reminder of how we should live and love, how we should treat others and treat ourselves.

I recently found Chelsy on Istagram. She writes, “I hope this tank encourages you to seek the Fruits of the Spirit and I pray that when wearing it conversations are started, relationships are built, and others learn about the joy that comes from knowing Jesus.”

What a wonderful reminder!

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a fruitful Friday.

I am channelling my inner Dr. Seuss
to give this post a little spruce

Sometimes it’s fun to create a rhyme
especially when you have the time

I wanted to mix things up today
so I decided to take my run to the bay

I did half of my run on the road
and finished it up in beast beach-mode

I planned my run at low tide
so there was plenty of beach to hit my stride

I had to forge through a few creeks
but thankfully none that were over knee-deep

I had a few moments of dread
when I had to hurdle over a bulkhead

I have no future in the steeple chase
as I would simply fall flat on my face

I felt like I was on an adventure to the sea lab
as bay was alive with shrimp, jellyfish and crab

I even saw a fox!
But thankfully no crocs!

I ended up with just over eight miles
and arrived home with all smiles

I will bid you farewell
with one last picture of a beautiful artesian well

I hope that you enjoyed this post
with a glimpse of life on the Mobile Bay coast