Best of Playlist Wednesday!

Well, I'm getting really close to my race and it just dawned on me during my run this past Sunday morning that I haven't updated my running playlist since JULY! How insane is that? I am definitely going to need help with some suggestions for new additions before I leave on the 17th for my race! I desperately need to update and any suggestions in the genres of Calvin Harris or Jay-Z/Eminem would be greatly appreciated!

Also, it literally hit me when I was driving home from work that I'm running the Detroit International Half Marathon in ELEVEN DAYS. Ohhh, no big deal… I don't even know what I'm going to wear! Crazy!

In lieu of new songs to share, because let's be real, there haven't been new additions to the playlist in nearly 2.5 months so I thought why not do a 'best of' post! Here are some of my favorites that I can't seem to get rid of off my playlist and will definitely get me through this last week and half before my big race:

• Lose Yourself- Eminem
• Does this song really need any explanation? "Success is my only motherf-ing option, failure's not."
• Heaven is a Place on Earth- Belinda Carlisle
• This song has literally been on my running playlist since I ran my first half marathon back in 2011! Love it and love the 80s!
• Forever- Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Eminem
• Ahhh another favorite that's been on my playlist since 2010! I think I fell in love with Drake and all his emotions back when I first heard this song so I love running to this one!
• American Boy (feat. Kanye West)- Estelle
• I just love how damn catchy this song is! I tend to sing aloud when I run and this is definitely a fun song that I just love!
• DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love (feat. Pitbull)- Usher
• ummm, this song takes me back to things from fall 2010 but I try to ignore those silly thoughts and just enjoy my Ursher and upbeat music! This song never fails to get me going during a run!
• Hold It Against Me- Britney Spears
• OK, say what you want about Britney but this song is pure genius. I mean "You feel like paradise, and I need a vacation tonight"-- lyrical amazingness. I love having Britney on my playlist but this has definitely been a staple since her last album came out! 
• Feel so Close- Calvin Harris
• I am pretttty obsessed with Calvin Harris. His music is one of my favorites for my running playlists but this song is definitely one of my favorites!
• I'm Real (feat. Ja Rule) [Murder Remix featuring Ja Rule]- J.Lo feat. Ja Rule
• I don't care what people think about Ja Rule. I've been obsessed with this song since I was 15 and I love having this song on my running playlist! 
• What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)- Kelly Clarkson
• This song really needs no explanation! It is just a great song to keep me motivated and encourages me to keep pushing through whatever negative thoughts and feelings and accomplish my goal.
• Glamorous (Feat. Ludacris)- Fergie
• Well, this is just for fun! I love Ludacris so this is mainly for his portion in this song but I love how ridiculous it is too!
• Mowtown Philly- Boyz II Men
• Every time I hear this song, without a doubt I think of that one episode of Full House where Stephanie messed up in her dance recital to this song. This is another one I love to sing out loud when I run and always get funny looks haha!
• We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris)- Rihanna
• Oh Calvin Harris, you musical genius! I'm not a huge Riri fan but I love this song. 
• Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell Williams)- Daft Punk 
• OK, so this song is a newer addition from this past spring/early summer but I'm pretty obsessed with this song and anything with Pharrell so it's an overall winner in my eyes!
• Only Girl (In the World)- Rihanna
• Again, not the biggest Riri fan but there's just something about this song that it never left my running playlist since October 2010! So catchy to sing along with as well!
• Sweet Nothing (feat. Florence Welch)- Calvin Harris
• Ok, I swear, last Calvin Harris song.  Florence Welch just has the most amazing voice and totally makes this song amazing and addictive. I can't help but singing along whenever I hear it so you can imagine how I am when I hear it on my running playlist!

 

Month In Review: September 2013

Well, to say September was a crazy month would be a massive understatement! After spending the majority of the month at work on a huge trial (including weekends and nights), I ended up missing/skipping 3 runs in the entire month.  I know that isn't ideal but I feel like I did the best I could with everything I had going on in September.  Otherwise, September was a pretty fantastic month for me, for running and non-running reasons.

 

I didn't really reach my goal of another 100 miles in the month but I feel content with the 77.4 miles I did complete! I feel like I worked more on my speed in September even though I had to skip out on some of my training runs.  Right now, I am at a really great pace so I hope I can keep it up in 18 days when I am running into Canada and back into Detroit!

The first week of September was pretty much standard and I got through my runs except my weekend 'long' run but no big deal, it was only a 5-6miler.

The second week was pretty great run-wise.  I got my long run of 9 miles done and I increased my speed since my previous 'long' run.

The third week was when my training went to shit.  I missed a short run due to late night trial prep at work and skipped my weekend long run since I was mentally/physically exhausted from the trial and not sleeping and being out of town didn't help with my motivation to run on the weekend!

The fourth week was probably my best showing for September. I had two great 'short' runs during the week last week and even though I delayed my weekend 'long run' (um hello, 10 miles sounds so daunting when it's been nearly 5 months since my last double digit run) to the last day of the month! I'm glad I got it done and all my speed work has been paying off! Check out my stats from my last September run!

All in all, September was a good month running.  I learned so much at work second charing the trial last month and had a lot of fun in life outside of work and running so I would say September was a success! I have about 17 days until my race, hopefully I can make to the end of the race in one piece!!

 

Month In Review: August 2013

Ok, well, I've been meaning to post this for a week now but other things in life have taken precedence but regardless, here is my August month in review, finally!!!

SO, August 2013. Amazing right? I had a great month running and getting into the heart of my Detroit training plan this past month.  

The big life accomplishment that I mentioned in one of my posts before I left for Detroit was just this-- if check out my stats above, you can see my total mileage for August was 100.37 miles! IN ONE MONTH!!! This is huge for me since I haven't completed a 100 miles/month since November 2010 (of course that was when life was all cupcakes and rainbows).  I'm feeling great and I love running again like I did before the whole craziness of June 2011-July 2012 debacle in life. It just makes me happy that things are falling into place again!

The first full week of August was my second week of my training plan and I basically have been running 60 minutes 2x a week and a longer run on the weekends.  This first full week was a bit crazy for me but I was able to get my long run in the following Monday so even though I wasn't able to stick with my set dates, I was able to get my long run in at some point in the week!

The second full week was pretty good week and I started working on speed some here.  I didn't really track my distances when I did speed work this week but I think it has definitely helped doing 400m repeats (even on the treadmill if you can believe that).  I noticed my pace getting faster after this week and so I know this is ultimately going to help me once I get to Detroit in October!

The third full week was intense for me! 29.9 miles done and I felt amazing! I had four great runs in this week and I felt strong and not super sore like I had been previously in the month! I spent a lot of time focusing on how I was actually running during this week. I thought abut my breathing, posture, the way my feet hit the ground, and making sure I had a rhythm going rather than just running without thinking, which always leads me to run so fast to begin a race and I am worn out before ⅔ done. I felt great about this week, especially since I had been dropping the lbs like whoa and I had a fabulous sari I needed to wear when I was in Detroit the last weekend of the month!

The last full week was crazy! I was so busy with work and then packing and making sure I had everything I needed for my long weekend in Detroit! I got my 2 "short" runs in during the week and then I even managed to get a slow, easy 5 miles done in Detroit.  I was up super early since we had family coming into Detroit at all hours so I took advantage of that and went for an early morning run and then was able to spend time with my family and still feel OK about all the rich (and delicious) Indian food I consumed all weekend haha!

Here's how my weeks broke down:

Week 1: 20.4 miles
Week 2: 24.2 miles
Week 3: 29.9 miles
Week 4: 19 miles

All in all, it was a great month for me! I feel really good with my training for Detroit (currently in week 7 of 12) and am feeling more and more confident about being able to make it over the Ambassador Bridge come October 20th!

the Ambassador Bridge, that I will run on to get into Canada in the Detroit International Half Marathon!

 

Training Thursday: Detroit International Half Marathon Training Plan

Ok so if you've been following my blog for the past few months, you're probably aware that I am running in the 2013 Detroit International Half Marathon in October! I am a big fan of half marathons (my favorite race distance) and they literally changed my life. So, I like to try to pick out 1-2 bigger races throughout the country each year (if feasible) and just have fun with training and running! Oh and it keeps me in amazing shape so what's not to love??!

SO- whenever I train for a big race, I like (need) to use a training plan so I stay on track and prevent any race-day anxiety for lack of preparation.  I am a BIG/HUGE fan of Jeff Galloway and the Galloway method (run-walk-run intervals) so I usually try his training plans.  This time, I wanted to change some things up and basically googled half marathon training plans and I formulated my specific plan (in the pictures below) based on these training plans (forgive me- I didn't save the links so just google them if you are interested!):

• Runner's World SmartCoach (you can input a recent race result/pace and they will formulate a plan based on your specific body type and goals)
• Julie from pbfingers.com
• Coach Jenny (Jenny Hadfield)'s plan for Intermediate Runners
• Cool Runnings Half Marathon plan
• Shape.com (geared toward women runners)
• Hal Higdon (not really a huge fan of his but hopefully when I have time to run more than 3-4 days a week I can tackle his plan full-on)
• HalfMarathons.net
• Jeff Galloway

For my specific plan, I know I can only handle 3-4 runs per week (every other day) and I know that having a 5 mile base/short run was crucial to my massive half PR last April so I knew I wanted to work on that again.  I got the plan I used last spring for Divas HM from Julie at pbfingers.com (I am OBSESSED with her blog, and you should be as well) so I basically altered that 8 week plan to 12 weeks for my Detroit training.

As you can see, my longest "long run" is only 10 miles and this will be the first half marathon I've ever trained for without running 13+ miles pre-race.  I think I am ok with that idea by now, especially because the fact I am in such better shape than I've been in for any of my previous HMs and I have the endurance to maintain that distance and speed is really my focus this fall.  I know there aren't any specific days in my plan for speed work but I am going to throw in some Wednesdays for speed.  The hardest thing so far in the past 3.5 weeks is actually getting outside because of the ridiculous humidity and rain.  Hopefully, I can make it out to Country Park some more.

Training in falltime is always hard for me because my weekends are usually occupied with trips to Blacksburg for Hokie football but I'm hoping that I can not only make it to a handful of games but also stick with my training plan and hopefully get some training races (8K or longer) in on the weekends to get my mind back in racing mode!!!

NOW, the most exciting part of this post- race details! The main reason I fell in love with this particular race and the course is 1) because it's where my brother lives and I get to visit him/have a place to stay for free and a ride to race start hah! and 2) IT'S INTERNATIONAL! How many half marathons are there in the world where you can run in two different countries all within a 13.1 mile distance?! Below is the course map and after the first 5K, we run on the Ambassador Bridge into Windsor, Canada and then run a few (about 4) miles in Canada before crossing back into the USA via the Windsor Tunnel (a/k/a the 'underwater mile') and finish up the race in the heart of downtown Detroit!

I am beyond excited for this race but still have some anxieties about the course- 1) we have to run with our passports/passport card just in case someone stops you going into/out of Canada and I haven't been able to locate my passport since our trip to Puerto Rico last fall so I have about 58 days to find that bad boy! and 2) um, have you BEEN to downtown Detroit/Detroit in general? It's pretty scary! At least I have some time to get mentally ready for this race, which if you ask me is more important than the physically ready aspect!

 

How to you prepare for races? Do you have any particular training plan/running guru you swear by for race prep?