I’m excited to be blogging again and hope this space can help me document my running and motherhood adventures, as well as hold myself accountable to my (running) goals.

On Sundays (or Mondays, because I’m a toddler mama, and life gets crazy), I like to do a “rundown” of the previous week and set new goals for the week ahead.  I usually only bug my hubby and BFF with my crazy “goals talk,” but with a couple marathons on the calendar for 2016, I’m about to get extra crazy, so I’ll come here for the rundowns, too.  Get excited!

With that said, the past two weeks haven’t been too exciting, because it’s been all recovery!

Saturday, 11/7 – REVEL Canyon City Marathon, 3:36:51 @ 8:16/mile (Still can’t believe it…)!  It may have been the best race of my life, but it was also the hardest on my body.  I immediately knew the coming week(s) needed to be very, very easy-going.

Sunday, 11/8 – REST

Monday, 11/9 – walk + stretch

Tuesday, 11/10 – walk + stretch

Wednesday, 11/11 – 2 miles, untimed, with Jared pushing Liv in the stroller.  It felt great to move, but I was still incredibly sore, so took it very easy.  This was also the first day I was able to tolerate some foam rolling!

Thursday, 11/12 – REST

Friday, 11/13 – 4 miles @ 9:22/mile + strength*, stretch, & foam roller

Saturday, 11/14 – REST

Sunday, 11/15 – Progressive Long Run: 10 miles @ 8:21/mile.  Started at 10:00, finished at 7:00, with most of the miles around 8:30 pace.  Felt so good to run long and fast!

Monday, 11/16 – Stroller Run: 2 miles, untimed + strength, stretch, & foam roller

Tuesday, 11/17 – Stroller Run: 3 miles, untimed + strength, stretch, & foam roller

Wednesday, 11/18 – 4 miles @ 8:51/mile.  Planned on a tempo effort, but it was only 40-degrees (that’s cold for SoCal!) and I just couldn’t make my legs move.  Finished with more strength, stretch, & foam roller

Thursday, 11/19 – walk

Friday, 11/20 – Speedwork: 6 miles @ 7:30/mile (10 x 400m @ 1:35-1:40 with 400m RIs)

Saturday, 11/21 – walk

Sunday, 11/22 – Long Run: 12 miles @ 8:13/mile.  Another “short,” but great long run.

*Strength training has been very easy-going and unstructured: push-ups, planks, crunches, squats, bridges, upper body work with dumbbells, and (ridiculous amounts of) carrying my 31-pound toddler.

Speaking of Liv, we’ve been flowing through some yoga almost everyday–she’s mastered downward dog and happy baby (which she calls, “happy big girl”).  AND she loves the foam roller!  She may be the only person in the world?

Another highlight of recovery, I finally took time to get my haircut.  I’m liking it long, but those ends were nearly impossible to brush through…

Goals:  With eight weeks until the Carlsbad Marathon and 12 weeks until the LA Marathon, I have some serious training to do through the holidays!  But my goals are simple: Stick to my training, take care of my body by cross training, strength training, stretching, and food logging every. single. day.  (Sidenote: I recently fell in love with myfitnesspal, which is another post for another day!).

Truly, I’ve grown to love training–as much, if not more than the races themselves–and prefer to be training year-round, so I’m not too worried about the challenges that come with the holidays.  Of course, I’m human.  I have a mean sweet tooth, I don’t like cold weather, and I always seem to get sick, so I know it won’t be easy to stay on track.  But I have big dreams to chase!

So cheers!  To making progress and starting the new year in better shape than ever!

What are your holiday goals?  What helps you stay on track?