Need Help Training?

So a friend made a very interesting suggestion that I'm going to try to follow through. His suggestion was that I share training tips, advice and help on the blog. I hope this would make the blog more useful to you? I want to encourage you all to please subscribe to and follow this blog so that you might become the reaper of all this soon to come good information!

Also, please post any questions or concerns you have about training, running swimming, biking, triathlons, or really... any other sport in the comments section on the blog or on my facebook page. I'd be more than happy to help in any way possible :0)

So to try out this idea I thought I'd simply share the workout that I did with my new-be swimmers in the pool this morning. The goal of the workout was to help them learn to swim freestyle with the focus on the proper arm motions.


To start...

50 yd flutter kick with kickboard. Face down in the water. Goal is to elongate the exhale and take big, but short inhales.

50 yd Sculling water- face down with a pull bouy between your legs so you won't kick. Practice skulling water in front of your head. Skulling means that you are developing a "feel" for the water. with arms extended straight over your head practice "opening the curtain" or pushing water out with the palms so your arms are in a "Y" shape, recover by brining your hands back into your original position. As you push out you should feel resistance against your palm but while bringing the hands back together try let them "slip" effortlessly through the water.

50 yd head up swimming- swim freestyle with head out of the water. Keep eyes straight ahead and focus on keep the elbows higher than the hands during both the recovery and arm pull

Repeat these until you are comfortable with the form and movement

Next

5 mins- holding onto the wall while kicking, practicing breathing while stroking with just one arm. Timing is key- practice turning the head to the side as you pull your arm back behind you. Imagine as you pull your arm back you are opening the door to inhale. As you close the door (move your arm forward) you should be done inhaling and your face should move back into the water.
***remember to look at the bottom of the pool and not in front of you.

50 yd Head up Head down. Swim half the pool with your head out of water and the second half with your head down trying to maintain the exact same form and rhythm with your head down that you had with your head up. when you need to breath try to breath into "the open door" meaning inhale as your arm is pulling behind you.

50 yd Single arm with kick board. Holding on to the kickboard with one hand use the other hand to take strokes. Try to breath into the open door. Elongate the exhale under water.


Please let me know if you have questions!

Teaming up with Wasatch Running Center

Wahooooo!!!! So I just got an e-mail back from Glen, the owner of the Wasatch Running Center and he said He'd be willing to let me use his store as the finish line for my Run-A-Thon! If you don't know them, the Wasatch Running Center is probably the coolest Running Store in Salt Lake County (if not Utah). They have been so completely supportive of Team in Training as well as many other community organizations and groups.

So here's what I'm thinking that is still in the planning phase of course.

I will run my 35 miles finishing at the Wasatch Running Center where I will there hopefully be able to find a company like Dryers Ice Cream or Great Harvest to donate some "snacks" for people who come over to support the cause. People that come over to support the cause will also be given a discount of some sort to shop and perhaps I might do some raffles or some other things? I'm not sure yet. I'll hopefully be able to get the support of a local radio station as well to either help me advertise or attract people to come over.

What do you guys think? How can I make this plan better? Thanks for reading and all of your support!

Happy Running!

Car Keys, Blisters, and 14 miles

Saturday I met the Summer and Fall TNT team at Gardiner Village for our weekly walk/run. The team was running either 3 or 6 miles and my job is to encourage, motivate and ensure safety during their group runs. Its a fun job. I get to chat with them about their lives, how little or much they're enjoying running and what nots.

Any ways so because my goal was to run between 12-14 miles I tried to run back and forth between participants as much as possible. It made life a little more difficult sure but I managed to get 8.5 miles in with the team which meant there was less to do on my own.

I gave myself a real scare when I got back to Gardiner Village however, I could not find my car key! As we were walking back to the cars I started feeling all over my sports bra where I had tucked my key to keep it safe. I am so good at doing stupid things that when I couldn't find it I was certain I would have to run back through the route all over again!

Once I saw my car, relieved it hadn't been stolen it occured to me that I had returned to my car before running to drop off my camera and that perhaps I had left the key in the car. Sure enough I had. my car key was not in the car though... it was sitting in the door! I was so relieved and embarassed by my stupidity! I can't tell you how grateful I was that A. nobody saw the key sticking out of the door or B. they were honest and didn't steal my car... It would've been sooooooo easy.

Any ways back to running so after the team was finished I drove home to get my poopy's to run with me. We're currently dog sitting my brother in-law's rat dog, Dundee

This is Dundee... He's a Hairless Terrier

and my two dogs

Buttercup LOVES to run with me! and Dundee seems to like it as well. Piddles on the other hand I practically have to drag her along.

I finished my 5.5 miles running around my neighborhood with my dogs and by the end it was starting to hurt and I was feeling pretty stiff. But the worst pain came post run when showering... I developed friction blisters and they killed! It stung soooo bad! I'll spare you the greusome details and won't tell you where but it wasn't on my feet...

Today I feel pretty good but am looking forward to my walk with the dogs to help me loosen up. Oh and if I feel up to it I might Torture myself later with the foam roller.

~Happy Running!

Race Schedule= Death

So if you're just joining me (although technically I'm just joining too) I created this blog with the purpose of documenting my training and RUN-A-Thon that I am doing in order to prepare myself for the Nike Women's Marathon on October 14th that I am participating in in order to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

However the trick is I'm not just planning on running a marathon. I have a really crappy race schedule that I'm kicking myself for because I am probably going to die trying to train for all of this... But being the egotistical person that I am, I'm going to try anyways.

I just wanted to give you an idea of what I mean. Here are the races and events I have planned for this year that are pretty much going to kill me ;p

June 23rd- Bike MS 100 mile ride

July 14th - Rigby Lake Olympic Distance Triathlon

August 11th- Black ridge Triathlon

August 25th -RUN-A-THON- 35 mile run to raise money for LLS

September 8th- Bear Lake Brawl Half Ironman

October 6th- St George Marathon

October 14th- Nike Women's Marathon

Any ways, I'm not as worried about the beginning of the summer as I am about early fall... Ha ha like I said this might kill me. Particularly the back to back marathons. My only hope is that I can condition myself well enough to withstand all the self-inflicted torture by the end of the season.

Thanks all for your support in reading my nonsense!

Happy Training!

Announcing: The RUN-A-THON

So I'm so excited to announce my Big Idea for Fundraising my $3,000... well at least half of it. I have decided to conduct a Run-A-Thon! Ok so you're thinking... "so what". Well I'll tell you so what! This Run-A-Thon is going to be AWESOME!

So here's what I have formulated so far. It is still in the planning phases so stay tuned... things might change.

On Saturday, August 25th I will leave my house before the sun comes up and start running, how far I go will be up to YOU and your support (up to 35 miles). Starting next week I will be selling each mile for a set price that will range from $15 (mile 1) to $200 (mile 35). I have never done more than 32 miles at one time before so I'm caping it at 35 so I don't kill myself.

This run will be about you, me, and every one who is living or who has already passed on with blood cancer. Each mile I run will be payed for by you, and dedicated to someone who has suffered with some form of blood cancer. My progress will be documented and there will be frequent updates on my progress throught the whole fundraising process as well as during the actual event.

If you would like to submit a name of someone who has or had Leukemia, Lymphoma, myeloma, or some form of Hodgkin's Disease for the dedication of a mile.

I'm really really excited for this event and the chance to actively take a stand against cancer and support those in my life who have cancer! I hope you will all support me and help those among us.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
― Albert Einstein

Welcome to My Blog!

So the purpose of this blog isn't to document the horrifically boring day to day nonsense that is my life (you can thank me later)... well at least not yet it isn't. The purpose of this blog is to take you on a journey of what it's like to train for a marathon while fundraising to beat cancer. That's right I said Fundraising to Beat Cancer.

This year I have been volunteering/participating with Team in Training (www.teamintraing.org) which is part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (www.lls.org) in order to do good, spread love, and beat cancer.

As part of Team in Training (TNT) I will be training to compete in the Nike Women's Marathon on October 14th. Part of the deal for this race is that I raise $3,000 to donate to LLS which will be used to fund research, pay for patient treatments, and patient support programs here locally as well as throughout the nation. I hope you'll take a moment to help me out by 1. reading my story about this great journey and 2. support the cause by donating to my Run-A-Thon.

Enjoy and Happy Reading!!