InstaFriday

Well another week has come and gone! This week seems to have flown by but overall it has been a lot better week for me! I feel like I have accomplished stuff this week and I am feeling a lot better about things! So let’s get the Friday Party Started!!!

We have been having chipotle after church on Sundays.  it is very fun and I splurge a bit on the izze! I don’t drink the whole thing though in one day! I make it last!

I love all things Cheerios! This kind is one of my favs! They have been my saving grace this week when I’m still starving at the end of the day!

I am not a HUGE nail polish person, but I LOVE LOVE Zoya! Their polish lasts and lasts -even with all my typing! I got these B1G1free this week! Makes me hopeful for summer!

I’m not a huge fan of glitter,  but I got this the other week and its fun for a few days!! Gave me something to do to keep myself awake past 8:30 pm!

I travel a lot. Its for work but yeah. I have been eyeing these packers from L.L. Bean for a loong time. I purchased some Christmas from LLBean and got a $10 gift card.  Then I got a 15% off email so I combined the two and finally purchased these! I can’t wait to use them on my next trip! I am an organizing freak so these should be helpful!

The sun came out yesterday and I just had to get a picture! There was some blue sky even! Winter isn’t over yet, but its nice to have little breaks!

Yes more food.  I found these yummies a couple weeks ago. I keep buying them because they say ‘Limited Edition’.  They are goooood!!! warning: don’t eat the whole back or you will not feel so good! oops!

Friday morning treat! I have really cut back on my Starbucks lately, but this morning was an exception! I had to get a bit of this lady! Now I am bouncing off the walls! oops! Makes for a fun Friday!

I’m liking up with Jeannett at Life Rearranged! Stop over and see what everyone else has captured with their phones this week!

Happy Friday!!

track workout + challenge!

Things have been a bit busy, but I made time and hit the track again with the group tonight.  Here was the set workout:

2x1600m -400m jog
4x200m -200m jog
1x1600m

Yeah… those 200′s really throw you for a loop. Tonight was somewhat warmer and I was bold and ran in a long sleeve tee and shorts. yep. It was maybe 47 out. haha.

I got there early enough to do a couple of laps of warm up. Then everyone gathered around and they set the pace groups. They have a chart of marathon pace and then goal paces for this particular workout. I haven’t done much speed work so I just kind of guess for the group. I was hoping for 9:10ish miles and maybe 0:57-0:59 sec for the 200s. Not too strict just kind of a goal.  There were not many people there because it is winter break?! (I want a break!!) I was pretty much running alone.

We got started and I was ok with the 9ish pace for the first little bit, but I just couldn’t hold it. I tried my best and ended up with 9:18. Then mile two I could tell it was not as fast-9:32. Now the scary 200s.. Some of the other people were flying!! I did the best I could and was pretty pleased! I didn’t want to go all out and hurt myself or anything – I still had another mile to run! Somewhere at the end of the 200s my Garmin started acting up and I couldn’t get it to lap?! anyone? So the last mile my left shin was starting to hurt a bit and I was fading fast. I ended up with only 1200m. I didn’t feel that I should keep pushing it that hard.  I did a couple of cool down laps, stretched some and headed home.

Final stats:
1x1600m – 9:18
1x1600m – 9:32
4x200m – 1:00.8, 1:04.2, 1:05.2, 0:56.5 (the 104 and 105 were closer to 1 flat but I couldn’t get the lap…)
1×1200-6:54 (9:44 pace)

Total running about 5.5 miles in 55 mins.

Then on top of this I am doing the Fit2Flex 50 Challenge!

I have been reading Carissa’s blog here for awhile and they are so inspirational with all their lifting and working out! I didn’t get to this Monday, so I started yesterday and then did it all again today.  I am doing girl-style push ups but 50 is a LOT. So far its fun. I haven’t noticed anything besides some soreness but I know that results take time! Anyone else want to Join me in this challenge?!  PS – if you complete it each week there is a drawing for a prize!!

Hope your Wednesday was fabulous!

 

Sunday Scripture

Source: jonesdesigncompany.com via Karla on Pinterest

How do you start off your days?  Do you praise him?  I have found that if I don’t start off my day focused on God, the whole day is off.  Give Him praise and honor and glory for giving you a new day!

Have a Blessed Sunday!

InstaFriday

This has not exactly been my week. But this is just about the simple things that make me happy this week!

I only have a couple of pictures:

This week, I hit up the gym 3 mornings. Yep.  It makes me feel better to be lifting some weights and get some calories burned before my day starts.

I made my own chocolate covered strawberries.  Its super easy and way cheaper!

I finished sewing my blanket and have been working on the cutting step.  I have to have it done for the shower on Sunday afternoon.  Lots of work left…

My dad turns 60 next week. Really hard for me to believe!  My sis and I both got him giftcards so he can buy a new TV.  Mom suggested it and I think secretly she wants the new tv!  This will go out in the mail today so he can get it next week!

I am linking up with Life Rearranged! Stop by and see what everyone else has been up to this week!

Happy Friday!

the track

Running is fun. Sometimes you just run to run, sometimes you want to challenge yourself and sometimes you don’t run and sit on the couch.  Every runner is different. Some people run for years and never run a race. Some runners race every weekend. There are also many different terms associated with running: long runs, fartleks, tempo, speed work, different paces, and the list goes on…

When I started running, I just ran. Then I started running with some co-workers at lunch. One day my running buddy said we were going to do intervals..  I ran track in high school, so I knew what we were getting into, but that had been several years prior! We had the road marked out for 400m and just did 400 intervals.  We did it every week and tried to increase the number we ran or run them faster. It made a difference. Then when I started training on my own for my first half marathon, I kept it up.  I did intervals on the treadmill.  And then I got lazy. I did no speed work during marathon training or really for the past year and a half. I know that it is great exercise for increasing your speed and just to change it up from time to time.  Soo.. I had a visit with this:

the track. gulp. Luckily I was not alone.  There is a local running group which has weekly track workouts.  There is a coordinator and he decides the workout, you show up and run. It is not for the faint of heart. I went with one of my running friends who goes weekly so I knew 1 person there!

This week was 5 800′s with 600 in between. The 800s were supposed to be medium-fast-medium-fast-medium or something.  Since there were quite a few people I found some other people about my speed.  I was a bit behind them the first lap but kept up.  Then I continued with 2 of them the rest of the workout.  It was fun.  After 3- 800s we changed the 600 rest to a 400. Here are the splits for the 5 800′s:

1: 4:17
2: 4:23
3: 4:34
4: 4:17
5: 4:23

I have to say I was surprised. I had no goals going into this. Just want to see where I was and what I could do.  Could I have run harder – most likely.  Am I disappointed – no. I am thrilled that I had the same pace on 1 & 4 and 2 & 5.  I knew the middle one was slower.

In total I ended up running 6 miles.  I didn’t even know it was 6 miles and I felt great about it! 

I don’t think I’m going to make exact pace-plans but I’m going to try my best to keep going to these workouts!! Its fun and different!

Its also fun to see your Garmin Map data look like this:

Do you do speed work out or track workouts?

Weekend Recap

This was another weekend all about recovery and rest.

I arrived home about 7 on Friday night from a business trip. (yet again..) We ended up having a date night and headed to our favorite Thai place! Budda Ruksa is in West Seattle and there is always a wait and it is a bit pricer than we like to pay on a regular basis, but it is awesome!!

Saturday Morning I got up and went to meet my good friends Bob & Anne with their TNT team for an easy 8 mile run around the university area. I wasn’t sure I’d be game, but I took it slow and had fun running and chatting with Anne.  We ended up with 7.5 solid miles:

The run was mostly on the sidewalks/trail but a bit of it was muddy! There was more dirt than I realized on my feet/legs!

After the run, I cleaned up and ran a few errands.  We needed some new pillows, so I headed to Target for that plus a few other things.  Then I had a shirt to exchange from Christmas at Dick’s Sporting Goods.  I got my giftcard then headed in to look around.  Boy was it my lucky day!  I scored big!  2 Under Armor tees, 2 pair of Nike shorts and this amazing pair of Adidas pants – all for $85.

These pants are great! They are nice and warm and comfy!  They look better than my old sweats so I can wear them out of the house! They are also baggy enough to pull on over shorts/capris for running! The fact they were only $20 is the best part!

Saturday afternoon consisted of sewing on my latest blanket project that has to be done next weekend and then making some home made pizza for dinner.

Sunday we headed to church where we also started a new Sunday school class.  We are going to be studying Your Time Starved Marriage and it comes with workbooks and we have small groups for discussion!  I am really looking forward to it!

I also did all of our grocery shopping and the laundry.  The typical Sunday chores!  We also enjoyed a few episodes of Biggest Loser and some other random TV while giving the couch some attention!

Overall a very relaxing and nice weekend. Alright- off to another busy week! At least I’m going to be home all 5 nights this week!

Have a great Monday!

Sunday Scripture

Source: etsy.com via Karla on Pinterest

His Grace IS sufficient.  We will never be able to ‘work’ or ‘earn’ our salvation.

Have a great week!