Weekly Recap: Peak Week of Marathon Training Ending with a Capitol Run!

This week was my peak week of marathon training for the Outer Banks Marathon. You know what else it was the peak week of? Fall colors in Minneapolis! Pictures cannot even capture how gorgeous the Twin Cities are right now. Every day that I drive down my street, I am seriously in awe of how pretty it all is.

These are just a few of the vibrant trees along the river on my long run yesterday. Stunning. This is EVERYWHERE in the Twin Cities right now.

So yes, being peak week of training, it was a full week of running!

Here's how things turned out at the Right Fits in Fitness this week:

Monday: 8 miles of running in the morning, C2 vinyasa yoga class after work at Corepower Yoga. Can you believe it? I actually made it to yoga. I took Nielle's class at the Edina studio and it was PACKED full, which also meant the already heated studio was even hotter than normal. I hadn't taken a hot yoga class in so long that I had to take a lot of breaks, but I still enjoyed the practice. She's such a great teacher.

Tuesday: Tuesday was my birthday and what better way to celebrate than with a track workout!

The workout was a tough one- about 2 miles to warm-up, 1600 at 5k pace, 400m recovery, 3 miles at tempo pace, 400m recovery, 1600 at 5k pace, and then 2 miles to cool-down for about 9.5 miles total. Whew! We celebrated afterwards with Pizza Luce. Happy birthday to me.

Wednesday: 7.5 miles easy with Matilda.

Thursday: 8 miles with 30 minutes at tempo pace (with Matilda- my tempo pace is still her "You call this running?" pace). After work, I took a 1-hour strength/kettlebells class with Ericka Darst at Balance Fitness.  Ericka taught the 10-week strength class I took over the summer at the Calhoun Beach Club, and now she has taken over Sarah's class at Balance. She is great! Seriously, come check out her class on Thursday nights at 6 pm. You will love it!

Friday: Complete rest day.

Saturday: 22 mile Capitol run! I actually went the wrong way around one of the lakes so I ended up with 22.75 miles. Here's how we did this- Dustin and I dropped a car off at the capitol in the morning and then came back to the Calhoun Beach Club. From there, we ran 22 miles of the Twin Cities course (separately of course- he's much faster than me!)

I took a quick selfie with THE bunny around mile 6 of my run.  I love this guy.

Though we were both running alone, we did have two very awesome friends who were on the course with Gatorade and water for us. Thank you both SO, SO much! It made the experience so much more enjoyable to have those support stops to look forward to. Even on a cooler day, the fluids made a huge difference. I did run with my fuel belt, but I filled up my bottles at the stops and took my GUs with the water they provided. More than anything, they provided a mental boost that really kept me going.

I am so grateful to have good running friends who will give up their Saturday morning to help out their friends. Thank you!

Dustin made it to the capitol over a 1/2 hour before me and was enjoying some chocolate milk and snacks that we left in a cooler in the car by the time I arrived.  Did I mention that Saturday was also our wedding anniversary? Six years! We celebrated the way most couples do...running 22 miles.

#anniversaryselfie 

Even though I ran alone, this was probably one of my best capitol runs ever. I wish I could pocket up the way that I felt yesterday and save it for race day.

Sunday: 5.5 easy miles with Matilda and Dustin. Gorgeous fall day.

In summary: SIXTY miles of running, 1 yoga class, 1 strength class, and 1 complete rest day. Feeling strong!

So what's happening in Fitness Fashion at the Right Fits?
I think I have finalized my marathon day outfit- woot, woot!

What I wore for my 22 miler yesterday worked perfectly, so I will wear the exact same thing on race day. I plan to wear these Oiselle roga shorts in "fast red", this Oiselle Scantron Tank top in turquoise, a trusty Serena sports bra by Moving Comfort, one of my many BIC bands, and my Brooks Ravennas.  Outer Banks will be pretty toasty, so I'm not worried about being cold. Fingers crossed that the temps drop a little bit, mmmkay?

That's it for the week from the Right Fits. I hope you had a wonderful week and enjoyed the "peak" colors outside!

How are the fall colors where you live? Did you do anything fun in fitness or fitness fashion this week? Please share!

Weekly Recap: A Romantic Date at the Track and a Lunar Eclipse

Happy October! I love this time of year for so many reasons, but the excitement of the marathon is definitely a big one. Congratulations to my friends who completed the Chicago Marathon today. So many strong races out there!

Here's a quick recap of what happened during the first week of October in Fitness and Fitness Fashion!

First, here's my fitness recap:
Monday: 1 hour barre class at The Barre in the morning, and then in the evening, it was off to the track! I had mile repeats on the OBX marathon training schedule. Workout: 2 mile warm-up, and then five 1600's (4 laps) with 1 recovery lap in between for 9 miles total. This was a really tough workout for me. I tried to stay somewhere between my 5k and 10k pace for the miles. By the fifth one, I was definitely struggling.

It's supposed to be hard! It was only Dustin and me at the track...what a romantic date, right? Nothing says true love like running in the dark at a deserted track until you feel close to puking.

To be honest, it was "fun" when we were done to look back on how this is how we spent our evening together.

Tuesday: I often struggle with a short turnaround between a workout the night before and getting up the next morning, so I knew a Tuesday morning run was not going to happen. But I had to stay late at work Tuesday. Tuesday ended up being a complete rest day. C'est la vie.

Wednesday: 7.5 miles with Matilda. We were up early to catch the lunar eclipse.

Matilda was not impressed...

It was much prettier in real life than what I captured on my iPhone, I swear! There were tons of people out around the lakes with telescopes and cameras as well.

Thursday: Another morning run- just about 8 miles with some faster miles thrown in the middle for good measure.

Friday: Night light trail run 10k. There was a 5k and half marathon option at this race as well. It was SO much fun. I had never run a trail race in the dark before. Everyone was required to wear a head lamp or knuckle lights. The 10k/5k started at 7 pm at Battle Creek Regional Park in St. Paul. I highly recommend it! I'm hoping to have a guest post this week from my friend who made this year's race extra super special, so I'll save some of the details for that one.

at the start of the race

Saturday:  I am not used to running the Friday before a long run (#worthit !)  so my body was especially tired Saturday morning. I ended up missing run club, but I had 20 miles on my schedule, I had to get it done. I decided to bring Matilda for the first 10, come home to fuel up and drop her off, and then do the second 10 with music. Breaking the 20 miles up into two runs really helped me mentally. I don't usually listen to music either so it was a welcome change for the second 10 miles.

Sunday: Another easy run (5.5 miles) with Matilda.

(Um..I guess Matilda's mileage this week was pretty high too!)

Summary: About 56 miles of running, 1 barre class, and 1 complete rest day.

It was another week with a lot of running and not so much cross training. As I approach the final week of hard training before the taper, running is truly the only thing I have time for it seems! I didn't have time for much else in the evenings for exercise, as I had dinner plans with girlfriends both Wednesday night (Trattoria Tosca!) and Thursday night (Bachelor Farmer). It was worth it though- I hadn't seen my college roommate in about 4 years. She's living in Munich now. It was so great to see her and catch up on her exciting European adventures!

What's happening in fitness fashion?
In fitness fashion, I ordered myself another pair of the Oiselle roga shorts in "fast red" with plans to test these out for the marathon. I went with a size medium, but they were much too big! I am so confused, as mentioned in this THIS POST my orange pair is a size medium but when I checked, it turns out my navy pair is a small.

Alas, the "fast red" mediums are just too big. I have to return them. Sad. I had really hoped to have them in time for my 22 miler next week to try them out for race day!

Nonetheless, these are still some of my favorite shorts currently, its just hard to know what size I will be going forward!  If you haven't tried them yet, I highly recommend them. You can often find them on Amazon to avoid shipping (Oiselle's shipping is $5 flat rate).

Well, that's from the Right Fits in Fitness and Fashion this week! Next week will be tough as I enter into my final hard week of training for the OBX marathon, I plan to focus on sleeping enough, stretching, and eating well. Soon it will be taper time!

Weekly Recap: A New Race Tank Option and Lots of Running...

Hello, hello! It's Sunday again, which means its time for a weekly recap of what happened last week at the Right Fits in fitness, fashion and fitness fashion!

Here's what's happening in fitness fashion:
Let me tell you about this Addidas Sequencials Fitted Tank.  I have this tank in purple and yellow...here's a pic of both:

In the left picture, you can tell I have the side zippered pocket stuffed full of GU's. I often wear this tank for races for just that reason- the zippered pocket! Even when my shorts have a zippered pocket, I sometimes need an additional spot to stuff an item or two, and this tank gets the job done. It's nothing fancy, but for only $36 (or just $29 on Road Runner Sports if you're a VIP!), it's a solid option for a race tank. My two Addidas Sequencials Fitted Tanks are both a size small, and I think I probably would size up to a medium next time. The tank is fitted, so it fits a little snug. I think I'd prefer the looser fit of a medium. However, I haven't experienced any under arm chafing with this tank though, and I did wear it for the Berlin Marathon.

Here's what's happening in fitness:
Monday: A little over 8.5 miles with hill repeats...at the cabin! Dustin and I ran 3 miles together as a warmup to a hill by the cabin that is about 1/4 mile long. We did 6 repeats for 2.5 miles of hard effort, following by 3 mile cool down back to the cabin (which still included lots of hills)
Tuesday: Hyland Park 7 mile trail race (read the recap HERE)

Wednesday: Complete rest. I had run quite a few days in a row, particularly when we were at the cabin. Normally I would do the Calhoun Beach Club strength conditioning for runners class on Wednesdays, but I had a work happy hour that I didn't want to miss. I decided rest was in the cards for me instead.
Thursday: 7 miles at the CBRC. I wasn't planning to the tempo intervals on the training schedule, as Monday I did hills and Tuesday I did the trail run (which seemed like more than enough harder effort runs for the week). However, once I was there, I decided to pace with one of the club members during her workout. Her goal was to do the three 10 minute intervals at an 8 minute mile place. I paced with her and we stayed right at 8 minute/miles.
Friday: C2 Vinyasa Yoga at Corepower Yoga. It has been a long time since I did yoga, and my upper body was actually sore the next day from all the chaturangas!
Saturday: 14.5 mile long run. Most of the people training at our run club right now are training for either TCM or Chicago. Since our marathon, the OBX Marathon, isn't until November 8th, I knew I didn't need to do the 16-18 on their schedule yet. I have done a few 15 milers and a 16 miler so far, but I decided to cut back a bit today from the rest of the group. I was happy with my decision as it ended up being extremely humid and I'm not sure I would have been up for much longer. 

I also used the huma chia energy gel yesterday. Though I liked the flavor, I'm not sure it gave me the same energy as a GU. I didn't feel the same boost as I would have liked after taking it, and I ended up really hungry by the end of the run (which is abnormal for me on a 14.5 mile run.) I'm thinking I might want to stick to what I know (GU).

Sunday: 5.5 mile easy run with Kelly, Matilda the vizsla, and Dustin. 

Overall this week, I didn't do a great job with cross training- only 1 yoga class and the rest of my exercise was all running. However, I did focus a lot on sleep and rest. I didn't stress about getting up early to get in a barre class or anything, but let myself sleep in as much as I needed (within reason of course...I still have a job to go to!) The one yoga class I did take felt really great though, and like always, it reminded me that I need more yoga in my life.

If you're just tuning into the Right Fits after hearing about this blog on Minneapolis Running as 5 Other Local Running Blogs to check out (if so, welcome and thank you for stopping by!), you might not know that I do sometimes post about fashion too...but mostly running and fitness, I promise! 

However, here's a quick update on fashion for the week.

I saw this dress on Marionberry Style a few weeks ago and just loved the fun colors. I ordered a small from Lulu's (available HERE for $71).

 I wore it to dinner on Saturday night (to Tilia, our neighborhood favorite!) with casual sandals, but I feel like you could really dress it up and wear it to something more formal like a wedding too. I think it's a reasonable price for a fun versatile maxi, not to mention it has adjustable straps. I love that.

I tried to switch things up and take a few pictures sitting on Tilda's bench and she was pretty excited to have someone visiting HER bench. (read about it HERE)

That's all for this week in Fitness, Fashion, and Fitness Fashion.

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