Taking this Easter off

Happy Easter! After a really late Easter vigil mass last night (ended at midnight!), I was so happy that my body slept in until 9am. I woke up slightly sore from a bike ride I did yesterday and also to this:

Easter platter for my two sisters, brother-in-law and myself because the Easter bunny didn't feel like getting baskets out of storage. :)

Pretty sure I got my sugar intake for the week before 11am this morning...Thanks Mom! On that note, I really want to get in a run today, but the weather has turned back to typical Seattle weather and is raining. It's now 11:30am and I'm still in my sweats (very unlike me) so I may just deem today as a rest day. To further support me taking a rest day, I just looked at my workout history on Beginnertriathlete.com and I haven't taken a full day off this whole month...yikes. I have done a number of "light" workout days, but there isn't one day in April I haven't done something active. No wonder my legs have been in a constant state of soreness...

Think I'll just kick my feet up today

I'm going to relish in this day of rest - hang with the family, probably watch part 1 of the latest Harry Potter movie that my sister got for Easter, stretch and try to not eat any more sugar...

Have a fantastic Easter!

A return on sweating

Running, actually all sports in the trifecta that is triathlon, are a lot like business. When hard work is put into a something and its giving you something back, you're getting a return on your investment or sweating, in this case. Hard work will eventually pay you back with a little something we all love: speed.

Friday's are supposed to be my tempo runs, but lately by Friday, my body is pooped from the week's workouts that frankly it just wants to sit and drink an IPA. But today was too gorgeous to NOT run.

View from my 4 o'clock meeting at work. I was itching to get outside!

Being that my legs were tired, I just said to myself, "run by feeling, not by pace and enjoy the sun and scenery." So I ran...down the Burke-Gilman toward UW. I barely checked my Garmin except when it dinged on the mile. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that I was running 8:30-8:45 miles when my legs felt so heavy and sore. Am I getting something in return from my near-puke track workouts?! No, I couldn't - I've only done three.

I don't know what caused this speedy 4 miler done in 34:xx, but I'll take it. In fact, I'll take seconds next Friday.

Same goes for the pool. I had a 52 minute swim this morning and it FLEW by. I swam 2450 yards with lots of 200's followed by 50 kick. I also did fist swimming and catchup drills <---FUN! But my point being, last month I could barely break 1200 yards in the pool in a given workout and now I can swim for days, well, not really, but I can feel the benefits of getting my sleepy butt in the pool at 6am 3 days a week.

Hard work, it pays!

Sammy aka samsonite, sammy wammy, sammykins, wanted to blog too.

Happiness is the journey

Lately I have had this feeling of waiting. Waiting for something to happen to make me happy or happier. Maybe it's waiting to actually move to Seattle or waiting to PR on my next race or waiting till something big happens at work. I can't pinpoint what I'm waiting for, but one thing you need to know about me is that I hate waiting.

I'm reasonably patient for how much I hate to wait, but when I'm waiting for something to make me happier, I'm pretty dang impatient.

I was browsing a greeting card store for a Birthday card this past weekend when I stumbled upon a card with a quote that I had seen many times. It read:

"For a long time it seems to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one. Happiness is a journey, not a destination." - Souza

I really needed this reminder. I need to enjoy and cherish the journey from now until moving, now until my next race, now until something big happens at work, etc. Be happy today, don't wait to be happy until tomorrow.

This really resonates with my training as of late. I have been discouraged by my speed, or lack there of. I know it will come with hard work and time, but I can't wait until I'm swim/bike/running my goal pace. There's that waiting again... Yes, all my workouts will bundle up into one big goal that will eventually be reached, but that shouldn't stop me from loving and totally enjoying the track workout I did last night or the long ass swim I did this morning or the yoga class I'll do later.

So that's what I plan to work on. I will consciously enjoy this training journey that I'm on and live in the moment with each workout. I'll be happy for today and today's workout and it'll be a super bonus when I all my hard work pays off to reach that big goal.

Does anyone else feel this way sometimes? 

Hips and Butt of Steel

Well, maybe not of steel, but definitely stronger. Ever since the Lake Samammish Half Marathon Half Marathon hip pain incident, I've been doing a medley of hip exercises and although I have linked to a professional video of these exercises before, I thought it would be fun to show a video of me doing some of the exercises.

I like these moves because they work the whole hip/butt region and who doesn't like a firm tush?! I've been doing these exercises a couple times a week and haven't felt any hip pain since the race. They also serve as a good warm ups before a run. The real test of my hip/butt strength will be running on a gravel surface similar to the race course. So, enjoy!

Hip Exercises for Runners part 1 from Megan Fay on Vimeo.

Hip Exercises for Runners part 2 from Megan Fay on Vimeo.

Catch up

I haven't blogged since last Saturday?! This week has really gotten away from me, so here are some catch up bullets, because we all know bullets are fun!

• Last Sunday I ran the Seahawks 12k. Not much to report except I did it in 1:07:24 and I enjoyed the hills that the course had to offer. Unfortunately, my race photos suck to the extreme, so I'm not letting anyone see them. Sorry!
• This week has felt particularly weird because I took Monday and Tuesday off for my Grandma's funeral. I still made working out a priority because with all the emotions and the amount of food my family had for this I ate on the heavy side those two days.
• Speaking of fitting in workouts, I'm still going strong on following my Lake Padden training plan. I'm so proud of myself, especially getting in the pool 3 days a week. All of a sudden I'm enjoying the long swims and getting up at o'dark thirty to swim is getting easier.
•  I did another track workout on Tuesday with 10x400m @ 1:50 and I wasn't even sore the next day unlike the week prior. Progress? Next week I'm thinking either 12x400 or 6x800. Must. Get. Faster. Gotta keep dreaming that one day I'll keep up with those Oiselle girls!

I hope you've had a sweaty week! I'll be back sooner than later with some videos. :)

A few things Saturday

Hi! Happy weekend! I had started a 3 thing Thursday post, but  never finished it, so here are some "things" on a Saturday...

1. This week's training has been Tough, with a capital T. I officially started my training for the Lake Padden Triathlon which is on June 26th and can tell that this training is going to whip my butt into shape. The soreness from Tuesday's 400m repeats lingered the rest of the week, but I still continued with my other swim, bike and run workouts. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I've been scheduling my workouts on a Google Calendar and it is totally working for me. It is so satisfying looking at it and "checking" off a workout.

2. I went to Mariner's opening night last night...I love going to baseball games even if the M's loose, but it was really bad last night. The Indians scored TEN runs, yes ten, in ONE inning. It was pathetic. We hit up the Pyramid beer garden before and made it into Safeco for the Dave Neihaus tribute before the game starts. I know I'll go to more M's games because the experience is fun, but common M's! You can do better than that!

3. As of yesterday, I have already swam more in April than I did in all of March. Holler! This week I did 3 swims and they all kicked my butt. My training schedule has time for swims, not distance, so I've been swimming for time. And I'm totally not cheating either. I start the timer on my watch when I'm swimming and stop it when I'm resting. Yesterday I swam a hecka long swim (48 minutes) - 2150 yards! I did a nice build up or sorts with 50 yard kick between. Do I dare say that I'm loving swimming again?!

Hope you have a great, sweaty weekend - I'm off for a ride!

400 meter repeats hurt

As I finished my final hard lap of my 400 meter repeats, I finally got that feeling of wanting to puke. I thought, "So that's what it feels like to run so hard you want to puke!"

I did my first official track workout tonight! I want to focus on getting speedier and track workouts will help me do so. I went out planning to do 12 - 400 meter repeats on 1:50-1:55. Really I just wanted to see how bad it was going to hurt then gauge my workout from there. I chose these times based on some info from Alma and using the McMillian Running Calculator based off a 1:59 half marathon finish.

Here's what my workout looked like:

Lap 1: 2:15 (warm up)
Lap 2: 2:14 (warm up)
Lap 3: 1:46 (whoa, that was fast! 7:02 pace)
Lap 4: 1:50 (more on target. 7:11 pace)
Lap 5: 1:51
Lap 6: 1:53
Lap 7: 1:52 (getting tired)
Lap 8: 1:52 (ouchie)
Lap 9: 2:14 (cool down lap. deciding whether or not I want to do more hard laps)
Lap 10: 2:12 (sill contemplating more hard laps)
Lap 11: 1:52 (back at it, the puke feeling is coming on at the end of that lap)
Lap 12: 1:56 (obviously getting tired)
Lap 13: 2:18 (cool down)
Lap 14: 2:13 (cool down)

8 hard laps?! I'll take it, being it's my first track workout. I did rest between each lap until I could gather my breathing again. Is rest supposed to be taken between sets?

Doing this workout completes 3 straight days of actually following my Lake Padden Triathlon training plan. I am putting all my workouts into a Google calendar and it's really helping me balance training and non-training activities.

What helps you stick to a training plan? For me it's the Google Calendar and telling myself I can't buy an americano if I don't get in the pool.

Exploring new trails

Do you ever get burnt out on your running/biking routes? I do. I get so tired and bored looking at the same things over and over again, day in and day out. So I was super stoked that I found not one, but TWO new trails that are great for running and biking.

I met up with some fellow bloggers at the Cedar River Trail in Renton for a 7 miler. It was the first time I had met these lovely ladies face-to-face! I love internet friends. :)

Chelsea, Kerrie, Me, and Jill

 Apparently this trail is 20 miles long and it is nicely paved the whole way. And it is pretty flat, which has it's pros and cons (no hill training), but I could definitely see myself coming back to this trail (it's close to my parent's house) for more training.

I then headed up to Redmond to meet Team Sweat (Rebecca) for a bike ride. We explored the Samammish River Trail that heads into Woodinville and eventually connects with the Burke-Gilman. We did 21 miles. This trail was very similar to the Cedar River one, but wasn't right next to the road. It was a lot more populated with runners, bikers and roller bladers (Who roller blades still?!). The great thing about this trail is that I could, if I was feeling up to it, ride my bike from my work to Rebecca's house - ride the entire length of the Burke Gilman, then hop on the Samammish River Trail. Genius!

These were two fairly easy workouts, but I do feel a little soreness. It was very refreshing getting to exercise in new places. So happy I got a sweaty weekend in! Did you?

Quick March Recap

I am so tired of not reaching goals. Sick and tired of it. I did not reach March's goal to improve my mileage in all three areas of triathlon. I went 2 for 3.  The swimming suffered this month - I just lost all motivation to get in the pool. Ugh!

Swim: 5,750 yards
Bike: 157.5 miles (3 outdoor rides, the rest on the trainer)
Run: 93 miles (this mileage I'm happy with!)

I officially start training for the Lake Padden Triathlon this week, so biking and swimming mileage will increase. If anything, I want to stick to the swims in my training plan because 5,750 yards in a month is pathetic. I just find it really hard to get in the pool at 6-7am, it's the last place my body wants to go at that hour of the day, yet it's the most convenient time for me to swim. Any ideas to get motivated?


I started off this month on the right foot with a 1,000 yard swim. I did some 100s, 150s, kicking drills and come "catch up" stroke drills. So here's to Megan getting her butt in the pool (raising my beer  big glass of water).