It is time for me to bust out my foam roller like a mad man. My hips have been tight along with my IT bands. Some describe the experience of rolling out an IT band as "hurts so good" (and yet I ask again... when does the "good" part come). I hate using the foam roller - mostly because I am too lazy I guess and because it sucks! I squeal like a baby pig every time I use it, small tears of blood may have actually slowly rolled down my face a time or two because of the sadistic foam roller. Today I am backing off my mileage to be sure I can loosen my hips up. I was going to do a 10 miler but decided to back down the mileage. The other reason I am backing off is because I am headed out on a jet plane for vacay... Maui! We are pumped and I've got to finish packing my 30 bikinis! Getting out of Spokane while it is rainy and windy will put a smile on my face! One of the activities we have planned is a snorkeling trip at a sunken in crater off the island of Maui, called Molokini. This crater was a volcano that erupted and then caved in on itself, only the brim is peaking out of the water... see the amazing picture below

Today I completed my long run for the week. 9 miles in a pair of new running shoes (complements of by hubby, pictured to the left). These have been my 'go-to' shoes forever, the Asics Gel Nimbus. They just came out with a new model, which they do every year or so... the Gel Nimbus 12. I have owned every Gel Nimbus since number 6... I have strayed a few times and tried other shoes but I keep coming back. I don't even know why I every try and leave, they always treat me right (kinda like a great boyfriend who you fail to appreciate for some reason). Anyway, these shoes carried me swiftly along the trail today. I wish I could say that the weather was as supportive... about 1.5 miles in I got pelted by hail. It rained and hailed for about 2 miles or so. I just kept on keepin on... completed my run in 116 minutes, about a 8:30 min/mile average. I will take it! Especially because this week left me drained (physically, mentally and nutritionally). For some reason, my nutrition has been all over the place - not necessarily too much food but not the right kinds of calories. Take for example the fact that my afternoon was filled with a giant brownie and 3 cups of coffee yesterday. This doesn't exactly leave ones body overloaded with nutrition. I came home and went on a short run, which I didn't even have enough energy for. I felt bogged down, and sick to my stomach. Kinda like a car puttering as it runs outta gas... that was me - stop and start and stop and start... no one can qualify for Boston lookin like a backfiring car!

I am a total fiend for caffiene right now! So I guess you could call me a caffiend... caffiene really is a drug! Lately, my thoughts and needs have become consumed by coffee. I notice how much of a negative impact this has on me. Being on a caffiene roller coaster (complete with nausea side effects and dizzyness) is no fun! Really it is quite difficult for me to get off of this stupid roller coaster, I feel like I have no self control. To make things worse I am not drinking enough water, so I am habitually dehydrated which has added to the problem and made me feel lethargic. I have been waking up exhausted and achy... probably from the "crash" of the caffiene. Anyway, I am dealing with this battle to try and overcome this issue!

I had a pretty good workout the night before last. I did some speedwork, but didn't want to overdo it so I kept it pretty mild. Here are a few of the details;

*4 x 800 meters @ 7:30 min/mile pace (with 100 meters of rest)
*Leg press (drop sets - 100, 80, 60lbs - 10 reps each, 2 sets)
*Leg Ext (drop sets - 60, 40, 20lb - 10 reps each, 2 sets)
*Curtsy lunges (20 each leg, 2 sets)

I had intended to do 4 sets, but my legs were shot and oh man, was I sore the next morning! I decided to take yesterday off (bad Nicole!) but it was great to relax, chow down on some popcorn and watch a movie with TJ. Today I am back on... going to get a run in this evening and a strength workout. Tomorrow brings a long run (9-10 miles)...

Productive day... checked off the list! Today I had a killa workout, the legs seem to have loosened up some and my new strength workout gave me a good butt kickin. Here is what was on the agenda today:

• 4 mile run, pace was good... approx 8:20 min/miles

Here's were the pain and suffering occurred, my CRAZY strength workout:

• Shoulder Press (25lbs, 20lbs, 15lbs - 10reps each, 4 sets)
• Lat Raise (15lbs, 10lbs, 5lbs - 10 reps each, 4 sets)
• Rear Delt Row (30lbs - 10 reps, 4 sets)
• Front Shoulder Press (25lbs, 15lbs, 10lbs - 10 reps each, 4 sets)
• Assisted Pullups (wide, regular, close, under - 10 reps each, 4 sets... yes that's 40 pullups per set!)
• Bent Over Row (30lbs, 25lbs, 20lbs - 10 reps each, 4 sets)
• Wide Grip Row (100lbs, 80lbs, 60lbs - 10 reps each, 4 sets)

Yes, if you count that up is was a total of 790 reps... CRAZY high volume. The purpose of drop sets is that you go back to back to back with no rest. So you do 30-40 reps with no rest but still while dropping the weights. It was a hard workout, but even with that high of volume it didn't take me that long at all. The rest periods are essentially non-existent so it goes very quickly. I stole this workout from a magazine and will probably adapt a few things. These are the types of strength workouts I am shooting for three times a week (different body parts though). I will also add Pilates one or two times per week and that should compliment my running. My diet was also 'on point' today, thus contributing to my goal of improving performance... fingers crossed this habit continues.

This title kinda describes my recent "status"... not really emotional, more of my physical status. Last night I had one of those "lightbulb moments" - ding! I blogged about my 'experiment' to determine if I was allergic to carbohydrates a few days ago. Well, I guess allergic is a pretty strong word, but the reason I say this is because when I eat a lot of carbohydrates I don't feel good - in fact I feel pretty bad. Of course, this is also probably attributed to the fact that my portion sizes are meant for a full grown elephant and that my choice in carbohydrates lately have been french fries and gummy bears, but none the less, these things really aren't sitting that well in my tummy. This is really tragedy in my mind... I LOVE gummies, etc. I could seriously live off gummies if it wouldn't leave me completely malnourished and strung out on sugar all the time. So here's where the serious part comes in... I was reading this article about how certain body types respond better to certain diets. They were discussing things like high cholesterol, high triglycerides, hypertension, etc. Here is the statement that also made me drop the book... "those who are at risk for having high triglycerides should be very controlled with their carbohydrate intake if they are looking to loose weight or maintain weight". WHA?!?! NO!!! How can this be?! Those of you reading this might be saying... umm yah, that's kinda obvious. But here is where the enlightenment comes in... a few years ago when I was living in Colorado I had some blood work done. The results came back showing my triglycerides were through the roof! The doctor was shocked... and of course so was I - I literally cried for days. I thought, oh my gosh... I have a major health concern! At the time I asked the doctor, "how can this be?" he responded with a "there's nothing you can do about it, it must be in your genetics and we should really get you on some medication, you'll be on it for the rest of your life"? Whatever!!! No one in family is on medication for this! Not even my great grandparents (yes, I said Great Grandparents). He wanted to put me on medication, I thought it was ridiculous - the usual stubborn me decided that I would NOT take the pills. I actually asked at that time if this could have anything to do with my love of sweets. He told me no, they were unrelated. I always wondered to myself about this... and since then I have started seeing more and more research linking these things together. Years later, I had my blood work checked again. This was during a time when I was eating much more in balance and.. viola! No high triglycerides!

Well, my "food joy ride" has officially ended. It's crazy to think I am only 3 weeks post show and yet it feels like forever ago. I have been creating a new nutritional periodization chart that will help support my training periodization. The thought here is that by doing this I will be able to train harder and 'better'. I have transitioned into my next marathon training (this is probably glaringly obvious by my blog posts and new title). I am doing a bit of experimentation with my training this year. Of course my mileage will be high as it always is with training, but my strength training and protein intake will also remain high. This isn't your typical marathon runners schedule but I am breaking out of the mold a bit and honestly feel that while this isn't the 'traditional' way to eat and train I am going to do it this way. There is lots of evidence out there to suggest that my way of training may actually be the 'new way' to train - plus, it creates a different physique. It will enable me to maintain a look that is similar to my "figure girl look". Shapely muscles are much more aesthetically pleasing to me.

I am in a world of hurt today! It was from the butt blasting workout yesterday-dang it! My hips are so tight and sore, I resemble one who is walking on stilts. I will be spending the weekend with a glass of wine and my foam roller (the wine is to serve as a "numbing agent"). If you haven't done the foam rolling process before, you should be warned that it can be very painful. Some describe it as "hurts so good" and yet I ask - "where's the good part?" Oh ya, I guess that part comes after you become consistent and are 'loosened up'. The serious part in all of this is that my IT band has been tight for a few weeks now and I HAVE to loosen it up in order to continue increasing my mileage - a tight IT band and put you out for months - NOT GOOD! So I guess I will accept my grimacing face as a regular nightly occurance for the next several weeks... this is going to be harder than my 20-22 mile training runs.

Have you ever tried Kookabura licorice? Oh my goodness- it so good, it ain't even right! I love their licorice! We got some yesterday and I proceeded to mow through it like a wood chipper. The stuff is so good, not too sweet and super chewy. It is an old friend of mine that I hadn't seen in quite a while. I took a gander at the nutritional info on the bag and almost dropped the bag. Wha?!?! This stuff really has that many calories for that many pieces? How can that be? It's just innocent little licorice. To add "salt to my wounds" there were 8 1/2 servings in the bag. Who is making up these portions anyway? Are these portions meant for lego people? I could have EASILY eaten the whole bag... and, now that I think of it probably have at one point or another. Moral of the story, beware of the black devil licorice.

WTF body?!?! I say that to my body because dang... yesterday my legs felt like they were filled with concrete on my run. Part of this is because I ran late in the afternoon after a day of not drinking enough water and therefore, being slightly dehydrated. The run went ok, at this point in time I am trying to get in my routine and get regular runs in during the week. It does take some time for your body to become accustomed to the outdoor running, the high impact nature of the exercise does cause more muscle damage. There is significantly more muscle damage running outside than running indoors on a treadmill. And since most of my running this year has been on the hamster wheel I am going through an "acclimatization phase" with my outdoor running. I felt like the tin man this morning getting out of bed, yes complete with the sound effects (eeh er, eeh er...).

Have you ever looked around and recognized how many Opportunities for Success we have in this world? There are so many things that can be done or completed that would be recognized as success. These can be community volunteer acts, career goals, family and relationship goals or personal fitness goals, etc. However you look at it there are so many things that we can accomplish in our lifetimes if we want to. I have decided that this really kind of explains my philosophy and my outlook on all the 'random goals' I set for myself. Looking back I have always been this way. My goals have been focused on athletics and on education/career. Those who have mentored me in my life have said two things, "you are too hard on yourself" and "you don't need to push so hard all of the time". I think I am just wired this way, and besides if I wasn't pushing so hard would I have accomplished all I have up to this point in my life? Probably not, I may have just decided to settle for complacency. The odd thing is each accomplishment leads me to believe I can do more and do better. I think the momentum to this way of thinking came from graduate school. For one, graduate school can really test your abilities - especially in the program I was in and for two, it was a point in my life where I had just picked up and moved across the country on my own to pursue a new adventure. Wow! Looking back I am not even sure how I did that on my own! This has lead me on a journey to set totally random goals for myself. Each goal I accomplish that is new proves to me my mental capacity.

Here's the interesting "flip side" to this perspective. Some people see the world as offering many Opportunities for Failure. They may not outwardly recognize this but they feel this way inside and therefore don't attempt to accomplish things. I find myself seeing things this way when I am scared or unsure of myself. Each time I push beyond these feelings of reservation I find that I grow beyond what I could imagine and am grateful for the experience. There are times along all journey's that I feel this way, but the more I overcome them the less frequent they come up.

For me the "physical goals" I set for myself are the ones that aren't necessarily physical. Yes, they are "athletic" but it is more mental than physical. Anyone who doesn't see that has a very limited perception. I think it is a gift to see beyond the carrot of a "time" or "looking good in a bikini". I am grateful I see the other perks to these type of goals. I don't know how long I will be able to set these types of goals for myself but as long I as I can I will enjoy being able to do these types of things. I hope to never limit myself in what I can accomplish by questioning my mental capacity. TJ tells me I have the strongest "mentals" (this is a TJ phrase) of anyone he knows.

Here are a few things I have accomplished that I see as significant to my life:
*Graduate School
*Running marathons
*Climbed several Rocky Mountain "14ers"
*Run a High Altitude Race (at 10,000 feet)
*Completed a Figure Contest

Here are a few things I would like to accomplish:
*Run THE Boston Marathon (working on this now)
*Complete an Ironman Triathalon
*Write a book (starting to outline this now)
*Open my own business (still have yet to decide what this will be completely)

Of course these goals don't include my entire life and the list isn't comphrensive but it does feel good to look back and forward and see the excitement my life has had. I am just very grateful that GOD has given me the abilities and opportunities to make these things happen and I am thankful for my perspective every day, it is a healthy, positive and balanced perspective I am grateful for.

I completed a long run this morning... well I don't really consider anything a long run unless its over 12 miles but for the sake of my training calendar this was considered my 'long run' day. I did just under 8 miles today... with an average pace of 8:45 min/mile. This pace is right on target with where I would like to be - your long run pace is should be somewhere between 30 sec and 1 min slower than your marathon race pace.

Oh the memories this run brought back today! Of course most of my runs are done on the Centennial Trail, which runs right along side the Spokane River (beautiful course really). I use the trail because it is so darn close to my house, has no traffic, bathrooms at some mile markers and its easy to do an 'out and back' run. I have probably logged 2,000 miles on that trail... so I know it like the back of my hand! The curves of the pavement, the smells of certain plants (or Krispy Kreme which is conveniently located at mile ~9.25), the "regulars" and the feel of the river air all brought back soooo many memories! That part of the trail is definitely my stompin ground and this is my jam! Holla!

I have had very tight muscles since last weeks race, so my goal this week to do a lot of stretching and keep everything loose so that I can get some good miles in. The funny thing was I was so used to doing "cardio on an empty stomach" in the morning that I almost forgot to eat before my run this morning. This is a complete 180 deg change in training philosophy. I savored a gel just prior to my run and one about 45 mins in. Ohhh gels... I've missed you so much!

Right now I am still kinda acting like a hybrid of a figure competitor and a marathoner. This is mostly attributed to my protein powder craving and continual consumption. I made a new thing last night... High Protein Guiltfree PB Oatmeal Raisin Cookies! These have NO flour, white sugar, butter or oil in them! See below for the ingredients:

*1 3/4 cup traditional oats
*4 scoops vanilla protein powder
*2 tbsp ground flaxseed
*6 egg whites
*1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
*2 tbsp Splenda brown sugar
*2 tbsp natural peanut butter (I decided on this at the last minute for some extra "pizazz")
*dash cinnamon
*1/2 cup raisins (optional)
*1 tbsp sugarfree maple syrup
*1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together and bake and you have a "cookie". They look pretty similar to a cookie, but have a slightly different texture - honestly I think they are legit! They have ~15g of protein per cookie! Yes, my perception may be warped, but heck I don't have to feel guilty eating these!

You may have thought you clicked on the wrong website when you first re-entered my blog! I gave it a face lift! Figured why not?! I am turning a new leaf over... now on a new adventure and it's time for a change. This is partially due to the fact that I finally had enough time to sit down and make some changes!

Here is my newest discovery... more choices = more temptation! The more types of food I have around me the more 'willing' I am to sample the flavors. This is a serious dilemma for a foodie like me. I love to cook and experience great foods, but I am concerned at this point with how this will affect my waistline - especially because my running hasn't settled into a regular pattern yet. The honest truth is that my body has changed since the show (of course a few lbs was expected) but I don't want this to turn into a feeding frenzy. I have really come to this conclusion that too many choices is not a good thing. I am planning on picking up my running regimen, but have taken a couple of days off because I have been sore from Sunday's race. My goal for the next couple of days is to settle into my "new routine"... this "new routine" is TBD - if anyone out there knows what it is or has it, please let me know :) Just kidding! I know what my new routine is - I just have to tweak a few things and then actually stick to it! Ahhh the journey's of structured nutritional regimens... I will post more later.

Well, Bloomsday weekend just passed. This is the largest road race... approx. 51,000 people finished the race this year - that's a crapload of people! I ran Bloomsday this year, the Y had a corporate cup team. I didn't know how my body would respond to running a race of this distance (it is a 12K, 7.46 miles) in lieu of my past few months training and diet regimen. My past few months have consisted of a workout that one would not consider "runner friendly"~ lack of carbs being the major culprit. However, I was pleasantly surprised, I had a good race. My Garmin clocked me at 59'36" (my official race time on the website was listed as 59'49" or something like that). I will go with my Garmin time :) Either way I was pleased with my race - this will be a great kick start into my training for Portland. I have decided to continue this blog to talk about my marathon training.

What a whirlwind! Sorry for my delay in posting but this week flew by. So... the show was last weekend - mission accomplished! I have just completed my first figure show!!! The night after the show I was almost in shock that it was over and that I had done a show. I woke up the next morning feeling as though I was in a dream, or that I had done the show a LONG time ago. I still feel like it was so long ago, but it was only last saturday! It was a great week, it felt good to get back in the gym and not feel the pressure of show prep - but to just enjoy my workouts and feel good about where I am at physically. I didn't place at the show, I got sixth in my height class. At first I was a bit bummed and somewhat frustrated feeling like some of those that had placed didn't have the 'figure' look but that they had only placed because of the politics of the industry (they looked more like bodybuilders but had been competing for some time and knew the judges). On Monday this feeling quickly left, and I was able to just be proud of my accomplishments and what I had done.