Race Training and Getting Out of a Rut!

My race season officially begins the weekend of August 23-24, when I will tackle Hood to Coast with my wonderful Nuun Hydration teammates on Team Lemonade! To say that I'm excited would be an understatement. I even tried to start packing today, until I realized I'm going to need all my running clothes before I leave. Have you ever been this excited about a race? I have to say that the Nike Women's Marathon last year was pretty close. I may have been even more excited because of all the buildup from Nike Women for that women's only event.

Time to add to my race bib collection!

Hood to Coast is an event that I have always wanted to take part in. In fact, this last year I applied in the lottery. I wrote a check, sent in my registration and was rejected. I was so disappointed! I grew up in Oregon and I know how special this event is. Even through I couldn't see it at the time, I was turned down for a reason and that reason was that now I have a chance to run the race with amazing women bloggers, have fun, network and party all weekend long! Thank you team Nuun! Can't wait to run with you this month!

My Hood to Coast training has really just been part of my current marathon training plan for the Nike Women's Marathon in October. I feel pretty strong, but it is getting very hard to get out and go for my long runs! Since I moved, I have not found a place I like to run at yet. I loved my old town and now I feel a little bit lost on my runs. It's getting tough and I don't know what I will do on my first 20 miler! If you have any tips for spicing up a run in a new area I would love to hear them!

I also have a Spartan Race coming up the week after my marathon, so I am trying to incorporate a lot of strength training in with my marathon training. I'm hoping they work together and make me strong in each race. Have you ever trained for two different events at the same time? How did you feel you juggled both forms of training?

One of the recent quotes that I have been trying to incorporate into my training strategy is "Train insane or remain the same." I feel like sometimes when I train by myself I don't push myself as hard as I can and I have really been suffering from this lately! I recently did a fitness assessment and took a few bootcamp classes to mix up my routine. I am definitely not where I want to be (I want to be back to my fit college basketball days) but I am still doing very well. The classes kicked my butt and the trainer made me do advanced moves, so I guess I'm not that bad off, I just have been feeling a little out of my rhythm since the move. Adjusting to a new place and gym takes time and I am probably just being impatient! I am hoping you can all keep me accountable! I am going to focus on giving 100% in all my workouts and getting back on track in August.

Thanks for all your support and I wish you all the best in your training! Have any tips for me? Leave them in the comments below!

~Karen