Thursday, July 7, 2016

Race #8 of the Season: Skirt Sports 5K

Picking up from my last post, the last part of the Skirt weekend was the 13er (it's not half of anything) and the 5K.

My original original season plan was to have missed out on all the Saturday fun (boo) because of racing Boulder 70.3 and then suffer through the 5K on Sunday. Those plans changed when the 70.3 sold out before we could register (... sad, but I got to hang with my Skirt family instead, so oh well), but I still decided to keep with the 5K.

If you recall, I had gotten third in my AG the last two times I'd raced this race, and was hoping to continue the streak if at all possible.

Brandon was out of town, so I was flying solo for this race.

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On the phone with B pre-race.

My general plan for this race was the same as it has been for most of my 5Ks - go out hard and hold on for dear life; with the special race-specific guide of managing the killer hill in the middle.

I was generally successful with this. I started out up front and settled into high-8s, low-9s pretty quickly.

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Behind Kim of Kim and Jake's. Photo courtesy Jen Allen.

My pace struggled with the hill and I had to walk some and I got passed a bit (boo). I tried to hold on as best I could, but it was hard.

The last half of the race (down the hill and back to the finish; race was a straight out-and-back), I was running in the 7s when I could run, but it wasn't sustainable at all. I made it to the finish dead, but with a race PR.

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Crossing. Photo courtesy 3W Races.

Final Stats:
Time: 28:50
6/32 division (F30-39)
17/116 overall (only women)

If we had five year age groups (so F30-34), my third place streak would have stayed alive, but alas ... it was not to be.

I still had fun post-race, though, with my girls and cake before I had to leave to get some stuff done before work that night.

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Caaaaaaake. Photo courtesy Jen Allen.

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13er medals. So cool!

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Delicious tasty Kim and Jake's.

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Skirt sister Jennifer got a hula-hooping contest going. She and Noelle (pictured above) rocked it out!

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

2016 Skirt Sports Ambassador Weekend

As you all probably know by now, I'm a Skirt Sports Ambassador. I love their product, what they stand for, their #REALwomenmove movement, everything. You don't even have to love running skirts (or ... running ...) to get their products - they have tops and fantastic capris and so much more.

One of the best things Skirt Sports has done recently is actually found this ambassador program and have yearly weekends (I'd say retreat, but I don't know if that's the right word ...) and bring an amazing group of women together. Yeah, we all converge on Boulder because we love the clothes, but it's the family, friendships, and sisterhood that keep us coming back for more.

This year's weekend took place waaay back in June from the 10th-12th. It started off Friday evening with a reception at the brand new Skirt flagship store in Boulder (come visit!). We got fed that night and throughout the weekend by Skirt friends/sponsors Mad Greens, Noosa Yoghurt, Bhakti Chai, Two Moms in the Raw, Luna Bar, Justin's Peanut Butter, Ska Brewing Company, and of course, Kim and Jake's Cakes.

At the reception, we got to reunite with old friends we made the year prior and meet new friends as we gained more to our numbers and different Skirts made it out this year.

We heard from our fearless leader, Nicole DeBoom,

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whom we gifted (along with ambassador coordinator Noelle) gift baskets to.

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All the Skirt ladies!

We were treated to a fashion show sneak peek of the Fall/Winter line (all my pictures were too blurry for me to want to share) - some cute things coming - and the prints that will be coming out next Spring. I like the Fall/Winter prints, but ADORE what's coming up next year!

And of course, cake.

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Saturday, we met at Noelle's house up in Lyons for a hike, breakfast, and Skirt roundtables.

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Starting the hike.

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Trying to find the trailhead ...

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Yay, we found it! The gate does exist!

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Skirts in the wild.

As I mentioned above, post-hike we split into two groups (after eating) - one for ambassadors, and one for captains. Another thing I really love about Skirt Sports is that they take their customers' feedback seriously. They know that we already love the company as ambassadors and truly value our input on how we can share the love to others. 

Yes, we get to feed our Skirt addictions at a discounted price, but besides that, we aren't compensated by the company to share our love of Skirt. I'm not paid to write this and tell you how much I love them. As a result, I feel that we're more passionate about the product and are more genuine in sharing our joy. I'm wearing this because I love it

And if you aren't convinced on how the masses have a voice with this company, just Google "gotta go skirt". Trust me. (I also have one, and need to write on it ... eventually.) There's also a new thing launching on the Skirt site that will also take feedback into account. More on that as it comes ...

Anyway, after the breakout sessions, we all joined up together to learn the art of the running selfie, thanks to Kate and Amy, our Instagram running picture queens.

We had to break up after that, but we would all gather again Sunday for the 13er and 5K races, which is where I'll pick this back up.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

June Round-Up

A mini vacation and then the usual anxiety that hits me this time of year means I got behind on catching up. Figures. So, this, and then FINALLY my Skirt weekend blogs that I've been needing to get up!

June wasn't horrible. I mean, it was a bit of a down month from May in terms of mileage, but I also pretty much took the last week of the month off. If I hadn't, I most likely would have surpassed all numbers from May except for running. May was a heavier run month due to the half I ran.

Anyway, onward:

Swimming: 17276.77m (10.7 mi)
Cycling: 263.73 mi
Running: 53.64 mi
Lifting: eight sessions (:47)
Other: one hike (1:15), two stretch sessions (:20), two yoga sessions (:21)

I'd been having a tendency to skip swims which is HORRIBLE for me since I really need to make sure my swim game is strong this year. So, I finally asked Corie to schedule me for four swims a week; that way, if I skip one (or, god forbid, two), I at least get two to three in instead of one or, um, none. It helped.

Truth be told, I should have had more cycling miles regardless of the week off. We cut a few of our rides short due to heat/wind/bad management. Still decent time, but distance wasn't as good. A four hour ride that turned into three. A five hour ride that turned into four. Still decent, but not what was needed/scheduled. Stuff like that. The improvement over 2013's IMAZ training is that instead of cutting what would probably end up being a three hour ride into 45 minutes, we're still getting in good chunks of time, but we need to not be cutting things in the first place.

As for running ... I actually didn't cut too many runs for a change. There were one or two, but for the most part, I stuck to my run schedule. I'm not getting in as much mileage as '13 - partially because I have more prescribed runs that are having me run slower - but if it ends up preventing the early run taper I had to deal with that time around ... I'm totally okay with it.

I do need to do a lot more injury prevention stuff (stretching, yoga, etc.), especially as peak training ramps up. On the aforementioned mini vacation, we did get massages so I know that will help (and my shoulders are a tiny bit less cranky) and we may be considering adding in a few more in the coming weeks.

July ... better be huge or Boulder is going to be a shitshow ...