Summer Playtime

Hello,
How cool was it that I was featured on Runs for Cookies Motivational Monday!  I am so honored to get to be a part of her blog and meet so many new people. So if you found me through her blog, welcome and thanks for visiting!

On the running front I am 3 weeks out from my next half and feeling a bit nervous. I have had a pain in my thigh for a few weeks that I am fairly sure is IT band related so I have been trying to be diligent about my stretching and rolling to help that heal without having to go to PT.  Once I start running it doesn't hurt much it's just the first bit that there's a funny ache. Yikes!  Do any of you have IT band issues?  What do you do for them?  I went for a long run on Monday, first since my half. I decided to go 10 miles which has become my happy distance and it really was.  I did a 9-1 run walk, any of you do that?  It was awesome, Galloway has a point, I ran my fastest 10miler and am fairly sure I will use this method to cut some time off my next half. It's fantastic!

Not my 10 mile but a nice early morning 4 mike tempo run.

What a beautiful run to start my day!

Other than running fun I am a very lucky lady in the fact that I have summer break.  This summer is 8 weeks of playing just like a school kid. Even better?  My husband has summers off as well!  So far this summer we have rocked out a picnic table that is nice enough to be indoors but other than that we have not been responsible adults and rather we have played our hearts out like the kids we really are. It's fantastic in one day we will walk, bike, play softball, go to the driving range and more!  I am currently exhausted from a lot of playing in this amazing summer heat wave we have been having. Yes 75 is freaking hot in Alaska. When the rain comes back I will work on my summer list of to dos but for now I will bandage my blisters and sunscreen up for another day of running, biking and swimming!  What activity makes your kid heart come out?  Biking really fast makes me feel like ageless!

Look at the table we made, our first project!

A slightly more serious summer activity I got the nerve to engage in is swimming. I grew up on an
island so I always swam for fun but in terms of actual proper swimming for triathlons I have a lot of learning to do. So last night I got the nerve to attend a swim class with a local tri trainer. I was so nervous I couldn't breathe!  But it was a great class, Lisa is so nice and helpful and I think this class will be key to my success in future triathlons!  I have a long way to go but I'm excited to get started. By the way I did not know how exhausted I would be after an hour of hard swimming. I thought I may have to have my husband spoon dinner into my mouth because my arms were so tired!

Hiking in the Chugach. 

amazing view!

Well I hope you all are getting ready for a fun holiday weekend. We don't have too much going on which feels weird because back home this was a big deal holiday. Up here the ability to do fireworks with 20 hours of daylight is not good so we celebrate a bit differently. I think we will have a BBQ and maybe go to a parade but otherwise just enjoy the weather.

I am really excited to keep working on some posts on a review of some new gear I got as well as info about two different marathon training programs I am looking at for next year so keep looking for those!

Take care!