The BQ!

Good Afternoon!  I can't believe it's been a year since I last posted, but the last think I wrote to you all was about the almost BQ I had at the Vermont City Marathon in 2014.  Well a few weeks ago I ran the 2015 Vermont City Marathon.  And instead of missing my BQ time of 3:35 by 28 seconds as a I did in 2014, I qualified with a 3:27.46!

It's been almost a month and I still can't believe it!

So what did a do differently?  Honestly, you're not going to want to hear it.  But it was the treadmill and loads of yasso's on the treadmill.  I also changed my diet, added Shakeology and strength training.  I also lost about 10 pounds.  Finally, I found an awesome running partner for my after school runs.

So first, the part you didn't want to hear...the treadmill and why.  Well, this winter was NASTY in New England.  Now, normally that wouldn't throw me.  One of my best training cycles was for the Hyannis Marathon which is held in February.  However, my runs revolve around my toddler now and I couldn't take him with me for my long runs as the sidewalks couldn't handle the stroller.  I also had to have them done before my husband went to the gym to coach and in the winter that would have meant dark runs on icey roads.  Again, not what I felt was right.  So I was left with the treadmill before my husband left for the gym.  This meant 4:14 a.m. wake ups on Saturdays to get in as many miles as possible before my son woke up.  I did 3 20+ milers on the treadmill this cycle.  I also did many 18, 16 and 14 milers on the beast.  The thing is...I hate the treadmill, so I ran them fast.  I averaged under an 8 minute pace for ALL of my long runs.  Yes, this goes against everything you read, but it sure worked for me.  What got me through this?  Netflix on my tablet.  First it was Orange is the New Black and then Breaking Bad (which I've already seen, but actually that made it easier to run hard).  Also, I used the closed caption feature because our treadmill is not of the quiet variety.

OK, so on to the eating and cross training.  I started drinking Shakeology and following the 21 Day fix program in November.  I loved my results, continued to run and became a Beachbody Coach.  I went on to do Insanity Max 30 and 21 Day Fix Extreme.  I've been following the diet and incorporating the workout and shakes daily ever since.

Finally, my running partner is another teacher at school.  She's a bit faster than I am (though she will say she's not) and one of us always wants to run after school.  She totally kept me from skipping runs and certainly helped me to get my pace up!