Gretch Runs

Here we go... less than 10 weeks until race day!  Starting to feel real :) Monday 5 miles / 9:30 pace Yay for bank holidays!  Since I had the day off, I decided to run on Monday, even though I usually take that as my rest day.  I went early in the morning since it was supposed to be raining later in the day, and got a few drizzles.  Took it nice and easy and enjoyed slightly warmer weather. 1500 yards swimming I'm trying to make a schedule for swimming, so I tested out how crowded the pool is on Mondays.  It ended up being really empty, so I'm going to start going weekly!  Now I just need to find two more days to go :) Tuesday 5 mile bike It was a BEAUTIFUL day out, and luckily I got to work from home (plumbing issues, yay!).  I went out at lunch time and dusted off my bike.  Can I officially say I'm in triathlon training now? Barre/Yoga I tried out a new studio with Class Pass (for Frugal February I changed my membership to only one class f

Hi everyone!  How's your week been?  Even though it was a short work week (gotta love Monday holidays) it felt like it took forever.  I'm so excited for this weekend and some fun times planned with friends.  For now, here are my recent favorites! linking up with  Erika ,  Heather , and  Friday   Five   Song Taylor Swift - Reputation I'm not sure what it is, but for some reason, it always takes me a while to like Taylor Swift's songs.  The first time I hate them, but I start to like them more the more that I hear them.  Usually it's the opposite for me and music, but for some odd reason Taylor is the exception.  While I didn't like Reputation at first, it's all that I've been listening to in the car lately.  I like pretty much every song, but my favorites would be Dress, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, and Delicate. Podcast Girls Gone WOD It's officially Crossfit Games season (the Open started yesterday!), so

Yay for cut back weeks!  Some runners love em, some hate em.  I'm personally in the "love" camp.  It feels great to lessen up the miles a bit (and have more free time!)  Here's a look at how week lucky number 6 went: Monday Rest Day! Tuesday 3.6 miles / 9:49 pace Just a nice, easy run.  Went around my neighborhood after work, and it was a beautiful day.  Kept my pace easy and enjoyed the weather! Wednesday Rest Day! Thursday 4.5 miles / 8:20 pace   I got to go on this run during my lunch break at work.  It was 60 degrees out so I was really excited to run in shorts and a t shirt!  Since I didn't want to be gone for a long time, I shortened my speed work for the week.  I was originally supposed to do 5 miles at marathon pace with a mile warmup and cool down, but instead I did 3 miles at tempo pace with a half mile warmup and mile cool down.  I started out too fast (shorts weather got me excited) but felt great

Hi everyone!  It's now halfway through the month (yes..already!), and my Frugal February is going great so far.  I'll be sharing more about it at the end of the month and a real break down of what I did, but today I wanted to share some ideas on fun things you can do for free. I always seem to fall back on going out for drinks or to dinner if I want to hang out with someone, but there are so many activities you can do for free!  Today I'm sharing a few of those ideas, and I would love to hear all of your ideas as well! Watch old movies - Since I got Netflix, I pretty much stopped watching DVDs that I own.  Since I paused my subscription this month, it's a great time to watch those old movies that I used to love!  Some of my oldie-but-goodies are The Aviator, Love Actually, Titanic, and How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. Use up old Groupons or coupons - How many times have you bought a Groupon or gotten a coupon for something free, but never use it?  Frugal Febru

Thirty miles always seems like such a milestone for me in training.  Any week that I don't hit it, I feel like I didn't run enough.  If I go over I feel so proud of myself and count that week as a win.  The past few weeks were less than ideal, and I missed that number (by a pretty large margin), so the fact that I got it this week makes me so happy and proud of myself.  I'm back! Here's a look at how my week went: Monday Rest Day! Tuesday 4 miles / 9:25 pace Treadmill run!  I got to run before work, but didn't really want to run while it was single digits out with icy sidewalks.  Kept it nice and easy on the treadmill with a progression run to keep from going crazy. Wednesday  Rest Day! We got a ton of snow and ice overnight, and it continued to snow/rain/sleet throughout the day.  I actually stayed at home and did not leave my house at all the entire day! Thursday 5 miles / 8:24 pace Another speed workout on the treadmill

Can I start off this post on a whiney note?  I'm not usually one to complain about weather (at least in real life), but I am SO OVER WINTER.  This year seems to be more awful than most, and I'm so sick of it!  Not to mention that our car that has four wheel drive (which we specifically bought this year to be able to drive safely in the winter) broke down this week and needs a new engine.  To top it off, I've kept myself running inside because we got hit with yet another snow/ice storm.  BLAH.  I have to keep reminding myself that winter will eventually end, and that I'm lucky to have a warm place to live (and work) and just stop complaining. Ok, rant over.  Let's get into happier topics, including something VERY exciting that starts today!  Any guesses?  Keep reading! linking up with  Erika ,  Heather , and  Friday   Five   Song Justin Timberlake - Man of the Woods Definitely a clique pick for this week, but I love Justin's new CD!  While

Another week done, and thankfully this was a cutback week!  I definitely needed it because I still wasn't feeling 100% after recovering from whatever sickness I had last week.  I'm finally feeling more like myself, and hope that next week I'll be back to my normal mileage.  This week I also finished my 30 days of yoga challenge, and fit in two swims.  Here's how the week went: Monday Rest Day! Tuesday 3 miles / 9:25 pace I was finally feeling better, so I went out for an easy run after work.  Of course it was freezing out so it wasn't a ton of fun, but I was just happy to be outside and running again! Wednesday 1200 yards swimming I headed to the pool after work to get in a swim.  This week's workout was 400 yards, 200 yards, 4x100 yards, 4x50 yards.  It was my first time doing circle swimming at the gym since there were lessons going on, so I was happy to be able to keep up with everyone else and didn't get passed at all!

Oh man you guys, this has been a crazy week!  At work we released a new app update and I've been working like crazy to get out new features for our next update, and Dan just got back from a three-week-long trip for work.  I'm hoping that we can chill and relax this weekend, and maybe even get started with our taxes.  Fun! Here are some favorites from the week! linking up with  Erika ,  Heather , and  Friday   Five   Song Fuego Playlist on Spotify I'm actually working on some Spanish stuff at work, so it's been fun to listen to Spanish music while I'm doing it (helps to get me in the right frame of mind!)  This playlist from Spotify has so many great songs and keeps me motivated to keep working.  Lately I've just been powering through my work that I make it through the playlist and realize it's already time to go home when it feels like I just got to work! Podcast This American Life For a while, TAL was the only podcast tha

Hi everyone and Happy February!  Today is the monthly What's New With You linkup, and today I'm going to be talking about a big goal I have for the month. You all might know by now, but I am a very goal-oriented person.  Give me a challenge or rules to follow for a set period of time and I am GOOD.  In that spirit, I decided to make a challenge for myself (inspired by Ciara ) and have a no-spend month in February!  I'm calling this Frugal February (cute, right?), and have decided on some rules that I'm going to follow for the month. Luckily, I'm not doing this alone!  I'll have Ciara doing this with me, and also got Annette , Jessie , Steff , Jess , and Maddie to join in as well.  It's so much easier to have a support system when you're working on a challenge, so we already have a group Instagram chat going, and will be supporting eachother on our own No (or Low)-Spend Month! Here are the rules that I'm going to be following, along with some id