You create your future with the power of your intention. Intention is simply the conscious act of determining your future now. Health, harmony in relationships, happiness, money, creativity, and love will come to you in the future, based on your intentions now.

Intend every day and create your future life.

Plain and simple, we get what we ask for.

I will be writing a series of posts on marathon speed training and giving you a few examples of workouts to do if you are looking for a faster marathon finishing time.

My first marathon speed training workout relates to the long run.

I call this the Fast Finish Long Run.  If you’re running 14, 16, 18 or 20 miles, at the end of that you’re trying to run at your goal marathon pace for the last last 4 miles or 8 miles.

on a 14 or 16 mile run pick up your pace to goal marathon pace for the last 4 miles.

on an 18 or 20 miles run pick up your pace to goal marathon pace for the last 8 miles.

Workouts like this help train the body so your marathon pace becomes easier. You don’t want to go out during the marathon and run 30 seconds per mile faster than your goal pace in the beginning.  In fact, I’ve run my best times when I start out about 20seconds below goal pace and then I groove into my pace and finish with a kick.

give it a try and let me know what you think!

10 ways to create a positive day

1. Use affirmations – Read and listen to affirmations so that you can begin to change your self-talk.

2. Intention – Set your intention each morning to have a positive day! Remember you choose your attitude!

3. Mindfulness – Keep your attention in the present moment.

4. Link to think -Pick something you do frequently (perhaps making a phone call) and let that be a reminder to think a positive thought.

5. Gratitude – Develop an attitude of gratitude by keeping a gratitude journal.

6. Inspiration – Read and watch inspirational and motivational material to lift your mood.

7. Positive people – Surround yourself with positive people. They will help you stay focused on the positive.

8. Kindness – Be kind to yourself and those around you.

9. Applied faith – Trust that every situation has the seeds for growth and opportunity.

10. Smile – Smile when you see others. Smile when you are talking on the phone. A smile is contagious.

You can also follow the program and event on facebook.  Become a fan of “Run with Jill Bootcamp” here

until then…..some motivation and inspiration for you:

“When all’s said and done, all roads lead to the same end. So it’s not so much which road you take, as how you take it.”

“Try and fail, but don’t fail to try”

“Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”

5k speed workouts

Get Faster with 400m intervals.

One of the primary goals among runners is to run faster.  My recommended workout for getting faster at the 5k, 10k, and half marathon distance are 400m (1 lap on the track) intervals.

Whether yearning to spend less time running around the block or striving to be the best age-group runner in the area, most of us runners wish to be a bit quicker.

therefore, you should consider and at least try some other types of workouts that involve speed intervals.

Why? Just a few reasons:

1. They make things interesting. Doing the same workout, day after day, isn’t a lot of fun. Sure, I enjoy running as much as the next person, but changing things up is good. Too much repetition is boring!

2. It can make you faster and stronger. Throwing a little speed into your workouts can make you a better runner. If you have the same 5K time every time, it may be that you need some faster workouts.

3. It can help you tone up and lose weight.  Running long and slow doesn’t do much for the metabolism.  Putting forth a couple speed session a week will challenge your body and force it to work harder, therefore burning more calories and toning your muscles.

4. Your body adapts. After a month or so of doing one type of workout, you body will adapt and you’ll no longer be getting the same kind of benefits from that workout. You need to change things up every 3-4 weeks … and if you do, you’ll most likely see continued improvements.

Warm-up Is Key

To prevent injuries and increase your performance, warm up and stretch thoroughly before you run any speed work. Run at least one to two miles easy as a warm-up.

The Speed Workout

At the track, start with 4 x 400. Increase the number of 400s every week by two more until, 10 days before the race, the final workout is: 10 x 400. Each 400 (one lap around a track) should be run eight seconds faster than you want to average per quarter mile in your 5K race.

For example, if you wanted to run eight minutes per mile, your quarter-mile race pace would need to be two minutes. The workout pace per lap should in this case be 1 minute, 52 seconds. Walk for half a lap between the 400s.

Here is another variations of a speed workout you can do that is highly efficient at building your 5K performance.

Lactate Builders

Alternate between running for 30 seconds at nearly full pace and 30 seconds at an easy pace. Keep running until you are unable to hold a strong pace. Your goal is to be able to perform this workout for 12-16 minutes.  This is an excellent lactate threshold builder. It also improves your VO2 max and running economy.

Try to include both of these workouts into your program each week and do not perform these workouts back to back.  In fact, three days in between would be ideal.   A sample week of 5k speed training might look like this (remember, I’m a big fan of 4 days per week of runinng).

Monday: Off (strength training)

Tuesday: Track 400m workout

Wednesday: 3-6 miles easy

Thursday: OFF (strength training upper body)

Friday: Lactate Threshold workout

Saturday: off (good day for strength training)

Sunday: long easy run 6-8 miles

This program also works for 10k training.  The only difference is to increase your long run by 2 miles.  I’ll be back next week with half marathon speed training.

leave any comments or questions here.  thanks.

Beef Kebabs (I’m not a big red meat eater, but I do love kebabs)

1 pound sirloin steak

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup Pinot Noir red wine

8 cubes fresh pineapple

8 cherry tomatoes

1 can (8oz) salt-free water chestnuts drained.

Cut the steak into 1/4 inch thick strips. Combine the onion and wine in a bowl with the beef strips. Marinate for 4 hours. Alternately thread beef strips, pineapple cubes, cherry tomatoes, and water chestnuts onto metal skewers. Place kebabs on grill over medium coals. Grill 4 minutes, turning once.

Cherry Tomato Salmon

6oz Salmon

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. mixed fresh herbs

2 tbsp. minced garlic

1/4 cup herb vinaigrette

4 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 sprig fresh thyme, for garnish

Season the salmon fillet with the lemon juice, fresh herb mixture, and garlic. Coat it with vinaigrette. Put the cherry tomatoes on the baking tray with the salmon, and bake at 325 until done. Garnish with fresh thyme.

Oven-Baked Pecan Pork Chops

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp dry sherry or water

1 tbsp ground ginger and garlic powder

4 lean pork chops

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. In a shallow bowl, beat together the egg, oil, and sherry. Add ginger and garlic powder to taste. Dip the chops in the mixture, and then coat evenly with the pecans. Arrange the pork chops in a single layer in a glass baking dish coated with additional oil. Bake for 30minutes, turn, and bake until tender, about 20 minutes longer.

this presentation really, really made a difference for me.  I already knew sugar was bad, but seeing slides of what it actually does to cells in our body was a real eye opener and now I want to share with you some facts and encourage you to decrease sugar intake.

Some notes from the lecture:

By just cutting refined sugars out of your diet, you can significantly increase your health.

Did you know that sugar increases fat storing in your body? Cutting out sugars, coupled with a good exercise program, will result in your losing fat… want to find that Six Pack that you are currently hiding in the cooler? Cut out that sugar!

Sugar also disrupts normal brain function. We all have experienced the highs and lows that come from eating high sugar foods. Kids on sugar is a great example of attention “disorders” and behavioral issues due to eating too many sweet treats. Basically, the brain just gets “shorted out” with too much sugar.

And lastly, sugar can actually decrease your overall health and make you age quicker! Too much sugar will lower your overall immune system, increase inflammation, lead to essential mineral deficiencies in the body, and feed bad bacteria in your gut…all health starts in the gut! Sugar just causes the body to break down sooner than it should… which is really what aging is…

Cutting sugar out can help with the following:

Increase Fat Burning ability of the body.

Increase the immune system and state of health.

Slow down the destructive aging process.

Decrease risks for most degenerative diseases.

Have steady energy all day long (no crashes or swings).

Have increased mental clarity, focus & concentration.

Increase positive behaviors in children (and adults).

For more information on the effects of sugar and how to cut it out of your diet, here is a great link:

Beat the Sugar Habit: 3 Steps to Cut Sweets Out of Your Life

http://zenhabits.net/beat-the-sugar-habit-3-steps-to-cut-sweets-mostly-out-of-your-life/

How about you?  have you cut out sugar?  if so, how did you do it?  I know so many that get the craving and not sure how to get rid of it.   I know for me when I feel sluggish in the afternoon and really crave something sweet….I immediately eat some almonds and that stabilizes my blood sugar right away and I notice the craving goes away.

We’d love to hear from you.  leave us a comment.

Many years ago I read the book The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz.  I love this book and find myself referring to it often, especially when I need a reminder about not letting negative words of others affect me.  Its taken me many years to not take things personally and since I’ve gotten stronger at this….well, life is just that much better.

here are some of my favorite quotes from Miguels related to not taking things personally:

“I will no longer allow anyone to manipulate my mind and control my life in the name of love.”

“Don’t Take Anything Personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.”

“Whatever happens around you, don’t take it personally… Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves.”

What are some of your strategies to ignore negative people in your life? Let us know in the comment section.