Stronger Strides

Week 1 Workout: Speed work: - 2 mile warm up -8 x 400m @ 5K pace -2 mile cool down Medium long run: 4-6 miles focusing on good form Long run: This is going to be at least 8 miles or two more miles than your last long run in 2 weeks. You do not want to climb higher than two miles of your last long run to risk injury. -2 mile warm up -8 mile progressive pace and decreasing about 6 seconds per mile -Add in easy miles to hit your mileage needed if any -2 miles cool down After each of these workouts (Speed, Medium long run and Long run) do a recovery day! This is based on how many miles you feel you need and at a very easy pace. Add one rest day in there! Happy running, friends! XOXO

Train with me! Are you training for a marathon, half marathon or any running race this fall? Whether you are a seasoned runner or just signed up for your first event, let’s train together! I am preparing to run the Chicago Marathon on October 7th this fall. I am so excited! I have some big goals set and I want to help you reach your goals as well. Disclaimer- I am not a running coach, I have run 6 marathons, and countless half marathons. I have qualified for Boston, New York and the Chicago marathon. I have done my research and I am ready to take my running to the next level. I am not acting as a coach, just wanting to give guidance and share my journey to runners and learn throughout this every changing process. I will post weekly runs, workouts and explain how these workouts are supposed to go. I believe that everyone is different, and everyone succeeds through different workouts. I am a huge advocate of listening to the body, going off of feel rather than time. We will have spee...

My first ever Half Ironman! Completing a Half Ironman has always been on my bucket list. I have always loved to run, picked up biking in college for cross training and then my plan was to suffer through the swim. I wanted to do Boulder in August but I wan to really focus on training for Chicago and so I picked St. George. I had heard this course was a beast of its own. I was ready. I like hills. My Training: I followed a 16 week training program that I bought from a coach. It truly was amazing! I felt awesome on race day and I attribute it to what great plan she wrote. My average training looked something like this: Monday: Run 30-45 minutes, swim 1500-2000 yards and incorporating drills and speed Tuesday: Bike or Bike + Brick Run + Strength training for hips and core Wednesday: Run 30-45 minutes, swim 1500-2000 yards and incorporating drills and speed Thursday: Yoga + foam rolling and stretching Friday: long bike + Brick run Saturday: long run (1:30- 2 Hour) + endurance s...

As I was pounding away some miles on the boring treadmill, I was thinking. I don’t know about you, but it feels like the fitness world is becoming more and more divided. I get that in life we have different talents and passions. But I feel like there is a war waging and it is getting intense out there. It is a war against weight lifting verses cardio junkies. I feel like these two worlds are growing farther and farther apart. I have a lot of visions, hopes and dreams. One of my aspirations is to merge these two divided groups. I have done a little self-research and I think that it is so interesting the feelings between these two groups. I was talking to some body builders and they pretty much talked about cardio like it was a disease and how they didn’t want anything to do with it. They often expressed their feelings as though people were just wasting their time on those cardio machines. As I talked to some people who only believe in cardio, who said they can go a whole year without ...

Is it just me or does January just stink when it comes to getting back to eating healthy? I feel like I am constantly craving sugar and eating way too many sweets. It is rough getting back on that healthy train. Here are some healthier sweet treats that help me kick that sugar craving. Peanut Butter Rice-Krispies  Ingredients · 4 cups rice Krispies (I like to use Brown Rice Crips ) · ½ cup honey · ½ cup peanut butter Instructions : · Place 4 cups of Rice Krispies in a mixing bowl and set aside · Prepare a baking dish (9X11) and line with parchment paper- set aside · Bring honey to a boil for 1 minute- constantly stirring the honey · Remove honey from heat and stir in peanut butter · You will have a creamy mixture, stir over Rice Krispies until well mixed. · Spread mixture into baking dish and let sit for 1 hour · Cut into squares and enjoy! Snickerdoodle Bites Ingredients : · ½ cup all-natural almond butter · ½ cup pure maple syrup · ¼ tsp vanilla extract ...

"Give a girl the right shoes and she will conquer the world"  -Marilyn Monroe  My personal belief is that shoes are one of the most important things to prevent an injury. I am a girl who loves to run which for me, means that I like to buy a lot of shoes. Did you know that most running shoes last only 500 miles before they need to be replaced? Most people hear the number 500 and they think that it will take them years to reach that number. It is actually a lot easier to hit 500 miles than you think. I have noticed that a lot of the people at the gym and on the trails always wear the same running shoes! Every day! I have been running and training hard for almost 10 years. I have only had minor injuries (knock on wood) and I strongly contribute that to making my shoes a priority. How it works for me is that I have about 3 shoes that I rotate during my training. I do my long runs in some, speed work in some, trail runs in some, treadmill in some, etc. Play close attentio...

The holidays can be a hard time to stick to your goals. Here are five tips to beat the holiday pitfalls in your goals! 1. Tweak your recipes Cherished family recipes may be loaded with ingredients that we should avoid. Try substituting with applesauce, greek yogurt, vanilla extract and trade condensed milk for coconut milk. 2. Practice portion control Feeling stuffed after a holiday meal seems to be a common feeling this time of year, but it doesn’t have to be. There is a difference between feeling satisfied and feeling full. Watch “having seconds” This can lead to excess calories and not giving yourself enough time to fill full. Limit the food that is around. Food waste is a big deal in America and we can reduce this by the amount of food that we make. Do not miss meals! This slows down your metabolism and will actually do more damage than good on your body. Bring your own snacks to work- there are always tons of holiday treats around the office this tim...

You know the deal. You train hard for four months. Your runs are spot on. Waking up at 4:30 every day to sweat it out. Recovery is right. Nutrition is right. Your pace is right. Hydration is right. EVERYTHING IS RIGHT ON SCHEDULE. I have always suffered with my mental strength. I grew up in a house that competition was in our blood and growing up with two amazing athletes for sisters. Try being 11 and 9 years younger and always trying to keep up.  When I signed up for the Big Cottonwood Marathon, I had big dreams. My sister had run that marathon a few years prior and she told me that it was fast and an easy course. I could achieve great things on that course.  I live close to the course so I would run it at least once a week. I could run that course with my eyes closed. Every run I was spot on for achieving a 3:15 marathon. I had my eye on that prize. I could almost taste the victory. The night of the race, I was so nervous. I finally fell asleep about 3 AM and...

Protein is always a hot topic which I will talk about in a later post. Try to get your protein in within 30 minutes of finishing your workout.  I drink this smoothie almost every morning because it is jam packed with protein which keeps me full and grows my Sponge Bob arms! I absolutely love Ideal Fits protein, it is by far my favorite. You can find a more about this protein here .  Here is the recipe: -3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk -2 tablespoons powdered peanut butter -1/2 banana (frozen if you like a thicker consistency) -1 scoop of chocolate protein powder (I use Ideal Fit- Chocolate Brownie) -1 tablespoons of natural peanut butter (there is never a thing of too much peanut butter) -6-8 ice cubes Directions: -Place in a high speed blender (I use my Blendtec) and enjoy!! Happy running friends, Kylie

Speed work often gets neglected in my training but I can tell when I am at mile 20 if I have done the proper amount of speed work.  There are some critical things you need to focus on while you are training for a marathon that include tempo runs, strength training, and mileage. There are some classic VO2 max workouts that consists of repeats with a duration of 3-5 minutes. These are awesome to test your fitness and really train how your muscles will feel that last 10 K of the race.  After you have achieved some goal times and are ready to take it to the next level, do not focus on increasing the length of the workout but focus on shorter distance with sprints as short as 50 meters. Studies have shown that this can change the way your body works on race day.  There are many different ways that you can incorporate these workouts into your training. 1. Short for Speed Endurance: This is a very important workout because on race day, this will make your feel like you a...

I've talked about the marathon a lot before. It is a race that consists of thousands of hours training for, hundreds of miles ran, countless hours of strength training, hill training, speed work, tempo runs, and the list could go on and on. I would like to talk about finding yourself in those rough training days. Whether you are training for a marathon, half marathon, triathlon, or any endurance competition. I know that we have all had them. What do we do? Quit? Give up? Keep pushing through? This can happen on any given training day. Short runs, long runs, speed work or even strength training work. I am a big believer in listening to your body. Do not mistake me here, if you are listening to your body and giving it what it needs, your body will give you more on race day if you respect it during training. There are those training sessions that you need to compete. I usually like to get in three 20-mile runs before a marathon. And some days, you just do not want to run that 20. I...

It is that time of year again! Here in Utah it is dark and cold pretty much all the time that I am not at work. So you know what that means?? TREADMILL TIME! When I am on the treadmill, I try to do different workouts every day. Also, I strongly believe in the ration 2:1. Go hard for 2 minutes easy for 1 minute, go up two levels, down one level, etc. I keep this principle when I plan out my treadmill workouts. I also like to train my lactate threshold as well. You can modify the speed & incline so this workout is personalized for you. Give this a try:  0 to 2 mile warm up. (this should be about 1 minute slower than average workout pace) Mile 2 to 3increase base speed  * keep at a steady cadence Mile 3 to 4: increase base speed *break this mile down into 400m (1/4 of a mile) do one 400m at an increase, rest for a 400m Repeat twice in this mile Mile 4 to 5: Increase base speed *Break this mile down by 800m- Increase speed for 800 m (1/2...

I absolutely love these bars! I do not understand how people do not like peanut butter.  When you mix peanut butter and honey.... you have me. I love quick and easy recipes without a lot of ingredients. I mean, this only has FOUR ingredients! YASSS! Once I created this recipe, I make it almost every week. I love to eat these before or after my workouts. I wanted to share this SUPER easy protein granola bar recipe: Ingredients: 2 cups oats 1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup peanut butter 1 serving of vanilla protein powder Directions: In a mixing bowl, combined oats and protein powder, set aside In a small sauce pan over medium-high heat, bring the honey to a boil Let the honey boil for one minute Remove the honey from the heat and stir in the peanut butter Immediately pour the honey-peanut butter mixture over oat and protein mixture in mixing bowl as the mixture becomes sticky and difficult to work with so move quickly Pour mixture out on a pan or on a plate Flatten mixtu...

Mondays! They get such a negative rep. I for one, get so excited about them that I do not sleep very well on Sunday nights. I think that I stress myself out with all the things that I would like to accomplish. I love to counter act this stress with a plan to prepare for Mondays! As soon as that alarm goes off... it is go time!! Every minute counts. Here are some tips that I have learned to help mornings run a little smoother. I hope these help kick off your day to a great start to get you one step closer to those dreams. 1. Make a short term goal - Set a goal for just this week! Example- run 3 times this week, strength train 2 times a week, eat vegetables at every meal, etc. 2. Write this goal down - It is so important to write the goal down so you can see it. Keep this as your screensaver on your phone or in a place that you look at often. The mind actually visualizes it and can remember it to help motivate you to achieve this goal. 3. Prepare your workout - wether you are fol...

Supplements.... Supplements... Where to begin! The fitness industry can be a very messy, intimidating and contain a lot of misleading information. Supplements are a huge money maker for companies because everyone is looking for that "magical pill" to make them fit into those high school jeans. If you know me, I am a very naturalist person but I also do take supplements. I love to find very natural supplements and limit my caffeine intake. **Disclosure- I am not paid to represent any of these products. They are all just products that I like and recommend to everyone in the fitness world. My schedule: Wake up at 4:30 AM- Take my pre-workout from WM Nutrition & L-Carnitine from Ideal Fit During my workout- sip on Ideal Fit's BCAAs & WM nutrition Hydrenengery After my workout- IdealFit Protein Powder At breakfast- Glucosamine and daily multi-vitamin Here are what they look like and links to where you can buy them: Pre workout- WM Nutrition WM Nutrit...

As the New York Marathon approaches, many memories from last year's race flow through my mind. I ended up running a 3:36 last year (which qualifies me for Chicago) and boy oh boy was it an amazing experience. Lets start with the training: THE MARATHON:- 16 weeks of training. 2-20 milers, running 5 days a week, lots of blisters and always being hungry. I love what Stephanie Bruce said- "The marathon is about learning how to run on tired legs." How true that is. I was able to run a 1:30 half marathon which qualified me to run this amazing race. As I started to read about the marathon everyone said it was not an easy flat course. They had a thing back east called "Bridges" and a lot of them. Well Utah has something called "Mountains" and I used those to my advantage. I have ran my share of marathons but this one was different. I wanted to train smarter, harder and just have some fun. This is what my average week looked like: Monday-  Get the legs ...

So a few months ago I found out I got accepted into the New York Marathon! That is a funny story because people told me it takes around ten years to get into the marathon through the lottery so I thought that I better start trying. Well, I got in on my first try! Ha! I guess I am running it this year and I couldn't be more excited. Life is a little busy and probably not the ideal time to run and train for a marathon. Balancing working and grad school, and training for a marathon makes me one tired and hungry girl. People always ask me how I am managing everything and I always think that running is my saving grace. People call me crazy that I run so much but trust me, they would really see crazy if I didn't run. I am really grateful to have the opportunity to do the things in my life. Side story: met a girl at the gym two years older than me who is fighting cancer. She used to be a little speedster runner but can barley run now. She said it is so hard having things taken awa...

I am so sorry I haven't written in a long time! It has been very crazy training for a marathon, finishing my last semester in school, working, and trying to get applications in for grad school. Update: BOSTON IS IN TWO WEEKS!!! I can't wait.  This marathon I have taken my training to a different level and haven't focused on speed but more of strength.  My last marathon I really focused on speed training to keep myself at a qualifying time.  This marathon, hills have been my best friend.  I have been running at a 8:30-9 min miles but have felt more energy, can run longer at a better constant pace, and haven't had stomach pain after my run. The biggest training that I have incorporated in my training is  plyometric training . Boy, I am a believer!!! This stuff is amazing and can really work fast twitch and slow twitch muscles. They are amazing for increasing speed and endurance. Here are some circuits that I follow! A Glance at What My Week Looks Like: ...

Today was my first long run while training for Boston. Boy oh boy was that a mental challenge. I feel that I am in really good shape physically but it is the mental aspect that always gets to me! I have never trained this early in the year before and it is very challenging getting motivated.  I tried this run on Saturday and I got so sick and I was so tired from skiing. So I ended up doing my 11 today! I ran the loop in my neighborhood which is about 1.5 miles then went on a trail near my house. Tip: Make sure that you are mentally ready for your run.  I try to run at the same time in the morning so my body is use to running and this helps my mind prep for the long haul ahead of me. Goal: Try to make your last mile your fastest mile! Gear: PANTS :  Today I ran in my Nike Women's Tech pant . I LOVE these pants. They are thinner but keep you just right on temperature.  Not fleece lined, tight up on my waist so there is no slippage. LOVE THEM!!! SHOES : ...

Hello all! I just wanted to introduce myself a little.  I am 24 years young. I studied at Utah Valley University getting my degree in Public and Community health with a minor in Exercise and Sports Science.  I am very passionate about health and finding a balance in life.  I have lived in Utah my whole life and I absolutely love it. I have a strong passion for the outdoors.  I love helping people increase the quality of their life through increasing their health.  I don't believe in diet pills, medications, "7 day detoxes", or special magical pills that will make you instantly lose weight overnight.  It takes work. Though I believe that being healthy is a complete life style change.  When you change your outlook on health and fitness, they you will truly change your life and overall health. I believe in getting out and living each day to the fullest.  I am currently training for the Boston Marathon.  I ran the Utah Valley Marathon i...