Last week was the last big training push for me. I had a goal of two 18 milers and a total of 50 miles for the week. And I totally hit my goals. I'm linking up with Tara at Running 'n' Reading and here's how my week went down: Monday, I worked out by doing laundry and cleaning my house - when you have two sets of stairs and the laundry room is in the basement, trust me, that's a workout. It was a beautiful day though and at the end I was totally kicking myself for not getting out there. Tuesday I got in a 5.3 mile run with a friend in the first warm weather we've had. I actually wore short sleeves and a skirt! Wednesday I hit up my exercise bike and did my #rockyourcore exercises. I thought I had a crazy busy day, but … [Read more...]
Beer, cello, and running
Yes, those 3 words pretty much sum up my weekend. So, today I'm linking up with Tara from Running 'n' Reading for the Weekend Recap. On Friday, we got one last (please, let it be the last!) blast of winter with 35* rain/snow nastiness. Luckily, the ground was too warm for anything to stick and the kids went to school as scheduled. I managed to get out and run a super hilly three mile run where I realized one thing: the weather at RNR DC could have sucked even more than it did. I was completely wet and chilled at the end and quite happy I was only doing three miles. … [Read more...]
RNR DC Weekend Recap
This weekend was crazy: crazy fun, crazy cold, crazy stressful, crazy busy. No boring here this weekend. I'm linking up with Tara over at Running 'n' Reading for my weekend recap. … [Read more...]
TOTR: Putting the healthy in Thanksgiving
Today on Tuesdays on the Run, Patty, April, and I are wondering: What healthy choices did you make over the Thanksgiving holiday? Nobody is perfect and I'll be the first to admit I enjoyed a few too many beers (Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout ON TAP, people. Of course I had some!) Ahem. I managed to make a small handful of healthy choices... … [Read more...]
An “energizer bunny” run
You know those commercials with the Energizer bunny? He just "keeps going and going"... There's no claim that he goes fast or that he looks spectacular while doing it, just that he will keep going and going. Today's run was a lot like that. My legs had no bounce and I was kind of hungry. All I'd had to eat was the crust from Shoo's PB&J. I meant to eat breakfast after school drop off, but got busy and forgot. Then I decided to run and didn't want to wait for a meal to digest. I headed out with the plan to run 4.3 miles (my shortest run for the week.) 9 miles and one Cliff Shot later, I got back home. Around the two mile point, I'd settled into a groove and just kept going. I wasn't fast, but I was right in my goal range. … [Read more...]
Five for Friday
1. Thanks for all the feedback on my training plan. I appreciate it. A couple of people mentioned my lack of "fall back" weeks. One of the things we discussed at the RRCA certification class was that you don't necessarily need to fall back if you are increasing at closer to a 5% rate than a 10% rate. Also, I know my life. I'll have fall back weeks that happen when a kid gets sick or I have an onsite work meeting or I'm feeling lazy or we are traveling... If none happen organically, I'll just have to listen to my body and see if I need one. 2. I made a trip to my favorite beer store yesterday. I bought so much beer that I was given free chocolate. 3. I ran 8.1 miles yesterday. That's the longest run I've done since the half … [Read more...]
A hell of a lot of miles
OK, I'll preface this by saying I know a lot of you run a lot more miles than I do/will. But, holy cow! I sat down tonight and roughed out the minimum miles I'd like to get in between now and my 5in5 races. It's a very different plan from my typical training. Usually, if I run 5 times per week, I have a long run, two mediums, and two short runs. That's where I'm starting, but that will be changing pretty quick. Some random thoughts: Runs are in no particular order for each week. I imagine I'll move them around as my schedule dictates. I may change to more of a marathon training schedule and make my long run go longer than 13. (Anyone have any thoughts on longer long run with varying length shorter runs vs. trying to get to … [Read more...]
Unseasonable Heat
Much of the East Coast is having summer weather this week. Today is supposed to be in the high 80s/low 90s and may very well reach a record high. I'm not ready for this. Yesterday I headed out for an 8 mile run at 3:30 in the afternoon. In April, this should not be a problem. This time it was. First, I had to stop back by the house at just over 2 miles. I'd been looking wistfully at all the portapotties I ran past starting at the one mile point. I'd also considered stopping at one of the open houses in our neighborhood, but didn't want to be "that person". Ahem. After a quickish stop at home, I headed out for a few more miles. I really wanted at least 5 total. At the five mile point, I kept talking myself into a little bit more and … [Read more...]
How to sneak up on a long run
To say that my long run mojo has been lacking would be to put it mildly. I know why it's missing: cold weather, pain in my toes, and number of hours it takes. I've crossed over the 1.5 hour time frame (and really with getting ready, etc, it's taking two hours) and that's the point where I start feeling like I'm "losing" a big part of my day. Yesterday morning, I didn't want to run at all, much less a long run. I was just in a mood. A crappy one. Step 1: Tweet - I whined about not wanting to run and got lots of "you can do it". I publicly reminded myself that I could go slow and even accepted that I wasn't going to go far. The support I got, pushed me out the door. Step 2: Grab a handheld and a Honey Stinger. Just … [Read more...]
The Forerunner is not an attractive bracelet…
Unfortunately, despite charging it last night, my garmin was not up for the 8 mile run today and crashed almost immediately. Grrr.Fortunately, the run was good despite my missing running buddy. I ran an approximately four mile loop and then a three mile loop and then one of my measured miles that I use for speed work. From what I can figure out from MapMyRun, I ran around 8.5 miles and averaged a 9:45ish pace. I did the last mile in 8:45!I haven't felt this strong for a long run in a long time. I made one major change - I ate more last night and then had a snack about 15 minutes before I ran this morning. Instead of feeling like the running dead, I felt great the whole time (well, except for a quick race to the bathroom at the end of … [Read more...]
TIART: What to eat before a long run
Today Jill's question over at the Runner's Lounge Take It and Run Thursday is "What do you eat before your long run?" It took me a long time to come up with an answer to this question. Not that it took me a long time to think about, but that I tried a whole bunch of different combinations when training for the marathon. My final answer: peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat bread.I have a rather finicky stomach, especially in the morning. When I'm not running, I usually eat an egg mixed with vegetables and cottage cheese (basically a crustless quiche). This keeps me full and happy while I'm getting the kids to school and running errands, etc. However, I found that it didn't have enough complex carbs for anything more than about a 4 … [Read more...]
Nice 8 miles and random babble
Today is gorgeous here. It's currently in the mid-70s and breezy, which is virtually unheard of in Virginia in mid-July. I dropped the kids off at camp this morning and headed out for a nice, slow 8 mile run. Two of my favorite bloggers have recently gotten certified for coaching running and they both are endorsing the really slow long run. I'm not very good at staying slow, but I decided that today I'd do my best to stay near a 10 minute mile and see what happened.9:28 (oops, but it was mostly downhill)9:539:469:499:54 (walked to eat a gu)9:459:438:58 (with a half mile left to go, I decided to see what I had left)All in all, an awesome run. Our cookout this past weekend was a blast. We had our "usual" group of close friends over. I … [Read more...]
