Treadmills. Some people love them. Some people hate them. I'm actually pretty neutral. Sometimes I'm in the mood to run in place, some days the thought of getting on makes me ill. So, Patty, April, and I decided that this week's topic for Tuesdays on the Run would be treadmill tips. Seems pretty timely with the cold and snow that is buffeting much of the U.S. Since I've written a post or two about running on the treadmill and used up all of my tips on a guest post about surviving a long run on the treadmill, I decided to write about my own personal hell right now: treadmill purchasing. So many options out there, so many different price levels, so many decisions! … [Read more...]
Bring me coffee, please and thank you
How are we a week into February already? It feels like just yesterday was New Year's Eve! Once again I am linking up for the monthly coffee date with Coco, Deborah, and Lynda, because, as usual, I have random stuff to share with you. The saddest thing is that my coffee pot broke and I haven't replaced it yet. I have a back up, but it's not very efficient. So, I'm having coffee, barely. I … [Read more...]
Taper? I’m supposed to taper?
My first half marathon for 2014 is in less than two weeks. I'm running the Rock N Roll USA half with 1000s of my closest friends. Or 15 or so moms from Moms Run This Town. Whichever. The big discussion lately has been about tapering. How much? How long? Should you really do it? Personally, I love the taper. And I've seen how well it works. For both of my marathons, I followed Hal Higdon's training plans and tapered exactly as he recommended. I arrived at the start line fresh and ready to go. I won't be tapering for this race. In fact, I'll be running two of my highest mileage weeks leading up to this race. I also won't be *racing* this race. My current focus is on running the five half marathons in five days. To do that, … [Read more...]
The show must go on
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night..." Perhaps you've been watching the weather predictions. Or maybe you live on the east coast. If not, maybe you didn't know that (despite a lovely 50+ degree day yesterday), the forecast called for a plummeting of temperatures and 5-9 inches of snow in the DC area. Did someone forget to tell Mother Nature that it's March? By 7pm last night, Beer Geek's office was closed and the kids' schools were moments behind. Seriously? It was raining at that point and not that cold, so hard to wrap our heads around one more snow day. Sigh. I opened negotiations on treadmill usage. See, my treadmill sits a mere 15 feet from Beer Geek's desk. It's in a separate room, but there is no … [Read more...]
What is this “school” thing you speak of?
My kids have been out of school or delayed for more days than I can remember. They were out yesterday and will be again today. My elementary school child is making up time on "early release" days and I think my middle school kid just ran out of days. Too bad they can't all go to school on Monday. Ooh, did I say that out loud? Don't get me wrong. I love my kids. Shoo and I even spent a fair amount of time outside yesterday. It took me 2 hours to shovel our sidewalk and dig out my car, which may not sound like it was that hard, but my sidewalk is not very long. Two hours of lifting heavy wet snow. Pretty sure I got my weight lifting in for the day. At least the snow was beautiful. Wanna know what else I did? I ran 9 miles. No, … [Read more...]
#beautifulrun and Treadmill Tell-All
Yesterday, I ran a half marathon. Not a race. Not even a virtual race. I just ran 13.1 miles because I could and because the sun was shining. In fact, the sun was shining so nicely and the temp was so balmy that I was horribly overdressed. Until mile 9 when the cold front started moving in... It was another one of those amazing weather days that have dropped in our laps in between the horrible, very cold days we've been experiencing. I'm thankful I was able to set a bunch of other stuff aside and get out there. Tomorrow we head back into the deep freeze and I'll be hitting up the treadmill again if the feels like temps are in the single digits, sigh. Speaking of treadmills... I saw this on Run with Jess' blog last week (she … [Read more...]
A teaser: The FitBase
Last week, I met up with a friend for coffee. This may have been the first time I've actually sat down and talked to this friend, as opposed to being covered in sweat and cursing his name. See, C.J. is a personal trainer and running coach. We've hung out at races together (note that we haven't raced together 'cause he's way faster than I am) and I've hired him on occasion to make me lift weights. But C.J. has recently started an awesome new project and I wanted to hear all about it. After our meet up, I figured all my DC peeps should hear about it too. The FitBase So, what is The FitBase? Well, right now, it's the beginnings of a database of all the gyms, classes, and personal trainers in the greater DC area. Doing a search … [Read more...]
A weekend in pictures
It's been a good weekend. I filled the freezer with a year's worth of grass-fed beef... I ran in place for a really long time... I drank back all of the calories at Mad Fox Brew Pub (and then later at Tallulah)... Today, I finished out my 50 mile week by running another 7.5 miles... And then I organized all of our beer... I'd like to say that I'm gonna kick back and watch the Super Bowl, but I'm much more likely to finish the laundry and organize my linen closet. I totally know how to party LOL. What fun things did you do this weekend? Are you watching the Super Bowl? … [Read more...]
Not fun, but done
Sunday night the weather guys were calling for icy rain for the Monday morning rush hour. The federal government offered a two hour delayed arrival. District of Columbia schools called for a delayed opening. But when I went to bed at midnight, our school system still hadn't made their call. I assumed I'd wake up to a delayed opening. When I rolled over at 5am and checked my email, I got quite the surprise. Not the delayed opening I expected, but rather schools were closed. (I know they try to make the best decision with the information they have available, but let's just say this isn't the first time schools have been closed when there was no apparent reason why. Anyways....) When I rolled out of bed a couple of hours later, I … [Read more...]
Moving On
No, I'm not quitting blogging. You'll be hearing from me at least until I finish this crazy five half marathon thing. Where else can I talk about nothing but that and not drive my friends absolutely batty? I'm moving on from coaching. Two years ago I had big plans of creating a new career. I wanted to help moms return to running after having a baby and help other moms start running. It was a fairly small target audience, but I didn't plan to make a huge amount of money or have a huge clientele. But, for a variety of reasons, I've slowly been letting this go. The market is actually pretty flooded with options, I didn't feel like RRCA Certification gave me enough to be a truly good coach, and I felt like my own training had to be … [Read more...]
