I survived! I knew going into this fall that September and October were going to be insane. They did not disappoint! But it's November now and with Shoo's birthday on Halloween, the craziness ends. Time to take a deep breath and get everything under control. Since I actually have time to take a real coffee break, I'm joining Deb and Coco's virtual coffee date. If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that I was more sore after the Marine Corps Marathon than I have been after a race in years. Seriously, the lack of a bathroom on our main level darn near killed me. On the bright side, not only did I refuse to walk up and down the stairs to do anything for my kids, I made Shoo be my legs and sent him to get things for me. Thankfully, by … [Read more...]
Tips for preparing for running Ragnar on an ultra team
Last weekend I ran Ragnar PA on an ultra team. Generally speaking, an ultra team has 6 members and one van, as opposed to 12 members and two vans. This means that you are running twice as many miles and have no time as the "inactive van." As you might guess, this makes it an entirely different experience. To be honest, I loved it! I don't think I'll ever go back to a regular team. Before you can even prepare though, your team has to decide if everyone will be doing 6 runs or 3 LONG runs. While I can't say this would be the case for every location, for Pennsylvania (and DC) doing 3 long runs means you could very well be doing a half marathon or longer in the middle of the night and then be doing the same at noon. No thank you! I'd much … [Read more...]
School’s out for the summer!
Yes, it really just let out here (actually my middle schooler has a half day today). Yet, somehow I feel like we've been fulfilling our summer plans for a few weeks already. And since today's topic for Tuesdays on the Run is "summer plans", this post will be somewhat retrospective as well as looking to the future. A vacation with Beer Geek in Denver - this trip is already in our rear view mirror. Beer Geek and I hiked all around Denver - hitting Breckenridge, Aspen, Steamboat Springs, Colorado Springs, and Laramie, WY. We hit Pike's Peak, drank at innumerable brewpubs, and survived a crazy hail storm. All in all, it was an amazing vacation together to celebrate 23 years of marriage. Skirt Sports retreat - I had been looking … [Read more...]
It’s better to undertrained than overtrained, right?
In 3 days I'll be hitting the start line of Ragnar Pennsylvania on an ultra team. What's an ultra team? It's a team of 6 instead of 12 - which means you pretty much never have down time and you run twice the number of miles. It seemed like a good idea back when I signed up. And my usual method of running races as training runs was going well. Until it wasn't. I'm honestly still not sure what is going on with my foot and ankle. I've managed to run 7 miles in the last 3 weeks. Seven. I missed 100 miles for the month of May by more than 45 miles and so far in June I've run a 5K. A pain free 5K, thankfully, but only a 5K. I only have to run ten times that between Friday morning and Saturday afternoon - … [Read more...]
Training Plan: Run all the races
Word on the street is that it's spring. I'm not really sure I believe that since I ran a half marathon this past weekend wearing all the layers. All.of.them. But supposedly it's here. Which means it's time for our Tuesdays on the Run discussion of how your spring training is going. Do you have an "A" race coming up? My "A" race this year is Ragnar Pennsylvania. I know that you are thinking "but you run Ragnar every year, how does this require training?" Well, I'm running my first Ultra Ragnar. Yep - half the runners, twice the miles. Now I'm the mini miler on the team, so my mileage may not be more than some runners have in a regular Ragnar, but I don't know the plan yet. So I need to train to run about 30 miles over the course of 36 … [Read more...]
Best gifts for the Ragnarian in your life
It's that time of year! Time for all the bloggers to write gift guides on various topics. We'll tell you what to buy the runner in your life or what winter items to buy or what you should buy for the runner who isn't training right now. Most of the time, when I write a gift guide, I try to include things I've tried. I'd hate to suggest something that turns out to be awful. But I'm coming from a different perspective this time. As a Ragnar runner, here are 5 gifts that are on my Wish List. These fill NEEDS I have, therefor I believe they should be needed by all Ragnar runners. Sound logic, right? I don't actually have any of these, so don't blame me if they don't live up to their claims. Some of the links are affiliate links, which means if … [Read more...]
VA Momentum Growler Relay Race Recap
This weekend I joined some other Ragnar Ambassadors to run a local relay. Instead of 12 runners, two vans, and 200 miles, it was 8 runners running from one brewery to another and back. What could be better than a day spent with running with friends, followed by a party at a brewery. Not much. During the week leading up to the race, one of our runners let us know that he had to drop due to a family issue. Thankfully, a quick post on MRTT netted me a new runner for the group. (I swear I don't know what I'd do without MRTT. So often they come to the rescue.) So, with crisis averted, we worked out our logistics. While it is possible to do this event with two cars and have one "active" vehicle, we decided to all pile into my … [Read more...]
Some things I must runfess…
Here we are at the end of September, ready once again to head to the Runfessional. I have apparently run out of motivation before I've run out of training plan. This week was supposed to be a peak mileage week, but between the exhaustion from Ragnar, the remnants of my cold. and TWO Back to School nights, I've had a hard time even getting out the door. Heck, one day I didn't even get out the door - I ran on the treadmill because it took less thought and effort. *** But I did get out for a 10 mile run on Thursday! Which was totally awesome, until it wasn't. I had a slow warm up mile (mostly due to traffic lights) and then ran by feel for 5 miles. I hit within a few seconds of 10:30 pace each mile without checking my Garmin. What?!? … [Read more...]
The weekend I ran all the miles
Sometimes I intentionally make crazy choices. Sometimes crazy choices find me. This weekend was a case of the latter happening. Back in December, Pacers Running offered an amazing discount if you signed up for 5 races at once. Since they are my local running store and race company, I often run their races. I decided to make the GW Parkway 10 miler my spring goal race and chose 4 other races to run. One of those four was the Clarendon Day Double - a 5k + a 10k with a mile uphill walk in between. Flash forward to September. I realized a couple of weeks ago that Clarendon Day fell on the Sunday after Ragnar DC. Oops? So, I had a lot on my plate for the weekend. I'll do a full Ragnar DC recap in a few days, but short story - I had … [Read more...]
5 Stages of Ragnar Relay Packing
Packing for Ragnar is an art not a science, but I go through the same 5 stages every single time. 1. Panic! You don't know where every thing is, you need to do a load of laundry, and you don't know what you want to wear. This stage is often the longest stage as you throw laundry in the wash and buy a bunch of items via Amazon Prime. Sometimes this stage lasts days. It's ok. You'll get through it. 2. Gathering The gathering phase is the one where you fold all that laundry and find all the random items that have wandered away since your last Ragnar Relay. You also obsessively check your Amazon orders to see when they will be delivered. During this phase, your "staging site" becomes a mound of running clothes, lights, and … [Read more...]
Tips for Captaining a Ragnar Team
So, you're going to run a Ragnar Relay. It might be your first time, but it might not. But someone has convinced you that you should be the captain. Or maybe you were crazy enough to want that responsibility. Whatever. The end result is that you are now the Captain of a team that will be running Ragnar soon. Go read the Bible. Now. OK, by Bible, I mean Race Bible. This is a document put out by Ragnar that has most of what you need to know. Then check out Blognar and the Ragnar website for all sorts of useful information about being a captain and about your particular Ragnar Relay. Now you're ready for my tips. I'm sharing 5 things that will make your experience a better one. Don't put yourself on the financial … [Read more...]
Ragnar Trail Richmond Recap #RagnarTrailRVA
A few weekends ago, I ran Ragnar Trail Richmond on Team No Beer Left Behind. It was a mix of members from my Mad Fox 12 pack team and a few spouses and college friends. It was an incredibly fun experience, but it's taken me nearly two weeks to recover! Our adventure started when two of our teammates went down Thursday to grab a camping spot for us. They chose a nice spot and set up a couple of tents and a canopy. Luckily, they also had their RV because there ended up being a big thunderstorm that night (which would lead to a few muddy spots once the running started.) The rest of us headed down on Friday morning with two cars full of gear and snacks. We made good time and had no problem with gear drop. Our camp site was quite close … [Read more...]
