If you've been around this blog for a while, you know that one of the main reasons I run is to combat depression. It helped me overcome postpartum depression and it has helped me many times in situational depression. If there was ever a time when situational depression would rear its ugly head, isolation due to Covid 19/coronavirus is that time. I am currently on day 19 of a minimum of 15 minutes a day running streak, in an attempt to keep from a downward slide. So, obviously I'm concerned with running without putting myself or others at risk. I live in a highly populated area. It's not quite like living downtown with all the high rises, but there are a lot of people in my area. Gone are the days when I'd go on a 10:30am run and see … [Read more...]
My “undertrained” MCM training plan
I am currently 14 weeks out from my 5th Marine Corps Marathon. I've done Hal Higdon's training plan twice and attempted Hansons training plan twice. I say attempted because it's a really hard plan and I've never been able to hit all of the mileage at all the right paces. Last year was closer than the previous year and I went into the race feeling strong and ready and planning to gun for a PR. And completely fell apart at mile 16. I know some of that was the ridiculous heat and some was poor fueling choices on my part, but the race felt hard from the first step. And it never improved. The first mistake I made was not admitting it was not my day and slowing down after mile 2 or 3 or 4 or... (Mile 1 might lie, but you'd think I'd listen … [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...]
How I plan to stay fit this summer
Confession: I hate summer. OK, let me be more specific - I hate Virginia summers. They are hot and they are humid. I swear I get reverse SAD and get depressed and never want to leave my house. Seriously, I've had a few summer months when I've barely run at all. With Ragnar and Marine Corps Marathon coming up in early fall, I need to get my act together this summer. I'm going to "Run This Town". One of my fellow Skirt Sports ambassadors decided she wanted to run all of the streets in her town and a few others of us have jumped on the bandwagon. Beer Geek has biked many of the streets in our "town" and thinks I'm crazy, but I'm going to do it anyways. I doubt I'll ever finish (and there are roads that can't be run on), but I'm going … [Read more...]
Rating May: my month long taper
As you can probably tell from the title, May was not a training month. It was supposed to be a training month, but no. Since it's our monthly "rate your month" post for Tuesdays on the Run, here's how my month went down. I wrapped up April with a Master's PR in a 10 mile race. Then I rocked out 20 miles on the trails at Ragnar Trail Richmond (ok, given the heat, I did not rock out anything. I finished the miles. I'm proud to have even done that.) And then my running came to a screeching halt. Despite a training calendar that included multiple double digit runs, my longest run in May was 6.7 miles for Ragnar's Chase the Moon. I'm still not sure what happened. It took me longer than expected to recover from Richmond and then … [Read more...]
Wrapping up a busy week
Welcome, April! March was a rough month and I don't mind seeing it in the rear view mirror! Despite all the crazy things (car problems, sick cat, sick kids, snow day), I was happy to hit 100 miles (103 to be exact) for the fourth month in a row. I ran three races in March, but it was questionable if I was going to complete my goal miles due to a camping trip on the last two days of the month. On Thursday, Shoo and I headed out with his class for the 5th grade camping trip. I did this four years ago with Jones, so I knew what to expect. Which is to say, I knew I'd have fun, but that I'd be exhausted when I got home. The weather for the first day was supposed to be in the 50s, but the second day called for 40s and rain. I packed … [Read more...]
Will run for beer: Four Courts Four Miler
This weekend was cold! It would have been cold even if we'd had a normal winter, but after wearing a tank top on Tuesday, 24 degrees and windy was a shock to the system. Too bad though as we had the Four Courts Four Miler to run. Back in December, Pacers (a local race company) had a sale on races - if you bought 5 or more races, it was 50% off. I used to race their races all the time, but got so busy with half marathons and kids and other life stuff that I stopped. But hey, with that kind of deal, who could resist? Saturday was my second race of the five that I purchased: Four Courts Four Miler. As I mentioned on Friday, there's so much to love about this race, except that it's often quite cold. This weekend, the race did was both … [Read more...]
St. Pat’s 10K and GW Parkway Training Recap
A couple of weeks ago, I won a race entry from a local race company (Pacers Events) with this Instagram photo. The win netted me entry into either the St.Pat's races or the Four Courts Four Miler. Since Beer Geek and I were already running the Four Miler, I chose the St. Pat's 10K. (And then I convinced Beer Geek and a friend that they needed to run it too.) Since I've been training to run the GW Parkway Classic 10 miler at a sub 10 pace, I decided that would be my goal for the 10K. Sunday morning dawned cold and clear. 22* cold to be exact. After a winter without a winter, this was a bit of a shock to the system. I had planned to wear my Ragnar Ambassador 1/4 zip, but it was not very warm, so I had to get creative. … [Read more...]
TOTR: Rating my February running
February has never been my favorite month. It tends to be grey and we often get our big snowstorms then. Even if it's not a snowy month, I'm usually mentally over winter by the time it ends. And this February was just too erratic to be loved. These happened just about a week apart: I swear I spent the month on a weather roller coaster. I never seemed to be dressed quite right and my body couldn't adapt to the temperatures at all. Virginia is known for some crazy weather swings, but this month may have been the most up and down we've ever had. I'm pretty much convinced that Mother Nature was drunk. If I were to grade my non-running life, I'd say February was a low C. It was just a crazy month with too many things going on. I … [Read more...]
Rating my January running
It's hard to believe we are already a month into the new year. It's seemed to fly by and yet drag, all at the same time. Since we are ending the month, the topic for Tuesdays on the Run is "rate your month of running." Did you get an A? A C for effort? Or did you fall off the wagon completely? Join Patty, Marcia, and me as we discuss our month. (Thanks to Janelle for the topic idea. Anyone else got an idea? We'd love to hear it.) Before I get to my running month, let me tell you a bit about my weekend. Saturday I got to spend the day with all other other Ragnar DC Ambassadors. It was a really fun time and I learned a lot about the company and the race. I also realized I'm completely sane when I'm compared to these other Ragnar … [Read more...]
GW Parkway 10 miler training begins
This weekend was, umm, interesting. Living near DC, we are always affected by the Inauguration. Add in the Women's March and the whole area was in a bit of an uproar. For the moment, I am continuing my personal choice of keeping politics off my blog and social media, but it was a pretty amazing weekend to live here. Let's focus instead on my lack of a training plan since the Marine Corps Marathon. Heck, let's be honest, I didn't even have a training plan FOR Marine Corps Marathon. But I really needed some time to just run for the love of it. So, despite running every day for the Runner's World #runstreak, my mileage has been pretty low. It's time to get back on the horse now. In what I am sure you find to be a shocking turn of … [Read more...]
Marathon Training: Do not try this at home
Back in February, I totally succumbed to FOMO. I jumped online when the MCM 17.75 registration opened and secured my spot to run the "race to register." Even as I as registering, I was all "I'm going to give away the code. I don't want to run the Marine Corps Marathon again." Somehow, I got confused and signed up for MCM. OK, maybe I wasn't confused, I just had selective amnesia. You know how you forget how hard childbirth was as soon as they hand you the baby? Marathons are JUST like that. And in my defense, I love the Marine Corps Marathon. It's a great race with amazing support and a wonderful course. I would happily run it every year. If it was in the spring. This is how I want to look when I'm training... Not like … [Read more...]
