A British Jantastic?

C - Sunday - 3 miles & Pilates
      Monday - 4 miles
timeless

Today should have been a non-running day, but I can't run tomorrow.  Despite some soreness from yesterday's pilates, tonight's run felt good and I really picked it up toward the end.  Tomorrow I'm supposed to attend a weight-lifting class with a co-worker during lunch.  If I don't write for the next week, it's because I've pulled every muscle in my wimpy arms.

My well loved running shoes.  Nike's Pegasus works well for me, so all I change is the color.

-Anyway-

I love listening to podcasts when I run, and MarathonTalk in particular.  It's a free podcast put out by a couple of speedy Brits who know what they're talking about and enjoying talking all things running.  It really makes me feel like I'm part of larger running community and, strangely, it keeps me focused while I'm running.  I also appreciate that they're funny without being a non-stop comedy routine; I used to try running to CarTalk, and I actually stopped mid-run a few times because I was laughing so hard.

Jantastic - the Marathon Talk 2013 Spring Motivation Challenge

Bring it! (or bring on January anyway!)

 

The guys at MarthonTalk are hosting an annual challenge from January-March.  You have to predict your goals a month ahead of time as follows (taken from their page):

• January (Jantastic) = How may runs will you do. Set the number of times per week you are going to run.
• February (Febulous) = January + How far will your long runs be? Set the distances of your longest runs.
• March (Marchvellous) = January + February + How fast will you run? Set your race targets.

I'm not sure if I'll do the whole challenge, but trying the January challenge will be a good way to get me moving.  I'm usually pretty good at sticking to my running plans, but <depending on what race David and I choose soon> I may make my January race plan a bit more of a challenge for me :o)

Also, for those following the blog, I said I was going to run a Thanksgiving Day 5k and I did.  Promise.  I've been waiting to write a race report on this race-

Batten Kill Valley Runners

17th Annual Running of the Turkeys

cause the race results still aren't posted.  Loved the race, but at this rate about all I'll remember are the spiffy gloves all the runners got- and that I promptly lost.

Second 5k of the Season - Cambrige 5k Yulefest

C-     Monday - 0 miles
         Tuesday - 5 miles
         Wednesday - 5 miles
         Thursday - 5 miles
         Friday - 0 miles
         Saturday - 8 miles
times unknown

OK, so I'm not exactly back to my normal weekly running mileage, but I'm getting there.  My goal is 3 miles and pilates tomorrow.  Hopefully I won't continue the post-pilates pain-in-the-butt trend, and I'll keep ramping up the mileage.  

D and I ran a 5k on Sunday.  The Cambridge 5k Yulefest in fact.  This was a fun race in the heart of Cambridge, Mass.  A lot of runners were dressed up and the outdoor post-race party afterward was nice.  Since all runners have to be over the age of 21 years, a race admission gets you all the beer that you're willing to stand in line for at the after party.  D and I didn't go crazy with the drinks, but it was a fun, festive (chilly) atmosphere.  Plus, there were lots and lots of free trial sized Luna bars- always a plus.

The race itself was pretty flat and good for a PR.  I believe there was water on the course, but I never wanted any, so I'm not sure where it was.  I didn't have a watch (still not working), so I was nervous about my pace and wasn't sure if I'd hit the first mile.  Turns out there were mile markers and race clocks at every mile-- and I ran the first mile too fast.  There weren't a lot of people cheering, but there were enough.

From the Runner's World Facebook Page- love it!

Some streets were blocked so that they had no traffic and some streets only had one lane blocked for runners.  My biggest aggravation was when some cars started pulling out into the middle of runners.   I already wheeze enough without breathing in some car's exhaust in the middle of mile 2 of a 5k.  I hope that the policemen along the course moved to stop cars from "entering" the race, as the cars were just starting to pull in to the course when I ran by, and I'm not sure what happened afterward.

So on the happy side- yay, I ran a PR.  23:36 minutes (7:35/mile pace).  I know that I shouldn't dismiss a PR.  I am happy with my time, but darn it, based on my training, I know I'm capable of running a sub-23 minute 5k already.  There.  Now I'm done complaining.  Yay PR.  D had a good run as well, but that's his story.  

Other race notes- D wasn't happy that the race T was a standard cotton shirt, but I thought it was fine.  There was chip timing.  The race cost is more than most 5ks, but includes the after party.  The photographers focused on the costumed runners, and I haven't seen any actual photos of the race winners- gives you a sense of the type of race that it is.  Fun race, but with a party emphasis.

Now, where to run our next race...

'Tis the Season.. For Short Races

C- 0 miles (4 miles yesterday)

So my original plan for this week was run 4 miles on Monday, run 2-3 miles today, take Wednesday off, and run a hilly 5k for Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, my plan did not factor in the fact that my butt would still be sore two days after pilates..

Love pilates, but moves like this one are literally kicking my butt

Did I need to take today off? Probably not, but I'm not currently training for a long race and I really would like to have a decent Thanksgiving day race.  Also, the race will be hilly, so it'd be nice to start without a sore butt.  I am not really aiming for a PR with this one... but I would like to finally crush 23 minutes sometime soon.

So, in order to meet that 5k goal, I had to find another race.

5k #2

I found a promising race in Boston in early December, but it's a bit overpriced.  Still, D kindly agreed that we'll race it when I'm up there, so I'm designating the Boston race my will-break-my-PR race.  More on the December 5k later, but D thinks that a crowded start to the race may be the answer to my running-the-first-mile-way-too-fast inability to pace.

Not running this 5k, but D and I ran it last year with some great friends.  I'd definitely recommend it to anyone in the Hartford, Ct area.  It's a great short run to keep you motivated during the winter.

Still not enough races.. 

So two 5ks on the race plan, and I'm already eye-ing another short race.  This is one of the few times of year when D and I aren't training for a long race, and I suppose I get a bit carried away with the small races- but I'm OK with that.  They're fun, easier, and relatively cheap.  Besides, 'tis the season!

A monument to an addiction..

So for another mini-race, I'm trying to find one to ring in the New Year.  D and I ran a wonderful New Years Day 5k by Boston last year (D's description of the Needham 5k is here).  However, this year we're going to be in DC.   So far as I can tell, DC is not as big on the whole New Years Day races thing.  But I did find at least one New Year themed race:

 

Anyone know anything about 4 mile races? :)

Long Time Gone

C- 3 miles (unknown pace- dead watch); pilates

Still running and racing, promise!

Ok, so it has been a long, long time since D or I have updated this blog, and it's my fault.  I've had a lot of change in my life (finished school, moved, new job, etc) and not a lot of time.  Still, D and I have been running through it all, and PR-ing as we go!

It is rewarding to know that after coming back to this blog, we've made progress in our running and are continuing to aim for faster times.  Check out the PR section soon to see some new times and goals.

We're currently deciding on our next 5k and a half marathon.  With any luck, we'll have the 5k out of the way soon, and we can start working on finally breaking the 1:50 barrier in the half marathon.  So watch out!

Channel your inner camel

C just sent me an interesting article: Can Dehydration Aid Performance

And while I agree that sports drink promoters probably over promote the fears of dehydration to sell drinks, I think staying hydrated is an extremely important part of running. Even if elite runners can deal with a greater degree of dehydration than the average runner, I think its a razors edge - and its always better to loose a few seconds for that cup of water that having a DNF because you passed out a mile before the finish line. 

The book I was reading, Running Like An Animal, spent some time on water how many animals use water to regulate temperature.

I'm extrapolating from his conversation about how the body uses carbohydrate and fat energy stores, but my guess is that the best runners would be ones who would use every bit of water that they had, starting being able to hold more, and loosing more as they ran. Just not a rate that had them run out of water before the end of the race. That would explain why elite runners have a greater loss of water.

Elite runners more likely, in addition to being better at using and storing water, are better at functioning with a decreased amount of water. "running through the pain". Before you body starts to shut down, the brain starts to go. I know I loose concentration rather than ability when I get dehydrated. An elite runner has spent so many miles and races at the breaking point, they are more likely able to push through that feeling.

Camels survive in the dessert not just because they have amazing abilities to hold huge stores of fats, retain a remarkable amount of water and are built to stay cool and shade vital organs... they survive mostly because their bodies can deal with temperatures that would kill us - not just slow us down, or lead to brain damage. They can drink salt water to re-hydrate, their bodies can function with much less water percentage than ours too. Elites are probably just a bit more on the camel side. 

Granted camels need a year to recover from extreme exertion - so maybe they're passed the camel side.

For me, based on my runs in the woods, I'm going to be uber-cautious about hydration and not mess up my races. And if I do find myself dehydrated, I'll keep the article in mind and try to channel my inner camel, minus the salt water drinking of course.

Why running is good for you; and why you're dog is so happy

D- runs have been maintained at 9:20 pace for a few days in a row. Despite a sore knee, I'm optomistic about a good race in two weeks.

Its getting to be that time again where we ease out of peak mileage into that restful period before our next race (Boston's Run to Remember). This weekend, C and I finished our last pre-race double digit run at a relaxing pace - about a minute over expected race pace. I am feeling a bit tired, so I think the pre-race tapering will do wonders for me.

For now, I wanted to share a few articles I was talking to C about that I read last week.

First there was a great (and apporpriate to my knee) Time Health article revisiting my favorite topic : Is Running Bad For Your Knees?: Maybe not. I hear a lot of people telling me that running is bad for your knees/joints/heart. There really wasn't anything new in the article, but its nice to have a reminder that its actually good for me, provided I'm smart about it.

The other is a  great NPR story about why we love running, as a species. Even if you don't love running now, remember that feeling of sprinting around the playground as a kid? As you probably already know, we're hardwired to enjoy it. What I wasn't expecting was that animals that run (ie. dogs) have a similar chemical response, and animals that don't like to run don't.

At the very least, it was kind of funny to imagine a scientist trying to get a cat to run on a treadmill.

Motivation to RUN!

D's weekend Run - 5k of hills, obstacles and.. well zombies - 51:49

This weekend I participated in the most unusual race I've witnessed yet. Run For Your Lives Zombie runs take place across the country. They're a combination of a 5k (its a timed race) and an obstacle course. Each runner also gets three flag football style flags, which zombies try to rip off you the entire race. If you've ever felt like you needed a little extra motivation during a run to keep moving, believe me, a screaming zombie charge at you will get you moving. 

The race is huge, with waves of runners leaving every fifteen minutes from 8am to 6pm. It was surprisingly well organized... except that for packet pick up and bag drops, they had lines forming by alphabet. Rather than evenly dividing the letters by the anticipated number of runners, the evenly divided it by the number of letters. K-O had huge lines, while U-Z was mostly empty... I spent a lot of time in lines that day. 

The run started by going up a ridiculous hill. I tried to keep up with Corey, who is much faster than me, so by the time I got to the top I was already sweating. That was when the mud started - inches, even feet at time, of slippery thick mud that caked on my shoes and prevented me from having any traction at all.

Coincidentally, the first zombies were waiting at the top of the hill. So, in a dead sprint, I failed to make a turn, broke through the 'wrong way' tape and almost flew down the other side of the hill. Fortunately I held on to the tape and make it back on course. 

The rest of time was spent going through smokey rooms with hanging shocking wires, crawling through a couple (but not many) obstacles, and trying to dodge zombies. Most would stand there and lunge occasionally. Occasionally, just as you think you're safe, you'd hear screaming behind you and someone yelling 'runner!' as a zombie starts chasing a group down. I lost a flag to one of those when I slipped in the mud. 

A strategy I found pretty quickly was to stay with larger groups. It worked for the most part, since you could overwhelm a small group of zombies with a larger group. Except, it backfired when I took the lead and was pushed into a zombie by someone trying to pass me...

My favorite Zombies were two nuns that just stood there as people ran by, heads down hands folded together in prayer. Right after I passed them, I hear them screaming. I see a guy sprinting all out past me yelling 'that's out of my nightmares'... as he just kept sprinting. 

So, I didn't survive the Zombie Apocalypse. And even though my shoes were so muddy I could barely walk, let alone run, it turned out to be a pretty good work out. 

Not to mention, the GIANT, very fast water slide at the end made it all worthwhile. 

hill at the beginning

Andy, D, Michelle and Corey

Mariachi Zombies on their break

Huge water slide ending in a pit of muddy water

Last Obstacle; and electric fence

1 mile an hour

D- Tuesday Ran 6 miles: 51:42

      Wednesday Ran 6 miles: 56:41

Last night I put in a late 6 mile run. Then pace (just under goal half marathon) was set, mostly because I was curious how fast I was going. Without a fancy GPS watch, I just take note of my mile splits, and check my watch when I hit them. That means, if I hit a pace that you want to time I hold it for a mile. Or, in this case when I forget where a few of my mile markers are, I hold it for 6. 

So, after a brisk (for me) six mile run, I went to bed, got up and ran again. The pace for that one was all over the place - but I was pretty tired. It felt like I was going a mile an hour. Actually, since I ran 12 miles within 12 hours (I started the first one at 7:30pm, ended the second one at 7am) I was averaging a mile an hour....

Its's probably better not to think that way though. 

inspirational?

D- Ran 6 miles... really needs to find his stop watch

C sent me an email today with the subject line "inspirational?" telling me she was thinking of me and proud of me. I'm guessing it was a pick-me up message, since my running has been suffering a bit, as has my general energy level. Its always nice to be thought of, so much appreciated message.

As a bit of mixed message, the one line email ended with a link to a story about the Boston Champ, Wesley Korir. Apparently, only a matter of months before he ran the Boston Marathon, Wesley came down with Typhoid fever. He trained through it. Which, I can only imagine, after training with Typhoid fever, a warm day in Boston must have seemed like a walk in the park.

I'll have to figure out what she's proud of me for. Maybe its getting this awesome picture of W. Korir trucking it up Heart Break Hill. Or, maybe she actually meant to email that to Wesley Korir instead of me.

I saw skinnyrunner... sort of

D- Saturday 15 miles 

     Sunday 3 miles

     Tuesday 6 miles

So, in place of talking about my runs (I had a miserable 15 miles on Saturday) I decided to just post a bunch of photos from the Boston Marathon. 

My roommate and I (thank you C for letting me borrow yoru bike while mine is in the shop) biked out to heart break hill to watch the elites come by. Then we booked it across town to the 25ish mile mark to watch the racers coming in towards the end. 

Skinny Runner!

D - Ran 5 miles 44:30 (yesterday)

So, today's morning run didn't happen. Between getting dinner with co-workers (quessadillas, clams and sam summer are not a great pre-race snack), and my roommate wanting to show off his new(to him) motorcycle, it was 9:30 before I even starting running.

So, I woke up a too late for a run, and started stressing how I would fit a run in between work and a dance practice (it's a choreographed dance for a wedding I'm going to in May that strangely makes my hip feel better). Right about then, I got a message saying that practice had been moved back a half hour - so it all works out.

Sadly, I can't do SRR, but I will hopefully run into John to buy him a beer some time soon.

The other exciting (ok not really) news was that I got a package from Gilt. One of my favorite trends of the last few years have been the proliferation of discount sites. Groupon, Living Social, Gilt, woot, Steep and Cheep - all give out the occasional great deal.

Gilt was a bad combination of way too trendy and pricey for me, but I still checked in from time to time. Last week I was pleasantly surprised by New Balance having a sale. 12 dollar dry-fit shirts are hard to beat. Ideeli has a similar sale up for women, so C, if you read this, you should check it out.
(disclaimer: Groupon and Gilt give me a kick back if you sign up through my links)

Penwood run/hike

C and D - Ran 8(ish) trail miles Saturday
D - Ran 5.8 miles Sunday
D - Ran 5 miles in 44 minutes Tuesday

On Sunday, as I previously suggested we hit up the trails, in hopes of it being easier on C's knee. I probably should have paid more attention to the fact there was a look-out point on the map and checked out the topography ahead of time. Instead, we proceded to run/hike a rocky, stick and root strewn, hilly trail up and down an intimidating hill. It literally turned to steep stairs at one point. 12 miles turned to 6 on the trial + 2 miles on a much kinder trail that side-stepped the mountain.
I have to say, as much as we worry about missing the over-all distances, I've woken up pretty sore after last two trail run outings. Going into the summer, I might try to hit more of these on shorter days to build up my leg muscles. The constant up and down of trails, that most cars couldn't deal with, should prep me for any road-race hill I have to hit.
Now, I just have to be able to actually RUN the trails.

familiar trails

To make up for our shorter distance, I decided to add a couple miles to my Sunday recovery run. It consisted of one big hill on the way to a relatively flat park. I would have had a time for this, but I got distracted on my way back. A car, going way to fast, decided to be nice and move a bit over for me. He didn't notice the car coming over the hill. He clipped side view mirrors with the other car - shattering the other car's mirror - as he sped off.
I stuck around for the cops to come as the owner of the hit car cried quite a bit between (and during) calling the police and her parents. A good suggestion for calling loved ones, after an accident, is to start of telling them you're ok. Of course, crying, and not saying that does get them there a lot faster.

After beautiful new scenery, familiar wooded trails and (not-so) high speed car crashes - todays 5 miler was down-right uneventful. However, my body felt 'slow' the whole time. Looking back at the time, I was holding a good pace (for me). I wish I could pin-point where the feeling is coming from - since this weekend we have a 15 miler slated. I'll have to make decision about backing off from it, running it slow, or going for a descent pace. We're doing it on our own (if I do 15, it will be my longest run) - so I think a good strategy is in order.
That or just bring a ton of caffienated gel.

And now for some Pics of C running in Penwood

C being told to 'look like you're running fast'

C actually running fast

The trail turned un-runable on a few occasions

but it was worthwhile for segments like this

Every step counts

D - Tuesday: Ran 5 miles in 47:27

      Wednesday: Ran 5 miles in 46 minutes
This week's runs were a bit tough. I'm pulling in 9+ minute miles but feeling like i'm working harder than I should. It might be the 5:15 alarm that's screwing with my pace, or it might be that i've gotten out of the habit of a pre-run snack. Either way, I could use some motivation. Yesterday, before I returned the book to the library, I went back through Racing the Antelope for some interesting quotes to share.

C at the Boston Public Library

Ben writing about what his college coach, Coach Styrna, told him. "What he learned in track and field he needed for everything in life. For example, you don't get anywhere by magic, but only by putting in the required number of steps, one at a time, and in correct sequence. ... There is a truth, a beauty, and a symmetry in this that is inviolate. Every step counts."

"Runners are rational. They have to be. Although driven by dreams, they learn uncompromisingly to confront facts, and they do not get misled too far by wishful thinking." 

"In a one day race between a horse and a camel over a 176 kilometer course, the horse won, but just barely, since the horse died the next day and the camel kept going." 

"We are a different sort of predator. We can't outsprint most prey. We are psychologically evolved to pursue long-range goals, because through millions of years that is what we on average had to do in order to eat." 

"If running had been a constant in our lives throughout evolutionary history, it may now be required as a supplement for optimum health." 

"This experiment of one will be, in the parlance of science, an anecdote. Nevertheless, it isstill an experiment because I've been guided by logic derived from a vast body of experimental work on animals, and backed up by my own experiences toward acieving a specific outcome, and I have the satisfaction of knowing that I've done all I thought I could do."

Hopefully I'll dig deep and find some inspiration, because I am very excited about this weekends long run. We are supposed to do 13, but I might scale it back to 12 for convenience. Last night I did some research on places to run in CT. I found a park called Penwood that has a 3 mile trail accross it. So, our run will be a 4x3 miles. Considering there are two lookout points, I don't think this will be an easy run.

Like an Animal

D - Ran 6 miles in 56:34

Today I finished a fairly interesting and surprisingly inspiration book by Bernd Heinrich. Racing the Antelope, What Animals Can Teach Us About Running and Life. There wasn't a heck of a lot of useful information for runners, but there were great stories and tons of useless facts about animals and people (why do Camels have Humps? Its not for water retention like you thought!). Interspersed (at times haphazardly transitioning) is the story of how Bernd, or Ben as he's also known, got into running as a teenager and went through injuries adventures and ultimately set the Masters record for the 100k - fueled by Ocean Spray Cranberry juice.

So why does a Camel have humps? In addition to a fatty reserve for fuel, it provides shade to keep the animal cool in the heat. The thick hair on top of the hump absorbs the sun's heat before it can overheat the animal. This is largely the same reason we have thick hair on our head.

Much of the book focuses on the way animals deal with energy conservation and heat dispersion. This is very fitting considering how much I failed at that over the weekend. He bounces from transcontinental migrating birds to the pronghorn antelope which can reach speeds up to 61mph - and travel 7 miles in 10 minutes. If you've ever wondered why deer have thin legs or moths have furry thoraxes - this is the book for you.

If you're looking for a manual on training - you'll find plenty of bad ideas (running a fifty mile race on flat beer = failure) or if you're squeamish about stories about hunting and a few sort of cruel experiments (Bernd hunted birds for museum exhibits as a kid) - you might want to skip this book. There was also the reference or two to why men are better at racing than women, that almost sounded apologetic - but I would argue is slowly being proven wrong as women close the performance gap in the last decade.

Another Fells Run

Sunday's Run:

C and her roomate with
Born to Run Author

C and D ran for 2 hours in the woods

This weekend brought us sad news from the wold of running. First brought to my attention by some scientist with a funny name, Micah True was found dead, with no known cause of death. Micah was brought to C and my attention in the book Born to Run. Aside from a great story, the book featured so many inspirational and incredible runners, all of who were in awe of Micah "Caballo Blanco" True.

For our Sunday run we fittingly ended up running the Fells again. This time the roles were reversed. Worrying about being cold if I had to slow up for C and her troubled knee. Instead, I found myself overheating and dehydrating only a few miles into the run. Suddenly, C was waiting for me at the top of hills (fortunately the downhills gave me a chance to keep up). Despite feeling like a fast paced hike at times, I really enjoyed being in the woods, not worrying about time or distance - and in Caballo Blanco style, it was just running for fun.

My first run with SRR

D - Ran 7.36 miles total

1.6 mile warm-up run

4.06 miles - 33:54

1.7 miles cool down

Today I got to cross an item off my to do list: I met up with the Somerville Road Runners for there Thursday night USTAF certified 4.05 mile run.

I started off with a nice slow run from my house to the starting line: Just in time I might add. No sooner had I signed in, than we were off.

The run itself was not very social for me. I settled in about a block behind a group - and a bit before the group behind me. It was nice to not have to worry about where I was going, and it set me up for a pretty nice pace - i was going for half-marathon pace. It turned out to be 8:22 - which I would be happy with at RTR.

After the run, most of the group (pictured above) waited for the rest of the runners to finish before heading down the street for pizza and beer. That's when I met John. He's going to be running the Run to Remember as well in his first Half Marathon (if you're reading this welcome to a very addicting club). Considering he's posted a few very impressive 5k times (sub 20 minutes if I remember correctly) he might be able to pull in a sub 1:40 for his first.

As we were drinking a beer (which he nicely bought me since the credit card machine was down and I was sans cash) he told me about the one high school XC race he was in. His splits were 5:30, 7:30 then 12 minutes. That makes me feel a lot better about my New Bedford pacing "strategy".

Well - I am a fan of SRR, and will have to check it out again. At the very least to buy John a beer. 

Training Schedule for M

D - Ran 6 miles: 53:10

Today winter seems to be giving one last reminder that I do in fact live in New England, and not Florida as the last few months' weather would suggest. I woke up a bit before 6am, and hit the road in 23 degree temperature just as the sun was starting to come up. It turned out to be a great, evenly paced run with very little traffic (pedestrians, runners or cars).

It was a bit tough getting motivated this morning. After two weeks of getting to sleep in, it's tough to pop out of bed. It doesn't help that I went to a Yelp! event that featured oxtail chili, jalapeno mashed potatoes, assorted cheeses and inspired Bourbon based drinks. None of that makes for a great eating, but not the night before you run snack.

Michelle

I met up with my friend Michelle at the event. She is hoping to run a half marathon in 7 weeks... and hasn't really been training. She's done one before - so using my usual formula, I'm betting it's enough time. Of course, it really only applies to if you can train to finish, not to PR.

I've read over and over again that your weekly mileage should not exceed half of your total weekly mileage. To be safe, it should actually be even less than that. Also, you should not increase your distance by more than 10% for both the weekly mileage or your furthest run. Once again, this is just playing it safe.
So, someone who is comfortably running 6 miles as their distance run:

week 1: Weekly distance of 17 miles: Distance run of 7 miles
week 2: Weekly distance of 18 miles: Distance run of 8 miles
week 3: Weekly distance of 20 miles: Distance run of 9 miles
week 4: Weekly distance of 22 miles: Distance run of 10 miles
week 5: weekly distance of 24 miles: Distance run of 11 miles
week 6: Weekly distance of 26 miles: Distance run of 11 or 12 miles
week 7: Tapering week leading up to 13.1 race.  (mon: off, tues, wed, thurs - 3miles, fri- off)

It's not an ideal training plan, but it should get her across the finish line.

We also talked about cross training a bit. On Friday, I dropped my bike off at Paramount Bicycle to be tuned up (and some minor repairs). I really can't wait to start biking to work a few days a week again. Biking, elliptical, swimming and any other non-impact aerobic activity adds valuable time to training without the physical (and literal) beating of the pavement. I think, when trying to cram in a 7 week schedule, cross training might be the only way to cram in more 'mileage'.

Either way, I wish Michelle the best of luck!

62 days to go

D - Sunday: Ran 5 miles without a watch
Monday: Day off

A message from C on Saturday: "oi, ran 3 miles tippy cup style".

Tippy cup probably isn't a good thing - but New Bedford hosted a tough race, and it's only been a week. Which is why this week's plan was carefully crafted with the concept that our bodies might want/need two weeks of recovery.

The plan is to alternate a medium distance run (slated at 6 miles, but can be five if needed) with short runs (3 miles) then a ten miler over the weekend. The idea is that we can still work up an okay weekly mileage (28 miles) with plenty of recovery time between everything.

The plan there after is to transition back into the last half of Glover's training schedule - and hope that it helps us drop some time in May at the Run to Remember. (62 days to go - that's 9 weeks)

Excitingly: they will have GU and Gatorade and 10 water stations!
(thank you C for forwarding that email)

Hold to reset

D - Ran 6 Miles: 56 minutes


Today I cleared the lap memory from my watch, and got back into running again; time for the Boston Run to Remember training schedule.

Apparently I didn't learn anything from New Bedford. The plan was supposed to be a nice slow run to get my body back into the groove of things. The last five miles was on scehedule... but somehow I cranked out an 8:15 first mile.

While I would love (and hope) to have 8:15 be my recovery pace, I'm not there yet.

Back to a relaxing weekend!