Category Archives: Running

Resolution Check-In

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During my mini hiatus from blogging last week, I missed my usual beginning-of-the-month resolution check-in. I swear I was just writing those resolutions and now the end of the year is just about here. Crazy!

I didn’t hit everything I was hoping for, but overall it was a pretty good year filled with a lot of fun races, a couple PRs and a couple more challenging ones!

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Last month my focus was cross training and recovery. I mixed it up a bit before starting up with the Runner’s World Run Streak on Thanksgiving giving myself just the break I needed. My legs feel completely recovered and strong, and ready to get back into racing.

For this month I’ll focus on strength training and slowly building my mileage again, so I’m ready to start a new training plan in late December for the Shamrock Half Marathon!

How did you do on your resolutions for 2013? Have you started thinking about 2014 yet?

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Sorry for being MIA on the blog last week. Last week was a busy and tiring one to say the least, and it shows in last week’s workouts too. I missed a day on my run streak already, but am still going to finish it out with hopefully no more days off!

Anyways, here’s the day-by-day breakdown:

Monday: After getting in around 1 AM Sunday night and still having to get my run in, it was not too easy waking up Monday morning. I slept right through my alarm and fortunately woke up in time for work meaning my run would wait till later. I made it to the gym for just a mile and some core work.

Tuesday: Still recovering from lack of sleep, Tuesday was another one mile and limited core work day.

Wednesday: Wednesday was more of the same – just over a mile on the treadmill and a little bit of core work.

Thursday: Thursday is when the wheels started to come off. I was supposed to have a work-trade shift up at Revolve in the AM, but woke up at 6 to an email that I needed to be in to work by 8. Knowing I wouldn’t get my ride in I ran the half mile too and from Revolve to still help out with set up and cleaning before class…in jeans. A late night at work too meant I didn’t get to enjoy the beautiful 70-degree weather, but oh well, there will be more days like that…eventually.

Friday: Today is when my run streak came to an end. I didn’t get in my core work either. I slept in as late as I could before work and traded in the gym for four hours of playing Nintendo with Ian and an early night. Waking up well-rested for the first time all week on Saturday made this totally worth it.

Saturday: 20 minutes on the treadmill. P90X ab workout. 20 minutes on the elliptical.

Sunday: I got in a quick mile on the treadmill and a core workout followed by a great barre ride at Revolve.

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I’m Going STREAKING!!

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Runner’s World run streaking that is.

I’m taking part in the Runner’s World third annual holiday running streak by pledging to run at least one mile every day from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day.

Running to the Finish

Running to the Finish

This is the first time I’ve done the holiday run streak, and I’m really looking forward to it as I’ve taken a solid running break since my marathon. Too often the holidays get used as an excuse to put off getting in shape until the New Year. This is such a great way to stay fit – and maybe even get fitter – even through holiday parties and extra sweets.

I kicked things off with chilly runs in Maine the last two mornings. I’ll be tweeting my progress with the hashtag #RWRunStreak.

I’m also doing a core streak too. I figured since I started the year off with more than 100 consecutive days of my P90X ab ripper workout – why not end with a decent streak too?

Have you ever done a run streak? Are you joining the RW Run Streak this year?

Meeting a Running Idol

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On Sunday I volunteered to help out at the U.S. National Road Racing Championships right here in Alexandria. The day started with a 5k followed by the 12k women’s championships and the 12k men’s championships and community race.

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I checked in at the volunteer tent at 5:30 in the dark and jumped at the chance when they asked a few of the volunteers to staff the elite/masters area. Shalene Flanagan, Abdi Abdirahman, Molly Huddle and more amazing runners were going to be there! Ahh! I also spotted Oiselle Haute Volee runner Caitlin Comfort!

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Naturally I was too nervous to go up and say anything to any of them – not to mention I didn’t want to mess with anyone’s pre-race prep, so instead I wandered around in awe and tried to do my assignment of keeping people who weren’t supposed to be in the VIP area out. I probably didn’t do a very good job of this, but I was a bit better at running checked bags to masters finishers after they crossed the line and worked their way through the finisher’s chute.

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It was such a cool day. I got a front row seat at the finish line to see Molly Huddle beat out Shalene Flanagan and set a world record in the process finishing in 37:50. Aaron Braun nearly broke an American record in the men’s race as he coasted to the finish in 34:28 waving to the crowd.

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To top it all off, Deena Kastor was at the race. It was her record that Molly broke. She holds the American records for the fastest marathon and half marathon among others and is one of my running idols! I was so excited to get to meet her and talk for a minute, and she graciously took the time to take a picture with me too totally making my day!

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Just What I Needed

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For the first week after Marine Corps Marathon I went into recovery mode and exercised very little. I spent a lot of time stretching, foam rolling, icing and heating. Then another week went by and I still hadn’t gotten myself out for a run. I did do plenty of spinning, yoga and strength training though, so I wasn’t too worried about it.

At the start of the third week I felt fully rested and recovered, picked out some winter/spring shorter races and was ready to get back into full-on working out. For some reason, though, I still didn’t feel like running.

Lingering disappointment hangover from MCM? Fear I’d lost my fitness during my two-week run hiatus? Just being lazy? No more daylight after work? I don’t know. Whatever it was though, I was in a funk and I needed to bust out. An early-morning Wednesday workout with the November Project did just that!

Last Wednesday I saw a tweet about the November Project and clicked through to learn more. It sounded awesome. Then I saw that a DC group had started up. Even better! Over the weekend my latest issue of Runner’s World arrived featuring the November Project on the cover. Read the article if you haven’t already, you won’t regret it. Now I had to try this out.

The November Project is a free, grassroots workout group started in Boston by two former college athletes looking to stay in shape through the winter. Now it’s blowing up. It’s roughly an hour filled with a hard workout, hugs and a few curse words.

I showed up at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday morning at 6:30, and it was everything I expected and more. An obvious newbie, I was greeted with a hug and introduced myself to a few others there…more hugs.

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Close to 40-50 people showed up to sweat, shared some hugs and dropped a few F-bombs. About 10 people were given tennis balls that instructed them to do push-ups, burpees, squats or sprint to Abe! If you didn’t have a tennis ball, you started running what they call Lincoln Logs – up to the top of the steps and back down to the reflecting pool. When you finished your tennis ball workout, you started running, handed off your tennis ball to someone while introducing yourself and they were off to do the workout.

Doing some push-ups... photo stolen from the Nov. Project DC Facebook page

Doing some push-ups… photo stolen from the November Project DC Facebook page

I had a blast and found myself smiling through parts of it even when I was exhausted. I lost count, but I think I completed 12-13 Lincoln Logs, 30 push-ups, one sprint to Abe and about 30 burpees. We wrapped things up splitting into teams for a relay race and taking a group picture. It was so much fun and just what I needed to start enjoying running again!

Post-workout Group Photo from November Project DC Facebook page

Post-workout group photo from November Project DC Facebook page

If you live in D.C., check it out for yourself next Wednesday, 6:30a.m., on the steps of the Lincoln. I already can’t wait to go back. Hope to see you there!

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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After an incredibly lazy/recovery week after the Marine Corps Marathon, I continued to take it pretty easy last week and actually still haven’t gone running. I hope to change that today, but I have gotten in a little bit of strength and cross training in.

Here’s the day-by-day breakdown of last week:

Monday: My version of P90X Ab Ripper and push-ups.

Tuesday: More P90X Abs and push-ups.

Wednesday: Again, P90X Ab Ripper and some push-ups. Are you starting to see a theme here?

Thursday: I mixed it up a little bit and added a great extended body ride at Revolve DC’s spin studio to my P90X Ab Ripper routine and push-ups.

Friday: Yet another day of P90X Ab Ripper and push-ups. Sorry if this is the most boring weekly recap I’ve ever written!

Saturday: I got in just part of my ab routine and some push-ups today before heading over to Revolve for a real ride.

Sunday: Rest Day. I did get some good motivation today though spending the morning cheering and volunteering at the Veterans Day 10k and the afternoon on my couch reading my latest issue of Runner’s World cover-to-cover.

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Resolution Check-In

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It’s that time again for my monthly check in on my New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve been putting this one off since I didn’t hit my big goal of a BQ at MCM, and I have no plans of running another marathon before the end of the year. While I’m not going to give it another shot right away, I know I will eventually cross this off my list!

Last month’s big focus was drinking less soda. I did better than I have been doing and managed to go a couple days a week without grabbing a soda. I’m planning to keep working on this and add a few more days without it each week. Damn that fridge full of free soda just steps from my desk!!

Core strength and staying injury free were other resolutions I had this year. I continue to work on my core strength and also was smart enough to get myself in to the physical therapist last month to check out a problem before it became an injury.

With the year winding down, I’m turning this month’s focus to recovery and cross training. I want to get back into working out after my marathon by embracing yoga, spinning, the elliptical and the weight room. Of course, I’m sure there will be some running in there too, but overall it’s going to be a November filled with other activities.

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Are you still working towards those resolutions? How has your year gone so far?

 

NYC Marathon Fun – Volunteering at Mile 22

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I headed up to NYC this past weekend to give a little back to the sport that gives me so much. I signed up to volunteer at the 22 mile water stop for the NYC Marathon with a bunch of my Oiselle teammates. After a fun Saturday in Hoboken visiting my brother and his fiancée, I was up bright and early Sunday morning to make my way into the city.

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As usual, I had a bit of trouble figuring out the Subway system, but was able to take a fairly quick cab ride to my volunteer spot. I checked in, got a poncho and plastic gloves and met up with the other Oiselle ladies volunteering there. Most of them I only knew through twitter, so it was very fun to meet them in person, and not surprisingly they were all awesome.

We got a quick orientation from the volunteer leader. It’s amazing the things you don’t realize that go into race day. He went over set up and what to expect once things got rolling. Safety was the emphasis. He pointed out the closest medical tent, then talked about how to form a safety circle around a runner if someone were to drop, and asked anyone who was CPR certified to raise their hands. After thanking us all, we were off to work.

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I helped fill up water cups and stack them three rows high across the table to get ready for the onslaught of runners. After that, I enjoyed my front row seat to one incredibly cool marathon experience. The Marine Corps Marathon, which boasts finishers in the low 20,000s each year has always seemed HUGE to me. On Sunday, more than 50,000 runners set out to take on the five boroughs of NYC. Wow.

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The wheelchair and handcycle divisions came through first. I don’t usually see most of these racers after they take off, but wow they are impressive. Soon the elite women were making their way through mile 22. It was so cool to see the pace trucks coming and know the first runners were right behind them.

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These women were amazingly fierce and fast. It was so cool to see. I still can’t believe Priscah Jeptoo came away with the win – what a finish!

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Also, I want her abs!

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Not long after, another pace truck was coming through and we saw the elite men. Getting to see Geoffrey Mutai fly by up close on his way to his second straight NYCM victory was awesome. I couldn’t wait to see Meb come by, but of course had just put my camera away when he did, so I don’t have a shot of him. I know he didn’t have the race he wanted, but it was still so cool to see him and he is such an inspiration!

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Soon the everyday runners started pouring through and just kept coming and coming. There were so many volunteers and I was near the back, so I didn’t actually hand out that many cups of water.

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Still getting to cheer these runners on and see the determination and pain in their faces (or limps) as they passed us with four miles to go made for a great day. I yelled out for the runners who had names written on their shirts, cheered like crazy for random strangers and tried to pick people I knew running out of the crowd. So. Much. Fun. 

Congrats to everyone who raced NYCM Sunday! You are all amazing!

What’s Next? Races on the Horizon

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OK, I’m officially ending my pity party over not reaching my goal in my last race and setting some new ones. What better way could there be to get over it? While part of me would love to go right after that BQ again, I know mentally and physically I’m not ready for that.

Instead I’m going to focus on shorter, speedier races and a half marathon next March, which will be part of an Oiselle team meet up race weekend and all kinds of awesome.

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With the holidays approaching, a wedding/honeymoon next year, plus plenty of fun travel weekends for other weddings coming up, I’m trying to be a bit budget conscious about the money I spend on races. Fortunately, the DC Road Runners Club ($20 a year for membership) offers tons of free/very inexpensive races for members and Pacers gives out free entries for volunteer credits giving me a long list of local, budget-friendly options.

Here’s what I’ve got my eye on so far. Some may not happen, or will switch to races I volunteer at if I don’t recover as quickly as I hope to from the marathon, and others might get added. Let me know if there’s a race you think should be on my list!

  • Bread Run 10k – December 8 – This is race one of the DC Road Runners Snowball Series. Price: 1 loaf of home-baked bread. Seeing as I bake bread all the time, that’s an easy one for me. (They do note that it’s free for non-baking DCRR members.)
  • Fairfax Four Miler – December 31 – Assuming I’m in town, I hope to race this again this year. It was a really fun way to kick off my New Year’s Eve celebrations last year. Price: $40 or 3 volunteer credits
  • Al Lewis 10 Miler – January 4 – Another DCRR Snowball Series race. This one is more likely if I don’t run the Fairfax Four. Price: $5 for DCRR members
  • JFK 20k/MLK 5k – January 18 – I’m leaning toward the 5k of this DCRR Snowball Series race. Price: Free for DCRR members.
  • Love the Run You’re With 5k – February 9 – A Pacers race I had a blast at last year and would love to run again. Price: $40 or 3 volunteer credits
  • Burke Lake 12k – March 2 – This DCRR Snowball Series race could be a fun tune-up run before the Shamrock Half.
  • Shamrock Half Marathon – March 16 – This fast and flat half sounds like a blast and will be part of an Oiselle team meet-up meaning lots of running friends to race with and also cheer on in the full that weekend! Price: $100 by Dec. 31 plus travel to VA Beach.

What are your winter/early spring race plans? Anyone doing Turkey Trots or other holiday-themed races?

Moving Forward

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In my Marine Corps Marathon recap I mentioned I’d be doing a post on what I thought went wrong. After playing it over in my head a million times since Sunday though, I have decided against it. Thinking of every little possible thing I could have done differently or done better, and continuing to beat myself up for it, won’t change my finish time from Sunday.

That doesn’t mean I’m going to just forget about it and not learn anything from it. There is always something to be learned from every race – good or bad. It just means that I don’t see the need to dissect every factor that could have impacted my race.

Instead I’m choosing to focus on things I can do moving forward to help me hit my goals in future races.

  • Stick to a strength training plan all the way through my training cycle.
  • Do my best to get enough sleep on a daily basis to help keep my immune system strong and fighting off colds.
  • Don’t change too many things up too close to race day.
  • Get more training runs in at or faster than goal pace.
  • Conversely, make sure I have enough easy runs that really are easy runs.
  • Find new shoes and make sure they work for me.

It all seems pretty simple. Now, time to put it into action!

Hopefully, this will be my smile at the end of my next race – not just at mile 1.5!

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What big lessons have you learned from racing that have helped you get better?