Cherry Blossom 10-miler

Friday Favorites

April 1, 2011 by Kristy 19 Comments

Hooray for a rest day! And hooray for another one tomorrow. I’m going to an easy yoga class at lunchtime (the mm hmm lady – she’s growing on me). We are headed to DC tomorrow and staying until Monday…with Mr. Hawk in tow. We found a pet-friendly hotel. Hawk is very excited. Race day weather still looks awesome. I can’t wait!

It’s your favorite day of the week…time for Friday Favorites…the travel edition!

Matt and I caught the travel bug during our honeymoon. We went on a Mediterranean cruise and saw a bunch of cities in Europe. We didn’t care much for the cruise itself, but we loved getting a little sample of Europe and now we have a list of places we would love to go back to. The following year, we went to Australia. It was unbelievable. We spent time in Sydney, Port Douglas (Great Barrier Reef area), and Melbourne. Next up…

IRELAND!

For real! Matt and I just booked our flights this week! We always wanted to go there and found amazingly cheap flights too good to pass up. So we’ll be Ireland-bound in May 🙂

If you’ve been to Ireland, please let me know your “must sees”. I would love to hear your suggestions!

I included pictures of our favorite places in Europe and Australia. It was hard to narrow it down since we pretty much enjoyed everything.

EUROPE

011 — Before boarding the cruise ship, we stayed overnight in Barcelona. Our hotel was right on the beach.

044 — Drinks in the El Born district - Barcelona. Notice Matt's drink compared to mine 🙂

305 — Amalfi Coast of Italy - absolutely breathtaking!

468 — Santorini, Greece. I could go on and on about this place...

563 — Dubrovnik - spot the orange yoga mat? Heaven!

AUSTRALIA

Sydney - when I first saw the Opera House, I was speechless.

Canyoning/abseiling in the Blue Mountains (outside Sydney)

Surf lessons on Bondi Beach

Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef

Great Ocean Drive - south of Melbourne

Pit stop along the Great Ocean Road

A Random Thursday

March 31, 2011 by Kristy 8 Comments

3/31/11

7 miles easy

1:07

9:34 avg pace

This was supposed to be a goal marathon pace (GMP) tempo run but I changed it to an easy run since I wasn’t feeling it this morning. I really want my legs to be super, super fresh for Sunday’s race. Since my average pace on Tuesday’s long run was a little over GMP (8:52 vs. 8:45), I’m counting that as both my long run and my tempo run this week!

As usual, I started stalking weather.com for Sunday’s forecast and I’m pleased to report partly cloudy skies with a high of 57 and a low of 44 🙂

Here comes the randomness…

My Blog Causes Nightmares
…at least for my niece Andrea! She is an amazingly creative writer and apparently those creative juices don’t stop when she sleeps either. This is what she posted on my Facebook page yesterday:

I keep having really weird dreams involving you because I read your blog before bed. It’s happened every night this week ha ha. Last night you and I were eating DQ blizzards with white chocolate wonderful mixed in and then this guy dressed up in full gladiatior gear named Maximus came in and stabbed our blizzards while savagely screaming. So we went to flee from him but you wouldn’t run away with me until you put your Garmin on and set it up and I was flipping out. But we got away thank goodness 🙂

Is this great or what?! I wish I was eating a DQ Blizzard with you Andrea!

Hawk
We got pretty lucky in that Hawk is not the biggest chewer (with the exception of an expensive Crate & Barrel rug). The 2 things he consistently chews are his dog bed and a basket that holds all of his toys. He thinks that the basket is also a toy that he can rip to pieces. Keep in mind, he’s 23 lbs and it takes him forever to rip something to pieces which means we often catch him in the act.

Chewing up his dog bed

I'm so damn pleased with myself!

Yesterday’s latest causality – another toy basket. Notice the smug look on his face…

I did it again!

Help! Does anyone have any suggestions for a toy basket that he won’t eat? I think we tried everything!

Tapering For A Tune-Up Race

March 28, 2011 by Kristy 8 Comments

3/28/11

6 miles easy

57:30

9:35 avg pace

Brr, still chilly Philly here…with no end in sight. Waaah!

As I mentioned yesterday, my training this week will be switched up a bit to allow for a mini-taper for Sunday’s Cherry Blossom 10-Miler. I really want to PR in this race (previous 10-mile PR is 1:23) but I still need to maintain my weekly mileage and key workouts. Also, since I’m knee deep into the Monster Month, my legs aren’t as fresh for racing. So this mini-taper is really necessary. So how do you finagle a mini-taper into marathon training for a tune-up race?

With the race on Sunday, I know I want 2 days of complete rest (meaning no running; an easy yoga class is OK). This has worked well for me in the past. So Friday and Saturday are mandatory rest days. I got my easy run out of the way today and I will do my long run tomorrow morning (thankfully, it’s only 15 miles this week). This will allow enough time for recovery before Sunday. That leaves a tempo run and speed work. I’m counting my race on Sunday as my speed work for this week (I will be running like someone is chasing me) and my tempo run will be on Thursday. The tempo will also be at an easier pace (goal marathon pace) so I can recover faster. For you visual people:

MON: easy run
TUE: long run
WED: rest/yoga
THU: tempo
FRI: rest/yoga
SAT: rest
SUN: race

I’m still getting in my 39 miles for the week and still hitting my key workouts.

I’m a big advocate for doing tune-up races during marathon or half marathon training. Your tune-up race can be great practice for the “big event”. But sometimes fitting them in your training schedule can be difficult. It’ll require some planning and a little knowledge about your own recovery but it’s totally worth it 🙂

Do you have any mini-taper tips? How do you handle racing and training at the same time?

Week 12 Recap

March 27, 2011 by Kristy 4 Comments

3/27/11

8 miles tempo

1:08

8:30 avg pace

2 miles warm-up
5 tempo miles: 8:17, 8:02, 8:00, 8:09, 8:07 (on target: training plan called for 5 miles @ 8:09 pace)
1 mile cool-down

I ran this with “Maximus” my neighbor. I’m happy since these 5 miles were truly “comfortably hard” – the way tempo pace should feel. I was still somewhat able to talk (although it seemed to take forever for me to get a sentence out). Twelve weeks ago this pace wasn’t so comfortable and that is what makes me so happy. Seeing progress is motivating!

Here’s what Week 12 of NJ Marathon training looked like:
MON: rest
TUE: 7 miles speed
WED: yoga (I have to confess that I was sore for the next 2 days after this class)
THU: 7 miles easy
FRI: 18 miles
SAT: rest
SUN: 8 miles tempo

A total of 40 miles for the week. I cannot believe I only have 2 weeks left of the Monster Month and then it’s taper time. This training cycle has flown by. This coming week I’ll be switching things around a bit since I’m running the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler next Sunday! More on that in another post.

I feel like I haven’t posted pictures of Hawk in awhile. He got a new Spring ‘do last week so why not show it off?!

Have great Sunday everyone!

April Races

March 10, 2011 by Kristy 4 Comments

3/10/11

7 miles tempo

1:02

8:51 avg pace

1 mile warm-up, 5 miles at 8:41 (~ goal marathon pace), 1 mile cool-down. Done on the dreaded treadmill. Ugh. Each week I say no more treadmill and then the rain forces me inside.

Onto fun stuff…I have 2 races coming up in April! I haven’t raced since the Philly Half Marathon last November so I’m looking forward to it. And it’ll be good prep for the NJ Marathon on May 1.

Cherry Blossom 10-Miler – April 3
So excited about this race! This has been on my “races to do” list for a long time. I love 10-milers because you can run faster than half marathon pace but not all out (and I hate to run all out, hence no 5 or 10Ks for me). I usually do the Broad Street Run here in Philly (a very popular 10-miler – super flat and fast) but this year it’s the same day as my marathon. Bummer. So the Cherry Blossom is filling my need for a 10-mile race this Spring.

The race uses a lottery system for entry, so I was very lucky to get in on my first try. I love running DC races. Matt and I lived there for 3 years after college and it’s where I began running. I could run the Marine Corps Marathon every year and never get bored.

My PR for the 10-miler is 1:23. I think I can beat that on April 3 🙂 Fingers crossed!

Penn Relays Distance Classic 20K – April 17
I ran this race back in 2009. This race is pretty interesting. They don’t promote it so you don’t receive any reminder emails about next year’s race. Trying to find the active.com site to sign-up is difficult. Back in 2009, less than 200 people actually ran the race. It’s supposed to kick-off the Penn Relays but I wouldn’t call it much of a kick-off! Do I love it? Absolutely! The race starts and ends at Franklin Field, on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus. Since it’s such a small size, the race director literally yells for everyone to gather on the street (there are no seeds) and yells go! No fuss whatsoever.

Funny but true story…since there are so few runners, you can imagine that everyone gets pretty spread out by the end of the race. I was coming back through Penn’s campus (towards the finish at Franklin Field) and I was following a girl up ahead of me. She was pretty far ahead and turned so she was no longer in my view. When I eventually got to the turn she was no where to be found. Uh oh. I wasn’t sure which way the race went but I knew the general direction. I asked a Penn security guard if he saw any runners with bibs go by. He looked at me like I had 10 heads. Not so helpful. So I went in the general direction back to Franklin Field. I have no idea if I remained on the race course or not. Can you imagine being completely alone during a race?!?!

My friend Jimmy also ran the race that year. He almost got lost but was smart enough to pick up his pace so he had someone in front of him to follow. He is running the race this year too. We are both writing down the last few turns of the race just in case…

Two weeks after this race is my marathon so I decided to not race the Distance Classic. I’m going to use this race as a marathon-paced run. I don’t want to risk going all out 2 weeks before the marathon (especially since this race is only 2 weeks after the Cherry Blossom 10-miler). Call me conservative but I wouldn’t want to jeopardize the marathon that I worked so long and hard for.

Phew…long-winded race explanations, huh? I must be excited 🙂