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My Top Tips

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6/15/11

8 miles easy / 1:12 / 9:00 avg pace

Last night I was scrolling through my list of blog topics (I keep a list on my BlackBerry), trying to decide what to write about.  “My Top Tips” seemed intriguing (to me, at least).  These are marathon/half marathon training tips that I swear by.  My intention is to list the less obvious stuff; maybe things you don’t hear all the time.

Know The Course
The race course, that is.  Check out the elevation profile and do some research.   Ask around, check out marathonguide.com, and find out as much as you can.  But remember, hills are subjective!  Some people think rolling hills are mountains while others think a 1-mile climb is flat.  After you gather your information, train for the worst case scenario.  I’ve gotten burned in the past (“it’s a flat course, no major hills”).  Riiiiight.  I learned my lesson last May.  Now, if I know there’s one small hill, I’ll incorporate hill work just to be on the safe side.

Delete Your Garmin History Pre-Race
Of course, you’ll charge your Garmin obsessively before the race but it’s also important to delete the history so you avoid getting that nasty warning message during a race.  Upload all of your data to your computer and then delete the history on the watch itself.  I’ve never gotten the “memory full” warning during a race but it did happen on a 20-miler once.

How Am I Going To Carry All Of That?
GUs, ShotBloks, oh my.  Add an iPod or water bottle to the mix and suddenly you’ve got a lot to carry.  There are a lot of options out there – fuel belt, SPIbelt, race ready shorts (you know you want them!) – but, as with everything, you need to find what works best for you.  Experiment on long runs and take note of any bouncing, moving around, chafing/irritation, and bruising (yup, some are brutal).  Make sure you test it on a 20 mile run too.  Some things don’t rear their ugly head until the later miles.

Foam Roller + Ice = Your New Best Friends
This is more of an obvious one.  If anything hurts, foam roll it and ice it.  And be consistent – repeat a few times a day.  This could prevent that “twinge” or “tweak” from becoming an injury.  A little time spent with your new BFs can save you lots of time later on in training.  Runner’s World has some great videos on how to use a foam roller.

Refuel After Hard Efforts
Your body will thank you the next day.  Trust me.  A hard effort is a long run, a tempo run, a speed workout, etc.  It’s important to refuel within 30 minutes post-run with a 3:1 carbohydrate-to-protein ratio food/drink.  Chocolate milk fits the bill and who doesn’t love an excuse to drink more chocolate milk?

What training/race day tips do you swear by?

Lehigh Valley Marathon: Week 2 Recap

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6/14/11

7 miles speed

Back to the track this morning!  After laying around on the couch sick for 2 days, I wasn’t sure how this speed session was going to go.  On my schedule was a ladder workout, where I get slightly faster with each interval.  The 1.5 mile warm-up was interesting.  I felt like an old lady dusting off the cobwebs on my joints.  I decided to not worry about pace today and instead just keep myself in the no talk/5K zone for each interval (knowing full well that my pace today wouldn’t be consistent with my normal 5K pace).

1200m at 7:06 pace* — 7:09 actual; not too shabby!
1000m at 7:00 pace* — 7:07 actual
800m at 6:58 pace* — 7:26 actual; that was ugly and really slow
600m at 6:55 pace* — 7:23 actual; clearly I’m tired
400m at 6:50 pace* — 6:44 actual; did that just happen?!  I actually beat my time?!  Maybe there is some sprinter in me after all!
1.5 mile cool-down
*400m rest between each interval

LVM Week 2 Recap
MON:  7 miles tempo
TUE:  6 miles with hill repeats + 1 hour strength training class (yeah!)
WED:  5 miles easy
THU:  8 miles easy
FRI:  yoga FAIL.  Got stuck working through lunch and never made it to the class.
SAT:  15 miles
SUN:  rest/sick/bummed knee

A total of 41 miles for the week.  I love the increased mileage and running 5 days a week.  Also happy that I ventured out of my comfort zone for a ST class.

Bikini-phobia

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6/9/11
8 miles easy / 1:15 / 9:22 avg pace

I’m all about honesty on RTLR so I must confess to a (long-term) case of bikini-phobia.  I know I’m in the majority here; very few women love to shop for and parade around in bikinis (or one-pieces, tankinis, etc.).  I rarely (if ever) remove my cover-up at the beach.  I feel exposed and fearful that people are looking at me.  And shopping for a bikini is a complete nightmare – those mirrors and lighting should be banned.

I know my phobia is completely irrational.  I don’t look that bad.  But my hyper-critical self sees a flabby-this or an untoned-that .  Funny thing is, when I’m people-watching at the shore (fun!), 90% of the people walk by unnoticed.  The other 10% are noticed by everyone!  You know, the women and men with the bathing suit that is completely inappropriate for their size.  Yup, those people.  But let’s get back to the other 90% that pass by unnoticed – every single one of them has a flabby-this or an untoned-that.  So why do they go by unnoticed and I give myself the hardest time?

One of the gifts running has given me (bear with me, I’m going somewhere with this) is complete appreciation of my body.  I’m very thankful and grateful that I can push my body so hard and it still gives me results.  It really amazes me sometimes…my legs especially.  They are strong and powerful and have carried me through 8 marathons.  So after many, many years of running I’m learning to accept and appreciate my body for what it is:  strong, powerful, and resilient.

The point of this post is not to elicit encouraging comments.  I’m just being honest and transparent.  Many of the healthy living bloggers I follow will post pictures of themselves on vacation in a bikini.  They have it right (and look fabulous too).  Healthy eating coupled with exercise should translate to bikini confidence.  And while I’m not there yet, I’m pretty damn close.

My bikini-phobia is slowly being conquered!  On Memorial Day weekend, I went sans cover-up at the pool.  And I just ordered 2 bikinis online.  Usually I only own 1 bikini since there was never really a need for another one.  The strength training class I took on Tuesday also has a duel purpose:  besides helping me become a better runner, toning up will help my bikini-confidence.  Winning!

Do you suffer from bikini-phobia?

Random Friday Thoughts

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6/3/11

5.4 miles easy
My legs were a little tired this morning so I used my Garmin to get to the 2.7 mile turnaround and then turned it off.  I need to go slow on easy days! 

1.  Check out these pictures from my 5K on Monday.

Finish line. Looks like I ate something bitter or just did a shot. See #121? She's the woman I sprinted past at the end.
Getting my medal. I was trying to act nonchalant (like this happens all the time) but I was really, really happy!

2.  Matt and I have date day/night – part II this weekend.  Again, it’s going to be a Hawk-friendly weekend.  Dogs parks, staying in a dog-friendly hotel (in Philly), and eating at dog-friendly restaurants.  This is completely normal, right?

3.  Head over to Kara and Alyssa’s blogs and wish them luck on their 50K tomorrow (that’s 31 miles)!  Good luck ladies!

Book Review: Kara Goucher's Running for Women

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6/2/11

8 miles easy / 1:14 / 9:15 avg pace (little too fast for an easy run)

I was thrilled when Kara Goucher came out with a running book. I’m a huge fan was hoping the book would share some of her training tips. But then again why would she share them? She’s got lots of competition and training is probably kept hush hush. Her blog doesn’t even reveal that much.

Anyway, I knew the book was geared towards beginners but I bought it anyway and read it on the way home from Ireland. Hmmmm. Well…let’s start positive with what I actually liked.

* I think if you are a beginner you can definitely benefit from this book. She does have all the classic running tips listed out and easy to read.

* I did like when she shared some of her personal stories: emotional eating and subsequent weight gain while she was injured and her decision about when to get pregnant. It made her seem…human! I won’t say anymore because I don’t want to give anything away.

* I did like her advice on running while pregnant (she did dispel some myths).

What I didn’t like…

* The Q&A sections. I swear they were written by my 16-year-old niece (no offense, Catherine). I like a cute boy in my running club, what should I do? Should I wear make-up when I run? I’m paraphrasing of course, but I felt like I was 16 again, reading Seventeen magazine! I could do without the make-up tips.

* Like I said before, I wished she would have shared more personal stories.

Overall, I give it 2.5 out of 5. And I’m still a Kara Goucher fan 🙂

I’m reading Born To Run now and so far, so good.  I’m really amazed that I like it as much as I do.

Did you read Kara’s book? What did you think?

Changing Things Up

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5/31/11
8 miles (4 at tempo) / 1:09 / 8:37 avg pace
2 miles @ 7:44 — 8:02, 7:39
2 miles @ MP — 8:42, 8:32

*****************************************************************************************************************

“If you keep doing the same thing, you’ll get the same results”.  So very true when it comes to training for a marathon.  So what will I do differently with this training cycle?  For starters, it’ll be more challenging.  I’m still using the FIRST training plan with the following modifications:

Increase overall mileage
Since NJM was only a month ago I still have a good base built up and plan to build on top of that (starting at ~40 miles per week and going from there).  I’d like to max out at 60 mpw, but not sure if that is possible.  We’ll see.  So in addition to 3 hard runs (speed, tempo, long), I’ll be adding 2 easy runs to get my miles in.

Switching between hill repeats and track workouts
When I trained for Steamtown, I did lots of hilly runs and I felt so strong.  For NJM, I concentrated on flat and fast.  Both worked well for me but I want to combine the two for the Leigh Valley Marathon.  I need speed in order to BQ and I need hill repeats so I can maintain my marathon pace over hills.  So one week I’ll hit the track for intervals and the next week I’ll hit the hills for repeats.

Trail running
Since 12 miles of the Leigh Valley Marathon will be on a trail, I need to be able to maintain a fast pace on gravely terrain.  I’m going to try and do my tempo runs on a trail.

Cross-train
Still aiming for yoga at least once a week and maybe (gasp!) some strength training.

Long runs – some fast and some slow
Usually I do my long runs pretty close to my goal marathon pace.  I still plan on doing some of them but I also plan on slowing down my pace every now and then.   

Hopefully all of this will lead me to a BQ in September!