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marathon

Friday Favorites: Ireland

May 27, 2011 by Kristy 7 Comments

5/27/11

9 miles

1:19

8:47 avg pace

Anyone else ridiculously happy for a 3-day weekend?  I need a vacation.  Ha ha, just kidding.  I have something fun planned for Saturday!  That’s all I’m going to say.  I want to keep you in suspense 😉

I plan to bore you with more pictures from Ireland.  Here goes…

Pub Crawling
It’s no secret that Matt and I like beer.  But we also like to hop from bar to bar.  When we go on vacation, we always investigate where the good bars are and try to make our own bar crawl.  Ireland is the perfect place for pub crawling.  I swear pubs out number people in some places!  Here are a few of our favorites.

Kilkenny
This little town is a few hours southwest of Dublin.  Matt and I passed through here on our way to Kinsale.  We loved it and wished we would have stayed the night (hate when that happens!).  It’s a small town but not too small and so quaint.

Temple Bar
I saved the best for last.  Our most fun night was at the Temple Bar in Dublin.  We stumbled in here thinking it would be super touristy and we would stay for just 1 pint.  It wasn’t that touristy at all (sidenote:  Matt and I hate to look like tourists on vacation.  Sometimes it’s inevitable but we try to avoid it at all costs).  We saw 2 guys setting up their guitars (and banjo!) and waited for them to begin.  Thank god we did because they were incredible.  So, so talented.  They had everyone in the bar up on their feet.  I even bought their CD during a break, which is something I never do.  They are called All Folked Up (interesting) and I can’t find any website for them other than some YouTube videos.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!  Stay tuned for my recap of Saturday fun!

Back In The Swing Of Things…

May 26, 2011 by Kristy 6 Comments

5/26/11

4 miles

33:20

8:20 avg pace

Today it’s back to work and back to normal.  No more travelling around Ireland, driving on the other side of the road, pints (lots of pints), and sightseeing.  As much as I love to travel, it’s so nice to return home and get back to your old routine.

The past week and a half were much needed in terms of running.  It forced me to take a physical break and, as a result, my legs feel amazingly refreshed.  More importantly, I needed a mental break.  Sounds cheesy but I feel renewed and very eager to start training again on Monday.  I’m dying to jump back into it and plan on working harder than I ever have before.

Coming home was easy knowing this black furball was waiting for us…

Hurry up and take the picture
I refuse to be photographed anymore
I need a haircut...a new summer 'do

Knowing Yourself as a Runner

May 12, 2011 by Kristy 19 Comments

In the past 10 years I’ve been running, I learned the following about myself as a runner:

1.  I’m not naturally speedy.
2.  I have to work my ass off to get faster.
3.  Endurance is my strength.  In many ways, running 20 miles is easier and more pleasant than a speed workout.
4.  Because of #3, I shy away from 5Ks and 10Ks.
5.  I’m a morning runner; running in the evening is tough for me.
6.  I run my long runs at or within 30-45 seconds of marathon pace.  Long, slow distance doesn’t work for me.  Practice makes perfect.
7.  Although my mental game has improved, negative thoughts and self-doubt still haunt me.

It took lots of trail and error but I’ve learned so much about myself from marathon #1 to marathon #8.

Marathon #2 (NYCM 2005)
Marathon #8 (NJM 2011)

Don’t compare yourself to other runners
This is pointless and will get you nowhere.  Every runner has different abilities.  The speedsters who make it seem so easy are genetically gifted.  Trying to copy their training schedule to “be like them” will also get you nowhere.  It’s important to know your strengths, weaknesses, and limitations as a runner so you can train smart for you.

Easier said then done, right?  I still compare myself to other runners.  Case and point:  after the NJ Marathon I was bummed about my PR (yes, I was bummed about a PR) and kept reading Twitter updates of everyone’s fabulous PRs.  I said to Matt, “I’m sick of reading about everyone’s PRs”.  His reply, “Oh…and how about your PR?”  Enough said.  Thanks Matt.

Training plans are NOT one-size-fits-all
As I said above, don’t take your super fast runner friend’s training schedule and follow it to a T and expect the same results.  Training plans need to be modified to fit your needs and they need to be modified while training so they continue to meet your needs. 

What lessons have you learned about yourself as a runner?


Weekend Fun

May 9, 2011 by Kristy 12 Comments

5/9/11

5 miles

46:55

9:23 avg pace

My mind wanted to run last week but my body apparently needed a full rest week post-marathon.  I went for a run last Friday and my quad was still a little sore.  I decided to rest over the weekend and start up again today.  I felt fine today but didn’t want to push it.

I want to get in a good “base maintenance” week (not sure what else to call it) since I leave for Ireland in a week and won’t be running while I’m over there.  Matt and I did look for races to do in Ireland and we found one – the County Clare Marathon – but it’s not going to work out schedule-wise.  We were going to do the “mini-marathon” (as they call it) of 6 miles.  A complete and total fun run.  I’m bummed.  It would be nice to be an international racer 🙂

So Saturday was our date day/night and we started off by going to a dog park in Radnor.  Radnor is a posh suburb of Philly, also known as the Main Line.  We (and our Honda) don’t fit in.

It was a beautiful day.

Hawk played around in the creek…

and looked for squirrels.

A photo shoot ensued.

After Hawk was sufficiently exhausted, Matt and I headed into Philly for drinks, dinner, and a concert.  It was a good day.

How was everyone’s weekend?  Any races or good training runs?  Tell me about it, I’m in running-withdrawal!

Friday Favorites

May 6, 2011 by Kristy 10 Comments

I may do an easy run this afternoon since the weather is so nice and I’m really antsy to run again.

But for now, it’s Friday Favorites time!

Gossip Girl
I’m a little embarrassed to admit this one…yes, I love the show Gossip Girl.  It’s the ultimate guilty pleasure.  At least I have company.  My friend Michelle loves it just as much as I do.  We love Chuck Bass.  He’s got the best one-liners.  In fact, for my birthday a few years ago, I got this from Michelle…

Poor quality picture but it says "good Bass is hard to find". I love it.

Date Night
For Christmas this past year, Matt and I decided to plan “date nights” for each other instead of buying gifts.  My date night for him is tomorrow.  We plan on hanging with Hawk at a park, having lunch outside, and going to see The Airborne Toxic Event at the Trocadero on Saturday night.  Fun, fun, fun!

Hawk is thrilled to be included in date night

May Fun Runs
Since I don’t start officially training again until the end of May, I got nothing but fun runs scheduled until then.  All I have to do is maintain my base by running whatever distance I want at whatever pace I want.  So liberating.  I may even go sans Garmin!

This is a picture of a meerkat I took at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. It makes me laugh every time I see it. Not sure what it has to do with fun runs though.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Happy Mother’s Day!

Review of the FIRST Training Plan

May 4, 2011 by Kristy 6 Comments

I never mentioned the actual name of the marathon I’m running on 9/11. It’s the Leigh Valley Marathon (or Via Marathon). It’s a point-to-point course starting in Allentown, PA and ending in Easton, PA. The course was designed by the wonderful Bart Yasso! I love Bart!

I wanted to do a review of the FIRST training plan, which I used for the NJ Marathon. For a description of the plan and the modifications I made, please see this post. Overall, I really liked it and will be using it again (with modifications) for the LVM.

What I liked:
1. The FIRST program has specific Boston qualifying plans. For NJM, I used the 3:50 plan and I liked that all my workouts were focused on getting me to run a 3:50 marathon.

2. Nothing but quality workouts. There are 3 key runs per week: speed, tempo, and long. I added a 4th run each week (an easy run) to increase my overall mileage. These key runs were hard but since my overall mileage was lower, my body could handle them.

3. The speed workouts each week nearly killed me; but they absolutely without a doubt made me faster.

4. The tempo runs were manageable and I was able to do them without too much difficultly.

5. I felt the long runs were a little easy. I often ran faster than I was supposed to but I generally do that anyway (see this post for an explanation). My endurance is much greater than my speed and this training plan made that very apparent as I was sucking wind at the track!

6. I only had 1 case of “brick legs”. Usually when I train for a marathon, this happens a few times. Again, I attribute this to less overall mileage.

7. Running 4 days a week allowed more time for yoga, which I desperately needed during this training cycle.

What I did not like:

1. Even though running 4 days a week was a plus, I had to get over feeling like a lazy slug. I have always run 5 days a week, with 2 rest days. But I really wanted to make yoga a top priority so I kept to the 4-days-a-week running regime. With 3 tough runs a week and 1 easy run, I don’t think running a 5th day would have any added value.

2. My overall mileage was low. I had to get over this too. I maxed out at 43 miles per week! My body doesn’t thrive well on high mileage (I consider that to be 60s and 70s) but in previous training cycles I was getting into the 50s. It was hard to not see those numbers climb higher than 43 but I think my legs were thankful.

3. This wasn’t an issue for me but I want to give warning to anyone thinking of using this plan. There is no base building phase. Most plans have you build mileage first (slowly and safely) before you do speed work. With the FIRST plan, you literally “hit the ground running” (pun intended) with speed work. I wouldn’t recommend this plan for beginners. If you don’t have a strong base of 30 miles per week established add about 6 weeks onto this training plan to get your base building time in. You’ll be less likely to get injured.

What training plan are you currently using? Or are you winging it?  I love seeing what plans people use to train. It’s such a matter of preference.

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