Run The Long Road Coaching

personalized coaching for distance runners

via lehigh valley marathon

What I Love Wednesday

by 9 Comments

8/3/11
8 miles easy / 1:14 / 9:15 avg pace

My iPad
Matt completely shocked me and bought me an iPad for our anniversary!  For the record, I bought him an equally awesome gift – a weekend away in the Fall (drive-able destination of his choice).  I’m slowly learning how to use the iPad and I’m so excited at all the possibilities.

Orla Kiely Bag
I’m a total bag person.  I can do without clothes or shoe shopping but bag shopping?  Heaven on earth.  The Coach outlet is the death of me.  I discovered this line of bags in Ireland and fell in love.  I thought it was a local Irish designer until I saw the bag in a store in Philly.  Turns out they have shops in London.  I stalked the website until they had a sale and got this bag for 50% off!

(via)

Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate KIND Bars
So unbelievably good!  If you are familiar with Peanut Chews (Philly candy), these KIND bars taste the same but are obviously way better for you.  And they have 7g of protein in each bar.  There are a ton of other flavors too but I like to trick myself into thinking I’m actually eating Peanut Chews 🙂

(via)
I need some app suggestions for my iPad.  Any good ones?  Restaurant apps?  Running log apps?  I’m currently using an old school excel spreadsheet.      
What are you loving these days? 

Lehigh Valley Marathon: Week 9 Recap

by 13 Comments

8/2/11
8 miles speed
*3 x (2 x 1200 in 5:18):  1st set (5:10, 5:05); 2nd set (5:04, 5:09); 3rd set (5:13, 5:16).  Not great in terms of consistency but I did beat 5:18 on each interval.

MON:  7 speed — total fail.  I think I eeked out 3 miserable mile repeats and called it a day.  My legs were so tired.
TUE:  12 total — 8 tempo AM (ended up being a decent run) + 4 easy PM
WED:  7 easy
THU:  easy unplanned rest day
FRI:  20 long — very happy about this run!
SAT:  4 easy
SUN:  rest

So 50 miles for the week.  I wanted to do more but my legs would not cooperate.  I was going to force the easy run on Thursday but I’m glad I didn’t.  I think Friday’s 20-miler would have suffered.

I’ll end with a funny story.  Yesterday I was running and I ran into (pun intended) someone I used to coach last summer (I worked with Fleet Feet Sports to train a group of runners for the Philly Rock ‘n’ Roll Half).  We chatted about what we are training for, etc.  When I told him I was trying to BQ he asked what time I needed.

Me:  3:45.
Him:  Oh, that’s not so bad.
Me (sarcastically):  Oookaayyy.
Him:  Well I guess that’s fast for you…
Me:  (more sarcastically):  Thanks a lot.
Him (sensing my increasing sarcasm):  Well, a guy would have to run it in 3:15.
Me:  You are comparing apples to oranges.  Guys run faster.  

Apparently BQing is easy!   Don’t you love when people who never ran a marathon make comments about pace and time?!  I don’t encounter this often but I would love to tell people to go run a marathon and then come talk to me.  I’m sure they’ll change their tune!

Have you ever received any comments from the peanut gallery of non-runners?  Does it irk you?  

Wedding Fun

by 11 Comments

8/1/11
7 miles / 59:51 / 8:33 avg pace

Another weekend, another wedding!  Let’s start at the beginning…

FRIDAY
Matt and I drove to Baltimore on Friday afternoon.  The wedding was at the beautiful Marriott Waterfront Hotel.  The rehearsal dinner was that night and the bride and groom graciously opened up the event  to all guests at 9PM.  An open bar is the perfect way to recover from a 20-miler…thanks Amanda!

Baltimore at night.

The Bay Cafe.  Sand floors and plenty of cold Miller Lite!

Late-night pizza and shenanigans.

SATURDAY
I started off Saturday with an easy 4-miler on the treadmill at the hotel gym.  I wanted to sleep in but not deal with the heat so the treadmill was the only option.

We have been waiting for this wedding for a long time.  Amanda and Mike are the last of the Mains – my close group of friends – to get married.  Everyone was so excited for a weekend away (sans kids for many of them!).

Amanda and her dad walking down the aisle.  Doesn’t she look beautiful?

Look at that veil…

The new Mr. & Mrs.

The cocktail hour was outside on a rooftop deck overlooking the waterfront.  It was quite toasty but the perfect spot for a photo shoot.

Me and Matt.  I’m desperately trying not to squint.

Hello Mains!

…and a little later on in the night…

One more…

All the lady Mains rounded up for a picture.

Congratulations Amanda and Mike!  We had a fantastic time!

20 Miles, Take 3

by 18 Comments

7/29/11
20 miles / 2:53 / 8:39 avg pace

Oh happy day! No work, a 20-miler, and a weekend away make for a good Friday.

The weather cooperated somewhat so I was able to finally push the pace.  I’m getting sick of LSD runs.

Splits:
image
image

And some post-run pictures. Yes, I do tend to wear the same clothes each week.  I was trying for a jump pose but that’s impossible to do with a self-timer so instead you get a bunch of missed jumps.

Gotta run (ha)…I need to drop Hawk off for the weekend and finish packing for Baltimore. Get ready for another wedding recap on Monday!

Happy Wedding Eve, Amanda!  I cannot wait 🙂

Lehigh Valley Marathon: Week 8 Recap

by 6 Comments

7/27/11
7 miles easy / 1:05 / 9:17 avg pace

I am more than halfway done this training cycle.  Makes me excited and nervous at the same time.   I hate to complain about the heat again, but it’s really starting to do a number on my confidence.  I know that I can’t do anything about my pace when the humidity is off the charts but I was moving along so well!  I was feeling good, handling more mileage, pulling through on speed work, running (near) marathon pace on long runs and then BAM.  Everything came to a halt.  So. frustrating.

Let’s review…

MON: 7 speed
TUE:  11 easy (7 AM and 4 PM)
WED:  rest
THU:  8 easy
FRI:  17 long
SAT:  10 tempo, MP, MP intervals
SUN:  rest / 20 min yoga video

Highlights ~
1.  Monday’s speed work, before the heat wave kicked in.  This was a tough workout and I was very pleased with my times.
2.  53 miles for the week!
3.  My ability to remain standing during Friday’s 17-miler.  I’m not kidding!  And Operation Hydration was a success!

And the not so good ~
1.   Sunday’s run.  Oh this sucked.  Supposed to be a tempo run (3 miles at 7:44 pace).  There was no way I could sustain that in the heat so I planned on doing a MP tempo.  Riiight, scratch that too.  Apparently MP was too much.  So instead I would run MP for a mile, then recover for a mile, then repeat.  Pathetic.  The heat was a big factor but I was incredibly exhausted from Friday’s run and my legs felt like lead.  I have never been so happy to finish a run.

Onto more positive stuff, I am so looking forward to the weekend!  We are heading to Baltimore for my friend Amanda’s wedding.  I even have Friday off.  I’m squeezing all my runs in Monday to Friday this week so I can take 2 rest (hungover) days this weekend.

Since it is hump day, what are your plans for the weekend?  Any long runs planned?

7 Links

by 9 Comments

7/26/11
8 miles tempo / 1:08 / 8:30 avg pace
*Tempo miles:  7:45, 8:00, 8:00, 7:54, 8:00.  This heat is going to kill me.   

Aron tagged me to participate in the 7 Links post circling blogland right now.  Here goes!

My Most Beautiful Post

I generally shy away from the mushy gushy but I guess my What Is A Runner post would be the most beautiful?

My Most Popular Post

This is easy.  It would definitely be my Weight Gain and Marathon Training post.  It gets a few views each day.  And then people proceed to check out my pictures to get a good glimpse of me!

My Most Controversial Post

Since this is a running blog, topics don’t get too heated.   This wasn’t controversial on my end but my Weight Gain and Marathon Training post was mentioned as what not to do on (what I consider) a pro-anorexia blog.  So disturbing.  These girls were using running as a way to lose weight quickly without much eating.  Needless to say, my post on gaining weight was probably horrifying to them.  The blogger went so far as to say “I don’t want to be like this girl…”  That girl being me and my sweet tooth!

My Most Helpful Post

I think that would be My Advice For Newbie Runners.

A Post Whose Success Surprised Me

I wouldn’t say this was super successful but I didn’t think anyone would comment when I posted about my Running Pet Peeves.  Ha!  The comments were hysterical.  Apparently, I’m not alone!

A Post I Feel Didn’t Get The Attention It Deserved

This wasn’t a fantastic post or anything but I was a relatively new blogger and wrote a post called One Year Older, One Year Wiser back in February.  I got 3 comments…from close friends!

A Post I’m Most Proud Of

It wasn’t the post I was proud of but the race results from my Memorial Day 5K (5th Overall Female & 3rd in Age Group).  I hate 5Ks (I’m not fast), it was hot, I ran terribly, and – for the first time ever – I placed in a race!

Now I am supposed to tag 5 people to participate in 7 Links.  Tag you’re it…

Claire at the fight and flight response
Cindi at Runnin’ From The Law
Keri at The Blue-Eyed Runner
Rachel at Run Around My Blog
Holly at Pink Runner