Uncategorized

Random Thursday: 5 Facts About Me

June 23, 2011 by Kristy 16 Comments

6/23/11
8 miles easy / 1:17 / 9:37 avg pace

I could bore you with the details of my 8-miler this morning or I could bore you with 5 random facts. I know you’d love to know more about me, so let’s get to it!

1. I don’t like any of my food to touch on a plate. Those paper plates with dividers are the best invention ever. I also eat one food at a time: meat first, then veggies, then rice, etc.

2. I got my belly button pierced when I was 18 and just took it out a few weeks ago. I had it for so long (16 years!) I barely noticed it anymore.

3. I have never been stung by a bee. The thought of being stung terrifies me.

4. I walked at 9 months of age. I have asked my mom repeatedly to verify the validity of this milestone and she swears to it. Matt, on the other hand, doesn’t believe it.

5. I love ketchup and pretty much drench my food in it. A grilled cheese and ketchup is my favorite.

So now my strangeness is confirmed!

I want to know some random facts about you! Please tell me something!

Book Review: Kristin Armstrong's Mile Markers

June 22, 2011 by Kristy 5 Comments

Today is a rest day and I’m soaking up every single minute of it!

If you’re not familiar with who Kristin Armstrong is she’s Lance Armstrong’s ex-wife. She occasionally writes articles for Runner’s World but also has a blog called Mile Markers (for RW). I think I stumbled upon her blog after I read It’s Not About The Bike, the Lance Armstrong book. This book will always have a spot on my top 10 list. He is amazing and I’m a huge fan, in spite of all the allegations going on right now. It’s nice to know that some people really are capable of doing extraordinary things.

OK, back to Kristin. So I read Lance’s book and found her blog on RW. I wasn’t a fan at first. She was mushy and a little too you-go-girl for me. But there was something about her writing that kept bringing me back. She has a great way of stringing words together. That sounds so simplistic but it’s the best way to describe her writing. She’s not too shabby a runner either: 2 BQs and an ultra under her belt. Over time, I became a regular reader and found myself looking forward to her next post.

Her book is a collection of her blog posts, broken out into topics: friendship, endurance, freedom, fear, burdens, etc. If you’re a regular reader of Kristin’s blog, you won’t find any new posts in her book. However, I did enjoy re-reading some of my favorites and actually marked a few so I can read them again later. You also won’t find any advice on training…this is more of a Chicken Soup for Runners type of book.

All in all, I give it 3 stars out of 5.

Guess who got a haircut yesterday?

DSCN1154 — Why did you send me to that awful place?!

How To Run 20 Miles And Survive A Bachelorette Party

June 21, 2011 by Kristy 20 Comments

6/24/11
20 miles / 2:57 / 8:51 avg pace
*This was a tough one. It was so humid you could cut the air with a knife. My average pace felt hard and there wasn’t an inch of me that was dry. Check out my shorts post-run (I can’t believe I’m posting this awful close-up). I wore my Lululemon Willpower shorts and they are absolutely fantastic. Nike tempo what?!

This weekend is my friend Amanda’s bachelorette party so I’m heading down the shore today for some drinking and dancing with the Mains. So what am I doing to ensure I can still dance (and stay awake) after 20 miles?

1. Drink chocolate milk immediately post-run. I literally put the chocolate milk in a thermos and wrap it in an ice pack so I can drink it right away. I don’t mess around!

2. Foam roll. I spent a good 10 minutes foam rolling when I got home.

3. Ice bath. I generally don’t ice bath but I’ll take all the help I can get today.

4. Coffee/carbs/water. After a 5:00AM wake-up call, I desperately need coffee in order to hang tonight. And then I’ll need lots of water to counteract the dehydration from the 20-miler, coffee, and (eventually) beer. I’ll also be eating a mini-meal of carbs every 3-4 hours. Empty stomach + beer = bad news.

5. If all else fails, drink beer. It’ll numb the soreness in your legs! Yes, that is asparagus on the side there. You need to balance out the beer with some healthy eats.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Lehigh Valley Marathon: Week 3 Recap

June 20, 2011 by Kristy 7 Comments

6/21/11
8 miles tempo / 1:10 / 8:45 avg pace
*2 miles easy, 4 miles at 8:00 pace, 2 miles easy

Last week was a little rough. I was sick on Monday which threw my schedule off. As a result, I had to run Tuesday through Friday…with Friday being 17 miles. Ugh, my legs were feeling it. I generally like to take the day before a long run as a rest day, but that’s not always possible. I did manage to eek out 45 miles for the week though!

MON: sick
TUE: 7 miles speed
WED: 8 miles easy
THU: 5 miles easy
FRI: 17 miles
SAT: rest
SUN: 8 miles tempo

I have a similar problem this week since I’ll be down the shore over the weekend (leaving Friday!). I’ll be doing 20 miles on Friday and then recovering by dancing and drinking large amounts of beer. I’ll let you know how that goes!

Lululemon Sunday

June 20, 2011 by Kristy 11 Comments

6/20/11
8 miles easy / 1:16 / 9:30 avg pace

Yesterday my sister and I hit up Lululemon (Walnut Street) in Philly. I had gotten her a gift card for her birthday (she did the same for my birthday) so I was ready to spend and get some items off my wish list! I really wanted to try their running shorts since I heard great reviews about them (hello back pocket). I also needed to stock up on more tanks. Their stuff is pricey but you can’t beat the quality, especially when you spend many hours a week running.

I immediately eliminated the Run: Speed Short since it was a tad too revealing. Next up was the Run: Willpower Short. Ahh, love. Perfect length and not too tight or too loose. I’m wearing it with the Power Y Tank (which I also loved).

Next was the Turbo Run Short. The length was great but I didn’t like the way it pulled across the front of my thighs. Also, the little undies underneath gave me a bit of a wedgie (sorry but I’m doing full disclosure here). I’m wearing the Cool Racerback tank in this picture.

Last was Run: The Fastest Short. I didn’t like these just because of the length – too long.

So I left the store with the Willpower shorts, a Power Y tank, and a Cool Racerback tank. Lulu love 🙂

The best thing though happened at the register! I asked the cashier if they were still looking for ambassadors for the Philly store (I have been meaning to submit an ambassador application for awhile now). She asked if I was a group fitness instructor and I said “no, I’m a runner and running coach”. She then enters me in their system so I can get a 15% R&D discount!!!!!!! This discount is for instructors and, as she put it, “you’re out doing what you love while wearing Lululemon clothes”. I can get this discount every time too (which may be bad for my wallet). What a company! Just one more reason to love them!

Are you a Lululemon fan? If so, what are your favorite items?

Fatigue Is Your Friend

June 17, 2011 by Kristy 10 Comments

6/17/11
17 miles / 2:35 / 9:07 avg pace
*A 4:45 wake-up call and I’m home calling into a meeting at 8:30! I love Friday morning long runs. Today I did my version of long, slow distance. I’m aiming to run a few of my long runs a little slower this cycle.

I had an aha moment the other night reading Born To Run. They were talking about embracing fatigue…and the only way to really conquer fatigue in training and racing is to learn to love it. Very interesting! Fatigue won’t be going away anytime soon (unless someone comes up with that magic pill so we can all run tirelessly for hours) so we might as well welcome it like a house guest.

Whether or not you hit the Wall during a marathon, you will experience fatigue to some extent. Fatigue can be the Grim Reaper to some or just a god-awful pacer to others (I tend to experience the latter). But what if we anticipate it’s arrival and embrace it? We won’t give in; we won’t let fatigue slow us down. We become friends with fatigue. Imagine that!

Call me loony but I’m giving this a go. Seriously. I’m welcoming fatigue during my hard effort runs – speed, tempo, and long. It can only help with my mental game come 9/11/11.

source

I want to give a HUGE shout out to Cindi (my running twin) and Sarah, Jennifer, and Heather (Always Training Trio) who are all running the Grandma’s Marathon tomorrow! Best of luck ladies!