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Hawk Does D.C.

April 2, 2011 by Kristy 5 Comments

Greetings from D.C.! Matt and I are happy to be back. We lived here for 3 years after college for grad school. We have so many good memories of this place and met so many great people (Matt and I lovingly refer to them as the “DC peeps”; we are still friends with all of them to this day).

We hit up the expo which was very crowded and uneventful, except for the weather. One minute sun…

The next minute crazy wind and hail. Yeah, waiting in line outside was fun.

Then we took Mr. Hawk for a long walk into Georgetown.

Since I’m all about honesty on Run The Long Road, I must make a confession. I broke down and ate a cupcake. I even photographed my evidence! If you missed my post a few days ago, I gave up sweets until after the marathon. I made it about a week. Maybe I should just focus on giving up DQ Blizzards until after the marathon?! In my defense, we barely ate lunch and my blood sugar was dropping to dangerously low levels.

DSCN0191 — Vanilla bean cupcake - it was delicious!

Off to dinner…and then to bed. Got a very early wake-up call tomorrow.

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!

A Few More Things…

March 30, 2011 by Kristy 5 Comments

Thank you to everyone who commented on my post yesterday. It seems like we are all in the same boat! After I hit publish, I kept thinking of things to add, so here goes…

I cannot stress enough that training for a marathon should not be about weight loss. Endurance runners need calories and if you don’t supply your body with enough fuel, how can you expect it to run 20 miles? I’ve made every mistake in the book when it comes to training – including not fueling enough – and, trust me, that 20-miler is NOT pretty. If you treat your body well, it will treat you well.

My cutting out sweets has nothing to do with getting rid of those 5 lbs. I recognized an unhealthy addiction (and it was becoming an addiction) and I wanted to correct it. It’s about making an effort to be healthier. And it’s not permanent, I can bring sweets back in the picture post-marathon (in moderation, of course…after I eat a Blizzard the size of my head post-marathon :))

Lastly, if these 5 lbs help me PR on May 1, they can become a permanent fixture!

Check out Kara’s blog – she wrote a similar post a few weeks ago.

Keri also made a great comment: The same thing happens to me. I always tell people I don’t run to lose weight and that I actually gain weight. I tell my friends if they want to lose pounds to start doing weights!

Thanks for sharing Kara and Keri!

Weight Gain and Marathon Training

March 29, 2011 by Kristy 27 Comments

3/29/11

15 miles

2:13

8:52 avg pace

Nothing too remarkable about this run. It was cold (again) and my hands were cold (again)…even though I brought a change of gloves. I’m really sick and tired of this cold. Spring, get here and stay here!

I wanted to address weight gain and marathon training. I have gained 5 lbs this training cycle. This isn’t uncommon for me; it has happened before. My clothes aren’t tighter and I don’t feel that much different. I don’t weigh myself religiously – just every now and then (that’s how I found out I was +5). And no, this weight gain is not muscle…I can assure you of that!

It’s more common for runners to gain weight during marathon training than lose it. It seems hard to believe that you can gain weight while doing all that running but it happens. Non-runners ask me all the time how much weight I can lose when training. You should see their faces when I tell them my weight remains the same or I even (gasp!) gain weight. Training for a marathon should never be used for weight loss. Your appetite is out of control, to put it mildly. If you have every been around me during training, you know how much pizza I can put away!

My issue (and probably the reason for my weight gain) is my out of control sweet tooth. This began around Christmas (which I think is normal; everyone overindulges in sweets during that time) but it has not gone away! Coincidently, I started training for this marathon during Christmas. I often use sweets as a “reward” for training. And that is where the problem lies. I really shouldn’t be rewarding myself with a DQ Blizzard after every long run! Totally unnecessary. The cravings for sweets are so strong that I just give in. We can’t have sweets in the house – they are gone instantly. I’m not one of those people who can have 3 Hershey Kisses to satisfy my sweet tooth!

So my solution is to cut out ALL sweets until after the marathon. I gotta do this cold turkey. I think by taking a drastic approach (i.e., total withdrawal) I can “calm” my never ending desire for sweets. Ugh, it’s gonna get ugly around here 😉

Funny thing is these extra 5 lbs don’t make me feel sluggish when I run! I feel so strong. Odd, huh? And no, it’s still not muscle!

Yesterday I went to Whole Foods to pick up some more ~~crack~~ White Chocolate Wonderful. I was about to also pick up Dark Chocolate Dreams but then realized that would be too close to a sweet. Chocolate + PB = Reese’s Cup. Maybe after May 1!

Plymouth-20110328-00025 — Stocking up. Taking a picture of your cart is normal. I don't think anyone saw me.

Do you reward yourself with treats during training? Ever gain weight while training?

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?