Week in Review: 11.24.14 to 11.30.14

Happy Thanksgiving Week! I hope everyone had a great week with family, food and some rest from work. We hosted at our house, which included roasting a 23 pound bird (!!!!), mashing 10 pounds of potatoes and a lot of laughter.

Dad holding court at the head of the table.

Monday: 4 miles at MMU with some uptempo sections with the girls. Weirdest, warmest weather ever.

Tuesday: 4.5 miles with a mile of 200 ins/outs on the track with Will. Feeling super clunky.

Wednesday: 3.5 miles at Mills Riverside Park plus striders. Snow rolling in over Mansfield and the first really cold day.

Thursday: First snow run! 5.5 miles through Burlington before dinner to kick off the #RWRunStreak that I’m taking part in this year. Cold enough that I had to break out my winter running jacket!

Friday: 1 mile shakeout run in Norwalk, Connecticut on our way down to Footlocker.

Saturday: 5 miles in Van Cortlandt Park coaching Footlocker. SO fun to be back there and to feel the Footlocker energy.

Tortoise and the Hare Statue at Van Cortlandt after an awesome day of racing.

Sunday: 3 mile campus loop. Wiped from New York trip.

Total Miles: 26.5 miles.

I’m still enjoying my off-season but ready to get back to a more normal schedule for this coming week. I’ll aim for about 35 miles with a longer run and a fartlek workout just to remind my legs that they can turnover plus some visits to the gym to rebuild the chassis before we start spring training. Nordic also starts this week, which means that I’ll be crippled from dry land.

Who else is streaking with me? Any great runs over the past week?

Week in Review 11.17.14 to 11.23.14

First, I need some blog wisdom from others. I had the bright idea to migrate my blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org and it has been an absolute nightmare. I finally got all the content moved over but any formatting and fancy-ness was lost. After 6 hours on the phone with Bluehost, it turns out that because I updated my address today, I can’t migrate for another 60 days. I’ll be using that time to find an alternative blog service; who do you use that you’ve had a good experience with? I still have to wait 60 days but at least I don’t have to support WP at the end of this…

Didn’t do a lot of running this week as it was a planned season break for me. I take my time off seriously and although I do run, I operate more on the “run with the spirit moves you” plan. I’ll be on this plan until December 1st when I start getting ready for the spring season.

Monday: Hiked the Grand Canyon West Rim! We used this tour company and did the breakfast upgrade, which I highly recommend. They picked us up at Bally’s at 6:00 am and we headed East. The tour guy (we had Gary) can seem gruff at first, but he was exceptional. We had a whole bus ride of history covering how Las Vegas came to be, the history of the Hualapai Tribe who own the West Rim and the ecosystem of the West Rim. I didn’t do any running on Monday but did hike all around the West Rim.

Standing on the edge of the West Rim

No fences to keep you from falling alllllll the way down.

Tuesday through Friday: Hip core and abs all of these days, but no running. The weather has shifted drastically here and winter is upon us, so it wasn’t even hard to be a bum!

Saturday: Erin and I made plans to go for a run and although I only planned to do an hour, we got a tad lost on the backside of Mansfield and ended up doing 11 miles. First run since the half and first run in tights and I felt clunky! Great to be out there, though, and looking forward to getting back into training.

Sunday: Easy run with Will, 5 miles.

Total: 16 whole miles and a lot of core work.

For the coming week, I’ll do a little running, some lifting and maybe even a local Turkey Trot if the weather isn’t frigid. My other task for the week is to figure out what my race schedule will be going forward.

Did winter arrive where you are? What are your big 2015 races?

Week in Review: 11.3.14 to 11.9.14

Finally feeling a little more like a real runner again including 2 runs where I felt borderline good!

Monday: Warmup, 6 minutes at MP then 4 by 800 at T pace and cool down. Quad finally calming down. 7.5 miles.

Tuesday: Clunky 7.4 mile recovery run.

Wednesday: Warmup, 3 by T pace on the track (6:07 pace) then a mile of 200 ins/outs plus cooldown. Then jetted out to MMU to coach and get another 4 in. 12.5 miles total.

Thursday: 7 mile recovery run in the sleety/windy/rain.

Friday: 7 mile run. Legs feeling pretty good!

Saturday: Warmup, then paced Flan to her first sub 21! Cooled down for a total of 7.7.

All smiles post race.

Sunday: Lovely long run on the Bike Path for World Run Day with the Olde Bones girls. 12.7 miles.

Total Miles: 62

Happy to have gotten a little more work in this week. It wasn’t as structured as I would like but glad to vary my pace a little and to see my regular run pace dropping back down. I’ll get a couple of early workouts in this week then taper for Vegas!

Changing Gears

One of the hardest things post-marathon is finding your speed again. The marathon, when well executed, is a very long run at a sort of hard pace. Workouts are usually tempo runs or marathon pace chunks of long runs and true speed work is saved for the very end and serves more to sharpen up the legs than confer any actual speed. Coming off of Mohawk Hudson, I am very fit. And very slow.

If I was just going into the winter season, this wouldn’t be a problem and I’d have time to remind my legs that I don’t always have to run 6:40 pace. However, I’m headed to Las Vegas next weekend to attempt to race a half marathon, so 6:40 won’t do. In the past two weeks since I’ve really been training again, I’ve had a lot of frustrating runs where despite my best “fast” efforts, I’m settling right into 6:30 to 6:40 pace.

I finally turned a (tiny little) corner this week. On Wednesday, I hit the track for 3 by mile at T pace and happily settled at 6:04 pace, followed by a mile of 200 ins and outs at 5:15 pace. Today I paced an athlete to her first sub 21 5K (Go Flan!!!!!) which was 6:40 pace (again), but did manage to kick at the end and shake out some more junk. I was also happy to find that 6:40 pace felt like jogging and that the 3 miles flew by. Good sign for next weekend.

In terms of next weekend, my “absolute best day ever, jump around at the finish” goal would be to break 1:20 (6:08 pace). My more realistic but still challenging goal will be to PR (under 1:21:45 so 6:14 pace). My non-time based goal is to execute a smart race; controlled through 6, cruise to the turnaround a little after 9 then send it once we’re back on the Strip heading home.

Anyone else struggle to convince their legs to turnover after the marathon? What are your tricks for reminding your legs that they can fly?

My Kind of Sister Hero

There’s been a lot of talk of sister heroes recently, attributable in large part to Oiselle which uses the term frequently in print, on product and in interviews. Among the most commonly talked about “sister heroes” are Oiselle runners Kara Goucher, Lauren Fleshman and now Steph Bruce. All of these women have had exceptional running careers. All are also mothers, which lends to much of their mass appeal. And while all are interesting to me in their own right, they aren’t really my sister heroes.

Much of this comes out of watching the New York City Marathon on Sunday where yet again, the announcers totally missed the mark. Speaking off scripts and clearly undereducated about the sport (a shame, since a few of the announcers REALLY should have known better), the conversation focused on how tough a day Kara had or how disappointed Deena must be while entirely overlooking the two Americans who really showed their stuff: Desi Linden and Annie Bersagal. One announcer even went so far as to say that Bersagel “didn’t have her best day” despite her being 2nd American and battling horrendous winds for 26 miles. They didn’t bother to mention that Bersagal is unsponsored and legitimately works a full time job as a lawyer. They didn’t bother to mention how brilliantly Desi ran, tucked in the lead group and just quietly working away.

Bersagal and Lanni Marchant, another attorney-pro runner are my kind of heroes. It’s often frustrating for me to look at my training opportunities and race performances and wonder if it would be different if my life wasn’t centered on surviving medical school. Women like Bersagal and Marchant give me hope that it is possible to work full time and be successful at running as well. Yes, there are many concurrent sacrifices (such as zero social life) but one doesn’t have to live at altitude and live the pro lifestyle to be a top runner.

Who are your running heroes? Anyone else watch NYC this weekend?

Week in Review: 10.27.14 to 11.2.14

Monday: 6 miles easy.

Tuesday: Workout! 2 by 6 minutes at T pace, 3 by 3 minutes at I pace and a mile of 200 ins/out plus a leg lift at the gym.

Wednesday: Prorated off day, 7 miles. Ridiculously sore.

Thursday: 4.5 mile stagger through Burlington.

Friday: 9.5 mile run with Annie. Much colder than I anticipated!

Saturday: 7 mile run with Will in the sleety-cold.

Sunday: 11 mile run with 15 at T pace in the wind.

Total: 47 miles.

October Total: 146 miles.

Post-marathon progress is slow! I’m working to balance needing to get quality work in for Vegas (and for whatever I do in the winter) and respecting my body’s continuing recovery. It’s not easy! I’m still fighting a cold (sure sign that my immune system is still down from the marathon) and dealt with serious soreness this week after lifting for the first time since taper started. I’m also dealing a bit with the “blahs.” Somehow picking running routes and getting out the door is really challenging for me recently. I’m luck to have running friends to rope into going with me but it’s still a struggle.

Anyone else struggling to get their mojo back post marathon?

Week in Review 10.20.14 to 10.26.14

It’s rough trying to get back into the swing of things after a big race, even when you have another race just ahead. It’s even rougher when you get an atrocious cold the day you are ready to start doing workouts again. I spent Tuesday through Friday down for the count with a head cold which proceeded to a chest cold and racking cough over the weekend. I’m still running easy but wasn’t able to get a workout in last week unfortunately.

Monday: 2.5 Miles

Tuesday: 2.5 Miles and full body lift.

Wednesday: Warmup, 1.5 miles of 200 meter ins and outs, cooldown. Total of 6.3 miles. Felt pretty good to shake it out but quads are definitely still tender.

Thursday: 6.3 mile run.

Friday: 2 mile run.

Saturday: 4 miles at the State Meet.

Sunday: 12 mile long run. Feeling almost normal.

Total Miles: 35.5

Thanks to my high mileage earlier in the cycle, I don’t have to worry too much about endurance between now and Vegas (20 days!) Instead, I’ll be focusing on getting back into some tempo runs and getting my speed sharpened up.

Weeks in Review: 10.6.14 to 10.12.14

10/6/14 to 10/12/14

One of the calmest, oddest taper weeks of my life. School and coaching were busy and we had a lot of stuff going on in trying to get our house set up again. By the time Saturday arrived, I hadn’t even finalized my outfit or fueling plan.

Monday: 4.7 miles early morning with Katie. Had to wear half tights!

Tuesday: 4.6 miles with striders in the last mile.

Wednesday: 2 miles at T pace (6:14, 6:08) and a mile of 200 ins and outs. Cold and windy but felt good when I got into a groove. 6 miles total.

Thursday: Off day.

Friday: 3.5 mile run with striders.

Saturday: 3.5 mile run with striders.

Sunday: 26.2 in 2:54:39. Race Report here.

10/13/14 to 10/19/14

Easy. No running! Monday and Tuesday were pretty sore days, so I just foam rolled and tried to be easy on my legs. I took a short walk with the dog on Friday and jogged a little at the race yesterday. My legs feel ok when I’m walking but were still made of concrete when I jogged yesterday, so I’m giving it a full week before I get back into training for Vegas.

In even more exciting news, it’s States Week!! This team has put in an enormous amount of work this year and started their peaking work last week. This week, we’ll hit full peak and get them ready to crush the State Meet next Saturday. I continue to be impressed with their grit and determination and I’m excited to see what they do next week.

Week in Review 9.28.14 to 10.5.14 (The Final Countdown)

It’s always amazing to get to the week before a marathon, especially with most of your sanity and limbs intact. Usually by this time in taper, everything hurts and I’m not convinced I can start. This time around, however, my life is so chaotic that I’m almost appreciative of the opportunity to only run a few miles a day. In a perfect world, I’d keep my taper stress-free. Instead, we had an exam, our housemates unexpectedly moved out leaving an enormous financial and physical mess, and during this coming week, our clerkships are assigned which determines what we’ll be doing and where we’ll be rotating for the next year of our lives. Just a little stress. Regardless, I’m thrilled to find that I actually feel really good. I have no sore “things” that I’m hoping will go away, I’m in a decent mood and running feels pretty good.

Monday: 4.25 miles easy.

Tuesday: 5.5 miles.

Wednesday: 7.5 mile workout. Warmup, 3 by Tempo Mile at 6:04, 6:06 and 5:54 then 4 by 200 really effing hard.

Thursday: 4 miles easy.

Friday: Off Day.

Saturday: 5 miles at Thetford. Typical coaching day with sprinting around, standing and finally a 3 mile run after the race with the varsity girls.

Sunday: 8 miles with 3 at MP (6:35 today). Legs felt pretty punky but I stood for 16 hours yesterday…

Total Miles: 40 miles. 50% of normal, right on schedule.

Current Weather Forecast: Low of 42 on Saturday night, high of 62 on Sunday “mostly cloudy with a little rain.” Here’s hoping the rain holds off but the temperature stays the same.

30 Days Hath September

I’m having a little difficulty believing that today is October 1st, despite the fact that it is misting sideways outside and there are more leaves on the ground than on the trees. You see, October is when my goal race for the fall happens and we can’t possibly be there yet. I was just strapping on my Icebugs for a 1 mile run in the Intervale. I was just celebrating my first month back in the 200 mile range.

But it is October 1st and my big fall focus happens in 11 short days. Since my first run on February 16th of this year, I’ve run 1801 miles including 297 in September.

February: 12 miles

March: 129 miles

April: 214 miles

May: 256 miles

June: 266 miles

July: 296 miles

August: 331 miles

September: 297 miles

I guess the hay is in the barn. Now we wait.