runnin around

Conquering my fear

2006-05-31T17:57:00.000-07:00

I have a great bianchi road bike. But, I am afraid to ride it alone. I am afraid of flat tires and cars and glass on the road and broken limbs. Yesterday morning, I decided to conquer my fear. I rode for an hour and fifteen minutes, and it was great!

Then, I had a busy day of research, coaching teen moms rowing in Holyoke, giving a nutrition talk and going for a short run with tweens in Greenfield, and going for an eight mile easy run with my friends S and G!

I took today off of running, but I ellipticalled easy for an hour. I am psyched to go back to the lace where I got fitness tested last week to have a consultation about my results.

Weekend in review

2006-05-30T03:54:00.000-07:00

Rewind back to last Friday: the fitness test. I got some good information from it (I will also get more, I still have a consultation on Thursday to discuss results). But basically, the jist was I need to work on speed. I think I knew this, but was being influenced by so many high mileage advocates I never stopped to think about what I need to work on personally. I also need to work on my form.

So, when I went to Maine this weekend, my little sister (a very fast college middle distance runner) helped me with form. It was fun to do drills with her (even though mine were a bit pathetic). It was so nice to see my family and go for runs and walks and bike rides around Portland. It is very pretty there, and I can see myself living in a city like that.

Sunday I came back to Massachusetts and went to a graduation party and unpacked. Monday was one of those catch-up-on-work-and-cleaning days. It was also my last tough workout before my 10k race this weekend.

As for the workouts:
Friday: fitness test, about 7.5 miles total (and I was totally wiped out), 1 hour walk after dinner in the woods
Saturday: really easy bike ride around Portland and Gorham (roughly 2-2.5 hours), 5 mile run with my mom and sister and friend G
Sunday: 1 hour of volleyball game (at a graduation party! so fun!), 10 mile run in 1:19

totals for week: 60 miles of running, lots of cross training, and summer is finally here!

Monday: 3 mile warmup, 8 by 400m with 1 minute jog (all reps between 86-89), 3 mile cooldown. I worked on my form (striking with midfoot rather than heal and leaning forward a bit more, and it felt much easier....although I am sore in weird places this morning).

And as for today, I am off to the gym for a morning workout. Tonight, I plan to run with my friends S and G. They are both rowers, and we have decided to start a UMass crew running club this summer. It will be great to have some company on my easy runs a couple days a week!

Pumped for my fitness test and a weekend in Maine!

2006-05-26T03:54:00.000-07:00

This morning I am going to get my fitness test. I am a little nervous and very excited. Yesterday was just a 5.5 mile shakeout run in order to feel a bit more rested this morning. After my fitness test, I am going to speak about nutrition to teen moms, and then I am off to Maine for the weekend to visit my family. I haven't seen them in months, so I am really looking forward to it. I have a whole family of runners (even my dog), so I am looking forward to some good runs with my mom, my sister, and Trent (the family pit bull!) I don't plan on blogging over the weekend (or even getting on a computer for that matter!), so I will report the weekend's hapenings on Monday. Have a Happy Memorial Day weekend!

The week (so far) in review

2006-05-25T04:23:00.000-07:00

It felt strange yesterday beginning to blog about a mid-week run, so I feel the need to post my workouts since Monday (the start of my training week). I am wrapping up my faster speedwork-type training next week and running a 10k next weekend. Then I plan to take it pretty easy the follwing week to get ready for this custom training plan I am so psyched about!

Monday
am 10 miles: 3 mile warmup, 5 by 1 mile (6:07, 6:07, 6:07, 6:07, 6:06) with 4 minutes jogging between miles. 1 mile cooldown.
pm 40 minutes ellipticalling

Tuesday
am 4 easy miles (33 minutes)
pm 8 easy miles (1 hour, 5 minutes)

Wednesday
am-the workout I described yesterday (10 miles with 20 by 200m)
pm 1 hour elliptical

Ok, I feel much better now that I have sttarted with the beginning of the week :-) Now I am off for an easy morning run. I am planning on just one workout today because I have fitness testing tomorrow morning!

Introductions

2006-05-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

I'm a 24-year-old female grad student, working on my PhD. in nutrition. I started
marathon training seriously in 2005, and got hooked. I ran Cape Cod marathon last fall in 2:59:25, and am hoping for a faster fall marathon this year. My long term goal is to qualify for the Olympic trials with a sub-2:47 marathon. I decided to start a blog to write about my training, races, goals etc. I figure putting my training out there in cyberland will keep me honest!

So, today's workout was a two mile warmup, 2 sets of 10 by 200 meters at 38-41 seconds each with a 200m jog between. I ran a mile easy in between sets. Then, I took a 2 mile cooldown. This afternoon, I am going to elliptical at the gym for about an hour to catch up on some Law and Order episodes :-)...(I only let myself watch TV when Im doing a workout at the gym....movies are an exception, as is the Daily Show and Colbert Report)

I am very excited because I am getting a (rather expensive) custom training plan from Greg McMillan for the Philly marathon this fall. He has you fill out this questionnaire about your running history and goals, etc, and it seems like it is going to b pretty good! I cannot afford a coach with my grad student salary, so this seems like the next best thing. We'll see how it turns out.

I am also doing some fitness testing on Friday to figure out my heart rate zones etc., so tomorrow is going to be an easy day. Now I'm off to go teach nursery schoolers how to eat well and be physically active!